09052020 - Another Lockdown Inevitable in Lagos, FCT

2 — SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020 — 3

4 — SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020


6 — SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020 

Two years after my husband was abducted, 

murdered, killers still walking freely—Widow laments 

•Arrested suspect allegedly sneaked out of police net 

•RULAAC reacts, calls for IGP’s intervention 

•Suspect rearrested, in our custody—— Police 

Widow of late Angus, Mrs Sylvia and her six children 

By Evelyn Usman 

A 

cloud of gloom 

descended on Mrs 

Sylvia Okoye, on 

December 16, 2018, 

following the discovery of 

the remains of her late 

husband, Okoye Angus, 48, 

in a bush near Nawgu 

community in Dunukofia 

Local Government Area of 

Anambra State. 

The previous day, some 

persons, alleged to be well 

known to members of her 

family, stormed her late 

husband’s home in 

Isuaniocha community, at 

about 11pm and bundled 

him away. His scream for 

help rented the air, but no 

one came to his rescue 

until his piercing and 

high-pitched cries 

gradually faded into echo. 

Crime Guard gathered 

that the deceased had 

sneaked into his home 

which was in ruins, owing 

to an earlier attack, to give 

his pregnant wife some 

money for antenatal and 

home keep but did not 

meet her, as she was at his 

brother’s. 

But for providence, same 

fate would have befallen 

the pregnant woman, who 

was heading home to meet 

her husband, but was forced 

to retrace her steps few poles 

to the house upon noticing 

some uninvited guests. 

She watched helplessly, 

from the cover of the dark, as 

her husband was taken away. 

She rushed to inform his 

relatives who tried all they 

could to trace the assailants, 

to no avail until the body was 

discovered next day. That 

devastating act has since 

saddled the woman with the 

responsibility of taking care 

of their six children alone. 

Genesis 

His crime? He was alleged 

to have been killed because 

of his daring mien in village 

politics. He was accused as 

the brain behind an 

allegation 

of 

misappropriation of funds 

against one Anthony, who was 

President General of 

Isuanocha community and 

also, for instigating youths in 

the community to demand 

the Town Union’s statement 

of account, to ascertain how 

money was spent by Anthony, 

a move that never augured 

well to those loyal to the 

President General. 

Narrating the unkind fate 

that befell their family, the 

deceased’s brother, Elder 

George Okoye, said, “youths 

have been having issues in the 

community but my brother 

was always the target. His 

crime was simply because he 

refused to support the 

President General of 

Isuanocha community, who 

was accused of financial 

misappropriation” 

He recalled how in 2017, 

the deceased supported 

Anthony in the campaign that 

brought him as President 

General of the community, a 

position said to be next to the 

traditional ruler’s. 

Things however fell apart 

for both men whose 

friendship dated back to when 

they were in Ghana, as 

Anthony, was alleged to be 

interfering in the affairs of 

youths by trying to impose a 

leader on them, a move the 

youths reportedly resisted. 

During the resistance, late 

Angus, who was the Youths’ 

Vice President, was again 

accused of spearheading the 

revolt. 

Another accusation leveled 

against the deceased was the 

invasion of Anthony’s house 

by angry youths following the 

kidnap of the Youth 

Chairman, Oyemazi Igini, 

two years ago. The angry 

youths were said to have 

threatened to burn down 

Anthony’s house if the 

abducted chairman was not 

released, as they alleged he 

was kept in the house. 

Elder George added “There 

has been several problems in 

the village. For instance, in 

November 2018, some hired 

thugs invaded my late 

brother’s home, destroyed his 

property and injured his 

houseboy. Fortunately, my 

late brother was not at home. 

The hit men also unleashed 

mayhem on one Chidiebere, 

a youth who challenged 

Anthony for insulting an 

old man at a meeting. In 

that meeting, Anthony had 

threatened to dissolve the 

Youth and Vigilante 

Group, which prompted 

youths to request for the 

Town Union’s account 

from him, before 

dissolving their group. 

After the meeting, 

Chidiebere was knocked 

down by a car as he 

stepped out of a petrol 

station. The hoodlums who 

was with their sponsor, 

inflicted matchet cuts on 

him and also fired some 

shots at him, abandoning 

him to die. Fortunately for 

Chiediebere, who was a 

footballer that was 

preparing to leave for 

Europe, he regained 

consciousness three days 

after the attack at the 

hospital he was rushed to”, 

Elder George stated. 

Six persons were said to 

have been arrested in 

connection with the attack 

on Chidiebere , and were 

reportedly supposed to be 

arraigned on November 

26, 2019, only to be 

discovered to have been 

released three days earlier. 

Another attack 

Unfortunately for late 

Angus, he could not escape 

the second attack when his 

assailants came calling, 

barely one month after the 

first. 

Recalling the sad 

moment, his widow said, “I 

watched from my vantage 

position as these men, six 

in number, who were the 

same persons that attacked 

our home one month 

earlier, forcefully dragged 

my husband along. He was 

blindfolded”, she said 

amid tears. 

Aggrieved youths in the 

community, reportedly 

stormed homes of the 

suspected killers but 

discovered that they had 

disappeared. 

Initial attempt by the 

bereaved family to 

prosecute the alleged 

perpetrators met brick 

wall as the bereaved family 

alleged that the Police in 

Anambra foot- dragged in 

wading in until the 

Inspector-General of 

Police was petitioned. 

Eventually, three persons 

were arrested , a year after 

the incident. One of them 

was Anthony, while 

another was one Moses, 

whose passport 

photograph was reportedly 

discovered where the body 

of Angus was disposed. 

But the family’s hope of 

getting justice was 

frustrated as news filtered 

in last month, that the 

suspects had been released 

under questionable 

circumstances. 

In a petition to the DIG 

Federal Criminal 

Investigation Department, 

spokesman for the 

bereaved family, Elder 

Okoye, said, “A long drawn 

investigation by officer 

Amuche, was frustrated by 

a former DC now CP incharge 

of Homicide. 

“We were ridiculed as a 

poor family while our 

brother’s dead body lies in 

the mortuary till date. God 

touched your heart, out of our 

prayers, we received a call 

from the IPO Bitrus sometime 

in September 2019, who said 

you invited us to revisit our 

case under DC Anyim. We 

were reluctant because we 

knew the end would be like 

this, under the same Ayim, 

now CP in the same case. But 

we were later convinced by 

Bitrus to come which we did 

and the suspects were 

eventually arrested a year 

after the murder, for the 

first time. 

“After concluding the 

investigation by the IPO 

under the same CP Ayim, 

the case was again killed 

in connivance with the CP 

Legal just like to the fear I 

expressed earlier. Right 

now the murderers are 

enjoying freedom without 

going to court having been 

released the midnight of 

April 20,2020, in suspected 

circumstance. Sir, where is 

your promise that the 

deceased family will get 

justice?. Worst still, the 

case file was emptied by 

your legal men in 

connivance with the CP in 

order to get soft landing in 

the court”. 

RULAAC’s reaction 

Reacting to news of the 

release of the suspects, 

Executive Director, Rule of 

Law and Accountability 

Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, 

Mr Okechukwu Nwagunma, 

said, “ RULAAC received the 

information that the murder 

suspect who was recently 

transferred from Homicide 

Section, FCID, Force 

Headquarters, Abuja to 

Anambra Police 

Headquarters, Awka at the 

conclusion of investigation 

and detained pending 

arraignment in Awka for 

murder, had been released by 

the OC Legal Anambra 

Command at midnight, on 

the directives of the CP Legal, 

Force Headquarters, in what 

appears like a clandestine 

operation. We were also told 

that the case file has been 

‘seriously tampered with’ and 

compromised. 

“Upon receiving this 

information, RULAAC first 

made contacts with the SCID 

Awka and confirmed that the 

suspect was actually released 

at odd hours but without the 

knowledge of the 

Commissioner of Police, 

Anambra. 

“RULAAC made several 

calls, sent text and WhatsApp 

messages to Mr. Austin 

Sanomia, CP Legal, Force 

Headquarters, Abuja to verify 

the information that he 

ordered the release and to 

understand why, but has 

received no answer or reply 

till the time of issuing this 

alert. 

“RULAAC, therefore, calls 

on the IGP to order a prompt, 

exhaustive and effective 

investigation into this 

incident, with a view to 

determining the grounds and 

motive, if any, upon which an 

accused person awaiting 

arraignment for murder 

could be released at midnight 

and to determine whether 

indeed, case file has been 

tampered with as alleged. 

Appropriate remedial and 

disciplinary actions should be 

taken”. 

However, at the time of 

writing this report, Crime 

Guard reliably gathered that 

the DIG, FCIID, DIG Ogbizi 

, gave a 48-hour ultimatum 

for the re-arrest and 

immediate prosecution of the 

suspects alleged to have been 

released, when news of the 

release reached him. 

Contacts made revealed 

that the suspects were 

reportedly rearrested on May 

1, 2020 and were in Police 

custody. Further checks 

showed that one of them, 

Anthony, would be charged to 

court, for the pending 

attempted murder charge 

case of Chidiebere, at the 

High Court, Anambra state. 

EKWEREMADU @ 58: 

Reflections on Feeding Bottle 

Federalism and COVID-19 

By Uche Anichukwu 

ormer Deputy President 

Fof the Nigerian Senate 

and Speaker of ECOWAS 

Parliament, Senator Ike 

Ekweremadu, nailed the 

Nigerian situation in three 

words that have stuck in the 

Nigerian political lexicon: 

feeding bottle federalism. 

Delivering the 2012 edition 

of Oputa Lecture on 

Governance in Africa at 

Osgoode Hall Law School, 

York University, entitled 

“Nigerian Federalism: A 

Case for a Review”, 

Ekweremadu forewarned 

that Judgement Day would 

ultimately come upon the 

nation unless it did away 

with ”the military-imposed 

‘feeding bottle federalism’ to 

enthrone one predicated on 

self-reliance, hard work, 

enterprise, and 

resourcefulness to catalyse 

development”. 

According to Ronald 

Watts (1929-2015), who spent 

over 40 years of his life on 

comparative study of 

federalisms, federalism 

provides a technique of 

constitutional organisation 

(framework) that permits 

action by a shared 

government for certain 

common purposes in a larger 

political unit, combined 

together with autonomous 

action by smaller constituent 

units of government, directly 

and democratically 

responsible to their own 

electorates. 

Also, the fiscal component 

of federalism (fiscal 

federalism) allows 

component units the latitude 

to mobilise and make good 

use of their God-given 

resources. That was why the 

late Premier of defunct 

Northern Region, Sir 

Ahmadu Bello, argued in 

Nigeria’s formative years 

that federalism was the “only 

guarantee that the country 

will grow evenly all over, (so) 

we can spend the money we 

receive, the money we raise, 

in the direction that is best 

suited to us”. Of course, Chief 

Obafemi Awolowo and 

Nnamdi Azikiwe were on the 

same page with the 

Sarduana. 

And truly, the 

period between 1954 and 

1966 has been referred to as 

the golden era of Nigerian 

federalism as the component 

units enjoyed considerable 

control over their resources 

and kept 50 percent of 

revenues generated 

therefrom. The Eastern 

Nigerian economy was rated 

the fastest growing and 

industrilaising economy in 

the world as Premier of the 

Eastern Region, Dr. M.I 

Okpara, rolled out factories, 

plantations, and farm 

settlements all over the 

region. 

That was before the 

military unmade our 

federalism and reversed our 

fortunes. Decree No. 51 of 

1969 promulgated 

by General Yakubu Gowon 

regime vested the entire 

ownership and control of all 

petroleum in, under or upon 

any lands, including land 

covered by water in the 

Federal Military 

Government. What the 

component states were 

entitled to was reduced to 45 

percent from 1969 to 1971, 

while the offshore 

component of the 45 percent 

was removed in 1971. This 

fluctuated from 20 percent 

(excluding offshore) in 1975 

under General Murtala 

Mohammed and zero 

percent under General 

Olusegun Obasanjo (1979) to 

1.5 percent in 1982, 3 percent 

in 1992, and 13 percent in the 

1999 Constitution. Worse still, 

the FG equally takes the lion’s 

shares of from the Federation 

Account. 

The fiscal emasculation of 

the states expectedly came 

with considerable 

•Ekweremadu 

evaporation of their political, 

administrative, and 

economic powers. Whereas 

the Exclusive Legislative List 

contained 44 items at 

independence, while the 

Concurrent List contained 28 

items, 16 of those 28 items 

(about 57 percent) have been 

swallowed up by the 

Exclusive List between 

independence and the 1999 

Constitutions. FG 

progressively became the selfappointed 

landlord and 

Santa Claus. Biting off more 

than it could chew, it 

constituted itself into a 

behemoth, not only 

incapable of solving 

problems and moving 

Nigeria forward, but also 

practically burying the 

development initiatives of the 

federating units, be it 

healthcare or education, 

infrastructure, agriculture, 

security, etc. 

Nothing has exposed the 

hopelessness of our situation 

as our response to the 

COVID-19 pandemic and 

how our economy has fastmelted. 

But for a few states 

like Lagos, Enugu, Kaduna, 

most states look up to Abuja 

such that the Government of 

Kano is more interested in 

securing N15 Billion FG 

COVID-19 intervention fund 

than it is in establishing the 

cause of over 640 reported 

deaths in two weeks. In 

Gombe, COVID-19 patients 

took to a federal highway to 

protest hunger and lack of 

medical attention. This is the 

height of it. 

Simon Kolawole sums up 

our situation in simple terms. 

The story of Nigeria, he writes 

in his 4 th March 2012 piece 

in ThisdayNewspaper 

entitled “Federal Allocation 

and Our Future”, is like that 

of a father, who has 36 

children. A good father, he 

writes, will encourage all his 

children to be creative and 

hard working so that they can 

make money to sustain 

themselves. A bad father will 

ignore the larger picture of 

every child being selfsustaining 

and insist on 

redistributing his children’s 

wealth. 

“The eternal reliance on 

oil revenue has done a lot of 

damage to the federation. 

Why do we need to stretch our 

brain to dream of building 

our own Microsoft and Apple 

when we can look up to Abuja 

for the flow of petrodollars 

every month? Why should 

Bauchi bother to tap its 

tourism potential? Why 

should Bayelsa dream of 

feeding Africa with its 

FADAMA rice when there is 

a fat Federation Account 

Allocation Committee 

cheque to be collected in 

Abuja monthly? Why should 

Aba be developed into our 

own Taiwan or Japan? There 

is no such incentive. The only 

incentive I can see in Nigeria 

is Federation Account”, he 

adds. 

•Anichukwu lives in 

Abuja 

Read more on 

www.vanguardngr.com

Alleged N7.1bn fraud: Why Supreme Court 

freed Ex-Gov Kalu, ordered fresh trial of case 

….I shall henceforth dedicate my time to fight injustice —Ex-Gov Kalu 

•A system whereby over 70% of all prison inmates population is made up of 

people awaiting trial cannot be allowed to continue 

•Situations where innocent people are falsely charged with murder just to get 

them out of the way does not dignify our country and cannot continue 

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri, 

Abuja 

RESPITE came the 

way of the embattled 

former governor of Abia 

State and Chief Whip of the 

Senate, Dr, Orji Uzor Kalu, 

on Friday, as the Supreme 

Court, quashed the 

judgement that convicted and 

sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment. 

The apex, in a unanimous 

decision by a seven-man 

panel of Justices led by Justice 

Bode Rhodes-Vivour, nullified 

the entire proceedings that led 

to Kalu’s conviction, even as 

it ordered the Chief Judge of 

the Federal High Court to reassign 

the money laundering 

charge the Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, 

EFCC, preferred against him 

and two others, to another 

judge for re-trial. 

Meanwhile, ex-governor 

Kalu, in his prompt reaction 

to the judgement, lauded the 

apex court, saying he would 

henceforth dedicate his time 

to fight against injustice in the 

country. 

The Supreme Court had in 

the lead verdict that was read 

by Justice Ejembi Eko, held 

that the trial High Court 

Judge, Justice Mohammed 

Idris, acted without jurisdiction 

when he convicted Kalu, 

his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited 

and a former Director of 

Finance in Abia State, Jones 

Udeogu. 

It noted that Justice Idris 

was no longer a judge of the 

Federal High Court as at December 

5, 2019, when he sat 

and delivered the judgement 

that convicted the defendants 

for allegedly stealing about 

N7.1billion from Abia state 

treasury. 

According to the Supreme 

Court, Justice Idris, having 

been elevated to the Court of 

Appeal before then, lacked 

the powers to return to sit as a 

High Court Judge. 

It held that the Fiat that was 

issued to him by the Court of 

Appeal President pursuant to 

section 396(7) of the 

Administration of Criminal 

Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, was 

unconstitutional. 

The apex court held that no 

statute in Nigeria empowered 

the Court of Appeal President 

to give vires to a Justice of the 

appellate court to return to 

the High Court to deliver 

judgement in a pending 

criminal trial, stressing that 

the Court of Appeal 

President, “acted ultra-vires 

his powers when she purportedly 

gave the authorization” 

with respect to Kalu’s case. 

“The Federal High Court 

and the Court of Appeal are 

all courts that were set up and 

established by the Constitution. 

No head of either court 

perform the function or interfere 

in the internal activities 

of either court. 

“Just as the Court of Appeal 

President has no power to 

assign case to any Federal 

High Court Judge, so also 

does the Federal High Court 

Chief Judge lack the powers 

to interfere in the activities of 

the Court of Appeal”, Justice 

Eko held. 

He held that the Court of 

Appeal President, by issuing 

a letter to Justice Idris to 

return to the Federal High 

Court to conclude the trial of 

Kalu and his co-defendants, 

usurped the power of 

President Muhammadu 

A cross-section of 189 interstate travel ban violators arrested by a joint security task 

force at Zuba in Abuja, yesterday. They said they were coming from Katsina going to 

Edo for farming. 

Buhari to appoint Judges for 

both superior courts, as well 

as the power of Chief Judge 

of the High Court to assign 

cases to Judges under him. 

Consequently, the apex 

court held that since Justice 

Idris returned to the trial court 

based on an unconstitutional 

directive by the Court of 

Appeal President, the judgement 

and subsequent 

conviction of the defendants 

amounted to a nullity. 

It therefore ordered that the 

charge in suit No. FHC/ABJ/ 

CR/26/2017, which EFCC entered 

against Kalu and his codefendants, 

should be remitted 

back to Chief Judge of the 

Federal High Court for reassignment 

to any other judge 

for the trial to commence denovo 

(afresh). 

The judgement followed an 

appeal Kalu’s firm, Slok, 

lodged to challenge the jurisdiction 

of the high court that 

tried the matter and found the 

defendants guilty. 

It will be recalled that Kalu 

who is currently the federal 

lawmaker representing Abia 

North Senatorial District, 

Slok, and a former Director 

of Finance in Abia State, 

Jones Udeogu; were initially 

convicted for allegedly using 

the firm to defraud the Government 

of Abia State in the 

eight years Kalu held sway as 

governor of the state. 

Whereas the trial court 

sentenced Kalu to 12 years 

imprisonment, Udeogu was 

handed a 10-year jail term. 

The court ordered that the 

firm be wound up with its 

assets forfeited to the government. 

Dissatisfied with the decision 

of the trial court, Kalu’s 

firm challenged it at the court 

of appeal, insisting that it was 

perverse and occasioned a 

miscarriage of justice. 

However, the appellate 

court, in a unanimous verdict 

by a three-man panel of Justices, 

on March 26, dismissed 

the appeal and affirmed the 

decision of the trial court. 

The panel in the judgment 

that was read by Justice 

Olabisi Ige, held that the 

appeal lacked merit. 

Though Kalu’s corruption 

case began in 2007, the trial 

however suffered series of 

setback owing to various interlocutory 

objections the 

defendants raised up to the Supreme 

Court. 

EFCC eventually closed its 

case against them after it 

called a total of 19 witnesses 

that testified before the trial 

court. 

Meantime, in a statement 

he issued barely one hour 

after the judgement, Kalu 

said he would henceforth, 

dedicate his time to ensuring 

that there will be justice for 

all Nigerians, adding that 

events of the past five months 

gave him an added perspective 

on matters of justice and 

injustice in the country. 

He decried that a situation 

where over 70% of all prison 

inmate population in the 

country is made up of people 

awaiting trial, should not be 

allowed to continue. 

He said: “Today, the Supreme 

Court of Nigeria gave 

a judgement in my favor, 

quashing the conviction 

which the lower court had 

entered against me. 

“By today’s judgment, the 

Apex court of our dear country 

affirmed my right to fair 

hearing and equal protection 

of the law. 

“The past five months have 

been quite a profound period 

for me. “As challenging as 

that period has been, it has 

provided me an opportunity 

to learn invaluable lessons 

about our country, our peoples, 

our justice system and 

the true meaning of love. I 

mean love for family, love for 

our country and love for 

humanity. 

“I want to use this moment 

to thank my family, my 

colleagues, my friends, my 

supporters, the people of Abia 

State, and all Nigerians for 

their unflinching and unwavering 

confidence and trust 

in me through the very testing 

period. We all know today 

that their prayers have not 

been in vain. 

Lagos may record 120, 000 COVID-19 positive 

cases by July — Commissioner 

•Attributes rise in cases to decentralisation of sample collections 

•To commence hydroxychloroquine clinical trial next week 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

agos State Commission 

Ler for Health, Prof. Akin 

Abayomi said yesterday that 

the state may possibly record 

between 90,000 and 120,000 

cases of COVID-19 by July 

or August,2020. 

Abayomi, revealed this during 

a media briefing on the 

update of COVID-19 in the 

state, held in Alausa, Ikeja. 

According to the commissioner, 

the state was yet to 

reach the virus peak, which 

will likely be around July and 

August, 2020. Abayomi stated 

that Lagos has expanded 

its testing capacity to reach 

large number of people 

aimed at flattening the curve. 

He attributed the sharp rise 

in cases being recorded to the 

decentralisation of sample 

collection across the 20 Local 

Governments Areas of the 

state. According to him, if 

government had not been 

proactive, Lagos would have, 

by now, recorded 6,000 cases 

rather than the 1,491 cases recorded 

so far. 

Abayomi disclosed that Alimosho, 

Oshodi and Isolo 

have begun to record high rate 

of COVID-19 cases. He, however, 

noted that 97 per cent of 

positive cases at its isolation 

centres were mild and moderate 

cases. Abayomi said 

that plans have been concluded 

to commence hydroxychloroquine 

clinical trial next 

week for treatment of COV- 

ID-19 patients. 

According to him, if government 

had not been proactive, 

the Lagos would have by now 

recorded 6,000 cases rather 

than the 1,491 cases it has 

now. 

Abayomi disclosed that Alimosho, 

Oshodi and Isolo 

have begun to record more 

COVID-19 cases. He, however, 

noted that 97 per cent of 

positive cases at its isolation 

centres were mild and moderate 

cases with only three per 

cent severe cases. Abayomi 

added that COVID-19 mortality 

rate has been mainly 

prevalence among males. 

He said males with underlining 

ailments such as; Asthma, 

diabetes, cancer, hypertension 

and others are prone 

to succumb to death. He said 

the 10 positive staff of the 

State House, Marina, have 

been taken to isolation centres. 

SATURDAY VANGUARD, MAY 9, 2020 — 7 

S-West Govs inauguarate 

O’dua Investment Board 

By Dayo Johnson, Akure. 

THE South West Governors’ Forum has inaugurated 

the Board of O’dua Investment Limited. This was contained 

in a statement issued and signed by the Ondo state information 

and Orientation commissioner Donald Ojogo in Akure. 

Ojogo said that this was the thrust of a virtual meeting held 

on May 7, 2020 by the six Governors presided over by the 

Chairman, Rotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN, Governor of 

Ondo State. 

The new Board according to Ojogo include the chairman Dr. 

Lawrence Olusegun Aina(Osun) while other members are Mr. 

Segun Olujobi(Ekiti), Dr. Tola Kasali(Lagos)-member, Otunba 

Bimbo Ashiru(Ogun), Chief Segun Ojo(Ondo) and Seeni 

Adio Esq SAN(Oyo). Ojogo said “The Governors who expressed 

confidence in the individual capabilities of the Board members 

said, the choices were made after a careful consideration 

of their wealth of experience, integrity and deep knowledge of 

the business environment. He added that “The Governors 

charged them to re-position and restructure the Organization 

in order to foster a robust, transparent, accountable and forward-looking 

tradition that will engender enviable productivity 

deserving of a regional heritage. 

Senate erred in their N40billion probe 

of NDDC — Senator Akpabio 

*** Says the present management has 

not awarded any single contract 

By Henry Umoru, Abuja 

FORMER Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio 

has taken a swipe at the Senators over the probe into the 

alleged financial recklessness to the tune of N40 billion by the 

Interim Management Committee, IMC of the Niger Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC, saying the Senate erred. 

Akpabio who is the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs while firing 

back at the Senate, said since the IMC of the NDDC came on 

board, it has not awarded a single contract. 

In a statement Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Anietie 

Ekong, Akpabio advised that the public should not be misled 

by what he described as spurious claims, adding that his neither 

would his supervision of NDDC be distracted nor will the 

ongoing forensic audit of the Commission be derailed through 

blackmail and intimidation. 

According to him, he would remain focused on the mandate 

of President Muhammadu Buhari to reposition the Commission 

for sustainable development of the Niger Delta region. 

Recall that the Senate on Tuesday last week began a probe 

into alleged Financial Recklessness to the tune of N40 billion 

by the IMC of the NDDC. Consequently, the Senate same 

day, set up a Six- Member Ad-hoc Committee to carry out an 

holistic investigation on all issues relating to but not limited to 

the alleged misapplication and misappropriation of the sum of 

N4O billion by the commission. 

The Committee, which has four weeks to report back at Plenary, 

will also carry out a holistic investigation into all procurement 

and financial transactions of the commission in this 

fiscal year (2020) and any other matter that is not in accordance 

with the provision of the NDDC Establishment Act, 2000 or any 

other extant law. 

We don’t trust Senate to probe alleged 

NDDC N40bn expenditure scam — IPDI 

By Emma Amaize 

IJAW People’s Development Initiative, IPDI, a 

rights group in Delta state, yesterday, said it did not have 

confidence in the ability of the Senate to investigate an alleged 

N40 billion expenditure scandal rocking the Niger Delta 

Development Commission, NDDC, because the upper 

chamber speaks from both sides of the mouth. 

The group in a statement by the National President , Mr 

Austin Ozobo, said: “Our attention has been drawn to the the 

Senate decision to investigate the high profile corruption in 

Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. Ordinarily, 

the Senate decision to probe financial scandal in NDDC 

appears to be laudable and timely as it will help to expose all 

frauds perpetrated by those presiding over the affairs of the 

Commission.” 

“But the Senate cannot be trusted, reason being that the 

same Senate that vowed not to allow the Interim Management 

Committee to take over the affairs of the NDDC, later 

made a U-turn and released the Commission’s Budget to 

them. 

“The truth is that Senate speaks from both sides of its mouth. 

We do not have confidence in its ability to carry out effective 

investigation into financial recklessness in the Commission 

until we are proven wrong by the action of the Senate. 

“It is appalling that the Commission is engulfed with multiple 

billions naira contract scam. A lot of money has been 

moved to private pockets from the Commission’s treasury 

unaccounted for by dubious contractors and government officials 

in proxy. 

Covid-19: PDP chieftain prays for quick 

recovery of Dokpesi, family members 

P 

eoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and former Delta 

State governorship aspirant, Chief Sunny Onueoske has 

joined other Nigerians in praying for the quick recovery of 

the founder of DAAR Communications Plc, owners of AIT and 

Raypower, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi and members of his 

family who tested positive to Covid-19. 

The PDP Chieftain in a statement issued in Warri, Delta State 

explained that he had implicit faith and unshakable belief that, 

Raymond Dokpesi and others infected in his family would all 

recover and bounce back to good health. 

He equally called on Nigerians to pray fervently for the quick 

recovery of Dokpesi’s family and all other people inflicted by the 

dreaded Covid-19 disease. 

He described Dokpesi as a patriotic and law-abiding Nigerian 

for the way he cooperated with the NCDC to carry out the test on 

him, members of his staff and the entire family when it was earlier 

discovered that his son had tested positive. 

According to him, “Dokpesi’s action had separated him from 

those who, because of the position and influence they occupied 

and wielded in society, would refuse to undergo covid-19 test. He 

is indeed a role model worthy of emulation.” He stressed that 

being positive to Covid-19 was not a death sentence.

8 — SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020 

Tension in Armed Forces, Security 

Agencies over non payment of salaries 

By Kingsley Omonobi, 

Abuja. 

THERE is tension in 

the Armed Forces of Nigeria 

as well as other uniformed 

personnel of security 

agencies over the nonpayment 

of their April 2020 

salaries as a result of what 

insiders termed ‘incapability 

and inexperience’ of the 

operators of the Integrated 

Payroll and Personal Information 

System (IPPIS). 

The tension is further aggravated 

by the fact that families 

of about 100,000 Nigerian 

troops across the services 

fighting in several theatres 

against Boko Haram/ISWAP 

terrorists, armed and murderous 

Bandits, Kidnappers, 

Armed Robbers, Piracy and 

oil thievery among other national 

threats, have been 

thrown into more hardship, 

while suffering from the coronavirus 

Pandemic lockdown. 

The worse hit are families 

of about 60,000 troops who, 

by virtue of being in the frontlines 

of the varous battles, authorized 

payment of salaries 

through cheques to their 

wives and children since they 

cannot leave the war front for 

that purpose. 

Consequently, this nonpayment 

of salaries and serial 

display of alleged ‘incompetence’ 

on the part of IPPIS 

is threatening the high mo- 

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State (middle) during his visit to Enugu- 

Abia boundary, along Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, to monitor compliance 

with his administration’s closure of land boundaries/inter-state transportation as 

well as the Presidential directive on nationwide curfew, yesterday. 

rale of troops who are on the 

verge of carrying out the finale 

offensives to defeat the 

Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorism 

that has plagued the 

country for years. 

Though it was gathered 

that officials (consultants) of 

IPPIS gave assurance that 

salaries would be paid between 

4th and 8th April, 

nothing was heard from 

them for troops who have 

no other source of income for 

their family upkeep. They 

are said to be boiling now. 

COVID-19: Enugu govt distributes 1m 

face masks to residents 

…Empowers over 30,000 youths on production 

“Why is it now that troops 

of the armed forces are now 

winning the war against terrorism 

and the push to finally 

crush them, that this dangerous 

distraction is taking 

place? Has IPPIS been infiltrated 

to sabotage the onslaught?,” 

a military source 

said, fuming. 

The action of IPPIS has led 

observers fearing the security 

agencies may vent their 

anger against the federal 

government and the various 

Armed Forces Commanders, 

calling on the Buhari administration 

to remove the 

military from the poor operations 

of IPPIS and treat 

them like the Department of 

State Service (DSS) and the 

Nigerian Intelligence Agency 

(NIA). 

Investigations showed that 

since the IPPIS was introduced 

to handle payment of 

salaries for the military, the 

implementation has been beset 

with one confusion or the 

other on monthly basis. 

Imo elders outraged over destruction of Otammiri 

water scheme ...Want Imo CP to probe vandalisation 

By Chinonso Alozie, 

Owerri 

Imo state Elders Forum 

yesterday said they were 

shocked and outraged over 

the vandalisation of the 

facilities of Otammiri water 

scheme, resuscitated by 

Governor Hope Uzodinma. 

The elders in Owerri, also 

called on the Imo state 

commissioner of police, 

Isaac Akinmoyede, to begin 

investigation into the 

activities of those sponsoring 

the destruction of Imo 

facilities. 

Some of the elders who 

spoke, Chief Lemmy 

Akakeem, said: “We are here 

to condemn what we have 

experienced for the past two 

days. We visited the 

Otammiri water scheme and 

found out that the enemies of 

our dear state have gone there 

and destroyed the water 

scheme, resuscitated by 

governor Hope Uzodinma, 

which is already pumping 

water to our people. 

“The facilities were so 

destroyed that they did not 

take away anything but were 

interested in the destruction 

of the facilities in Otammiri 

water scheme. 

“What we want our people 

to know is that the water 

scheme is not for Hope 

Uzodinma, but for Imo 

people. All these just to retard 

the achievements of 

Uzodinma. 

“You recall that they have 

promised to make this state 

ungovernable. They have 

also sworn that they cannot 

give Imo people peace.” 

Also speaking, an elder 

statesman Bob Njemanze, 

said: “I would not have 

attended this function but I 

am passionate. The issue we 

are gathered here does not 

affect only me and my family 

but all of us. 

The problem we are having 

does not have to do with 

political parties. It is not about 

Hope Uzodinma, because he 

is our governor by 

providence. It is time we see 

Imo state as one. 

“Uzodinma is a governor 

of everybody and we must 

put certain things aside. 

There are a section of 

people in Owerri zone that has 

sworn that nothing good will 

happen in Imo under 

Uzodinma. 

“These people are 

considering the benefit of 

what they could have gotten 

if the government that was 

sacked is still in place. 

ENUGU State Govern 

ment in furtherance of 

its efforts to contain the 

spread of Coronavirus Disease 

(COVID-19) in the state, 

on Friday, launched the distribution 

of one million units 

of fabric face masks to its residents 

across the 17 local government 

areas for protection, 

free of charge. 

The face masks were produced 

by the state government 

using fabrics supplied 

and sewed by indigenous 

traders and trained tailors respectively 

as a means of socio-economic 

empowerment. 

Consequently, it is expected 

that over 30,000 youths 

will be empowered through 

the production of the face 

masks. Presenting the items 

to the public, the Deputy Governor 

of Enugu State, Hon. 

Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo, said that 

the gesture was a demonstration 

of the “unique leadership 

of His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Dr. 

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi”, his administration’s 

proactive response 

since the outbreak of 

the pandemic as well as “his 

deep empathy and concern 

for all, especially the vulnerable”. 

Mrs. Ezeilo disclosed that 

the event, which was witnessed 

by the Speaker of the 

State Assembly, Rt. Hon. Edward 

Ubosi, the Chairman, 

Enugu State Council of Traditional 

Rulers, HRH Igwe 

Amb. Lawrence Agubuzu, 

and the State Chairman of 

Association of Local Government 

of Nigeria (ALGON), 

Hon. Solomon Onah, among 

others, was also a means of 

creating awareness on the 

compulsory use of face masks 

by residents of the state as well 

as all other precautionary 

measures aimed at containing 

the spread of the viral disease. 

The Deputy Governor who 

advised that the cloth face 

masks must be washed often 

and ironed, added that “those 

caring for the ill, those already 

experiencing respiratory 

symptoms, like coughing 

and sneezing, the elderly and 

those with chronic and underlying 

medical conditions, 

must wear medical face 

masks and not cloth face 

masks”. 

She maintained that Gov. 

Ugwuanyi’s administration 

has remained in the frontline 

of tackling the COVID-19 

and combating its inherent 

socio-economic challenges 

as well as other issues through 

the provision of palliatives to 

cushion its adverse effect on 

the vulnerable and implementation 

of economic and 

health related measures. 

Covid-19: Oilserve lifts Niger Delta 

communities 

A 

S part of its Corporate Social 

Responsibility leaning, 

Oilserve Group Nigeria Limited 

stormed the creeks of Niger Delta, 

its traditional host communities, 

with palliatives to cushion the 

adverse effect of the corona virus 

pandemic ravaging the globe. 

Led by top management staff, the 

oil servicing and maintenance 

giants visited three communities 

in Rivers State and one in Abia 

with truckloads of rice. Many of •Okwuosa 

these communities are used to 

these regular showers of goodwill which show up in many 

other forms apart from thousands of bags of rice 

Oliserv, in conjuction with Sir Emeka Okwuosa 

Foundation also donated foodstuff and medical supplies 

worth over 100 million naira to other parts of the country. 

These include 3,000 bags of rice , 8,000 tubers of yam 

which will be distributed to families in Oraifitte, Ozubulu 

and other parts of Ekwusigo Local Government Area of 

Anambra State. 

During the visit, Paramount ruler of Rumuibekwe 

Kingdom in Rivers State, Eze[Ambassador] Ray Elewa, 

Nyenweli, thanked Oliserve for remembering the 

downtrodden in the community. As he walked into the 

royal chambers to behold the goodies, the king offered 

prayers for the donors. 

President Rumuibekwe Youths, Samuel Elewa ,said : “We 

have never seen a thing like this in this community”. It 

was a moving speech which passed a strong appeal to other 

agencies saddled with the responsibility of reaching out to 

the needy in the rural riverine communities. 

At Ogala, Head of Commercial and Business Development 

of Oilserve, Engr. Richie Nwobike led his team to the palace 

of King Godwin Okpabi, who prayed for his august visitors, 

urging them to stay safe even as they continue to lift the 

poor. The people of Woji were not left out as they equally 

benefited from the palliatives 

In Abia, the people of Uzuakwu in Ukwa West Local 

government Area were pleasantly surprised to see truck 

loads of rice in the community. The traditional ruler, Eze 

Godwin Ukanna was full of gratitude. He said : “Today I 

am glad and I will show Oilserve and its Managing Director 

my gratitude.. I thank Oliserve for remembering this 

community”. Chike Okonkwo, QHSE Manager, took that 

in 

Ẇhile the goodies moved from one community to 

another, word went round that Oilserve was doing the 

needful. Message came that Rukpokwu would be glad to 

welcome the visitors. Even in Port Harcourt, some families 

from Oraifitte, Anambra State, hometown of Engr. Emeka 

Okwuosa, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the 

conglomerate, were getting ready to find their way home 

for another happy hour. 

The company in a statement said more goodies were on 

the way. 

Almajiris’ repatriation 

ill-conceived — MURIC 

By Ishola Balogun 

THE Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has criticized 

the repatriation of almajiris from various Northern 

states to their states of origin, noting that the development 

has inadvertently increased the rate of Covid19 infection 

in the receiving states. 

MURIC in a statement signed by its Director, Professor 

Ishaq Akintola, said the repatriation was ill-advised and 

badly timed, adding that some of them had tested positive 

while others abused the process, escaped to the south, 

spreading the virus. 

“However, the expulsions have coincided with the COV- 

ID-19 outbreak and this is our first concern. The children 

are being exposed to great danger. To make matters worse, 

significant numbers of these almajiris are testing positive 

for the Coronavirus, thereby swelling the Covid19 caseloads 

of their receiving states, and making the management 

of this global pandemic more difficult for the Nigerian 

authorities. Some of these almajiris are also escaping 

to Southern states, potentially spreading the virus to everyone 

in contact 

“It is clear that the concerned Northern states appeared 

to have acted without consulting the Islamic scholars who 

are at their beck and call. Islam opposes the idea of leaving 

a city under plague attack. The Holy Prophet Muhammad 

(peace be upon him) warned that, ‘If a plague 

breaks out in a city and you are living there, do not leave 

it. And if you are about to enter a city and there is a plague 

there, do not enter there’. 

“The reported expulsions and arrangement of caravanlike 

trips for the exodus of almajiris from some Northern 

states are therefore ill-advised and badly timed. The exercise 

is already being abused, as some of the almajiris are 

allegedly escaping southwards.

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020—9 

U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E 

Delta police 

station with no 

single firearm 

•IGP 

Adamu 

to battle crime 

•Station savouring prot 

otection by y vigilante group 

•22 cops, three AK-4 

-47 7 rifles, les, I pistol ol guard d 74 4 communities in Burutu division 

•Militants ransac 

ansacked ed Aboh boh Police Division, killed 2 policemen in Sept 2018 

•Four Police Commissioners from time of incident to date, no action 

•Residents state more reasons criminals are gaining upper hand in South South 

•I’m yet to be updated – Commissioner Inuwa 

By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, 

South-South, Ochuko Akuopha 

and Chancel Sunday 

FOR one year, seven months running, 

the Divisional Police Station, Aboh, 

supposed to provide security for 

coastal communities in Ndokwa East Local 

Government Area, Delta State, 

scandalously, has no arms and ammunition 

in its armory for police officers deployed to 

the division to fight crime. 

The Burutu Police Division in Burutu 

Local Government Area also has scanty 

arms, about three AK-47 rifles, a pistol and 

22 policemen to serve over 74 riverine 

communities. 

Suspected militants and sea pirates 

allegedly plundered Aboh Police Station in 

September 2018, killing two police officers 

and carting away five AK-47 rifles and other 

vigilante firearms at the police station, but 

since then, the state Commissioner of Police 

has not deemed it expedient to replace the 

pilfered weapons. 

To avoid further disgrace of the 

weaponless policemen, local vigilante and 

anti-cult groups have been synergizing with 

them in protecting the station and handling 

some security breaches in the division. 

Findings by Saturday Vanguard show that 

Delta State Police Command has had four 

Commissioners of Police since the incident. 

Muhammad Mustafa handed over in 

December 2018 to Anthony Ogbizi. Adeleke 

Yinka took over from Ogbizi in February 

2019, but about 10 months after, December 

2019, Hafiz Inuwa, took charge. He has 

been in control for more than four months. 

Our investigations show that residents of 

peaceful people of Aboh and surrounding 

coastal communities have been living at the 

mercy of bandits since then. Some 

hoodlums escape from Rivers state to take 

refuge in Aboh knowing that the police on 

ground were weaponless. 

What baffled informed citizens of the area 

is the shoddy manner police detectives 

handled investigations into the theft of their 

own weapons, apprehending mainly 

innocent persons, who they tormented, 

squeezed money from 

and later released, 

while the real criminals 

they should have 

tracked down with 

intelligence 

information were 

never arrested till 

date. 

An Assistant Commissioners of Police, 

ACP, who confirmed the development and 

asked our reporter not to quote him, said: 

“It is an embarrassment.” 

It was learned that Aboh Police Station 

serves almost half of Ndokwa East local 

government area, but there is another police 

division, Ashaka, which serves the other 

section of the area. 

• Delta 

CP Inuwa 

In Burutua, policemen are ‘boys scouts’, 

they have no arms to operate - Stainless, 

Buruta CDC chair 

Community Development Committee, 

CDC, chair, Burutu community, Mr. Pondy 

Ebipadeowei Stainless, hinted Saturday 

Vanguard: “Burutu community, 

headquarters of Burutu local government 

area, has a newly-created Police Area 

Command and Police Divisional office. 

”Early, this year, I attended a South-South 

Security Summit in Asaba, where the 

Inspector General of Police, IGP, governors 

and commissioners were also in 

attendance. In that meeting, I told the IGP 

about the sorry state of the police in Burutu 

local government area, who expressed 

surprise and was jotting down points. 

”The fact remains that there is no 

manpower, no arms and officers are not 

mobile because there are no patrol boats to 

police the riverine council area. They 

Continues on page 10

10—SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020 

Station savouring protection by vigilante group 

Continues from page 9 

recently deployed 12 additional police 

officers to complement the existing 12 

officers making it up to 24 to police over 74 

communities in the council area. The 

additional 12 officers maybe as a result of 

my appeal at the Asaba summit. 

”Again, in the Burutu police division, 

there are about three rifles and a pistol. In 

fact, the police in Burutu local government 

area are more or less Boy Scouts,” he said. 

Aboh police has no guns as we speak - 

Hon Imegwu, ex-Speaker 

Former Speaker of Delta State House of 

Assembly and respected leader in Aboh, Rt. 

Hon Olisa Imegwu, who is familiar with 

the incident, told Saturday Vanguard 

unequivocally: “The Divisional Police 

Station at Aboh, headquarters of Ndokwa 

East local government area does not have 

arms and ammunition as we speak. 

Sometime in 2018, some criminals attacked 

the police station and stole their arms, I 

think they killed two policemen when they 

broke into the police station. The police 

authorities have not replaced the stolen 

arms till date.” 

Hon Imegwu, who spoke in Asaba, 

asserted: “The rented apartment they are 

currently using as a temporal police station 

in Aboh was rented from me. We were in a 

speedboat going to Ashaka when a young 

man, who also boarded with us made a 

strange request to the boat driver. He wanted 

him to stop at a point on the river to enable 

him pick up a luggage. The request was 

abnormal because whenever a boat is 

loaded, the driver does not normally stop 

on the way to pick any luggage.” 

“The driver’s reaction and that of all of us 

in the boat was that of shock, but the driver 

all the same granted the request of the 

passenger, who I couldn’t simply identify. 

Actually, at a certain point during the 

journey, he asked the driver to stop for him 

to pick the said luggage, we were waiting in 

the boat when the driver saw somebody 

carrying a bag, which he immediately 

suspected was containing guns and he 

screamed he does not ferry and would not 

transport guns. 

“The young man, who owns the guns 

disembarked at that point and it was after 

that I got to know that the Aboh Police 

Division was raided the previous night. As 

soon as I got to where there was network, I 

called the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, 

he said he was no longer in Aboh, that he 

had been transferred to another station, I 

think he said Aladja Police Division. 

Shoddy investigations 

“I called other senior police officers and 

gave them the information I had and how 

they could get the boat driver to assist them 

with any clue he had about 

the passenger and his 

accomplice, but I was 

surprised that the police 

were arresting those that 

knew nothing about the 

incident, beating them and 

extorting as much as N600, 

000 from them for bail. 

“With the tactics they 

adopted, those who could 

have given them 

information about the 

suspects took flight, even 

the boat driver, who I guess 

might have known the 

commuter and the 

collaborator we saw with 

the luggage ran for his 

dear life from Aboh when 

he saw how police treated 

other innocent persons 

they locked up for months. 

“Until today, I do not 

think the police got to 

know who stole their 

weapons and the 

authorities at Asaba have 

not bothered to equip Aboh 

Division with arms and 

ammunition since then,” 

he added. 

Ex-CPs knew the 

terrible situation and 

took no action 

I was surprised 

that the police 

were arresting 

those that knew 

nothing about the 

incident, beating 

them and 

extorting as much 

as N600, 000 from 

them for bail 

The former Speaker said some previous 

Commissioners of Police in the state were 

aware that Aboh Police Division had no 

weapons, but rather than equip the station, 

they draft operatives of the Special Anti- 

Robbery Squad, SARS, from Oleh or Asaba 

and other teams to stay in the community 

whenever there were operations to be 

executed. 

He complained that the police officers 

make the poor villagers to donate money 

for their upkeep and once they run out of 

funds and could make no more sacrifice, 

they take their exit. 

His words: “We are without security, Aboh 

is at the mercy of bad boys and thugs operate 

freely because the police here are not armed. 

Some criminals from Rivers state come to 

take refuge in Aboh where they already know 

there is no security.” 

Saturday Vanguard visited the sleepy 

Aboh community on Tuesday, where we 

observed that the women of the community 

said to be very hard-working, had all gone 

to the farm. None on the street to speak to. 

Police reluctant on leaving rented 

apartment for its own structure - Ozegbe, 

Secretary, ATC 

At the palace of HRM Obi Imegwu II, the 

Obi of Aboh kingdom, where the chiefs and 

youths were already waiting for our crew, 

the Ozea of the kingdom, Chief Kenneth 

Odili-Ajie moderated the interaction with 

the people. 

In attendance were the Secretary, Aboh 

Traditional Council, High Chief Joseph 

Ozegbe, Oshodin of the kingdom/Treasurer 

of the Council, Chief Henry Enebeli and 

Ndanike of Aboh kingdom, Chief Charles 

Ugboma Others were, the Councilor 

representing Aboh ward 10, the Ndokwa 

East Legislative Arm, Hon Azuka Opone, 

Ochi-agha, (Youth President) Mr. Odogwu 

Chukwuma and other notable indigenes of the 

kingdom. 

Secretary, Aboh Traditional Council, High 

Chief Ozegbe, said: “It (raid) happened in 

2018, it came to us as a surprise, it was a 

calamity. They collected their arms and 

ammunition and we have been 

saying that the place the police 

station is, is a rented place. You 

have to count one before you 

can count two. Generally, if you 

are on transfer to anywhere, the 

office that they said you should 

report to, go there and report. 

That is actually what we met 

but now, the police is going 

upside down.” 

“There is a place for them and 

they ought to have been using 

that place. It was because of the 

porosity and nearness to the 

river that made the criminals 

succeed. If it were to be the other 

place, it would not have been 

possible. We told the 

Commissioner of Police in 

charge of the state, some years 

back, that it was high time they 

moved to that place but they are 

reluctant, they do not want to 

do it. 

“There is a place that is 

manageable and secure for 

them to stay at the main time 

until the state or federal 

government build a place for 

them. This is what we are 

recommending, but they do not 

want to move.” 

On how they have been 

securing themselves after 

suspected sea pirates carted away their 

weapons from the police station, he asserted: 

“There is nobody who can protect anybody 

except God, but with the cooperation of human 

beings because He has given us the grace. The 

cooperation of the police, youth and even the 

elders, things have been going on well, but it is 

the Almighty God that has been protecting us. 

“ 

Pirates stole 5 AK-47, vigilante rifles 

– Chief Ugboma, PCRC chair 

The Ndanike of Aboh kingdom and 

Chairman, Police Community Relations 

Committee, PCRC, Chief Charles Ugboma, 

Rented Police Station building at Aboh 

Councillor representing Aboh ward 10 

in the Ndokwa East Legislative Arm, 

Hon Azuka Opone 

stated: “By the special grace of God, I am the 

chairman of PCRC. The station is being 

managed by the DPO and myself. When the 

incident of 2018 happened, God was and 

still with me because they would have started 

with me, it was just by my house that they 

landed. 

“They came at about 1a. They went there, 

they were seven, five went up, one was 

patrolling, one was with the engine (speedboat). 

So the five that went up started shooting, shot 

one immediately, that one died. Then a lady, 

who was a police woman was up, not too 

well, when she heard the gunshots, she shouted 

because they thought there was no other 

policeman, so the woman said ‘Musa who dey 

shoot?’. They now knew somebody was up, so 

when they went upstairs, they dragged the 

woman down, asking her, ‘who are you? 

“Experience made the woman to say, ‘I be 

accused person, I bite somebody, the police 

arrested me and I was locked up here. 

Tomorrow, my people will come bail me. 

“They did not believe her, but there was 

another gunshot, the one who was asking was 

attracted and the woman found her way and 

ran way. They asked her where is your DPO, 

she said “I nor know who be DPO. They asked 

her again, Where your armory? She said “I 

never hear that kind English.’ 

“They started breaking the doors, they saw 

the armory and they carted away about four 

or five AK-47 with some rifles belonging to 

Vigilante. 

“I am also the head of the vigilante here in 

the local government and the patron. Since 

then, we have been managing the station with 

the rifles owned by the vigilantes and the anticult 

at the police station there and we have 

been managing to see if we can get 

reinforcement here. 

”I do not know why there is no seriousness 

in the demand, so we allowed them. Every day, 

we get two pump action and rifle holders at 

the station. Anti-cult are the ones using the 

pump. 

“Security in Aboh here is porous but we are 

managing because God is here and that is why 

we do not see anything that would make us cry 

out so much. The government is not doing us 

well here.” 

On criminal activities in the 

community, abandoned police station 

“The place is peaceful here, there is no 

kidnapping, no robbery but you cannot rule 

out pilfering, boys who are hungry, or who want 

to be rascals, but there is nothing serious. 

“The 13 percent derivation building is the 

building given to them as their office, then the 

council also assisted by providing another sixroom 

block. 

“When the former Commissioner of Police, 

Ikechukwu Aduba came and went there for 

inspection, he said that the building was okay, 

but there were no facilities. 

“I go there always to knock off the anthills 

that block the building. He told us to put 

borehole and everything that will make that 

place habitable and by the grace of God, we 

have gotten borehole from the High Court. 

They are close and they can manage it. 

“If they want to go there, they can go there 

and make it habitable. Why they are not there 

now was because the commissioner of Police 

came and said no facilities there,” he added. 

Police should relocate 

The Aboh PCRC boss asserted: “We call on 

the Inspector General of Police to direct the 

officers in charge of Delta State to relocate 

them from the rented house they are occupying 

to the permanent place that was provided for 

them by the community and make the place 

habitable and also provide them with weapons 

to fight crime.” 

Aboh Police operating without arms 

since 2018- Hon Opone, councilor 

Councilor representing Aboh - Ward 10 in 

the Ndokwa East Legislative Arm, Mr. Azuka 

Opone, disclosed: “Before now, we were very 

okay. The police were doing the needful while 

the community youths were also assisting in 

the aspect of security, we also have the vigilante, 

but ever since militants came through the river 

and attacked the police station, vandalized the 

station, removing their arms, they have been 

operating without arms.” 

“The community is a very nice community 

where the people also cooperate. They have 

been seeing reasons the community should be 

in peace, working hand in hand with the police 

as well. 

On what generated the problem 

“It was during the flood time. The police 

station is close to the water and during the 

flood, the area is usually submerged by flood 

and water gets close to the police station. 

“They (the hoodlums) parked their speed boat 

close to the police station and started shooting 

their guns. That should be around 1.00 am. 

They went to the police station, killed two 

policemen and removed their arms, went back 

to their boat and drove away,” he added. 

Hon Opone explained: “There is communal 

effort, the police are trying their best, the 

vigilante have been cooperating and the youths 

are also doing the needful. 

“They cooperate as a team, the vigilante, the 

anti- cult and the police to protect the police 

station and fight crime in the area,” he said. 

DPO complained about poorly-built 

armory – Chukwuma, youth president 

Ochi-agha, (Youth President), Mr. Odogwu 

Chukwuma, told our reporters in Aboh: “When 

those pirates attacked the police station, I was 

called, then I called my executive members. 

We went there, assisted them to rescue the one 

of them, but before getting to the hospital, he 

died on the way.” 

“Since then we have been trying to see what 

we can do to maintain peace, we built cordial 

relationship with them in conjunction with the 

voluntary security agencies, talking about the 

anti-cult, vigilantes and even the various 

quarters’ chairmen, all were mandated to see 

how everybody will maintain his area and 

since then, this has helped to reduced major 

crime. 

“Actually there is a place for them to stay, but 

one time, the DPO reported that why they would 

not want to move in there was because the 

armory was not decked, that they used ordinary 

PVC or asbestos for the ceiling and for that 

reason, they cannot move in there. 

I’m yet to be updated 

– Commissioner Inuwa 

Vanguard had a full blown interview with 

Commissioner Inuwa in his office at Asaba, 

yesterday afternoon. On the Aboh saga, we 

asked: “There is a very sad discovery that we 

made at Abor Police Division, that division was 

raided in 2018 by suspected militants/pirates, 

who took away five AK 47 rifles and some 

rifles belonging to a vigilante group. We 

found out that up till date, the police division 

has no firearms, are you aware of this 

situation? 

Commissioner’s response: "I am not, as 

far as I am concerned, I not aware, I am yet 

to be briefed on this.” 

CRIME IN SOUTH-SOUTH: 

Why Police are 

losing grounds (2) 

*Lawbreakers are more daring these 

days – Oyakhire, ex-AIG 

*Bandits take advantage of laughable 

weapons to attack Edo police stations 

*Criminals sponsor members into NPF 

*Police officers patrol on foot in C’River 

due to lack of vehicles- PPRO 

Today, we conclude our story on the 

challenges of the Nigeria Police Force in 

their fight against crime. 

By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, 

South-South, Gabriel Enogholase, 

Ikechukwu Uche, Chioma Onuegbu, 

Emem Idio and Ozioruva Aliu 

Edo gangsters know 

Continues on page 11

22 cops, three AK-47 rifles, one pistol guard 

74 communities in Burutu division 

Continues from page 10 

police lack weapons 

In Edo state, painstaking investigations 

by Saturday Vanguard pointed to 

inadequate arms, ammunition and 

personnel as the major challenge affecting 

police and policing. 

Apart from Police Divisions in Benin City, 

the state capital and others close to the city, 

most of the police stations depend largely on 

vigilante groups and hunters to combat crime 

and criminality. 

Investigation showed that many of the 

suspected criminals are aware of the 

deficiencies of the police stations, hence when 

they go on operations, in some cases, they first 

attack the police stations, demobilise them and 

then go to their targets for their operations. 

These incidents have happened in Auchi, 

Etsako West local government area, Afuze in 

Owan East and Igarra in Akoko-Edo local 

government areas. 

A police source in Benin City told Saturday 

Vanguard: “The major trial we have in 

divisions include inadequate personnel and 

arms. That is why most times when the police 

are attacked, they easily run out of 

ammunition and you see them retreat or the 

suspected criminals escape without pursuit.” 

“ In some cases where the suspected robbers 

or kidnappers have upper hand against the 

police, the officers lose their arms some of 

which are not replaced. This further depletes 

what they have that is already insufficient. 

“But if you take a look at the squad that goes 

with maybe the Commissioner of Police or 

Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, you 

will see that they have more ammunition, 

especially the Compol, who is always on the 

move. That is why some years ago, a 

Commissioner was attacked at Ovia River on 

his way to the NYSC Orientation Camp in 

Okada, but because his men were well armed, 

they were able to repel and even kill some of 

the robbers. 

“They had superior firepower but if it was a 

division that suffered that attack, they would 

have all been killed. Now look at the 

Commissioner in the state that was kidnapped 

few days ago, the kidnappers killed his orderly 

and they went with his rifle. 

”It is because of this that sometimes you 

see policemen with pump action while on 

patrol or in some checkpoints. Some of these 

pump action they use are either recovered from 

cultists or individuals who do not have the 

license to own them,” he said. 

Corroborating this, a member of the 

vigilante group in Edo North said most of the 

crimes that have been burst and arrests made 

were always during joint operations with police, 

vigilante and hunters. 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said: 

“There is an Area Command in Igarra and 

also a station there, but you will be shocked at 

the number of arms and ammunition they have. 

Most of the times, our men join them to pursue 

and arrest criminals. When they attacked Auchi 

some years ago, the vigilante and hunters were 

called out to give support, several arrests of 

kidnappers in that area have been with 

vigilante and hunters.” 

“In Igarra, last two years, robbers first went 

to destroy the police station, kill some 

policemen and then went to the banks where 

people were also killed. It was the mobile police 

officer in one of the banks that was able to gun 

down one of the robbers and then vigilante 

helped to pursue them and some were arrested. 

“We have our men in all the exit routes from 

Akoko-Edo. Just few months ago, some 

students of the University of Benin, who visited 

Akoko-Edo for field study were kidnapped. It 

was vigilante men that rescued all of them and 

that was why when they were to be taken back 

to Benin, they refused police escort and 

preferred vigilante escort. 

Criminals more ferocious nowadays 

– Oyakhire, ex-AIG 

Former Assistant Inspector General of 

Police (AIG) retired and ex-Military 

Administrator of Taraba and Oyo states, Mr. 

Amen Oyakhire, informed Saturday 

Vanguard: “The criminals are very aggressive 

today because they are hungry and watching 

what is happening in the society.” 

The Scotland Yard trained detective asserted: 

“However, there’s the need for the Police to be 

well equipped, well trained, well enumerated 

so that the policeman can sacrifice his life for 

the society. Once the Police in a country are 

well funded and the welfare of the officers taken 

care off, the country will be good. The police 

should be properly funded so that the citizens 

can go about their different callings without 

molestation from criminals.” 

No self-control – Hon Igbinedion 

Former member of the Edo State House of 

Assembly, Hon Dele Igbinedion, stated: “One 

of the reasons criminals are overwhelming the 

Police is the low morale among the rank and 

file of the Police, hence they are doing what 

they like. For instance, a criminal is arrested, 

but because of corruption, such a criminal can 

buy his way out.” 

He added: “Moreover, high level discipline 

is lacking within the Force. 

This is unlike in the United 

Kingdom where there is a 

serious Police Complaint 

Commission, which draws its 

members from retired judges, 

police officers, clergymen, etc. 

Complaints from the public 

against the police from 

citizens are looked into by the 

Commission and appropriate 

measures taken. This is also 

happening in the United 

States of America . So for any 

police system to succeed, there 

should be discipline among its 

members, otherwise it cannot 

succeed. 

Expect no miracle from 

police- Okoro, journalist 

A journalist, Churchill 

Okoro echoed: “The question 

that I would like to ask is 

where’s the Ministry of Police 

Affairs? What are its functions? 

The Ministry should know 

what its functions are. It is 

laughable that the Police are 

expected to perform wonders 

while the personnel are 

underpaid, underfunded and 

ill-equipped. I believe the 

Police Affairs Ministry should 

be seen to be performing its 

duties, otherwise there should be no miracle 

expected from the Police 

In Akwa Ibom, investigation revealed that 

lack of adequate arms and ammunition, 

personnel motivation, poor funding of the NPF, 

failure of members of the public to volunteer 

reliable information to the police due to lack 

of confidence and fear of repercussion were 

other challenges faced by the police, which 

make it difficult for them to take the battle to 

criminal elements. 

Criminal groups bankroll members 

into NPF- Akpan, activist 

Human rights activist and Director of 

Community Policing Partners, (COMPPART), 

Mr. Saviour Akpan believes that police 

problem in measuring up to societal demand 

in fighting crimes, and banditry are 

multifaceted. “First is at the recruitment level 

where people bribe their way into the 

organization, thus making it possible for 

Part of permanent Aboh Police Division, which 

police refused to use overgrown by weeds 

I have been head 

in different 

stations, most 

times, I fix the 

vehicles with my 

personal money 

and I have not 

been able to get 

my money back 

criminally minded individuals and gangs to 

sponsor themselves and their gang members 

into the organization. 

“This has affected the Police Force seriously 

because such ones do not join the force out of 

patriotism, but to use the force to achieve 

their intentions, including serving as 

informants to the criminally- oriented 

organization that sponsored or bankrolled 

their recruitment. 

“Secondly, the effect of conflicts 

entrepreneurs sponsoring most of the 

operations of the force and the resistance to 

change that may have been brought about by 

the organization based on societal dynamics 

due to what such entrepreneurs tend to get from 

the status quo. 

“Thirdly and very important is the 

bastardization and politicization of 

community policing and poor crime 

information management system within the 

police, which have eroded public confidence 

and alienated communities and their 

members from the organization. 

“Lack of public trust and confidence in the 

police due to high-handedness and draconian 

policing policies that are more reactive than 

proactive are detrimental to effective policing 

of multicultural, multi-ethnic and over 

religious society like Nigeria. 

”Note that it is not the responsibility of 

the Police to implement Community Policing, 

rather police should be seen as partners in the 

implementation of such when 

it is organized by the 

community based on their 

cultural sensibilities and 

values,” he said. 

”Therefore, the current 

practice where the current 

Police Leadership is 

“recruiting” Community 

members for community 

policing is illegal and 

unacceptable.” 

In his brief 

contribution, Mr. Etifit 

Nkereuwem, President, Oro 

Youth Movement, 

said: ”The NPF is an 

integral part of Nigerian 

federation filled with clueless, 

unpatriotic and selfish 

leaders. Corruption, impunity, 

greed, and abuse of power is 

affecting the police. No 

motivation, no proper 

funding and necessary 

equipment.” 

Everything about police 

need restructuring – Ibor, 

lawyer/activist 

Cross-River lawyer, 

activist and Principal 

Counsel, Basic Rights Initiative Council, James 

Ibor Esq., said: “Police is grossly 

underfunded and there is need to take a cursory 

look into all that concerns them, including 

welfare. The whole structure of the police needs 

a complete shakeup, there is need for proper re 

engineering of the Nigerian Police Force in 

terms of its tactics and more.” 

“The need for reorientation in a bid to gain 

public trust is important. A major challenge 

is lack of information from the public. In 

most cases they refuse to inform police of 

certain things because of lack of trust. There 

have been cases same police implicated 

informants. The police need to be well 

paid. 

“Their response time is very poor 

because they lack logistics. They are 

not spirits, they are human beings. 

Most of their gadgets are broken 

down, no walk y-talkies that can 


record message, we are still backward in terms 

of technology and if we do not overhaul the 

system, criminals we keep on over running 

and subduing them. 

“Sometimes, not that the firepower from 

criminals is higher, but they think of their 

families, poor insurance policies, then they 

retreat because they too are human beings . 

Some officers patrol on foot because 

there are no vehicles – C’River PPRO 

On her part, one of Public Relations Officers 

in South South in Cross,River Command, 

said: “Our major problem is logistics 

and we barely have operational vehicles. I 

can tell you that in some areas, police carry 

out patrols on foot. How do you expect us to 

deliver optimal services to tax payers in this 

situation? 

“Our officers and men are human beings 

too, even though it is their duty to protect 

lives and property, they must be well 

equipped to do so. I cannot say we are under 

staffed or not capable of doing the job of 

policing effectively, we can, but we need the 

help of the public in terms of giving us 

reliable and timely information. 

“We are proactive, we neither wait for the 

criminals to strike first nor wait for the 

crime to occur. We like to nip it in the bud. 

“Most of the vehicles we have are more 

than 15 years old, the level of support we 

have in this area is really not encouraging. 

Vehicles help our operation, how can you 

chase an armed robber or criminal on foot 

while he is in a fast moving vehicle. 

“Many of the vehicles we use were donated 

or bought during the time of former 

governor. We we are really handicapped 

in this aspect and logistics are key in all our 

operations. 

Bitter truth from anonymous 

police officer 

A Chief Superintendent of Police in 

Cross River told Saturday Vanguard that 

the police in Cross River and beyond have 

common challenges that make criminals 

seem to have an upper hand during 

operations. 

“Logistics, terrain /geography, motivation 

and funding could be a big challenge in crime 

bursting and fighting. If all these things are 

put in place we will have the most efficient 

police in this part of the world. 

“Most terrains like Cross River is large in 

terms of landscape, but as professionals we 

know how to man the areas effectively because 

we are trained to do so. But when we are not 

well paid and welfare not taken care of, the 

morale will be low, which invariably affects 

output. 

“I have been head in different stations, most 

times, I fix the vehicles with my personal money 

and I have not been able to get my money 

back. Most of the operational vehicles we use 

were bought as far as year 2000 during the 

time of Donald Duke. 

“So many stations do not have Hilux and 

other operational vehicles. How can they 

respond to the public during distress calls. 

Sometimes you find out that response time 

can be up to 60 minutes because there is no 

fuel in the vehicle or it cannot start and 

you cannot carry out operations without a 

vehicle that is in good condition. 

“We need huge funding, we need good 

remuneration to boost morale, it serves as 

motivation. We need good coverage in terms 

of insurance because when you know that if 

anything happens to you, your family will be 

properly taken care of, you will give your best, 

you will put in your all and everything to protect 

the tax payers at all cost. 

“Police are not magicians if we are properly 

funded, we will deliver optimum policing 

,logistics is the backbone of our success ,it is 

the hallmark of all that we do ,we need training 

and retraining ,it would shock to know that we 

can be the best in the world because many who 

have left the shore of Nigeria to other countries 

come out tops. 

“Recruitment is another major challenge 

because of gender sensitivity, many of the 

personnel are now women ,the number of men, 

who should man flash points are gradually 

reducing ,if it has to with arms and 

ammunition , hardware ,we have enough, but 

women cannot do what men can do no matter 

the training, there is still a huge difference. 

“We are not saying that there are no 

exceptional female officers in the 

field, but we are saying that men are 

naturally more efficient in this category 

.Most times, the state armory is well 

loaded, but there are few hands , so we 

need more people in the system ,We need 

more hands in the area of recruitment .“Also, 

proper training and retraining too will 

help ,the criminals are not better 

trained than us, but we lack 

logistics ,we lack motivation ,we 

need to be properly funded 

,money budgeted for police 

should be used judiciously. It 

should not be used to play 

politics ,it should be 

completely used for what 

it is meant for,” he 

concluded. 

•Rt Hon Olisa 

Imegwu, ex- 

Speaker


At the onset of coronavirus pandemic, 

some measures recommended by the 

relevant authorities to halt its spread 

included frequent washing of hands with soap 

and water, using face masks and observing 

social or physical distancing that requires one 

to be at least one meter away from the next 

person. Many Nigerians in rural areas and 

city suburbs can’t easily access running water 

to wash hands with soap regularly, hundreds 

of thousands are still not wearing face masks 

in public and observing social distancing 

among the populace seems a tall order to obey. 

At the markets, bus stops, motor parks and 

even in banks, residents could just not be 

bothered about observing physical distancing 

as they thronged together. 

It appeared the residents believed that aspect 

of the preventive measures could only be 

practiced in Europe and America. This 

development is however unfortunate as 

community transmission of the virus has 

already set in. Some of the governors were 

alarmed at this attitude of the residents and 

directed implementation of stricter measures 

to enforce physical distancing. 

Ondo 

By Dayo Johnson, Akure. 

Residents of Ondo state were not obeying 

the social distancing in markets, bus stops, 

motor parks, banks and other places across 

the state. Consequently, Governor Rotimi 

Akeredolu, who was alarmed at the 

development has directed the implementation 

of stricter and tighter measures to enforce it. 

He therefore banned daily major and 

community market activities across the state. 

According to the governor, “daily experiences 

of mindless disregard for social distancing in 

our markets and commercial places beat one’s 

imagination as to why, in spite of evidences of 

danger and government’s daily appeal, our 

people still insist on endangering their own 

lives and those of their families as well as their 

loved ones. A drive through Oja Oba, Isinkan, 

Oluwatuyi and Iloro markets in Akure the 

State capital, paints a sad picture of an open 

invitation to the deadly COVID–19, to expand 

its spread limitlessly among us. Same is the 

case in similar places at other city centres in 

the State. This is regrettable and unacceptable. 

It must be reversed immediately with all 

urgency and attention possible. Without doubt, 

if we fail to heed the simple, sensitive and 

sensible directive to save our own lives, no one 

but we will face the grave consequences. 

Oyo 

Nigerians besiege banks after lockdown 

COVID-19: Nigerians 

shun social distancing 

•Cluster together in markets, banks, motor parks 

•Governors shut down markets, say it’s unacceptable 

By Ola Ajayi, Ibadan 

Majority of residents in Ibadan, Oyo State 

capital appeared to be lackadaisical about all 

the precautionary measures against COVID- 

19. Traders and buyers in major markets were 

not using nose masks or observe social 

distancing. In markets like Dugbe, Sango, 

Eleyele, Mokola, Bodija, few people were seen 

wearing their nose masks. Saturday Vanguard 

also observed that majority of commercial 

motorcyclists, and almajiris at Eleyele and 

Mokola roundabout were moving freely 

without any preventive measures. 

Osun 

By Shina Abubakar, Osogbo 

With the ease of the lockdown in Osun state, 

residents thronged major markets as well as 

banks for various transactions without 

considering the social distancing measures. 

Even when Governor Adegboyega Oyetola 

visited the ever busy Igbonna market in the 

state capital to enlighten 

market women and buyers on 

the significance of social 

distancing and living good 

hygienic life to curb community 

transmission of coronavirus, 

many residents seemed not to 

be concerned. The situation was 

similar at the markets in Ikirun, 

Ilesa, Ife, Iragbiji, Ifon, as well 

as banks, where customers, 

though observed the use of face 

mask, were always queuing 

without observing social 

distancing. 

Ogun 

By James Ogunnaike 

Abeokuta 

In Ogun State, many residents 

failed to observe social 

distancing. At the banks, 

markets and motor parks, many 

residents displayed nonchalant attitude 

towards government directives to maintain 

social distancing and wearing of face mask as 

they went about their normal business 

activities. All the banks that opened for 

businesses across the state were besieged by 

customers, who were crowded at the banks’ 

premises without observing the social 

distancing directive. Some of the banks 

mounted canopies for their customers, with 

some of them staying in the sun waiting for 

their turn to go into the banking halls. 

Motorists, especially the intercity drivers did 

not observe social distancing as most of them 

It appeared the 

residents believed 

that aspect of the 

preventive 

measures could 

only be practiced in 

Europe and 

America 

still had their full load of passengers while 

neither the drivers nor the passengers wore face 

mask. 

Ekiti 

By Rotimi Ojomoyela- Ado - Ekiti 

In Ekiti State, the total lockdown was 

recently eased by the state government to allow 

for free movement on Monday, Wednesday and 

Friday, to enable people restock. Only 50,000 

out of a population of almost 3 million were 

on government employment and formal sector 

of the state’s economy, while the rest were in 

informal sector, living on daily wage. The effect 

of the lockdown had been so hard on them. 

Those who spoke with Vanguard, were 

however optimistic that once the spread of the 

deadly disease has been put under control, life 

would return to normalcy. 

Adamawa 

By Umar Yusuf, Adamawa 

In Adamawa, the residents 

refused to observe social 

distancing especially in markets 

and other public places and this 

has provoked Governor 

Ahmadu Fintiri to close down 

all the International Cattle 

markets in the state which 

generated protests from some 

areas, like Mubi and Ganye. 

Benue 

By Peter Duru, Makurdi 

Despite the concerted efforts 

of the Benue state government 

to ensure that the people 

observed social distancing as 

part of the safety measures 

against the spread of the 

COVID-19 pandemic the people 

of the state were not obeying the 

directives in motor parks, banks 

and bus stops. Even after the 

government shutdown markets in the state, 

traders resorted to carrying out their daily 

businesses outside the markets where social 

distancing was also not observed. Social 

distancing was only strictly observed during 

government functions. 

Bayelsa 

Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa 

Bayelsa was one of the few states in the 

federation to have recorded low coronavirus 

cases as the index case and four members of 

her family infected were responding to 

treatment at the NDUTH isolation centre 

ostensibly because of the series of preventive 

measures put in place by the state government 

and the maintenance of social distancing at 

market places where only foodstuff sellers were 

allowed to trade. The main motor park at Ekeki 

in Yenagoa, the state capital was under lock 

and key in the wake of the lockdown. 

Niger 

Wole Mosadomi-Minna. 

Social distancing had already become a sing 

song as preached by the state government to 

all the residents in Niger State as one of the 

ways to curb the spread of the coronavirus but 

rather than comply with the directive, the 

people deliberately flouted the order mostly in 

the banks and in the markets especially since 

there was no enforcement. Also, a lot of people 

attach religious sentiments to the pandemic 

thereby making most people to ignore the 

directive. 

Plateau 

By Marie-Therese Nanlong 

There was nothing like social distancing in 

Plateau state because each time the total 

lockdown was relaxed for people to re-stock 

their homes, the crowds surged in the markets, 

at the ATM points and at bank premises as 

customers lined up to go into the banking halls. 

There have always been manageable crowds 

at the motor parks as inter and intra state 

journeys have been banned and as there were 

no designated bus stops in the state, passengers 

always stood along the roads to be picked by 

commercial vehicles. 

Kano 

By Abdul Mumin Giwa 

The level of compliance with measures to 

keep coronavirus at bay by residents of Kano 

metropolis, made up of eight local government 

areas, was very poor as they refused to observe 

social distancing while very few people were 

using face masks. 

Delta 

By Festus Ahon & Paul Olayemi 

In Delta, majority of residents of the state 

were not complying with the social distancing 

directive, especially in market places, motor 

parks and bank premises. The markets and 

banks in Asaba were always crowded with 

buyers and seller. The banks were not left out 

as customers loitered the premises either to 

enter the banking hall or to use the ATM 

machine. The situation was the same at the 

motor parks. In Sapele, it was obvious that the 

people were still ignorant of the dangers of not 

using face mask or observing social distancing. 

In markets, bus stops and even banks and 

vehicles, the residents stuck close to each other 

including the security personnel who were 

expected to enforce it. 

Bauchi 

By Charly Agwam 

In Bauchi, although residents have been 

advised to observe social distancing in order 

to contain the spread of the virus, they ignored 

this directive. Last Monday when the lockdown 

was lifted to allow residents to restock food 

and other household items, Saturday 

Vanguard noticed that people went about their 

businesses, indifferent to social distancing. The 

most notable was the flagrant disregard for 

the state government order that Keke Napep 

tricycle commercial operators should not 

carry more that two passengers at a time as 

they were seen carrying three to four 

passengers. 

Zamfara 

By Nasir Danfulani 

There was no compliance with social 

distancing in Zamfara as places like petrol 

stations, motor parks, shopping centers and at 

ATM points within Gusau metropolis were 

always crowded with people. 

Akwa Ibom 

By Chioma Onuegbu, Uyo 

In Akwa Ibom state, majority of the residents 

were not obeying the government directive on 

social distancing as crowds in market places, 

sitting arrangements in mini buses, tricycles 

remained the same and this was due to the 

generally held opinion that COVID-19 was a 

scam and a disease of the rich class. 

Kaduna 

By Ibrahim Hassan 

In Kaduna state, although congestion has 

reduced in some motor parks as fewer people 

were travelling, the situation was different at 

the markets across the state which was why the 

state government blocked entry into major 

markets in the state capital and major towns. 

The Abubakar Gumi market, Kaduna as well 

as Kawo market in Kaduna North were shut 

because the people did not observe social 

distancing. The government therefore 

introduced neighborhood markets where 

social distancing was expected to be observed 

by the residents. 

Taraba 

By Femi Bolaji, Jalingo 

The social distancing directive was not being 

complied with by residents of Taraba state 

especially at the markets on Wednesdays and 

Saturdays which the state government allowed 

for both human and vehicular movement. 

There were fears of escalation in the number 

of the cases of COVID-19 if precautionary 

measures were not adhered to, as most residents 

still refused to wear face masks. 

Read more on 

www.vanguardngr.com

After easing restrictions: 

Another lockdown inevitable in 

Lagos, FCT 

•Relaxation is giving a lot of concern — Mamora 

•We are not yet back to normal — Aliyu 

By Sola Ogundipe 

Few days after the COVID- 

19 lockdown restrictions 

on Nigeria’s commercial and 

administrative capitals of 

Lagos and the FCT 

respectively, were lifted, the 

Federal government, was 

already considering the 

possibility of locking them 

down again. Indeed, if the 

disregard for social distancing 

was bad during the lockdown 

in the two cities, it was 

certainly worse during the 

lifting of the lockdown 

restrictions in the two cities. 

From the crack of dawn on 

Monday May 4, millions of 

Nigerians in Lagos and Abuja 

emerged from their forced 

confinement with a mixture 

of relief and anxiety as the 5- 

week stay-at-home order 

expired. The gradual lifting 

over a six-week period of the 

lockdown restrictions had 

been announced a week 

earlier by President 

Mohammadu Buhari to 

enable the people return to , 

but with exceptions only for 

food shopping and healthrelated 

trips. 

The residents were to abide 

with an 8pm to 6am curfew, 

social distancing, mandatory 

wearing of face masks in the 

public and a ban on nonessential 

interstate travel 

were slammed on the two 

states. But all that was 

confined to the background 

as millions of people relished 

new-found freedom. As the 

day broke, hordes of people 

took to the streets with 

vengeance. 

The easing of restrictions to 

reopen Africa’s biggest 

economy had kicked off in 

earnest. Major and minor 

streets of the two bustling 

cities rapidly filled up with 

impatient and eager men, 

women, children and people 

of all groups and classes. The 

once-deserted and desolate 

streets, roads and highways 

came alive once again. In the 

busting Lagos megacity the 

usual signature of heavy 

pedestrian and gridlocked 

vehicular traffic were quickly 

established. The usual 

mingling, meandering, 

shoving, push –me-I-pushyou 

scenario was back. So 

much energy was displayed 

as if to prove to the world that 

indeed Lagos was ready for 

the post COVID-19 era. 

Mixed feelings 

Generally there were 

mixed feelings. There was 

relief on one hand, because 

life was returning to normal 

for millions in the two cities; 

on the other hand, there was 

palpable anxiety because no 

one knew exactly what to 

expect. It wasn’t a long wait. 

Few hours into the lifting of 

the restrictions, series of 

violations the Federal 

g o v e r n m e n t 

recommendations for the 

Fire struck on Friday evening at the popular Moniya motor park, in Akinyele 

Local Government Area of Oyo State. One person was reportedly killed, while 

several vehicles, shops and property worth millions of naira were destroyed. 

Photo:Adeola Badru 

relaxed lockdown were being 

recorded. It became obvious 

that the peculiarities of prelockdown 

life were still very 

much in vogue as all the 

careful preparation for the 

pandemic reopening went 

out the window. While the 

eased lockdown was in favour 

of enabling Nigerians to get 

back some of their lost 

survival, it was bad for the 

primary purpose of 

containing the pandemic. 

In several instances, the 

mandatory rule of wearing of 

facemasks was partially 

obeyed, but there was still 

cause for worry as the 

number of persons without 

masks was significant and 

even among those that wore 

masks, several were worn 

wrongly. At the bus stops, 

banks and market places, 

groups of more than 20 

people gathered, even as 

commercial buses and 

tricycles flouted the 

recommended seating 

arrangement with reckless 

abandon. Worse still, the 

recommendation of a 

minimum of two metres 

physical distancing was 

largely ignored. 

Before the end of the day 

on May 4, the Nigeria Centre 

for Disease Control, NCDC, 

announced 245 new 

confirmed cases out of 

which 76 were in Lagos, and 

19 in the FCT to give a total of 

2,802 cases and 93 deaths in 

34 states and the FCT. By 

Thursday May 7, there 

381 new confirmed cases for 

the day and 4 deaths, bringing 

the total to 3,526 confirmed 

cases and 107 deaths in 34 

states and the FCT. Lagos had 

the highest figure of 183 while 

FCT has no recorded cases for 

the day. 

Another lockdown 

inevitable 

“I am not comfortable with 

what I am seeking, the 

relaxation is a cause for worry, 

and it is giving a lot of 

concern,” said an obviously 

worried Dr Olorunnimbe 

Mamora, the Minister of State 

for Health. “It gives a lot of 

concern and cause for worry. 

Whether you talk of physical 

distancing, restricted access 

to markets, limitation of 

number of customers at the 

banks, wearing of face masks, 

hand washing, etc, there is 

violation. Buses and taxis that 

were to carry fewer 

passengers were being 

overloaded. What the 

guidelines recommended 

were not obeyed with the 

relaxation. It gives cause for 

concern a lot,” he remarked. 

Mamora’s worry was not 

unfounded. 

Recalling the guidelines and 

advisories of the Presidential 

Task Force, PTF, and other 

enforcement expectations, 

Mamora said caution had 

been thrown to the winds. 

“The truth is that we had 

preached to the people what 

to do and we will continue to 

preach that every individual 

has primary responsibility for 

their own health. Where 

advisories are given, it would 

be expected that people 

would follow them, and if not, 

there would be worry. We 

would expect that it is the way 

to go for the advisories to be 

obeyed by the people in their 

own interest.” 

He said the advisories were 

developed to balance 

between the health and 

economic advantages. We 

thought that with all the 

messages out there, people 

would see the need to take 

responsibility for that which 

is needful. According to 

Mamora another lockdown 

might be inevitable if the trend 

persists. “It is anticipated 

there could be another 

lockdown. “We anticipated 

that because as at the time this 

lockdown was relaxed, it was 

not as if the outbreak in the 

country had peaked, so we 

expect the figures would still 

rise. We are ready for that.” 

Things not back to 

normal 

In the views of the 

Coordinator of the PTF, Dr. 

Sani Aliyu: “Things are not 

back to normal, so we should 

not assume they are. Just 

because part of the lock down 

was lifted to enable people 

have some sense of normalcy 

doesn’t mean we are back to 

normal,” he warned. 

Aliyu who gave a sobering 

assessment of the first few 

days of the easing of the 

lockdown, noted: “We 

would continue to ensure 

compliance with the 

guidelines that we have set up. 

What is of importance are the 

key elements, which is, social 

distancing, use of face mask, 

hand washing, etc., all of 

which need to be done at the 

same time. You cannot pick 

and choose, all are essential 

and it is when they are done 

in combination that they 

would be effective.” 

Aliyu was however 

emphatic that wearing a 

mask was not a guarantee of 

protection. “It does not 

matter if you are wearing a 

mask, if you continue to 

expose yourself to large 

crowds, you will get infected. 

“With a mask, you can only 

protect your lips and nose, but 

not your eyes. If somebody 

is standing very close to you 

and is talking and shouting in 

your face, that person can 

infect you through your eyes. 

At the same time, you must 

avoid touching contaminated 

surfaces, you need to deliver 

the key elements together as a 

bundle. I know it is difficult, 

because you have no money, 

and you have to go out but at 

the end of the day, it is your 

personal responsibility to 

remain safe. 

“We have preached and we 

will continue to preach that 

every individual has 

responsibility for their own 

safety. There are many people 

out there who are infected; 

you are strongly advised to 

keep away from crowds. If you 

see a crowd, keep away, 

maintain a safe distance. Keep 

your loved ones safe and if you 

have elderly, keep them safe. 

If you do not have to go out, 

stay at home.” 

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020 — 13 

LAGOS: How Police 

check point aided 

robbers to operate 

By Jacob Ajom 

Since the beginning of the 

Covid-19 era, the level of insecurity in Lagos has 

been high. News of the re-emergence of the notorious 

1 million Boys robbery gang has dominated the news 

waves for sometime now, even as the Lagos State 

Police Command has consistently refused to 

acknowledge their (the group’s) existence. 

In rural Lagos where there is a high level of 

insecurity due to under policing, residents have taken 

in upon themselves to secure their lives and property 

by forming local vigilante groups. Youths form 

neighbourhood night watch guards to keep vigil and 

man the streets throughout the night This is now 

prevalent in many areas of Lagos, outside the 

highbrough areas, where human lives have become 

so cheap. 

With the strengthening of security in the streets 

through the efforts of the vigilante groups, men of the 

underworld have now taken to robbing on the 

highways. They have even found it more convenient 

during this period that the Lagos State government 

has declared a curfew from 8 pm till dawn. Ever so 

clever in their tactics and strategies, the robbers 

station themselves in parts of the highway that are 

bad, dark and prone to traffic. Any motorist who gets 

to the bad spot and naturally slows down, falls into 

their trap. 

My colleague, Patrick Omorodion and yours 

sincerely fell victims to these urchins Thursday night 

as we were driving home from the office, along the 

Lagos-Badagry Expressway. Pat was driving and I was 

on the passenger’s seat. From Mile 2 axis through Ojo 

Barraks, we had a smooth ride, made possible by the 

improved condition of the road. Soon after we drove 

past Agric Bus stop, Pat noticed some strange figure, 

running with a marchette. “Hey, Jake,” Pat said to me, 

“did you see someone pursuing another with a knife?” 

I told him I did not.. We continued. A pole apart, we 

noticed some vehicles making U-turn in front of us. 

We did not ask why, and not long after, we noticed 

what we thought was the answer to why they were 

turning back; there was traffic. But how wrong we 

were. 

“Is it because of this minor traffic that people are 

turning on the express?” Pat asked, dismissively. We 

both thought it was typical of Lagos drivers, who are 

mostly impatient and intolerant of traffic jam. 

Suddenly, the bubble burst. A band of youths, some 

with knives, some bearing clubs, others stones and all 

manner of missiles moving towards us, shouting and 

chanting. “Bring the money!” 

Meanwhile, Pat had wound up the side glass. We tried 

to move away but got stuck in traffic. One of the urchins 

smashed the window glass with his machete, the side I 

was sitting, asking “where is the money?...bring the 

money!” With the glass that shielded me now broken, I 

was at his mercy and defenceless. He was then dangling 

the knife before me. He took my hand bag containing 

my ID Card, flash drive, complimentary cards and a 

few other personal effects. He seized my phone as well. 

I let go of the items with ease, praying to God to spare 

our lives. As we were being attacked by a few, the cars 

behind us too were being accorded the same treatment. 

Within three minutes they were gone. Only God knows 

how many of us fell victim to the robbers on the night. 

After the robbery, shaken and traumatised, we 

continued at the snail speed, as allowed by the traffic. 

At the end of the logjam, we realised that it was caused 

by men of the Nigeria Police Force from Ojo Police 

station who mounted a road block at Volkswagen Bus 

Stop. It was not that they were checking for vehicle 

particulars or doing anything serious. Pat and I were 

angry at them. We told them that people were being 

robbed (indeed, we were victims) a few metres away 

while they gathered at a check point. 

They did not mind us as they said they were there to 

monitor the level of compliance to the curfew declared 

by the Lagos state government. 

Not one of them reacted to our story as we drove off 

grudgingly

14—SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020


I am Mbakwe’s 

reincarnate 

— Gov Uzodimma 

•Says reconstruction, rehabilitation, recovery going on in Imo 

•Reveals Imo lost billions to a cabal monthly 

Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma marked his 100 Days in 

office with a broadcast to Imo people last week and followed up 

with this Exclusive interview with Saturday Vanguard. It's his first 

interview since he became governor. It was done online. Excerpts: 

Congratulations on your 100 days in 

office. What would you say informed some 

of the actions you have taken since you 

came on board? 

Well, thank you for congratulating me. 

All the actions I have taken in office have 

been informed by the desire to serve Imo 

people to the best of my ability in truth and 

in utmost sincerity of purpose. Knowing that 

Imo people have not been so fortunate with 

selfless service in the past, my actions have 

also been informed by the need to rekindle 

our People’s faith in governance by 

providing palpable good governance that 

is purposeful, result driven and 

incomparable with anything they have 

seen in the recent past 

Would you say that you are on 

course considering the challenges you 

met on ground. 

Yes I am very much on course irrespective 

of the challenges I met on ground because 

I came quite prepared. I came with a well 

spelt out manifesto of three Rs; namely 

Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and 

Recovery anchored on a new Imo state of 

shared prosperity. So from day one I hit the 

ground running 

Of course I met enormous challenges on 

ground. For instance there was no handover 

note to me. I also met an empty treasury. 

There was also the COVID 19 challenge 

which broke out less than one month I came 

into office. Yes the challenges were there 

but they did not daunt me because I came 

in with a clear road-map And I can tell you 

that there is Reconstruction, Rehabilitation 

and Recovery going on in Imo state as we 

speak 

And can you highlight the major 

problems you met on ground? 

I already mentioned some of them as 

no hand over note, empty treasury etc. But 

I think that one major problem I met on 

ground was a corrupt public sector that 

allowed millions of public funds to be 

fleeced by just a few. For instance there was 

this monumental payroll fraud in both the 

public and civil service through which 

billions of Naira were lost to a cabal 

monthly. I also met a very sorry situation 

on ground wherein monthly allocation to 

the Imo state oil producing areas 

commission (ISOPADEC) was shared 

amongst a few Buccaneers from the area 

who claim to be leaders. The situation was 

really pitiable because every month these 

Buccaneers just shared the 13% allocated 

to ISOPADEC for the development of the 

oil producing areas leaving the area with 

no development. So a corrupt public sector 

was a major problem. Another major 

problem was that official government 

offices and lodges such as the state civil 

service secretariat, the governor’s office, the 

State House of Assembly, the governor’s 

lodge, the Speaker’s lodge etc. were all in a 

state of disrepair. You can say that the entire 

government apparatus was in a state of 

rancid decay and this greatly ridiculed the 

image of government 

What measures are you taking to 

manage these problems considering the 

lean times? 

It must be sad that the economy is 

taking a dive at the time you came on 

board. Are you afraid you may not live up 

to expectations? 

Well my first reaction to the problems was 

to sanitize the public sector particularly the 

corrupt and compromised public payroll 

system that I met. 

There was so much rot in the system. The 

summary is that a public servant in Imo 

state could not tell you the breakdown of 

his or her monthly salary because there was 

no pay slip to provide details. A staff did 

not know how much that wast deducted 

from the monthly salary as tax ,and if it was 

actually remitted to the board of internal 

revenue. Out of about, 56,000 Imo 

workforce, drawn from both the public and 

Local government services, only 17,000 are 

captured in the Pay as you earn (PAYE) tax 

regime of the board of internal revenue. 

There was also the issue of multiple BVN 

entries such that five names in a payroll 

will have one BVN 

So I had to take immediate steps to stop 

the rot. Beginning from the end of this 

month every staff in Imo state public service 

shall have access to his or her monthly pay 

slip by simply logging in to a new Imo data 

centre which has automated all outflow and 

inflow of government finances. 

This guarantees absolute transparency in 

the conduct of government business. By 

all the measures I have put in place to 

checkmate the public payroll fraud I am 

able to save about N2b monthly for the 

state 

I also tackled the issue of 

a few people sharing 

ISOPADEC allocation. I 

have been able to stop the 

Buccaneers and I have also 

saved over N1b for 

ISOPADEC so that when I 

constitute a new board they 

can use the money for the 

development of the oil 

producing areas. Those 

who looted ISOPADEC 

funds may not have heard 

the last on the matter. They 

should not expect to get 

away with such brazen 

perfidy. 

We have also re-roofed the 

leaking state civil service 

secretariat and 

rehabilitated the 

dilapidated structures. 

Repainting of the 10 blocks 

is now on going. We have 

also restored electricity and 

water to the secretariat. The 

governor’s office has been 

renovated and renovation of 

the governor’s lodge almost 

completed. 

So we are doing quite a 

lot. I can assure you that we 

are not going to be caught 

napping over dwindling 

state allocation from the 

centre. I already have 

mapped out a programme to boost the 

monthly Internally generated revenue from 

its present N1.2b to N5b. So I don’t think 

we will not meet our expectations or 

targets 

Coronavirus pandemic has changed the 

world. Will the effects not derail your 

plans for Imo? How do you plan to manage 

the problems of Covid-19 which are global 

and may be worse in Nigeria because of 

our one product economy - oil ? 

For sure COVID 19 is a threat to global 

economy. Nigeria and Imo state are not 

spared. But as I already explained we are 

taking proactive measures to cushion the 

anticipated fall out from the pandemic by 

our plans to increase our monthly IGR to 

N5b, without raising or introducing new 

taxes 

We will also rehabilitate ailing industries. 

Adapalm is already on line. The Statesman 

Newspaper has been revived and it is now a 

daily Newspaper. I know that as a 

Journalist you will agree that that is a great 

achievement. The rubber industries will 

follow, then show the industry. We expect 

not only to create new jobs by this industrial 

policy but also to increase IGR 

Imo appears to show potential in 

tourism with hotels everywhere in Owerri. 

But is tourism all about hospitality 

business? Your roads, infrastructure, filth 

on the streets are not 

what a city that wants 

to boost tourism 

should showcase. The 

problems are huge 

and capital intensive. 

Aren’t you 

overwhelmed 

already? You inherited 

these problems but 

where do you start? Is 

building hotels all you 

need to boost tourism? 

Of course building 

hotels is not all there is 

to tourism. We have 

already taken steps to 

state control the perennial 

flooding in owerri 

capital city by 

We have also 

re-roofed the 

leaking 

civil service 

secretariat and 

rehabilitated the 

dilapidated 

structures 

constructing and 

rehabilitating six roads 

that house the main 

drainage systems that 

control floods in 

owerri. These roads 

have not been touched 

since the end of Dee 

Sam Mbakwe era. So 

with this initiative 

owerri will be flood 

free in the raining 

season 

As you rightly 

observed we met some 

of the problems,like refuse littered around 

the streets of owerri,but we are working very 

hard to clear all that. We just passed an 

Executive bill on waste management. In 

no distant time, through a public private 

partnership, the problem of refuse 

collection in owerri will become history. 

Waste is wealth as they say, and we are set 

to make that happen soon in Imo state 

like in other parts of the world. We are also 

bringing back to life the Nekede zoo. The 

zoo offers a lot of tourists attractions. So I 

believe a true tourism environment is 

already being enacted 

Imo people say that since the days of 

Sam Mbakwe they have not been blessed 

with great leadership. They wonder if it is 

a curse and are praying for a leader with 

vision and care for the people. Can you 

say that God has answered their prayers 

with your coming? In what ways will it be 

different? 

Yes I can say that God has answered the 

prayers of Imo people through my 

emergence as the governor because I 

share a lot in common with Dee Sam 

Mbakwe. I have passion and compassion 

for the real people; the down trodden. 

Mbakwe was famous for being the Peoples 

lawyer in Aba, where he defended poor 

people free , before becoming governor in 

1979. So you can see that passion and 

compassion for the poor. He was honest and 

remains one of the few, if not the only person, 

who ruled Imo state that you cannot trace 

estates to. 

In my own case those who knew me 

before I became governor in 2019 

, exactly 30 years after 

Mbakwe, will tell you 

that I have enormous 

compassion for the 

poor. People can 

testify to that. I 

am also not 

estate crazy 

so I don’t have 

a 

background 

of either 

estate 

acquisition 

o r 

expansion. 

I also 

have a 

clear 

vision 

of my 

agenda 

for Imo state and it is honest and result 

driven .In a few months time Imo people 

will see this vision translate into provision 

of breathtaking infrastructure that will 

permanently change the economic 

landscape of the state. In a way I can say 

that I am De Sam.Mbakwe’s reincarnate. 

At the end of the day I can assure you that 

our people will confess that an improved, 

better and digital version of Dee Sam 

Mbakwe has come on board and they will 

give glory to God 

What can you say about rural 

development in Imo? Is it an area you want 

to pay special attention and not lose focus 

on Owerri? 

Definitely I will pay equal attention to 

rural development. My manifesto is clear 

on a clear vision for backward integration 

as a development strategy. Certainly the 

rural areas will witness a new era of 

economic renewal. 

Having come from a private background, 

are you facing challenges with your civil 

service? Are they buying into your dream 

or are a stumbling block? 

I am not a stranger to public service. 

Remember I was a Senator for eight years. 

I know that the cleansing I am doing in the 

civil service is bound to ruffle a few feathers 

but that is only a cabal that has been feeding 

fat on the sweat of the Imo public 

workforce. The vast majority of civil servants 

are happy with our payroll reforms. They 

are happy that they now have official staff 

buses to convey them to and from work 

and that their permanent secretaries now 

have official cars. These are things that 

they have not seen in over 20 years. So they 

are happy and I don’t have any problems 

with them. 

Governor Rochas Okorocha built some 

infrastructure with state fund and gave 

them away to some federal bodies like 

the army, police etc. Imo people 

condemned his actions. Do you have plans 

to retrieve them especially those not 

functional and yet to take off? Would you 

say he was doing unnecessary charity 

with Imo Resources? 

The government is looking into the matter 

and we will soon take a position on that 

Finally, where is Imo now and where 

are you headed with Imo? 

Right now Imo state is in competent 

hands. lmo state now has an experienced 

driver, with valid driver’s license on the 

wheel, with proven track record of 

competence and capacity. So Imo is in safe 

hands and we are laying the needed 

foundations for a robust corruption free 

economy 

I can assure you that I am taking Imo 

state to the next level of a prosperous self 

sufficient modern economy where the 

majority will be better off than I met them.


Do you think the Covid-19 challenge 

has been well managed given the 

measures so far announced and 

implemented by the different tiers of 

government in the country? 

Let’s put it this way, the luck we will have 

whether you will call it luck or something 

else is that this disease that came up 

suddenly- the first fear and the most 

fearful people of that word death are 

Nigerian citizens. Ask all of them to lock 

themselves in one room for three years 

and assure them that they will not die, 

they will comply. What this has taught us 

is if you will agree with me, is that we 

have failed as a people with regards to 

our health situation. You have seen 

comparisons for instance of what we 

budget for health in Nigeria as a whole 

in one year is what an equivalent of a local 

government in South Africa budgets for 

the same period, the same in England and 

other places. It has shown that we don’t 

have any proper hospital; it has shown 

that we don’t have a standard health 

facility, we cannot even manufacture 

common face masks and a simple thing 

like hand sanitizers. It has exposed our 

emptiness and backwardness to the whole 

world but there is not point to be blaming 

anyone but to take urgent actions to 

address the gaps in order to reduce to the 

barest minimum the penchant of our 

leaders and top government functionaries 

to use scarce public funds to embark on 

medical tourism to other countries of the 

world. 

The lockdown has effectively deprived 

the president, governors, ministers, their 

wives and children from travelling 

abroad for medical attention and the 

value we would have had as a nation is 

now clearly open to us. Again, all the 

money that people have carried and have 

hidden in holes, vaults and in the banks 

cannot go anywhere, the jets and vehicles 

cannot go anywhere anymore and we are 

closer to the reality that as humans we 

are just going to die one day and take 

away nothing with us. My take, therefore, 

is that with the coronavirus lesson, we 

should all think twice and develop our 

country which if we do, we will be better 

than England, China, Dubai and America 

in a lot of respects. What Nigerians should 

do is to insist that the wealth and 

opportunities of this great country should 

be equitably distributed to all Nigerians 

by way of good health care, education, 

job opportunities and other services that 

add value to their lives and make them 

live with hope and confidence as dignified 

human beings created by God. 

What do you make of the lockdown of 

citizens as a means of curbing the spread 

of the virus? 

Of course, the government must rise to 

take necessary measures to save the 

pandemic from spreading and dealing a 

mortal blow to Nigerians, However, let 

me say that it makes no meaning for you 

to lock people down without providing 

the economic necessities that are 

associated with such a lockdown. The 

lockdown would only be effective and 

meaningful if it comes with appropriate 

palliatives to save the economic interest 

of the people, most of who depend on their 

daily work to survive. For that reason, 

lockdown would only make meaning if 

all the federal, state and local 

governments in the country provide 

adequate palliatives for the citizens who 

are kept at home. The government needs 

to emulate what we at the Gbagi 

Foundation is doing by sending send food 

and other basic needs directly to the 

people especially the vulnerable, the 

disabled. Government cannot just make 

statement about lockdown and deploy 

security men to block the road and other 

public places when those who cannot 

survive without daily work form at least 

72 percent of the workers in Nigeria. All I 

am saying is that it is good for the 

government to come up with statements 

and policies in times like these but it is 

equally important for such decisions to 

come with a human face in order to 

succeed and save the intent and purposes 

of the government. The pandemic will 

certainly change the way we reason, 

behave and run our government and force 

us to begin to look inwards and spend less 

on foreign goods and services. 

But the government is delivering 

palliatives to the poorest of the poor? 

REVEALED: When 

Dora Akunyili 

shamed sitting SG 

Keneth Gbagi unfolds intrigues before 

Jonathan established 13 universities 

Says Nigeria only requires leader to implement true federalism, not restruct 

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor 

F 

ormer Education Minister, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, is well known in Nigeria’s political, legal and 

investment circles and remains fearlessly assertive in whatever he believes in. He has rejected 

ministerial appointments thrice but accepted once under President Goodluck Jonathan, during 

which he seized the opportunity to build 13 federal universities, setting a record that may be difficul 

to beat. 

In this interview, Olorogun Gbagi, says Nigeria is already restructured by the Constitution but only needs 

leader with the political will to implement true federalism, which is already enshrined in the law. He also asked 

the government to take advantage of the current Covid-19 crisis to revamp the health sector and invest in critica 

sectors of the economy to create jobs for Nigerians and grow the economy. According to Gbagi, Nigeria has no 

business with poverty given the massive natural and human resources that the nation is blessed with. 

Excerpts: 

That is what we hear and even see on 

television and social media but the truth 

is I really doubt if there is any reliable 

data the government is depending on to 

know, who really need the help, how many 

they are, where they are located and how 

to get to them in a 

transparent and all 

inclusive manner 

that will ensure that 

the most vulnerable 

and indigent persons 

in Nigeria first get the 

support before 

anyone else. I am 

saying this because I 

am not sure if the 

government knows or 

has a list 

of companies 

operating in Nigeria, 

where they are 

located and what they 

do. I also doubt 

strongly if the 

government has any 

data with which to 

plan the development 

of this country and for 

Again, all the money 

that people have 

carried and have 

hidden in holes, vaults 

and in the banks cannot 

go anywhere, the jets 

and vehicles cannot go 

anywhere anymore and 

we are closer to the 

reality that as humans 

we are just going to die 

one day and take away 

nothing with us 

distributing its 

palliatives to 

Nigerians. Such a list 

should be compiled 

at the local, state and 

federal level so that it 

can assist in planning 

and development and 

for the purpose of 

sharing in times like this. 

How do you see the plan by the FG to 

merge and reduce government 

commissions, parastatals and agencies? 

There are fears that might lead to job 

losses. 

The salary wage in Nigeria is about the 

highest in the world and we need to reduce 

it. I would rather ask the government to 

make facilities available to private 

agencies to participate in economic and 

development issues. The government 

should not retrench 

people but should create 

atmosphere to create 

more jobs for the people. 

In the course of 

establishing the 13 new 

universities that I 

championed under the 

Jonathan administration, 

we successfully removed 

close to 12 million people 

out of unemployment. 

Government should not 

make the mistake of 

retrenching workers at 

all. That was why when I 

prepared the memo for 

the creation of additional 

federal universities in 

Nigeria; I advocated that 

the first generation 

universities should be 

sold to their owners: Vice 

chancellors and their 

workers to generate 

research funding and 

create better pay for them. 

To be candid, no country 

in this world develops 

better with government 

funding. The private 

sector needs to be 

encouraged to generate employment and 

job opportunities for the greater number 

of citizens. The whole arrangement of 

tying Nigeria to one source of income is 

responsible for the economic crisis, 

joblessness and lack of growth we 

currently experience in the land. 

That’s perhaps why many Nigerians are 

calling for restructuring to make things work 

better and allow states to generate and 

manage their resources and only pay 

appropriate taxes to the centre 

For your information, you are already 

restructured. There is no need to cry over what 

you have power over by law, you are 

restructured. I do not subscribe to you talking 

about restructuring because it makes no sense 

to me; it’s like saying oh, I am taking 

permission from you to go to the toilet and I 

am in my own house. Constitutionally, as we 

are seated here today, we are restructured. What 

we need to do is to sum up the courage and ask 

our leaders to implement the constitution 100 

percent. This whole idea of coming cap in hand 

to government to collect dough is not working. 

We are restructured from my point of view; 

Nigeria is properly restructured. We only need 

leaders, we need people from all the states of 

the federation to do what they need to do 

regarding the laws of this nation.The litmus 

test of our restructuring is the COVID-19 crisis 

because as you can see the President couldn’t 

instruct the governor of Anambra to lockdown, 

what he did to Lagos and Ogun is out of respect 

because they belong to his party. Ordinarily, he 

couldn’t have tried that if those states were not 

APC states. So, what I want to say is that the 

country is restructured. However, the people 

must have to go back to understand the 

meaning and responsibility and jobs assigned 

to themselves. This is what I find inadequate. 

Now, with the East not accepting that is a 

misnomer with all the money assigned to the 

East, did anybody stop them from generating 

internal revenue? Is there anybody stopping 

anybody in Delta, is anybody stopping anybody 

in Ebonyi? It doesn’t work that way. What I am 

saying is that Nigerian stands restructured; we 

need capable people to understand a 

restructured federation to do what they need to 

do. 

You stridently championed the


F 

t 

l 

uring 

establishment of 13 federal universities in the 

country at a time many were complaining that 

Nigeria already had too many universities. 

What was the rationale for such large 

numbers? 

I have told you that Nigeria has all that it 

takes to be better than a lot of countries in the 

world. Our problem is short sightedness. It will 

interest you to note that I did not discuss the 

universities with anybody. Not even my 

president, the only person who was privileged 

to know what was on my mind that morning 

was my Permanent Secretary, Prof. Afolabi who 

I called and gave a firm instruction that I 

wanted to create the universities. You must first 

and foremost remain selfless in order to serve 

society better. To date, one of the problems we 

have in this country is selfishness and it is killing 

us. I told my Permanent Secretary that early 

morning that we needed to establish one 

university each in every state of Nigeria where 

a federal university didn’t exist. Two, I wanted 

one polytechnic each in every state of Nigeria 

where none existed at the time. 

Three, I wanted to create 16 Colleges of 

Education in 16 states of the federation where 

such did not exist. I took demography of the 

country and I realized that in some states they 

had a compliment of a federal university, a 

federal polytechnic and a federal college of 

•Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi 

education while others had nothing or 

something. But the process of 

establishing the universities became very 

intriguing to say the least. The memo I 

was to present to the Federal Executive 

Council the following Wednesday did not 

get to me until 2:45 am of that day 

whereas it should have been circulated to 

all council members at least by midnight. 

That the memo appeared on my 

computer at 2:45 am meant that I had a 

burden because in the morning I would 

have to lobby all the other 41 ministers to 

support my memo before I present it or I 

face the prospect of withdrawing it or 

presenting it and not getting endorsement. 

It was a serious challenge to me. I had an 

embarrassing day that morning, as I was 

entering the council chambers the 

Secretary to the Government of the 

Federation was standing with the Attorney 

General of the Federation and I just heard, 

hey, minister, come here. That was the SGF 

and I felt very humiliated in that I would 

have told him off if he had done that to me 

on an ordinary day. But I had to take it 

because I wanted to serve 

Nigeria. Again, I looked at the man’s 

age and had to show him some respect by 

going towards him. As I met him, he 

barked out: What is wrong with you?” 

Last week you passed one university in 

Delta which was the Petroleum 

University. Everybody did not say 

anything about that one because that is 

your place and you have come today with 

12 universities, 14 polytechnics, and 16 

colleges of Education? Who do you think 

you are? Go and withdraw that memo or 

I will kill it once you present it to council. 

But as the SGF was threatening me to 

withdraw the memo, President Goodluck 

Jonathan was just 

walking into the 

chambers and the door 

was promptly shut and 

we began the FEC 

meeting. 

To ensure that the 

memo would not see 

the light of the day the 

SGF had mobilized 

most ministers from his 

area to block it but I 

still summoned 

courage to present it as 

the first memo for that 

day since there was no 

other one in 

alphabetical order 

before mine. 

As God wanted it, as 

soon as the President 

sat down he said to me 

Education Minister 

please call your memo 

and I began by saying, 

“Mr. President, I want 

to christen this memo 

‘The Doctrine of 

Equity”. And, he 

replied: “We are in 

trouble; today is 

today”. As a minister if you produce a 

memo, you will read the body of the 

memo then you shut up. Council is more 

regimented than the military and as such, 

all the 41 ministers have the right to 

dissect the memo but you are only 

allowed to make notes but can’t comment 

until they have all finished with their 

observations and objections. You can 

only reply at the end of their comments. 

As I dropped my memo, the former SGF 

raised his hands and said, “Mr. President 

I don’t think we should waste our time at 

all because the memo by the Education 

Minister is the most irresponsible memo 

I have ever seen. I was Perm Sect. of 

Education, Perm Sect. of Health, 

Secretary to Government, Head of 

Service we cannot afford to waste time, 

and we cannot afford to play junior life 

style. I didn’t say a word, we had one 

agriculture minister from Niger State 

query how a minister who was appointed 

only 36 days earlier could come up with 

such a huge number of universities 

wondering where the money would be 

sourced from and how viable such 

institutions could be. 

He was supported by the then Minister 

for National Planning who also opposed 

the memo on the grounds that the 

demand for such large number of 

universities could cause what he called 

financial revolution and that he was not 

consulted and that he knew nothing 

about it. 

God bless the soul of Dora Akunyili, 

who rose up and told Mr. President that 

it was necessary to establish the 

universities for the overall interest of 

Nigeria. She said as the oldest member 

of the FEC, she knew what it meant to 

add more universities to the bouquet in 

order to improve tertiary education in 

the country and asked him to ignore the 

antics of those members of the council 

who raised issues with the memo. Dora 

Akunyili said, “Mr. President, I am very 

disturbed at the level of backwardness of 

the members of this council. Somebody 

talked about being everything but today 

he is the Secretary to the Government of 

the Federation. I must say that as at today, 

I am the oldest minister here in this council 

and I find this minister to be nothing but a 

genius because of what he has done in this 

memo which I happened to have read at 

3:00 am this morning. After reading the 

memo, I felt sorry for myself that I have 

been in a government where nobody has 

sense in the education sector from 

independence to date. Mr. President I 

suggest that we all stand and give this 

Council is more 

regimented than the 

military and as such, 

all the 41 ministers 

have the right to 

dissect the memo but 

you are only allowed 

to make notes but 

can’t comment until 

they have all finished 

with 

observations 

objections 

minister a standing ovation for this credible 

and outstanding work he has done to bring 

us out of shame”. 

The then Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, 

Godsday Orubebe, stood up and supported 

Akinyuli, adding, “Mr. President, you don’t 

have any legacy anywhere for now and I 

strongly believe that what this minister has 

proposed today will give you a legacy 

because if the universities are established, 

your name will be written in the book of life 

in Nigeria; so let us not waste our time but 

quickly approve the memo for 

implementation. Orubebe 

was supported by Alison 

Diezani Alison-Madueke. 

I was then asked to reply 

and I made the point so 

clear that we needed more 

universities in the country 

and that the new ones 

should be given N10 

their 

and 

billion yearly for ten years 

to develop and fill the 

yawning gaps in tertiary 

education in the country 

and move Nigeria 

forward. 

In my memo, I gave 

statistics for South Africa 

population and schools, 

London population and 

schools, Indian 

population and schools, 

U.S population and 

schools and finally 

pointed out that Nigeria 

still needed additional 

147 universities to cope 

with the size of its 

population and students. I 

made it clear that while the 

nation irresponsibly 

created WAEC, NECO, 

JAMB and made students 

to pass all the examinations there were not 

enough admission spaces for them in the 

existing universities in Nigeria thereby 

creating a deficit of 842,000 admission 

spaces, which are taken up by neighboring 

countries of Ghana and other African 

countries. 

Before I concluded my response, the 

President hit the gavel and said, “I hereby 

create six additional universities in six geopolitical 

zones of the country where federal 

Universities do not currently exist and hit 

the gavel to show that the decision is final. 

The point that those who even opposed 

the memo including the former SGF, didn’t 

see was that some of their states were the 

actual beneficiaries of the universities. But 

they eventually apologized to the president 

and my good self. By the President’s 

pronouncement, Ekiti was done, Ebonyi was 

done, Otueke was done. All the other ones 

were in the north-Gombe, Taraba, etc there 

was excitement by the time I sat down. By 

the time they saw how selfless I was in my 

recommendation for the universities; most 

of them begged me for forgiveness. 

It appears the FG has lost an opportunity 

to resolve the problem of disruption of 

academic calendars by the Academic Staff 

Union of Universities, ASUU, a body, 

which does not see any need for new 

universities but strengthening and better 

funding of existing ones. How does the 

government solve the problem of ASUU 

once and for all? 

We are talking from two extremes: Taking 

care of ASUU and other University workers 

which is a continuum on one hand and 

providing unhindered access for Nigerian 

children who must study in order to be able 

to cope with the ever-changing world. As 

our population is increasing rapidly, we 

must also provide access for our children to 

study so that they are not left behind by the 

others in other parts of the world since we 

live in a global village. 

It may interest you to know that no country 

runs its academic system by depending on 

another country where they have no control. 

It is therefore imperative for Nigeria to 

establish more universities to provide 

continuous access for the people. If not for 

the disruption occasioned by COvid-19, I 

would say that Nigeria is still short of at 

least 70 universities. All the 13 we created 

are currently doing well. It has created 

additional access for many Nigerian 

children to acquire tertiary education and 

millions of jobs for Nigerians, all to the 

credit of the administration that we served.


When the NCDC got to Imo state a 

couple of weeks ago they left a 

warning. They asked Imo to find 

Coronavirus cases. At the time Imo had no 

confirmed case, and the NCDC thought Imo 

which had many citizens in diaspora, and 

heavy international traffic, was too clean. 

Kano was neat and pure until we started 

seeing graves. What the NCDC warned Imo 

about was what we saw in Kano. If you sit on 

it it will ferment, swell and explode. By the 

time Kano stopped fiddling, stopped talking 

about malaria and meningitis, and started 

crying, the Coronavirus had taken deep 

roots. Many residents, big and small, had 

perished in Kano. That clean result of weeks 

ago was out a trap, a curse, a disaster. 

But have our governors learnt anything? 

Perhaps not so much. 

Recently in Akwa Ibom, the state 

epidemiologist was redeployed. Some 

bickering followed. He said he was shoved 

aside because he refused to play games, 

refused to buy into the crooked strategy of 

the state government to keep the COVID case 

count low. 

He said the state was deliberately denied 

patients who had met set case definitions 

access to testing, even though the state had 

test kits. He made grave accusations. And 

the Nigeria Medical Association in the state trophy? 

backed him. 

He cited an instance when he wanted to 

test 30 patients but was stopped by the state 

government who wanted him to test just a 

few number of cases weekly. The state didn’t 

want to be labeled a COVID epicenter. He 

said the state wanted to test bit by bit so that 

the state doesn’t become one of the Corona 

league leaders. 

Sometimes governments get away with 

shallowness. But when a governor denies 

sick people testing and fails to isolate and track 

cases of an extremely contagious and fairly 

lethal disease, how can they escape the rich 

harvest of dead bodies? 

What is there to be gained in allowing 

people wallow in a false sense of 

security? 

Kogi is another example. The reports are 

everywhere. Patients have come to 

government run hospitals with COVID 

symptoms and have been denied tests. 

Patients have come to government run 

hospital with COVID symptoms, died, and 

no tests were done. I spoke with doctors in 

Kogi. They blame the situation on the incident 

Our Governors, Corona Politics 

and Naked Folly 

manager who is the health 

commissioner. If the Kogi government 

disputes these claims let the governor 

publish how many tests he has conducted 

in Kogi every day since April fool’s day. 

The current NCDC case criteria are so 

expansive that every state 

should be running tons of 

tests daily. 

What is it about winning 

a clean sheet corona 

The sort of 

goalkeeping needed at this 

time is rampant testing; 

case identification and 

isolation; contact tracing 

and public health education 

about social distancing; and 

other mitigation strategies. 

Any state denying likely 

cases testing is scoring own 

goals. Unfortunately the 

VAR will only become 

available when we begin to 

see graves. 

The suppression of data is 

not an effective way to 

manage an epidemic. 

The problem with Cross 

River is complicated. The 

state governor thinks he is 

very intelligent. He is a 

professor. But he has 

become an apprentice comedian, the butt 

of jokes. He thinks that with masks non 

one needs social distancing. Every time 

he speaks he undermines the effort of the 

NCDC to keep our people properly 

informed with his highfalutin 

ambiguities. He thinks the the PCR 

molecular tests are not good for diagnosis. 

Yet it appears he doesn’t know what 

vaccines are because he mistakes them 

for antibodies that can be harvested by 

plasmapheresis. 

And ignorance, 

when propelled by 

arrogance, especially a 

the highest levels, is 

very infectious. An 

Akwa Ibom 

commissioner was seen 

the other day telling 

stories about how some 

people planned to bribe 

some people in the state 

to be confirmed COVID 

positive. She ought to 

know. Anyone can 

pretend to have COVID. 

But only a scientific test 

by a recognized 

laboratory can confirm 

it. Whenever these 

folks in Cross River 

have nothing to say 

they should go to the 

farm. 

The Bauchi state 

governor made a 

comical broadcast a few 

days ago. He recovered from a 

coronavirus infection and he is touting 

his knowledge of medicine. It’s obvious he 

no longer knows the limits of his powers. 

He told the public he had ordered the 

Sometimes 

governments get away 

with shallowness. But 

when a governor denies 

sick people testing and 

fails to isolate and track 

cases of an extremely 

contagious and fairly 

lethal disease, how can 

they escape the rich 

harvest of dead bodies? 

doctors in his state to use Azithromycin and 

Chloroquine to treat COVID infections. He said 

if anything untoward happened to their 

patients the doctors should pass the blame to 

him. Ordinarily, that should be a cheap 

Nollywood comedy piece. But that was a 

governor, in real life, ascribing to himself 

the power to teach medical doctors how to 

treat their patients. And that was him 

probably telling illiterate folks who might 

have COVID symptoms how to go about self 

medication, to find azithromycin and 

Chloroquine at a patent medicine dealer’s. 

I would have left Rivers out because Rivers 

has the only workaholic governor in the 

country. But Rivers is the state where the 

governor sends people to quarantine centers 

when they break a curfew. Quarantine is 

supposed to be governed by medical science, 

disease control. The quarantine center is not 

a prison. It is not where you send people who 

flout a curfew to. Liberals all over the world 

have expressed fears that the pandemic could 

breed dictators. They would exploit the public 

fear of the virus and trample on the people’s 

rights. I would have left Rivers out, but Rivers 

is the state where the governor has mentioned 

more than once that he thinks some agents of 

the federal government want to infect his state 

with Coronavirus. I would have left Rivers 

out but Rivers has an emperor. I hope I have 

given honor to whom honor is due. 

Let’s leave Makinde, ambitious first term 

governor, he learnt his lessons early. But 

when a confirmed COVID case disappears he 

should track , locate and re-isolate. He should 

have learnt how to choose his words more 

carefully after that Ibadan rally. At the rally 

he had said that Coronavirus belonged to the 

APC. Okay he apologized. But when two 

COVID cases went missing in his state recently 

he said they had gone probably to their final 

resting place. A governor shouldn’t wish his 

sick citizens death. After all when he, 

Makinde, tested positive he didn’t go to the 

isolation center, and nobody wished death on 

him. Engineers can be mechanical a times 

but they should have empathy too. 

I will stop here. And it is here I will remind 

the governors, COVID no be work ! The 

farmers have to go to the farm. They need 

fertilizers. They need agricultural extension 

services. These activities are compatible with 

social distancing. Where are the improved 

seedlings? What are the new targets for the 

import substitution programs? How are we 

diversifying the economies of the states? Hope 

they know FAAC is now crippled. 

The stay at home order as a result of the 

Corona Virus Pandemic has exposed the 

financial underbelly of majority of 

Nigerians. Our oil wealth notwithstanding, we 

are very poor people. By the second day of the 

stay at home, murmurs against the lockdown 

were becoming louder. By a week, there was 

grumbling everywhere. Then protests and 

criminality followed. There are way too many 

people who will go hungry unless they earn 

income daily. In addition, there are many others 

who earn big but will run into a financial mess 

within a month if income stops. 

As usual many people directed their gaze at 

the government and for good reasons. 

Providing for the most vulnerable has not been 

institutionalised as part of governance in 

Nigeria. There are scarcely safety nets for the 

vulnerable like the elderly, the sick, the poor, 

the unemployed, etc. This makes it imperative 

for people to strive to be in charge of much of 

their lives. Every human being is a combination 

of two lives: micro life and macro life. Your micro 

life are those things you must do yourself, while 

your macro life is others-dependent. If we were 

to apply the Pareto 80/20 principle, your micro 

life should constitute 80 per cent of your life, 

while macro will be 20 per cent. 

Let us start from life immediately we are 

born. A new born baby must cry on his own. 

External forces can make him cry, but they 

cannot do the crying for him. Also, once the 

baby is born, the mother can stick the nipple 

in his mouth, but the mother cannot suck for 

him. The baby must suck by himself or starve 

to death. The baby must also defecate and 

urinate on his own, while external forces clean 

her up. External forces can facilitate the 

processes, but they cannot do either for the 

baby. 

As he grows, he will be taught how to sit, 

crawl and walk, but he must do these activities 

on his own. When he is old enough to go to 

school, his parents will take him to school, the 

teachers will teach him, but he is solely 

responsible for assimilating what is taught. No 

external force can assimilate on his behalf. Let 

us fast forward. When he gets to a certain age 

and decides to get married. Friends and family 

will contribute resources and join him in all 

the marriage ceremonies, but it is his sole 

Financial lessons of Covid-19 

responsibility to get his wife pregnant and 

provide her sexual pleasure. Anything 

outside this is an abnormality. 

That is how life is. God created us to take 

responsibility for our lives and it starts the 

minute we are born. If we took 

responsibility when we were not even 

conscious of it, it means that now we should 

do it even more 

effectively. In a VUCA 

(volatile, uncertain, 

complex and 

a m b i g u o u s ) 

environment like ours, 

there is more need to take 

responsibility for our 

lives. 

One basic lesson they 

teach us in personal 

finance is that we should 

start saving with our first 

income. Experts put it in 

various forms: “pay 

yourself first,” “a part of 

what you earn is yours to 

keep.” It means once you 

start earning income – 

whether daily, weekly or 

monthly – keep a part of 

it as savings and/or 

invest it. Apparently 

majority of Nigerians have ignored this 

basic lesson and we are paying dearly for it 

now. You will think it is only the low income 

earners who suffer from this lack of saving/ 

investment, but it also applies to some 

people who earn as much as N2m monthly. 

Every human being 

is a combination of 

two lives: micro life 

and macro life. Your 

micro life are those 

things you must do 

yourself, while your 

macro life is othersdependent 

It all boils down to whether or not, you keep 

something aside periodically and 

subsequently invest it to generate more 

income. Also, some people who earn big 

money carry way too much expenses and 

liabilities. Somebody earns N30m and 

spends N35m within the same period, say 

a year. Such people are also unable to keep 

something aside. 

We have had this 

argument once in my 

marriage class. We talked 

about keeping a portion of 

what we earn aside. Then 

one participant asked how 

he could keep something 

aside when his take home 

pay does not take him home. 

Then, I painted a scenario. 

“Assuming the 25 of us in the 

lecture room were 

employees of a company 

going through a patch. The 

management gave us an 

option of a 20 per cent pay 

cut for all staff or 

disengagement of 20 per cent 

of the staff.” And I added that 

“you do not know who will 

be affected by the 

downsizing; what option will you choose?” 

They all chose a pay cut. Then I asked, “what 

would you do about your 20 per cent shortfall 

in income, borrow?” They said no, that they 

would restructure their expenditure and live 

within their income. I turned to the 

participant, who said his take home could 

not take him home. “You just proved that you 

can keep aside 20 per cent of your income every 

month.” It is something we all need to think 

about and work towards. 

There is another guide of personal finance 

that did not work for many of us during the 

period: “do not spend more than you earn.” 

This rule was flung through the window for 

many self-employed Nigerians. People were 

home and spending without earning. Very few 

SMEs earned income during the lockdown: 

agriculture, pharmacies, foodstuff shops and 

supermarkets, etc. And the income was reduced 

because of low patronage. Many self-employed 

Nigerians do not operate in these critical 

service sectors, so it was a case of no work and 

no income. The lockdown has taught us is to 

reorganise our micro lives so that we can 

respond better to such emergency situations 

in future (I do not mean a virus o, just any 

emergency situation) so that thunder will not 

strike one place twice. 

Personal finance training also encourages us 

to develop multiple streams of income. It is not 

because of situations like the COVID-19 

pandemic only. You need multiple streams of 

income in a VUCA environment. A new 

technology or government policy can bring 

down your business and what do you do if that 

is your only source of income? For instance, 

many printers have had their income reduced 

by as much as 80 per cent due to new 

technologies!People also need to diversify into 

sectors where they can do business online or 

earn income. This is a necessity because the 

world is going virtual. 

Some people also need to organise their 

relationships. They need to be involved in their 

churches/mosques, town associations, social 

clubs, old students association, extended 

families, trade associations and with colleagues 

in the office, etc. Many people were stranded 

during the pandemic and had to seek help from 

acquaintances/relatives they have not spoken 

to in decades and sometimes total strangers. 

You need to be involved with your immediate 

environments. Emergencies are part of life: a 

sick child who needs immediate attention, a 

financial opportunity you must deal with 

immediately, etc. If you have no close circle of 

people you can run to, it can become tragic or 

you lose a good opportunity.

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020—19

C 

M 

Y 

K 

20—SATURDAY Vanguard, , MAY 9, 2020 

Ihad this irresistible urge to go 

out on Tuesday that was quite 

unlike me. The ease in lockdown 

was just a day old and the normal me 

would have skipped the week just to 

test the waters. I tried to justify this 

itch by rationalising that I had been 

on personal lockdown long before 

the official one. I also rationalised 

that journalists should get first hand 

reports whenever possible. The 

picture of denial and defiance I saw 

on the social media needed to be seen 

I thought. And I am still a journalist 

ain’t I? Finally, I wanted to get to my 

office. I hadn’t been away from my 

office for that long ever. I wanted to 

see how much of my space had been 

taken over by spiders; whether my 

personal things were still as I left 

them or if an intruder had visited; and 

whether the security would be 

caught off guard - sentinels caught 

napping at the coming of the master. 

I realised as I dressed up that I was 

wearing trousers for the first time in 

over six weeks. My attire for the 

period had been pyjamas, 

sweatshirts, running shorts and 

trainers with the occasional face cap. the right to do things 

I looked at the array of clothes that that are sheer luxuries 

hadn’t seen the sun in months and to people in our part of 

shoes slowly wearing out on the racks the world. Many 

even when unused. The cars haven’t people here would 

left the estate in close to two months. gladly stay home if 

How many of these things do we someone would pay 

really need when the chips are down? them for the priviledge. 

Vanity upon vanity says the Unfortunately, COVID 

Preacher. 

19 does not recognise 

And so I exercised my right to be rights. It does not read. 

on the road. I saw people valiantly And some of them 

trying to comply with the rules of would become 

social distancing and face masks. I statistics. COVID 19 is 

saw where improvements would be another example of the 

made and where improvements perennial conflict 

would be impossible. I saw efforts 

that made me smile; but mostly, I 

saw denials that were alarming. The 

death toll would rise. Of that, there 

can be little doubt. If the need for 

existential living can be adduced as 

the excuse for those who trooped out 

and lumped themselves together 

even before the gate was opened on 

The news of the return of another 

$311m loot linked to the erstwhile 

military dictator, General Sani Abacha 

was received by Nigerians with comic 

relief. 

With the nation’s economy 

threatened by the COVID-19 

pandemic and revenue inflow diving 

to unprecedented low levels, an alert 

at the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN 

of a windfall from the late General 

Abacha should be celebrated. 

Nigeria’s increasingly vibrant social 

media commentators were indeed 

quick to celebrate Abacha’s 

benevolence! 

Some alleged that anytime 

President Muhammadu Buhari needs 

money Abacha sends him alert from 

the grave. 

The nature of the receipt is, however, 

a politically touchy one for Buhari and 

his close supporters. 

So while many Nigerians celebrated 

the inflow as the return of another 

Abacha loot, one of Buhari’s closest 

political minders, Abubakar Malami, 

the Attorney General of the 

Federation, AGF called it Abacha 

asset. 

Malami, being one of the associates 

that has stayed longest with Buhari 

must have been sensitive to the 

president’s political nuances and 

hence his resort to “verbal dexterity 

and vocal acrobatics.” 

He was probably with Buhari in 

2008 at the tenth anniversary of the 

death of the former head of state when 

he affirmed that Abacha was not a 

thief. 

In the light of that postulation, 

receiving on behalf of Nigeria the 

Abacha loot must be a serious ethical 

issue for the president. 

How President Buhari reconciles 

himself to spending money from an 

innocent Abacha must be a serious 

ethical dilemma for him. It is even so 

given what some have now alluded 

to a close relationship between the two 

men in their younger days. 

In studying the relationship between 

As the toll rises 

Monday, how does one explain the 

attitude of some people in God’s own 

country, the richest country in the 

world? The US had paid people to stay 

at home. It had promised generous 

stimulus packages for 

businesses anytime the 

lockdown was lifted. 

Yet some people are in 

a defiant mood. These 

people are insisting on 

the right to work, the 

right to socialise and 

between science and 

the desires of the flesh where science 

has lost. Science usually loses against 

the flesh, albeit temporarily. How 

many people for example, have 

ignored science to their regret when 

told that their lifestyles would lead to 

death? Governments after 

And so I exercised my 

right to be on the road. I 

saw people valiantly 

trying to comply with the 

rules of social distancing 

and face masks. I saw 

where improvements 

would be made and 

where improvements 

would be impossible 

governments are being pressured to 

ease lockdown in spite of scientific 

predictions that it will increase the 

death toll. It is not surprising that 

governments after governments are 

ignoring those 

predictions. 

But it is not only the 

dead that is tolling 

up. COVID 19 is 

taking its toll on living 

too. The people most 

vulnerable to the 

scourge are said to be 

those above 65 

years. These people 

are required to stay 

home until the 

scourge blows away. 

Unfortunately, these 

are the people who 

do not have the 

luxury of time. I once 

called an 85 year old 

to ask how he was 

coping and he 

jokingly told me that 

the little bonus God 

had given him was 

being taken away by 

the virus. Another said she was going 

to ask God to take 2020 away from her 

years because she did not live it. An 

eighty year old needs the outdoor to 

be active. They need the 

companionship of peers if they can find 

them to live longer and happier. Every 

Buhari and Abacha: The matter of 

double vision 

President Buhari and Abacha, it 

becomes easy to dismiss, or at least 

relegate one of the very prominent 

personal weaknesses critics attribute to 

Buhari; to wit, that he is unforgiving of 

betrayal. 

If it were really so, it would be difficult 

to find a 

n e x u s 

between 

the claim 

o f 

unforgiveness 

a n d 

Buhari’s 

decision to How President 

serve in 

t h e 

Petroleum 

(Special) 

Task Force, 

P T F 

created by 

Abacha. 

That is, 

given the 

Buhari reconciles 

himself to 

spending money 

from an innocent 

Abacha must be a 

serious ethical 

dilemma for him 

fact that 

Abacha 

who was 

reportedly 

a close family friend was instrumental 

to his removal from office as military 

head of state. 

That relationship was evoked last 

month with the death of one of Buhari’s 

long-serving bodyguards, WO Lawal 

Mato. 

Mato according to sources was 

handed over to Buhari from the Abacha 

network when he was about joining 

politics in 2002. He was reportedly a 

highly trained marksman from the cream 

prepared by Abacha while he was in 

power. 

Mato had apparently been removed 

from Buhari during the Olusegun 

Obasanjo administration but was 

restored to him by President Umaru 

Yar‘Adua. 

However, politics apparently came 

between the two families as Buhari 

made what he had declared would be 

his last presidential bid in 2011. 

At that time, Mohammed Abacha also 

sought the governorship ticket of his 

father’s friend’s party, that is, the 

Congress for Progressive Change, CPC. 

He, however, received the cold 

shoulders from Buhari. That was after 

an initial homage to Buhari’s residence 

in Kaduna in 2010 when he was 

received gladly. 

It is alleged that by 2011 Buhari’s eyes 

had become open or he had been 

schooled on Abacha’s theft of the 

commonwealth. 

So despite the fact that Mohammed 

Abacha got the highest number of votes 

social club I know in Lagos has days set 

aside for the octogenarians and 

septuagenarians in their midst to meet and 

share time and memories. The last time I 

saw General Momoh, the former Director 

General of the NYSC who died a couple of 

weeks ago, was at the Ikeja Golf Club. He 

was part of a small group of elderly people 

which meets every Tuesday. It keeps them 

going with or without a round of golf and 

it is considered a priviledge if you are 

invited to join them. Many would now be 

wondering if they would ever meet again. 

Nothing pleases a woman more than 

being with her grandchildren. But these 

days, COVID 19 says it is hazardous to 

health. And so a grandmother is denied 

one of the little joys left. There is a sorry 

story of a woman who went to the UK to 

help a child out and has been locked down 

since then. The worst part is that she is 

now locked down in a room like a prisoner. 

She goes to bathe in the night when her 

grandchildren are asleep. During the day, 

she hears their voices as they indulge in 

pranks which she would have loved to join 

if the times were normal. They hear hers 

only when she prays out loud. It’s not the 

best way to pass one’s twilight years. These 

are limited, and therefore precious years. 

Another grandmother was in the US with 

one child when another gave birth. It had 

been part of her plans to kill two birds with 

the proverbial stone anyway. But that was 

before the scourge which made social 

distancing imperative. Her assistance was 

reduced to e-help. Worse, she had a new 

grandchild she could not see, cuddle or 

hold. 

It’s not only the biological age that is 

counting. What about the sporting age? 

Stars like Federer (tennis), Gatlin 

(athletes), Gayle (cricket), Pacquiao 

(boxing) who are singing their swan songs 

and probably looking forward to one more 

productive year before retiring have had 

that vital year taken away from them. They 

may not have the energy or the 

motivation to try one more year. So as 

the physical death is tolling. So does the 

spiritual. Many dreams, many aspirations 

are running out of time. No matter how 

you look at it, COVID 19 is not kind on the 

aging or the aged. 

and was at one time affirmed by the 

Independent National Electoral 

Commission, INEC as the CPC 

governorship candidate for Kano, Buhari 

openly opposed him. 

His preference was for the suave former 

military governor of Kaduna State, Brig. 

Gen. Jafaru Isa. 

Speaking to an international observer 

mission in February 2011, Buhari while 

apparently noting the development in 

Kano, said: 

‘There is the scandalous substitution of 

candidates submitted by our party in some 

states. How can the electoral agency 

revalidate a candidate rejected by us based 

on inducement of party members with 

money?” he said after INEC validated 

Abacha’s candidacy based on court orders. 

So, it was apparent in 2011 that Buhari’s 

perception of the Abachas had started to 

change. Indeed after he came to power and 

saw documents for himself, that change was 

established. 

In a tweet on April 27, 2016 the new 

perspective was contextualized in a 

presidential tweet where it was said 

“Nigeria is awaiting receipt from Swiss 

Govt. of $320 million, identified as illegally 

taken from Nigeria under Abacha” – Buhari 

@NGR President, 5:09 PM – 27 APR 2016. 

What the president meant by illegally 

taken away from the country was what 

others have called looted funds. It is in that 

context that Buhari’s problem in dealing 

with the Abacha heist can be better 

understood. 

It is what scientists will call a case of 

double vision! 

Correction 

It was stated here in this column last week 

that only one deputy governor in the person 

of Umaru Shinkafi of Zamfara had 

succeeded into the office of governor since 

the advent of the Fourth Republic. Your 

correspondent has since recollected the 

ascension of Abdullahi Ganduje to the 

Kano governorship in 2015 and also, the 

hostile takeover of Ebonyi by Dave Umahi 

also in 2015. 

The slip is regretted.


bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk 

Coping with your teenager’s tantrums! 

The average household has had 

to deal with the terrible 

tantrums of the teenage ward it 

once thought to be an angel. All of a 

sudden, your little angel turns 

something quite unfathomable. 

Instead of smirking his lips at his 

mum’s wholesome meals, he opts for 

fast foods; instead of following you 

through the house and chattering a 

dozen to a minute, you would be lucky 

if you get a grunt out of him. If you’re 

currently going through that phase in 

your household, be rest-assured that 

your teenager’s behaviour is nobody’s 

fault – it’s all down to his brain! 

Scientists used to think that our brains 

were fully developed by around the age 

of five. Now, Dr. Jay Giedd, an American 

neuro-scientist who has been scanning 

the brains of teenage volunteers for the 

past 0 years, has discovered that their 

brains experience a growth spurt in 

adolescence. This, he says, particularly 

affects the frontal lobes – the part of the 

brain thought to control impulse. When 

an adult decides it’s not a good idea to 

tell his boss he’s an idiot or to cut her 

ex-boyfriend’s clothes to shreds, that’s 

the frontal lobes doing their job. 

According to Barbara Stranch, 

however, teenagers don’t have such selfrestraint. 

The author of the book: Why 

Are They So Weird? Barbara says that’s 

the reason your teenage ward raids the 

drinks cabinet, experiments with drugs, 

screams ‘I hate you!’ at his mum, 

plasters his bedroom walls with 

pictures of naked women and dares 

his mate to jump off windows at 

parties. Teenage brains have also 

been found to have higher levels of 

dopamine than adult brains. 

Dopamine, a chemical produced in 

the brain, produces a feeling of well 

being – a natural high. 

If your ward has got a high level of 

dopamine, he may feel that driving 

Think your sex life needs a boost? 

It’s post Valentine’s period once 

again when lovers drum up 

excuses to be together and 

clever rogues looked for 

opportunities to run off with an illicit 

partner – albeit for a few hours of 

fun! Whatever your reason for 

celebrating, you now realise you 

need your libido to be extra active. 

Think you’ve lost yours? Here are 

sure five steps aphrodisiac fanatics 

swear by: 

*Sexy food: We all know about 

oysters – Casanova was said to be a 

40-a-day man – and their lusty 

reputation is probably due to their 

high zinc content. This mineral 

increases sperm production and 

reputedly send your libido through 

the roof. However, if you can’t stand 

slurping oysters, try turkey instead 

as that’s high in zinc, too. For 

pudding, nibble a banana – not only 

will it look naughty, but these fruits 

are believed to be aphrodisiacs, as 

they’re rich in the sexy chemical, 

bufotenine, a substance that fights 

fatigue to give you staying power. 

*Sex exercises: Start taking regular 

exercise – two or three times a week 

for 15-20 minutes and your libido will 

receive a much needed kick up the 

pants. It will also give you more 

confidence in your body and promote 

flexibility. Studies have also shown 

that exercise increases genital blood 

flow. So try pilates or yoga and you 

will be working your way through 

the Kama Sutra in no time! 

*Sexy supplements: Ginger – it is 

considered to be an aphrodisiac in 

African countries and also in 

traditional Chinese medicine. It’s a 

well-known stimulant, it can improve 

your circulation and relieve 

flatulence! Ginseng is another 

traditional remedy for va-va-voom 

between the sheets, although there 

is no actual evidence for this. 

Generations of Chinese couples 

swear by it, but if you are pregnant, 

or on any medication, consult your 

doctor before use. If low energy is 

your problem, and you suspect that 

you are not getting all the vitamins 

you need from your diet, then try 

taking a multivitamin supplement 

such as Supradyn Recharge. It 

contains 300 per cent of the 

recommended daily amounts of 

Vitamins B and C which are 

important for physical exercise and 

used up more quickly when we are 

suffering from stress. When 20 

women took it over a four-week 

period, one in three experience 

‘energy highs’ and all women felt 

their energy level had increased. 

*Sexy bathing: Get ready for some 

passion with a romantic aromatic 

bath. This recipe, taken from: 

Awaken Your Sense, Change Your 

Life by Nicky Kinnard, should put 

you in the right mood, as it is both 

uplifting and confidence-boosting. 

Here’s what you should do to get 

the desired effect. Run yourself a 

warm bath, and add four drops of 

rose essential oil (to lift your spirit), 

four drops of ylang ylang essential 

oil ( a cleansing) and 20ml sweet 

almond oil. Swirl around the bath 

to disperse oils, lie back in the tub 

and breath deeply for 20 minutes. 

If the recommended oils are not 

readily available, your favourite 

herbal shop will provide 

substitutes. Don’t forget the fact that 

having a sexy man to keep you 

company is optional but well 

recommended. 

his dad’s car at 180 kmph down 

the freeway won’t hurt anyone. 

And if he gets away with it, the 

action will lead to more 

dopamine being produced. At this 

point you’ve just got to hope he’ll 

be arrested by the police! 

“Risk-taking”, says Barbara, “is 

a part of growing up. It’s all about 

defining boundaries. As we get 

older, we become more fearful. 

Adolescence is 

an adventure. Of 

course, anyone 

who’s had to 

physically drag 

her teenage out 

of bed could be 

forgiven for 

thinking that 

teenagers, far 

from being 

adventurous, 

are just 

naturally idle. 

“ B r a i n 

chemicals 

could also 

explain why 

your teenager is 

such a lazyb 

o n e s . 

Melatonin - a 

sleep regulating 

chemical – flows 

into a teenage 

brain far later in 

the day than 

when they’re younger. A teenager’s 

melatonin only starts making him 

drowsy at around 10pm – 3am, 

which is why it’s so hard to get him 

to go to bed. Teenagers also need 

more sleep than adults. They’d 

happily sleep for 10 hours at a time. 

No wonder they’re so grouchy 

when you wake them up for school 

in the morning. 

And if you’re wondering about your 

teenage son’s sudden interest in the 

scantily dressed women on his 

bedroom walls, they too, assured 

scientists, are the results of hormones 

and brain chemistry. Testosterone 

causes the first surge of attraction and 

dopamine keeps it flowing. Sounds 

great, but teenage years can be 

difficult for all sorts of reasons. Just a 

few years ago, your teenager’s biggest 

worry was whether he’d get a 

Nintendo for Christmas. Suddenly, 

he’s being told that the choices he 

makes now will affect the rest of his 

life. He’d dealing with lots of the new 

pressures – bigger schools, harder 

exams and more complex 

relationships. Everyday, he’s being 

bombarded with advice, adverts and 

criticism. “Coping in the world today 

is hard for everyone, especially for 

young people,” says Barbara. “Many 

find their own ways. They tend to be 

very supportive towards each other. I 

think we need to look at why teenagers 

go out of control -not just condemn 

them as yobs. 

“In other words, you shouldn’t be so 

hard on your teenage wards. After all, 

they aren’t responsible for the massive 

changes they’re going through. So, 

the next time your cherub yells abuse, 

steals from you or dyes his hair a 

shocking colour, close your eyes, take 

a deep breath and say to yourself: “It’s 

just his frontal lobes!”






E-Money: Forfeited N100m 

recovered from notorious 

kidnapper’s wife 

disappears from bank 

•He made billions from our operations but left me 

poor, accomplice reveals more about their gang 

• 

•Seized mansions 

By Ifeanyi Okolie 

Shocking revelations emerged, over 

the week, that the sum of 

N100million found in the bank 

account of the wife of late billionaire 

kidnapper, Collins Ezenwa, popularly 

known as E-money, which was suspected to 

be proceed of crime and was ordered to be 

seized and forfeited to the Federal 

Government of Nigeria, by the Federal 

High Court, Owerri , Imo state has 

disappeared. The account which has a net 

balance of N105million at the time it was 

confiscated and a lien placed on it currently 

has a balance of N6,800 in it. 

At present it was learned that detectives 

at the Inspector-General of Police 

Intelligence Response Team, IRT, were 

working to unravel the mystery surrounding 

the disappearance of the huge sum from 

the bank and arrest the culprits 

Recall that 13 buildings, located around 

choice areas within Enugu, Abia and Imo 

states, including a hotel valued at about 

N220million in Enugu State, 

were discovered to have been 

purchased by the late 

billionaire kidnapper within 

the space of two years. He was 

also said to have bought 13 

expensive vehicles including 

tippers and trailer trucks, 

while the sum of N100million 

was found in a bank account 

belonging to his wife, within 

the same period. 

Our source, while speaking 

with Crime Guard said; “We 

received intelligence reports 

about E-money’s criminal 

activities in October 2017, 

while he was a policeman, 

after one Emmanuel and 

David Ofong were abducted 

along Nsukka-Kogi Road, 

Enugu by a gang of 

kidnappers and a ransom of 

$2 million was paid for the 

release of one of the victims, 

David Ofong while the 

kidnappers held on to 

Emmanuel Ofong, 

demanding additional money. We went into 

the case and through the aid of advanced 

technology, we were able to establish that 

E-money was the man behind the 

kidnapping but we had difficulty arresting 

him then because he was always moving in 

and out of the country. 

How he operated the gang 

“Shockingly, we heard, in 2018 that he 

had been killed alongside two members of 

his gang. But since Chief Emmanuel Ofong, 

who he kidnapped was still missing; we 

continued our case with the hope of 

arresting other members of his gang. In the 

process, we arrested a banker working for 

him and he informed us that his wife had a 

fixed deposit account credited with N100 

million. We also arrested a property agent, 

who assisted him in buying his property. We 

looked further into his activities and 

discovered that he was operating a gang so 

We also discovered 

that E-money used, to 

a large extent, his 

police exposure in 

coordinating his 

criminal enterprise 

and he ended up 

acquiring so much 

money within a short 

period 

sophisticated that his gang members were 

not close to themselves and none of them 

knew where he kept his victims after he had 

kidnapped them. He also conducted 

negotiations for ransom of his victims by 

himself which was usually in foreign 

currencies. We discovered that he gave his 

gang members whatever he liked as he had 

succeeded in preventing them from 

knowing how much he got for the 

operations. We also discovered that E- 

money used, to a large extent, his police 

exposure in coordinating his criminal 

enterprise and he ended up acquiring so 

much money within a short period. Despite 

the October 2019 interim order of forfeiture, 

issued by the Federal High Court Owerri, 

to the Nigeria Police Force to confiscate all 

properties belonging to E-money, which 

included vehicles, buildings and the sum of 

N100million found in his wife, Gift Ezenwa’s 

account, the said N100million has been 

withdrawn completely,” the source 

lamented. 

More revelations from 

gang member 

Meanwhile, a 32-yearold 

man, Ifeanyi 

Asiegbuelam, who was 

being detained by 

operatives of the Inspector 

General of Police Special 

Intelligence Response 

Team, IRT, has narrated 

how he assisted late 

billionaire kidnapper, 

Collins Ezenwa, popularly 

known as E-money, in 

kidnapping several rich 

persons within Imo and 

Abia States respectively, 

lamenting that he was left 

poor, while the late 

kidnapper became a 

billionaire. 

Asiegbuelam, who was 

arrested recently by 

policemen in Cross River 

State and handed over to 

operatives of the IRT, 

disclosed that he met E- 

money in January 2018, 

five years before he (E-money) joined the 

Nigeria Police force. He added that they 

were both motorcycle operators working 

in Owerri, before E-money opted to join the 

police. E-money was killed alongside two 

other members of his gang during an 

exchange of gunfire with some policemen 

attached to the Imo state police. 

The Imo state indigene who is a primary 

school dropout said; “I am from Attah Town 

in Ikeduru Local Government area of Imo 

State. I am a primary school dropout 

because I lost my father at a very young age 

and there was no one to train me in school. 

My uncle took me to the north where I lived 

with him for some time and I returned to 

Owerri and became a commercial 

motorcyclist. Few years into it, I met E- 

money in Owerri and he was also a 

commercial motorcyclist at that time. E- 

money and I became very close friends and 

after riding our bikes, we would go to my 

mother’s shop to rest and we did the job 

together for five years, before he joined the 

police. He told me that he wanted to join 

the police and he asked me to join him, but 

I told him that I had no school certificate to 

back me as I was a primary school dropout. 

He went ahead, joined the police and started 

driving police vehicles around Owerri.” 

He added that after a while, he stopped 

seeing E-money doing his police job and in 

2017, he heard that E-money had traveled 

out of the country, but he showed up few 

weeks later the same year in his house with 

a dark colored Toyota Prado SUV, and 

invited him to join his kidnapping 

enterprise. 

Our kidnapping exploits 

Narrating their kidnapping operations, 

Asiegbuelam said; “On the first operation 

that I went with him, we went out with E- 

money’s Prado SUV which had a tinted 

glass and we drove down to Okigwe where 

we kidnapped a man in a car. I don’t know 

how he got information about the man but 

I heard him talking to someone who gave 

him the description of the clothes the victim 

was wearing and the type of car he was 

driving. We accosted the vehicle, crossed 

it, grabbed the man in the vehicle and took 

him into our own vehicle, and zoomed off. 

He then asked me to blindfold the man and 

when we got close to my town, he asked me 

to come down from his SUV and he gave 

me the sum of N50, 000. I didn’t question it 

and he took the man away. I didn’t know 

where he took the man to, the number of 

days the man spent with him and how he 

negotiated and collected his ransom. 

Second operation 

Two weeks later, he called me again, 

asked where I was and I told him. He picked 

me up and we proceeded to Umuhaia, Abia 

State where we kidnapped a man using the 

same pattern and on our way back to 

Owerri, he asked me to drop out of the 

vehicle and gave me N50,000. This time, 

he told me that he was heading to Enugu 

State where he had a hotel to keep the 

victim. I didn’t question him, I just took the 

money and left. Few days later, he called 

again, picked me up and we went to Orlu, 

where we kidnapped a man in a Toyota 

Highlander, this time he took the man to 

my house in Ikeduru and kept the man for 

two days. He gave me the sum of N50, 000 

and a pump action gun to look after the 

man. Thereafter, he came back and took 

the man away. I didn’t know how long he 

kept the man or the amount he took as 

ransom from the man. I didn’t question him 

and I was also not the only person working 

with him. He had seven boys including me 

working for him and he had two Ak 47 rifles 

and two pump action guns. He bought the 

AK-47 rifles from a man in Aba, Abia State, 

we met the man in the bush, took the rifles 

from him and paid him his money. I don’t 

know the name of the man; it was E-money 

who knew the man.” 

Maintained two gangs 

Asiegbuelam also explained that E- 

money boys were divided into two and that 

•Late E-money 

he belonged to the gang which had one De- 

Don and another known as PA as members, 

while he identified members of the other 

group as Chimobi, Chiwendu and Ugo. He 

added that E-money split his rifles among 

his boys for safe keeping and easy 

movement during operations. “I belonged 

to one of the groups which had De-Don and 

PA as members and we all went for four 

kidnapping operations while Chimobi, 

Chiwendu and Ugo, were also working for 

him. They did several jobs without my 

knowledge,” he stated. 

How he was killed 

Narrating how E-money was killed while 

he managed to escape, Asiegbulam said; 

“One month after we kidnapped the man in 

the Toyota Highlander, E-money came to 

my house in Ikeduru with PA and De-Don 

and he told us that he had an operation, we 

didn’t know who the person was. He then 

started calling one of his boys known as 

Chinwedu, to bring his Ak-47 not knowing 

that Chinwedu had been arrested and was 

in the custody of operatives of the Imo State 

Police Command Special Anti-Robbery 

Squad, SARS, who revealed a lot of E- 

money’s activities to the SARS operatives. 

While we were calling Chinwedu, the police 

made him talk to us that he was free and 

convinced us to come to a location where 

we could collect the rifle and proceed for 

the operation. When we got there, E-money 

sensed danger and stopped his SUV and 

started running while De-Don and PA joined 

him in the same direction. The police went 

after them and gunned them down. I was 

lucky as I was not noticed and I quietly 

sneaked into a nearby bush and escaped. 

Formation of new gang 

I ran to Owerri, where I stayed for two 

months. I then got a call from Ugo, who 

was keeping one of E-monye’s rifles and we 

formed a new gang but on our first 

operation, we ran into trouble. We went to 

kidnap a woman along Onitsha Road. We 

were four persons that went for that 

operation, Ugo, his friend and Chimobi. 

While we were taking the woman to our 

camp some policemen accosted us and a 

shootout ensued. Ugo’s friend, I don’t know 

his name was killed in the process, Ugo 

escaped, but Chimobi and I were arrested. 

Chimobi sustained a bullet wound in the 

process and we were kept in an open cell in 

handcuffs. I didn’t know how Chimobi got 

keys to our handcuffs and we escaped again 

from police custody. I ran to Rivers State, I 

didn’t know where Chimobi ran to, but I 

stayed in Port-Harcourt for more than one 

year, then I moved to Calabar, Cross River 

State when I felt that the police were closing 

in on me in Port-Harcourt. I lived in Calabar 

for seven months with a friend who I met in 

Port-Harcourt and we were working in a 

farm. I didn’t know that the police were still 

hunting for me. I was arrested in my friend’s 

house, taken to Owerri before I was brought 

back to Lagos and handed over to the IRT. 

It was after my last arrest that I realized 

that E-money made so much money from 

our business and left me a poor man 

begging for money,” he narrated.

Jubilation in Papalant 

apalanto as GPC 

offer 

ers palliatives 

Stories by Moses Nosike 

The serene but sprawling 

land of Papalanto in the 

ancestral Owu kingdom, 

Abeokuta in Ogun State, was 

thrown into joy and great 

excitement recently when the 

GPC Energy and Logistics 

company in the area showed 

love and presented some 

palliatives to the people to 

cushion the effect of the 

ongoing lockdown occasioned 

by the ravaging coronavirus. 

Chairman/CEO of the 

company, Chief Elvis 

Chukwudi Okonji made the 

presentation of food items 

ranging from hundreds of bags 

of rice, beans, cartons of 

noodles and assorted beverages 

and handed them over to His 

Majesty, Oba Rasaq 

Aderinsoye, the Kabiyesi of 

Papaland for onward 

distribution to the entire 

community. 

In his remarks, the 

paramount ruler highly 

commended the staff and 

warrior 

management of the company 

for their kind gestures and 

extolled the virtues of Chief 

Okonji whose level of 

philanthropy he described as 

unequalled. 

He further emphasized that 

he and the Chief in council 

From left; HRM Oba Rasaq Aderinsoye Jimoh Famuyiwa, the 

‘Onipapa of Papalanto’ receiving items from Chief Elvis Chukwudi 

Okonji, Chairman/CEO of GPC 

honoured him with the title, 

the “Babalaje of Papalanto”, 

which signifies the 

personality mark of a trade 

commanding 

serious business in an area, 

owing largely to his proven 

score card and laudable 

achievements. 

While responding, the GPC 

boss thanked the Kabiyesi for 

his accommodating spirit and 

support which he freely and 

immeasurably gives to him 

and the company their 

beginning of operation over 

two decades ago. 

He also enjoined the Oni 

Papa to use His good office 

in ensuring that He and his 

subjects abide by all the 

safety rules designed to 

checkmate the spread of 

Covid 19 pandemic which is 

real. 


Chi provides support for COVID-19 

relief effor 

orts 

In line with its commitment to 

support the Federal and State 

Government’s response to the 

COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, 

Chi Limited has announced the 

donation of some of its products to 

the COVID-19 Presidential 

Taskforce and to several Isolation 

& Treatment Centers across States 

of the Federation. 

The donation, which included 

15,000 packs of Hollandia Evap 

Milk, will provide significant and 

much needed support in the fight 

against the virus. Hollandia Evap 

Milk provides the nourishment the 

body needs and is an essential 

requirement for both healthcare 

workers who are at the frontline 

tackling the pandemic, and patients 

undergoing treatment at this time. 

Chi Limited expressed 

appreciation to healthcare 

professionals and other frontline 

workers for their tireless and 

unrelenting efforts in the fight 

against the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As a responsible corporate citizen, 

the company is committed to 

providing healthy nourishment for 

frontline medical personnel as they 

work to make a difference in the lives 

of the Nigerian population. 

Hollandia Evap Milk is fortified 

with nutrients such as Calcium and 

Vitamins D, B1, B6, and B12 which 

can help to boost the body’s immune 

system. Also contained in the 

product are body building Proteins, 

Fats, and Carbohydrates. As 

medical experts have confirmed, 

having a healthy immune system is 

especially important to defend the 

body against viruses, bacteria and 

other illnesses. 

Managing Director of Chi 

Limited, Mr. Deepanjan Roy, 

commended the Government, 

Health professionals, and other key 

stakeholders who have been at the 

forefront of combating the COVID- 

19 pandemic. He noted that, “In the 

midst of this crisis, our frontline 

healthcare workers are being tasked 

like never before. We commend and 

thank them for their dedication, 

commitment and relentless efforts 

at this trying time.” 

“We understand the challenges 

that COVID-19 currently poses to 

our communities. We are grateful 

to be able to give back by supporting 

our healthcare workers and those 

affected by the COVID-19 disease 

who are currently in Isolation & 

Treatment Centers across the 

country. With our nourishing 

Hollandia Evap Milk, we can 

provide them with the required 

nutrition they need at this time. We 

believe that together, we can beat 

this”. 

Mouka urges Muslims to uphold Godly 

virtues as Ramadan commences 

As Muslim faithful celebrates Ramadan, 

Mouka, the frontline company in the 

manufacturing of mattresses and beddings 

in Nigeria, urged Islamic scholars, leaders 

and believers, to sustain virtues of love, 

brotherhood, tolerance and care which they 

are known for. 

Ramadan, a period of fasting, prayer, 

reflection and communal co-existence is 

the ninth month of the Islamic calendar 

which begins with the sighting of the 

crescent moon. 

Commenting on the sacred period which 

is in fulfilment of the fourth pillar of Islam, 

the Chief Executive Officer of the 

Company, Raymond Murphy, said that 

Muslims should see it as a time of 

peace and harmonious co-existence 

for a more united and prosperous 

nation. 

Murphy affirmed that in this period 

of penitence and self denial, Muslims 

should demonstrate what they preach 

for others to emulate and to be seen as 

epithet of uprightness. 

The Mouka boss enjoined Muslims 

to use the fasting period to pray to 

Allah for the speedy containment of 

the coronavirus (COVID-19) 

pandemic which has infected 

hundreds of persons and cases of 

fatalities, a situation that has led to 

lockdown of some states in the country. 

We’re in trouble 

By Francis Ewherido 

Ordinarily, today, May 4, is one 

day I would have loved to stay 

at home, but I needed to get to 

Lagos Island to sort out my second set 

of eyes (glasses). On my way, I found 

the premises of banks overflowing with 

people. It was business as usual, no 

social distancing. Then, I found out that 

the commercial vehicles did not follow 

the directive of the Lagos State 

Government on fewer passengers. They 

carried the usual number of passengers 

and not all the passengers had face 

masks on. One “conductor” was even 

standing by the door of the moving bus; 

there was no space for him to sit. 

On Iganmu Bridge, an articulated 

vehicle swerved and hit my vehicle. He 

damaged the driver’s door and side 

mirror. By the time I managed to come 

out through the passenger door, the 

driver and his companion were on the 

floor begging. I really shouted at them, 

but the policemen nearby looked at us 

with a monumental lack of interest. I 

was conscious of COVID-19 and did not 

get too close to the driver. I took a 

mental note of their registration 

number, scrambled into my vehicle and 

left. The vehicle is comprehensively 

insured and if there is need, insurance 

will take care of the repairs. 

When I got to the Island, my preferred 

parking spots were occupied. One of 

the guys there said I should block a 

vehicle and leave my keys. In this 

COVID-19 era, never; I will not allow 

somebody I do not know his status into 

my vehicle. They later showed me an 

empty spot. 

The Island was not at its full capacity, 

but sufficiently busy. I saw some very dirty 

face masks. They could stop Corona 

Virus, but introduce bacteria into the 

systems of the owners. I also saw a lady 

who has not seen the guy for a while 

hugging him. It was a frontal hug and the 

guy took it hook, line and sinker. I 

shuddered. Even with COVID-19? I saw 

young boys carrying items from a 

warehouse. They had no face masks 

and there was no social distancing. I 

shuddered again. 

As I left the Island, the only thoughts 

on my mind were: we are in big trouble. 

We joke with trivial matters; we also 

joke with fatal matters. I will not be 

leaving my home/office any time soon, 

unless it is inevitable. I am troubled. I 

fear the worse. We are too stubborn, 

ignorant and carefree.

RICHARD OW 

28— SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020 

Richard Owubokiri is one of 

the most iconic names in 

Nigerian football. ‘Ricky’ began 

his professional football career at 

Sharks FC but not before doing 

extraordinary things at the football 

team of the famed Okrika Grammar 

School in Rivers State. 

He played on five continents, 

earning his stripes at the very highest 

level of the professional game 

especially in Portugal where he 

earned a reputation as one of the most 

feared marksmen on the continent in 

the colours of Boavista. 

Despite being prolific in front of 

goal, Owobokiri was not selected for 

the 1994 World Cup. He tells his story 

in this chat with SPNAfrica’s Sammy 

Wejinya 

Who discovered you as a 

footballer? 

Former Super Eagles coach, 

Monday Sinclair saw me playing for 

my secondary school football team, 

Okrika Grammar School (OGS), and 

invited me to come try out with 

Sharks FC. So I will credit Mr. 

Sinclair for discovering me. 

And for the Nigeria National team, 

I will say Otto Gloria and that was 

in 1980. 

You did many important things 

at OGS. Tell us about some of 

them. 

I was in class four when I started 

playing for the team at the Inter 

Collegiate games at the Old Port 

Harcourt Stadium. I was about 16 

or 17 years old at the time. There 

were games I scored three or four 

goals and won matches almost 

singlehandedly for my team. People 

were talking about me in Port 

Harcourt and that I guess prompted 

Sinclair to come watch me. I was 

Games prefect at OGS because I was 

better at Volleyball than football at 

the time. 

Those were great times for me. 

As we say, anyone who passed 

through OGS for five years could 

also live in the Moon. 

What were your best and worst 

moments at Sharks FC? 

First, we had great players at 

Sharks. Players like Joe Nattey, 

Raymond Quacopome, Million 

Nicholas, Tottey Okoro, Rolland 

Orufe, Benneth Okuru, Adokiye 

Amiesimaka, John Apollo and many 

others. 

So imagine a scenario where a 16- 

year-old like me came into the team 

and scored important goals. 

I got the nickname, Golden Boy 

at that period and those were 

definitely some of my best moments 

as a footballer. 

We played on the continent too 

but fell short against Police FC of 

Senegal after losing 1-2 in the first 

leg in Dakar and drawing at home 

against the Senegalese. 

Losing the FA Cup final in 1979 

to Shooting Stars was one of the 

most difficult memories I take from 

my days at Sharks. 

Why did Sharks struggle to win 

Silverware? 

I don’t agree with you that Sharks 

didn’t win things. First, Sharks 

played some of the best and 

competitive football in the country 

and during my time at the club, we 

reached two FA Cup finals which is 

not an easy thing to achieve. 

I think we had some 

organizational issues and this made 

Sharks look like a small club. Sharks 

was a big club that produced many 

international players like Peter Rufai, 

David Ngodigha and Amiesimaka. 

But reaching Cup finals and 

winning them are not the same 

thing. Some persons said the club 

was cursed…. 

Cursed by who? The Devil? See, 

many of the Sharks players during 

my time were Christians. 

If Sharks had structures like 

specific training grounds, specific 

accommodation and specific 

facilities for recovery for injured 

players, things may have been better. 

Organizationally, we were not the 

best and that is one of the reasons 

why we did not win so much. 

You clearly love Sharks so much. 

How did you feel when the club 

was merged with Dolphins on 

February 19, 2020 to form Rivers 

United FC? 

I don’t think people were ready to 

invest in Sharks. And this includes 

the Government and private entities 

which is a pity and a shame. 

How would you disband a club like 

Sharks that represented Rivers Sate 

for so many years as one of the best 

clubs in the country? 

It was one of the most unfortunate 

things that happened. 

So many times, I tried to get 

involved in the affairs of the club. 

I wanted to bring in Brazilian 

players and coaches to make the 

club fashionable. 

I spoke to the Rivers State 

Governor and Commissioner for 

Sports but nothing came out of those 

discussions. 

Would you be interested if an 

opportunity to revive Sharks come 

your way again? 

Of course, but I will require the free 

hand to work effectively as I don’t 

think interference will allow for the 

best results to be achieved. 

You left Sharks in 1981 to join 

ACB. How difficult was it for you 

to leave your hometown club? 

ACB gave me the opportunity to 

combine football with my studies. I 

did not reside in the (ACB) club 

house when I 

joined them. 

I lived in the 

college House at 

Obalende (in 

Lagos). That was 

St. Gregory 

College, a 

wonderful college. 

I had wanted to 

become a lawyer as 

my Dad was a 

lawyer and I wanted 

to follow in his 

footsteps. 

There were some 

difficult moments but 

I still finished that 

season as the highest 

goal scorer in the league. 

They (ACB) wanted me 

to stay but I refused as I 

wanted to go back home to 

help my Parents in Port 

Harcourt. 

Shortly afterwards, I made 

my debut with the Nigeria national 

team at the age of 18. 

I played again for Sharks then 

coached by a Brazilian, Luciano 

Abreu, who was extremely fond of 

me. 

You had an encounter with 

armed robbers around this 

period…? 

Yes……I wasn’t home at the time 

though. My Dad was shot in the 

kneecap and it was a very difficult 

time for my family. 

What are the benefits of 

combining education with football 

for you? 

There are so many. I am welltravelled 

and I speak five languages; 

Arabic, French, Portuguese, English 

and my local dialect, Okrika. 

No amount of money can buy this 

I’m not worr 

go to World 

•Says No Nigerian has scored the number of go 

•Golden Boot in Portugal, Silver Boot in Europe a 

•Says NFF yet to pay my match bonus for win a 

and all the experience I garnered via 

my studies and football. 

I currently live in Brazil and I am 

still undergoing a university course. 

You joined the America club soon 

after. How did that move 

materialize? And what was your 

first experience like playing 

professional football outside the 

shores of Nigeria? 

I joined the club in 1984 and it 

was my first experience outside 

Nigeria. 

This gave me the opportunity to 

play with great names I had 

previously only watched on 

television. 

Names like Zico, Falcao, Socrates 

and Clodoaldo. 

Playing at the Maracana was a 

magical experience. 

Six months later, I joined Victoria 

de Bahia where I scored even more 

goals. 

Why did you choose to go to 

South America (Brazil) first and 

not straight to Europe? 

I wanted to learn the Portuguese 

language and the best football in the 

world at the time was Brazilian 

football. I wanted to experience that, 

first hand. 

It was a fantastic experience and 

I have been in Brazil now for the last 

40 years of my life. 

Now, I am working on becoming 

the President of the Victoria football 

club. 

I will be the first Nigerian to 

achieve that feat if I eventually 

become successful. 

How did you cope with not being 

able to speak the language 

(Portuguese) and how did you deal 

with the different culture? 

These were not barriers for me. I 

knew I was going to learn fast 

because I am a person who is always 

keen and open to learning. 

You then moved to France for 

your first professional football stint 

in Europe with the Stade Lavallois 

club. What memories do you have 

of your time in France? 

The experience in France was fantastic. It 

was a completely different culture compared 

to Brazil. 

I asked my club to arrange a French teacher 

for private lessons for me so my adaptation was 

great. 

I arrived there in the summer so the weather 

only became a very slight problem during the 

winter months. 

I finished the season as the third highest goal 

scorer in France. 

Metz were my original owners and I was 

loaned to Lavallois because my parent club 

already had two foreign players. 

At that time, no French club was allowed to 

field more than two foreign players at a time. 

I returned to Metz the next season and I 

finished as one of the highest goal scorers in 

the league. 

You moved to Portugal where you joined 

Benfica. You weren’t really so much of a 

success during your time there. What went 

wrong in Lisbon? 

Excellent question. I broke my ankle in my 

very first game for the club. 

It was a pre-season game in the United States 

and we played that game on an artificial turf. 

I spent six months out trying to recover from 

that injury. 

However, I have some fond memories at 

Benfica as I once scored six goals for the club 

in a Portuguese Cup game against Atlético 

Roaches. 

We won that game (played on January 11, 

1989) 14-1. 

I then joined a smaller club, Estrela Amadora 

the next season and rediscovered my scoring 

touch finishing on a regular basis as third 

highest goal scorer in the Portuguese top flight 

in my first season with the club. 

You worked with Jose Mourinho in 

Portugal. What was the experience like? 

He was my physical coach. I recall that 35 

years ago, Mourinho said to me, ‘Ricky, very 

soon, I will be one of the best coaches in the 

world’. 

He said it and accomplished it. He is one of 

the greatest coaches in the world. 

Then came the move to Boavista where you 

underlined your credentials as one of the 

best strikers in world football. How did the 

move materialize? 

My move to Boavista was quite dramatic. 

I had been called up by the President of Beira- 

Mar, another club in Portugal to join the club. 

Just before I made the trip to Aveiro to speak 

with the President of Beira Mar and sign for 

the club, I got a call from the President of 

Boavista. 

He was quite persuasive as he asked me to 

come over and join him in Porto. 

Of course, I refused as I already had an 

appointment with the President of Beira-Mar. 

I spoke to my wife about the dilemma and 

she told me not to go to Porto. 

But the President of Boavista kept pushing 

and insisting that I come over to Porto. He paid 

for my flight ticket and kept pushing. 

I prayed to God who spoke to me and asked 

me to go to Porto. So I boarded the flight to 

Porto. 

What happened in Porto? 

A car was waiting for me at the Airport. It 

took me to the President’s House. The coach 

and several other officials were there and they 

kept urging me to sign for the club. The 

pressure was unbearable and I agreed! 

However, I made one demand before I signed. 

I told the President that for each goal I scored 

for the club, I would want to be assured of 

$1,000. I thought he would say no but he

OBOKIRI: 

ied I didn’t 

Cup 

ls I scored in Europe 

nd Golden Boot in all of Asia. 

gainst Bafana Bafana in 1992 

agreed without a moment’s hesitation. 

I made all these demands because I felt 

Boavista could not match them and also 

because I wanted to honour my initial 

agreement with the President of Beira-Mar. 

When the President of Boavista accepted the 

final demand I made, it became clear that they 

were serious about getting me by all means. 

That was when I gave up as I then realized 

that Boavista were dead serious about signing 

me. 

And what did you say to the President of 

Beira-Mar after signing on the dotted lines 

for Boavista? 

The funny thing is that he took it well. 

As a matter of fact, I met him a few months 

ago and he reminded me that he was still 

waiting for me at the Airport in Aveiro so I could 

sign for his club. We both laughed 

uncontrollably. He is a good man. 

Was finishing among top scorers in all of 

Europe your most important 

accomplishment? 

It was important for me. That was my best 

period in Europe in terms of the number of goals 

I scored. 

I also had the opportunity of playing against 

great players like Marco Van Vasten, Lothar 

Matthäu and so many others. 

Boavista gave me the opportunity of playing 

at the highest level of European football and 

rub shoulders with the best players in the world. 

I am the only Nigerian footballer to have won 

the Golden Boot in Portugal, the Silver Boot in 

Europe and the Golden Boot in all of Asia. 

It was a great privilege for which I am thankful 

to this day. 

Why were you able to score so many goals 

at Boavista? 

There was a season I scored almost 60 goals 

for the club in a single season. 

I never stopped training after the coach ended 

the sessions. I would always stay back and work 

and the results were always clear for all to see. 

These days you see strikers score 10 goals in 

a season and celebrate it. It is shameful. 

Let’s discuss your time with the National 

team. 

I had a great time in the National team. I 

had good and bad times in the National team. 

I was part of the team that went to the Africa 

Cup of Nations in Libya in 1982 but the team 

crashed out early. There were some 

organizational problems in the national team 

when I played for Nigeria. 

I recall the time I played for the National 

team, I was not paid my match bonus for the 

win against the Bafana Bafana (team) of South 

Africa in 1992. The Federation did not even 

pay for my air ticket. 

That must have come to you as a rude 

shock? 

You will not believe no one was at the airport 

to pick me when I arrived. This was normal in 

Nigeria when I was playing for the national 

team. 

You get invited and no one knows where you 

are upon arrival in the country until two or three 

days to the game. I refuse to be a part of that 

kind of system. 

But you had some good times with the 

national team too… 

Yes, I did. I still remember that game against 

South Africa at the National Stadium in 

Surulere. 

There were over 70,000 fans there, cheering 

us and I fittingly scored the first goal of the 

game. 

I made so many friends in the national team 

them. Stephen Keshi was my great friend and 

we were roommates. 

He visited me in Brazil before he 

died. 

What did he say to you when he 

visited you in Brazil? 

He came with the (Super Eagles) 

players as he was coach of the team. 

We discussed family and 

professional issues but I never knew 

he was telling me goodbye. 

We were very close. He 

encouraged me to continue with the 

National team each time I wanted 

to stop playing for the team because 

of the unprofessional attitude of the 

officials. It is shocking that 

sometimes you had to pay for your 

own hotel bills. This is shameful. 

What kind of relationship did 

you have with Rashidi Yekini? 

I was already (the) highest goal 

scorer when he came to Portugal so 

I tried to help him settle in the 

country. 

He was in a small town called 

Setubal. I visited him and I recall that 

he was somehow difficult to talk to 

but not in a bad way. Yekini did not 

like talking too much. He respected 

me so much and would always reach 

out to me for advice. He was a huge 

contributor to Nigeria’s success in 

football. 

Many say you and Yekini would 

have struggled to play in the same 

team at the same time. Is this true? 

Were they (the people who say we 

can’t play together) there when we 

played together in 1992 against 

South Africa? It is a question of what 

the coach wanted to do at any point 

in time. 

A coach can decide to play two 

strikers with similar attributes 

without any issues. I am a qualified 

coach so I know this. People like to 

make stories and have arguments to 

sell papers. They used to say so 

many stories back then. 

Did you have any issues with 

(former Super Eagles coach, 

Clemens) Westerhof? 

I have explained this so many 

times in the past. The only thing I 

will say is that at no time in the 

history of football was there a 

Nigerian who scored the number of 

goals in Europe that I scored when 

I was with Boavista. 

I have been coached by some of 

the (best in the) world today like Jose 

Mourinho, Jesualdo Ferreira, Otto 

Gloria…I have been coached by some 

of the best coaches in the world so 

who is this Gentlemen who will… 

When you have one of the top 

strikers in Europe, you don’t have 

to take such a person light…the 

records are there. 

Coaches in Brazil today use me as 

an example during their match talks 

to players. I will go into history as 

the first African to reach this stage. 

That is my answer. 

I am not worried at all that I did 

not go to the World Cup because I 

played football to the highest level. 

What is important to me today is 

that I effectively fulfill my duties as 

ambassador for World peace and win 

the upcoming Presidential elections 

at the Vitória club. 

How are the preparations going? 

I was selected by some top fans of 

the club to contest for the 

Presidential elections. 

It will be tough because the 

incumbent and my challenger has 

been on that seat for over 30 years. 

Nevertheless, we have been 

working and praying for the best. I 

have gone round the world, learning 

about club management. 

I have been to South Africa, 

England, France, Portugal, 

Argentina where I went to visit Boca 

Juniors and River Plate. I try to be 

updated at all times. 

Like I said, the opponent is very 

strong but winning the election will 

represent another milestone in my 

life. 

If I win, I will definitely bring one 

or two African players over here to 

Brazil to join the club. 

The last time we saw an African 

player in Brazil was 40 years ago and 

I think that has been too long. 

Tell us about the best goal you 

ever scored in your career? 

I scored 423 goals in my career and 

three will remain with me for the rest 

of my life. 

In 1984 I scored a memorable goal. 

I went for a challenge with a 

defender who pushed me violently to 

the ground. 

I was looking at the referee 

expecting him to award my team a 

penalty because it was obvious I had 

been fouled in the box. 

The referee looked at me and 

shouted, ‘Get up, get up, Ricky…it’s 

no penalty, it’s no foul’. 

The goalkeeper of the opposing 

team was relieved and tried to 

quickly launch the ball forward to 

the other half of the pitch but he did 

it too quickly and the ball came 

towards my head at full speed. 

I did not duck, instead I headed 

the ball firmly while lying on the pitch 

and the ball flew into the net. 

That goal is still talked about in 

Brazil to this day as the fans all said 

they had never seen anything like 

that before. 

The second was scored in the 

(UEFA Cup in a second round, 

second leg game decided at Estádio 

do Bessa Sec. XXI on Thursday, 

November 4, 1993) between SS 

Lazio and my club, Boavista. 

Lazio had many great players at 

the time. Italy’s goalkeeper when 

they beat Nigeria at USA 94, Luca 

Marchegiani played in goal for Lazio 

that night. Roberto di Matteo and 

Pierluigi Casiraghi also played. 

Great names. 

Yes. Very great names. Valentin 

Lorero, the club President met us, the 

players, before the game, with a very 

big bag. The bag was filled with 

money and he told us that if we beat 

Lazio, the money was ours. 

After that, the captain and some 

other senior players of the club took 

me to a separate private room and 

told me that they were banking on 

me to help the club win that game. I 

felt so honoured. 

We won 2-0 and I scored both 

goals. 

But I will not take the glory which 

belongs to God and I also say thank 

you to my teammates for helping me 

score. The third was a goal I scored 

for Sharks in the semifinals of the 

WAFU Cup against ASEC in 

Abidjan. We won there and I also 

scored both goals. 

Who was the best defender you 

ever faced in your career? 

That will be Paolo Maldini when 

Boavista faced AC Milan. 

Best coach you worked with? 

Jose Mourinho. 

Best memory in football? 

Winning the Golden Boot in Qatar 

in 1996. 

Worst memory in football? 

Losing the WAFU Cup final with 

Sharks FC to Police of Senegal. 

Thank you for your time, Ricky. 

You are welcome. 

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020 — 29 

Supersport begins life 

after Covid-19 lockdown 

with UFC 249 

THIS weekend’s UFC 249 event 

represents more than one of the 

most stacked mixed martial arts 

cards of all time. It also represents 

one of the first significant steps 

back to live sport amid the Covid- 

19 pandemic. 

With two championship fights 

and an array of UFC stars on the 

bill, UFC 249 – to be broadcast 

live on SuperSport 1 and 11 on 

Sunday morning (03:00 AM) – 

promises to be both explosive and 

unusual. 

To mitigate the risks of the 

pandemic, no crowd will be in 

attendance in Jacksonville, 

Florida. Also, commentators must 

sit separately, and all crew 

members will wear personal 

protective equipment. No 

interviews will take place inside 

the octagon, which will be 

disinfected after each fight. 

Everyone involved will stay in a 

•Francis Ngannou punishing an opponent 

Peter Oboh’s heart of gold 

F 

ormer British and Commonwealth 

Lightheavyweight Boxing 

Champion, Peter Oboh has been a 

tremendous blessing to residents of 

Olodi Apapa area in Lagos. For a man 

who was ruthless against opponents 

in the ring, it was quite refreshing to 

see him exhibit his soft, compassionate 

and helpful personality. He 

demostrated by action, what he 

preaches on the pulpit; love and care 

to the less privileged whose plight had 

become unbearable in the face of the 

Covid-19 lock down. 

The former boxing champion gave 

out palliatives to residents of Olodi 

Apapa area in Lagos. The palliatives 

included rice, spaghetti, face masks 

and hand sanitizers. He also organised 

special enlightenment sessions on the 

dangers of Coronavirus for the 

beneficiaries. 

“From every indication, this 

coronavirus will be here for sometime, 

until a vaccine is found,” Oboh said, 

•Peter Oboh, sharing items to beneficiaries 

single hotel and undergo testing 

for Covid-19. 

Interest from Africa will focus on 

heavyweight brute Francis 

Ngannou of Cameroon, who fights 

fellow banger Jairzinho 

Rozenstruik. The pair are the top 

two contenders in the heavyweight 

division behind former champ 

Daniel Cormier. 

Ngannou has rebounded from 

his loss to Derrick Lewis at UFC 

226 by reminding everyone that he 

is one of the most terrifying talents 

in the sport, today, registering 

stoppage wins over Curtis Blaydes, 

Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos 

Santos in a combined 142 seconds. 

That’s less than three minutes to 

ice two of the best heavyweights of 

the last decade and the fighter 

currently stationed at number 

three in the rankings, who is 

unbeaten in bouts against anyone 

other than Ngannou. 

adding that, “those who are able 

should reach out to the poor because 

govrrnment cannot do it alone.” 

The former WBA Intercontinental 

Champion first gave out food items to 

hundreds of residents in the Olodi 

Apapa area, where Comfort Hotel is 

located, off Apapa-Oshodi expressway. 

On Workers’ Day, May 1, he 

repeated the exercise, this time with 

face masks to every individual, men, 

women and children who trooped to 

the venue. Oboh who is now an 

Apostle for Christ said those who have 

must help those who don’t have for 

peaceful coexistence. “In life there are 

some issues God will only come in 

when it seems our best is not good 

enough.” 

He prayed for divine intervention to 

stem the spread of the disease lest “we 

will all be dead. “ We have reached 

the stage were we need a supernatural 

intervention if he not we will be dead 

bodies in no time.”


I choose to be foolish 

– Let Gernot Rohr Go! 

This week I was in the clinic for 

an ‘emergency’ check-up. My 

Blood Pressure rapidly headed 

northwards! 

Professor Akinyanju told me as 

soon as he checked me that it should 

never be reported that the Enough 

Ambassador for Africa, NCD, 

Champion of ‘Exercise is Medicine’ 

in Nigeria, and a consultant to the 

Nigerian Heart Foundation, fell to 

Stroke. 

I understood immediately what he 

meant. It was a wake-up call. 

For three days in this past one 

week ‘sleep’ and I were enemies. The 

anxiety created by the endless news 

of the Covid-19 pandemic around 

the world was taking a toll. 

I was frustrated and depressed by 

the absence of clarity about the 

‘killing’ virus as I surfed from one 

news channel to another. In 

Nigeria, the situation is even worse 

and more frustrating. 

The only thing that is clear is that 

we are sitting ducks considering our 

situation and our reactions to what 

even the most advanced countries 

are struggling to understand and 

stop as they continue to lose lives in 

tens of thousands. 

So, to survive this, we must find 

and take our future and actions in 

our own hands. 

There is an inevitability about 

certain things now. The pandemic 

has arrived on our shores and we are 

unprepared for it. So, we are on our 

own in the world to solve our 

problem or perish. The numbers have 

started to mount in deaths. 

So, I left the clinic knowing I had 

to reduce my ‘relationship’ with the 

news media that was raising my 

blood pressure. 

I decided it was time to put on my 

thinking cap, to recalibrate my mind 

and to begin to draw inspiration 

from outside the conventional box. 

By Desmond Ekwueme 

hortly after Russia 2018 FIFA World 

SCup, his agents flew a kite that the 

Franco-German was wanted by six 

countries. Two in Africa, two in Asia and 

two in Europe. They however didn't 

disclose the countries. 

Obviously the kite was flown to put 

his employers (the NFF) on the edge. 

The plot was to put the NFF under 

pressure....and enforce a new improved 

contract. A bumper package contract. 

They used a section of the media to 

cajole unsuspected members of the 

football fraternity to press for their 

demand. 

We were bamboozled and harassed 

by the noise from the trumpets of his 

agents....reminding us that Gernot 

Rohr qualified us for the World Cup in 

Russia and AFCON in Egypt. They 

sounded like no coach had ever 

achieved such feat. 

They forgot that a certain Stephen 

Okechukwu Keshi who was paid lesser 

than Rohr and given a welfare package 

lower than Rohr's had won AFCON in 

South Africa 2013, qualified and 

featured in Brazil 2014 World Cup yet 

had a better outing compared to the 

record of Rohr in Russia. 

Then followed the noise about a new 

contract. This noise pushed or forced 

Rohr to raise his shoulders before and 

above his employers. He challenged 

them on issues he made public which 

they frowned against. He felt he had 

arrived with an untouchable robe. He 

became a rough driver threatening his 

employers with a naughty and knotty 

outrageous sack clause. 

His employers felt that push had come 

to shove. They felt belittled and 

undermined by the actions of their 

employee. They needed to act fast. They 

decided to cut him to size. They 

patiently waited for his existing contract 

to elapse....before tactically or 

technically excusing him... by asking 

him to look elsewhere.... possibly 

towards the direction of the six countries 

that needed the "beautiful bride". 

By the time the NFF was done with 

him, Rohr's voice had mellowed. He no 

longer sang like a nightingale before 

I shall now put my trust in the simple 

and practical things that take their 

source from the rich reservoir of local 

knowledge, history, traditions and 

values of my people, that gave rise 

to my vision some two years ago 

when I campaigned to become 

governor of Ogun State. 

So, what is that? 

I start to look for the brighter side 

of this pandemic, if there is one. I 

start to look beneath the darkness 

for the treasures that lie in the 

unfathomed caves of vast natural 

resources lying just 

beneath our feet all over 

Africa, at the still-virgin 

environments and 

luxuriant vegetation, at 

the deep throve of 

African human capacity 

outside the continent 

building advanced 

cultures, at local 

knowledge and research 

products appearing in 

Madagascar, Senegal, 

Ghana and other 

African communities 

being disregarded 

deliberately by the West for their own 

purpose but which can serve us. 

I start looking forward to the 

‘tomorrow’ after Covid-19 (it will 

remain with the world for some time 

to come, we are told). That 

‘tomorrow’ will usher in a new order 

of things in the world. Nothing will 

be the way it was till now. I can start 

now to live in my political vision of 

the emergence of a new Black 

consciousness and civilization in a 

new world led by Nigeria, with its 

epicenter in Ogun State. Post-covid- 

19? 

The emerging picture recalibrates 

my mind and body, and takes me 

away from the negativity of the 

present to a new place in the nearest 

future, removing my anxiety and 

Why is Rohr so desperate? 

the media. He no longer walked 

shoulder high. He no longer reminded 

his employers that he was travelling to 

Paris, Munich, London or Rome to relax 

or scout for players. 

He was handed a new contract 

proposal. The contract stated that he 

will take a pay cut. He agreed. The 

contract stated that he would be paid 

in naira and no longer in dollars. He 

nodded. The contract stated that he 

would henceforth invite and include 

home-based (domestic league) players 

in his plans and programmes. He 

swallowed without blinking. The 

contract stated that he would have to 

live in Nigeria and no longer operate 

from Germany, France or England. He 

accepted. 

In fact, there was nothing in the 

contract that Rohr kicked against. The 

hunter thus became the hunted. 

Ridiculously the statement below was 

allegedly credited to him.... 

"I have to accept to be paid in naira 

and I have to be resident in Nigeria. I 

agree to these two things and even I 

agree to have a lower salary. 

"I am not doing my job for money. I 

am doing my job because I like 

it....because we've built a team and 

money is not the most important." 

"I accept because I think that my 

mission in Nigeria is not finished yet, 

and I know very well my players. I know 

very well the officials. We are now just 

like a family." 

Rohr suddenly thinks Nigeria. He 

loves to be a Nigerian. He loves our 

food, water, nite clubs and probably 

babes. Hmmmmm.....Rohr surprisingly 

turns to Clemens Westerhof overnight. 

Westerhorf was and remains the only 

foreign coach that wanted to be a 

Nigerian. I got worried about this new 

found love or romance of Rohr towards 

Nigeria. 

I therefore ask, why is Rohr this 

desperate? Why did he accept all these 

conditions? Are his six suitors no longer 

interested in "the best coach Super 

Eagles ever had"? Can't he call the bluff 

of the NFF anymore and take a walk? 

Hasn't he achieved enough with the 

Super Eagles to attract better contracts 

than the "demeaning" one he is 

African continent. 

I turn my mind to the nowinevitable 

return to Africa of its welltrained 

sons and daughters, the 

largest pool of the most educated 

persons on earth, human capacity 

across all disciplines now scattered 

in major Western capitals. I start to 

see the possibility of a rich Black 

diaspora population eager to return 

home as a consequence of what they 

went through in foreign countries 

that refuse to shed their cloak of 

racism during this pandemic. I see a 

return of Blacks to 

their roots and 

motherland, to settle 

and to invest, to 

What did he 

really do? 

Did he win 

any 

international 

trophies for 

Nigeria? 

beginning to feed my creative spirit 

and heal me physically, mentally and 

spiritually. 

I now choose to look at Nigeria’s 

‘loss’ of its economic mainstay and 

its bane, oil, as a blessing in disguise. 

I turn my mind towards the vast 

untapped (or stolen) reserves of the 

world’s most important other 

minerals lying buried in the ground 

underneath our feet all over the 

strategically and 

smartly deploy their 

acquired expertise in 

new science and 

technology to 

redesign and 

sensibly rebuild a 

new Africa that will 

not chase the West 

but create and 

nurture a new 

environment. 

Nature will smile ‘happily’ on Africa 

as the last un-spoilt frontier and 

hasten the continent’s recovery even 

from the current coronavirus 

pandemic. 

Now, I chose to be foolish. I shall 

explore the Coronavirus local 

remedies found in Madagascar, in 

Ghana, in Sierra Leone, and other 

places, but deliberately under-rated 

and disregarded by the West and 

Eastern scientists, to provide new 

possibilities of succor for Africans. 

There is nothing to lose by looking 

internally and researching local 

options. 

I even chose to be ‘foolish’ on the 

matter of Nigerian football. I shall 

address the issue of NFF chieftains 

about to renew the contract of 

presently presented with by the NFF? 

Should a coach who "did so well" at the 

World Cup in Russia take a pay slash 

and get paid in local currency yet live 

in the country? Oh, so Rohr can live in 

Nigeria now? 

Nigerians and football stakeholders 

now know better the kind and quality 

of coach handling the Super Eagles. We 

now understand that it is all about hype. 

It is all about the noise or sound of oil 

and onion on and from the frying 

pan....There is no single taste in the 

stew. 

I wish the NFF, Super Eagles and 

Rohr the very best in their renewed 

romance....But I am concerned about 

the desperation of a foreign coach to 

accept our job with his pay coming in 

naira! A new dawn is here for foreign 

coaches in Africa! 

•Rohr 

to him. To think this way is 

disrespectful and denigrating to all 

Black people. 

To imagine that the German is 

now willing to accept new 

conditions deliberately designed for 

him to reject, means there is more to 

the whole matter than meets the eye, 

or he knows the value of the Super 

Eagles’ job more than his Nigerian 

bosses do. Is it because he loves the 

country more than Nigerians? 

Who really loves the Nigerian? 

Covid-19 pandemic has become an 

eye-opener. 

So, I choose to be foolish on the 

matter of Gernot Rohr. Let him go 

‘jeje’ with his ‘superior’ knowledge 

of football and serve elsewhere. 

We forget our history and the 

capacity of Nigerians to succeed. 

In 1968, for example, at the 

Mexico Olympic Games, a Nigerian, 

according to some people the best 

Nigerian player of all time, Teslim 

Thunder Balogun, coached the 

Green Eagles that played against 

the greatest football nation on earth 

at the time, Brazil, to a pulsating, 

well-earned 2-2 draw. That’s over half 

a Century ago! 

The surviving members of the 1973 

All-Africa Games Green Eagles that 

won the Gold medal can testify that 

brain behind that victory was 

another great former exinternational 

player, Captain and 

then assistant coach of the team, Mr. 

Dan Anyiam, a very intelligent, 

Fans await Bundesliga May 16 return 

on StarTimes 

F 

eloquent, well-trained and educated 

coach. 

The exploits of Stephen Keshi of 

recent years as a coach are 

unmatched by any coach local or 

foreign in our entire history. Are 

these not Nigerians? 

If we had continued in the 

trajectory of using the best trained 

Nigerians as our national coaches, 

inviting foreign coaches without 

pedigree to handle their national 

team in concession to their 

‘superiority’ would not arise in 2020. 

Gernot Rohr has done his bit and 

collected his wages. Every month 

he was paid $50,000 Dollars? Who 

earns that kind of money for the 

amount of work he did in the years 

of his stay in Nigeria? It is ludicrous. 

What did he really do? Did he win 

any international trophies for 

Nigeria? Did he impact the Nigerian 

league and domestic players in any 

way? Did he train any Nigerian 

coaches to be able to take over from 

him? The longest time he stayed with 

the national team for any stretch was 

a maximum of four weeks, twice in 

the 4 years of his expiring contract - 

before and during the World Cup in 

2018, and before AFCON in 2019. 

Every other time all he did was 

assemble players from Europe two 

days to a match, selected his lineup 

for the match and returned to his 

paid ‘vacation’. Which Nigerian 

coach worth any salt cannot do 

what he did for Nigeria? Is that what 

anyone should earn $50,000 Dollars 

a month for? 

Even the scouting for Nigerianborn 

players in Europe that 

constitute a large percentage of his 

team presently is done by a 

hardworking Nigerian man, Tunde 

Adelakun, we are told. 

Now with Covid-19 and its 

economic consequences, no one 

should even be thinking of 

expending unavailable foreign 

exchange for a job Nigerians can 

handle and that does not require 

rocket science, period. To suggest a 

wage-cut is even annoying. Was the 

size of his wage the reason for his 

failure? 

We are entering a new phase in 

the ongoing War of global 

Civilizations. No African should 

promote color or racial superiority in 

African football. No Nigerian dares 

do so at this point. 

So, I choose to be foolish. I shall 

thank Gernot Rohr for what the 

good services he has rendered and 

release him. I shall get one of our 

own qualified sons, and sink or swim 

with him into that emerging new 

world order beyond Covid-19. 

“Dead” footballer found alive 

after four years 

former professional footballer who 

A was presumed dead for four years, 

Hiannick Kamba, has been found alive 

and well. 

Kamba, who was on the books of 

Bundesliga club, Schalke 04, was a 

former teammate of German 

international goalkeeper, Manuel 

Neuer and was a youth star. 

He was declared dead in January 

2016 following an apparent crash in the 

Congo and his club at the time, eighthtier 

side VfB Huls, announced his death 

and subsequently mourned him. 

Remarkably, Kamba has now been 

found alive in Gelsenkirchen without 

African athletes must take advantage 

of sports branding — Uyi 

F 

A licensed agent, Dr Drew Uyi, has 

stressed the need for African 

athletes and sports practitioners to 

embrace sports branding, saying it's a 

gateway to competing at the top level 

and planning for life after retirement. 

Uyi advised African athletes to 

engage brand experts with a 

knowledge of their backgrounds, 

countries, cultures, inclinations and 

conditions, saying it would help them 

gain the relevant mileage, as well as 

increase their finances. 

"Local knowledge of the environment 

is key, that is why it is ridiculous for 

African athletes to engage European 

brands consultants, who do not 

understand the idiosyncracies of our 

continent," the UK-based sports 

German coach Gernot Rohr. I shall 

disregard what the promoters of 

Gernot Rohr are saying that no 

Nigerian coach is qualified enough 

to handle the national football team 

of the country even after the German 

had failed in his years as manager 

to deliver on the soft mandates given 

ootball lovers are gearing up for a feast of live football action as the German football 

league, the DFL, announced that the Bundesliga will return back to action on May 16 

to provide high-octane football drama which had been halted since early April due to the 

coronavirus pandemic 

StarTimes Nigeria has assured subscribers of live broadcast games of all the Bundesliga 

matches exclusive in Africa on its ST World Football Channels 244 and 254 and ST Sport 

Premium channel 246. 

Speaking on this development, The StarTimes Sporting Director Shi Maochu noted 

that, “It has been a tough period for football fans around the world. We are very happy to 

have StarTimes bring back live football in Africa, and even more as Bundesliga is one of 

the best league in the world.“ 

branding strategist said. 

"What is permitted in England may not 

be allowed in Nigeria. So, how do you 

expect a European to know the beliefs 

of, say the Yoruba people, when trying 

to do a sports branding project for a 

Nigerian player? 

"It is most imperative for our athletes 

to know that the best time to start 

branding themselves is now that they are 

actively for their clubs and countries. 

Now, they are in the public domain, 

wowing the world with their fantastic 

performances, so it is only apt that they 

start the connection between playing and 

branding, so that as their game is rising, 

their brand visibility and exposure is also 

on the ascendancy." 

any signs of indisposition. 

An investigation has been launched 

by prosecutors against the player’s exwife 

who is reported to have collected 

a six-figure life insurance payment 

following the news that Kamba had died. 

Kamba’s ex-wife claims she realised 

that she was eligible for a life insurance 

payout and presented documents to the 

insurance company to prove his death. 

Prosecutor Anette Milk believes foul 

play was involved and charges have 

now been pressed. 

“The accused is accused of fraud, but 

she denies the fact. The proceedings 

are still ongoing,” she told Bild. 

“He (Kamba) stated that his 

companions had left him during the 

night while on a trip to the interior of 

the Congo in January 2016 and they 

took his papers, money and telephone,” 

she explained. 

Kamba will be a witness during the 

hearing. 

No vaccine, no fans 

– Netherlands 

porting events in the Netherlands 

Smay go ahead later in the year but 

they will do so without fans until a vaccine 

is developed for the coronavirus. 

This was announced by the Dutch 

Health Minister Hugo de Jonge on 

Thursday. 

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on 

Wednesday that organised sport could 

resume from 1 September. 

But De Jonge said mass gatherings 

would be barred until a vaccine is 

developed. 

“We cannot yet mention a date for the 

last step, the mass gatherings,” he wrote 

in a letter to the Dutch parliament. That 

is actually only possible if there is a 

vaccine and no one knows how long it 

will take. We hope of course soon, but a 

year or more is very real.” 

Covid-19 has infected more than 

41,000 people in the Netherlands and 

caused 5,288 deaths. 

The top two Dutch football leagues 

were abandoned last month with no 

promotion or relegation and no 

champions.


C 

M 

Y 

K 

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 9, 2020 

CROSS WORD PUZZLE 

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE ON 27 

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

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

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

09052020 - Another Lockdown Inevitable in Lagos, FCT

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