06112109

Operation ‘Identify Yourself’: 

Court orders Army to 

maintain status quo 10 

Globus Bank opens 

to customers today 19 

NDDC: 

Akpabio’s 

interim c'ttee 

dead after board 

confirmation, 

says Lawan 

E-DAILY 38 

OSCAR 2020: 

Nollywood 

divided over 

disqualification 

of Genevieve 

Nnaji's 

‘Lionheart’ 

19 

Oil price leaps to $62.54 amid new OPEC report 

41 

I'm a 

card-carrying 

11 

member of APC, 

REC nominee 

tells Senate 

VOL. 26: NO. 63934 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019 

TIPS FOR CONTRACTS: 

Outrage trails Presidency’s 

attack on ex-presidents 

5 

•Cock and bull story — Junaid Mohammed; prove it, IBB’s spokesman 

•Call them to account — Osuntokun; name, shame them, says Afenifere 

•Presidency went too far — ABC Nwosu; give us names, figures — Shehu Sani 

ON FIRE... 

ABOVE: Officials of the Lagos State fire service battle an inferno that 

engulfed a building on Martins Street, Lagos, yesterday. RIGHT: 

Sympathisers at the scene. Photos: Akeem Salau and Kehinde Shonola. 

Nigeria in messy 

situation because 

FG failed to act 

against those 

threatening peace, 

unity —SOYINKA 

9 

Ebola: Reps 

raise alarm 

over fresh 

outbreak, 

want 8 

Adadevoh 

honoured 

Customs, 

agents at 

war over use 

of waterways 

Mr & Mrs 

Signing PSC Bill 

in London: Buhari 

can govern from 

anywhere 

—OSHIOMHOLE 9 

BUNMI 30 FASAN 31 AFE BABALOLA 40 

SEE 

INSIDE

2—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019—3


vanguardnews 

@vanguardnews 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019 — 5 

NEWS HOTLINES 

POCKET CARTOON 

018773962, 

@vanguardnews 08052867058 

APC'S NWC VISITS SENATE— Senate President, Ahmed Lawan receiving 

APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, while Senate Chief 

Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (middle) looks on at the National Assembly, 

Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan. 



By Clifford Ndujihe, 

Dapo Akinrefon, 

Henry Umoru, 

Dirisu Yakubu & 

Olayinka Ajayi 

Aides of 

some past 

LAGOS — 

presidents, 

yesterday, picked holes in 

the Presidency’s claims that 

former leaders demanded 

tips before awarding 

contracts. 

Senior Special Assistant 

to the President on Media 

and Publicity, Mallam 

Garba Shehu, had on 

Monday, said unlike past 

leaders who demanded 

kick-backs before awarding 

contracts, President 

Muhammadu Buhari has 

abolished the old ways of 

doing things. 

“The records of some of 

his predecessors in office 

bespeak a greedy trail. 

When they go abroad, they 

first ask: What is in it for me? 

What is there for my family? 

President Buhari is 

different,” he had said. 

The comment elicited 

hard knocks from Prince 

Kassim Afegbua, former 

Edo State Commissioner of 

Information and confidant 

of erstwhile Military 

President, General Ibrahim 

Babangida, retd; Mr. Akin 

Osuntokun, former political 

adviser to ex-President 

Olusegun Obasanjo; and 

former Health Minister 

under Obasanjo, Professor 

ABC Nwosu. 

Efforts to get other leaders 

or their aides to speak 

yesterday did not yield 

results. 

Prove it, 

Afegbua 

challenges 

Garba Shehu 

Prince Afegbua 

counseled Mallam Garba 

Shehu to desist from 

making allegations he 

could not substantiate and 

focus on engaging 

Nigerians on how best to 

make governance count for 

them. 

Afegbua came short of 

questioning the suitability 

of Shehu for the exalted 

office of a Presidential 

spokesman, even as he 

urged him to stop pointing 

accusing fingers in the 

direction of past heads of 

government. 

He said: “Garba Shehu is 

just seeking relevance. In 

the midst of a plethora of 

developmental challenges 

facing the government on 

account of poor service 

delivery, a spokesman 

worth his salt should, by 

empathy, engage 

Nigerians and not be 

throwing bile and 

allegations that cannot be 

substantiated. If he is sure 

of his facts, he should lay 

them bare. 

“When you make such 

allegations, one would 

think that he was there with 

the ex-Presidents when 

they supposedly made 

such requests. It is 

ridiculous for anyone to 

contemplate that ex- 

Presidents made such 

baseless requests. 

“The expectations from 

Nigerians are high; hence 

all hands must be on deck 

to salvage this country. 

Rather than the blame 

game, the government 

needs to coordinate all the 

centripetal and centrifugal 

forces to create the right 

synergy to drive national 

narrative.” 

Call the leaders 

to account 

– Osuntokun 

Interacting with 

Vanguard on the issue from 

United Kingdom, Mr Akin 

Osuntokun said: “Any time 

you hear this kind of 

credulous smart-Alec 

claims, just refer them to 

Transparency 

International, Mo Ibrahim, 

rating agencies, US annual 

reports on Nigeria, 

Carnegie Foundation, IMF, 

etc. 

“You can also refer them 

to Ganduje, Yahaya Bello, 

Timipre Sylva ad nauseum 

all whom his principal has 

adopted as favourite sons. 

“If they had this kind of 

useful information, why 

have they not called such 

leaders to account, 

including Akpabio, 

Oshiomhole, who are held 

as poster boys of APC?” 

Presidency went 

too far 

— ABC Nwosu 

On his part, Professor 

ABC Nwosu berated the 

Presidential spokesman for 

tagging past presidents as 

corrupt, stressing that there 

was need to caution him. 

His words: “What the 

spokesman said is his 

personal opinion because I 

once worked under a 

President. I think he went 

too far and he should be 

cautioned. His sycophancy 

is too much. He’s trying too 

much to turn his principal 

into a god. It won’t work 

because Nigerians know 

past presidents, including 

late Umaru Musa Yar’ 

Adua. 

“Late President Yar’ Adua 

is the only President that 

declared his assets 

completely in the proper 

way with nothing hidden. 

When people are hired to 

do a job, even if they are 

slaves, let them do the job 

like freeborn. Let them not 

do the job like the worst 

slave. 

“I know the presidential 

spokesman personally; it is 

shocking that he could ever 

say such a thing. Like 

Chinua Achiebe would say; 

it’s still morning yet on 

creation day. They have not 

even completed one year of 

their second term, he is 

spitting rubbish. 

“How can he be abusing 

former presidents? It means 

he is saying Obasanjo was 

corrupt, Yar’ Adua was 

corrupt, and Jonathan, 

Babangida and late 

General Sani Abacha were 

corrupt when his boss said 

late Abacha wasn’t corrupt. 

“Sycophancy is a 

profession in Nigeria but 

Continues on Page 41 

By Bose Adelaja, 

Olayinka Latona & 

Esther Ifeanyi 

On Nigerian Army's proposed Operation Positive Identification (2) 

The 

proposed 

Operation Positive 

Identification has 

brought about mixed 

feelings among well 

meaning Nigerians. In 

my view, it’s not yet time 

to carry out this 

operation, as many 

citizens are yet to have 

valid identification 

cards. Moreover, the job 

of the Army is to face 

external aggression not 

checking of citizens’ 

identification. 

- Adeloye Oluwaseun 

Teacher 

I think the 

government should first 

do something about the 

difficulty with 

registration and 

collection of identity 

cards across the 

country. There are 

better ways than 

involving the Nigeria 

army on this issue 

because they are very 

forceful and this might 

lead to violation of the 

people right to 

movement. This is the 

work of the police not 

the army 

This is a welcome 

development that 

will curb internal 

aggression that might 

want to raise its ugly 

head. However, there is 

need to sensitize people 

on this development in 

order to allay fears that 

might come from seeing 

military men on the 

street. Nigerians need 

to be properly informed 

about the activities of the 

army. 

-Adetoba Matthew 

Businessman 

It’s a very good idea 

that will checkmate 

bandits, kidnappers, 

armed robbers, ethnic 

militia, cattle rustlers as 

well as other criminals 

across Nigeria. 

Also, the exercise is not 

new, the Army had been 

taking similar measures 

to separate citizens from 

terrorists in the Boko 

Haram-ravaged North- 

East. I support the 

exercise. 

-Abdul-lateef. Adenike 

Blogger 

I 

feel the proposed 


Identification is 

irrelevant. It would 

be another avenue for 

people, especially the 

youths, to be open to all 

forms of harassment and 

exploitation. 

The soldiers will abuse 

their power and the aim 

of the operation would 

be defeated. This job 

should be left with other 

relevant security 

agencies. 

-Adebayo Muheez 

Writer 

Aside the fact that it’s 

going to be an 

outright violation of our 

fundamental human 

rights; we can’t get too 

comfortable with 

anything that has to do 

with the military. They 

are already seen as 

agents of intimidation 

and I’m sure some of 

them would seize this 

opportunity for their 

selfish gains. Operation 

Positive Identification is 

a NO! 

- Obe Temitoyosi 

Educationalist

6—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019 

Millions lost, as fire guts Balogun Market 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni, 

with agency reports 

FIREFIGHTERS 

and 

operatives of Lagos State 

Emergency Management 

Agency, LASEMA, had a hectic 

time, yesterday, putting out two 

separate fires at popular Balogun 

Market, as a six-storey building 

in a section of the market at 

Oluwole by Martins and a threestorey 

building of lock-up shops 

on Dosunmu Street went up in 

flames. 

As the emergency responders 

were battling to keep the fire at 

Oluwole section of the market, 

referred to as Mandilas, which 

started around 11a.m. from one 

of the floors of the six-storey 

building from spreading to other 

floors due to the compact nature 

of materials stored, the other fire 

at Dosunmu Street began. 

Investigation indicated that 

there was an electrical fault in one 

Court orders 

woman to refund 

ex-fiance’s 

money, as 

wedding fails 

AGudu Grade I Area Court 

in Abuja has ordered a 22- 

year-old woman, Aisha 

Shettima, to meet with her 

estranged fiancé on how much 

money she will return after 

their wedding failed to hold. 

Alhaji Shehu Marafa filed a 

suit against Aisha Shettima, 

demanding that she pay back 

the N500,000 he gave her to 

plan their wedding, which 

never held. 

The judge, Ado Muktar, 

gave the order after Marafa 

refused to collect the items 

Shettima brought to court, 

which she said the used the 

money to buy. 

Muktar ordered Mr. Aliyu 

Abubakar, counsel to Shettima, 

to pay Marafa back the money 

he claimed to have given her 

for the wedding plan. 

“Since he refused to collect 

the items, you should think of 

paying him back,” he said. 

He also advised parties to try 

and settle issues and arrive at 

the amount collected since 

Shettima insisted that the 

money Marafa gave her was 

not up to N500,000. 

The judge adjourned the case 

until November 18 and 

advised the parties to put in 

more efforts to settle all the 

issues raised. 

However, Marafa said: ”I 

gave her N200,000 cash as part 

of our marriage expenses. I 

also transferred N300,000 to 

her account.” 

He said he went to meet 

Aisha’s parents in Bauchi, paid 

N50,000 as dowry and gave 

the parents N20,000, a basket 

of kola-nuts and a carton of 

sweets. 

of the shops on the fifth floor of 

the six-storey building, which led 

to the fire outbreak, destroying 

clothes, bags and other imported 

goods on every floor worth 

millions of naira. 

‘This building burnts 

every year-end’ 

Some traders, who left their 

businesses for the scene of the fire 

outbreak, said the raging fire 

started at about 9a.m. and 10a.m., 

repectively. 

The traders added that the 

building had such fire outbreak 

in previous years, especially 

towards year end. 

One of them said: “This is no 

longer new to us, because every 

year, apart from last, this building 

always burns. 

“This building is owned by one 

businesswoman. The building is 

not part of Balogun Market.” 

As the fire raged uncontrollably 

on the fifth and fourth floors, 

many young men were helping 

to salvage some unaffected 

goods. 

For hours, Lagos State Fire 

Service, UBA Fire Service, Union 

Bank Bronto Skylift F42 and 

LASEMA found it difficult putting 

out the fire. 

As they battled with the fire on 

Martins Street, there was another 

fire incident within the market at 

Dosunmu Street, involving a 

three-storey commercial building 

of lock-up shops. 

Men of the Lagos State Fire 

By Alemma Aliu 

BENIN CITY—THERE is 

tension in the family of the 

Enogie (traditional ruler) of Ogan 

community in Orhionmwon Local 

Government Area of Edo State, 

George Igbinovia, as some 

members of his immediate family 

have taken up arms against him 

in collaboration with villagers, 

over proceeds from a burrow pit 

in the community. 

The Enogie, who has fled the 

community for fear of being 

lynched, is accusing his first son 

of instigating the community 

against him. 

Vanguard gathered that trouble 

started when some youths 

claimed that the borrow pit is 

owned by the community and that 

proceeds from it should be shared. 

But some of the children of the 

Enogie are also claiming 

ownership of the pit. 

A resident in the community, 

who pleaded anonymity, said the 

borrow pit belonged to all of them 

and not any of the sons of Enogie, 

but lamented that they have not 

seen any money paid into the 

community’s account. 

A source disclosed that the youth 

mobilised to the Enogie’s palace 

to demand money realised from 

the borrow pit, when one of his 

sons invited soldiers into the 

community, who reportedly shot 

and killed one Agharuwa Pulley. 

However, another source said 

the crisis was as a result of the 

Traders rescuing their goods from fire, yesterday(More pictures in Page 14). PHOTO: 

Akeem Salau. 

Service were able to curtail the 

raging fire at about 1.30pm. But 

the smoke was still billowing into 

the skies. 

LASEMA, Safety 

Commission speak 

Addressing the media, Director- 

General, LASEMA, Oke- 

Osanyintolu, said the emergency 

responders were able to put out 

the inferno due to swift response. 

He said there were no 

casualties or fatalities as there was 

nobody trapped in any of the 

buildings. 

Speaking on the fire outbreak, 

Director-General, Lagos State 

Safety Commission, Mr. Lanre 

Omolaja, blamed the incident on 

lack of safety measure on the part 

The palace. 

fight between the eldest son of the 

Enogie and his step-brothers over 

the ownership of the pit. 

According to the source, “in the 

heat of all these confusions last 

Saturday, the palace of the Enogie 

of the traders. 

According to him, “the fire 

started about 11a.m. from one of 

the floors of the building and 

spread to other floors due to the 

compact nature of materials 

stored. 

“The fire servicemen and other 

rescue team battled to keep the 

fire from spreading to other 

adjoining buildings and floors. 

“From our preliminary 

investigation, we gathered that 

the fire was as a result of a power 

generating set, which burst into 

flames and spread fast to other 

floors. 

“The high magnitude of the fire 

was solely due to the fact that the 

materials are highly combustible; 

such as textiles, mannequins’ 

and six houses including vehicles 

were razed by the youths. As we 

speak, many residents have fled 

the community.” 

Speaking to newsmen on the 

development, the Enogie, 

cables, among others. 

“However, we will still conduct 

a detailed investigation to 

ascertain the immediate and 

remote cause of the fire. We have 

a team of experts on fire 

accidents, who will do 

comprehensive analysis into the 

outbreak. 

“We are also embarking on 

massive enlightenment and 

sensitisation on safety in our 

markets, particularly at this period 

of yuletide, on the need to be 

safety conscious. 

“We can’t afford to keep losing 

property in this manner in the 

state. Governor Babajide Sanwo- 

Olu is committed to the safety of 

lives and properties of everyone 

in the state.” 

Youths raze Edo monarch's palace over proceeds from borrow pit 

By Onozure Dania 

LAGOS—NINE 

men, 

suspected to be cultists, 

who allegedly assaulted two 

police officers and damaged the 

side mirror of a police patrol 

vehicle, have been arraigned 

before a Lagos Magistrate’s 

Court, sitting in Mushin. 

The defendants and others 

still at large are facing a sixcount 

charge bordering on 

conspiracy, assault, unlawful 

assembly, breach of peace, 

damage and possession of 

unlawful weapons, preferred 

against them by the police. 

The defendants, whose 

residential addresses were not 

given, were docked before 

Magistrate K. O. Ogundare's 

court. 

Police prosecutor, Inspector 

Edet Akam, told the court that 

the defendants assaulted one 

Inspector David Asaolu and 

Sergeant Patrick Borowoni, 

inflicting injuries on their left 

hands with stones. 

George Igbinovia, said his eldest 

son instigated the community 

against him over money realised 

from the borrow pit. 

He added: “They have driven 

me away. I have only these 

clothes on my body left. My son 

said I am old.” 

The eldest son, Prince Daniel 

Igbinovia, denied the allegation, 

saying the boy was killed by 

soldiers brought by his stepbrothers. 

His words: “I never instigated 

anybody. I don’t believe in 

violence, but peaceful resolution.” 

Edo State Police Command’s 

spokesman, DSP Chidi 

Nwabuzor, while confirming the 

incident, said investigation has 

commenced and warned the 

youths to desist from taking laws 

into their hands. 

9 docked for assaulting policemen 

He said the incident 

happened on October 23, at 

about 5p.m., along Five Star 

Oshodi-Apapa Expressway. 

The defendants, however, 

pleaded not guilty to the 

charges. 

Magistrate Ogundare 

granted the defendants bail in 

the sum of N100,000 each, with 

one surety each in like sum. 

They were consequently 

remanded in prison custody and 

the case adjourned till 

November 14 for mention.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019—7 

Student caught with gun in exam hall 

By Esther Onyegbula 

OPERATIVES of the Special 

Anti Cultism Unit, Lagos 

State Police Command have 

arrested a second-year student, 

Martins Bolade, for illegal 

possession of firearms on campus. 

The suspect, who is a member 

of one of the dreaded cults on 

campus, gave details of how he 

was initiated to the operatives. 

His words: “I became a member 

of Alora cult gang after I was 

forcefully initiated. I have been a 

member since I gained admission 

into the school. It was actually at 

a fresher’s party that I was 

initiated. The fresher’s party was 

held outside the school 

community. The initiation was 

done outside the venue of the 

party in the middle of the night. 

“I can’t say the exact location, 

as I was blindfolded and 

transported to the initiation 

ground. I kept associating with 

members of the cult because it is 

my school, so there is no way I 

could have disassociated myself 

while I still a student. I was given 

a rank: the 6th man and my job is 

to sing during meetings. 

“Even though I have been a 

cultist for about two years, I have 

never robbed or raped anyone 

because the Alora cult is not a 

violent group. We mind our 

business.” 

Explaining why he was 

arrested, Bolade said: “On the 

day I was arrested, my friend, 

Ayobami gave me his bag 

containing a wallet and his 

credentials to hold for him when 

he was about entering the 

examination hall. 

“Later, the number three man 

in the cult hierarchy, Badmus, 

gave me a gun to keep for him 

unknown to me that a security 

officer saw when he was giving it 

to me. 

“What happened was that 

before he gave me the gun, there 

have been pockets of attack on 

campus. One of the students was 

robbed and severely beaten and 

everyone was on alert. Badmus 

gave me the gun because he felt 

no one would ever suspect that I 

had a weapon with me, because 

of my innocent looks. 

“The security man must have 

seen when Badmus was giving 

the gun to me from afar. It was 

while I was writing my 

examination that security came to 

pick me up. I don’t know where 

Badmus is, because with the 

situation on ground, he must be 

aware that I have been arrested 

and would go hiding. 

“The police arrested my friend, 

Ayobami, because of the bag he 

gave to me to hold for him. Now 

that I have been arrested, I feel 

so bad. But I haven’t committed 

any crime, it is just because I am 

a cultist and a weapon was found 

with me. My advice to young 

people is to stay away from 

cultism.” 

Vanguard further learned that 

after Kusimo Ayobami, the young 

man who owns the bag that 

Bolade kept the gun, heard that 

The suspects. 

police arrested him and his bag 

and credentials were found with 

him, he quickly went to Igando 

Police Station to report that armed 

robbers attacked him, stole his 

bag and wallet that contained his 

credentials. 

It was after the police requested 

for an affidavit that he fled before 

he was arrested. 

Explaining how he got 

involved in the mess, Kusimo 

Ayobami said: “I was arrested on 

October 30 inside the 

examination hall, while writing 

my first paper. When I received 

information that Bolade has been 

arrested, I knew I would be linked 

because of my bag and wallet that 

I gave to him. It was my friends 

that advised me to go to the police 


LAGOS—A Lagos Customary 

Court, yesterday, ordered the 

sealing of a public toilet in Ebute- 

Ero area of Lagos Island, which 

connected its pipe to discharge 

excreta into the drainage. 

President of the court, Mr. 

Saheed Lawal, gave the order that 

it should be sealed forthwith. 

Mr. Lukman Kaffo, the 

prosecutor, who also doubles as 

the Head of Department, 

Environmental Services, Lagos 

Island Local Government Area, 

told the court that the toilet was 

owned by one Mr. Mutairu 

Alabi aka Youngest. 

He stated that Alabi 

connected the pipe from the 

septic tank and passed it across 

the road into the drainage in 

such a way that whenever the 

toilet was flushed excreta was 

discharged into the drainage. 

While sealing off the toilet, 

Kaffo said following cholera 

outbreak in Lagos, sanity and 

hygiene was of utmost 

and get police reports that robbers 

dispossessed me of my wallet 

containing my identity cards. 

“It was in a bid to get myself 

out of this mess that I went to the 

police to report that I was attacked 

by robbers. 

“I am an HND one student of 

architecture. I regret giving 

Bolade my bag. If I knew this 

would happen, I wouldn’t have 

given him. Now, see where it has 

landed me. 

“After my National Diploma, I 

worked for a while to save some 

funds to enable me to go back to 

school.” 

Crying profusely, Ayobami said: 

“I feel terrible because of my sick 

mother and how my arrest has 

continued to worsen her health.” 

Court seals public 

toilet in Lagos 

importance on the Island and 

its environs. 

His words: “We have been 

battling gastroenteritis on the 

Island for two weeks, so all 

hands must be on deck to 

ensure sanity and good 

hygiene in Lagos Island. 

“We have engaged the 

Community Development 

Areas, CDAs, in Lagos Island 

and educated them on how to 

improve environmental and 

food hygiene. 

“We implore members of the 

public to stop discharging 

excreta into the drainage 

because the cholera outbreak on 

the rampage is caused by the 

intake of contaminated food and 

water.” 

Mr. Moshood Eletu, Supervisor 

for Environment, Lagos Island 

Local Government Area, who also 

spoke with reporters, said the 

Lagos lsland Environmental 

Service Team had embarked on a 

crusade of sensitisation for 

Lagosians following the cholera 

outbreak in the State. 

... with Emma'nKen (08163121378) 

This teacher needs 

street education 

Students and a student

8 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6 , 2019 

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

EBOLA: Reps raise alarm 

over fresh outbreak, want 

Adadevoh honoured 

By Tordue Salem 

A House 

BUJA—THE 

of 

Representatives yesterday 

raised the alarm over a 

possible recurrence of 

Ebola epidemic in the 

country, urging the 

Federal Ministry of Health 

to deploy materials and 

personnel at the airports, 

seaports and land borders 

to screen passengers. 

Besides, the House urged 

the federal government to 

set aside funds for the 

management of Ebola virus 

in the event of its 

recurrence in Nigeria. 

The House also 

mandated its Committees 

on Health Care Services 

and Health Institutions to 

ensure that relevant 

agencies 

took 

precautionary measures to 

avert a recurrence of the 

disease. 

The resolution followed 

the adoption of a motion 

brought by Paschal 

Chigozie Obi (PDP- 

Anambra) who expressed 

fears at the likely fresh 

outbreak of Ebola in the 

country. 

Leading debate on the 

motion, Obi noted that the 

recent outbreak of Ebola 

virus in the Democratic 

Republic of Congo, DRC, 

in March, 2019, where 

more than 1000 cases of 

Ebola infections were 

reported. 

He recalled that “in 2014, 

the Ebola epidemic spread 

to some West African 

countries such as Guinea, 

Sierra-Leone, Liberia and 

then to Nigeria, when a 

Liberian, Mr. Patrick 

Sawyer, arrived Lagos by 

an airplane and infected 

many Nigerians, including 

doctors and nurses”. 

The lawmaker reminded 

the House that “the virus 

quickly spread to different 

parts of Nigeria, causing up 

to 50% death rate of 

infected people. 

‘’Conscious of different 

measures by the Nigerian 

Civil Aviation Authority, 

NCAA, to curtail the 

menace of Ebola, ranging 

from issuing an alert to 

airline operators directing 

them to ensure a high level 

of vigilance and ensure that 

proper checks were carried 

out on passengers and 

other relevant measures 

such as providing 

sanitizers and clinical 

equipment, where 

necessary. 

“Also conscious of steps 

taken by the World Health 

Organisation (WHO) on 

August 8, 2019, to sensitise 

the public by declaring 

Ebola outbreak a public 

health emergency of 

international concern and 

also raising the alarm on 

the need for nations to take 

preventive actions against 

the possible further 

outbreak of Ebola virus.” 

He commended the 

federal government for its 

efforts in tackling the 

menace of Ebola disease in 

2014, notwithstanding the 

ravaging force it came with. 

In a related 

development, the House 

has also urged President 

Muhammadu Buhari to 

recognise the heroic acts 

of patriotism of Dr. Stella 

Ameyo Adadevoh, who 

died fighting against 

Ebola virus and her 

medical team and confer 

a befitting posthumous 

national honour on her. 

....Probe PPMC over alleged fuel 

pricing fraud 

By Tordue Salem 

Aby BUJA—MIFFED 

allegations of 

fraud in the pricing of 

Premium Motor Spirit, also 

known as petrol, by the 

Petroleum Products 

Marketing Company 

Limited, PPMC, and 

Petroleum Products Pricing 

Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, 

the House of 

Representatives yesterday 

set up an enquiry to fish out 

culprits and recommend 

appropriate sanctions. 

The motion to probe the 

allegation was brought on 

the floor by Odebunmi 

Olusegun Dokun. 

Before adopting the 

motion, the House noted 

that though PPPRA was 

saddled with the 

responsibility of “fixing 

prices for petroleum 

products in Nigeria”, it was 

operating on a 

discriminatory and unlawful 

basis. 

The House said it was 

“disturbed that the 

Petroleum Products 


Limited, being the 

coordinator of petroleum 

products distribution in the 

downstream sector, is 

selling Premium Motor 

Spirit, PMS, to the two 

blocks at different prices, as 

it is selling the Premium 

Motor Spirit, PMS, to major 

Marketers at N125. 65k per 

litre, while selling same to 

Independent Marketers at 

N133.28 per litre in breach 

of the law setting it up. 

The House wondered why 

there would be a disparity 

in the pricing “since 

members of the two blocks 

are selling the products to 

retailers in the same 

market.” 

The House said the 

“discriminatory prices have 

been affecting the 

participatory capacity of the 

independent marketers in 

the market, as well as 

impoverishing them against 

their counterparts in the 

sector”. 

The House in adopting 

the motion and its prayers, 

said it would check the 

discriminatory practices of 

the Petroleum Products 


Limited in order to give all 

concerned marketers a 

sense of belonging. 

VISIT: From left, Chairman, Council of Yoruba Traditional Rulers in FCT, Oba Olusegun Salau; Chairman 

Yoruba Traditional Rulers in the North,Amb. Muhammad Arigbabuwo; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and 

the President Yoruba Community in FCT, Aare Lanre Ajayi during an audience the Vice President granted 

a delegation of Yoruba Community in the North at the State House, Abuja. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida. 

ALLEGED N2BN FRAUD: Maina hospitalised, 

as court rules on his bail request tomorrow 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

A Federal BUJA—THE 

High Court 

sitting in Abuja said 

yesterday it would on 

Thursday consider the merit 

of an application former 

Chairman of Pension 

Reform Task Team, 

Abdulrasheed Maina, who 

is facing trial over his 

alleged complicity in a 

N2billion fraud, filed to be 

released on bail pending his 

trial. 

Trial Justice Okon Abang 

heard and reserved ruling 

on the bail application, even 

though Maina was absent 

in court. 

An officer of the Nigeria 

Correctional Service Center, 

Kuje, had shortly after the 

matter was called-up for 

continuation of trial, 

produced a medical report 

that indicated that the expension 

boss was seriously 

sick. 

The report, which was 

signed by one Dr. Idowu 

Ajayi, further revealed that 

Maina was receiving 

medical attention at his 

detention center. 

Maina had earlier 

lamented that Justice Abang 

aggravated his high blood 

pressure on the day he was 

arraigned. 

He said his health 

deteriorated after the Judge 

asked the court registrar to 

order him to stop staring at 

the bench, a 

pronouncement Maina said 

made him to feel as if he was 

being convicted. 

Meanwhile, though he 

was not present in court 

yesterday, based on the 

medical report, Justice 

Abang, deferred his trial 

and directed a staff of the 

United Bank for Africa, 

UBA, Mrs. Mairo 

Mohammed, who had 

appeared as the first 

prosecution witness, PW-1, 

in the matter, to return on 

the next adjourned date. 

The trial Judge however 

refused application by 

Maina’s lawyer, Mr. 

Francis Oronsaye, for 

hearing of his client’s 

motion for bail to be 

suspended till a later date. 

Mr. Oronsaye told the 

court that his principal, 

Chief Joe Gadzama, SAN, 

was handling another 

matter before a High Court 

of the Federal Capital 

Territory and was therefore 

unable to attend the 

proceeding. 

Not satisfied with the 

reason, Justice Abang 

ordered him to move the bail 

application, stressing that 

his principal ought to have 

known that the Federal 

High Court was higher in 

the order of judicial 

hierarchy. 

Besides, Justice Abang 

noted that though he 

initially fixed November 19 

to hear the bail application, 

the court, owing to a motion 

by the defendant, abridged 

the time. 

After counsel to the 

defendant insisted that he 

was not prepared to argue 

the bail application, the 

court, gave the Economic 

and Financial Crime 

Commission, EFCC, the 

nod to move its own counteraffidavit 

to the motion. 

EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. 

Mohammed Abubakar, told 

the court that the 

Commission had in the 

counter-affidavit it filed on 

October 30, opposed the 

release of Maina on bail. 

In the counter-affidavit 

that was deposed to by one 

Deborah Opete, EFCC, 

chronicled all the efforts it 

made before it was able to 

FG disputes $25bn diaspora 

remittances, says figure higher 

By Victoria Ojeme 

& Omeiza Ajayi 

ABUJA—THE Federal 

Government has 

disputed the $25 billion 

figure said to be the annual 

remittances of Nigerians in 

diaspora, saying it was 

actually higher. 

Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, 

disclosed this in Abuja 

yesterday at the opening of 

a two-day Technical 

Workshop on Diaspora 

Remittances and 

Sustainable Development 

under the chairmanship of 

the Kingdom of Belgium 

and the French Republic. 

Onyeama, who said the 

figure often bandied about 

was actually not a true 

reflection of diaspora 

remittances to Nigeria, 

added that the challenge 

with most countries was how 

to channel such remittances 

to development. 

“As you know, in the past 

few years, it is said that 

Nigerians in diaspora 

remittances are $25 billion. 

The figure being bandied 

about is $25 billion per year 

in remittances. 

“I read not too long ago 

that this figure is 

inaccurate. It is far from 

being accurate because 

when you logically think 

about it, it is huge and as 

they say, it even dwarfs the 

budget. It is hard to fathom. 

A 

B 

U J A — 

PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari has 

approved the appointment 

of Dr Sarah Omotunde 

Alade as Special Adviser 

on Finance and the 

Economy. 

A statement by the Senior 

Special Assistant to the 

President on Media and 

Publicity, Mallam Garba 

arrest the ex-pension boss. 

The anti-graft agency told 

the court that it took the 

intervention of a team that 

was led by the Department 

of State Service, DSS, to 

apprehend the defendant 

whom it said declined 

several invitations it 

extended to him. 

It therefore urged the 

court to deny him pail, 

insisting that he posed a 

flight risk. 

Meantime, though 

Maina’s lawyer did not 

argue his bail application, 

Justice Abang ruled that it 

would be deemed to have 

been duly moved before 

the court. 

He consequently 

adjourned the matter to 

deliver ruling on the 

bail motion. 

‘’So, I think there is some 

debate as to how accurate 

that really is. But of course, 

we will love it to be that. 

There are huge resources 

coming into the country 

from Nigerians in diaspora 

and the challenge, as with 

most countries, is how to 

channel those resources to 

development,” he said. 

Buhari appoints ex-CBN's Alade 

Special Adviser on Finance, 

Economy 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

Shehu in Abuja yesterday, 

explained that Alade would 

be domiciled in the 

Ministry of Finance, 

Budget and National 

Planning. 

Dr. Alade, who holds BSc 

(Economics) and PhD in 

Management Science 

(Operations Research), 

retired from the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN, as 

Deputy Governor in 2017 

after spending 23 years in 

the apex bank. 

She had also acted briefly 

in 2014 as CBN Governor.


AWARD: Governor 

Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta 

State (left) receiving an 

Award of Active 

Participation and 

Funding from the 

President, Nigeria 

Medical Association, 

Dr. Francis Faduyile, 

during the 2nd 

National Health 

Summit, held at the 

International 

Conference Centre, 

Abuja. 

Nigeria in messy situation because FG failed to act 

against those threatening peace, unity — SOYINKA 

By Peter Duru 

M N AKURDI— 

O B E L 

Laureate, Prof. Wole 

Soyinka, said yesterday that 

Nigeria was currently in a 

mess because the Federal 

Government failed to take 

decisive actions against 

those threatening the 

peace and unity of the 

country. 

Soyinka, who spoke when 

he paid a courtesy call on 

Governor Samuel Ortom of 

Benue State in Makurdi, 

regretted that the northern 

part of the country had been 

besieged by armed gangs, 

with issuing threats, 

lamenting that government 

had failed to take decisive 

action against those behind 

the threats. 

He said: “This area of 

the country is really 

besieged. First, it was Boko 

Haram and then herdsmen 

wherever they came from 

and recently, it was ISWAP. 

It means holistic approach 

has to be taken and not just 

by government but the 

entirety of the nation. 

“We cannot have this 

succession of negative 

intrusions into our normal 

lives, into developments, 

into the growth, in the 

upbringing of children. 

“We must commit 

ourselves to making sure 

that they do not grow up in 

a culture where they belief 

that violence is the norm, 

that violence is a way of life. 

And growing up 

traumatized is the natural 

bequest of children. 

“For me, this vulnerable 

generation who are not 

culpable of any of the 

laxities, the incompetences, 

the crimes of the adults, it 

is most unjust that they 

should have to undergo 

this kind of punitive 

existence for the crimes of 

their parents and the adult 

society. 

“I think we have a 

responsibility, those of us 

who knew and grew up 

under different 

circumstances, we have a 

responsibility to ensure that 

the kids have a glimpse of 

what we enjoyed as 

children. 

“For me, it is a moral 

responsibility, one we 

cannot dodge and we do 

not know what will come 

after ISWA. So, it’s time to 

take preventive measures, 

HEALTH TIPS 

By Sola Ogundipe 

High Blood Pressure 

HIGH 

blood 

pressure (also 

called hypertension) is a 

serious illness that 

affects millions in 

Nigeria. High blood 

pressure is often called 

a “silent killer” because 

many people have it but 

don’t know it. Over time, 

people who do not get 

treated for high blood 

pressure can get very 

sick or even die. It can 

cause life-threatening 

illnesses like kidney 

problems, stroke, heart 

failure, blindness, and heart 

attacks. Your chances of 

having high blood 

pressure are higher if you 

are overweight, eat foods 

high in salt, do not get 

regular exercise, smoke or 

drink alcohol heavily. 

Many people with high 

blood pressure do not feel 

sick at first. The only way 

to know for sure is to get 

your blood pressure 

checked. A few women will 

get high blood pressure 

when they are pregnant. 

When pregnant women get 

high blood pressure, it is 

called preeclampsia or 

toxemia. When you have 

your blood pressure 

which means not just 

military, protective, 

defensive means but the 

very development of 

society in a way in which 

we discourage the very 

possibility of any of the 

violent negative 

hindrances to normal 

development. 

“It is not the responsibility 

of Benue alone, it is not the 

responsibility of the 

affected states alone, its a 

national responsibility and 

I hope this governments 

has seen the result of taking 

things easy when they are 

supposed to be taken by the 

throat and tackled very 

decisively. 

“Now that they have seen 

how violence led to 

violence, impunity caused 

impunity, violent 

arrogance cause more and 

more arrogance when you 

have any kind of unit in a 

rural community which 

says either you do this or 

we will show you, this is 

the mentality which led to 

the virtual take over of order 

by philosophy of disorder. 

“The possibility that any 

section of the society can 

call the shots for the totality 

and I’m referring to when 

Benue State passed the 

grazing law and criminals 

and homicidal gang had 

the nerve to say you take 

that law out or else. That 

means we do not live in a 

Boundary Commission begins 

work on Benue, Ebonyi dispute 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A National BUJA—THE 

Boundary 

Commission said yesterday 

it has started preliminary 

work for the demarcation of 

boundaries to end the 

protracted dispute between 

the people of Ngbo in 

Ohaukwu Local 

Government Area of Ebonyi 

State and their neighbours, 

Agila, in Ado Local 

Government Area of Benue 

State. 

Members of the 

commission had in 

September took far 

reaching decisions on the 

matter, with a view to 

putting a finality to the 

reported killings in the 

civilized society. 

“Once that happens, the 

only one answer is that the 

tail cannot wag the dog. 

This is what the Buhari 

government failed to do at 

the right, critical moment 

and that is why parts of the 

country are still in a mess 

which they are today. 

“We must learn to take 

proactive measures to 

prevent any further 

deterioration of the country. 

''As for those who make 

threats over herdsmen 

settlements as panacea for 

peace in the states, I will 

say that when they come 

to Ogun State, we will 

have a suitable 

response for them.’’ 

area, including a 

programme to aid the 

demarcation of the 

disputed boundaries 

between the two states. 

At the meeting chaired by 

Vice President Yemi 

Osinbajo, and the 

Governor of Benue State, 

Samuel Ortom, and Deputy 

Governor of Ebonyi State, 

Kelechi Igwe, in 

attendance, the 

commission had directed 

the authorities of the NBC 

to work with the states to 

provide the necessary 

logistics and security for the 

demarcation exercise. 

Speaking with State 

House correspondents, 

after the 10th Board 

Meeting of the 

Commission yesterday, 

the Acting Director-General 

of the Commission, Adamu 

Adaji, said that the panel 

members were poised to 

follow the directive 

religeously. 

He said: “The last 

meeting between the vice 

president and governors 

of the two states directed 

that we should resume 

the demarcation that was 

stalled for many years now 

and we have started action 

accordingly. 

“We have met at technical 

level to identify the number 

of beacons as permanent 

markers that are required 

and what we need to do 

preparatory to the field 

work. We have come out 

with a programme. We will 

discuss with the states at a 

joint meeting of officials that 

will be scheduled very 

soon. 

''We are in contact with 

the states to ensure that 

agreements 

adhered to.'' 

SIGNING PSC BILL IN LONDON: Buhari can govern 

Nigeria from anywhere — OSHIOMHOLE 

•Says APC monitoring activities of Lawan-led Senate 

•9th Senate working for Nigeria, says Lawan 

By Henry Umoru 

AChairman BUJA—NATIONAL 

of All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC, Comrade Adams 

Oshiomhole, yesterday 

took a swipe at critics 

knocking President 

Muhammadu Buhari for 

signing a bill into law in 

London, saying the 

President can govern from 

any where. 

Speaking yesterday in 

Abuja when he led 

members of the APC 

National Working 

Committee, NWC, on a visit 

to President of the Senate, 

Senator Ahmad Lawan, 

and other principal officers 

of the APC in the Upper 

Chamber, Oshiomhole said 

Nigeria had gone beyond 

what he described as 

Mungo Park where a 

President was expected to 

function only from his base. 

According to him, 

President Buhari signed 

the Deep Offshore and 

Inland Basin Production 

Sharing Contract, PSC, 

Amendment Bill into law on 

Monday in London at 

Nigeria House. 

Oshiomhole, who 

disclosed that the party had 

been monitoring the 

activities of the 9th Senate 

under the leadership of 

Senator Ahmad Lawan as 

the President, said the 

Upper Chamber has 

performed extremely well, 

especially with the 

cultivation of what he 

described as an unusual, 

but very fruitful bipartisan 

working relationship. 

He said: “I was also 

excited to see Mr. President 

sign into law that Act in 

London. Again, a couple of 

implication on this. The 

President recognised that if 

you can manage it as 

quickly as you did and 

come out with such 

fundamental amendment 

that has such enormous 

impact on our national 

revenue, he as President 

also has to do the needful. 

‘’I think by signing the bill 

into law at the Nigerian 

House in London, it shows 

that wherever the President 

is, he is Presiding over 

Nigeria and with the benefit 

of modern technology; we 

have passed the Mungo 

Park era. 

“So signing it in London 

for me has also made several 

statements. Namely, that 

wherever national interest is 

involved, the President is on 

duty and wherever he is, he 

is presiding. I also salute his 

assenting to the Bill as fast 

as he did and even at the 

Nigerian House in 

London.” 

Recall that President 

Buhari has temporarily 

relocated the Presidency to 

the United Kingdom where 

he signed the Deep 

Offshore and Inland Basin 

Production Sharing 

Contract, PSC, Amendment 

Bill into law on Monday. 

Speaking further on the 

achievements recorded so 

far in the 9th Senate, with 

Senator Ahmad Lawan as 

President, Oshiomhole, 

who called for a more robust 

bipartisan working 

relationship among APC 

are 

senators, the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP and 

the Young Progressives 

Party, YPP, for effective 

development, said national 

interest should be 

paramount and not 

personal interest. 

Responding, the 

President of the Senate, 

Lawan, who noted that the 

9th Senate was working for 

Nigeria, said all the 

Ministries, Departments 

and Agencies, MDAs, have 

defended their budgets. 

He said with the 

amendment of the PSC, 

Nigeria would, at $55 per 

barrel of oil, receive about 

$1.5 billion annually, 

adding that when price got 

as high as $60, the earning 

would be close to $2 billion 

which he described as a 

monumental quantum 

leap. 

Lawan said: “We have a 

Senate today that is primed 

right from the start to 

deliver to Nigerians. We 

campaigned and said that 

we want a Senate that will 

work for Nigerian. This 

Senate works for Nigeria, 

indeed. And this is just the 

beginning of what we 

intend to achieve.''

10 — VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019 

Operation Positive Identification: 

Maintain status quo, court 

orders army 

By Innocent Anaba 

L Rilwanu AGOS—JUSTICE 

Aikawa of a 

Federal High Court sitting 

in Lagos, yesterday, 

ordered status quo ante in 

the plan by the Nigerian 

Army to extend its 


Identification nationwide. 

Also affected by the order 

are the Chief of Army Staff, 

COAS, Lt. Gen. Tukur 

Buratai and the Attorney- 

General of the Federation. 

Justice Aikawa granted 

the status quo ante order 

pending the determination 

of a suit by rights activist, 

Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, 

challenging the operation, 

which he insisted violates 

his right and that of other 

Nigerian citizens to liberty, 

“as encapsulated in Section 

35 respectively of the 

Constitution of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria, 1999 

as Amended and Article 6 

of the African Charter on 

Human and Peoples Rights 

(Ratification and 

Enforcement) Act, (Cap 

A10) Laws of the 

Federation of Nigeria, 

2004.” 

Order stopping the 

operation 

Falana is seeking, among 

others, an order stopping 

the operation. 

At the hearing in the 

matter, yesterday, the 

respondents were in court. 

Falana informed the court 

that the respondents had 

been served the processes 

and the proof of service was 

in the court’s file. 

Justice Aikawa confirmed 

that the proof of service was 

in the court’s file. 

But a Principal State 

Counsel from the Ministry 

of Justice prayed the judge 

to grant an adjournment to 

enable the Solicitor- 

General, Mr. Dayo Apata, 

handle the matter 

personally and also give 

the respondents time to 

harmonise their positions. 

This was, however, not 

opposed by Falana. 

Justice Aikawa in 

granting the application for 

adjournment, said: “Given 

the agreement between 

counsel, I, hereby, order the 

first and second defendants 

to maintain the status quo, 

pending the determination 

of the case,” and adjourned 

the further hearing till 

November 18. 

Falana, in the substantive 

suit, is arguing that the 

planned nationwide 

operation which will run 

from November 1 to 

December 23, 2019, by 

which Nigerian citizens 

would be required to move 

about with means of 

identification is 

unconstitutional, illegal, 

null and void. 

He is, in the suit, urging 

the court to restrain the 

respondents from going on 

with the plan pending the 

hearing of the substantive 

suit. 

In a supporting affidavit, 

Falana recalled that on 

October 8, 2019, the Chief 

of Army Staff, disclosed that 


Identification, said to be 

ongoing in the North East 

theatre of Boko Haram 

insurgency would be 

extended to cover the entire 

nation. 

He averred that the 

COAS said the operation 

required Nigerian citizens 

to move about with 

legitimate means of 

identification such as the 

National Identification 

Card, Voters Registration 

Card, Drivers’ Licence and 

passports or other valid 

official identification. 

Falana noted that the 

increase in deployment of 

security forces nationwide 

would be with a potential 

of movement disruption. 

He also said the army 

had thus advised Nigerians 

to ensure that they always 

carry valid means of 

identification. 

Falana argued that by 

Section 215 (3) of the 

Constitution, the Nigerian 

Police “has the exclusive 

power to maintain law and 

order and secure public 

safety and public order in 

the country” and not the 

army. 

According to him, going 

by section 217(1) of the 

Constitution, the President 

could only deploy the 

armed forces for the 

suppression of insurrection 

and acting in aid of civil 

authorities to restore law 

and order. 

He noted:“There is no 

insurrection in every part of 

the country which the 

Nigeria police cannot 

contain to warrant the 

deployment of armed troops 

all over the country from 

November 1, 2019, to 

December 23, 2019. 

“Neither the Constitution 

nor the Armed Forces Act 

Cap A20 LFN, 2004 has 

empowered the Nigeria 

Army to arrest any citizen 

who is not subject to service 

law. 

“The Nigerian Army, 

under the leadership of the 

COAS, is not empowered 

to take over police duties 

and the President and 

Commander-in-Chief of the 

Armed Forces lacks the 

power to deploy members 

of the armed forces in the 

maintenance of internal 

security in any part of the 

country by virtue of Section 

217 (a) (b) and (c) of the 

1999 Constitution, as 

amended." 

Freight forwarders to down tools over 

Apapa gridlock •Record 3 deaths in one week 

•Tanker drivers indict Task Team of extortion 

By Kingsley 

Adegboye, Godwin 

Oritse & Gabriel 

Olawale 

LAGOS—AS the Apapa- 

Oshodi Expressway 

gridlock continues to cause 

nightmare to road users 

plying the route, a group, 

Concerned Freight 

Forwarders of Nigeria, 

CFFN, has said that it lost 

three of its members to the 

gridlock, and has 

threatened to down tools if 

a permanent solution to the 

traffic crisis is not sought. 

Disclosing this yesterday, 

Chairman of the group, 

Andy Omenogo, said that 

a member of the group died 

last Friday, just as it also lost 

another member on 

Saturday. 

Omenogo also revealed 

that only three days ago, 

another member of the 

group slumped and died 

while in the traffic. 

He said: “Last Friday, we 

lost a friend at Tin-Can 

Island Port. Then on 

Saturday, we lost another 

friend and colleague and 

only last Monday, another 

member collapsed and died 

while in the traffic.” 

While it blamed the 

deaths to the perennial 

Bonnke’s crusade commences tomorrow in Ogun 

A gospel BEOKUTA—THE 

crusade of 

renowned Televangelist, 

Evangelist Reinhard 

Bonnke, is set to hold 

tomorrow in Abeokuta, 

Ogun State. 

The crusade is led by 

Evangelist Daniel Kolenda, 

the successor of retiring 

Bonnke. 

Bonnke entrusted 

Evangelist Kolenda, with 

the mantle of leadership on 

instruction from God to 

continue the mission of 

global evangelistic 

campaigns in Nigeria and 

Africa. 

COURTESY VISIT: From left—Council Member, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, CITN, Dr. 

Titilayo Fowokan; Vice President, CITN, Mr. Adesina Adedayo; President, CITN, Dame Olajumoke 

Simplice; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, 

and Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, during a courtesy visit by the executive members 

of CITN, at Lagos House, Alausa, on yesterday. 

In a statement by Africa's 

Director of CFAN, Rev. 

John Darku, and Chairman 

Christian Association of 

Nigeria, CAN, in Ogun 

State, Bishop Akin 

Akinsanya, said the 2001 

crusade success led to the 

coming of all Christian 

churches in Ogun State 

together as a body of 

Christ. 

The Fire Conference 

Chairman, Rev. Akintayo, 

said the exercise will 

charge the crusade 

atmosphere making it ideal 

for Holy Ghost fire to come 

down and prevail at the 

crusade. 

traffic that has led to the 

loss of lives of its members, 

the group lamented that 

billions of Naira have also 

been lost to the problem. 

In his reaction to the 

development, Vice 

President of the Association 

of Nigerian Licensed 

Customs Agents, ANLCA, 

Mr. Kayode Farinto, said 

that 40 percent of members 

of the group now suffer 

from high blood pressure. 

Farinto also said that the 

country will continue to 

lose to the chaotic traffic 

situation if urgent steps 

were not taken to address 

the crisis. 

Tanker drivers indict 

Osinbajo’s Task team 

Meanwhile, tankers 

drivers plying Mile2- 

Apapa road, yesterday, 

opened up on their plight 

in the process of 

transporting empty 

containers into the port. 

The drivers, who spoke in 

their hundreds, alleged that 

the Task Team headed by 

the Vice President, Prof. 

Yemi Osinbajo, has turned 

managing traffic on the 

road, to business ventures 

as the officials make tanker 

drivers pay various sums of 

money before they can gain 

access to the port. 

The organizers said: 

“Evangelist Kolenda who 

also succeeds Bonnke as 

President and Chief 

Executive Officer, Christ for 

All Nations (CfAN), has 

carried out the largest 

missionary evangelistic 

campaigns in the most 

dangerous, difficult and 

remote locations on earth 

“All necessary 

arrangements have been 

put in place to ensure a 

highly rewarding and 

hitch-free crusade. The Fire 

Conference would kickstart 

the crusade on 

Thursday 7th November 

2019 at 6.00 am local time.” 

They pointed out that the 

action of the Task Team, 

supervised by Executive 

Vice Chairman, Comrade 

Kayode Opeifa, was a pure 

disgrace to the campaign 

against corruption. 

When Vanguard spoke 

with some of the drives, 

they were of the view that 

the team was doing more 

harm than good on the 

road. 

N500,000 daily extortion 

A driver, who identified 

himself as Kunle Abifarin, 

said that each member of 

the team goes home with 

nothing less than N500, 

000 on a daily basis. 

Abifarin said: “It is difficult 

for you to access ports on 

your own without the help 

of area boys or thugs, who 

will help you negotiate your 

way. The prominent the 

area boy is, the lesser the 

amount you pay. But you 

cannot spend less than 

N70,000 per container. 

“The task team charges 

start from Fagbems filling 

station and the amount 

varies depending on your 

negotiating power. Once 

you get to Mile 2 up, where 

you have the Navy, Army, 

Police, LASTMA officials 

among others, the charges 

become different. At UBA 

Bank beside Fort Oil filling 

station, there is another 

checkpoint. That is how all 

of them arrange 

themselves until you get to 

the ports”, Abifarin noted. 

Another driver, who 

identified himself as Azeez 

Abdulateef, revealed that if 

a tanker driver wants to 

prove stubborn by not 

cooperating, there is a 

special treatment for him. 

“There is a separate lane 

created for those that are 

not ready to pay and a 

driver can be on that lane 

for two months without 

being passed”, Abdulateef 

said. 

Adamu Ali, who said his 

religion forbids giving bribe, 

disclosed that he has been 

on the road for a week and 

five days. 

Narrating his ordeal, Ali 

said: “My experience here 

shows that Nigeria can 

never get better. A lot of 

people are corrupt; the 

saints among them are very 

few and are victimized. I 

have been insulted 

severally here for standing 

for what I believe is right. 

“The task team officials 

are wicked fellows and they 

comprise different religions 

and ethnicity but united in 

their evil doing. At night, 

their operation of extortion 

becomes more daring as 

they barricade the road to 

ensure that no driver passes 

without paying their 

monies.” 

“Trucks like Yah Salam, 

J.O. among others are 

allowed to enter the port in 

their hundreds without 

following due process”, Ali 

stated. 

Activist moves to 

curb 

environmental 

hazards in Lagos 

LAGOS—A 

rights 

activist, Comrade 

Razaq Olokoba, has floated 

a voluntary non- 

Governmental outfit to 

assist the Lagos State 

government and residents 

in reducing the 

environmental hazards 

resulting from the dirty 

environment and blocked 

drains. 

Olokoba said the outfit, 

Sanwo-Olu Vanguard on 

Environmental Sanitation, 

is for the members to serve 

as volunteers to go round 

periodically to assist in 

clearing refuses at strategic 

places throughout the nook 

and cranny of the state 

The founder, Olokoba, 

while addressing 

journalists in Lagos, 

highlighted the danger of 

indiscriminate dumping of 

refuse saying it can cause 

environmental pollution 

through stench oozing out 

of the carelessly dumped 

wastes.


Coalition 

holds 

colloquium to 

end crimes 

against 

journalists 

LAGOS—A coalition of 

media and civil society 

group will on Thursday, 

November 7, hold a 

colloquium to address the 

shrinking media and civic 

space in Nigeria and attack 

on journalists, media 

organizations and civic 

activists. 

The event holds at NECA 

House, Ikeja, Lagos, at 4:00 

p.m. 

Coming barely a week 

after the International Day 

to End Impunity for Crimes 

against Journalists, the 

colloquium will draw 

attention to the sustained 

attacks against journalists 

and free speech in Nigeria. 

In a statement by 

Coordinator of the African 

Centre for Media and 

Information Literacy, Dr 

Chido Onumah, the 

coalition said: “Still two 

months to the end of the 

year, 2019 has turned out 

to be the year when the 

muzzling of journalists and 

independent voices and 

constriction of the civic 

space in Nigeria has been 

at its worst point in recent 

memory.” 

“From January 2019 to 

date, we have recorded 71 

attacks on the media, 

including arrests, 

intimidation, detention and 

killings. The coalition 

highlighted “the alarming 

trend of media censorship 

by state authorities in 

Nigeria, the flagrant 

disobedience of court 

:Vanguard 

News 

FG to adopt radical measures to tackle vaccine 

diseases —Health minister 

By Rotimi 

Ojomoyela 

A DO-EKITI—THE 

Minister of Health, Dr. 

Emmanuel Osagie, 

yesterday, disclosed that 

the Federal Government 

will adopt radical policies 

and measures targeted at 

eliminating polio and other 

vaccine-preventable 

diseases in the country. 

Dr. Osagie explained that 

though Nigeria had 

reached an appreciable 

percentage in the 

eradication of vaccine 

diseases, more efforts still 

needed to be put in place 

to ensure hundred percent 

successes. 

The Minister of Health 

said this, in Ado Ekiti, 

during the National 

Scientific Conference of the 

National Association of 

Community Health 

Practitioners of Nigeria. 

Represented by the Chief 

Medical Director Federal 

Teaching Hospital Ido Ekiti, 

Professor Kunle Ajayi, the 

Minister stressed the need 

for health workers to step 

up the quality of their 

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

Hearing-impaired students petition Makinde over land acquisition 

By Ola Ajayi 

Iimpaired BADAN—HEARING 

students and 

the management of the 

Christian School Mission 

for the Deaf, yesterday, 

petitioned Governor Seyi 

Makinde of Oyo State over 

the alleged forceful 

acquisition of part of their 

39-acre land by the former 

administration in the state 

pleading with the governor 

to cancel the unpopular 

directive. 

The school is presently 

orders and the charges of 

treason, terrorism and 

cybercrimes against 

citizens by Federal and 

State Governments and the 

misuse of the state criminal 

justice system to silence 

free expression.” 

According to Onumah, 

the November 7 

colloquium will provide a 

platform for journalists, 

media practitioners, and 

multiple actors in civil 

society to exchange ideas 

on threats to freedom of the 

press and citizens’ rights in 

the digital age. 

The colloquium, which 

will be chaired by Femi 

Falana, SAN, will have in 

attendance as special 

guests Senator Shehu Sani, 

President of NUJ, Chris 

Isiguzo, a former editor of 

Saturday Punch. 

The keynote address will 

be delivered by Odia 

Ofeimun. 

INSPECTION—Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde (middle); Special Adviser to the Governor 

on Security, CP Fatai Owoseni (retd, right), and Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of State 

Criminal Investigation Department, DCP Abayomi, during the inspection of recently discovered 

Oloore illegal detention camp in Ojoo, Ibadan. PHOTO: Oyo State Government. 

located at Onireke 

government reserved area 

in Ibadan. 

While pleading with 

Governor Makinde to 

rescind the acquisition 

order to further convince 

the people of the state that 

he is committed to 

improving the standard of 

education in the state, they 

stressed that the former 

administration had turned 

deaf ears to their numerous 

pleas that they bought the 

parcel of land from the fund 

they raised from their little 

I’m a card-carrying member of APC, REC 

nominee tells Senate 


AMuhammadu BUJA—PRESIDENT 

Buhari’s 

nominee as a Resident 

Electoral Commissioner 

from Osun State, Raheem 

Olalekan, yesterday, told 

the Senate that he was a 

card-carrying member of 

the All Progressives 

Congress, APC. 

Answering questions 

from Senators when he 

appeared before the 

Senator Kabiru Gaya-led 

Senate Committee for the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, Olalekan said: “I am 

a member of APC and I 

contested for local 

government chairmanship 

resources. 

They called on Governor 

Makinde to allow them to 

benefit from his “milk of 

human kindness” which 

others have been enjoying 

since he assumed power. 

In the petition signed by 

the administrator of the 

school, Mr. Peter Obadare, 

the hearing impaired 

students said after their 

initial protest to the 

governor’s office about two 

years ago, the then 

Commissioner for Lands, 

operations and support 

government in recording 

perfect immunization 

coverage for children. 

Osagie said: “We have a 

target to get rid of all 

vaccine diseases in 

children; this is why we 

require improved service 

delivery by health workers. 

“All hands must be on 

deck at this time to achieve 

zero percent in the 

elimination of these 

diseases.” 

The acting President of 

the National Association of 

Community Health 

in 2013.” 

Despite efforts by 

members of the committee 

to assist him, the nominee 

maintained his loyalty to 

the APC. 

His acceptance as APC 

member, however, 

confirmed a petition against 

his nomination by one 

Oyebade Abideen, 

alleging that he has open 

support for a particular 

political party which 

negates part of 

constitutional criteria for 

INEC Commissioner. 

Olalekan, who was taken 

off-guard by a petition 

against his nomination, 

failed repeatedly to 

respond favourably to 

questions that may have 

Mr. Isaac Omodewu, had 

promised that the state 

government would have a 

rethink on the acquisition 

order. 

The petition reads: “The 

Commissioner said the 

governor had approved the 

release of their land only to 

discover later that the same 

government started 

building two mini houses 

for the villagers who were 

displaced by the 

Practitioners of Nigeria, 

Alhaji Musa Konto, 

stressed the need for 

government to upgrade the 

various health facilities 

across the country and 

ensure better welfare 

package for community 

health officials to achieving 

universal health care 

coverage. 

Earlier, Governor Kayode 

Fayemi of Ekiti State, who 

spoke through the Head of 

Service, said the 

government would provide 

the needed platform and 

resources towards 

eradicating vaccinepreventable 

diseases. 

offered him a soft landing, 

as the Senators repeatedly 

sought to make him explain 

his membership of the 

party. 

The nominee said: “I am 

a member of the APC. I am 

a member of APC and I 

contested for local 

government chairmanship 

in 2013. In 2015, I left 

politics and moved on to the 

University of Ibadan to 

study Psychology. 

“I had the card then 

when I had the intention of 

contesting for election. On 

the question of whether I 

was a Director General of a 

contestant, yes, I was the 

DG of a contestant in 2017.” 

The Senate Committee, 

however, asked the 

nominee to return in two 

establishment of Technical 

University. 

“We want your Excellency 

to look into the whole 

matter as we suspect some 

fraudulent dealings in the 

issue. We want your 

administration to dig deep 

into this matter as the land 

was purchased from hardearned 

funds to better the 

lot of the deaf in the 

society.” 

I BADAN—GOVERNOR 

Seyi Makinde of Oyo 

State, yesterday, ordered 

the demolition of an “illegal 

rehabilitation centre” in the 

Ojoo area of Ibadan in Oyo 

State. 

More than 200 inmates 

were rescued from the 

centre at Olore Central 

Mosque, after a police raid, 

on Monday. 

The governor gave the 

order during a visit to the 

centre, on Tuesday. 

Makinde also visited the 

camp where the freed 

persons are being 

rehabilitated. 

The Commissioner of 

Police, Shina Olukolu, said 

days for more interrogation 

on his qualification or 

otherwise for his job. 

In his contribution, a 

member of the Committee, 

Senator Opeyemi 

Bamidele (APC, Ekiti 

Central) said that the 

committee cannot be seen 

endorsing a violation of the 

Nigerian constitution which 

provides that an occupant of the 

office of the INEC Commissioner 

must be apolitical. 

On his part, Senator Ibrahim 

Shekarau (APC, Kano Central) 

had sought to know if the 

nominee was a former member of 

the APC and when he last 

appeared at her function. 

Nigeria targets 

80% revenue 

from non-oil 

sector —Fowler 

Aof BUJA—CHAIRMAN 

the Federal Inland 

Revenue Service, FIRS, 

Mr. Tunde Fowler, 

yesterday, disclosed that 

Nigeria will earn at least 80 

per cent of her revenues 

from the non-oil sector of the 

economy in the next three 

years. 

Fowler, who spoke at the 

Nigeria-Canada 

Investment Summit in 

Abuja, noted that the nonoil 

sector contribution to the 

Nigerian economy has 

risen to 60 per cent by 

November 2019 from 54 per 

cent in December 2018. 

He s venue. You may 

ask where is that going to 

come from. It is going to 

come from agriculture.” 

He said the strategies 

that FIRS is adopting to 

realise improved revenue 

collection are: “auto VAT 

Collection: there is 

automation of VAT 

collection in key sectors 

which facilitates reduction 

in compliance cost in the 

long term; there is system 

to system integration 

between banks and FIRS; 

VAT collection in the 

banking sector went live in 

January 2017 and from 

Jan-Oct. 2019 collected 

N25.6bn so far; VAT 

collection in the Cable TV 

sector went live in Dec 2018 

and generated N5.1 billion 

so far from January to 

October 18, 2019." 

Makinde orders demolition of 

‘torture centre’ in Oyo 

the centre was discovered 

after a tip-off by an 

informant. 

Olukolu said five 

persons suspected to be 

connected with the centre 

were arrested, and that the 

police would secure the 

facility and conduct further 

investigations. 

He said those involved in 

the operations of the centre 

will be prosecuted to serve 

as a deterrent to others. 

Also, Oyo State 

Commissioner for Women 

Affairs, Faosat Sanni, said 

the victims will be relocated 

to a safer place and those 

with health challenges will 

be taken to hospital.

12 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6 , 2019 

A-Ibom varsity sacks 8 

lecturers over alleged 

extortion, sexual harrasment 

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

By Harris Emanuel 

& Chioma Onuegbu 

U AUTHORITIES Y O — 

of 

Akwa Ibom State 

University, yesterday, 

disclosed that eight 

lecturers have been sacked 

over alleged extortion and 

sexual harassment of 

students. 

Vice Chancellor, Prof. 

Eno Ibanga dropped the 

hint while interacting with 

newsmen at Ikot Akpaden, 

adding that an associate 

professor has already been 

indicted by a panel and 

would soon face stiff 

sanctions. 

Ibanga said some of the 

sacked lecturers were in 

court challenging the 

punitive measures, adding 

that 10 students involved 

in cultism were also 

caught by the management 

of the institution. 

He said the students who 

were caught at the junction 

of the main campus with a 

mini coffin, red clothe and 

axes where on their way to 

an initiation ceremony. 

He noted that the 

university was doing its 

best to instill sanity and 

discipline among lecturers 

and students alike, noting 

that cases of immorality 

were thoroughly 

investigated by the 

management before 

disciplinary measures are 

carried out. 

He said: “The 

appointment of eight 

lecturers have been 

terminated by the 

university bordering on 

sexual harassment and 

extortion. As we speak, a 

notorious one is on 

ground and the person 

will not go scot-free.'' 

LEDAP, others challenge Akpabio 

in court over interim management 

committee 

By Innocent Anaba 

A 

civil society 

organisation, Legal 

Defence and Assistance 

Project, LEDAP, has 

dragged the Minister of 

Niger Delta Affairs 

,Godswill Akpabio before a 

Federal High Court sitting 

in Abuja, challenging his 

powers to constitute an 

interim management 

committee to run the affairs 

of the Niger Delta 

Development Commission, 

NDDC. 

Joined as plaintiffs in the 

suit are some indigenes of 

the Niger Delta area, 

including Iruo Onoruvwe, 

Anatole Osuji and Walter 

Abere, while other 

defendants are Dr Gbene 

Nunieh, Dr Cairo 

Ojougboh, and Chief 

Ibanga Etang. 

In the suit filed by 

Executive Director of 

LEDAP, Chino Obiagwu 

SAN, the plaintiff are 

asking the court to declare 

that the purported 

appointment by the first 

defendant of three-man 

interim management for 

the second defendant is 

contrary to sections 2, 10, 

and 12 of the NDDC Act 6 

2000(as amended) 

They are further asking 

the court to declare that the 

purported appointment by 

the first defendant of the 

third defendant as the 

Managing Director of the 

second defendant, the 

fourth as Executive 

Director, Projects, and the 

fifth defendant as Executive 

Director, Finance and 

Administration of the 

second defendant are 

contrary to the provisions of 

section 12(1)c of the NDCC 

Act as amended, which 

provides that the 

Managing Director and 

two executive directors of 

the second defendant shall 

be appointed by the 

President, Commander-inchief 

of the Armed Forces 

and confirmed by the 

Senate in consultation with 

the House of 

Representatives. 

*A declaration that by 

virtue of Section 12(2) of the 

second defendant of the 

NDDC Act, the Managing 

Director of the second 

defendant performs his 

functions under the 

general direction of the 

board of the second 

defendant. 

*A declaration that the 

first defendant cannot 

validly appoint the 3rd-5th 

defendants as acting 

Managing Director; and 

Executive Directors of the 

second defendant while 

the list of nominated 

members of board of the 

second defendant 

submitted by the 

President, pursuant to 

sections 2, 10, and 12 of 

the NDDC Act 2000 to the 

National Assembly. 

EXHIBITION: From left; Group MD, Nestoil Plc, Dr Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi; Father of ‘Impossibility is a 

Myth’ Art Exhibition Artist, Mr Tagbo Okeke with the Artist, Kanye Tagbo-Okeke; The Exhibition Curator and 

National President, Association of Professional Creative Artists and Designers in Nigeria (APCAD), Chief 

Kingsley Okafor and The Higher Commissioner of Pakistan, Maj. Gen. (retd) Waqar Ahmad Kingravi at 

the kick-off of a 7-day solo exhibition of contemporary abstract paintings by Kanye Tagbo-Okeke in Lagos. 

Attack on Oba of Lagos, Obaseki, others at 

Oshiomhole’s residence premeditated 

— EDO GOVT •Demands apology 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

BENIN—EDO State 

government has said 

that the attack on Governor 

Godwin Obaseki, the Oba 

of Lagos, Oba Rilwan 

Akiolu, and other notable 

guests, at the Iyamho 

country home of the former 

governor of the state and 

National Chairman of All 


APC, Mr Adams 

Oshiomhole was 

premeditated and 

executed with the active 

connivance and directive of 

the former governor. 

In a statement by the 

Secretary to the State 

Government, Osarodion 

Ogie, yesterday in Benin 

City, the state government 

demanded that an 

unreserved and 

unconditional apology be 

tendered to all persons who 

were victims of the 

sacrilegious, treasonable 

and extremely 

embarrassing event. 

Narrating the ordeal of 

the governor and his 

guests at Oshiomhole’s 

residence, Ogie said, “On 

Saturday, November 2, the 

governor as Visitor of the 

University, attended the 1st 

Convocation Ceremony of 

the Edo University, 

Iyamho. The governor was 

accompanied on his trip by 

HRM, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, 

the Oba of Lagos; Dr. 

Aderemi Makanjuola, the 

newly installed Chancellor 

of the University and his 

wife; Oba Otudeko, 

renowned businessman 

and philanthropist, among 

other dignitaries. 

“Upon the conclusion of 

the ceremony at the 

university venue, the 

National Chairman of APC 

and former governor of Edo 

State, Oshiomhole, 

personally invited the 

governor and his guests to 

his country home at Iyamho 

for lunch. 

“Oshiomhole went ahead 

of his invited guests to his 

residence and obviously 

was aware of the build-up 

of thugs within his 

compound in advance of 

the arrival of the governor 

and the Very Important 

Persons, VIPs. 

“The governor and his 

guests, which included the 

Oba of Lagos and the 

Deputy Governor of Edo 

State. Mr Philip Shaibu, 

then proceeded to the 

residence of the National 

Chairman to honor his 

invitation, only to be 

attacked upon arrival by the 

propositioned thugs at the 

entrance to the residence of 

It’s wicked that NDDC pays N1bn to collecting 

agents — MD 

By Egufe Yafugborhi 

O R T 

P HARCOURT— 

ACTING Managing 

Director, Niger Delta 


NDDC, Dr Gbene Nunieh, 

yesterday, described as 

“wicked,” the commission’s 

payment of N1 billion every 

month to a consultant as 

Speaker, Commissioner laud WDU, say Okowa'll 

make Delta first In education 

SPEAKER of the Delta 

State House of 

Assembly, Chieff Sheriff 

Oborevwori and the state 

Commissioner for Higher 

Education, Prof. Patrick 

Mouboghare, yesterday, 

commended the Western 

Delta University, WDU, 

Oghara, Ethiope West, 

Delta State, for its giant 

strides since it was founded 

over a decade ago. 

Apart from WDU’s having 

graduated students as at 

when due without missing 

a year since it was founded, 

they praised WDU for 

moving fully to its 

permanent sit, unlike many 

universities older than it. 

They spoke at the 

commissioning of the 

university’s ultra-modern 

the National Chairman. 

“The entourage suffered 

damage to vehicles on the 

convoy and had to return 

to the university premises 

from where they boarded 

the helicopter for the trip to 

Benin. 

“It is clear from the 

sequence of events that the 

attack on the governor, the 

Oba of Lagos and other 

VIPs was premeditated and 

could not have occurred 

without the active 

connivance or directive of 

the National Chairman. 

“In the circumstances, the 

government of Edo State 

funds collection agent. 

Nunieh said the 

commission under her 

leadership, had suspended 

the said payment to the 

agent for alleged collection 

of money from International 

Oil Companies, IOCs, on 

behalf of NDDC, noting 

that a separate entity had 

also been pocketing three 

percent of funds collected 

from the IOCs. 

students hostels, which also 

marked WDU’s final act in 

its year-long preparation to 

have all its main activates 

in its permanent site. 

Oborevwori and 

M o u b o g h a r e 

congratulated WDU on the 

state of the art facilities in 

the school. 

They said that 

c o m f o r t a b l e 

accommodation is rated 

highly in all the great 

universities of the world 

because students cannot 

give their best if they are 

condemned to live and 

study under squalid 

conditions, adding that as 

the youths are the leaders 

of tomorrow, the 

environment in which they 

live is very germane to their 

believes that the only 

option open to a host who 

has superintended such 

misdemeanor is to tender 

an unreserved and 

unconditional apology to all 

persons who were victims 

of this sacrilegious, 

treasonable and extremely 

embarrassing event. 

“In the light of the 

seeming inability of the 

actual culprit to generate 

the required spirit to offer 

the necessary apologies, the 

government and people of 

Edo State apologise most 

sincerely to all our honored 

guests, who were victims of 

this show of shame, the 

facts of which have earlier 

been recounted.'' 

Speaking in Port 

Harcourt, Rivers State, she 

said: “We have a consulting 

firm engaged as a 

collection agent. Another 

company collects three per 

cent whenever money is 

paid by the IOCs. We don’t 

need a middle man to 

collect three percent for gas. 

The money should just be 

paid into NDDC accounts 

with the CBN.'' 

overall development. 

The Speaker, represented 

by Dr. Okorodudu, said 

that the Delta State House 

of Assembly was leaving no 

stone unturned in making 

such laws as to ensure that 

education at all levels is 

well-funded in the state, 

promising that the 

legislators are taking their 

oversight functions in the 

education sector zealously 

so as to ensure that the 

educational standard in the 

state remains very high. 

The Education 

Commissioner, 

accompanied by his 

Permanent Secretary, said 

that Governor Okowa, had 

given all the stakeholders 

in the state the 

marching order to make 

Delta State the number 

one state in education.


:Vanguard 

News 

More flooding to hit Nigeria from Lagdo 

Dam —NIHSA 

By Gabriel Ewepu 

ABUJA—THE Nigerian 

Hydrological Services 

Agency, NIHSA, 

yesterday, announced that 

more flooding would hit 

Nigeria from Lagdo Dam 

in Cameroon. 

The Director-General, 

NIHSA, Clement Nze, 

while updating on current 

flooding incidents across 

the country, noted that parts 

of Adamawa, Taraba, 

Benue and Kogi states had 

been experiencing 

flooding following release 

of water from the Lagdo 

Dam in Cameroon. 

He said: “As at today, the 

flood level on River Benue 

measured at Makurdi is 

11.28 metre, against a 

much lower 9.01m on 4-11- 

2012 and the 

corresponding flood levels 

downstream the confluence 

of the two rivers in Lokoja 

are as follows: 10.97m for 

04-11-20-2019 and 8.04m 

for 04-11-2012. Year 2012 is 

taken as the reference year 

considering the magnitude 

of that year. As could be 

seen from above figures, 

the flood level in each 

hydrological station as at 

today is far above the 

corresponding value in 

2012. 

“This is to inform 

Nigerians and especially 

States that are contiguous 

to Rivers Benue and Niger 

of what really happened 

there was spill of water from 

Lagdo Dam in Cameroon. 

This is what caused the 

flooding in Nigeria. So, 

what does this portend to 

the states downstream Kogi 

State? 

“The excess of water that 

has arrived Nigeria from 

Lagdo Dam will be moving 

down to the States, 

communities downstream 

Lokoja as a town. In other 

words Edo State, especially 

Agenebode axis; Anambra 

State, it will be passing 

through Onitsha and 

Idemili is there; Delta State, 

Rivers, and then Bayelsa. 

“The flood that occurred 

Tofa wants FG to review border closure 

By Abdulmumin 

Murtala 

KANO—THE former 

Presidential candidate 

of the defunct National 

Republican Convention, 

NRC, Alhaji Bashir Tofa has 

called on the federal 

government to review the 

border closure to avoid the 

tremendous economic loses 

involved. 

He spoke, yesterday, in 

Kano while responding to 

questions from newsmen at 

a briefing by Kano elders 

under the aegis of Kano 

Concerned Citizens 

Initiative, KCCI. 

He said “We appreciate 

why the federal 

government found it 

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

ESSAY COMPETITION AWARDS: From left—Gama Yakubu, Deputy Director, NGO, FCT, Secondary 

Education Board; Ezechukwu Victoria, from Government Science Technical College, Garki, 1st 

runner-up; Osoria Rejoice, from Model Secondary School, Maitama, 3rd runner-up; Mrs. Eno 

Adetayo Olugbemi, Head, Business Development and Marketing, representing Mrs. Helen Da- 

Souza, MD/CEO, Trustfund Pensions Limited; Nwanwa Chinenye Joan, from School of the Gifted, 

winner of 2019 Annual Trustfund Pensions Essay Competition, and Adewale Dorcas, 2nd runnerup, 

during the prize giving ceremony of the pensions company's competition for Senior Secondary 

Schools, in Abuja, in commemoration of the World Savings Day. 

…places 5 states on red alert 

in Adamawa State will 

eventually get to them. So 

this is the crux of the matter 

that we are not yet out of 

the flooding season 

because if the release of 

water from the Lagdo Dam. 

In Nigeria, the flood will 

still continue, especially 

downstream Kogi State. 

That is for river flooding. 

“NIHSA wishes to advise 

that the following States 

downstream Kogi State, 

namely Edo, Delta, 

Anambra, Rivers and 

Bayelsa to be on the lookout 

because they are somehow 

placed on red alert because 

the flood that has been sited 

far away Adamawa State 

will still find its way down 

to these states I have mentioned 

before emptying 

into the Atlantic Ocean. 

“These states should 

identify the communities 

that are bordering River 

Niger and make adequate 

plans for timely evacuation 

of people to safe and 

higher grounds in the 

event of flooding.” 

“After several messages 

and video clips were sent 

it was then confirmed that 

Cameroonian authorities 

opened their Dam and 

began to spill water on 

October 10 and only closed 

their gate on the 31 of 

October making for three 

week consecutive water 

spill from the Dam. 

Kaduna to deploy drones, CCTVs to tackle 

kidnapping, banditry 

By Ben Agande 

K Kaduna 

ADUNA—THE 

State 

government plans to 

deploy Unmanned Aerial 

Vehicles as well as Closed 

Circuit Television Cameras 

in some of its major cities 

to tackle kidnappings and 

banditry in the state. 

State commissioner for 

necessary to close the 

boarders. We have 

mentioned also that closing 

the boarders alone is not 

going to solve the entire 

problem. In some cases 

there are advantages. 

Some companies like rice 

millers to them certainty is 

a very good thing, is an 

advantage. But to some 

others is a disadvantage. 

Even to the federal 

government, there are 

advantages and 

disadvantages to them. 

“When the government seeks 

to stop illegal importation of contra 

banned goods due to the lack of 

payment of duties, at the same 

time government has made many 

people to lose money in terms of 

their exports while exporting 

Internal Security and 

Home Affairs Ministry of 

the state, Samuel Aruwan 

disclosed this when the 

state governor unveiled 85 

patrol vehicles purchased 

for various security 

agencies in the state. 

According to him, the 

purchase of the vehicles 

was to complement the 

CCTV command centre 

these goods. We know that there 

may be billions of naira worth of 

goods on both sides of the boarders, 

those coming in and also those 

going out and a lot of them are 

sources of revenue for the federal 

government. 

“So, what we advise is that the 

federal government should 

examine this issue very closely 

and make sure that those who 

are legally doing their business 

are allowed to continue their 

business as long as they are 

paying the right duties. We 

understand that a lot of these 

problems are connivance 

between Customs officials and 

some businessmen who are 

willing and ready to pay some 

money less than what they 

should pay through the right 

process. 

which he said was almost 

completed as well as 

imminent deployment of 

the UAVs. 

“As you may be aware, 

our operations room 

receives emergency and 

distress calls from across the 

State and is open 24 hours 

a day, 7 days a week. This 

has been very helpful, even 

with relatively limited 

capacity. However, with the 

expanded capacity of our 

near-completed state-ofthe-art 

CCTV Command 

Centre, and the imminent 

deployment of UAVs, the 

arrival of these vehicles is 

timely and right on target. 

They will combine with the 

new infrastructure to greatly 

improve our emergency 

response rate” he said. 

Earlier, the Secretary to 

the Kaduna State 

government, Balarabe 

Abbas commended the 

security agencies for the 

relative peace the state had 

enjoyed and promised that 

no effort would be spared 

in assisting security 

agencies to overcome the 

security challenges in the 

state. 

The SSG who 

represented the governor 

at the event noted that the 

donation of the patrol 

vehicles to the security 

Resolve illegal data deductions 

within 5 days, Pantami tells NCC 

By Emmanuel 

Elebeke 

ABUJA—THE Minister 

of Communications 

and Digital Economy, Dr. 

Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) 

on Tuesday directed the 

Board and Management of 

the 

Nigerian 

Communications 

Commission (NCC) to 

resolve the issues of illegal 

data deduction and review 

downwards, the price of 

data in the country within 

five days. 

He gave the directive 

during the presentation 

and taking of oath of office 

by the new Board Member/ 

Executive Commissioner of 

NCC, Barrister Adeleke 

Morofolu Adewolu by the 

Chairman of the Board of 

Commission, Sen. Olabiyi 

Durojaiye at the Ministry’s 

Headquarters in Abuja. 

The Minister pointed out 

that there were numerous 

complaints from Nigerians 

regarding illegal data 

deduction and high price 

agencies was the continuation 

of the support that the 

state government had always 

given to security 

agencies. 

“About four years ago, we 

presented over 100 such vehicles 

to our security agencies. Over the 

years, we have provided 

additional interventions of 

vehicles, motorcycles and 

communications equipment on a 

continuous basis. 

“We are here today to present 

85 vehicles motorcycles to further 

enhance the logistic capabilities 

of our security agencies. This is a 

continuation of the robust 

support the Kaduna State 

Government has provided to help 

the federal security agencies in 

the task of securing our state, its 

people, their property and 

livelihoods. 

of data adding that he had 

personally experienced 

illegal data deduction. 

He charged NCC to 

facilitate the penetration 

and expansion of 3G and 

4G and urged the 

Commission to design a 

target on how mobile 

operators can expand 

penetration of 3G and 4G 

in the country. 

Pantami stated that 

government is aware of the 

challenges the mobile 

operators experience in 

their business such as 

vandalism and issues of 

Right of Way (ROW). 

According to him, “the 

way we pursue the mobile 

operators to do what is 

right, we should also work 

together to protect their 

interest and resolve the 

challenges operators face. 

“The main agenda of NCC is 

to protect the interest of 

customers and our priority is to 

protect Nigerians. It is our 

collective responsibility to make 

sure we give 100% support to Mr. 

President to deliver his key 

mandate.”. 

CAMPUS UNREST: Kogi govt 

orders full investigation 

L 

O 

K O J A — 

GOVERNOR 

Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, 

has issued a 14-day 

ultimatum to police and the 

management of Kogi State 

University, KSU, to fish out 

perpetrators of the cult 

mayhem which engulfed 

the institution this week 

leading to the deaths of five 

suspected cultists. 

Preliminary reports 

suggested that the killings 

were orchestrated by cult 

clashes in the institution. 

Five persons, three in 

200L, a 300L and a final 

year student were killed. 

In a statement by his 

Chief Press Secretary, 

Onogwu Muhammed, 

yesterday, the governor 

decried the incident. 

‘’It is barbaric and 

unacceptable; we will not 

handle this madness with 

kid gloves anymore. If a 

student turns himself into 

a danger to others in the 

learning environment, we 

owe the law-abiding ones 

and their families the duty 

of removing such a 

disruptive individual, and 

we will do just that.” 

The Governor then 

directed the University 

management and the 

police to unravel the 

identities of all the 

perpetrators of such 

dastardly act immediately. 

‘’We have said it over and 

again that the Kogi State 

Government under my 

leadership will not 

condone acts of violence 

and criminality under any 

form or guise. 

‘’This administration has 

invested heavily in the 

state’s security architecture 

so as to ensure the safety 

of lives and property of the 

people. Life is too precious 

to be wasted on petty 

squabbles by children who 

are yet to face the world.


FIRE OUTBREAK IN BALOGUN MARKET, IDUMOTA, LAGOS 

A devastating fire incident at Balogun Market on Martins Street, Idumota, Lagos Island yesterday left properties 

consumed and many hearts broken. PHOTOS: AKEEM SALAU & KEHINDE SHONOLA 

(TOP; RIGHT; BELOW & BELOW RIGHT): The raging inferno. 

S o m e 

affected 

traders 

risking their 

lives to save 

their wares. 

From left; Mr Fouad Oki, Mr Lanre Mojola, DG/CEO, Lagos State Safety Commission and 

Macaucay Sado, Health, Safety and Environment, Practitioner officer, UBA. 

A policeman keeping the crowd at bay. 

Sympathisers trying to salvage some goods.


Umahi woos Ebonyi in 

Diaspora with investments 

opportunities, incentives 

TRADE FAIR: From left—President, Fashion Designer Association on Nigeria, Mrs. Funmi Ajila- 

Ladipo; moderator, Samuel Oluyemi; Deputy President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Toki Mabogunje; 

Managing Director, MD Perspective, Morenike Dele-Alimi, and panelist, Pascal Ihenacho, during the 2019 

Lagos State Trade Fair opening ceremony and symposium at TBS Auditorium, Onikan, Lagos. 

NBA orders 3-day boycott of Imo 

courts over kidnap of Justice Iheme 

•...as Imo monarchs cry out to FG, cancel ceremonial activities 

•We’re on the trail of Justice Nwosu’s abductors—Edo CP 

By Chidi 

Nkwopara, 

Chinonso Alozie & 

Alemma Aliu 

OWERRI Branch of 

Nigerian Bar 

Association, NBA, has 

ordered immediate boycott 

of courts in Imo State, to 

protest the kidnap of Justice 

Chioma Nwosu-Iheme. 

This came as Imo State 

traditional rulers yesterday, 

cried out to the Federal 

Government over the 

incident, which occurred 

along Benin-Agbor Road 

last week. 

The decision for the threeday 

boycott was part of a 

nine-point resolution 

reached by the angry 

lawyers after an emergency 

general meeting in Owerri, 

and made public via a 

statement by the Chairman 

and Secretary, D. O. Nosike 

and J. S. C. Osuebi, 

respectively, and made 

available to Vanguard in 

Owerri. 

“From today till 

November 7, NBA, Owerri 

Branch, shall boycott all 

courts in Imo State in 

protest over the kidnap of 

Justice Chioma Nwosu- 

Iheme and the gruesome 

murder of her orderly, an 

Inspector of Police and a 

Nigerian citizen,” NBA 

said. 

The aggrieved lawyers 

also disclosed they will, 

within the period of the 

boycott, not attend to any 

kidnap case in any court in 

Imo State, till Justice 

Chioma Nwosu-Iheme 

regains her freedom 

unharmed. 

They also demanded that 

“the perpetrators of these 

dastardly acts be fished out 

forthwith and prosecuted in 

line with the relevant laws 

of the land.” 

While condoling with the 

Nigeria Police Force and 

the immediate family of the 

murdered police orderly, 

the NBA also urged the 

Inspector General of Police, 

IGP, to, without hesitation, 

liaise with other sistersecurity 

agencies, to ensure 

that the kidnapped Justice 

of the Court of Appeal, 

regains her freedom 

unharmed. 

“The IGP should, as a 

matter of necessity, detail 

his best intelligence 

gathering officers to fish 

out those hoodlums that 

perpetrated these dastardly 

acts of murdering a 

seasoned police officer in 

the discharge of his official 

functions and the eventual 

kidnap of Justice Chioma 

Nwosu-Iheme, by those 

misfits,” NBA pleaded. 

They equally urged the 

IGP to liaise with the 

various police commands, 

to assign more police 

officers to guard judicial 

officers in their respective 

abodes and when on 

transit. 

Imo monarchs 

cry out to FG 

Meanwhile, the 

traditional rulers in Imo, 

through their chairman, 

Eze Imo, Samuel Ohiri, 

and his Deputy, Eshi of 

Nkwerre, Eze Chijioke 

Okwara, have urged the 

Federal Government to 

intervene in the kidnap 

case. 

They made the call at the 

Eze Imo palace at Mbari 

Street in Owerri. 

Vanguard was at the 

palace of Eze Imo, where 

he said the people of the 

state, at the moment were 

not happy that after seven 

days of kidnap, their 

daughter Iheme was 

nowhere to be found. 

They also said that so far, 

no communication has 

been established with her 

abductors. 

Ohiri briefly said: “We are 

not happy that our daughter 

was kidnapped and taken 

away to an unknown 

destination. 

“The people of Imo State 

have not heard from our 

daughter and we are 

pleading with the Federal 

Government, because she 

is a government employee, 

that we are not happy and 

we want our daughter 

back.The people of Imo 

State want their daughter 

back.” 

His deputy, Okwara of 

Nkwerre Local 

Government Area, where 

Justice Nwosu-Iheme hails 

from, said he has cancelled 

ceremonial activities in the 

area as a sign that they are 

currently pained over the 

abduction of their daughter. 

Eze Okwara said: “As the 

deputy chairman of Imo 

State Traditional Rulers, we 

are not happy that Iheme 

is still in the den of the 

kidnappers. We are also 

pained by the untimely 

death of her police escort. 

“We are not happy that 

the judiciary, which is 

supposed to serve the 

public in accordance with 

its duty as contained in the 

1999 Constitution, is now 

facing this kind of threat. 

“For the past months, we 

have been hearing that 

judges are kidnapped and 

we want to appeal to the 

Federal Government and 

the 36 states’ governors to 

do something quickly. 

“We, the traditional rulers 

of Imo State want to see our 

country with solid security 

network to allow our people 

do their work without fear. 

We are saddened that we 

have not heard anything 

about her since her kidnap 

seven days ago. 

“Let me expatiate on it: 

we have made every 

contact and we have 

contacted the judiciary and 

after seven days, it is right 

to ask where she is. We 

are asking her employers 

to do something. 

“If we allow the judges 

to be picked anyhow, then 

they will be afraid to give 

justice. As a result of this 

incident, I have cancelled 

all ceremonial activities in 

the community.” 

Edo CP’s assurance 

In a related 

development, the police 

in Edo State said they are 

making some progress in 

efforts to get her freed 

from her abductors. 

Commissioner of Police 

in Edo State, Danmallam 

Muhammed, told 

Vanguard yesterday that 

the Command is working 

with neighbouring 

commands and sistersecurity 

agencies to 

ensure her release. 

Nwosu-Iheme was 

kidnapped on 

Wednesday, October 

30, along the Benin- 

Asaba Highway, while 

she was travelling from 

Benin to Imo State. 

The kidnappers, 

numbering about four, 

who were said to have 

operated in a Toyota 

Voltron car, intercepted 

By Peter Okutu 

A BAKALIKI— 

GOVERNOR 

David Umahi of Ebonyi 

State, yesterday, called 

on the citizens of the 

state in the Diaspora to 

come and invest in the 

state, as the state 

government had put 

measures in place to 

guarantee ease of doing 

business for all and 

sundry. 

the SUV conveying 

Justice Nwosu-Iheme 

and other occupants. 

They had immediately 

opened fire, killing the 

police orderly on the 

spot. 

The kidnappers were 

said to have also shot the 

tyre of the SUV, forcing 

the driver to stop and then 

hurriedly whisked her 

away in their own car to 

an unknown destination. 

The four-man gang was 

said to have trailed the 

judge along Benin-Agbor 

Road near Christ Chosen 

Church, close to Nigerian 

National Petroleum 

Corporation, NNPC, 

depot in Benin City. 

However, Muhammed 

told Vanguard on phone 

yesterday: “We are 

making some progress, 

but we are being careful 

so that we don’t 

jeopardise her life and 

also protect the family. 

“We are working with 

neighbouring commands 

and sister-agencies are 

also working with us to 

make sure she regains her 

freedom. 

“We are being careful in 

our operations and I 

cannot reveal everything 

we are doing, but we are 

not resting.” 

Ransom 

It was, however, 

gathered from family 

sources that the 

kidnappers have opened 

communication with the 

family and are said to be 

demanding millions of 

naira, which the sources 

do not want to disclose for 

fear of jeopardising efforts 

being made to secure her 

release. 

Special Assistant to the 

Governor on Ease of 

Doing Business and 

Ebonyi in Diaspora, 

Deacon Collins Agbo, 

made the call while 

briefing newsmen in 

Abakaliki, on some of the 

policies of government 

directed towards the 

economic prosperity of its 

citizens. 

Agbo, who said that 

Ebonyi State 

government has 

created enabling 

environments for 

business to thrive 

through the 

establishment of Tax 

Appeal Tribunal, called 

on both foreign and 

local investors to come 

and have a taste of the 

new Ebonyi State, which 

he said had become a 

business hub for 

investors. 

He further explained 

that the economic 

policies and directions 

of the present 

administration were 

geared towards 

making Ebonyi State 

one of the fastestgrowing 

economies in 

the country. 

His words: “The 

good news I would 

like you to take home 

and spread to the 

world is that the efforts 

of His Excellency in 

the area of ease-ofdoing-business 

have 

started yielding results 

as Ebonyi State has 

become investment 

destination for both 

local and international 

investors. 

“This is evident in 

the number of 

companies springing 

up in the state weekly 

and the foreigners you 

see in our hotels and 

business environment 

daily. 

“Our office, in 

collaboration with the 

state House of 

Assembly, will 

immediately start the 

process 

of 

domesticating relevant 

laws and executive 

orders on Ease of Doing 

Business. 

“Ebonyians in the 

Diaspora can only show 

their appreciation, 

support and solidarity 

to Umahi’s wonders of 

infrastructure 

transformation, economic 

revamping and 

agricultural turnaround 

by coming home to 

invest in the businessfriendly 

environment of 

Ebonyi State.”


INDUCTION: From 

left— Representative of 

the GMD, Spectrum 

Group, Alhaji Abubakar 

Sa'ad; Guest speaker/ 

Vice President, Nigerian 

Society of Engineers, 

Joseph Akinteye; 

Representative of the 

National President, NSE, 

Akintunde Zedomi; and 

Host/Chairman, NSE, 

Apapa branch, Sunny 

Ejeje, during the public 

lecture and induction of 

new members in Lagos. 

LAPO opens 60 bedroom hospital in Benin 

•Urges incentives for private/public partnerships 

By Alemma Aliu 

BENIN 

CITY— 

MICROFINANCE 

giant, Lift Above Poverty 

Organisation, LAPO, 

weekend opened an ultra 

modern 60 room capacity 

hospital known as Benin 

Medical Care, BMC, 

where it called for tax 

breaks, improved security 

from governments to 

encourage public private 

partnership in the delivery 

of needed infrastructure 

and services to the people. 

Chairman, board of 

directors of the hospital, 

Unemployment: FG empowers 416 youths, 11 from Delta 

•To train 50 Delta youths in poultry farming 

By Festus Ahon 

A SABA—FEDERAL 

Government through 

the National Directorate of 

Employment, NDE, 

yesterday, provided tools 

and cash to 416 selected 

graduates trained on soft 

and hard landscaping and 

POP across the country. 

The Director-General of 

NDE, Dr. Nasiru 

Mohammed Ladan 

Argungu, who stated this at 

the disbursement ceremony 

to 11 graduates of the 2018 

Resettlement of participants 

of Environmental 

Beautification Training 

Scheme, EBTS, in Asaba, 

explained that the tools 

were given to the 

beneficiaries as loans, while 

cash was a gift to them. 

Argungu who was 

represented by the Acting 

Zonal Director in charge of 

South-South Zone, Mr. 

Edem Duke, said the cash 

Oyo govt flags off implementation of BESDA 

Mandela Fellowship Association gets new leaders 

By Emmanuel 

Okogba 

LAGOS—THE Mandela 

Washington Fellowship 

Association of Nigeria, 

MFAAN, has elected new 

leadership to pilot its affairs 

for the next one year. 

The keenly contested 

elections at the reunion 

conference for the 2019 

cohort held recently, saw 

the emergence of 

Abdulkarim Mayere, a 

Professor of Renewable 

Energy at the Kaduna State 

University as President. 

Godwin Ehigiamose, said 

LAPO has for the past thirty 

years been addressing 

health challenges of the 

people through various 

programmes before the 

idea of the hospital was 

birthed. 

He said: “LAPO 

Microfinance Bank, a 

foremost microfinance 

institution in Africa has 

amply demonstrated the 

feasibility and indeed viability of 

economic empowerment of 

persons at the bottom end of the 

society with access to finance, 

millions of low income households 

and micro and small enterprises 

value of the tools would be 

paid back by the 

beneficiaries, saying both 

cash gifts and tools were to 

help them start and grow 

their businesses as budding 

landscaping service 

operators. 

In his remarks, the Director 

Special Public Works, Mr. Cyril 

Ofiong, represented by Mrs 

Frannsisca Ezeagu, charged the 

By Elizabeth 

Uwandu 

IBADAN—OYO State 

Government has 

commenced the 

implementation of Better 

Education Service Delivery 

for All, BESDA, in the state, 

to eradicate illiteracy and 

enhance access to quality 

education. 

The state governor, Seyi 

Makinde stated this, 

Other executives who 

emerged are Folajogun Akinlami 

Vice President, Wuraoluwa 

Ayodele Legal Adviser/National 

Secretary, Nnenna Ozuzu 

Financial Secretary, Hannah 

Essien Welfare Secretary, 

Olawunmi Ogunde Special 

Duties Secretary, 

Okorodudu Austine 

Publicity Secretary, ‘Dupe 

Darabidan Zonal 

Coordinator (South), Hamza 

Waziri Zonal Coordinator (North), 

and Timothy Undiandeye 

Marketing and Communications 

Officer. 

In his address, the outgoing 

have been given access to credit 

to better their livelihood. 

“Benin Medical Care seeks to 

enhance the health status of 

Nigerians especially in Benin 

City and environs through the 

provision of quality medical 

services that are accessible and 

affordable” 

On his part, Chairman of LAPO 

Board, Dr Osarenren Emokpae 

called for tax break for private 

sector investors who are 

interested in going into social 

services just as he said a safe 

environment is key for the 

initiative to thrive just as he 

commended Governor Godwin 

Obaseki on the successes he has 

beneficiaries to be committed to 

work and put the cash and tools 

into judicious use. 

"This is what you will use to 

earn your living and train your 

children, take it very seriously. 

Out of the 50 applicants from 

Delta, you are lucky to be among 

the 11 selected ones", Ofiong 

said. 

In his opening remarks, the 

Delta State Coordinator, Mr. Tony 

during a policy dialogue 

workshop 

on 

implementation of BESDA 

held at Emeritus Professor 

Theophilus Ogunlesi Hall 

in Ibadan. 

Speaking on his behalf, 

the Commissioner for 

Women Affairs and Social 

Inclusion, Alhaja Faosat 

Sanni, disclosed that the 

initiative would increase access 

to better education in the State, 

adding that about two hundred 

president of the Union Lamide 

Johnson called on the newly 

elected officers to lead with 

integrity and never to betray the 

trust reposed in them by other 

members of the group. In his words 

“ we have done our part, now is 

the time to show the stuff you are 

made of, leadership is hard and 

can be challenging, but be 

focused and work together as a 

team” he said. 

In his acceptance speech, 

Mayere said he was extremely 

excited about the opportunity 

that is given to him and his team 

to serve the the association, 

promising not to let down the 

association. 

achieved in the state in the last 

three years. 

He said: “Security is key. People 

don’t talk too much about it but it 

is important that as they come 

here, they feel secured so that 

not aftet they come for treatment, 

they get harmed.” 

The Chief Executive Officer of 

the hospital, Dr Ravi Preet Singh 

who was represented by Dr Ordi 

Raphael said the “progressively 

worsening state” of health 

facilities in the Niger Delta and 

Nigeria necessitated the vision to 

set up the hospital to reduce 

medical tourism and avoidable 

deaths. 

Olu, said: "The challenge before 

the Directorate is to provide 

direction where there is none and 

livelihood when existence is 

threatened with unemployment. 

"The disbursement is a 

continuous exercise and this 

cycle has captured 11 persons 

who have met the requirements 

needed", adding that the NDE 

was out to reduce unemployment. 

and seventy-two thousand, eight 

hundred and forty-seven out-ofschool 

children would be 

beneficiaries. 

While calling on an all-inclusive 

participatory implementation of 

the programme, he added that 

the objective of the programme 

was to increase access to 

education for the out-of-school 

children, improve literacy rate and 

retain them in schools at the basic 

education level. 

Sanni revealed that the 

initiative was intended to include 

every child in the free education 

policy of the State, “leaving no 

child behind and consequently 

making every child count”, she 

said. 

She commended the free 

education policy of the Seyi 

Makinde led administration, 

which according to her, has 

yielded an increase in the return 

of children to public schools across 

the State. 

“Recently, the State 

Government has announced free 

and compulsory qualitative 

education at Basic and Secondary 

Education levels in the State. 

The resultant effects of which is 

an increase in enrollment in our 

public schools throughout the 

State," she buttressed. 

China presses Trump for more tariff 

roll-backs in 'phase one' trade deal 

China is pushing United States (US) President Donald 

Trump to remove more tariffs imposed in September as 

part of a "phase one" US-China trade deal, people familiar with 

the negotiations said yesterday. 

The deal, which may be signed this month by Trump and 

Chinese President Xi Jinping at a yet-to-be determined location, 

is widely expected to include a U.S. pledge to scrap tariffs 

scheduled for Dec. 15 on about $156 billion worth of Chinese 

imports, including cell phones, laptop computers and toys. 

A US official said the fate of the Dec. 15 tariffs is being considered 

as part of negotiations and a potential signing trip this 

month. 

Another source briefed on the talks said Chinese negotiators 

want Washington to drop 15 percent tariffs on about $125 billion 

worth of Chinese goods that went into effect on Sept. 1. They 

are also seeking relief from earlier 25 percent tariffs on about 

$250 billion of imports from machinery and semiconductors to 

furniture. 

Apple unveils 3 iPhone brands, offers 

instalment payment option 

APPLE Incorporated, manufacturers of the iPhone 

brand has in partnership with iStore, a merchandising 

shop unveiled three new iPhone series, offers instalment payment 

options. 

The new devices iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro 

Max where unveiled in Lagos at a press briefing where the 

Country Manager, iStore Nigeria, Sachin Verma said the phones 

are the latest introduction from iPhone that will change the way 

customers experience phone usage. 

Adding, Operations Manager, iStores, Kolapo Agunloye said: 

"iStore is continuing its unique trade-in programme where 

customers can get cash back by trading in not only one, but two 

qualifying iPhone Operating System' (iOS) products towards the 

upgrade of the new iPhone 11." 

The devices he said are available in the market from November 

1, 2019 and can be paid for on finance options, where customers 

are allowed to pay for the new iPhone in monthly instalments' in 

over four to eight months period. 

Agunloye said for customers who upgrade to a new iPhone at 

iStore will get free iCare Extended Warranty. 

Explaining further, he said, "iCare Extended Warranty allows 

customers one extra year of manufacturers' warranty on the new 

iPhone and another on an existing Apple product that was 

purchased in the last 12 months under its original 12-month Apple 

warranty." 

European factories at risk in Peugeot- 

Fiat merger 

FIAT Chrysler and Peugeot owner PSA's pledge not to close 

factories if they merge is likely to come under heavy strain 

as the combined group would have spare production capacity 

of almost six million vehicles in a slowing autos market. 

The companies last week unveiled plans to create a $50 billion 

group that would leapfrog Hyundai, General Motors, Ford 

and Honda to become the world's Number 4 automaker, based 

on their combined 8.7 million vehicles sold last year. 

The new car and truck making giant would have potential 

manufacturing capacity of 14 million vehicles, forecasters LMC 

Automotive told Reuters. But the industry has entered a downturn 

and the European small car market in particular - where 

both PSA and Fiat Chrysler (FCA) are heavily exposed - is under 

pressure. 

"The utilization rate would be low at 58 percent, which would 

leave the group with almost six million units of spare capacity 

worldwide," LMC Automotive said. "Europe is likely to bear 

the brunt of any potential plant closures." 

Big Dutchman introduces new agricultural 

management system 

B 

IG Dutchman Agriculture Nigeria Limited, a subsid 

iary of Big Dutchman International, recently developed 

an innovative agricultural management system for egg 

production in Nigeria. This innovation called EasyStep56 

layer cage aims to support many African farmers and small 

scale entrepreneurs in the development of the egg production 

industry in Africa. 

The EasyStep56 layer cage is a management system for 

layer chicken. It is available in two handy packages with a 

total weight of 55 kilograms. This makes the cages easy to 

carry and aids comfortable transportation. 

Thomas Ogundiran, MD/CEO, Big Dutchman, explained 

that the company has specially developed the EasyStep56 

layer cage making it incredibly easy to assemble. He said, 

"The EasyStep56 layer cage will encourage small/medium 

scale entrepreneur to start egg production on a small scale. 

They can begin from one unit and gradually increase to more 

units as their capacity increases. The set-up of this cage is 

very easy and everyone can do it". 

Only three tools are required to set up the cage. They are 

pliers, an open-ended spanner and a hexagon spanner. All 

parts of the cage are pre-drilled and pre-cut upon supply. 

Adebolu Fatunmise, National Sales Manager, Big Dutchman, 

explained that the major benefits of the system in comparison 

with traditional barn egg production systems are 

the 56 capacity layer cage, 20 percent egg increase, low mortality 

rate, durability, efficiency, accurate feed and water 

supply, none feed wastage, manure removal, soil fertilization, 

simple assembly and efficient production. 

Some stories credited to Reuters

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019 — 17

18 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019 

THE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, 

under the leadership of Governor 

Godwin Emefiele, has stood out as not 

just the major backbone, but also a 

flagship of President Muhammadu 

Buhari’s economic policy recovery 

efforts. 

While the nation had waited in vain 

in 2015 for the Buhari administration 

to launch its blueprint towards rescuing 

our rapidly plunging economy, it 

took the Anchor Borrowers’ programme 

of the CBN introduced in 

November that year to stimulate the 

agricultural sector, resulting in the massive 

rekindling of the interests of Nigerians 

in farming. The result is a near 

self-sufficiency in poultry products and 

the resurgence in local rice production 

and investments in other agricultural 

sectors. 

While inaugurating the first retreat for 

his newly-appointed ministers in Abuja 

on August 19, 2019, Buhari had boasted 

that his government would, after eight 

years in power, lay the foundation for 

CBN’s laudable pact with NIPOST 

lifting 100 million Nigerians out of 

poverty, though he did not disclose the 

policy roadmap for achieving such 

ambitious plan. 

A new scheme being put together by 

the CBN to ensure the financial 

inclusion of millions of unbanked 

grassroots Nigerians could be a major 

catalyst towards achieving the Buhari 

administration’s objective. 

In April 2017, the CBN had 

established the Agric-Business Small 

and Medium Enterprises Investment 

Scheme, AGMEIS, in conjunction with 

the Bankers’ Committee, and instructed 

the Deposit Money Banks to contribute 

five per cent of their annual profits after 

tax as their equity investment in the 

scheme. 

In collaboration with the Bankers’ 

Committee, the CBN’s Nigerian 

Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System 

for Agricultural Lending, NIRSAL, will 

set up a microfinance bank in conjunction 

with the Nigerian Postal Service, 

NIPOST, to take financial inclusion to 

the 774 local government areas. 

While inspecting the offices of the 

NIRSAL Microfinance Bank in Abuja, 

Emefiele said there would be six other 

branches in Enugu, Ibadan, Port 

Harcourt, Kaduna, Bauchi and Lokoja, 

which will expand to 50 branches in the 

second phase. 

Through the branches of the NIPOST, 

the Microfinance Bank will advance 

credits to farmers and people involved 

in agribusiness using only their farms 

as collaterals for the loans. 

If this scheme is properly and 

professionally implemented, it will 

leverage on the abandoned NIPOST 

offices throughout the country to take 

financial services down to areas where 

they never existed because 

microfinance banks, which were forced 

by circumstances to operate more like 

commercial banks, had to restrict their 

services mainly to urban areas. 

It will not only empower the 

grassroots, it will also go a long way in 

reversing the rural-urban drift, create 

millions of jobs at the grassroots and 

enhance the security of our rural 

communities with the presence of ablebodied 

youth. 

We call on the CBN to press ahead 

with this scheme and drive it to resounding 

success. We fully endorse it. 

OPINION 

WNTV at 60: A future trapped in the past 

BY BANJI OJEWALE 

WHAT Premier ObafemiAwolowo’s 

Western Nigeria government did in 

Ibadan on October 31, 1959, was a long throw 

into the ages ahead of his era. Establishing a 

TV station, the first in Africa, was part of a 

bigger picture Awolowo designed to engage 

and honourthe distant, seemingly indistinct 

future still to land. 

An uncompromising believer in human 

capacity exploration, Awolowo would always 

put man, the ordinary person, at the centre of 

his plans for the present and the future. What 

better way to celebrate the citizen of the state 

and make them ready for the future than to 

free them from illiteracy and ignorance 

through mass education? So, in 1955, only a 

year after he became premier of the Western 

Region of Nigeria, Awolowo injected free 

education into the system. 

Now, if for him education of the masses was 

an ideological expression or projection of an 

enterprise he was undertaking on behalf of the 

people and the future, there must be a strategic 

‘companion’ outside the traditional classroom. 

Let the teachers do their work in the schools; 

let the young boys and girls learn what’s 

imparted to them, all within a confined 

ambience. 

But let there be also an ‘extended’ ambience, 

so that after the limited school hours, more 

‘learning’ and information dissemination 

would continue in various forms: propagation 

of government policies, cross pollination of 

views, news about local and international 

happenings, etc. Among many proposals that 

came Awolowo’s way as he looked for what to 

bring on board to aid the education of the 

masses was the mass media. He picked the TV. 

He told the Western Region House of 

Assembly that his government needed a 

medium that would serve ‘’as an educational 

tool for the masses”. His government, with 

Anthony Enahoro as information minister, 

wanted, in addition, a ‘’medium to beam local 

culture, foreign news and aims of the 

government to the homes of people in the 

region”. An exhaustive debate on the Bill to set 

up a TV station was said to have taken place 

among the lawmakers, at the end of which the 

administration’s request, Western Nigeria 

Television, WNTV First in Africa, was 

approved, with the first broadcast coming up 

on October 31, 1959. 

So the purpose of WNTV, Ibadan, was 

ideological, to drive the mass education policy 

of the government, to deliver the people from 

feudal plagues of backwardness and position 

society for a fiercely competitive future. That’s 

the chief aim of the media. 

But these days we tend to romanticise this 

history. This attenuation has miserably led us 

to waste time on the crudities of the history of 

WNTV: Who was the first female face on the 

screen? AnikeAgbaje-Williams or Julie Coker? 

Who was the first male face?Kunle Olasope, 

who died recently, or the other one behind the 

scenes? Who first read the Yoruba news on 

WNTV? 

But more serious-minded observers say this 

argument isn’t what we should be discussing 

as we mark the 60th anniversary of an event 

that snatched Nigeria from the backwaters of 

civilization and placed us ahead of some of 

the developed societies of the Western world. 

It serves no benefit if I have to ‘celebrate’ a 

past whose early promise of greatness in the 

future was aborted by the military junta of 

Olusegun Obasanjo in 1976. A contemporary 

chronicler has written that although ‘’during 

this period (the days of WNTV) there was little 

measurable statistics, but the station played a 

pivotal role” to make Western Nigeria the bride 

of the federation. At Independence in 1960, 

and in the years that followed, WNTV was 

indexed as the proof of what you would get if 

you practised a genuine federation, where 

every region ran (or stagnated) at its own pace. 

WNTV, with its radio arm, WNBS, gave the 

country its golden age in recognition of TV 

(the media) as an indispensable adjunct to 

socioeconomic and political engineering; the 

same way Nigeria’s post-Independence season 

from 1960 to 1966 offered us true federalism. 

The soldiers’ putsch in January 1966 halted 

the phenomenal progress the regions were 

making independent of the centre. 

The command administration they 

At Ibadan, where the legend 

of WNTV started, there is an 

illusion: NTA, Ibadan, First in 

Africa! WNTV was the First in 

Africa, not NTA 

introduced to ‘unify’ a federal arrangement 

has rather broken us into shards we can’t 

handle as they repeatedly bruise our fingers. 

We are a brittle lot on account of our distorted 

‘federal’ system. 

We are the butt of doomsday prophets whose 

pastime is to see us dismember at ballot times. 

It’s the reason there is now a clamorous call 

nationwide for the restructuring of the polity, 

for the return to the regional system, when 

centrifugal administration gave birth to 

Nigeria’s Renaissance Age, part of its story 

being WNTV. 

The narrative can’t change as we mark the 

60th anniversary of WNTVFirst in Africa, 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

which was overrun and outlawed into 

extinction by the Nigerian successors of the 

ancient Barbarians who sacked the Roman 

Empire in the 5th Century. We mustrecall 

WNTV into its future. It is in line with the mood 

of the season. Are Nigerians not also seeking 

to restore Nigeria to its original functional 

status? The military sacked WNTV and 

replaced it with Nigerian Television Authority, 

NTA. At the site at Agodi, Ibadan, where the 

legend of WNTV started, there is an illusion: 

NTA, Ibadan, First in Africa!WNTV was the 

First in Africa, not NTA. 

The establishment of the media house on 

October 31, 1959 was emblematic of the 

progressive Western Nigerian government 

which served notice that it was poised for a 

future to be numbered among global leaders 

using only its territorial resources, chiefly its 

citizens. 

You can’t delete such a monument from 

history. It should also be acknowledged, above 

all else, that what we’re honouring isWNTV 

coming into existence 60 years ago,not an 

amorphous or broad celebration of 60 years 

of TV in Africa. Let’s feast on that history first. 

Octogenarian Jide Akinbiyi, the revered 

pioneer news editor of WNTV, argues that any 

celebration of the anniversary of the station 

without an agitation for a restoration of the 

name WNTV First in Africa, is ‘’incomplete”. 

He has also insisted that WNTV as a pride to 

Nigeria must be returned to its owners. 

I add that after NTA has given way, the 

building that housed WNTV needs be made to 

recapture its old form and be transformed into 

a museum where, under a restructured 

Nigeria, tourists from within and without 

Nigeria would visit and stand in awe before 

history. That’s how we can rescue the trapped 

future of WNTV First in Africa. 

•Ojewale, a social commentator, wrote 

from Lagos

By Udeme Akpan 

Oil price recorded fresh 

rally yesterday on the 

heels of a positive outlook seen 

in the Organisation of Petroleum 

Exporting Countries, 

OPEC’s, 2019 World Oil Outlook, 

a medium-to long-term 

projections and assessment for 

the global oil and energy industry. 

Bonny Light, Nigeria’s premium 

oil grade, which has 

been hovering between $58.00 

and $61.00, in the past two 

weeks, yesterday leaped to 

$62.54, the highest in recent 

times. 

Similarly, the prices of Brent 

and OPEC Basket also rose 

from $61.20 and 59.10 to $62.72 

and $60.19 per barrel respectively. 

However, in its ‘Oulook’ obtained 

by Vanguard, OPEC 

stated: “All forms of energies 

will be required in the future 

to help to meet expanding demand 

in a sustainable way, 

balancing the needs of people 

in relation to their social welfare, 

the economy and the environment. 

“Natural gas witnesses the 

largest demand growth in absolute 

terms, and renewables 

the largest growth in percentage 

terms. Oil is expected to 

remain the fuel with the largest 

share in the energy mix 

throughout the forecast period 

to 2040. Oil demand is forecast 

to reach 110.6 mb/d by 2040. 

“The non-OECD drives oil 

demand with growth of 21.4 

mb/d by 2040 (compared to 

2018), whereas the OECD region 

is expected to contract by 

9.6 mb/d. Long-term demand 

growth comes mainly from the 

petrochemicals (4.1 mb/d), 

road transportation (2.9 mb/d) 

and aviation (2.4 mb/d) sectors. 

The total vehicle fleet – including 

passenger and commercial 

vehicles – is estimated to grow 

by more than 1 billion by 2040 

to around 2.4 billion.” 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

SDR 

DANISH 

RAND 

$ 104.40 0.40 

$2,492.00 14.00 

$12.54 0.06 

$62.41 0.72 

$56.85 0.65 

305.95 306.45 306.95 

395.3792 396.0253 396.6715 

341.6238 342.1821 342.7404 

309.7287 310.2349 310.741 

2.8216 2.8262 2.8309 

0.5005 0.5105 0.5205 

421.5981 422.2871 422.9761 

43.5166 43.5882 43.6598 

81.5801 81.7135 81.8468 

422.211 422.901 423.591 

45.7174 45.7921 45.8668 

20.6724 20.7062 20.74 

CBN Exchange rate as at 4/11/2019 


Oil price leaps to $62.54 amid new OPEC report 

From left , President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Babatunde Ruwase; 

presenting an award for Dangote Sponsorship of LCCI to the Group Managing Director, 

Group Commercial Operations, Dangote Industries Limited, Halima Aliko Dangote; and Supply 

Chain Director, Dangote Cement Plc/Deputy President, LCCI, Knut Ulvmoen during Dangote 

Special Day at the Lagos International Trade Fair in Lagos. 

Globus Bank opens to customers today 

By Babajide Komolafe 

Globus Bank Limited, a 

new bank licensed by the 

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), 

has announced the launch of its 

operations in Nigeria starting 

today. The Bank aims to be the 

leading digital bank in the 

country by leveraging cuttingedge 

technology to deliver exceptional 

value to its customers. 

It also aims to bridge the customer 

experience gap in the industry 

by offering innovative 

products tailored to its customer’s 

needs and by offering exceptional 

customer 

service. 

The bank would prioritize 

sustainability 

and will be the first 

bank in the country to 

deploy green technology 

in its branch operations. 

The sound corporate 

governance structure 

is expected to ensure 

its cardinal principles 

of transparency, accountability 

and diligence 

are institutionalized 

throughout the 

bank. 

The bank’s Board of 

Directors includes industry 

leaders and experts 

with a combined 

experience of over 150 

years in Operations, 

Business Strategy, Information, 

Technology, 

Executive Management 

and Financial 

Control. Elias Igbina- 

kenzua, the MD/CEO of Globus 

Bank, has served as an Executive 

Director in both Zenith 

Bank and Access Bank. Nixon 

Iwedi, the Executive Director, 

has over twenty years of banking 

experience, including leadership 

roles across different 

core aspects of banking including 

Credit and Marketing, operations, 

corporate finance 

amongst others. 

Other members of the board 

include Augustine Okere, an 

engineer with over thirty years 

of experience and the founder 

of Computer Warehouse Group, 

Isioma Ezi-Ashi, a lawyer and 

respected entrepreneur in the 

construction industry with over 

Dangote Group plans merger of 

sugar businesses 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

Dangote Group Plc has an 

nounced the intension to 

merge the operations of two of 

its subsidiaries, Dangote Sugar 

Refinery (DSR) Plc and its 

subsidiary Savannah Sugar 

Company Limited (SSCL) into 

a single entity. 

Savannah Sugar Company is 

a private limited liability company 

engaged in sugar cane 

farming and sugar milling. 

The business combination, 

which would be consummated 

through a Scheme of External 

Restructuring, will result in 

transfer of all assets and liabilities 

of Savannah Sugar to DSR 

Plc. 

30 years of experience, Dr. Vincent 

Okeke, an engineer, fellow 

of the Institute of Chartered 

Accountants of Nigeria and Pwc 

alumnus, Olayide Abel, a fellow 

of the institute of Chartered 

Accountants of Nigeria, seasoned 

banker and Pwc alumnus, 

and Engr. Charles Osezua 

(CON), a leader in the oil and 

gas industry. 

Driven by its visionary board 

and savvy business model, the 

Bank will set itself apart in the 

industry through Innovation 

and deliver exceptional service 

to its customers. 

Globus Bank is headquartered 

at No. 6 Adeyemo Alakija 

Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. 

In a filing to the Nigerian 

Stock Exchange, (NSE), signed 

by Chioma Madubuko, Secretary, 

DSR, the company said: “It 

is expected that the Scheme 

will involve the transfer of all 

assets, liabilities and undertakings 

of SSCL to DSR and the 

cancellation of the entire issued 

share capital of SSCL with DSR 

emerging as surviving entity.” 

The company stated that the 

transaction would be subject to 

the receipt of approval of shareholders 

of DSR and SSCL at 

separate court-ordered meetings 

as well as the receipt of 

regulatory approval from the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(SEC) and the Federal 

Competition & Consumer Protection 

Commission. 

Japan supports 

foreign and local 

private sector 

collaboration 

By Moses Nosike 

The Commissioner/Manag 

ing Director, Japan External 

Trade Organisation, JETO, 

Shigeyo Nishizawa, has advised 

that Nigerian private and 

public sectors need to collaborate 

to develop its vast local 

market and grow the economy. 

He also said that Nigerian 

private companies need international 

collaboration to accelerate 

growth in the domestic 

economy, adding, however, that 

Nigerian government has to 

look into some aspects of the 

economy that need improvement 

and act immediately. 

Nishizawa said this at the ongoing 

Lagos International 

Trade Fair, where Japan is participating 

for the sixth time. 

Continuing, he stated: “This 

year, we have 37 Japan companies 

showcasing products and 

services, the highest so far at 

the Lagos International Trade 

Fair because we want to contribute 

more to Nigerian economic 

growth, create a lasting 

trade relation. I want Japanese 

companies to try Nigerian market 

because of its vast nature and 

increasing population. Private 

companies in Nigeria have sufficient 

buying-power to collaborate 

with Japanese firms in 

improving the Nigerian market. 

Japan wants deeper trade investment 

with Africa's biggest 

market and has asked the private 

sector in both countries to 

exploit opportunities inherent 

in their relationship”. 

At the ongoing event where 

Japan is participating for the 

sixth time, Japanese agents 

and local distributors are exhibiting 

brands like Honda, Yamaha, 

Mitsubishi, Toyota, Isuzu 

and Suzuki, Canon, Sharp and 

Brother Plascon Paint and Alteco 

adhesive. Big names in the 

food and beverages industry 

like Briscoe Nigeria Plc, Olam 

Sanyo Foods, Tomoe engineering, 

and Ajinomoto are also 

showcasing the quality and reliability 

of Japanese products. 

The Japanese pavilion features 

financial services firms 

like Double Feather Partners, 

and IT companies with innovative 

products like SNRI, a sales 

automation system that helps 

businesses achieve greater 

sales productivity by monitoring 

field staff, generating reports 

from the field, streamlining 

order process, route management, 

payment management 

and customer management. 

In addition, Managing Director/ 

CEO, Green Diamonds Ltd., Anthony 

Okpara said that the products 

offered at the trade fair have 

good reception and Nigerians are 

developing new applications. “The 

UMA curry mix seasoning, a curry 

paste of Japanese origin is already 

in many Nigerian kitchens. 

The trade relations between the 

Nigeria and Japan is also making 

a social impact with the introduction 

of SATO which helps to make 

Nigeria open defecation free 

through its affordable, smart, plastic 

toilets that can be mounted 

over pit latrines to create more hygienic 

toilets. There is also “Made 

in Japan, made for women” corner 

exhibiting products and services 

that help women access more 

fashionable and convenient items 

including cosmetics and hair wigs. 

The fair offers Nigerians the opportunity 

to purchase authentic 

hair products like X-pression, 

made from raw materials supplied 

by Toyokalon, at affordable rates.

20 — VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019






26 — Vanguard, Wednesday, NOVEMBER 6, 2019 

Interswitch moves into e-health with eChat acquisition 

By Prince Osuagwu, Hi-Tech Editor 

Digital payment company, 

Interswitch Limited, has acquired 

a health-based technology 

company, eClat Healthcare 

Limited to improve healthcare 

delivery in Africa. The deal which 

was sealed last weekend saw 

Interswitch acquiring a 60 percent 

stake in the Nigerian health tech 

company, through the purchase of 

shares from current shareholders 

and subscription to new shares 

issued by the company. 

Founded in 2012, eClat 

Healthcare Limited specializes in 

assisting healthcare service 

providers in planning, designing 

and operating their unique 

practices through the deployment 

of its bespoke healthcare 

technology platform, designed 

specifically for the healthcare 

environment in Africa. 

eClat’s healthcare technology 

platform, consists of a core e-Clinic 

software, including electronic 

billing, immunization, ante-natal 

and care pathway functions, as well 

as a variety of additional specialist 

modules. Prior to the acquisition, 

eClat’s platform had become a 

leading Electronic Health Record, 

EHR platform used in over 250 

public and private healthcare 

facilities in Nigeria. 

Group Managing Director/Chief 

Executive Officer of Interswitch, Mr 

Mitchell Elegbe, said that Nigeria’s 

healthcare system currently lacks 

adequate funding and a national 

framework, leading to operational 

inefficiencies. 

He promised that Interswitch’s 

strategic investment in healthcare 

technology aims to address these 

challenges by modernising the 

healthcare sector in Nigeria and 

eventually in Africa through its 

innovative products and services. 

The combined product offerings 

of Interswitch and eClat are 

expected to, amongst other things, 

enable operators in the healthcare 

sector develop new capabilities, 

improve the efficiency of their core 

operations and facilitate seamless 

payments. 

According to him, “due to the 

growing adoption of Interswitch’s 

healthcare product offerings by the 

operators, Interswitch’s healthcare 

technology platform aims to be one 

of the top industry platforms in 

Nigeria, which can be utilised as a 

major data source by healthcare 

policy makers for planning and 

efficiency improvements in the 

sector. As a result of this 

acquisition, the combined 

healthcare technology solutions 

are expected to position the 

Interswitch group as a health-tech 

solution and payments provider of 

choice to the healthcare industry 

going forward” 

By Prince Osuagwu, 

Hi-Tech Editor 

In recent years, Africa’s mobile 

network infrastructure has been 

rapidly improved, and 

smartphones have been further 

popularised. The number of mobile 

Internet users in Africa is growing 

rapidly, The General System for Mobile 

communications Association, GSMA in 

July, said that in the next few years, 

sub-Saharan Africa will be the region 

with fastest growing number of mobile 

users in the world. 

It predicted that by 2025, the total 

number of mobile users in the region 

will increase to more than 600 million, 

which is about half of the total 

population on the African Continent. 

By then, the number of users accessing 

the Internet via smartphones will be 

doubled. Under the stimulation of the 

demographic dividend, Africa has 

ushered in a crucial time for digital 

transformation and digital economy 

development. The substantial increase 

of users has a profound impact on the 

development model of mobile Internet 

technology in Africa. Nowadays, from 

mobile payment to instant messaging, 

from music streaming media to short 

video social networking, from online 

games to online reading, Africa is 

experiencing an upsurge in the 

development of the mobile Internet. 

However, despite the huge potential 

for progress, experts say the 

continent's mobile internet 

connectivity needs boosting, and, that 

requires enormous investment and 

significant regulatory reforms 

Today, more than 1.2 million 

Why Africa’s Mobile Internet should 

seek new opportunities 

•GSMA says region may have world’s highest mobile users 

•How Tecno thinks smartphone makers can help 

kilometers of Internet cables run 

across the oceans' floors, yet, not more 

than 22 percent of the continent has 

access. 

Experts have suggested that in the 

new world order, the practical solution 

is to look for new opportunities. In 

Africa's case, the China-African 

collaboration appears the solution. 

The China-African innovation team is 

constantly bringing forth new ideas in 

the localisation of mobile Internet 

products, operations, and strategies in 

Africa, with the aim of deepening 

Interconnection and cooperation to 

jointly build an informationist, Africa. 

To key on this and become a part of 

the history, mobile phone makers, 

Tecno said it decided to invest in 

sponsorship of the First China-Africa 

Mobile Internet Economy Summit 

which held in Nairobi Kenya, last 

week. The summit was co-sponsored 

by China-Africa Fund for Industrial 

Cooperation, CAFIC, GSMA Mobile 

360 Series, and Tecno, global. It 

brought together more than 200 

representatives from top organizations 

and enterprises in the fields of 

technology, mobile communications, 

Internet, venture capital, and 

entrepreneurship incubation, including 

Netease, Tencent, Jumia, Google, 

Facebook, Safaricom, MTN, Goldman 

Sachs, United Bank for Africa, among 

others. At the summit, Tecno said it 

shared its experiences and substantial 

achievements in the African mobile 

Internet ecosystem. With its in-depth 

involvement in the African market for 

many years, General Manager of 

Tecno, Stephen Ha said: “With the 

digitalisation and modernisation of 

Africa, we will keep providing users 

with smart, smooth, simple smartphone 

devices and mobile internet services. 

As a forerunner of mobile Internet in 

Africa, with our own successful 

experiences and vast smart phone 

terminal entrance resources, we are 

As a forerunner of mobile 

Internet in Africa, with our 

own successful experiences 

and vast smart phone 

terminal entrance resources, 

we are willing to help 

Chinese start-ups interested 

in African market 

willing to help Chinese start-ups 

interested in African market to go 

overseas better and faster, and 

empower excellent start-up teams of 

Africa to accelerate the rapid incubation 

and growth of mobile Internet 

products.” 

For him, the company developed a 

customized intelligent terminal 

operating system, HiOS, which he 

believes is more suitable for 

smartphone users in Africa. He said: 

“Based on it, Tecno actively cooperates 

with App store, Palmstore, Game center 

AHA Games, mobile browser Phoenix 

Browser, news aggregation APP 

Scooper, mobile Internet traffic APP 

SIMO, and other applications to build 

a mobile Internet ecological chain for 

Africans. 

At the same time, we have actively 

introduced external high-quality 

resources and established in-depth 

partnerships with several mobile 

internet applications that are popular 

with African mobile users, including 

music streaming and download service 

platform Boomplay, short video social 

platform Vskit, online reading APP 

Ficool, and mobile payment APP 

Palmpay, among others”. 

C 

M 

Y 

K

Direct Digital Transformation Investment 

spending to hit $7.4 trn by 2023 solve problems often 

By Emmanuel Elebeke 

The cost of directly applying 

digital methods in services 

delivery both in private and 

public establishments, popularly 

known as direct digital 

transformation is expected to 

reach $7.4 trillion by 2023. 

International Data 

Corporation, IDC, carried out a 

digital transformation market 

research and has just released a 

report which said that digital 

transformation spending in the 

period between 2020 and 2023 

is expected to grow to more 

than 50 percent of all ICT 

investment from its current 36 

percent position. It also said the 

projection will represent the 

largest growth in data 

By Chiamaka Okpoko 

Information and Communications 

Technology Company, Atawa 

Technologies LLC in conjunction 

with Atawa training Institute are 

organising a cyber security training 

for students in Abuja and Asaba, 

Delta state, to reduce the spate of 

cyber attacks in the areas. 

Chairman of Atawa group, Prof. 

Alex Atawa, said the training would 

open participants to the nitty-gritty 

of cyber security and help equip 

them towards reducing the cyber 

security issues in the country.. 

The training which is on ICT 

Fundamentals+, Cyber Security, 

and Cloud computing essentials, 

would only accommodate 50 

participants. 

Atawa said the training would 

kick-off November 25th, at 

Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, and the 

second phase of the training would 

take place two days after in Asaba, 

Delta State. 

intelligence and analytics. 

Digital Transformation, DX, is 

the use of new, fast and frequently 

changing digital technology to 

Cybersecurity: Atawa group equips 

students with hands-on training 

against attacks 

•Prof. Alex Atawa 

Stanbic IBTC's @ease 

wallet to help drive 

financial inclusion 

By Juliet Umeh 

In line with its commitment to deepen 

financial inclusion and drive its digitization 

agenda, Financial Institution, Stanbic IBTC 

Holdings PLC, a member of Standard Bank 

Group, recently launched the Stanbic IBTC 

@ease wallet. 

According to the institution, the product is to 

provide a unique range of financial services to 

the informally served, the underbanked and the 

unbanked on various structured platforms with 

the last 10 digits of a phone number. 

It said Stanbic IBTC @ease wallet affords 

customers the opportunity to access banking 

services such as interbank transfers, debit card 

issuance and cardless withdrawals from 

Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, or the 

Agent Network, amongst others. 

Stanbic IBTC says the new service reinforces 

its drive to support the federal government to 

deepen financial inclusion and thereby drive 

economic growth. It also explained that 

customers can open a Stanbic IBTC @ease 

wallet through Unstructured Supplementary 

Service Data, USSD, application, App or Agent 

locations nationwide. 

The Bank’s Executive Director, Personal and 

Business Banking, Wole Adeniyi said: “The 

Stanbic IBTC @ease wallet is a financial 

freedom vehicle for all Nigerians to access 

seamless financial services. This service is 

available to every Nigerian that can legally own 

a bank account. 

The bank promised to follow up the product 

launch, with a series of market and Campus 

activations starting from the ongoing Lagos 

International Trade Fair. 

He urged all stakeholders, 

including Students, Businessmen 

and Women, in different fields to 

register and attend the event. 

The training, according to him 

will also be beneficial to, 

industrialists, CEOs, ICT 

Personnels, public and Civil 

Servants, Computer Scientists, 

among others who he urged to 

register and participate in the 

training 

utilising cloud computing, 

reducing reliance on 

user owned hardware but 

increasing reliance on 

subscription based cloud 

services 

IDC, said that in this 

year’s Digital 

Transformation 

predictions, the critical 

business drivers will 

accelerate initiatives 

and investments, as 

companies seek to 

effectively navigate 

business challenges, 

compete at hyper scale, 

and meet rising 

customer expectations. 

IDC analysts Bob Parker and 

Shawn Fitzgerald listed the 10 

industry predictions that will 

impact digital transformation 

efforts of chief information officers, 

CIOs and information technology, 

IT, professionals over the next one 

to five years and offered guidance 

for managing the implications. 

The analysts further predicted that 

by the same period Digital key 

performance indicators, KPIs will 

mature, implying that by 2020, 

60% of companies will have 

aligned digital KPIs to direct 

business values. 

These include, measures of 

revenue and profitability, 

eliminating today’s 

measurement crisis where DX 

KPIs are not directly aligned; 

Platforms Modernisation, 

driven both by escalating cyber 

threats and new functionalities. 

In fact, the report said 65 

percent of organizations will 

aggressively modernize legacy 

systems with extensive new 

technology platform investments 

through 2023 and Invest for 

Insight: They say by 2023, 

enterprises seeking to monetize 

benefits of new intelligence 

technologies will invest over $265 

billion worldwide, making DX 

business decision analytics and 

AI a nexus for digital innovation. 

Vanguard, Wednesday, NOVEMBER 6, 2019 — 27 

Samsung to debut with Galaxy Fold in Nigeria 

*Releases new Galaxy A series 

By Prince Osuagwu 

marting from the introduction of three Galaxy A 

Sseries into the Nigerian market recently, device 

maker, Samsung, says its high profile smartphone, 

the Galaxy fold is now ready to debut in Nigeria. 

Since the smartphone maker globally unveiled the 

foldable device, there’s been much hype about the 

features. Not only is the device an integration of tablet 

and phone, but it also encompasses incredible 

innovation in material, engineering and display. 

Managing Director at Samsung Electronics West 

Africa, David Suh says, “Samsung prides itself with 

being at the forefront of design and technology 

innovation and the Galaxy Fold is a testament to this. 

Quite simply, it’s a device that will change the way we 

use smartphones, as well as what we expect them to 

do into the future. I’m really looking forward to seeing 

user responses to this amazing device.” 

The Galaxy Fold will launch in Nigeria beginning 

from next week and Samsung says it will subsequently 

release more details about local pricing and 

availability among others 

…Three new Galaxy A series 

Meanwhile, penultimate week, the mobile phone 

maker also rolled out four new members of the Galaxy 

A Series smartphones, including the Galaxy A10s, 

A20s and A30s. These new devices offer upgrades to 

essential features, made even more powerful with 

more value for the new smartphones generation. 

Suh said: “As a global technology leader, we are 

committed to providing meaningful innovations to 

our consumers. Galaxy A10s, A20s and A30s have 

been developed for young Africans who are looking 

for a great display, superior camera, long-lasting 

battery and fingerprint scanner. It’s a complete 

package of great looks and top performance,” 

Galaxy A10s 

The new Galaxy A10s comes with a 6.2-inch, HD+ 

Infinity-V Display. It provides an immersive visual 

experience to users. Additionally, addressing the need 

of today’s always-on generation, the Galaxy A10s is 

equipped with a powerful 4,000mAh battery that 

allows uninterrupted streaming, gaming and live 

broadcasting. 

It comes with a dual rear camera setup to address 

the millennials’ need to capture moments on the go. 

Apple creates community 

of users in Nigeria 

•Rolls out three new iPhone 11 series 


Device maker Apple, is creat 

ing a community of users in 

Nigeria known as iNigeria. The 

community will have access to 

premium and one of a kind experience 

of the iPhone lifestyle, including 

free insurance cover for 

accidental screen and liquid damages. 

It is creating a 41 service points 

in Nigeria where its certified engineers 

can provide after sales services 

to faulty devices without taking 

users through unnecessary 

hassles. As part of the value added 

service for this community, it has 

extended the warranty of some of 

its devices with one more year giving 

users extended opportunity to 

have their phones repaired free of 

charge for faults covered on warranty. 

Another value added service it 

activated for its community of users 

is free pick up and free delivery 

of the damaged iPhone devices. 

Meaning that users can have their 

damaged devices picked at locations 

closest to them and returned 

after repairs, all for free. 

All these are part of the introduction 

of three amazing iPhone models, 

iPhone 11, iPhone 11pro and 

iPhone11max in Lagos, weekend. 

Category Head, Apple Africa for 

Redington, Vickram Gopaal, says 

with the amazing power and features 

of the new introductions, 

there is no better time to be a member 

of the Apple family. The new 

devices 

were unveiled 

by 

Redington 

, the official 

Apple 

representative 

and 

V a l u e 

Added 

Distributor 

in Nigeria. 

T h e 

event was 

a n 

evening of 

fun, music, and relaxation. Guests 

were treated to an exciting experience 

of the Apple innovation. 

Gopaal, explained that the new 

devices offer upgrades to essential 

features and are more powerful 

with more value for the new smartphones 

generation. He said: “As a 

global technology leader, we are 

committed to providing meaningful 

innovations to our consumers. 

The new devices have been developed 

for individuals who are looking 

for the very best in user experience 

from amazing display, superior 

camera technology and longlasting 

battery life. The devices 

come with amazing new features 

such as the Dual-Camera system 

in the iPhone 11, Triple-Lens Camera 

system in the iPhone 11 Pro and 

iPhone 11 Pro Max, Super Retina 

XDR Displays, 4DX Spatial Audio, 

Slo-Mo Selfies also known as 

Slofiesand A13 Bionic chip technology. 

It’s a complete package of 

great looks, value and top performance”, 

he added. 

Other features included the 

transformative Triple-Lens Camera 

system; Ultra Wide, Wide, and 

Telephoto, add tons of capability 

without complexity. The new 

iPhones; iPhone 11 Pro lasts up to 

4 hours longer than iPhone XS 

while iPhone 11 Pro Max lasts up 

to 5 hours longer than iPhone XS 

Max, this allows uninterrupted 

streaming, gaming and improved 

user experience. The improved 

battery life offers users more 

screen time for things like navigation 

and video playback. 

iPhones 11, 11 Pro and 11 Max 

L-R: Head, Information Technology and Mobile (IM), Adetunji Taiwo; 

Key Channel Manager & Master Trainer, Solomon Osibeluwo; 

Marketing Lead, Information Technology & Mobile (IM), Gbenga 

Awomodu, and Software Quality Test Engineer, Stephen Okwara, all 

of Samsung Electronics West Africa during the launch of Samsung 

Galaxy A10s, A20s and A30s into the Nigerian market recently. 

Galaxy A20s 

Galaxy A20s is packed with triple rear camera, 15W fast-charging 

capability and a striking design to elevate the smartphone experience of 

young millennials and Gen Z.”Galaxy A20s has been developed to offer 

the Gen Z consumer a great display, triple camera and captivating design 

with a mirror-like finish. 

Head, Information Technology and Mobile, IM, Samsung West Africa, 

Adetunji Taiwo said: “People are increasingly using their smartphones to 

share live interactions – capturing spontaneous photos, streaming live 

videos and sharing experiences that are happening on the spot. Built to 

drive this evolution, the Galaxy A20s is packed with a compelling user 

experience for everyday lives.” 

Galaxy A30s 

The new Galaxy A30s features striking new designs, including a unique 

geometric pattern and futuristic holographic effect on the back. Available 

in three new colours, Prism Crush Black, Prism Crush White, and Prism 

Crush Violet, the sleek Galaxy A30s showcases a stylish look and feel. 

The device is paired with a long-lasting 4,000mAh battery, fast charging 

capabilities, AI-based game booster which makes it offer gaming 

experiences on-the-go. 

The Galaxy A30s comes with triple rear cameras, an improved 25MP 

main camera, an 8MP Ultra Wide camera and a new 5MP depth camera. 

With Live Focus on the 5MP depth camera, the user can now apply 

professional-quality bokeh effects and create more dynamic portraits 

quickly and effortlessly.



WITH HENRY OJELU 

midweekpersonality@gmail.com 

08111813061 (sms only) 

Meet Fola Akinboro: 

An amazon 

reinventing 

travel business 

F 

ola Akinboro is unarguably one of the most 

experienced professionals in the travel and 

tourism business having worked with various 

renowned local and foreign brands. Through 

hardwork, she has creatively evolved into a 

seasoned expert through the provision of 

bespoke services in customer service, 

ticketing, marketing, partnership, sponsorship 

and advisory services. In this interview, she 

gives insight into her new online platform and 

how she has been able to stay ahead of the 

pack in the highly competitive travel and 

tourism business. 

Background: 

I am a graduate of Obafemi 

Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, 

Osun State, Nigeria; I have 

a Diploma in Human Resources 

from the University 

of Leicester and an Executive 

MBA from the Metropolitan 

School of Business and 

Management, all in the 

United Kingdom. I have also 

attended many other training 

programmes in Nigeria and 

overseas. I am an affiliate 

member of the Oxford Chartered 

Institute of Marketing. 

Currently, I am the Chief Executive 

Officer (CEO) of 

ajala.ng, an online travel 

agency in Lagos, Nigeria. Before 

now, I have worked for 

Quantum Travels Limited, 

Etihad Airways, and Virgin 

Nigeria Airways in various 

capacities such as Head of 

Marketing, Marketing Officer, 

Marketing Coordinator 

and Customer Service Team 

Lead respectively. 

How would you describe 

your experience so far in 

the Nigeria online travel 

and tour services industry? 

The online travel and tour 

service industry in Nigeria is 

quite expansive and still 

growing. Because it is online, 

the business can access myriads 

of suppliers and trade 

partners who are willing to 

offer amazing services across 

the world at the drop of a hat. 

On my platform, ajala.ng, 

we have reliable relationship 

with various service providers. 

This has helped us, over 

the years to give competitive 

fares in air tickets, discounted 

rates on hotels and 

tour activities worldwide to 

our customers. 

What differentiate your 

platform from others? 

In order to differentiate our 

platform from others, we 

have some of the amazing 

features that have endeared 

us to Nigerian travelers. 

These include great travel 

deals, amazing vacation 

packages and awesome 

hotel rates. For the purpose 

of our new portal launch, 

we have made available on 

the platform remarkable 

bargain and mouthwatering 

deals on all our product 

offerings to further provide 

quality experience for 

our customers and trade 

partners alike. We also have 

an effective payment option. 

This is a core principle 

we use to provide our 

customers with well-integrated, 

user-friendly payments 

methods. Currently 

we have integrated the 

website with Paystack’s 

platform to facilitate payment, 

plus GTPay option 

that allows for bank transfer 

to provide flexibility to 

our esteemed customers. 

Pertinent to note also is 

that our new platform 

stores preferred payment 

option to create a level of 

ease for our returning customers. 

Because we understand 

the importance of fast 

load times, the new portal 

is designed to render at a 

minimum speed delivering 

content quickly. 

What are you doing in 

terms of value addition to 

the country’s airline industry? 

In a country of about 

200 million people, there 

are lots of value additions 

that Nigerians require 

when making their travel 

decisions and the most important 

of it all is advisory 

services. Nigerians want to 

get the best at the most effective 

cost which is the 

core of our business. Other 

things that we bring to the 

doorstep of Nigerian 

travelers include- topflight 

deals, daily/weekly update 

to numerous destinations 

worldwide with unbeatable 

travel packages to anywhere 

around the world. In addition, 

we provide hassle-free 

online visa processing services; 

smooth access to book 

car rentals and hotel bookings. 

With all these, you can 

see that we offer a lot of 

value to all categories of 

travelers 

In a country of 

about 200 million 

people, there are a 

lot of value 

additions that Nigerians 

require when 

making their travel 

decisions and the 

most important of it 

all is, advisory 

services 

You recently revamped 

your platform. What informed 

this decision? 

There is a saying that a 

business has only 8 seconds 

to capture the user’s attention 

once they land on your 

platform. This means that 

you have only 8 seconds to 

show how amazing the 

brand is and to compel customers 

to make a purchase. 

This is exactly what we have 

done with our business 

Akinboro 

model. As said by W. 

Edwards Deming “innovation 

comes from the producer 

not from the customer”. 

We are very mindful 

of this. 

Nigerian travelers often 

complain of exploitation by 

travel agencies. How is 

your platform different 

from others? 

We offer the best fares and 

most competitive packages 

to make travel affordable for 

Nigerians. We also have the 

payment by installment option. 

With this alternative, 

customers can book special 

ticket deals with an initial 

non-refundable 30% deposit 

to confirm the ticket. 

Completion of payment is 

required at most two weeks 

before date of travel. The 

Ajala Pay Easy process is 

easy- the customer is required 

to make reservation 

on the website; request for 

Ajala Pay Easy package and 

agree to terms and conditions. 

Nigerians love comfort 

and ease. How affordable 

are your services? 

There is no one size fit all 

tour packages. The package 

is dependent on the need of 

the couple; the destination, 

the hotel they want to lodge, 

the locations they will want 

to visit amongst others. This 

is why our services are bespoke. 

Everyone gets the 

package that best suits their 

purse. For us, at all times, 

we are poised to eradicate 

all possible complications 

on the way of the customers’ 

at the most favorable 

rates. 

Many Nigerians have 

complained about fake 

visa, fake ticket etc. As a 

Nigerian online airline 

agency, what are the steps 

you take to avoid this menace 

and ensure that your 

clients are always delighted? 

The channel through 

which Nigerian travelers 

make their purchases will 

determine if they will be 

swindled and given fake visa 

and ticket. It is very important 

for people to patronize 

reputable companies so 

that they do not run into 

such complications. For us, 

as an agency, we provide 

hassle-free online visa 

processing services and we 

help people in booking their 

tickets across all destinations 

in the globe. Our utmost 

goal is to put smile on 

the faces of every traveler. 

What ways can travelers 

benefit from the expertise 

of your platform 

The first benefit that 

travelers stand to benefit 

from our platform is that our 

services are bespoke. Our 

platform is renowned for 

prompt customer and advisory 

services which creates 

a delightful travel experience 

for all travelers. We 

ensure that travelers enjoy 

their trip while we handle all 

of what can stress them 

while they are away from 

home. 

There is so much competition 

in your line of business. 

How do you manage 

to stay ahead of others? 

We have mapped out various 

marketing strategies to 

reach out to Nigerian 

travelers through our platform. 

We believe that our 

rates give us a competitive 

edge. Also, our cheap packages 

coupled with the fact 

that our platform is easy to 

navigate and the rendering 

speed of the website is very 

good. 

Also, part of what informed 

our decision to upgrade to 

a new platform, is the fact 

that smartphones and mobile 

devices using various 

operating systems are used 

for surfing the internet by 

many people because it consumes 

less data and has a 

greater reach. As such, we 

have put all these into consideration 

while developing 

our new platform and we 

have built our application 

with a mobile first strategy. 

The new platform is more 

dynamic and it provides better 

engaging web experience 

on a host of varied devices 

like smartphones, tablets, 

and laptops and also 

on all operating systems. 

Similarly, customers complain 

about payment options, 

this we have resolved 

by integrating the website 

with Paystack’s platform to 

facilitate payment that allows 

for bank transfer to 

provide flexibility to our esteemed 

customers.


My husband’s friend is hot! 

Dear Bunmi, 

I’ve been with my husband 

for over ten years and we have 

three lovely children and a 

good house of our own. We 

both have good jobs and life 

is good. 

Although I love my husband 

to bits, I’ve fancied his very 

good friend for years. He’s 

been quite helpful and 

friendly to me, and I even get 

jealous if he speaks of other 

women. 

Married to a mama’s boy 

My husband is completely 

tied to his mother’s apron 

strings. At first it was kind 

of endearing, but now it’s 

starting to really get on my 

nerves. She fusses over him 

non-stop, taking him 

lunches at work and even 

bringing him local soups she 

swears he loves. 

It might be alright if he was 

a teenager, but he’s 36 years 

old for God’s sake! Now the 

whole situation is starting 

to affect how masculine I see 

him in the bedroom 

department. I could take 

over from her, but I’m a busy 

career woman and I’d prefer 

Her cruel taunts put me off sex 

Dear Bunmi, 

My ex-girlfriend left me 

feeling so paranoid about sex 

that I am now nervous about 

getting involved with women 

again. I suffer from premature 

ejaculation and she made me 

feel like it was my fault and 

somehow I was doing it just 

to spite her. She kept telling 

me only “kids” suffer from it 

and I should ‘grow up’ and 

learn to satisfy a woman. 

Is there a pill I could take to 

cure it? I’ve tried most of the 

recommended methods but 

none works very well. If there 

isn’t a drug, is there anything 

else you could suggest? 

Albert, 

by e-mall. 

Dear Albert, 

Of course, it is not your fault. 

One in three men struggles 

with premature ejaculation, 

PE, at some point in their 

lives. It can happen to anyone, 

no matter how old or sexually 

experienced you are. Your exgirlfriend 

is as misguided as 

she is rude. You’re lucky to be 

rid of her! 

There is a lot of research 

If he hits on me, it’s going 

to require all my willpower to 

turn him down! 

Christy, by e-mail. 

Dear Christy, 

What you’re describing has 

all the signs of lust, not love. 

You’re happy with your home 

and husband, but you want 

the excitement of strong 

emotion. 

So, you lust after this man 

from a distance, get jealous if 

him to man-up and learn to 

look after himself, instead of 

running to his mum to wipe 

his nose! We have only one 

child of school age. 

Ifeoma, by e-mail. 

Dear Ifeoma, 

I can understand why 

you’re upset. Women 

generally want a man who 

would look after us and 

protect us, and it doesn’t 

feel like your man is that 

when his mother pampers 

him all of the time. As a 

career woman, it’s obvious 

taking over domestic chores 

is the least of your problems. 

being done on PE. Some of 

the latest thinking is that it 

could be hereditary. It could 

also have something to do 

with the levels of chemicals 

(serotonin and dopamine) in 

your brain. High levels of 

dopamine appear to trigger 

early ejaculation, and high 

levels of serotonin appear to 

delay it. Drugs like antidepressants 

can help restore 

the balance...and getting lots 

of exercise also seems to help. 

Scientists are currently 

working on a pill to ‘cure’ PE. 

But it has to be perfected and 

he sees someone else. 

The reality is, if you knew 

your partner’s best friend as 

well as you know your 

husband, you’d feel the same 

about him. You’d be 

affectionate but restless. So, 

instead of trying to hurriedly 

have a bite of the forbidden 

fruit, hoping not to be caught, 

put your energy back into 

loving your husband. 

Talk yourself out of doing 

anything you’ll later be very 

ashamed of. 

You might be focused on 

your career but men don’t 

like getting their own meals 

all the time! 

Try to calmly discuss with 

him about his mother 

backing off. But not before 

you’ve sorted out domestic 

alternatives like a reliable 

househelp, for instance, 

since you can obviously 

afford one. On top of which 

you could do a few things 

to take care of him as part 

of your loving, nurturing 

relationship. Role reversals 

in a marriage sounds 

interesting but it’s not 

popular in this neck of the 

woods! 

approved, and drugs are not 

the answer for everyone. 

In the meantime, you can 

learn to manage your PE. Go 

to the American website 

www.goodinbed.com and 

download an e-book called 

'Overcoming Premature 

Ejaculation'. 

It is said to be the best book 

on the subject, and it covers 

the practical and emotional 

aspects. Read it, do the 

exercises and when you feel 

confident, start dating again. 

Not all women are as 

unsympathetic as your ex! 

High levels of 

dopamine appear to trigger 

early ejaculation, and high levels of 

serotonin appear to delay it, drugs 

like anti-depressants can help 

restore the balance and getting lots 

of exercise also seems to help. 

Scientists are currently working on 

a pill to ‘cure’ PE 

Mum is a pain in the 

neck! 

Dear Bunmi, 

Even now I’m in my mid- 

30s, my mother is as 

overbearing as always. She 

thinks she knows exactly 

what’s best for me and has 

always had my whole life 

mapped out. For example, as 

a teenager, we fell out because 

she didn’t like the make-up I 

wore and disapproved of my 

friends. They were friends I 

really got on well with, but 

mum wanted me to be friends 

with her posh friends’ 

children. 

These days, her problem is 

about my choice in men and 

my career. 

What can I do to stop her? 

Temi, by e-mail. 

Dear Temi, 

I’m happy with both men 

Dear Bunmi, 

I have been married for 

three years and we have a 

daughter. I have been 

secretly seeing one of my 

husband’s friends for the 

past six months, though he 

is also married. We have 

a sexual relationship and 

love each other so much. 

But I feel bad because this 

man is a better lover than 

my husband. As a result, 

I have not had sex with my 

husband for weeks. 

I know that this is a 

wrong thing to do, but I’m 

very happy this way. Why? 

Dorothy, by e-mail. 

Dear Dorothy, 

Because you have no 

morals, no scruples, no 

Could your poor mum be 

over-compensating for her 

own life not turning out as 

planned? Well, let her know 

she can’t live her life through 

you. I guess you must have 

said this to her time and again 

over the years. Calmly 

communicate your feeling but 

learn to step back too. She may 

never really change. 

Any mother would be 

anxious about a daughter in 

her 30s who isn’t married, 

especially since the longer 

you leave childbearing, the 

more difficult it gets to 

conceive. Try to brush off her 

overbearing behaviour as 

challenging, as it may be. 

After all, you’re in control of 

your own life and there’s not 

much she can do about it now 

you’re a grown up! 

What present would 

impress my married lover? 

Dear Bunmi, 

I’ve been involved with 

a married man for about 

two years now. This year, 

I’m thinking of giving 

him a complete native 

wear, come Christmas. He 

seems to be short of this. I 

don’t care if his wife finds 

out about where the gift 

comes from, but from past 

experience, gifts that look 

remotely suspicious have 

been left in my flat. What 

do you suggest I give him 

that he could take home? 

Chichi, by e-mail 

Dear Chichi, 

You say you love this 

man, but wouldn’t you 

rather have a man of your 

own to share your 

birthdays and Christmas' 

with? Someone you could 

shower with love and gifts 

for the whole of various 

holidays? I think you’re 

playing a dangerous 

game. If you think you can 

give him something so 

special, he’ll wear it all 

the time so that his wife 

will eventually find out 

about you. 

This is hurtful to say, but 

be rest assured that 

whatever you give him 

that couldn’t be taken 

home would be given 

away to someone else, 

rather than have his wife 

find out. Why not get a 

bottle of good wine to 

share, or prepare his 

favourite meal you can eat 

together? Why not make 

sure you get out, meet and 

have fun with other single 

people? 

conscience and no 

common sense, it is clear 

that you have no respect 

for your husband, his 

friendship or your 

marriage vows. 

You may think you are 

happy now, but the joy 

will evaporate when your 

husband finds out about 

your affair. Sexual 

compatibility is important 

in a marriage, but it takes 

a lot more than good sex 

to make a long, mutually 

rewarding relationship. 

Don’t throw away a good 

future for you and your kid 

for a sexual fling. By the 

way, why did you marry 

your husband in the first 

place? 

Share your problems and release 

your burden. Write now to 

Dear Bunmi, 

Vanguard Newspapers, 

P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos, or 

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

The NDDC, corruption and 

the politics of dirt 

NIGERIA’s Niger-Delta has had 

a long history of struggle, 

being one region populated by some 

of the so-called minority ethnic 

groups in the country. It has always 

been a struggle for self-recognition 

from the larger ethnic groups either 

individually or as a collective. That 

is, when peoples of the Niger-Delta 

are not fighting to be free from the 

ethnic overlordship of the Hausa/ 

Fulani, the Yoruba or the Igbo, they 

are worried by the real or perceived 

control of any one of the ethnic giants. 

Under colonial rule, the fight was 

mostly about political control and 

representation in the larger scheme 

of national politics, culminating in 

the Willinks Commission of 1957. 

Things remained the same in the 

years after Nigeria gained political 

control from British rule and the 

discovery of crude oil. 

The trio of Nigeria’s ethnic giants 

still had their gaze firmly fixed on 

cash and food crops as their major 

means of economic survival, be it 

groundnut or cotton, cocoa and 

kolanut, palm oil and kernel, etc. But 

following the spike in the price of 

crude oil in the world market in 

1973 and the realisation that 

exportation of crude could be an 

Mobolaji Johnson: A humane soldier and administrator 

TRIBUTE 

By TAYO OGUNBIYI 

THE harsh reality of death as the 

predictable end of every mortal was 

succinctly driven home by Williams 

Shakespeare in one of his enduring works, 

Julius Ceaser, in the following words: 

“Cowards die many times before their 

deaths; The valiant never taste of death 

but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have 

heard, It seems to me most strange that 

men should fear; Seeing that death, a 

necessary end, Will come when it will 

come”. 

Death is certainly an integral part of 

human existence. Either by spiritual insight 

or medical diagnosis some know ahead of 

time about the imminence of their death. 

But for others, death come so suddenly, 

tragically and at times so painfully. 

This same death, which Shakespeare 

describes as a necessary evil, finally caught 

up with Brigadier General Mobolaji 

Johnson (rtd) on Wednesday, October 30, 

2019 at the age of 83. Mobolaji Johnson, 

the first Military Governor of Lagos State 

(1967-1966), reportedly died on that fateful 

day after a brief illness. 

His death has since been described as a 

great loss to Lagos State and indeed the 

country as a whole. Lagos State Governor, 

Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, 

described the deceased as a dedicated 

Lagosian with massive contributions to the 

development of Lagos State in particular 

and the nation as a whole. 

The departed illustrious son of Lagos was 

a constant source of support and 

inspiration to subsequent governors of 

Lagos State, especially from 1999 till date. 

He was always willing to offer his wise 

counsels and experience whenever the 

need arose. Even while it was obvious that 

his health could not really support such 

easier or faster means of revenue 

generation than groundnut, cocoa 

or palm oil, the Niger-Delta has been 

exploited for its crude oil resources. 

Gradually the struggle of the peoples 

of the region would shift from 

political representation to control of 

its natural resources (mainly crude 

oil) and the space from which the 

resource(s) are derived. The latter 

aspect of this struggle was focused 

on the fight against environmental 

degradation, following the relentless 

exploitation of the crude oil 

resources of the Niger-Delta and the 

consequent destruction of sea and 

plant life, farmland, water resources 

and massive pollution of the 

atmosphere. 

The symbols of this misuse of state 

power against a region were and still 

are the oil exploration companies. 

The struggle for environmental and 

civil rights was mostly championed 

and brought to world attention by 

the writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa and his 

Movement for the Survival of Ogoni 

People, MOSOP. Saro-Wiwa paid 

heavily for leading this struggle. His 

life and that of eight others of his 

associates was the price for that 

struggle that came to a head on 

November 10, 1995, when in an 

rigorous endeavour, Johnson was a regular 

feature at every major Lagos State 

government ground breaking events since 

1999. Such was his unbelievable 

commitment to the cause of Lagos State, 

and that is the exact reason why he would 

be sorely missed. 

What is, however, soothing is that 

Mobolaji Johnson passed away at the ripe 

age of 83, having served God and 

humanity in various capacities and fields. 

A great administrator and rare humanist, 

Johnson touched and transformed several 

lives through his life of selfless service and 

industry. He was a symbol of decency, 

humility and integrity. His life epitomised 

the virtues of honesty, fairness and justice. 

As the First Military Governor of Lagos 

State, he discharged his mandate equitably 

with remarkable dignity. His indelible 

record of service remains intact. The 

“Centre of Excellence” that we proudly 

proclaim today is a product of his vision 

for Lagos State when he conceived several 

landmark programmes and projects for the 

newly created state. 

Even in death, the story of the 

development of Lagos to a model megacity 

cannot be told without a mention of this 

unassuming and worthy leader. Some of 

the impactful projects he executed as 

governor are still visible and have definitely 

outlived the man who did them. 

In the realisation that Lagos State is the 

most populous and leading state in the 

federation, Mobolaji Johnson was 

determined to turn the state into the pride 

of the nation. The policy thrust of his 

administration was shaped by his faith in 

the creative capabilities and unbounded 

energies of the people, especially the 

masses. Thus, his early days in office clearly 

showed him as a man who brought 

resourcefulness, experience and 

dynamism to the task of solving problems 

ignoble demonstration of the misuse 

of state power, Ken Saro-Wiwa and 

eight other men were judicially 

murdered by the brutal regime of 

General Sani Abacha. Even though 

Saro-Wiwa did not live to see the 

actualisation of the Ogoni or Niger- 

Delta struggle or its recognition by 

the Nigerian state, things never 

stayed the same after the sacrifice he 

and his associates made. Their 

struggle and that of others would lead 

to the establishment of series of 

intervention programmes such as 

the Oil Mineral Producing Areas 

development Commission, 

OMPADEC and, later, the Niger 

Delta Development Commission, 

NDDC, with the main goal of 

safeguarding both the 

environmental and civil liberties of 

the Niger-Delta region. 

Can the Nigerian 

state be held 

accountable for what is 

now playing out in the 

Niger-Delta? 

The recognition that came with 

Saro-Wiwa’s mostly peaceful 

struggle was an elixir for copycat 

groups that would, however, be 

defined by the violent nature of their 

struggles which had been diluted and 

somewhat driven by politicians from 

the Niger-Delta. Having seen the 

reward that came from violent 

struggle, the Niger-Delta became a 

warehouse of many militias that 

were variously led by people, most 

of whom would in a short while rank 

among the richest in the country and 


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whose credentials kept changing 

even when their commitment to the 

struggle had become venal, subject 

to what was in it for them. They 

emerged bearing arms and 

thereafter retreated to the sidelines 

having amassed wealth that would 

not let them put their lives on the line 

for the people in whose name they 

gained both wealth and recognition. 

The NDDC that was set up to cater 

to the needs of the Niger-Delta has 

become a cash cow from which 

individuals from the Niger-Delta not 

inclined or unable to pursue a life of 

violent struggle, like the so-called 

militants, draw their share of Niger- 

Delta wealth. Otherwise, a single 

politician would not be the 

beneficiary of hundreds of 

unexecuted contracts as is now being 

alleged. Nor would the region be the 

headquarters of tens of thousands of 

abandoned or unexecuted projects. 

The latest struggle among the Niger- 

Delta elite is to grab a slot on the 

NDDC Board where millionaires 

could be made far from the degraded 

creeks. Under the guise of leading 

the drive for the infrastructural 

development of the Niger-Delta, 

people are now at one another’s 

throats for a cut of the NDDC pie. 

Perhaps, this would not matter 

much if the Commission was still 

focused on its core mission. But there 

is increasingly little evidence on the 

ground to show that the resources 

allocated to the NDDC are utilised 

for the good of the Niger-Delta. 

While people would stop at nothing 

to get a place on the NDDC and its 

surrogates in the states, ordinary 

people of the region are still as 

exploited and immiserated as they 

have always been. What was meant 

to meet the needs of the people have 

been transformed into an avenue for 

that linger and hinder the progress of the 

people of the state. 

Mobolaji Johnson was first appointed 

as the Administrator of the Federal 

Territory of Lagos on January 15, 1966 and 

later as Military Governor at the creation 

of the state on May 27, 1967. He recorded 

considerable achievements during his 

tenure. His regime witnessed an increase 

in revenue of the state from N36.7m to 

N99.7m. The increase was largely due to 

the revenue allocation formula that had 

just been introduced and increased 

revenue from crude oil, which was partly 

distributed to the state governments. 

Under his leadership, the state 

government generated the larger 

proportion of its revenue from Internally 

He was a symbol of 

decency, humility and 

integrity; his life epitomised 

the virtues of honesty, 

fairness and justice 

Generated Revenue, IGR. According to the 

government then, the IGR was known as 

“sources under the control of the Lagos 

State Government”. 

It was the Mobolaji Johnson 

administration that began the construction 

of Ikorodu and Mushin General Hospitals. 

It also modernised the General Hospital, 

Lagos, by building the new mortuary block, 

physical medicine department, sewage 

treatment plant and installation of a 

standby generator. The administration also 

commissioned the nurses hostel, doctors 

flat at Marina, Isolo and Harvey Road 

Health Centres. 

Also built by the administration was the 

maternity annex at Onikan Health Centre 

and additional ward at Igbobi Orthopedic 

Hospital. It equally opened five new 

massive corruption and selfgratification, 

leading to the so-called 

forensic probe of the NDDC recently 

ordered by President Muhammadu 

Buhari. With the possibility of 

exposure, there are now claims and 

counter-claims of corruption, mostly 

along party lines and affiliations, by 

persons and groups connected to the 

NNDC and the Niger-Delta as a 

whole. Even while nominees’ names 

have been sent for Senate 

confirmation, an interim board of 

the NDDC was still put in place. Is 

this to give room for some to “chop 

and clean mouth” before a new 

board is constituted? 

What is motivating the accusation 

that the interim board under the 

chairmanship of a man, Cairo 

Ojougboh, is not qualified to lead it? 

Is the issue really one of qualification 

or pork sharing? Were the past 

leaders of the NDDC unqualified? If 

yes, is their lack of qualification the 

reason the NDDC has had so little to 

show after receiving so much? What 

is all the noise about low 

representation or marginalisation of 

some ethnic groups in the NDDC for? 

Another opportunity to clear space 

for a new set of hungry bellies? The 

struggle for the soul of the NDDC 

should tell everyone that things are 

virtually back full circle to where 

they were before some control, 

through various intervention 

programmes, was ceded to the 

people of the Niger-Delta. With 

many in the Niger-Delta now at 

loggerheads, are the enemies still 

outside? Can the Nigerian state be 

held accountable for what is now 

playing out in the Niger-Delta? Or 

does the Niger-Delta have to be 

fragmented and made more restive 

in the name of development? 

Government Colleges in each of the five 

divisions of the state. 

The Johnson administration also 

introduced the harmonised teachers’ 

salaries and conditions of service to 

enhance the status of the profession and 

commenced the implementation of the 

Universal Primary Education, UPE. 

The administration equally completed 

projects under the Lagos Water Supply 

phase1 Expansion Programme and 

designed the Owo Water Works as an 

alternative to Iju Water Works, to serve Ojo 

and environs. Other strides of the 

administration are: Construction of the 

Victoria Island Sewage Scheme for Ikoyi, 

Lagos Island, etc.; introduction of the 

regulations for motorcyclists to wear crash 

helmets; introduction of Traffic Courts; 

establishment of Agricultural Extension 

Works Stations; construction and 

commissioning of the Government Printing 

Press at Isheri road in Ikeja; and so on. 

A diligent and dedicated military officer, 

Mobolaji Johnson began his military career 

at the Zaria Military Depot from 1958 to 

1959. He was a member of the United 

Nations Peace Keeping Troops, Congo 

between 1960 and 1961. He was promoted 

Second Lieutenant in the Nigeria Army in 

1961, while he became a Captain in 

October 1962. 

His steady progression in the military 

saw him serve variously as Deputy 

Commander, Federal Guards, 

Commander, Federal Guards, Deputy 

Adjutant and Quartermaster-General 

Headquarters, 2nd Brigade, Apapa, Lagos, 

Station Commander, Benin, Midwest (old 

Bendel State), Second in command, 4 th 

Battalion, Ibadan, among others. 

Having played his part in the stage of 

life, one could only wish him eternal peace 

at the bosom of the Lord. Rest in Peace, 

Brigadier General Mobolaji. 

•Ogunbiyi is of the Lagos State Ministry 

of Information & strategy, Alausa, Ikeja 

C 

M 

Y 

K


YOUR LUCK TODAY 

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 

LIBRA ROMANTIC Venus at positive angle may bring matters-ofthe 

heart related temptation through friends. But your best bet now is 

moderate ambition along your career/business lines. 

SCORPIO: The best bet for you is to consolidate on progress you 

made recently and look for best way to pacify your new friends, especially 

those circumstances forced you to alienate. 

SAGITTARIUS: EVERYBODY needs other people’s co-operation 

just like you today but you will not be compelled by situation to dance to 

others’ tune; meaning that you can do things your own way and rightly 

expect success. 

CAPRICORN: THOSE of you willing to give others the needed cooperation 

will be in better position to consolidate on progress you have 

made recently. Don’t allow SEX and/or sentiment to distract you. 

AQUARIUS: WATCHOUT for minor and avoidable but costly 

mistake within your working arena, especially if you are in charge of 

other people’s money. If you develop new romantic liaison today, it may 

not last. 

PISCES: AS the saying goes “time waits for nobody” it’s important 

you guard against unnecessary procrastination capable of putting you at 

tight corner tomorrow. Be loving. 

L E I S U R E 

TAKE HEART — ELLA RANDLE 

Let no day go by without counting your 

blessing. — John Templeton- 

Find moments during the day or week and 

sit down to write about your blessings. Reflect 

on what went right or what you are 

grateful for. As you write, be specific and 

think about the sensations you felt when 

something good happened to you. 

—Ella Randle 

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” 

SAYINGS OF 

OUR PEOPLE 

An ugly child 

of your own is 

more to you 

than a beautiful 

one belonging 

to your 

neighbour. 

~Ganda Proverb 

By Kola Fayemi 

ARIES: IT’S better you conclude what you’ve been doing for a while 

rather than starting something new you don’t know when to finish it. Be 

more family minded. 

TAURUS: IF careless remarks are made by you today, it would backfire 

at resumption of work tomorrow morning. Those who are eager for 

romantic attention will have their dream coming true. Be more loving. 

GEMINI: IF you wait too long before an important (financial) 

decision is taken, you may find yourself keeping date with what you don’t 

bargain for. The more practical you are the better for you. 

CANCER: Placement of the Moon influences your associates to 

become more self-assertive. If you take good advice you’ll fare better. 

However, it’s important you don’t forget your tomorrow with others. 

LEO: BETTER than yesterday and luckily for you, opportunity to 

rectify mistakes made yesterday may come today to the betterment of 

your finances. Don’t try to buy love with money. 

VIRGO : BETTER than yesterday as you will be at a more comfortable 

place today and suddenly discover that your hope is alive. Venus can 

bring those of you who are moderately ambitious money. 

ASTROLOGICAL ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

COUNSELLING 

Send your date and place of birth to the Astr 

trological 

Counselling, P.M.B 100 

007, Apapa, Lagos 

WHO IS MY MOTHER? 

Dear Joshua, 

I was born December 3, 1993. I am a devoted Muslim 

raised in the South West of Nigeria. Yes I am a very young 

man, I have gone through experience some elderly ones 

have not known. I find a lot of strange things in my mummy, 

and sometimes I wonder who actually she is made of. Who 

is my mother ? (keep her birth data and Identity). What is 

my full horoscope ? 

Musa, Iwo – Osun State. 

DUDU in “ROLLING HOT” 

“HOT” 

By A.O.OLAIDE 

Dear Musa, 

What space can take will be given here. And your mother is 

an embodiment of total woman who will be ever willing to 

make any sacrifice for her children 

DATE OF BIRTH=FRIDAY DECEMBER 3, 1993.SUN 

SIGN =SAGITTARIUS;SUN IN 10TH DEGREE OF SAG- 

ITTARIUS. MOON SIGN = CANCER ;MOON IN 29TH 

DEGREE OF CANCER.STALLION SIGN = SCORPIO*** 

MERCURY IN 24TH DEGREE OF SCORPIO***VENUS IN 

ZERO DEGREE OF SAGITTARIUS.MARS IN 17TH DE- 

GREE OF SAGITTARIUS. JUPITER IN 4TH DEGREE OF 

SCORPIO***SATURN IN 24TH DEGREE OF 

AQUARIUS.URANUS IN 19TH DEGREE OF CAPRICORN. 

NEPTUNE IN 19TH DEGREE OF CAPRICORN.PLUTO IN 

26TH DEGREE OF SCORPIO***NORTH NODE IN 3RD 

DEGREE OF SAGITTARIUS. SOUTH NODE IN 3RD DE- 

GREE OF GEMINI. 

NUMBERS OF PLANET HOSTED BY GROUP OF STAR 

SIGNS (ACCORDING TO QUALITY & ELEMENT) ARE; 

CARDINAL =3, FIXED =4, MUTABLE =3,FIRE =3, EARTH 

=2, AIR =1 WATER =4 PUSH-FULL INFLUENCE =40% 

NON-PUSH-FULL INFLUENCE =60% FINAL DISPOSITOR 

(PLANET AT HOME) = FAMILY MINDED MOON 

ANALYSIS OF THE HOROSCOPE DATA/PLANETARY 

PLACEMENT 

You are a kind man with higher pitch of psychic gifts. But you 

have had challenges along western educations. Preponderance 

of fixed and water influences in your chart are indications of 

your being emotional. Your family is very important to you . 

You rightly see your mother as semi-god. You are very close to 

acquisition of Spiritual powers, but it is important you don’t 

allow evil minded people to tell you that you are equal to God 

and/or get involve in Spiritual/catalyst group ever willing to 

oppose GOVERNMENT, either religiously or socially. Before 

joining any group seek golden advice of your source-MOTHER. 

Combination of open Sagittarius and secretive Scorpio are 

indications of your being a person with balanced personality, 

even your natal Moon in emotional and motherly Cancer is a 

big plus. As you were born when the Sun, Moon and Stallion 

were placed in Sagittarius, Cancer and Scorpio respectively, 

you are mainly Sagittarius/Cancer and partly Scorpio person. 

Thus, basic characteristics of the three Star signs mentioned in 

this paragraph are highly pronounced in your inner-self. 

VIRGINIA 

dadadekola@yahoo.com 

HOME & ABROAD 

By Lawrence Akapa



Ugwuanyi backs ADR, 

as NICArb visits 


GOVERNOR Ifeanyi 

Ugwuanyi of Enugu 

State has pledged his 

support towards 

sustaining and promoting 

the development of 

Arbitration and Alternative 

Dispute Resolution, ADR, 

to promote peaceful coexistence 

in the state and 

across the East. 

Ugwuanyi made the 

pledge in Enugu during 

the visit of Nigerian 

Institute of Chartered 

Arbitrators, NICArb’s 

representatives led by one 

of its vice president, and 

Governing Council 

member, Dr. Michael 

Ajogwu(SAN), in 

company of the Registrar, 

and Chief Executive 

Officer, Mrs. Shola 

Oshodi-John, and an 

executive delegation from 

its Enugu Branch. 

The governor also 

By Ugochukwu 

Alaribe 

U MUAHIA— 

GOVERNOR 

Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia 

State has appointed Dr. 

Anthony Agbazuere as his 

Chief of Staff. 

There have been 

speculations over the 

position of Chief of Staff as 

many chieftains of Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

and aides of the governor, 

were said to be lobbying 

for the position. 

Until the appointment, 

Agbazuere was the 

General Manager of Abia 

State Passenger Insurance 

Manifest and Safety 

Scheme, ASPIMS. 

He has also served as 

chairman of Abia State 

CENTRE for Happy 

Elderly People, 

CHEP, celebrated the 2019 

International Day of Older 

People, with a call to the 

young to live healthy, as 

old age is expensive. 

The CHEP event, which 

held in Lagos, to discuss 

how to care for elderly, 

was the second after Ogun 

State’s, convened by 

Deaconess Mrs Lillian 

Sule-Jiringho. 

While speaking on 

Journey to Age Equality, 

Deputy Director, Nursing 

Services, LUTH, Mrs 

Henrietta Owums, 

charged young people to 

live a healthy life so that 

they can enjoy a healthy 

supported the 

establishment of the 

Multi-Door Court House 

in the state. 

During the meeting 

with Ugwuanyi, the 

NICArb members 

discussed the 

development of ADR as 

a sustainable medium for 

dispute resolution. 

Ugwuanyi told the 

NICArb delegation 

about the fatherly role Dr. 

Ajogwu plays in Enugu 

State and further 

explained his 

commitment to dispute 

resolution and peaceful 

co-existence. 

Also present at the 

meeting were Secretary 

to the State Government, 

Professor Simon 

Ortuanya, and 

chairman, House 

Committee on Works, 

Lands, Housing and 

Urban Development, 

Chima Obieze. 

Ikpeazu appoints 

Agbazuere Chief of Staff 

chapter of the Nigeria 

Labour Congress, 

NLC; executive 

chairman of Isiala Ngwa 

South council as well as 

Commissioner for 

Information and 

Strategy. 

In a similar 

development, the 

governor also approved 

the appointment of Eze 

Chikamnayo as his new 

Special Adviser on 

Strategy and 

Communications. 

Eze Chikamnayo is a 

former Commissioner for 

Information in the state. 

In a statement by the 

Governor’s Chief Press 

Secretary, Mr. 

Onyebuchi Ememanka, 

the appointments take 

immediate effect. 

CHEP celebrates elders, 

cautions the young 

old age. 

Her words: “The kind 

of life you live when you 

are young determines 

how your old age will be, 

so live a healthy life 

while growing up.” 

She appealed to 

people to open up an old 

people-focused 

pharmacy, where drugs 

and treatment for old 

people will come at a 

subsidised rate, as “old 

age is expensive.” 

ASP Agunwa, 

representing the DPO of 

Ejigbo LCDA, who 

spoke on security, urged 

people to make an effort 

to be indoors by 

11:30p.m. 

STUDENTS' FINTECH WEEK: From left— Deputy Dean, Students Affairs, representing 

Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Dr. Demola Lewis; Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science 

& Technology, Professor Kehinde Sangodoyin; Chief Operating Officer, Fintech Association of Nigeria, 

Dr. Babatunde Obrimah, and Head of Technology, Infrastructure & Payment Gateway, SystemSpecs, Mujib 

Ishola, at the 2019 Nigeria Fintech Week Students’ Conference sponsored by SystemSpecs in Ibadan. 

Don’t return for your mother’s 

burial, cleric warns Nnamdi Kanu 

By Nwabueze 

Okonkwo & 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu 

ONITSHA—ONE of 

Igbo clerics, who 

claimed to be fighting 

spiritually for the 

restoration of sovereign 

State of Biafra, Bishop 

Abraham Udeh, has 

advised the leader of 

Indigenous People of 

Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi 

Kanu, not to return home 

for the burial of his mother 

or else he would be rearrested 

and hounded into 

prison without fair trial. 

He said he saw in the 

spiritual realm where Kanu 

returned and was rearrested, 

warning that it 

would amount to a 

grievous mistake and a 

suicide mission for Kanu to 

come home in the name of 

his mother’s burial, after 

narrowly escaping barely a 

year ago. 

Bishop Udeh, General 

Overseer of Mount Zion 

Faith Global Liberation 

Ministries Inc. a.k.a. By 

Fire By Fire, Nnewi, 

Anambra State, told 

newsmen in his cathedral 

that he also saw in the 

spiritual realm that plans 

were being made to lure 

Kanu back to Nigeria 

through diverse means by 

those he called “his 

pursuers,” to send him back 

to prison. 

He told Kanu not to 

listen to them, because his 

safety was not guaranteed 

if he returns to Nigeria, 

adding that Kanu has other 

siblings that could represent 

him at the burial ceremony. 

He appealed to South- 

East governors to rally 

round Kanu so as to give 

his late mother a state 

burial, adding that it would 

be unfair if the South-East 

governors distanced 

themselves from the burial 

arrangements and failed to 

play active role as they are 

expected to do. 

Bishop Udeh 

contended that no matter 

the differences between the 

IPOB leader and the 

governors, it would amount 

to failure of responsibility 

for the governors, the 

leadership of Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo and other Igbo 

leaders if they fail to give 

Kanu’s mother a befitting 

burial. 

On a President of Igbo 

extraction, the cleric said: 

“If they can allow an Igbo 

man to lead this country at 

least for eight years, 

Nigeria will indeed be the 

VICE 

presidential 

candidate of Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, and 

the former governor of 

Anambra State, Mr. Peter 

Obi, has decried the 

continued castigation of 

Nigerian youths, insisting 

that what they need most 

is support. 

Obi was speaking, 

yesterday, at the African 

Economic Congress at 

Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja. 

Answering questions 

from youths and young 

entrepreneurs, Obi said 

due to the cumulative 

Japan of Africa. 

“The Igbo man is full of 

ingenuity. They are 

number one in Nigeria in 

that regard.” 

... as IPOB alleges 

renewed threats 

by MACBAN 

Meanwhile, IPOB, 

yesterday, alleged that the 

Miyetti Allah Cattle 

Breeders Association of 

Nigeria, MACBAN, has 

resumed its threat and 

terror activities against the 

people of South-East, with 

the movement of cattle to 

farms and villages. 

IPOB, in a statement by 

it’s Media and Publicity 

Secretary, Emma Powerful, 

effects of bad leadership, 

basic things that would aid 

the young ones to succeed 

were absent in Nigeria, 

thus forcing Nigerians to 

seek greener pastures in 

other countries. 

On the need for the youth 

to remain focused, Obi said 

it is an attitude they must 

cultivate as one of the 

factors for success. 

In his words: “Remain 

focused at all times, even 

when the combination of 

economic, social and 

political factors are pushing 

you towards failure. Do not, 

warned that it will not 

tolerate any kind of threat 

against Biafrans in any 

guise, including movement 

of cattle in farmlands and 

villages in Biafranland. 

IPOB alleged that the 

South-East governors and 

political leaders have 

compromised their 

positions and sold their 

people out for crumbs to 

impress MACBAN patrons 

and sponsors, “who they 

think will guarantee their 

positions.” 

He added that selling out 

their people for political 

gains and positions is the 

reason MACBAN 

members are threatening 

the people of South-East. 

Youths need encouragement—Obi 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA—THE National 

B o u n d a r y 

Commission,NBC, 

yesterday, said it has 

started preliminary work for 

the demarcation of 

boundaries to end the 

protracted dispute between 

the people of Ngbo in 

Ohaukwu Local 

Government Area of Ebonyi 

State and their neighbours 

Agila, Ado Local 

Government Area of Benue 

State. 

At the meeting chaired by 

Vice President Yemi 

Osinbajo, with the governor 

of Benue State, Samuel 

Ortom, and Deputy 

Governor of Ebonyi State, 

Kelechi Igwe in 

attendance, it directed the 

for any reason, remain 

where they dropped you.” 

Commenting of cases of 

failure in businesses, Obi 

said failures were not 

necessarily negative, but 

part of the experience that 

would help us do better 

in future. 

The organisers of the 

event, represented by 

Nancy Iloh, said the 

decision to invite Obi was 

part of their long term plans 

of getting successful, 

honest and dedicated 

Nigerians to mentor 

youths. 

NBC begins work on Ebonyi, Benue dispute 

authorities of the NBC to 

work with the states to 

provide the necessary 

logistics and security for the 

demarcation exercise. 

Speaking after the 10th 

board meeting of NBC 

yesterday, Acting Director- 

General of the Commission, 

Adamu Adaji, said 

the panel members were 

poised to follow the 

directive religiously.


HAND-OVER: From left; The outgoing Vice President 2018/2019 cohort, Dr Anita Benson, President 

Lamide Johnson, Mr Sterling Tilley Cultural Affairs officer US Embassy, Grace Lamon Alumni Outreach 

Coordinator US Embassy, Prof. Abdulkarim Mayere incoming President, and other executives during 

the handover to the new Executive members of the Alumni Association recently. 

HoS from 36 states, FCT storm Asaba 

to reposition civil service 

By Victor Young 

HEADS of Service, 

HoS, from the 36 

states of the Federation and 

the Federal Capital 

Territory, FCT, including the 

Head of the Service of the 

Federation, are meeting in 

Asaba, Delta State to 

fashion out a 

comprehensive framework 

Dickson seeks more funding for judiciary 

By Samuel 

Oyadongha 

Y ENAGOA— 

GOVERNOR 

Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa 

State, has called for more 

funding for the judicial arm 

of government to enable it 

to function optimally. 

He made the call 

yesterday, at the 2019 Legal 

Year and Valedictory Court 

Session in honour of retired 

Justice Emmanuel Ogola 

at the state high court, 

Yenagoa. 

Dickson said, “Judicial 

financial autonomy is 

critical to the proper 

functioning of the judiciary. 

Bayelsa is a pioneer in this 

area. After our government 

signed the Judicial 

Financial Autonomy into 

law, the recession hit us, it 

was a case of the spirit 

willing while the body 

became weak.” 

to reposition the civil for 

better service delivery. 

Under the aegis of 

National Council on 

Establishments, NCE, the 

five-day meeting is being 

organised by the Office of 

the Head of the Civil 

Service of the Federation, 

in collaboration with the 

Delta State government, 

through the office of the 

He expressed the state 

government’s commitment 

to the completion of 

ongoing projects in various 

sectors particularly the 

judiciary quarters before the 

end of his administration. 

He said contractors 

would be mobilised to site 

to resume work on the 

edifice that will 

accommodate 17 courts 

before the end of the week. 

Dickson, who also spoke 

on the planned provision of 

official vehicles for judges 

and magistrates in the state, 

restated his resolve to 

ensure that the vehicles are 

procured. 

Commending the Chief 

Judge of the state, 

Justice Kate Abiri, for 

providing exemplary 

leadership and the 

introduction of electronic 

recording in the 

judiciary, Dickson assured 

that the multi Door Court 

state Head of Service. 

NCE is a consultative and 

advisory body to the Federal 

Government on 

establishment matters, job 

standards, structure, 

conditions and schemes of 

service. 

Membership of the 

Council consists of all HoS 

from the 36 states of the 

Federation and the FCT 

•Plans return to legal practice after leaving office 

House Bill passed by the 

state House of Assembly 

would be signed into law 

soon. 

The governor told the 

leaders and members of the 

bar and the bench that he 

planned to return to 

effective legal practice at 

the end of his second tenure 

as governor. 

He commended retired 

Justice Ogola for over 20 

years meritorious service in 

the Judiciary. 

In her address, the state 

Chief Judge, Justice Abiri, 

said during the previous 

legal year, steps were taken 

to ensure speedy 

dispensation of justice. 

She, however, lamented 

that funding had been the 

problem of the Judiciary 

especially in the execution 

of capital projects. 

Earlier, a church service 

was held to kick start the 

new legal year. 

Urhobo, Sapele Okpe youths give Buhari 7 days notice 

to fire Akpabio, NDDC interim mgt 

By Emma Amaize 

W Urhobo 

ARRI—THE 

Youths 

Assembly, UYA, in Delta 

State, rose from a meeting, 

yesterday, calling on 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari to sack the Minister 

of Niger Delta, Senator 

Godswill Akpabio and 

dissolve the Interim 

Management Committee of 

the Niger Delta 


NDDC, within seven days. 

Similarly, Sapele Okpe 

Youths said Akpabio’s 

inauguration of an interim 

committee for NDDC was 

done in bad faith barely 24 

hours after President Buhari 

formally sent the names of 

the newly constituted board 

of NDDC to the Senate for 

screening, according to the 

requirement of law. 

Urhobo youths in a 

communiqué by their 

National President, Jude 

Akpore, said, “We have 

resolved that the President 

should within seven days 

sack Akpabio, dissolve the 

illegal committee and 

inaugurate 

the 

constitutionally recognised 

board under the 

chairmanship of Dr Pius 

Odubu. 

“If within seven days, 

these modest requests are 

not granted, we will have no 

other choice rather than 

resort to self-help and shut 

down all flow stations within 

Urhobo land space.'' 

with the Head of the Civil 

Service of the Federation as 

Chairman. 

Addressing participants 

at the meeting which 

kicked off Monday, 

chairman, technical Sub- 

Committee of the 

NCE, and Permanent 

Secretary Service Policies 

and Strategies, in the office 

of the Head of the Civil 

Service of the Federation, 

Dr Magdalene Ajani, said 

the vision of government 

was to drive a public 

service organization that 

would provide world- class 

service, for sustainable 

development. 

She commended the 

Delta State government for 

being civil service- friendly, 

recalling that the state had 

in October last year hosted 

the technical meeting of the 

council, and recently, 

hosted the 62nd National 

Council on Health 

meeting. 

She encouraged civil 

servants in the country to 

make contributions to the 

ongoing technical sessions 

of the NCE meeting, 

through the websitewww.OHCFS.gov.ng, 

saying ''the site will be open 

to the public till the end of 

the month, to allow inputs 

from all the states.” 

On his part, Delta State 

HoS, Mr Reginald Bayoko, 

charged “the meeting to 

push forward the 

frontiers of public 

service, and make 

contributions that would 

have positive impact on 

service delivery. I also 

challenge delegates to 

look objectively and 

rigorously into all issues, 

contentious issues, and 

come up with specific and 

robust recommendations 

for government’s 

implementation. 

He enjoined civil 

servants to work collectively, 

to build a virile and resultoriented 

civil service. 

Delegates from more than 

25 states in the country are 

participating in the 

technical session which 

comprises permanent 

Secretaries and directors in 

charge of establishments. 

Minimum wage: Fintiri 

approves implementation 

•As Bagudu tells LG bosses to implement 

By Umar Yusuf & 

Kabir DanKatsina 

Y GOVERNOR 

O L A — 

Ahmadu Fintiri of 

Adamawa State has 

approved 

the 

implementation of the new 

minimum wage with effect 

from November 2019. 

However, Vanguard 

gathered from government 

source that the payment of 

arrears of the new minimum 

wage from April 18, 2019, 

when President 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

signed the N30,000 new 

national minimum wage act 

into law, to October 2019, 

will be discussed with 

organized labour in the 

state. 

A statement yesterday by 

the Director General Media 

and Communications to the 

Governor, Mr Solomon 

Kumanga, reads “Governor 

Ahmadu Fintiri has directed 

that payment of the new 

national minimum wage 

should commence in the 

state with effect from 

November, 2019. This order 

covers state civil servants as 

Asaba Rotary clubs flag off 

free medicare services 


AClubs SABA—ROTARY 

in Asaba, Delta 

State have flagged off free 

health services in the state 

capital as part of activities 

to mark its 2019 Rotary 

Family Health Days. 

The free health services 

which focused on HIV 

testing and counselling, 

hepatitis B and C, diabetes 

and glucose level screening, 

eye catarac test and 

treatment, dental care, 

among others were carried 

out through the collaborative 

efforts of all Rotary clubs in 

Asaba zones 10 and 11 

made up of Rotary clubs of 

Asaba, Asaba Metropolitan, 

Asaba GRA, Asaba Govt 

House, Asaba East, Asaba 

Central and Asaba 

Gateway. 

Speaking at the Oshimili 

South Local Government 

Area Primary Health Care 

centre, President, Rotary 

Isoko group commends Buhari 

on NDDC board group, 

THE Emede Patriots, a 

political/soco-cultural 

group in Isoko Nation has 

commended President 

Muhammadu Buhari on the 

appointment of the new 

Niger Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC, 

Board, describing it as a 

square peg in square hole. 

It also called on the 

people of the Niger Delta 

region to support the 

President and the new 

board to fast-track 

development of the region. 

Addressing journalists 

after an enlarged meeting 

of the group in Emede, 

Isoko South Local 

Government Area of Delta 

State, Convener of the 

well as local government 

employees” 

Bagudu swears in elected 

council chairmen 

Meanwhile, Governor 

Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi 

State yesterday swore in 

newly elected chairmen of 

the 21 Local Government 

Councils in the state amidst 

disagreement between the 

state chapter of the All 


APC, and Kebbi State 

Independent Electoral 

Commission, KESIEC 

over the issuance of 

Certificates of return to the 

elected chairmen and 

Councillors. 

The swearing-in 

ceremony was performed 

by the state Acting Chief 

Judge, Justice Suleiman 

Ambursa, in the presence 

of Governor Bagudu. 

The governor thereafter 

warned them against abuse 

of public funds, directing 

them to immediately 

implement the new 

minimum wage and sworn 

the newly vice chairmen 

and counselors at their 

respective local councils. 

Club of Asaba Metropolitan, 

Mr Austin Ekpewu, said 

the health services were 

aimed at ensuring that 

families stay healthy and live 

a positive life at all times. 

Also speaking, Assistant 

Governor in charge of zone 

10, RotarianIre Utieyione- 

Edema, noted that the focus 

of the annual free health 

services was on maternal 

and child health care, 

reiterating that the 

programme was to improve 

the lives of family members 

in the area of health. 

She said: “It is to make 

sure that we have a 

healthier family especially 

the mother and child.” 

Assistant Governor zone 

11, Chinedu Osadebay, who 

spoke at Ogbeoke Square, 

said those whose cases 

could not be handled 

during the programme were 

referred to the Federal 

Medical Centre, Asaba for 

proper medical attention. 

Mr Emakpor 

Odogu thanked Buhari for 

finding an illustrious 

Emede Isoko son, Prophet 

Jones Erue, the Delta State 

APC Chairman as the state 

representative and 

Olorogun Benard 

Okumagba as the 

Managing Director and 

others worthy. 

He described them as 

“Seasoned and patriotic 

Nigerians who have proven 

themselves as achievers in 

their chosen careers. So I 

can tell you that Mr 

President has made the 

right choice by carefully 

selecting these patriotic 

Nigerians to help 

actualise his dream for 

the people of the Niger 

Delta region.”




We're committed to child online 

protection —DBI 

ABUJA—THE Digital 

Bridge Institute, DBI, 

has restated its commitment 

to protect the Nigerian child 

against the negative vices on 

the internet. 

The President/CEO of DBI, 

Prof. Mohammed Ajiya, made 

the commitment during the 

maiden edition of the ITU- 

DBI Child Online Protection 

Workshop hosted by the institute 

in Abuja. 

Aliyu affirmed that the institution 

recognizes the need 

to protect children and young 

people in the cyberspace. 

He underscored the need 

for child development as well 

as the need to strengthen action 

to protect every child 

from abuse and defend their 

rights in the context of ICTs. 

He also emphesised the need 

to build confidence and security 

in the use of ICTs especially 

for children. 

The DBI president said the 

theme of the three-day workshop 

"Building a Culture and 

Responsibility Online" was 

apt and carefully selected, 

saying that experts at the 

event from the industry, government 

regulators and law 

enforcement agents would 

explore ideas and gain 

knowledge from the event on 

consumer awareness in 

cybercrimes. 

He further revealed that the 

institution shall continue to 

work with local and international 

partners and collaborators 

to strengthen actions 

aimed at protecting children 

from abuse and to develop 

them to defend their rights in 

the context of ICTs. 

"As a technological hub in 

ICT, we have assembled experts 

from the United Kingdom 

to be able to rub minds 

and see how we can utilize 

their expertise in protecting 

Nigeria cyberspace and we 

hope if we do that, we will be 

able to protect the child particularly 

at this material time 

based on various information 

online to make sure they have 

the right content," the DBI 

boss said. 

While appreciating NCC, 

NITDA, MTN, GSMA, and 

CeCe Yara Foundation for 

making the workshop a reality, 

he noted that the institute 

shall continue to work with 

local and international ICT 

stakeholders to strengthen 

actions aimed at protecting 

children from cyberspace 

abuse. 

On his part, the Executive 

Vice Chairman of the Nigerian 

Communications Commission, 

NCC, Prof Umar 

Danbatta stated that though 

the internet is a viable learning 

tool for children, they remain 

potential victims of improperly 

disseminated information 

and negative content 

thus the need to ensure their 

protection. 

OSCAR 2020: Nollywood divided 

over disqualification of Genevieve 

Nnaji's ‘Lionheart’ ...as NOSC reacts! 

•It's regrettable — Omotola 

•My movie represents the way we 

speak as Nigerians —Genevieve 

By Benjamin Njoku 

The shocking disqualifi 

cation of Genevieve 

Nnaji’s directorial debut 

movie, ‘Lionheart’ by the 2020 

Academy of Motion Picture 

Arts and Sciences, Oscars, has 

set the Nigerian movie industry 

otherwise known as Nollywood 

apart with many practitioners 

pointing accusing 

fingers on the Nigeria Oscar 

Selection Committee, 

NOSC, following the selection 

process of the entry, which 

they described as shrouded in 

secrecy. The movie, which is 

Nigeria’s first-ever submission 

for the Oscars in the Best 

International Feature film 

category, was disqualified 

prior to screening for Academy 

voters in the international 

category on Wednesday. 

According to the Academy, 

nominees in its Best International 

Feature Film Category 

must have a predominantly 

non-English dialogue 

track, and 'Lionheart' despite 

being an unmistakably Nigerian 

film, did not tick this particular 

box. 

The stakeholders in the Nigerian 

movie industry have 

taken different standpoints on 

the ugly development. While 

some were critical, others 

blamed the local selection 

committee for its shortsightedness 

and inability to keep 

to the rules of the game, which 

is currently dominating discourse 

on two WhatsApp 

groups, Film4Film and Filmic 

as well as Twitter. 

However, reacting to the 

disqualification of her 

film,via Twitter yesterday, 

Genevieve said 'Lionheart 

represents the way we speak 

as Nigerians. “It’s no different 

to how French connects 

communities in former 

French colonies. We did not 

choose who colonized us. As 

ever, this film and many like 

it, is proudly Nigerian.” 

“I am the director of Lionheart. 

This movie represents 

the way we speak as Nigerians. 

This includes English 

which acts as a bridge between 

the 500+ languages 

spoken in our country; thereby 

making us #OneNigeria,” 

the star-actress tweeted. 

Omotola Jalade Ekeinde 

who's one of the Academy’s 

928 members, has described 

the development as regrettable, 

adding that “ “We have to 

go by the rules for now.” 

Meanwhile, reacting to this 

recent development, the 

NOSC Chairperson Chineze 

Anyaene in a statement yesterday 

said: “The budding 

Nigerian film industry is often 

faced with producing 

films with wide reach which 

often makes the recording dialogue 

predominantly English 

with non-English infusions 

in some cases. Going 

•Omotola 

forward, the committee intends 

to submit films which 

are predominantly foreign 

language – non-English recording 

dialogue. We are 

therefore, urging filmmakers 

to shoot with intention of non- 

English recording dialogue as 

a key qualifying parameter to 

represent the country in the 

most prestigious award.” 

“The committee is working 

tirelessly in organizing workshops, 

seminars and using 

other available media to create 

robust awareness on the 

guidelines and requirements 

for an International Feature 

Film Entry. Lionheart passed 

on other technical requirements 

from story, to sound and 

picture except for language as 

adjudged by the Academy 

screening matrix, which was 

a challenge for the committee 

at a time. This is an eye 

opener and step forward into 

growing a better industry.” 

“Lionheart,” in which Genevieve 

plays a woman who 

tries to keep her father’s struggling 

company afloat in a 

male-dominated environment, 

is currently available on 

Netflix. Frontrunners in the 

category include South Korea’s 

“Parasite,” Spain’s “Pain 

and Glory” and France’s “Les 

Miserables.” The shortlist of 

10 films will be announced on 

Monday, December 16, 2019, 

while nominations for the 

92nd Oscars® will be announced 

on Monday, January 

13, 2020. The 92nd and Oscarsis 

expected to hold on 

Sunday, February 9, 2020, at 

the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood 

& Highland Center® in 

Hollywood. 

Nollywood reacts! 

Kelechi Eke, film maker 

According to Kelechi Eke, 

US-based Nigerian film 

maker and founder, The African 

Film Festival, TAFF, Genevieve 

has worked so hard 

and doesn’t deserve what happened. 

“I am honestly devastated 

by the news. But we must learn 

to tell ourselves the truth as 

Nigerians. We aren’t beyond 

mistakes. When we err let’s 

admit it and move on. We blew 

this one. The film being almost 

100% in English Language 

disqualifies it. My confusion 

is why is it an issue this 

far into the competition? I’m 

still proud of Genevieve and 

her accomplishments but it 

seems like selection error. 

However, that tells me that if 

LionHeart was done in Igbo 

or Pidgin, it would have had a 

chance of winning.” 

Alex Eyengho, film maker 

I put the blame squarely at 

the doorsteps of the Nigerian 

OSCARS Committee and the 

Producer/Director of Lionheart. 

They simply did not follow 

laid down entry rules set 

•NOSC Chairperson 

Chineze Anyaene 

•Genevieve 

out by OSCARS. There error 

of omission or commission 

have manifestly put Nollywood 

and indeed Nigeria to 

public odious and embarrassment. 

That category is for 

films made largely (95%) in 

indigenous languages. 95% of 

Lionheart was shot in English 

language! It is bad enough 

that the producers submitted 

the film for that category, it is 

preposterous that the committee 

accepted it and went ahead 

to submit it as Nigeria's entry! 

For causing us this embarrassment, 

the committee 

members, who in the first 

place were not transparently 

selected, should resign honourably 

and give way to more 

competent hands to handle 

things from next year. The 

central OSCARS in the USA 

should know that the OS- 

CARS committee in Nigeria 

failed woefully for whatever 

reasons. There are not a few 

Nigerian indigenous language 

films out there that 

meet the OSCARS selection 

criteria. It was as if some or 

most members of the committee 

wanted Lionheart to be 

submitted at all costs. Lying 

to get honour always ends up 

in disgrace. Sadly, this disgrace 

was brought on the entire 

Nollywood and indeed 

Nigeria by some or all members 

of the selection committee 

here in Nigeria. 

NFC boss 

My humble opinion is that 

we should dwell more on the 

positive that this experience 

presents . The first SpaceX 

never lifted off at the first blast 

. It plunged earthbound after 

33seconds . Today they are the 

biggest private contractor to 

NASA . They are defining new 

frontiers in space exploration. 

Just as we have started being 

listed for the OSCARS, we 

must surly improve next time. 

The good news is that a 

product from Nigeria made 

good headlines by being submitted 

in the first instance. 

Let’s us encourage ourselves 

collectively and move on . It 

is a new day in the industry. 

Francis Onwuchie 

I do not even think the big 

concern is for Genevieve. A lot 

of responsibility is on the selection 

committee. I am very 

mindful,not to frontally attack 

the committee but at the initial, 

too many "things" were 

unintentionally shrouded in 

secrecy. I believe that to meet 

up with the important aspects- 

three items in the criteria 

comes to the fore. Technical 

quality, Indigenous language 

and Impact. My estimation 

will be that it may be 

a bit of a task, meeting up with 

these regulations except a filmmaker 

planned for it from getgo. 

Going forward, the committee 

should encourage 

more practitioners to aim for 

this entry even as we keep the 

money - in commercial viability 

of our movies in focus.



Prohibition of retired judges 

from legal practice: Need for 

a paradigm shift (2) 

LAST week I considered arguments often 

advanced by both sides of the debate 

regarding the prohibition of retired judges 

from legal practice. I stated the position in 

countries like India and some states in the 

United States of America that have relaxed 

the prohibition, where judges now enjoy the 

ability to engage in some form of legal practice 

after retirement. However, without a doubt, 

there are certain considerations that are unique 

to Nigeria which in my estimation make it 

imperative that the prohibition be revisited 

here. 

Absence of job security: First, the job of a 

judge is characterised by a near-total absence 

of job security as judges have, over the years, 

been victims of harsh administrative decisions 

of divergent political structures, particularly 

the military. The first recorded incidence of 

the victimisation of judges is the removal of 

Hon. Justice Taslim Olawale Elias as the Chief 

Justice of the Federation, on ground of illhealth, 

by the Murtala Muhammed 

administration through the instrumentality of 

Decree No. 17 of 1984. Another recorded 

incidence is that of Hon. Justice Olu Ayoola, 

who was compulsorily retired from the Bench. 

In fact, he noted in his book titled: Fifty Years 

at the Law that: 

“The treatment personally made me curse the 

day I accepted the offer of coming to the Nigerian 

Bench, more so leaving a successful legal 

practice. And as if the injury was not enough, a 

decree was also passed forbidding any of the 

Judges so retired to go back to full legal practice, 

even though their judicial careers had been 

aborted without reasons being given to them or 

to the nation nor being afforded opportunity to 

defend their names, honour and future against 

the reasons before they were damnified and 

summarily retired with loss of name, career, and 

pension rights. Some were also given 21 days to 

vacate official quarters. The procedure adopted 

was blatantly unjust, so much so that some of 

the judges so treated have since died 

prematurely, of being unable to bear the 

injustice. That was briefly 

how the 1975 judicial 

purge was carried out.” 

In all the recorded 

histories of the abysmal 

dismissal of judges by 

the military, usually on 

ground of decisions 

considered too antigovernmental, 

it is more 

saddening that brilliant 

legal minds who have 

Nigeria has 

come to a stage 

whereby major 

reforms have 

to be carried 

out in its 

judicial system 

contributed their wealth 

of experience to the development of the law 

are rendered irrelevant, considering that they 

can no longer practice law after being forced 

out of the Bench. For this singular reason, other 

brilliant lawyers whose contributions would 

have further enhanced the development of the 

law are deterred from aspiring to the Bench, 

knowing that their legal careers may be 

untimely truncated by an administrative fiat. 

Consequently, the quality of judgments being 

dished out by our courts has also been adversely 

affected. In my book, Impossibility made 

possible, I noted that: “It certainly was the wish 

of many successful lawyers to one day rise to 

the bench and avail the administration of 

justice with their wealth of experience. But who 

would leave his lucrative practice for a bench 

when by military fiat he could be 

unceremoniously removed from office for the 

wrong reasons or even for no reason at all… 

One effect of this arbitrary sack was the 

depletion of the judiciary with brilliant and 

honest hands. Besides the issue of poor pay, 

nobody wanted to join a Bench when he was 

not sure of the security of his job, especially in a 

situation where a removed judicial officer could 

not go back to practice as a legal practitioner.” 

Furthermore, most judges were legal 

practitioners before being called to the Bench, 

and this, perchance, accounts for why some 

judges descend into the arena by engaging 

counsel in legal fisticuffs. Notwithstanding, 

one cannot take away from the fact that 

advocacy still runs in the blood of some of our 

judges and therefore, the idea of permitting 

the return of judges to advocacy after life on 

the Bench should not be a mere fantasy. 

Personal conflict: There is also no doubt 

that judges are sometimes faced with 

impossible situations – a 

dilemma – which creates a 

conflict between the jurist’s 

personal convictions 

(conscience) and the law. More 

often than not, judges have been 

forced to discharge accused 

persons whom they believe 

actually committed the crimes 

alleged, but due to the 

ineptitude of prosecution 

counsel, the essential elements 

of the crime were not proved. 

The frustration which such 

attracts could be enough to 

make a judge voluntarily 

vacate the Bench but, 

considering that his legal 

career will end if he makes such 

choice, will continue to endure being faced with 

other impasse in the future. A former trial judge 

in the U.S.A, Neal W. Dickert who voluntarily 

retired from the Bench into legal practice after 

11 years gave his reason for vacating the Bench 

thus: 

“I retired primarily because I found that it 

became increasingly difficult, day after day, to 

make hard decisions that had a profound impact 

upon the lives of the people appearing in front 

of me. I was afraid that I would lose the strength 

of character to make the hard decisions or, 

perhaps even worse, would become callously 

insensitive to the feelings and interests of the 

litigants I encountered. Neither of these options 

was palatable.” 

In the same vein, petitions are constantly 

being written against judges by litigants and 

counsel alike, with the attendant psychological 

effect it may have on such judges. Also, some 

judges may be threatened or blackmailed to 

tilt justice in the direction of a powerful 

individual in the society who could influence 

the continued stay of the judge on the Bench. It 

therefore leaves judges vulnerable to the fear 

of dismissal and the realisation of economic 

woe which such dismissal may attract. 

However, if our judges are able to return to 

legal practice, even after dismissal, they will 

still have an opportunity to earn and therefore 

become more relaxed and resolute in the 

administration of justice, knowing fully well 

that they can still dust the wig and gown and 

return to legal practice 

Likewise, judges tend to become 

overwhelmed with the workload and 

responsibilities which life on the Bench dictates 

but at that time, it may be already too late to 

retrace their footsteps and return to the Bar. In 

such a case, one would be faced with a 

frustrated judge who may vent out his 

frustrations on counsel and unassuming 

litigants. Surely, such will be inimical to the 

effective and efficient administration of justice. 

The New Law Journal, in reaction to the 

resignation of Sir Henry Fisher from the High 

Court Bench to take up another appointment, 

noted thus: “Judges are men and men change 

their careers for many reasons. Prominent among 

those reasons is the realisation that the career 

they are in is not really for them – the belief that 

they would be happier and more effective 

elsewhere. If a High Court Judge feels that he is 

unsuited to the judicial way of life, surely it is 

better for the administration of justice, as well 

as for the individual concerned that he goes… 

A judge is entitled, like anyone else, to make his 

life where he honestly believes he can best be 

himself. The judicial oath is not an irrevocable 

vow.” 

Conclusion: Nigeria has come to a stage 

whereby major reforms have to be carried out 

in its judicial system, and certainly, the return 

of judges – retired, dismissed or resigned – to 

active legal practice is ripe for consideration. 

Even if such judges are not allowed to return 

full steam, there should still be a measure of 

participation in law practice that will ensure 

the sustained relevance of such erstwhile jurists 

in the nation’s development of law. In this 

regard, Nigeria may adopt the quasi-restrictive 

style being utilized in the United States – which 

essentially allows retired judges to practice in 

court, even the one which they once sat, but 

permits the sitting judge to recuse himself in 

the case of a conflict of interest; or even which 

permits retired judges to prepare and draft 

pleadings, motions, appellate Briefs, among 

others, for a fee. 

Additionally, in the appointment of new 

judges, there may be created a provisional fiveyear 

period to allow such new appointees to 

have a feeling of how life on the Bench is, and 

voluntarily resign if they find that they cannot 

not cope with the dictates of the Bench, or if 

they find that life on the Bench is more than 

what they actually bargained for. In that 

scenario, such judges will be able to pick up 

their wigs and gowns and continue with legal 

practice, even if in a limited capacity. 

From whichever perspective one elects to 

approach this issue, the major consideration 

should be the due administration of justice. At 

the moment, this requires that an urgent review 

be made to this prohibition of retired judges 

from practicing. It is one that I expect the 

relevant authorities to attend to as a matter of 

urgency. 

Trump Chief of Staff to testify in 

impeachment probe 

US House im 

peachment investigators 

has summoned 

President Donald 

Trump’s acting chief of 

staff Mick Mulvaney for 

a deposition, saying he 

has “substantial firsthand 

knowledge” of 

Trump’s efforts to pressure 

Ukraine. 

“The investigation has 

revealed that you may 

have been directly involved 

in an effort orchestrated 

by President 

Trump, his personal 

agent, Rudolph Giuliani 

and others to withhold… 

nearly $400 million in 

security assistance in 

order to pressure 

(Ukraine) to pursue investigations 

that would 

benefit President 

Trump’s personal political 

interests,” the chairmen 

of the three committees 

leading the probe 

wrote. 

Mulvaney is the highest-ranking 

White 

House official to be summoned 

in the impeachment 

probe, although he 

is unlikely to testify on 

Friday as requested given 

the White House’s 

opposition to administration 

officials cooperating 

with the probe. 

Nine US citizens killed in Mexico attack 

AT least nine US cit 

izens, three women 

and six children, 

have been killed in an 

attack by suspected drug 

cartel gunmen in northern 

Mexico. 

The victims are members 

of the LeBaron family, 

linked to a breakaway 

Mormon community 

that settled in Mexico 

several decades ago. 

The victims were travelling 

in a convoy of vehicles. 

The security minister 

said the group could 

have been targeted accidentally 

as a result of 

mistaken identity. 

Sonora state in northern 

Mexico is being 

fought over by two rival 

gangs, La Línea, which 

has links to the larger 

Juárez cartel, and “Los 

Chapos”, which is part 

of the Sinaloa cartel. 

Family members who 

have spoken to the New 

York Times newspaper 

say two of the children 

killed were less than a 

year old. 

In a tweet President 

Donald Trump described 

the victims as a group of 

“wonderful family and 

friends” who “got 

caught between two vicious 

drug cartels, who 

were shooting at each 

other”. 

The US “stands 

ready”, he said, to offer 

support to combat the 

problem of cartel violence 

and “do the job 

quickly and effectively”. 

The FBI has offered to 

assist Mexican authorities 

in the investigation, 

CNN reports. 

Mexico’s President, 

Andrés Manuel López 

Obrador, said Mexico 

would act with “independence 

and sovereignty” 

in pursuing the criminals 

behind the attack. 

A group of three mothers 

and their 14 children 

had set off in a convoy of 

three cars from Bavispe 

in Sonora state and were 

heading to the neighbouring 

state of Chihuahua. 

At least nine people 

were killed after they 

were ambushed by gunmen 

in Bavispe. 

A burnt-out SUV was 

later found by the side 

of the road with the remains 

of some victims 

and there are reports 

that other family members 

were shot at as 

they tried to flee. 

An investigation has 

been launched and additional 

security forces 

have been sent to the 

area, the governments 

of Chihuahua and Sonora 

said in a joint 

statement. 

Iran to inject Uranium gas 

into 1000 centrifuges 

IRAN will start inject 

ing uranium gas into 

hundreds of centrifuges at 

its Fordow facility in the 

latest step away from the 

crumbling nuclear deal 

with world powers since 

the United States withdrew 

from the landmark 

accord last year. 

In a televised statement 

on Tuesday, Iranian 

President Hassan Rouhani 

said the 1,044 machines 

at the plant will be 

injected with the uranium 

gas starting on Wednesday. 

“Gas will be injected 

into centrifuges at Fordow 

as part of part of our 

fourth step to reduce our 

nuclear commitments to 

the deal,” Rouhani said 

in a televised speech. 

The move further complicates 

the chances of 

saving the nuclear deal, 

which European powers 

have called on Iran to respect. 

“The announcement by 

Iran ... goes against the 

Vienna agreement, 

which strictly limits activities 

in this area,” French 

foreign ministry spokeswoman 

Agnes von der 

Muhll said. 

UK Foreign Minister 

Dominic Raab denounced 

Tehran’s move 

on Tuesday as a threat to 

Britain’s national security. 

“Iran’s latest actions 

clearly contravene the 

deal and pose a risk to our 

national security,” Raab 

said. 

“We want to find a way 

forward through constructive 

international dialogue 

but Iran needs to 

stand by the commitments 

it made and urgently 

return to full compliance.” 

Nigeria’s appetite for Norwegian seafoods 

increased by over 48% in 2019 


DESPITE border clo 

sure, Norwegian 

Seafood Council, says it 

is confident that its seafood 

exports to Nigeria, 

would not be affected. 

The council says Nigeria’s 

appetite for its seafoods 

particularly Stockfish 

and mackreal fish, 

among others is high. 

The council’s Director, 

Central and West Africa, 

Mr Trond Kostveit said: 

“We are the second 

largest seafood exporter 

in the world. We have a 

very good climate for 

producing high quality 

seafoods like stockfish. 

That is why our seafoods 

are sought after”. 

He noted that although 

exports of its seafoods 

decreased by about 

10 percent since the border 

closure, the rate of 

increase between 2018 

and 2019, so far, is still 

appreciable. 

According to him, Norway 

exported to Nigeria, 

20,500 tons of seafood 

worth $40.5 million in 

2018. This increased to 

21.500 tons valued at $35 

million as at January this 

year, representing an increase 

of 48 percent in 

volume and 25 percent in 

value compared to the 

same time last year. 

Kostveit spoke in Lagos, 

yesterday, prelude 

to a seminar today 

where Norwegian exporters 

and Nigerian 

importers will network 

and strike a stronger 

bond. 

The seminar will 

highlight right ways of 

preserving Norwegian 

seafoods contrary to 

where some businessmen 

are storing and 

preserving stockfish 

with chemicals harmful 

to human health like 

sniper insecticides. 

It will also equip Nigerians 

with proper 

methods of preparing 

the seafoods for sweeter 

delicacies.


vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 



Continues from Page 5 

there is a level below which 

you don’t go. If you are 

freeborn hired to do a slave 

job, don’t do it like a slave, 

do it like a freeborn. 

“You remember in 2015, 

when every effort was 

made to demonize the 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, the current chairman 

of the APC said a particular 

minister had $6 billion 

dollars in his account and 

the President said we are 

borrowing to sustain our 

budget. People should just 

keep their mouth shut and 

do the job they are hired to 

do.” 

Name, shame 

those involved 

— Afenifere 

Also reacting yesterday, 

the pan-Yoruba sociopolitical 

organization, 

Afenifere, challenged the 

Presidency to name and 

shame those involved in the 

matter, if it should be taken 

seriously. 

Afenifere’s National 

Publicity Secretary, Mr. 

Yinka Odumakin, said: 

“They should name and 

shame those involved, if 

they want us to take them 

seriously. 

“These people don’t take 

us seriously and think they 

can just throw any 

propaganda stuff at us and 

we would start shaking our 

heads.” 

Cock and bull 

story, but… 

—Junaid 

Mohammed 

Similarly, Second 

Republic lawmaker, Dr. 

Junaid Mohammed, who 

described the statement as 

a cock and bull story, 

challenged the 

government to publish 

details of the scams. 

Mohammed said: “I will 

want to be very careful and 

fair because I do not claim 

to have full knowledge of 

the workings of the 

Presidency under this 

President and previous 

presidents. 

“But I want to state that 

that statement is to the 

extent that it concerns some 

of the Presidents and I 

cannot be persuaded that 

all of the Presidents were 

taking bribes on contracts. 

“I want to be also careful 

not to blame people when 

there is no evidence. If the 

Presidency wants us to 

believe in this cock and bull 

story, they should publish 

in detail. 

“Unless the details are 

published, I think it is 

rather reckless on the part 

of the Presidency in issuing 

such kind of statement. 

“There are some in the 

recent past who may have 

been involved in some 

shady deals. 

Those who have been 

found to have amassed 

billions in dollars, my 

inclination is that they may 

have been corrupt but I will 

not generalize it. 

“I also insist that the 

Presidency has the onus to 

publish the details; 

otherwise, they should 

allow these old men (former 

Presidents) to go and rest 

in peace because I don’t like 

this kind of thing. This is 

Naira depreciates to N362.90/$ in 

I&E window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

The naira yesterday depreciated to N362.90 per 

dollars in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window 

despite a 1567 percent rise in the volume of dollar 

traded . 

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative 

exchange rate for the window rose to N362.90 per 

dollar yesterday from N362.55 per dollar on Monday, 

translating to 35 kobo depreciation of the naira. 

The volume of dollars traded on the window 

yesterday rose by 1567 per cent to $416.48 million 

from $24.99 million on Monday. 

However, the naira, yesterday, was stable at N358 

per dollar in the parallel market. 

against the interest of the 

country.” 

Come up with 

names, figures — 

Shehu Sani 

For carpeting former 

Presidents, alleging that 

they demanded tips before 

awarding contracts, 

Senator Shehu Sani has 

asked the Presidency to 

come up with names and 

facts to buttress the 

allegations. 

Speaking with Vanguard 

yesterday, Senator Sani 

who represented Kaduna 

Central in the 8th Senate 

first on the platform of the 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC and the Peoples 

Redemption Party, PRP, 

said that the Presidency 

should raise the names of 

the past presidents because 

before the incumbent, 


Buhari, there were three 

others. 

According to Senator 

Sani, before Buhari, there 

were past Presidents 

Olusegun Obasanjo; Late 

Umaru Yar’Adua and 

Goodluck Jonathan. 

RESCUED—Inmates rescued at the illegal correctional center at Olore 

Mosque in Ojo area of Ibadan, Oyo State, Monday. PHOTO: Dare Fasube. 

Senator Sani who 

warned the Presidency 

against over generalisation 

and attempt to criminalise 

past Presidents without 

substantiating the 

allegations, said: “My view 

is that it is a revelation by 

the Presidency that needs 

to be backed with facts and 

evidence in order not to 

NDDC: Akpabio’s interim c'ttee dead after board 

confirmation, says Lawan 

•Asks board to immediately take over affairs of commission 

•Adds no law recognises interim management 


ABUJA — President of 

the Senate, Senator Ahmad 

Lawan, yesterday gave 

marching orders to the 

newly confirmed board of 

the Niger Delta 


NDDC, to immediately take 

over the affairs of the 

commission, indicating the 

outlines of a fresh crisis. 

Speaking yesterday in 

Abuja after the Senate 

confirmed the appointment 

of the nominees for the 

board of the agency 

forwarded to the Senate last 

week by the President, 

Lawan said the law setting 

up the NDDC had no room 

for interim arrangement 

once a board had been put 

in place. Recall that the 

Minister of Niger Delta 

Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, 

had inaugurated a threeman 

interim management 

committee to oversee the 

affairs of NDDC for a 

period of six months and 

also oversee a forensic 

audit of the agency. 

But Lawan, who 

mandated the Dr. Pius 

Odubu-led new board 

members to take over 

immediately in line with 

the law setting up the 

NDDC, said that 

inaugurating the new 

board would not affect the 

works of the forensic 

auditors. 

He also asked the Senate 

Committee on the Niger 

Delta Affairs to be alive to 

its responsibilities by 

carrying out its oversight 

functions to ensure that 

every kobo allocated to the 

commission counted. 

Lawan said: “There is no 

ambiguity in this matter, 

President Buhari 

forwarded to us nominees 

for appointments into the 

board and as soon as we 

finished with the process, 

any other structure is 

vitiated. 

“With the completion of 

this process now (the 

confirmation), I am sure 

that any other structure that 

exists (in the NDDC) is 

vitiated. I don’t think we 

have anything to worry 

about because this is one 

thing that is clearly 

established by the law. 

“I want to urge the 

Committee on Niger Delta 

Development Commission 

that after this new 

management takes over the 

management of the 

NDDC, we need to do 

proper oversight. This goes 

to other committees but 

Niger Delta is a special 

case. 

“We will recall that the 

President had cause to ask 

for a total probe of what 

happened to the finances 

of the NDDC. This, I think, 

is not an indictment of us, 

but I think we are supposed 

to worry because we are 

supposed to continuously 

oversight wherever public 

funds are put for the 

development of our people. 

“So, the Committee on the 

NDDC has a lot of work to 

do. You must make sure 

that whatever is budgeted 

is prudently, effectively and 

efficiently put to use. I 

believe that in the next few 

days, we will communicate 

to Mr. President the result 

of our confirmation. 

“What we pray for is that 

the nominees that were 

entrusted with the 

management of the NDDC 

to keep the trust and 

discharge the 

responsibilities bestowed 

on them by the NDDC act 

to ensure that the people 

of Niger Delta get value for 

money by ensuring that all 

the development projects 

are those that would 

change the lives of the 

people for the better. 

“We have to do our own 

oversight and we must 

ensure that every kobo 

counts. Unfortunately, the 

NDDC has established for 

itself an undesirable 

reputation and that is why 

the President had to call for 

the probe of what has 

generalize and criminalize 

all the past Presidents. 

“It will be more moral if 

this could be backed by facts 

and names named because 

of recent and before the 

present government, we 

had Chief Olusegun 

Obasanjo; Late Umaru 

Yar’Adua and Goodluck 

Jonathan as past 

Presidents.” 

happened in the past. 

“Going forward, we must 

ensure that we remain at 

alert as a legislature 

because it is our 

responsibility to ensure that 

public funds are properly 

put to use. While we wish 

this very good team the best 

in their endeavour, they 

should be committed to the 

ideals for which the NDDC 

was set up in the first 

place.” 

Meanwhile, the Senate 

yesterday confirmed 


Buhari’s nominees for the 

board of the Niger Delta 


NDDC. 

The former Deputy 

Governor of Edo State, Dr. 

Pius Odubu, was approved 

by the Senate for the 

position of Chairman, 

Board of NDDC. 

Odubu was deputy to the 

National Chairman of All 


APC, Adams Oshiomhole, 

when he was governor of 

Edo State. 

Also confirmed by the 

Senate was Chief Bernard 

Okumagba from Delta State 

for the position of 

Managing Director. 

The confirmation followed 

the presentation and 

consideration of the report 

of the Senate Committee on 

Niger Delta Affairs by its 

Chairman, Senator Peter 

Nwaoboshi, Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

Delta North. 

Equally confirmed by the 

Upper Chamber were 

Otobong Ndem from Akwa 

Ibom for the position of 

Executive Director, Projects 

Unexpected at 

that level, says 

NECA 

Director-General of 

Nigeria Employers’ 

Consultative Association, 

NECA, Mr Timothy 

Olawale, said “It sounds 

ridiculous and unexpected 

at that level.” 

and Maxwell Oko from 

Bayelsa as Executive 

Director, Finance and 

Administration. 

With Odubu; Okumagba; 

Ndem; and Oko, Edo, 

Delta, Akwa Ibom and 

Bayelsa states have a 

member each on the board. 

Also confirmed are 

Delta State representative, 

Prophet Jones Erue; Chief 

Victor Ekhator (Edo); 

Nwogu Nwogu (Abia); 

Theodore Allison, 

representing Bayelsa State, 

Victor Antai (Akwa Ibom); 

Maurice Effiwatt (Cross 

River); Olugbenga Elema 

(Ondo); Uchegbu 

Chidiebere Kyrian (Imo); 

Aisha Murtala 

Muhammed from Kano, 

representing North West; 

NorthEast representative, 

Ardo Zubairu from 

Adamawa state and 

Ambassador Abdullahi 

Bage from Nasarawa State 

representing the North 

Central geopolitical zone. 

However, Dr. Joy Yimebe 

Nunieh from Rivers State 

was the only one not 

confirmed because, 

according to Senator 

Nwaoboshi, the nominee 

failed to appear before the 

committee for screening, 

despite several 

communications made to 

her to that effect. 

He said the committee at 

the close of screening of the 

15 other nominees who 

appeared before it last week 

Thursday, resolved to 

recommend nonconfirmation 

of 

appointment for the 

nominee from Rivers State. 

Nwaoboshi said: “We 

made all the required 

efforts to get across to her 

and reliably gathered that 

information sent to that 

effect was received by her 

without honouring it with 

her appearance.”


Osinbajo for two-day biz clinic in Delta tomorrow 


A SABA—VICE 

President Yemi 

Osinbajo, accompanied by 

delegates from over 25 

agencies, will attend a twoday 

business clinic for 

micro, small and medium 

entrepreneurs, MSMEs, 

billed for November 6 and 

7 in Asaba, Delta State, 

which will attract over 1,500 

participants. 

By Ike Uchechukwu 

CALABAR—NO fewer 

than 500 science 

teachers, yesterday, 

blocked the office of 

Governor Ben Ayade of 

Cross River State, 

demanding reinstatement 

into service and payment of 

their September and 

October salaries. 

Vanguard learned that the 

affected teachers’ names 

were allegedly removed 

from the state government’s 

payroll, even as it was 

considered as sack in some 

quarters. 

Some of the affected 

teachers, who carried 

various placards with 

inscriptions such as 

“Reinstate our names into 

payroll, we deserve better 

treatment as nation 

builders,” “Ayade: Don’t 

take away our food,” among 

others, prevented 

movement in an out of the 

governor’s office, during 

the protest. 

Teachers’ mouthpiece 

Spokesperson of the 

teachers, Mr. Henry Abu, 

a teacher in Government 

Girls Secondary School, 

Biq-qua Town, Calabar, 

Briefing newsmen on 

behalf of the planning 

committee, Chief Economic 

Adviser to Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa, Mr. Kingsley Emu, 

said Vice President 

Osibanjo is expected as the 

special guest, adding that 

agencies being expected 

include those involved in 

facilitating the ease-ofdoing 

business and 

development finance 

institutions. 

He listed some of the 

institutions as Central Bank 

of Nigeria, CBN; 

Standards Organisation of 

Nigeria, SON, and Bank of 

Industry, BoI, explaining 

that they would display an 

array of products. 

Emu said over 95 percent 

of businesses in Nigeria are 

MSMEs, noting that the 

clinic has become 

imperative to address 

challenges of access to 

finance and institutions for 

the 

budding 

entrepreneurs. 

He said: “We hear loads 

of money being voted by 

development finance 

institutions to be made 

available to MSME, but 

most of them can’t run 

down. 

“So these challenges are 

what we believe the Vice 

President and his team 

should be able to address.” 

DONATION: From left— National Welfare Secretary, Federal Government College Ugwolawo 

Old Students Association, FGCUOSA, Grace Ikani; alumni and kidney transplant patient, Momoh Lawal; 

President-General, Unity Schools Old Students Association, Mr Lawrence Wilbert; President, Lagos Chapter, 

Chinedu Okoli, and, Director of Social, Helen Olowu, both of FGCUOSA, during the presentation of N4 

million cheque to assist Lawal, at his Onike, Iwaya, Lagos residence, yesterday. 

500 teachers block Gov Ayade’s 

office over removal from payroll 

•We’re fishing out ghost workers—Cross River govt 

said 500 of them were 

delisted from the state 

government’s payroll in 

September and to that effect 

salaries of September and 

October had not been paid. 

He said: “We are out on 

this protest today 

(yesterday) because from 

our investigations, we 

found out that our names 

were removed from the 

payroll without due 

process. It’s been two 

months now and we have 

not been paid. We have 

families to feed and we have 

to pay our children’s and 

wards’ school fees. 

“The governor promised 

us food on the table, but as 

it stands now we can’t even 

feed from the crumbs. The 

governor has betrayed our 

confidence in him. We are 

here to ask him to reinstate 

us and pay us our two 

months salaries arrears. 500 

Science Teachers in the 

state are affected by this 

sack.” 

Also speaking, Mr. 

Asuquo Ita, an affected 

teacher, said the 

recruitment that brought 

them to service was done 

by an Indian firm, Educom, 

in 2015. 

He said former governor 

of Cross River, Senator Liyel 

Imoke, spent a lot of money 

in the recruitment process 

to ensure transparency and 

quality of teachers 

employed into the service. 

His words: “How can an 

interview that was done 

transparently by an Indian 

firm be faulted four years 

after? The governor has 

refused to tell us exactly 

why he has refused to pay 

us. 

“What we are facing is an 

issue of fraud and 

conspiracy. The Special 

Assistant on Payroll to the 

Governor, Mr. John Odey, 

is not competent and we 

demand his immediate 

sack. 

“He claimed that they 

were fishing out ghost 

workers from payroll. If you 

are fishing for ghost 

workers, does it amount to 

stopping salaries of 500 

teacher?” 

Govt’s reaction 

Contacted, Special 

Adviser Media and 

Publicity to Governor 

Ayade, Mr. Christian Ita, 

told Vanguard on phone 

that the governor was 

doing a cleansing of the 

state payroll in order to 

delete ghost workers. 

He said: “Nobody has 

sacked them. Government 

has realised that because 

approval was given for 

employment in some areas, 

the people in charge 

resorted to overemployment. 

“Where 200 persons were 

approved for employment, 

the people saddled with the 

responsibility recruited 700 

staff. So nobody has been 

sacked. 

“Those whose 

employment were 

genuine have been given 

letters for re-validation. 

This means that those that 

were genuinely employed 

are to be restored back to 

the payroll.” 

‘Manager’s victory reflects 

electorate’s choice’ 


DEACON 

Arede 

Edeinmene, 

Executive Assistant on 

Political Matters to 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa 

of Delta State has 

congratulated Senator 

James Manager, saying 

his victory at the Appeal 

Court was the true 

reflection of the electoral 

decision of Delta South 

senatorial district’s voters. 

Edeinmene described 

the verdict of the appellate 

court as good for 

democracy and shown that 

the court remains 

undiluted and the last 

hope of the common man. 

The Okowa’s aide, who 

spoke to journalists after 

the court ruling in Warri, 

also showered thanks on 

Governor Okowa for his 

support to Senator 

Manager and all elected 

National Assembly 

members that have cases 

at the appellate court. 

Recall that Edo State 

Court of Appeal, Monday, 

upturned the decision of 

the National Assembly 

Election Tribunal, which 

By Alermm Aliu 

BENIN CITY— A 

former Assistant 

Inspector General of 

Police, Ambrose 

Aisabor(retd) has lashed 

out at the leadership of 

Myetti Allah Kautal Hore, 

calling on the Federal 

Government to arrest the 

leader of the group for hate 

speech and threatening 

the integrity of the country. 

Reacting to recent 

comments by the leader of 

the group that state 

governments should 

provide spaces and 

modern facilities for 

herdsmen to guarantee 

peace, the former police 

chief said such comments 

amount to “subtle threat” 

against the country. 

He told Vanguard in 

Benin City, Edo State, 

yesterday: “National 

nullified the senatorial 

election in Delta South 

won by Senator Manager 

of Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP. 

The tribunal, sitting in 

Asaba, the state capital, 

had nullified Manager’s 

election in a petition filed 

by former governor of 

Delta State and 

candidate of All 


APC, in Delta South, Dr. 

Emmanuel Uduaghan. 

In the ruling in 

September, the tribunal 

cancelled the election 

and ordered Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, to 

conduct fresh poll in the 

district within 30 days. 

However, the Justice A. 

Jauro-led appeal panel 

in a judgement delivered 

on Monday, set aside the 

judgement of the 

tribunal and affirmed 

Senator Manager as the 

authentic winner of the 

election in Delta South. 

The appellate court 

dismissed the petition by 

Uduaghan, urging it to 

declare him winner of the 

election. 

Ex-AIG calls for arrest of Myetti 

Allah leader over hate speech 

President of Miyetti 

Allah Kautal Hore must 

be arrested for hate 

speech. 

“He was quoted 

recently to have said 

states could only enjoy 

peace when land and 

amenities are created for 

herdsmen. This is hate 

speech and a threat. 

“Nigerians are waiting 

for the Minister of 

Information to act 

decisively. He should not 

treat some Nigerians as 

sacred cows. 

“Only states interested 

in RUGA should be 

encouraged. A word is 

enough for the wise. 

“This country belongs 

to all of us and we have 

existed as one for 59 

years now. We survived 

a Civil War; so no group 

or individual can hold 

Nigeria to ransom.” 

‘NDDC audit too sensitive for interim mgt c'ttee’ 

By jimitota 

onoyume 

WARRI—A group, Ijaw 

Human Rights 

Monitor, has said the 

forensic audit of the Niger 

Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC, is too 

sensitive to be under the 

supervision of an interim 

management committee 

“hurriedly set up under 

questionable 

circumstances.” 

Coordinator, Ijaw 

Human Rights Monitor, 

Mr. Fred Brisibe, made the 

observation yesterday in 

Warri, Delta State, saying 


Buhari should go ahead 

and inaugurate the board 

of the NDDC, following its 

confirmation by the Senate. 

Brisibe said the interim 

committee of the 

commission was creating 

deep division across the 

Niger Delta, adding that 

many saw it as a move to 

perpetuate fraud. 

He added: “It is urgent, 

therefore, for the President 

to inaugurate the board, 

which has already 

undergone the required 

process of screening and 

approval of the Senate.”



We missed our fans in 

draw with Rivers United 

– Pillars coach 

Kano Pillars kicked off their campaign 

for honours in the 2019/20 Nigeria 

Professional Football League (NPFL) 

playing at home but without their usual 

boisterous fans on the stands. 

The former champions are serving a ban 

on fans, an outcome of a history of stadium 

disturbance that reached a peak at the 

Agege Stadium during the Playoffs that 

brought the last season to an end. 

The League Management Company 

(LMC) imposed the sanction on the club 

which began counting from the new 

season. Their first outing in the ban 

ended 0-0 against Rivers United and 

Coach Ibrahim Musa amongst other 

factors believed the absence of their fans 

is contributory. 

'If our fans were here, I think they 

would have definitely made the 

difference, because their support is 

second to none, its one of the factors that 

militated against our success, we have 

learned our lesson and I hope the league 

organizers (LMC) will lift the stadium ban 

before our next match' remarked Musa 

in a post match chat with www.npfl.ng 

Musa while ruing the shared points 

from the fixture, also bemoaned the lack 

of effective finishing in front of goal by 

his forwards. 

In the game, Pillars created numerous 

chances but failed to convert about eight 

such glaring chances in both halves of 

the game. 

But Musa insists he has assembled a 

competent squad of players that can 

compete strongly when the attack clicks. 

Admitting that the team lacked the 

Olympic athlete 

gets 8-year jail 

term for drug 

possession 

Dutch Olympic athlete, Madiea 

Ghafoor has been sentenced to eightand-a-half 

years in jail after 2 million 

pounds ($2.58 million) worth of ecstasy 

tablets and crystal meth were found in the 

boot of her car in Germany, DPA news 

agency has reported. 

Ghafoor, 27, was stopped at a border check 

in Elten in June where 50kg of ecstasy, 2kg 

of crystal meth and 11,950 euros in cash were 

seized by police, the report said. 

The athlete, who ran for the Netherlands 

in the 4x400m relay at the 2016 Olympic 

Games, pleaded not guilty to the charges at 

Kleve District Court and said she thought 

she was carrying doping materials, the 

German news agency said. 

•Ghafoor 

•CONTEST … Ossy Martins of Rivers United (l) 

controls the ball ahead of Jamil Muhammed of 

Kano Pillars during their League match 

needed finishing edge in the fixture, 

Musa noted that they dominated play 

all through the match.. 

'I have a good team at the moment, 

but our problem is the inability to score 

goals, it was noticed during our 

preseason tour and the technical crew 

worked to correct those lapses. 

'The strikers should have taken most 

of the opportunities to prove their 

worth and kill the game, now see the 

outcome, I am very displeased with 

their performances", lamented Musa. 

Two newly signed strikers were in 

his starting line-up as Chijoke 

Alaekwe, Bright Silas joined Nwagua 

Nyima, who remains the preferred 

striking options in his 4-3-3 pattern. 

Other new arrivals who had their 

debut where Dosso Saib and defender 

Abdullahi Musa, and it looked like they 

are yet to blend into an effective unit. 

By Chioma Onuegbu, Uyo 

Akwa Ibom State government 

has declared its readiness to 

host AFCON qualifier between 

the Super Eagles and the 

Squirrels of Benin slated for next 

week at the Godswill Akpabio 

International Stadium, Uyo. 

The Commissioner for Sports 

and Youths development Mr. 

Monday Ukoh disclosed this to 

newsmen yesterday during the 

inauguration of 30 sports 

associations in the state. 

Ukoh disclosed that the Super 

Eagles are expected in Uyo from 

Sunday this week. 

He noted that the 

inauguration of the sports 

associations was part of move to 

improve the fortunes of the state 

in next year's sports festival in 

Benin. 

He explained that the 

appointment of the members of 

the associations was based on 

their passion and interest for the 

different sports they were 

appointed into, adding that the 

state already has organisational 

capacity in place for such high 

profile games. 

"Let me also restate that the 

duty of the associations are 

advisory and for supervision. 

They are not to usurp the 

functions of the coaches and 

sports secretaries", he said. 

Speaking, Chairman of the 

Team Nigeria to camp 

in Kisarazu for 2020 

Olympics Games 

The Ministry of Youth and Sports 

Development yesterday signed a 

Memorandum of Understanding 

with Kisarazu City, Japan for Team 

Nigeria to camp in the organic city 

ahead of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. 

The Minister of Youth and Sports 

Development, Sunday Dare who 

jointly signed the MoU with the 

Mayor of Kisarazu City, Yoshikuni 

Watanabe, noted that the 

development tallies with the new 

direction of early preparation for 

tournaments. 

He said, "about three weeks ago, 

Nigeria started in earnest its 

Olympics preparations. We had 

waited for the completion of the 

Doha Athletics Championship 

before starting officially our 

preparations. We have less than 9 

months and where the pre-games 

camping will take place is critical to 

our preparations for Tokyo 2020". 

"I'm glad that this morning we are 

able to follow up on initiatives of 

previous Ministers and 

Ambassadors who have acted rightly 

on behalf of this country", he added. 

The Minister also expressed 

gratitude to the Mayor for keeping 

faith with the proposal initiated 

under the previous administration, 

adding that Nigeria with the rest 

A-Ibom declares readiness to host AFCON qualifier 

Scrabble Association and 

commissioner for 

Science and Technology, 

Dr Iniobong Essien 

called for improved 

funding to other sports 

besides football. 

Essien regretted that 

the poor attention given 

to non football sports 

have continued to rob the 

state of medals and 

discouraged the 

development of talent in 

such sports. 

Some of the sport 

associations inaugurated 

includes Rugby, Kick 

Boxing, Kung Fu, Karate, 

Baseball, Gymnastics, 

Aqautic Sports, Scrabble 

and Golf. 

Allegri 'IDEAL' Man Utd 

manager — Lippi 

Marcello Lippi would be delighted to see Massimiliano 

Allegri take over as Manchester United manager in the 

near future. 

After stepping down as Juventus boss in the summer, Allegri 

is currently on the look out for another managerial job. United 

are toiling under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and are 10 points off 

the top four after Saturday's miserable 1-0 loss at Bournemouth. 

The Italian has been suggested as someone who could galvanise 

Old Trafford and has also been linked with Bayern Munich, 

after they sacked Niko Kovac on Sunday. Lippi, who lifted the 

World Cup as Italy manager in 2006, believes Allegri would be 

a huge success at United as they look to cut the gap with fierce 

rivals Manchester City and Liverpool. 

Speaking, Lippi said: 'Allegri would be good everywhere and 

as a great admirer of the English club I would be happy to see 

him take over. 

'Manchester United is the history of English football. There 

have been dark years but the club is fantastic, from the backroom 

to the players, everyone can say what it means to play at Old 

Trafford.' 

Lippi added: 'First of all, I think Solskjaer was an exceptional 

striker and a good coach. For Allegri, I consider him an 

exemplary professional who has the style of Juventus in his 

blood. 

of the world looks forward to Tokyo 

2020. 

Highlighting the importance of the 

visit, Mr. Dare said, "this meeting 

offers us an opportunity to formalize 

the pre-games camping with the city 

of Kisarazu, so even after the MOU, 

there are still a couple of issues we 

have to work on together, but the 

MOU establishes an understanding 

with the City and also the country of 

Nigeria. I have read the MOU, it is 

in good faith and we trust that that 

good faith will pervade the entire 

period that that would be engaged". 

"We are still coming up with a list 

of sports that would be camped in 

Kisarazu, so we will provide needed 

information going forward, and we 

should perhaps from now on a 

weekly basis try to maintain the 

feedback so as to be on the same 

page", he urged. 

The Minister praised Japan for the 

country's preparedness to host the 

world, saying though he has not been 

to Japan, everyone who visited 

brought back nice words about the 

beauty of the country and it's 

preparedness to host the Olympics 

and the world, and that the Ministry 

looks forward to a successful pregames 

camping and also a very 

successful Olympics itself. 

•Sports Minister, Sunday Dare (M) signing an MoU with 

Kisarazu City, Japan for Team Nigeria to camp ahead of 

the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo 

Gomes discharged 

from hospital 

Everton midfielder Andre 

Gomes has been 

discharged from hospital 

following successful surgery 

on the horrific ankle injury he 

suffered against Tottenham. 

The former Barcelona star 

had a procedure to repair the 

fracture dislocation he 

sustained after a challenge 

from Son Heung-min sent 

him crashing into Serge 

Aurier in the 78th minute of 

Sunday's 1-1 draw at 

Goodison Park. 

•Gomez

Pinnick, 4 others discharged, 

acquitted on alleged $8.4million, 

N4billion corruption charges 

Chieftains of the Nigeria 

Football Federation, 

including its President, Mr. 

Amaju Melvin Pinnick, have 

been discharged and 

acquitted on all counts of 

alleged corruption charges 

in a case brought by the 

defunct Special Presidential 

Investigation Panel, SPIP. 

The panel, headed by 

Okon Obono-Obla who is 

now on the run to avoid 

prosecution by the 

Independent Corrupt 

Practices and Related 

Offences Commission, 

ICPC had filed a 16 –count 

charge against Pinnick, 

Seyi Akinwunmi (1st Vice 

President), Shehu Dikko 

(2nd Vice President), 

Mohammed Sanusi 

(General Secretary) and 

Ahmed Yusuf (Executive 

Committee member) with 

wild claims of alleged 

corruption against the men, 

and even subjected them to 

extensive media trial at 

home and abroad. Among 

the charges were 

misappropriation of the 

sums of $8.4million and 

N4billion, conflict of interest 

and non-declaration of 

assets. 

At a point, now –fleeing 

Obono-Obla wrote to the 

Confederation of African 

Football, CAF twisting all 

the facts with regards to 

Nigeria’s participation in 

the CAF Congress of 2015. 

On Tuesday, Justice 

Ijeoma Ojukwu dismissed 

the entire case with all 16 

charges, and acquitted the 

NFF chieftains in 

consideration of the 

submission of the defence 

and the prosecution and in 

line with the rules of 

administration of criminal 

justice. 

The clean bill is a 

confirmation of the position 

of the NFF on all swirling 

allegations of corruption 

against its officials. 

Nigeria’s supreme football 

–governing body has always 

insisted that its leaders were 

being victimized by persons 

who lost elections through 

the ballot and were seeking 

other means to upturn 

things at Glass House, or 

disgruntled individuals 

simply on a mission of 

vendetta. 

Nigeria, Egypt draw China at 

Team World Cup 

African representatives at 

the 2019 ITTF Team 

World Cup, Nigeria and 

Egypt have been handed a 

tough draw as the African 

champions will battle World 

and Olympic Champions - 

China in the first round of 

the competition holding at 

Tokyo Metropolitan 

Gymnasium. 

Tokyo, which recently 

hosted Rugby World Cup to 

next year’s keenly awaited 

Olympic Games, Japan is 

very much at the centre of 

the sporting world right now 

as the anticipation and 

excitement that come with 

staging the globe’s most 

prestigious sports event of all 

is certainly not shifting away 

from these shores. 

Before Tokyo 2020 is duly 

paraded across the nation 

next summer, there is a very 

important test event taking 

place which is 2019 ITTF 

Team World Cup, taking 

place between Wednesday 

6th and Sunday 10th 

November 2019. 

U-23 AFCON: 


Rohr roars victory for Olympic Eagles 

Super Eagles coach, 

Gernot Rohr has urged 

the Olympic team at the U- 

23 Africa Cup of Nations to 

make a bright start to their 

campaign in the 

tournament in Egypt. 

The Olympic Eagles will 

play their first game against 

Cote d’Ivoire on Saturday 

and according to Rohr, the 

players must put in their best 

not only to secure the 

Olympic 2020 ticket but 

also to win the trophy. 

“This team is full of 

potential and every player 

must fully live up to their 

capability individually and 

collectively. 

|”I hope you will give all 

your best to make sure the 

team achieves its aim in this 

AFCON U23 tournament. I 

Ahead of Super Eagles 

AFCON 2021 Qualifiers 

against Benin and Lesotho, 

Nigeria’s goalkeeper, 

Daniel Akpeyi has been 

praised by Ernst 

Middendorp following his 

penalty heroics in the 

Telcom knockout. 

Akpeyi was the hero for 

Kaizer Chiefs last weekend 

as he saved two penalties to 

help the Amakhosi knock 

out Orlando Pirates. The 34- 

year old has been filling in 

for Itumeleng Khune who is 

currently injured. 

The former Chippa United 

has come in for criticism 

both at the club and 

international level over his 

goalkeeping abilities. 

However, he received praise 

from both fans and 

manager, Ernst 

believe some of you will join 

me at the Super Eagles 

some day,” Rohr told the 

players at after training in 

Ismaila. 

He added that a good 

Nigeria 

Football 

Federation target 

Eberechi Eze has been 

included 

in 

Whoscored.com and Sky 

Sports Championship Best 

Eleven for the month of 

October. 

Last month, the Queens 

Park Rangers attacking 

midfielder was involved in 

Praises for Akpeyi ahead of Eagles 

clash against Benin 

Middendorp after his 

performance in the Soweto 

derby. 

Speaking after the match, 

the former Ausburg 

manager expressed his 

delight at Akpeyi’s 

performance despite the 

criticism he has faced. 

Leicester strikers Kelechi 

Iheanacho and Jamie 

Vardy are in contention for 

the club’s goal of the month 

awards. 

Leicester’s fans will vote 

on Sunday to know who has 

scored the best goal for the 

club for the month of 

October. Other players on 

the short list include 

Nigerian youngster Josh 

performance by the player 

will boost their chances of 

making the senior team. 

The Eagles will face 

Zambia and South Africa 

next in group B. 

Eze is championship player in 

October 

five goals (3 goals, 2 assists) 

in five appearances in the 

English second-tier, 

helping the London club 

pick up seven points from 

a possible fifteen. 

With a rating of 7.95, Eze 

was named Championship 

Player of the Month ahead 

of Chelsea loanee Izzy 

Brown (7.64) and Preston’s 

Tom Barkhuizen (7.58). 

Explaining the choice of 

Eze, Ben McAleer wrote : 

‘’Eze is our Championship 

player of the month. An 

assist in QPRs 3-1 defeat to 

Brentford on Monday 

night meant the winger had 

a direct hand in a goal in 

all but one of QPR’s five 

league outings in October 

as he scored three and 

assisted two. 

Iheanacho battles Vardy for 

Leicester goal of the month award 

Eppiah, Ayoze Perez, James 

Maddison and Khanya 

Leshabela. 

Kelechi who is yet to make 

Leicester’s team for their 

Premier League games was 

given a start by coach 

Brenda Rogers in their 

League Cup match against 

Burton Albion and he scored 

the first goal in the 7th 

minute in the 3-1 win.



Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

FRIDAY’S ANSWER 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

THURSDAY’S SOLUTION 

How to Play Sudoku 

ACROSS 

1 Vanquish (6 

4 Explode (4,2) 

8 Grieve over (5) 

9 US state (7) 

10 Small fish (7) 

11 Boadicea's people (5) 

12 Intrepid (9) 

17 Made known publicly (5) 

19 One who settles disputes (7) 

21 Heartfelt (7) 

22 Very pale (5) 

23 Sleepy (6) 

24 Brooms made of 

twigs (6) 

DOWN 

1 Reduce in rank (6) 

2 Established (7) 

3 Invalidate (5) 

5 Like a lion (7) 

6 Forgo (5) 

7 Serene, unruffled (6) 

9 Excellent (5-4) 

13 Disrobe (7) 

14 Louis Armstrong 

nickname (7) 

15 Stopped briefly (6) 

16 One of the planets (6) 

18 One of the Beatles (5) 

20 Burn fiercely (5) 

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

of the same number). 

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

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

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

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

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

multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination. 

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