02082020 - Miyetti Allah attacks Christain Elders, Afenifere, Ohanaeze over S/Kaduna Killings

PAGE 2—SUNDAY VANGUARD, AUGUST 2, 2020

RIPPLES OVER 2023: Presidency distances self from 

Daura comments as Akande rejects zoning 

*OWIE: Northerners opposed to rotation do not mean well 

By Dapo Akinrefon & 

Shina Abubakar 

ormer Interim Nation 

Fal Chairman of All Progressives 

Congress, APC, 

Chief Bisi Akande, has faulted 

those proposing zoning of 

the presidency in 2023, saying 

rotation would only compound 

Nigeria’s problems. 

The latest heated debate 

over zoning commenced following 

a statement by President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s 

uncle, Mamman Daura, that 

the country should prioritise 

competence instead of zoning. 

Akande spoke just as the 

Federal Government said 

Daura’s comments did not 

reflect the Buhari administration’s 

view. 

Ever since Daura made the 

statement in an interview 

with BBC Hausa Service, various 

interests, especially from 

the southern part of Nigeria, 

have described it as an indication 

that the north would 

not relinquish power in 2023. 

The presidency has rotated 

between the north and south 

since 1999, with the South- 

East being the only bloc yet 

to produce the president of the 

three major power blocs in the 

country. 

Speaking on the matter in 

a chat with Sunday Vanguard, 

Akande said APC has 

no zoning in its constitution. 

His words “Only meritocracy 

can make any society 

great. Zoning, federal character 

and other jargons will 

continue to compound Nigeria’s 

problems. APC has no 

zoning in its constitution. I 

want the best, highly well informed, 

and well-meaning 

person to lead me under any 

setting. I was lucky to have 

learnt under Obafemi 

Awolowo and Bola Ige. They 

both easily tolerated debates 

and would never go ahead 

until all arguments are exhausted. 

My experience with 

uninformed leaders was devastating. 

“All debates lead to quarrels 

and all opposing opinions 

are misconstrued for disloyalty 

and resulted in enmity. 

Under uninformed leaders, 

democracy metamorphoses 

into dictatorship and public 

oppression. We debated a 

Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, All Progressives Congress National 

Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Akeredolu's running mate in the next 

governorship election in the state, Mr. Lucky Ayedatiwa, when the governor visited Tinubu 

to present Ayedatiwa to him at the weekend in Lagos 

How I saved man on suicide mission over 

N500,000 debt – Sanwo-Olu 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

n what could have turned 

Iinto Sallah tragedy, as 

Muslims in Lagos joined the 

rest of the world to celebrate 

2020 Eid-el- Kabir, Governor 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu has 

narrated how he saved a man 

who was about to plunge into 

the lagoon from the Third 

Mainland Bridge over 

N500,000 debt. 

Meanwhile, the State Chief 

Imam of Lagos, Sheikh Sulaimon 

Abou-Nolla speaking 

after the symbolic Eid-el Kabir, 

prayers held at the Lagos 

Central Mosque, called on 

Nigerians, especially Muslims 

to pray to God on the 

coronavirus pandemic ravaging 

the world. 

Sanwo-Olu, with his wife, 

Ibijoke, had, on Friday, during 

a visit to the Lagos Island 

Maternity Hospital, Broad 

Street, and some other hospitals 

in different parts of the 

state, to celebrate Eid-el-Kabir 

with in-patients and health 

practitioners, urged Nigerians 

to “calm down,” in the 

face of several challenges. 

Speaking to newsmen during 

the visit and commenting 

on a recent viral video of a 

boy begging his mother to 

‘calm down’ while punishing 

him for his offence, Sanwo- 

Olu said he believed in paying 

attention and creating 

time to little things because 

there might be somebody 

somewhere who needs a helping 

hand. 

He said: “You look at big 

things but you need to certainly 

create time for little things 

as well. That is the difference. 

You know, you are going to 

build a bridge and it is nice 

but you have somebody who 

is just somewhere who needs 

a help. 

“Just this morning (Friday), 

we rescued somebody who 

was planning to jump at the 

Third Mainland Bridge all 

because he said he was in debt 

of N500,000. We had to rescue 

him and we paid the debt. 

Those little details are what 

make the difference. 

“I don’t have two heads, I 

don’t have 15 fingers. The big 

picture is that we want to 

build roads, bridges and new 

schools. But we also need to 

pay attention to little ones 

like the young boy in that video. 

By the way, I have spoken 

to him and his mother. They 

Generator fume kills 7 in Niger 

By Aminu Garko 

iger State Police Com 

Nmand, yesterday, confirmed 

the death of seven 

females from generator 

fume at Rijau town, in Rijau 

Local Government Area of 

the state. 

Mr Adamu Usman, the 

state Commissioner of Police 

are doing great and I will see 

him one of these days.” 

Also speaking, the governor 

said his unscheduled visit to 

the hospital was to share Eidel-Kabir 

moments with those 

in the hospital at a time when 

every other person was in joyous 

mood at home. 

“We have also seen several 

patients; mothers that gave 

birth overnight to fresh new 

babies. So, it is just a season 

to come and thank God for 

them and their lives and for 

their families who are not 

here. For me, that is the most 

important thing”, he said. 

“We all have to stay calm. 

It is a period to stay calm and 

know that government cares. 

We might not be ‘A Star’ but 

we have a good conscience. 

We have a good heart to do 

something good to almost 

everybody. I just want my citizens 

to see that if we have 

more resources, we will do a 

lot for them. This is just my 

simple way of saying thank 

you to everyone.” 

told the News Agency of Nigeria 

(NAN) in Minna, that 

one Alhaji Mohammed Bello, 

the district Head of Rijau 

reported the incident at Rijau, 

Divisional police office. 

Usman, said on July 31 at 

about 08:15 hours one Alhaji 

Mohammed Bello reported 

the discovery of seven bodies 

inside Afrash Beauty Saloon 

located along Bawa Rijau 

road.“ Preliminary investigation 

revealed that the ladies 

slept with generator on inside 

the shop.We have successfully 

removed the seven corpses 

to General Hospital Tunga 

Magaji for autopsy, while the 

case is under investigation,” 

Usman said. 

The Commissioner of police 

advised residents to always 

adopt proactive measures 

while using generators 

to avoid unnecessary loss of 

lives and property. 

lot and all the time in the APC 

Interim National Executive 

Committee which I was the 

national chairman. All of us 

remain best of friends within 

our party today. Honestly, I 

don’t support zoning.” 

A former Senate Deputy 

Chief Whip, Senator Roland 

Owie, however, said northerners 

who are opposed to zoning 

do not mean well for Nigeria. 

He said: “I agree absolutely 

with one of my mentors, 

Chief Senator Edwin Clark, 

who told us at a senior staff 

meeting of the then Midwest 

Ministry of Education in November 

1971, that he prefers 

being hurt with the truth than 

being flattered by lies. Northerners 

opposing zoning are 

hypocrites and do not mean 

well for this country. I have 

said it before and I still maintain 

that for the 2023 presidency, 

South- West, South- 

South, South-East, and 

North-West zones are out. 

Ever since 1999 when zoning 

started, South-West and 

South-South zones, have had 

more than 14 years on the 

presidential seat. After Buhari’s 

second term, the north 

would have held the position 

for more than 10 years. We 

should all know that. Where 

there is no justice, there can’t 

be peace. Therefore, in 2023, 

the presidency is for the North 

for four years. It can return to 

the South and South-East after 

four years.” 

In a statement by the Senior 

Special Assistant to the 

President on Media and Publicity, 

Mallam Garba Shehu, 

in Abuja, last night the Presidency 

claimed that, in an attempt 

to translate the interview, 

which was granted in 

Hausa, into English, the context 

was mixed up and new 

meanings were introduced 

and/or not properly articulated 

Ṫhe statement read: “We 

have received numerous requests 

for comments on the 

interview granted by Malam 

Mamman Daura, President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew 

to the BBC Hausa Service. 

“It is important that we 

state from the onset that as 

mentioned by the interviewee, 

the views expressed 

were personal to him and did 

not, in any way, reflect that of 

either the President or his administration. 

“At age 80, and having 

served as editor and managing 

director of one of this 

country’s most influential 

newspapers, the New Nigerian, 

certainly, Malam Mamman 

qualifies as an elder 

statesman with a national 

duty to hold perspectives and 

disseminate them as guaranteed 

under our constitution 

and laws of the land. He 

does not need the permission 

or clearance of anyone to exercise 

this right. 

“In an attempt to circulate 

the content of the interview to 

a wider audience, the English 

translation clearly did no justice 

to the interview, which 

was granted in Hausa, and 

as a result, the context was 

mixed up and new meanings 

were introduced and/or not 

properly articulated. 

“The issues discussed during 

the interview, centred 

around themes on how the 

country could birth an appropriate 

process of political dialogue, 

leading to an evaluation, 

assessment and a democratic 

outcome that would 

serve the best interest of the 

average Nigerian irrespective 

of where they come from. 

“These issues remain at the 

heart of our evolving and 

young democracy, and as a 

veteran journalist, scholar 

and statesman, Malam 

Mamman has seen enough 

to add his voice to those of 

many other participants.” 

SUNDAY VANGUARD, AUGUST 2, 2020, PAGE 3 

NIPOST TARIFF HIKE: Courier operators 

call for calm, seek dialogue 

By Victor Tunde Oso 

ith the outrage that 

Wgreeted the Nigerian 

Postal Service NIPOST’s recent 

tariff hike for courier and 

logistic companies, their umbrella 

body, the Association 

of Nigeria Courier Operators 

ANCO, has urged operators, 

including the general public 

to remain calm as it is dialoguing 

with government 

and its agencies at various 

levels to entrench a better operating 

environment. 

In a statement by its President, 

Okey Uba FCLMI, said 

yesterday that ANCO had 

proactively written to the Lagos 

State Governor and other 

relevant agencies last week 

with a view to activating and 

achieving ease of doing business 

in Lagos State. 

According to Uba, “We 

have also set machinery in 

motion to replicate the dialogue 

with other states and 

the Federal Government.” 

He maintained that courier 

operators’ goal is to render 

a satisfactory service to our 

numerous clients and the 

general public while assisting 

the government to grow the 

economy and employment 

base. 

Uba lamented that the courier 

industry has come into 

news lately for the wrong reasons, 

no thanks to the present 

regulatory agency, NIPOST 

recent directive. 

“Apart from the fact that the 

world economy is in distress 

and businesses are struggling 

to stay afloat, NIPOST mindlessly 

and regrettably resorted 

to the absurd increase in 

courier operations fees. “This 

is even when the industry has 

been under the weight of inefficient 

regulation and lack 

of effective coordination between 

NIPOST and other 

government agencies on one 

side, and between NIPOST 

and stakeholders, including 

ANCO on the other side.” 

Uba however, commended 

Dr. Isa Pantami, Minister of 

Communications and Digital 

Economy for ordering 

NIPOST to suspend the new 

tariff. 

COVID-19 FEARS: Hospital abandoned 

man to die, ex-army officer alleges 

By Joseph Erunke, Abuja 

hief Executive Officer of 

CBravo Guards, Col. 

Kemi Peters (retd), has accused 

the National Hospital, 

Abuja, of causing the death of 

his staff, a 35-year-old father 

of three, Mr Dennis Godwin. 

Peters alleged that medical 

staff at the hospital abandoned 

Godwin in the car and 

watched him slowly and painfully 

die two and a half hours 

after being taken to the hospital 

on March 19, 2020. 

The doctors, he alleged, 

“claimed they were not sure 

if he was a COVID-19 patient.” 

The retired Nigerian Army 

officer, in a petition, dated 

May 5, 2020, addressed to 

the Chief Medical Director, 

National Hospital, Abuja, 

and titled: ‘Unprofessional 

Buhari hails Adelusi-Adeluyi at 80 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari has congratulated 

a former Minister of 

Health, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, 

who celebrated his 

80th birthday recently. 

“Your life is one of many 

achievements which, undoubtedly, 

inspire the younger 

generation to noble ideals”, 

Buhari wrote in the message 

dated July 14, 2020. 

“Your imprints are clearly 

left on the sands of time, and 

these include, founder and 

Chairman of Juli Plc, first indigenous 

company quoted 

on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, 

former Minister of 

Health, past Chairman of 

Oodua Investment Ltd., Distinguished 

Fellow, Institute of 

Directors, Fellow Institute of 

Management, Fellow West 

Africa Post Graduate College, 

Ighrakpata commends Okowa over 

security bills 

By Festus Ahon 

he Deputy Chief Whip 

Tand member representing 

Uvwie Constituency in 

Delta State House of Assembly, 

Chief Solomon Ighrakpata, 

has noted with satisfaction 

events in the state legislature 

in the past few weeks. 

Speaking with newsmen 

after plenary, Ighrakpata 

who is also the Chairman, 

House Committee on Special 

Duties, said the passage of 

three bills within a week was 

commendable. 

He named the bills to include 

the Delta State Community 

Security Corps Agency 

Bill, the Delta State Occupational 

Safety Bill and the 

Delta State Violence Against 

Persons Bill. 

Ighrakpata stated that the 

growing insecurity in the 

handling of Mr Dennis Godwin 

leading to his unexpected 

death’, alleged that the 

deceased was left unattended 

to for two and a half hours 

after being taken to the hospital 

after he slumped at his 

place of work. 

According to him, “the 

manner and state in which 

medical staff treated Mr. 

Dennis Godwin was inhuman, 

irresponsible and unbefitting 

of the code of medical 

doctors who had taken the 

Hippocratic oath to protect 

and save lives. 

“Indeed, while the medical 

staff had to be cautious and 

take precautions to protect 

themselves against COVID- 

19, leaving Mr Denis Godwin 

to die without checking 

and trying to revive him was 

reckless”. 

and pioneer President, Nigeria 

Academy of Pharmacy. 

“As a notable pharmacist, 

lawyer and key player in 

many private sector organisations, 

you served on the 

Governing Council and past 

President of the Alumni Association 

of the National Institute 

for Policy and Strategic 

Studies, first District Governor 

of Rotary International, 

District 9110, Nigeria, and 

Chairman of MTN Foundation, 

You received national 

awards of MFR in 1986 and 

OFR in 2002. 

“At 80, as you are celebrated 

by family, friends, associates 

and professional colleagues 

from far and near, I 

wish you longer life, greater 

strength and more beneficial 

impact on our country across 

all walks of life”. 

country informed the initiative 

for the Delta State Community 

Security Corps Agency 

and commended Governor 

Ifeanyi Okowa for sending 

the bill to the House. 

He said the community 

based security outfit when established 

would be collaborating 

with other security 

agencies for policing the 

state. 

The Uvwie representative 

explained that the Delta State 

Occupational Safety Bill was 

another smart move by the 

Governor at maintaining law 

and order across the state. 

Ighrakpata expressed optimism 

that the two bills will 

help improved the security situation 

in the state, stressing 

that sustainable peace and a 

crime free environment were 

needed for growth and development 

to thrive in the state.

PAGE 4—SUNDAY VANGUARD, AUGUST 2, 2020 

Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (left) and members of his administration joined the 

Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Saad Abubakar (right) at the Sultan Bello mosque for the Eidel-Kabir 

prayer on Friday. 

EDO 2020: Drama as Obaseki, Ize-Iyamu drag families 

into fray 

By Ozioruva Aliu and 

Sam Eyoboka 

he families of Edo State 

Tgovernor, 

Godwin 

Obaseki, and wife of All Progressives 

Congress, APC, candidate, 

Prof. Idia Ize-Iyamu, 

were, yesterday, dragged into 

the gubernatorial campaign 

theatrics in the state. 

Both candidates, separately, 

used different members of 

the respective families to 

score what could be described 

as political points. 

A statement by John Maiyaki, 

Director of Media and 

Strategic Communication, 

Ize-Iyamu Campaign Organisation, 

had said that 

prominent members of the 

Obaseki family pledged their 

support for the APC candidate. 

According to the statement, 

the relatives of the governor 

visited Ize-Iyamu’s residence 

in Benin where they promised 

to work for his election. 

The leader of the visiting 

relatives, Mr. Victor Obaseki, 

a cousin of the governor, 

was quoted to have said: “I 

am here today in the company 

of my cousins to support 

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. 

“Godwin Nogheghase 

Obaseki, the executive governor, 

is our cousin. Generally, 

the Obaseki have their way 

of doing things. We are supporting 

our brother, Pastor 

L-R: Content Marketing Manager, Startimes, Abosede Adewara; winner of the 

Startimes Sallah gift pack, Ibikunle Balogun; and Zonal Marketing Manager, Lagos, 

Startimes, Paul Ejembonye, during the Startimes Sallah gift presentation to 

loyal customers in Lagos.Photo by Kehinde Gbadamosi 

Osagie Ize-Iyamu, with unalloyed 

support fully for him. 

I have supported him before, 

and I would continue to support 

him. We would do all our 

campaigns for him without 

let or hindrance.” 

On his part, Ize-Iyamu expressed 

delight, saying the 

visit served as a confirmation 

of “the poor leadership Godwin 

Obaseki has given to Edo 

State in the last four years. 

“It is true as Osaro said that 

far away in New York, I had 

the opportunity of meeting 

with him and other Edolites 

where I shared my ambition. 

Osaro has been a good gentleman 

and humble man. He 

came out this morning to say, 

Godwin has not done well.” 

On heels of that, a statement 

by the Special Adviser, Media 

to Governor Obaseki, 

Crusoe Osagie, said the family 

of Ize-Iyamu’s wife, has 

urged their daughter to distance 

herself from the aspiration 

of her husband. 

A member of the family, Pa 

Aimua Osemwende, was 

quoted to have said: “She has 

invested so much in her marriage 

to Osagie Ize-Iyamu. 

We are a noble family, known 

for honour in Benin-City and 

we would not want our family 

name to be dragged in the 

mud. 

“We know the APC candidate 

will not win this election 

because he is not a good candidate. 

Obaseki is the name 

on everybody’s lips in Edo 

State.” 

Meanwhile, Senior Pastor 

of Trinity House Church, Ituah 

Ighodalo, has tipped 

Obaseki to win the election, 

saying he has done well in the 

state. 

“The governor has worked 

hard in the state. He did a lot 

of roads. He built secretariats 

that have been abandoned. 

He is trying to wake 

up a lot of things even industries 

and some other sectors,” 

he stated. 

However, the campaign 

recorded another violent incident 

as two persons identified 

as Oguma Ojo and Friday 

Yaya were shot in Akoko 

Edo Local Government Area, 

LGA. 

The victims, who were shot 

on Friday, were described as 

supporters of Ize-Iyamu. 

The incident happened at 

Ward II, Igarra, Akoko-Edo 

LGA. 

AFTER B/HARAM AMBUSH ON GOV ... 

We are no longer safe – Shehu of Borno 

*Ex-servicemen threaten protest over debarment allowance 

By Kingsley Omonobi, 

Yinka Ajayi, Ndahi 

Marama 

till trying to resolve the 

SBoko Haram ambush 

on Governor Babagana 

Umar Zulum of Borno State 

and fresh attacks by the terrorist 

group in Maiduguri, 

the state capital, the military 

may be facing new pressure 

after ex-servicemen announced 

plans to stage protests 

across the country over 

Fasanmi was loyal ally of 

Awolowo — Tinubu 

*Fayemi condoles with family 

*Elder statesman to be buried on Tuesday 

By Shina Abubakar, 

Oshogbo 

siwaju Bola Tinubu says 

AAfenifere leader, Pa Ayo 

Fasanmi, who passed on to 

eternal glory last week, was 

a loyal and dependable ally 

of the late Chef Obafemi 

Awolowo. 

Fasanmi died on Wednesday 

aged 94. 

Tinubu described the deceased 

as a colourful personality, 

principled, courageous 

and honest, saying, “For all 

his life, Pa Fasanmi practised 

and advanced the virtues he 

learned at the feet of his leader. 

He never betrayed those 

values”. 

“Like the American civil 

rights leader and Congressman 

John Lewis, who was 

recently buried, Papa Fasanmi 

remained faithful to the 

truth for which he suffered 

greatly. Yet, no matter the 

cost, he never strayed from his 

principles. A brave man, he 

never flinched at the prospect 

of speaking truth to power. 

“I had a close relationship 

with Papa Fasanmi, dating 

back many years. He was a 

mentor and role model to me, 

and many others who believe 

in progressive politics as a 

means to uplift our society 

and its people. When Papa 

was recently admitted to the 

hospital for age-related sickness, 

I spoke to him and followed 

up with his close aide 

to monitor his situation. 

“As Afenifere leader, he 

was a true believer in the 

importance of fiscal 

federalism as essential for 

the growth of Nigeria. His 

vision for our nation was a 

coherent and correct one.” 

The family anounced 

yesterday that their 

patriach will be buried on 

Tuesday in Iye Ekiti. 

Meanwhile, Governor 

Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, 

Fasanmi’s home state, yesterday, 

sent a condolence 

message to the family of 

the deceased elder 

statesman. 

what they described as the 

denial of some of their entitlements 

including debarment 

allowance. 

The ex-servicemen said the 

protests will hold in Abuja and 

all the state capitals across 

the country. 

Meanwhile, Shehu of 

Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibu 

Umar Garbai Elkanemi, lamented 

that residents of his 

domain were no longer safe. 

The governor was on a trip 

to Monguno and Baga towns 

to distribute food to IDPs 

when his convoy came under 

attack last Wednesday.. 

It was the second time that 

Zulum’s convoy had been attacked 

in less than a year. 

The governor, speaking on 

the incident expressed displeasure 

at the Nigerian 

Army over the attack, wondering 

why the army had not 

been able to secure Baga especially 

as an army base is 

less than five kilometres away 

and despite the number of 

troops deployed for over a 

year. 

About 24 hours later, two 

explosions were reported in 

Maiduguri, the state capital, 

with reports of at least two 

fatalities and dozens wounded 

Ṡunday Vanguard learnt, 

last night, that the Ministry 

of Defence had scheduled to 

meet the servicemen under 

the aegis of the Coalition of 

Concerned Veterans of Nigeria 

(CCV) to address the 

grievances on August 6 in 

Abuja. 

A letter to this effect by Brig 

Gen AJ Fagge on behalf of 

the Minister of Defence and 

dated 28th July, 2020 is titled: 

‘Invitation to Attend a Stakeholders 

Meeting to discuss 

issues concerning payment of 

Debarment Allowance.’ 

The ex-servicemen are agitating 

for what they termed 

fragrant disregard to their 

welfare needs and failure of 

the Federal Government, 

Ministry of Defence and the 

Military Pensions Board 

(MPB) to pay outstanding 

arrears and other allowances 

Ṫhe veterans are also demanding 

for the payment of 

their entitlements and better 

treatment which include balance 

of 2017/2018 arrears; 

Minimum Wage Consequential 

Adjustment and its arrears 

dating from April 2019 to 

date and Security Debarment 

Allowance that was denied 

majority of military Pensioners. 

However, Sunday Vanguard 

gathered that despite 

the scheduling of the meeting, 

which has been welcomed by 

the veterans, plans were still 

ongoing by the ex-military 

personnel to embark on the 

protest. 

Toward’s this end, a message 

signed by Amb. (Dr) 

Okhidievbie Oamien Roy, Director 

Media, Coalition of 

Concerned Veterans, titled, 

‘We Can No Longer Keep it 

Locked” said mobilisation 

for the protests was on. 

The message released, yesterday, 

said, “The date is Set, 

the Military Veterans are Set, 

The Lord God Almighty is 

Set, This is the month of the 

Almighty Peaceful Protest! 

The Global Media Community 

has been contacted!”. 

The Shehu of Borno, Elkanami, 

who decried the insecurity 

in his domain during 

a homage to the governor 

on the occasion of Sallah, 

yesterday, said: “Your 

Excellency, we are not happy 

about what happened in Baga 

the other time, it is very unfortunate.” 

Gemade returns to APC 

By Peter Duru, Makurdi 

HE Social Democratic 

TParty, SDP, senatorial 

candidate in the last general 

elections, Senator Barnabas 

Gemade, has defected to the 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC. 

Gemade dumped the SDP 

in a low key ceremony at the 

weekend in Gemade village, 

Benue State. 

The former National 

Chairman of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, had 

defected from the APC to the 

SDP shortly before the 2019 

general elections to seek reelection 

into the Senate in the 

Benue North East District but 

lost to the incumbent Senator 

Gabriel Suswam. 

At the ceremony, Gemade 

said he returned to APC after 

a due consultations with the 

leadership of the party at the 

national, state, local and 

ward levels. 

Lagos reopens mosques, churches on 

Friday 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

overnor Babajide San 

Gwo-Olu, yesterday, directed 

that mosques and 

churches should reopen for 

normal services from Friday 

after months of lockdown. 

Sanwo-Olu also directed 

SS3 and Technical Studies 

(TEC3) students in both day 

and boarding schools in the 

state to resume tomorrow in 

line with the directive of the 

Federal Government. 

The governor made the 

announcement in his 17 update 

on the coronavirus situation 

report. 

“First, we are increasing the 

permissible capacity for 

public gatherings from 20 to 

50 persons. This applies to a 

wide range of events, from 

AGMs to funerals. Lagosians 

should please continue to 

keep in mind that there is documented 

evidence that mass 

gatherings can increase the 

spread of infectious diseases, 

such as coronavirus”, he said. 

“Places of worship in Lagos 

State will be allowed to open 

from Friday , August 7, for our 

Muslim worshippers, and 

Sunday, August 9, for Christian 

worshippers, but only at 

50.per cent of their capacity. 

“Churches, whose main 

worship days fall on Saturdays, 

are permitted to hold 

their services on Saturdays, 

subject to the same guidelines 

as churches holding services 

on Sundays.” 

Resumption: Enugu moves to ensure 

workers’ compliance with Covid-19 

protocol 

head of tomorrow’s re 

Asumption of duty, after 

four months of lockdown, 

Enugu State Government 

has reminded civil servants 

in the state of the need to adhere 

strictly to the laid down 

preventive measures for containment 

of the spread of 

coronavirus . 

The reminder was made by 

the state’s acting Head of 

Service, Mr. Ken Chukwuegbo, 

when he joined the Commissioner 

for Special Duties 

and Inter-Ministerial Affairs, 

Hon. Mrs. Mabel Agbo, and 

the Chairman, State Civil 

Service Commission, Chief 

Martin Ugada, to supervise 

the decontamination and fumigation 

of the State Secretariat 

complex and other offices, 

ahead of resumption of 

work on August 3. 

Chukwuegbo, who applauded 

the sustained commitment 

of Governor Ifeanyi 

Ugwuanyi towards the well 

being and safety of the workers, 

disclosed that “the desk 

officers from the office of the 

Head of Service have been 

mandated to ensure strict 

compliance in addition to 

what the Permanent Secretaries 

of the MDAs will be doing 

from Monday, the 3rd of August”. 

Covid 19: Indomie Fan Club launches 

Educational App 

By Funmi Ajumobi 

ndomie Fan Club has 

Ilaunched a new childcentered 

educational app 

called Indomie Fan Club 

(IFC) Bright Minds app, for 

its teeming members on 

Google Play Store. 

According to the National 

Coordinator of the club, Mrs. 

Faith Joshua, Bright Minds, 

the newly launched app, offers 

a curated collection of 

kid-friendly subjects and 

games exclusively for Indomie 

Fan Club members, saying, 

the substantial educational 

value it offers to kids, especially 

to primary school-aged 

students makes the app 

unique. 

Speaking further, Mrs. 

Joshua explained that children’s 

education shouldn’t 

have to stop as a result of the 

restriction of movement occasioned 

by the Covid-19 

pandemic, hence the initiative 

of the app.


WORSENING INSECURITY: 

Miyetti Allah attacks 

Christian Elders, 

Afenifere, Ohanaeze, 

over S/Kaduna killings 

…says they lack facts of crisis 

• Discloses 99 Fulani killed too 

• ‘Our kinsmen are also S/Kaduna natives, not settlers’ 

• Asserts problem between farmers and Hausa, not Fulani 

By Charles Kumolu, Deputy Editor 

As a result of allegations and counter-allegations over what triggered the 

series of killings in Southern Kaduna in the last two weeks, Director, 

Media and Publicity of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association 

,MACBAN, Kaduna State chapter, Ibrahim Bayero-Zango, in this interview, 

says the crisis has nothing to do with Fulani herdsmen. Bayero-Zango exclusively 

tells Sunday Vanguard that Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, SOKAPU, is being 

economical with the truth, saying the crisis is between Southern Kaduna people 

and the Hausa. In presenting the Fulani side of the story, he gave a blow-byblow 

account of what they consider as the remote and immediate causes of the 

carnage. He dismisses the assertion by SOKAPU that land is the bone of 

contention, saying the Fulani are neither settlers nor strangers in Southern 

Kaduna as being claimed. 

According to him, their presence in the area predates the 18th-century jihad of 

Shehu Usmanu Danfodiyo. 

Bayero-Zango’s story provides another understanding of the crisis that has 

claimed many lives and property. 

A recurring narrative is the claim that 

Fulani herdsmen are responsible for the 

killings in Southern Kaduna. SOKAPU is 

blaming herdsmen. As a chieftain of 

MACBAN, is it true that your men are 

responsible for the bloodbath? 

If they blame Fulani herdsmen or Miyetti 

Allah, they are running away from the truth. 

Herdsmen are no criminals neither are they 

attackers. They don’t have guns with them. 

Criminals are different from Fulani 

herdsmen. It is wrong to blame Fulani 

herdsmen whenever something of this nature 

happens. Fulani herdsmen have never been 

criminals and they are not carrying 

weapons. They don’t attack anybody. The 

way these criminals are attacking other 

Nigerians is the manner they are also 

attacking Fulani herdsmen. Before they 

attack any other tribe, they attack Fulani 

people because the Fulani are in the bush. 

Fulani herdsmen do not live in urban areas, 

making them prone to attacks by these 

criminals. Fulani herdsmen do not have a 

voice. They are voiceless. That is why people 

are not hearing their cries. For SOKAPU, 

Christian Elders and Christian Association 

of Nigeria, CAN, in northern Nigeria or 

Kaduna State, to blame Fulani shows they 

are shifting blame. They should blame 

themselves. 

Why? 

All their grievances and problems are 

between them and the Hausa. It is political 

and not between them and Fulani. 

Unfortunately, when something happens, 

they give it religious coloration. When they 

attack Hausa, they attack Fulani because 

the Hausa and Fulani are Muslims. That is 

where they got it wrong. They are fighting 

over farmlands, which has nothing to do with 

Fulani. They are fighting over political 

domination and no Fulani man is contesting 

any position in Southern Kaduna. The 

Fulani man is after greener pastures. The 

average nomadic Fulani man in Nigeria 

values grasses more than land. The Fulani 

people in Bayelsa today live peacefully more 

than the Fulani in Plateau, 

Southern Kaduna, Benue and 

Taraba. The Fulani in 

Anambra, Enugu and Imo 

live peacefully more than the 

ones in Southern Kaduna, 

Benue, Taraba and Plateau. 

In Edo and Delta states, 

Fulani men graze peacefully 

inside the forests as citizens 

of this country. And they are 

living in peace with their 

neighboring communities. 

Here, because of political 

interests, the Fulani are 

accused. It is because the 

Southern Kaduna people are 

shying away from the truth. 

We are not happy that they are 

involving the Fulani in this 

crisis. 

1992 crisis 

They kill our people and still 

accuse us of killing them. For 

instance in 1992, in Zangon 

Kataf Local Government 

Area, only three Fulani houses were attacked 

during the crisis that engulfed the area. In 

Kwaku, Alhaji Arua and his son, Alhaji 

Yakubu, and one other person in Ungwan 

Bororo were killed. Many Fulani were killed 

in that crisis which started on a Friday. Most 

Even the 

governor said 

the Fulani they 

are accusing do 

not talk when 

they are killed. 

But when they 

carry out a 

retaliatory 

attack, people 

start making 

noise 

of our parents used to go to Zangon Urban 

for prayers and they attacked the town when 

they went there for prayers. Seven of my 

uncles were among those killed. One of 

them, his house is at Kwaku District; nobody 

attacked the house until last June. His son, 

Ado Jamo, who was the Ado, Fulani word 

for leader, was killed on June 12, 2020. His 

mother, stepmother and two younger 

brothers were killed. Their houses were burnt 

down. The same thing 

happened at Ungwan Gaya, 

Sabon Kaura, Gora and 

many places. Apart from 

that, they also attacked 

pastoralists who were 

moving from the South to 

the North in May/June. 

When it is October/ 

November, they move down 

to the South. When they 

attacked Fulani last June, it 

was surprising because the 

issue that led to the attack 

had nothing to do with the 

Fulani. 

Could that be the crisis 

that resulted in the latest 

carnage? 

They were fighting over 

farmland and no Fulani 

house is near farmland. The 

quarrel was between the 

Kataf and Hausa people. It 

had nothing to do with the 

Fulani. Why would they start 

killing Fulani people? The 

chief of Kataf, Agwa Atyap, is not helping 

matters. When they started killing Fulani 

and Hausa people, and waylaying people 

on the highways, he said nothing. The people 

that were killed, none of their corpses has 

been recovered to date. When security 

operatives visited him to know the true 

situation, he said there was no crisis in his 

domain. But a few meters away from his 

house, two Fulani houses at Ungwan Gaya 

were burnt down while four people lost their 

lives. Their corpses were still there when 

he was saying that people only protested 

on the roads. Is it fair? People were dying 

and he was pretending that nothing 

happened? And these trans-human 

pastoralists were moving to parts of 

Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Plateau and 

Jigawa. It is an annual movement that is 

known to everyone. Up till now, some of 

the people who were killed, their cows are 

inside the bush and no one can afford to 

enter the bush to find them. If they see a 

Fulani man, they would kill him. There 

are plenty cows inside the bush in Atyap 

Kingdom. Now, they are accusing the 

Fulani, is that not blame-shifting? We don’t 

even aspire to be a councilor, House of 

Assembly member, or even local government 

chairman. 

So why are they accusing 

the Fulani? 

There are political issues between the 

Southern Kaduna people and the All 

Progressives Congress, APC. They, Southern 

Kaduna people, belong to the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP. If they are fighting 

Governor El-rufai, what is our business 

there? Does the fact that the Fulani and 

Hausa voted for El-rufai make the Fulani 

people criminals? Don’t we have the right to 

make our choice? In 2011, when they voted 

for the late Governor Yakowa, our people 

voted for Haruna Said of defunct Congress 

for Progressive Change, CPC. There was 

post-election violence. People in Kaduna 

Continues on page 6 

•Bayero-Zango


Miyetti Allah hits back at Afenifere,Ohanaeze, SOKAPU, Christian leaders 

•Southern Kaduna women protesting against killings by suspected herdsmen 

Continued from page 5 

Urban and the northern part were fighting, 

but in Southern Kaduna, they termed it a 

religious crisis and sacked almost 15 

Muslim-dominated villages. The areas 

affected include Zonkwoa, Masiriga, 

Walijo, Kamuru Ikulu, Maraban Walijo 

and Sabon Gari Kwoi. A few people who 

escaped are now taking refuge in Kagarko 

and Saminaka. Even Kagoro town was 

attacked. The present chief of Kagoro went 

to Saminaka to beg those who escaped to 

come back to Kagoro. All these people that 

were killed and chased out because of 

political crisis, their votes counted during 

that election. Who voted? Is it fair to kill 

people because they want to be in power? 

They should not be blaming Fulani. 

What role does indigene/ 

settler issue play in this crisis? 

Whatever is happening, in the history of 

Southern Kaduna, we are the indigenous 

Fulani of Southern Kaduna. We have never 

had a problem with any tribe in Southern 

Kaduna. They too can attest to this and they 

will never say that they know the day the 

Fulani people came to Southern Kaduna. 

They saw us there and we saw them there. 

We have been there for donkey years. Before 

the jihadists came to Sokoto, we were in 

Southern Kaduna. 

But they are claiming 

to be the natives… 

We are also natives. They are not older 

than us in that area. In Southern Kaduna, 

the oldest person will tell you that we have 

all been together for ages. In the 1940s, a 

group of people came to attack the Kagoro 

people. When they were on a hill, the Fulani 

gathered and defended them. The Fulani 

helped them to defeat the attackers. We were 

living in peace with them. Unfortunately, 

they ventured into the killing of innocent 

people because of vested interests. We the 

indigenous Fulani do not have a problem. 

But the families of pastoral Fulani, who 

they are killing, are the people avenging. 

Why did the Southern Kaduna people 

attack them in the first place? What was 

their crime? If you have a problem with your 

neighbor, sort it out instead of using religion 

as an excuse to kill. If you use religion, you 

are not fair. 

What about the claim that the Fulani in 

Southern Kaduna connive with Fulani 

mercenaries to attack Southern Kaduna 

villages? 

That is not true. We don’t know if any 

Fulani militia exists there. These criminals 

attacking people anyhow are the same 

criminals attacking people in Sokoto, 

Katsina, Zamfara, Birnin Gwari, and Igabi 

Local Government Area among others. 

Instead of them to call us so that we all can 

join hands together to find a solution, they 

are blaming us. We are also victims of those 

criminals. We are not colluding with 

anybody. For instance, before the criminals 

steal two of the bulls the Southern Kaduna 

people are using for farming, they must 

have rustled more than 100 cows belonging 

to Fulani. And when such happens, they start 

blaming the entire Fulani. That is unjust. 

These criminals do not have religion or 

tribe. Whenever they are arrested, we 

discover that there is no tribe that is not 

involved, even southerners are among 

them. Some are even helping them to 

provide arms. Who are the gunrunners 

taking ammunitions to the criminals in 

the forests? People should find out. Almost 

every tribe is involved, but those criminals 

do not represent their tribes and religions. 

They represent themselves as criminals. 

People should call them what they are. 

Because a Fulani man is found among 

them does not warrant saying that all 

Fulani are bad. Their people are also 

involved in all these social vices. They 

should stop tribalising criminals. If they 

are criminals, they are criminals. If they 

are attackers, they are attackers, if they 

are kidnappers, they are kidnappers. 

From your account, the Fulani are also 

victims, but in many narratives, they are 

portrayed as villains. Why is it so? 

The Fulani do not tell their story because 

we don’t have access to the media like the 

Southern Kaduna people. Our people are 

too typical. Our people are defenceless 

and voiceless. We don’t have enough 

elites, we don’t have police and we don’t 

have many journalists who could state our 

plight. Our people are 

just typical herdsmen 

who live in the forests. 

All they know is to rear 

their cattle, eat and live. 

They don’t know how to 

carry out media 

propaganda. Even the 

governor said the 

Fulani they are 

accusing do not talk 

when they are killed. 

But when they carry 

out a retaliatory attack, 

people start making 

noise. And the Fulani 

would not forgive you 

for killing them, 

because they don’t 

know what offence they 

have committed to 

have warranted the 

killings. If Southern 

Kaduna people have a 

problem with the 

Hausa, it should be 

between them and not 

the Fulani. The larger 

Now, even 

Ohanaeze, 

Afenifere, and 

Yoruba elders 

are talking 

because the 

Southern 

Kaduna people 

have given it 

political colors 

communities and 

constituencies belong 

to both of them, Hausa 

and Southern Kaduna. What is the business 

of the Fulani man in that? Because we are 

voiceless, they are blaming us all the time. 

When we addressed a press conference last 

June on the incident, they started castigating 

us, saying we were lying. Now, that the 

victims’ families are retaliating they are 

calling it genocide. But when they were 

killing those they killed, did they talk? We 

even called on government to take proactive 

measures, which they did. But security is 

limited to highways and villages. In remote 

areas, there is no security. Our people are 

in remote areas where there is no security. 

Such a situation makes us defenceless. 

Since you have established that the 

Fulani are also victims of the Southern 

Kaduna crisis, can you count the cost on 

the side of the Fulani? 

Last June, we lost 99 people in the Zangon 

Kataf crisis in Atyap Kingdom. We lost over 

2, 000 cows. Some are still missing. Some 

were killed and burnt. Our houses were 

destroyed. There was a reprisal that 

happened in Kukum in Kaura Local 

Government Area last February. Kukum 

is very close to Masiriga in Zangon Kataf 

Local Government Area. Kukum is in 

Kaura Local Government Area. There was 

a problem between two people in 

Masiriga, The feuding parties are of the 

same tribe, Baju. There was a court case 

and one won. The person who lost was 

angry, saying the man who won bought 

the judgment. He went to the man’s house 

to kill him at night but didn’t meet the 

man. He killed the man’s two children 

who he met. The next day, people said it 

was the Fulani who came and killed the 

man’s children. Baju people in that area 

said it wasn’t Fulani people that killed 

but a Baju man. Even the person who 

committed the crime said he was the one 

who did it. Baju people in the area 

protected the Fulani people against any 

attack, but the people of Kukum, who are 

Kagoro by tribe, started 

killing Fulani people in 

Kukum. They killed eight 

Fulani people while 80 cows 

got missing. Last Sunday, the 

victims’ families carried out 

retaliatory attack and the 

Southern Kaduna people 

started making noise. I have 

the pictures of the cows they 

killed when Southern Kaduna 

people first attacked the 

Fulani. In another incident 

very close to Garaji, Fulani 

people from Gombe State 

were passing and stopped over 

at a filling station to refill their 

vehicle only for these people 

to attack the vehicle and burnt 

the passengers inside. They 

were killed because they were 

Fulani. Their members didn’t 

waste time to retaliate. That 

is why Southern Kaduna 

people are making noise. But 

why did they start the crisis by 

killing innocent people? You 

killed people and their 

members retaliated, but you 

keep on blaming government. 

Yesterday, a reverend told us 

that those who killed Fulani people at the 

filling station were Christians. And those 

who killed Christians in that community 

must be Muslims. Whether they are Fulani 

or not, we don’t even know. This crisis is 

purely a product of the killing of innocent 

people. Did the people who retaliated go to 

Masiriga? They didn’t because Masiriga 

people didn’t kill anybody. They went to 

Kukum where their people were killed. Now, 

even Ohanaeze, Afenifere, and Yoruba 

elders are talking because the Southern 

Kaduna people have given it political colors. 

They are supporting Southern Kaduna 

people because they do not know the true 

story. Instead of finding out what is 

happening, they are talking because of 

the falsehood that the Fulani are killing 

Christians in Southern Kaduna. For that 

reason, every southern Christian is 

concerned. If there is a problem, Southern 

Kaduna people should stop waylaying 

and killing people on the highway. The 

travelers they are killing are innocent. Do 

you think their people would leave you 

for killing their person for no cause? What 

they are doing is causing more harm than 

good, because it is not a remedy. If people 

attack you, take a legal action instead of 

killing people. 

How true is the claim that the Fulani 

sack communities and take over the 

places? 

They should name the community that 

has been sacked, claimed and renamed. 

In Ungwan Rimi Baju, the village of the 

SOKAPU President, Muslims were killed 

during the 2011 post-election crisis. He 

didn’t talk. Nobody said anything and the 

community is living in peace to date. 

Saying that the Fulani are invading and 

sacking communities is wrong. The 

arguments are baseless. Southern 

Kaduna people are even the ones coming 

from the remote areas to the towns 

because all the historical towns in 

Southern Kaduna are being inhabited by 

the Hausa. All these Southern Kaduna 

tribes were in remote areas. They are now 

coming to civilization. Is there any Kataf 

village that is older than Zango Urban? 

The District Head has been in that 

community since the time of the colonial 

masters. Zangon Kataf Local 

Government Area was under the district 

for donkey years. Where did Southern 

Kaduna people get civilisation? They got 

it from the Hausa. Before western 

civilisation, the civilisation in the North 

was Egyptian. But the southern part of 

the country got its own from western 

powers. 

Your submissions show that you are 

desirous of peace. How can a lasting 

solution be achieved? 

There can only be peace when all the 

tribes in Southern Kaduna stop 

considering us as second class citizens or 

foreigners in the area. We are not. They 

know we are not foreigners. They know 

that they are not more Southern Kaduna 

than us. They know they are not more 

indigenous than us. Because our people 

did not obtain western education does not 

mean we should be treated as if we are 

just coming. We are no newcomers there. 

In what could be termed an expression 

of hopelessness, the army, last Tuesday, 

said it lacked the required manpower to 

provide security in the troubled areas. 

To an extent, the statement justified 

reports in many quarters that Southern 

Kaduna lacks security. What is Miyetti 

Allah’s proposing in this regard? 

The communities should be brought 

together to form community guards. The 

guards should represent all the people 

living in the area. They should come 

together and form a vigilante group that 

comprises of every tribe in the area. They 

should not take more Kagoro, more Baju 

or more Fulani. They should take equal 

numbers so there won’t be suspicions. They 

should work hand-in-hand with security 

agencies. 

Does the idea of a peace and 

reconciliation committee on the matter 

appeal to you? 

It is a very good idea. There should be 

sincerity of purpose. There should be a levelplaying 

field for everyone in the committee. 

We can’t object to such an idea because we 

are a peace-loving community. The people 

of Southern Kaduna should be asked if there 

is any community that has ever had any 

problem with Fulani among the 53 

Southern Kaduna tribes that are 

predominantly Christians. The answer is 

no. It is because we are not lazy. We are 

productive. For instance, in Jabba 

community where the people are ginger 

farmers, they can’t do without Fulani people. 

In dry season, they beg the Fulani to come 

to their land to make it fertile for 

cultivation. They even pay Fulani to stay in 

their farms and make Fulani huts for the 

herdsmen to live. During rainy season, the 

Fulani leave after making the land fertile. 

Our people are the most peaceful in 

Southern Kaduna. If a peace and 

reconciliation committee that would 

represent every interest would be set up, we 

are in support of it.


.uk 

DESOPADEC: 

Era of Abandoned 

Projects is Gone 

—Bashorun Askia Ogieh 

Bashorun Askia Ogieh is the (IC) to the biometric machines to avoid 

Managing Director/Chief being compromised by dubious staff or 

Executive Officer of Delta people of such shady mindset. So, the 

State Oil Producing Areas biometrics machine is already 

Development 

Commission, programmed to address truancy and serve 

DESOPADEC. In this interview, he as unimpeachable evidence to support such 

talks about the innovations his board exercise. This will enable us to determine if 

introduced in the last one year to meet there is an attempted compromise of that 

the development challenges of the system. 

mandate areas and the many The MD/CEO or any of the management 

successes achieved so far. 

staff can check any of the staff biometrics 

details for any particular month from his/ 

The Delta State Governor In His her mobile phone, anywhere in the world. 

Wisdom And Choice Appointed You This is a big boost to what we have and 

As The Managing Director/Chief the moment the staff saw that we were 

Executive Officer Of The Board And transparent about what we were doing, 

From His Citation, You Came In With and they can also attest to this attendance 

A Rich Bouquet Of Corporate details, of course they just keyed in. These 

Governance Experience As A Banker, are some of the new orders we brought 

A Broadcaster, An Accountant, A and they have been very effective in 

Technocrat And Of Course An rejigging the system. Again, there is need 

Administrator, Being A One-Time to state here that for every infraction that 

Local Government Chairman As Well violates our rules, there are consequences. 

As An International Business Man, It is not peculiar to our Commission. This 

Capping It Up With Being A Total was what informed salary deduction, 

Grassroots Politician. How Would forfeiture or query, depending on the 

You Say These Credentials Have magnitude of the offence. What that 

Actually Prepared You For The means is that if you do not come to work for 

Position? 

certain months, of course you would lose 

Ordinarily, the experiences in my many your entire salary for that month or those 

years in the private and in public sectors months as the case may be. Also, if for some 

have actually put me in a good stead for number of days, you were not here, you 

this job, and I do know also that the job would have to forfeit a portion of your salary 

itself is not just about my own experience, deducted on pro rata basis. Of course, these 

because the management of the were carefully kept in an escrow account. 

Commission is not a one-man affair. It is And in an era where people think that 

something that we have to do, and are doing, whatever you keep for government is easy 

jointly, particularly with my colleagues and to prey on, we don’t do that here. We kept 

the executive management board and that fund as an overtime and it grew. I want 

indeed the other members of the larger to believe that you are already aware that 

Board. 

we are trying to put in place a DESOPADEC 

Like you said, I have been here before as Tower, to connect this block to the last block 

the Executive Director, Finance and at the back. This is so that we can have a 

Administration and I was also in a very key very big complex here. 

position that exposed me to the running of Now, that project, when finances became 

DESOPADEC. And these all put together low for the state and we needed to start it, 

have actually positioned me in a very good we had to approach His Excellency, the 

stead. So, my understanding of the workings Governor to allow us access that fund that 

of DESOPADEC as a grassroots person was accruable to these defaulters. And by 

remains a huge leverage for me and the the time we decided to check that account, 

assignment thrust on me by His Excellency, it had risen to 289,000,000.00 (Two 

the Governor. I have come to use my wealth Hundred and Eighty Nine Million) which 

of experience to better the lives of my His Excellency graciously authorized and 

people, to reach them at their point of needs approved that we should commence the 

and to effectively deliver on the mandate of project with. And that is what we are doing 

the Commission. 

now. So, the people can see that 

the fund they forfeited for 

playing truancy with their job 

is being judiciously channeled 

into something to the benefit of 

all and it is not touched by 

anybody. When you do things 

like this and you are 

transparent, of course our 

people would appreciate you. 

On One Occasion, You Did Say You 

Were Here With A New Song. We 

Would Want To Ask What Exactly Is 

This New Song And How Acceptable 

Has This New Song Been Thus Far? 

Well, when we came on board, it was very 

necessary for us to do a bit of rebranding, 

because, like I said, I have been here before. 

I know the few areas where errors were 

made at the Board level. And my own is to 

ensure that these things are corrected. And 

people were just taking advantage of the 

system. We also needed to ensure that we 

did more and so, we started placing the 

HODs in positions that we felt were most 

appropriate to their training and 

background; where they could put in more 

in terms of their output by placing round 

pegs in round holes. And so, we did that 

rebranding along the line. Overtime, we 

started in the last Board – like this issue of 

biometrics, to ensure that our staffers come 

to the office and that they earn salaries as 

appropriate and not just sitting at home. 

DESOPADEC, before the last Board, had 

been veiled in that toga of complacency, 

where anything goes. When we came on 

board, with the experience that I have 

gathered from the biometrics exercise, we 

had to redesign it the way it is, for it to be 

more transparent and acceptable by the 

people. 

The biometrics system is now better 

synchronized such that as you clock in and 

out, you can now directly check your 

clocking data and know your regularity 

status. Every staff receives his/her clocking 

details as customized text messages on his/ 

her mobile phone monthly for transparency. 

Also, we attached security integrated circuit 

You Were The Executive 

Director Of Finance And 

Administration In The Last 

Board, And Now You Came 

In As Managing Director/ 

Ceo. Can We Say This 

Management Style Is 

Somehow Different From 

The Former? 

Yes, and it is to be expected. 

The former Board where I was 

EDFA, we did a wonderful work 

even though I was not at the 

driver’s seat the way I am now. 

But I was very prominent in it. 

Also, I would say that all I am doing is my 

own way to improve what has been done 

and even previously. The foundation was 

laid then and to add more blocks to it in a 

more perfect manner that is what we have 

done. You would expect that we are of 

different background - myself and my ex 

boss and it is to be expected because, as an 

individual with the brief of citation you read 

at the beginning, I have cultivated a lot of 

friends across the different broad spectrum 

of the state and the country. And I have been 

in government for quite a long time and so, 

I have the opportunity of calling in these 

relationships with my people, my 

interpersonal relationship. I don’t want to 

sound immodest or blow my trumpet but I 

do know that I am a very transparent 

individual. I am disciplined and firm in the 

way I do things and at all times I try as 

much as possible to listen to all sides, where 

there are issues. And I try as much as 

possible not to hurt my relationships. But 

that doesn’t take away the fact that I am 

disciplined and firm. In my approach to 

governance, I think that this has been more 

purposeful in the way we do things. 

When we commenced, we took a clue from 

his the Governor’s advice and the directive 

he gave to us inspired us to commence our 

tenure, immediately after inauguration, by 

organizing town hall meetings across 

board to feel the pulse of the people and 

carry them along, so that they will be 

involved and so that we can give them what 

they need as a community and so on. In 

other words, we meet them at their point of 

need. I don’t just sit here in the office, 

dreaming of what I think would be good 

for the Urhobo people, for the Ika people 

and all of that. 

This interface took us quite some time 

and it was very rewarding and revealing 

regarding the needs of the people. 

Because over time, actually, we got to 

realize that some of our projects, when 

they are vandalized, the community 

doesn’t really bother about them and 

from our investigation, it was like that is 

DESOPADEC’s project, it is not their 

project. So we began to wonder, why 

would people say it is DESOPADEC’s 

project, a project that has been put in 

place to uplift their standard of living? 

How did they arrive at such detached 

disposition in the first 

place? 

The only answer is that 

they were not part of the 

original conception of 

the project. It was not 

their immediate need 

and so when you give to 

people something that is 

not their immediate need, 

there are chances that they 

try to withdraw 

themselves from the 

ownership of the project 

and so we needed to 

change that narrative and 

that led us to these town 

hall meetings. As a 

necessary consequence, I 

can boldly say now that 

whatever project we are 

going into, is as demanded 

by the people. Within the 

framework of our 

finances, when the people 

make a demand, we try to 

look at it and see how we can do it. The 

narrative has really changed. We do not 

have nor contend with cases of 

vandalization of our projects anymore. All 

the projects we have put in place since we 

came have been serving the people very well. 

Thank God, the DESOPADEC Weekly is 

moving on, you have been feeling the pulse 

of the people you are in a better position to 

tell the story. And it has actually been a very 

great information window to tell our own 

story of impact and value in service delivery 

to our mandate area. 

At the level of relating with the staff, my 

guiding philosophy is just be transparent, 

be truthful to them, what you know you 

When we 

commenced, 

we took a clue 

from his the 

Governor’s 

advice and the 

directive he 

gave to us 

inspired us 

•Bashorun 

Askia Ogieh 

cannot give don’t promise that and tell them 

what you can give. Let the people know the 

changes that will affect them early enough 

and keep them informed about it. They will 

brace up and key into it. When you don’t let 

them know what will affect them and you 

just do it of course they will seem to run 

from it. 

We Will Like To Look At Your To Do- 

List For The Past Twelve Months. Now 

We Are Saying Congratulations For 

Being On Board For The Past One Year 

And We Know That You Have Planned 

For The Things You Want To Do. We 

Would Like To Know If You Have 

Achieved All So Far 

Well, to a large extent, I can simply say 

that we have done very well. So far so good, 

as per my action plan for the Commission, 

I think I have been following it very 

effectively. Like I said, every programme 

that we have initiated within the period, 

knowing the needs of the people as harvested 

through the town hall meetings, has actually 

helped us. This includes the projects that we 

are sure that funding is available. I have 

always told my people and I have to beg 

them that it will fully come to this, not when 

you have a budget of ten million and you 

award a contract of a hundred million. 

I don’t know how many budget cycles 

you are going to use to deliver on that 

project. It is like planning to abandon the 

project from conception. For me, that is not 

acceptable. So, the projects may not be too 

many but we are ensuring that the ones we 

are planning for are those that we can 

deliver. Since we came on board, we have 

been able to deliver quite a number of 

projects, with a handful of others ongoing. 

We have commissioned projects across 

Isoko ethnic nationality, Urhobo land, Ijaw 

and more on the river axis. Now, we are 

going round to look at the projects and 

commission them. The era of abandoned 

projects, I must say, is gone, and that is 

because we planned it that way. Now, we try 

to look at our women folks within the period 

because we want to attend to the youths 

and women as our strategic catchment. 

We were able to pull together 1,200 

women across the six ethnic groups. We 

brought them together, gave them some 

pep talk and training on learning how to 

convert their passion into wealth. 

Although, something you have been 

used to, you may just take as normal, but 

you may not know that, hidden under that 

personality, if you put some little effort 

and sharpen your passions, it may just 

become the answer to all the headache 

and questions you have been asking 

yourself. We did that training with a 

thousand two hundred of them and apart 

from the cost of bringing them in, 

accommodation, training venue and all of 

that, we set aside fund, a hundred thousand 

naira for each of them and raised a bank 

draft for each of them to open an account, 

the essence is that theft of their money would 

not happen and of more importance, we are 

to encourage them to imbibe the spirit of 

banking so that they will be able to open an 

account. If you have a hundred thousand 

naira and you don’t have an account before, 

that will at least be a lure for you to go to 

the bank to open an account. 

To be continued next week


Sex is a gift 

from God 

—Juliet Ekeson 

Beautiful and talented 

Nollywood actress, Juliet 

Ekeson is as unassuming as 

she’s down-to-earth and wouldn’t 

be seen mincing words or trying to 

impress. When she had an 

encounter with us recently she 

was as free as the air even though 

some of her responses came up 

short to public opinion. Her 

opinion on sex, when asked, is quite 

a strange one. 

“ Sex is a gift,” she said brusquely. 

And one is bound to wonder what 

kind of gift is that and from who or 

whether it had even been delivered 

by Jumia or Konga but she has her 

point all figured out. 

“ It’s a gift from God to all 

animals. It is a gift for procreation 

and nothing more. God said go into 

the world and multiply and by that 

the gift is through sex. Sex is a 

prerequisite for procreation. No 

matter how you see sex I see it as 

a gift” she added. 

Juliet Ekeson is a graduate of 

University of 

Technology 

•Femi 

Johnson 

Owerri (FUTO) with a 

Bachelor’s degree in 

Geology. She had 

her secondary 

education and a 

Diploma from 

Maiduguri 

and Kaduna 

respectively. 

She’s not only an actress, 

she writes scripts too and a 

producer with two films, 

namely; Mila and 

Scary Face to her credit. 

She has also featured 

in films like”Bag of 

Dollars”, “God of 

Liberation”, Against 

her Will”, “Dangerous 

Love”, “Tears of the 

Rich”, “Happy Survival”, 

“My husband, my 

Everything” and many 

more. Her 

professional 

acting journey 

began in 2012. 

Filmmaker, Femi Johnson launches 

MonoRoom Reality Show for actors 

emi Johnson, a fast-rising 

FNollywood producer and 

director, has launched a 

monologue reality TV show titled 

MonoRoom for up-and-coming 

actors in Nigeria. 

Femi, who believes that the 

most important resources in 

Nollywood are talents, has 

overtime championed the 

campaign for talent development 

in Nollywood through his online 

teachings. 

Femi Johnson is an awardwinning 

stage director and has 

also worked on shows like Africa 

Magic’s Hush and The Johnson, 

Desperate Housewives Africa, 

Casino, Oloibiri, Hello Mr Right, Voice 

to Fame, Prayer Request and lots more 

in different capacity. 

MonoRoom was created to give 

talented actors, who have never had the 

chance to express themselves on the big 

screen, the opportunity to showcase 

their acting skills to the global 

audience. 

Interested actors will have to register 

on www.femijohnson.ng for free and 

submit a monologue video which will 

be screened. 

After screening, 26 actors will be 

As Salah celebration rents the air in various homes across the 

nation, StarTimes has partnered with Indomie, Power Oil, Dano 

Milk and Kellogg’s Cornflakes to share the joyous moment with her 

loyal subscribers. 

Select subscribers would be paid a surprise visit during Salah 

holidays with hampers containing Indomie Noodles, Power Oil’s 

vegetable oil, Kellogg’s cornflakes, Dano Milk and other family 

essentials. 

Speaking on the initiative, Ali Auta, Content Marketing Manager, 

StarTimes Nigeria, said that the essence of the feast, which is selfless 

sacrifice, needs to be observed even though this year’s Eid-el-Kabir 

•Juliet 

Ekeson 

•Aida 

Bernjamin 

selected from the entry for the first 

season. In each episode, an actor will 

be filmed preparing and performing 

a monologue that was created and 

scripted by the actor. 

Femi Johnson will be 

available to correct, advise 

and direct the actors in other 

to bring out the best in their 

performance. 

According to Femi Johnson, 

“MonoRoom is first of its 

kind and the aim is to feature 

over one thousand actors 

within 39 seasons. The reality 

show will be distributed 

across different media 

platforms which include but 

not limited to cable, 

terrestrial and social media. 

Audiences around the world 

will be opportuned to watch 

the actors perform. 

“MonoRoom will give 

featured actors a head start 

in the industry both locally 

and internationally, 

because clips from the show 

will be sent to producers, 

directors and casting 

directors for a possible 

engagement of the featured 

actors on the MonoRoom.” 

Salah Celebration Comes Alive as StarTimes 

partners Brands to Reward Loyal Customers 

My songs bring 

hope, comfort 

— Aida Benjamin 

A 

comes at a time that an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic engulfs 

the world. 

“Despite the effect of COVID-19 on family spending, many of our 

subscribers have kept on sacrificing other costs to keep enjoying the 

exciting entertainment that StarTimes brings to their homes. As a 

business, we find it worthy to celebrate with them.” 

Alhaja Abibat, one of the subscribers who was paid a surprise visit 

in Lagos said, “This gesture from StarTimes is highly treasured 

because I am appreciated for what gives my family fun. With schools 

shut down and my kids forced to stay at home to stay safe from the 

pandemic, my children have found solace in StarTimes edutainment 

content like Toonami, ST Kids and Nat Geo Wild.” 

ida Benjamin (real name Adaku Uwaoma Oseiza), the current 

Marketing Director for Enyimba Automated Shoe Company, 

Abia State, is a woman of many parts. She could have been 

whatever she desires given her rich resume but has elected to do 

music albeit not quite in the common version we have come to 

know. 

Hear her: “I decided to use my talent under the platform 

of my NGO to give hope as we usually do. And also to 

continue to encourage other Nigerians to support the 

less privileged, whatever we raise from our songs 

will continue to go to charity. I believe that God has 

given us talents and we must use them in one way or 

the other. Politics or business or career or family should 

not stop us. There’s not a better time than now that the 

world needs healing right from the soul to have such an 

amazing single.” 

Aida is all fired up to release her first professional 

single titled “Obi Uto (Danciya)” coming out on 

August 2, 2020. The single, which was produced by 

Mekoyo at U&I Recording Studios will be 

dropping complete with the video shot by Toca 

Mcbaror. 

“This song brings hope and comfort while 

challenging us all to make the world a better 

place, especially by remembering the 

poor amongst us. So, I thought that the 

best way to use your talent is to touch 

lives,” she beamed in an interview with 

Potpourri 

Aida’s story is a mix of passion, love 

for God and for humanity. She is one 

amazing soul you will get to meet 

through the reverberating sound of 

her voice. She’s one who’s wealth of 

knowledge and accomplishments in 

career, politics and business have 

not diminished her love and passion. 

Benjamin is the founder and CEO 

of Meaje Consulting Services that 

promotes Etiquette Nigeria, CEO 

of All that Glitters Jewellery Int’l 

and CEO of House of Aida (fastrising 

fashion platform to showcase 

made 

in Aba and Nigerian products). She 

holds a 

BSc. in Business Administration and 

an MBA from the Business School, Netherlands. 

•Seilat 

Adebowale 

I love to be simple, 

chic, not dramatic 

—Actress, Seilat Adebowale 

udding, beautiful Yoruba 

B actress, Seilat Adebola 

Adebowale who made a great 

showing in Dayo Amusa’s 

blockbuster “Omoniyun” has 

revealed her own idea of what it 

takes for a woman to be sexy. 

There have been different 

opinions on the issues of women 

and their sexiness. While some 

have been tamed, others have 

been outlandish and even bizarre 

but for Seilat, keeping it off the 

edge as much as possible without 

being way too far off the slide is 

what works for her. 

“Keeping it real and simple, I 

mean not being dramatic and 

shocking is what works for me. 

Being sexy is dressing really 

well and the charisma that comes 

with the poise. However, I 

believe everyone should do 

what makes them 

comfortable. I love to be 

simple, classy and chic, not 

revealing too much of the skin 

and shocking people. The 

confidence you exude when 

properly dressed and the attitude along with 

it is all it takes for me,” she said in a chat with 

Vanguard’s Showtime Bonus 

She bought her way into the movie industry 

by producing her own film in 2013. After then 

she left to work a bit and came back fully in 

2015. According to her, it was really difficult 

at the beginning but with her consistency she 

has finally stamped her feet on the landscape. 

The films she has produced are Imoran , 

Aridunu Omo and Barrister Seilat. Those she 

has featured include;Ebi tani, Imoran, Maybe, 

Love and lies ,Omoniyun, Depression, Eebo 

bu, Gym house, Silence 

Iro to jomi, Dear affy , Jackpot , Sixteen, 

Atupa , Odeere olounje , Odeere alagbo, 

Meje, Iran meta, Confession, Emuke , Just 

another fall guy, Too much, Ololufe, Lucifer , 

Aderoju , The tenant, Adams Tenitika, You 

are me, Rollercoaster, 40, Inside life and 

Agbara ola.


Women shouldn’t try y to match their partner 

tners s affair 

fairs! 

When a long-term 

relationship dies – this 

by the way includes marriage 

– the hurting partners need 

enough time to grieve so they 

won’t burn their fingers twice, 

by jumping into new 

relationship. We all felt sorry 

for Mac, a cherished friend, 

when his wife left him. 

Usually, it’s the man who kicks 

his partner out and no 

amount of trying to patch up 

the relationship would shift 

him, but this time around, the 

shoe was on the other foot, and 

we couldn’t make Mac’s wife 

change her mind anyway – she 

was already abroad with her 

new-found love and a 

pregnancy she had whilst still 

married to Mac! 

When next I got invited to 

one of Kate’s on-the-spur-ofthe-moment 

get together 

bash, I brought Mac along to 

try and cheer him up. Kate is 

very good friend and as luck 

would have it, Debola, a sort 

of Kate’s clone was around. 

She never says no to having a 

good time. After her marriage 

of eight years hit the skids, she 

was happy she’d already had 

all the children she wanted. 

Three - a girl and two boys. 

Marriage had always 

cramped her style, she 

confessed. Now that she was 

answerable to no one, she was 

bent on making the most of 

her new-found freedom. A 

hard-working professional 

with a measure of success to 

show for it, she hi the party 

circuit with vengeance. By the 

time she met Mac a Kate’s 

party, she’d already had some 

proverbial male notches on 

her belt! Mac was smitten as 

soon as he clamped eyes on 

her and I made the necessary 

introductions. That was all 

they needed to make the 

fireworks crackle. By the end 

of the evening, they were an 

item as Mac happily left with 

Debola. Mentally, I resolved 

to speak with the Mac before 

he got too carried away. 

Debola might be the catch of 

the moment, but definitely not 

a main meal and I didn’t want 

Mac’s heart to be broken all 

over again. 

It was some few months 

after that I saw Mac, by which 

time, Debola was a fever of 

blood. Most of his words were 

laced with ‘Debola did this’, 

Debola said that’. Subtly, I 

tried to warn him to take 

things slowly so he wouldn’t 

get hurt again. He assured me 

he knew what he was doing. 

That Debola was as smitten 

as he was. As he spoke, she was 

at the flat for the weekend. 

Why didn’t I come to the flat 

for a meal? Well, why not? 

Debola was the perfect hostess, 

cooking and cleaning without 

being boring. 

“You obviously like Mac,” I 

observed, as soon as he was 

out of ear-shot. “He certainly 

is my flavour of the moment”, 

she told me excitedly. “He’s 

well-hung too. The wiry 

It's time to lift up your faith 

or everyone that has 

Fmade it to the month of 

August, we cannot but give 

thanks to God. Seven months 

have gone, within which a lot 

has happened. 

Brethren, it is by his mercy 

that we are alive. 

That we are alive is a great 

testimony. For anyone that is 

alive, such a person needs to 

keep faith and not lose hope. 

The socio-economic 

challenges of Covid 19 have 

posed various challenges. 

Many have lost jobs, some lost 

spouses but no one must lose 

hope. We must continue to 

have faith in God. 

Let me share with you the 

story of a sister who recently, 

lost her husband. She was so 

heart broken because, they 

have been waiting on the Lord 

for biological children and 

just last month, her husband 

died suddenly. 

This sister, a devoted 

Christian like her late 

husband was inconsolable. 

The more Pastors prayed for 

her, the more she cried. 

It is our prayer that the Lord 

comforts this lady. 

I pray for you, through out 

this year, you will not shed 

tears of sorrow. 

However, I once listened to 

the story of a woman who had 

a similar experience. This 

woman was married for 

about 15 years without any 

child but she continued 

praying with her husband and 

she had revelations that she 

would be a mother of twins. 

Then, the unexpected 

happened. Her husband died. 

She said, her world 

collapsed. She began to ask, 

how would she be a mother of 

twins, when her husband had 

died. 

Not long afterwards, she got 

married again. She waited for 

about two years. Suddenly, 

God intervened. She 

conceived and gave birth to a 

set of twins, a boy and a girl. 

When she gave this 

testimony, the congregation 

roared with shouts of 

Hallelujah. 

Brethren, you may not yet 

looking ones are the best and 

he definitely rings my bell all 

of the time!” So, why did I 

feel uneasy? Because I’ve 

heard her praise men to high 

heavens, only for her to give 

them, the push when a more 

interesting prospect shows up. 

Since Mac w3as single and 

not bad-off financially 

himself, maybe Debola would 

want to settle down for a 

change. Now they lived 

together on and off, who knew 

what could happen? 

The whole thing lasted for 

just over a year. It was Kate 

who first alerted me that 

Debola was having it off with 

a banker she met at her flat. 

My heart dropped. Was 

Debola such a sex fiend? If 

Mac was ‘well-hung’, 

according to her, what did this 

banker have to offer ? “Mac 

wanted Dobola to move in 

permanently with him, but 

she told him she wasn’t 

ready’, continued Kate, “you 

know she has this expensive 

flat she bought at Dolphin 

which she did to her taste. 

have children, you may not 

have the marriage partner yet, 

you may not have the type of 

job you desire, you may even 

be coping with health 

challenges, whatever it is, this 

is not the time to give up. 

It is not the time to keep 

lamenting and asking 

yourself why me? Rather, it 

is time to deepen your faith. 

As Christians we need to 

bear in mind the words of 

Psalm 30 vs. 5, the latter part 

of which states: “ Weeping 

may endure for a night but joy 

cometh in the morning”. 

Brethren, by the grace of 

God, the lock down is winding 

down gradually. It is therefore 

time to look forward to a “ 

New Beginning”. 

A new beginning of joy, a 

new beginning of an end to 

all challenges. 

Have you been having bad 

dreams? Fear not. When 

you are afraid, the devil and 

his demons rejoice. Rather, 

you need to wake up and 

cancel such dreams with the 

Blood of Jesus. 

Revelations 12 vs. 11: And 

What would happen to it if she 

lived with Mac on a 

permanent basis? Debola 

said she wasn’t having of that. 

That house is her little haven 

from the world’s stress. Why 

throw all that over for Mac? 

What’s more, Mac was keen 

n remarrying. She wasn’t. 

The last Valentine’s Day, he 

really got romantic, 

promising Dobola his 

undying love and letting her 

know how happy he was to 

find a partner better than the 

trollop of a wife who ditched 

him for a richer man. What 

some men don’t realise is that 

when you start whining about 

past relationships, it puts their 

current partner off. 

“Anyway, this banker is up 

Debola’s street, as he is 

married but adventurous. In 

case you’re mentally looking 

at how to mend Mac and 

Debola’s affair, forget it The 

banker, according to her, is 

also well hung!” Debola’s 

appetite for sex is obvious 

insatiable! Poor Mac. What 

was to become of him? That 

question was answered a few 

later when Debola called me 

on her cell phone. Aunty”, she 

gushed a soon as I picked her 

call. “I know how you feel 

about Mac, that’s why I want 

to be the first to tell you am 

backing out”. I felt as if 

someone had died. “You have 

to break it up with him as 

gently as you could – you 

know he wound his wife’s 

betrayal left is still raw.” I 

warned. “Exactly’, agreed 

Debola, “but I’m afraid I’m 

not the tactful type. 

“I love Mac in my own way 

but he expects too much from 

this relationship. He was okay 

at first. He made me feel 

young and alive and was such 

a considerate and experienced 

lover. But the magic waned 

when he started discussing 

marriage, insisting we should 

You are equipped 

with the power of 

the Most High God 

and it is a matter of 

time for you to 

triumph 

they overcame him by the 

blood of the Lamb, and by the 

word of their testimony; …..”. 

Every good Christian should 

be able to recite this Bible 

passage at all times. 

Our Lord Jesus said to his 

disciples in Luke 10 vs. 19 “ 

Behold, I give unto you power 

to tread on serpents and 

scorpions, and over all the 

power of the enemy: and 

nothing shall by any means 

hurt you”. 

As a born-again Christian, 

Christ has empowered you. 

Bear it in mind that you are 

equipped with the power of the 

Most High God and it is a 

matter of time for you to 

triumph. 

For many couples, 

barrenness is a challenge. 

Many have taken medical 

steps that have not yielded any 

positive result. Even at that, 

the solution is not to give up. 

Make up your mind not to 

surrender to that challenge, 

rather, submit totally to the 

Lord Almighty. 

be together all the time. That 

was scary, believe me. As you 

know, I have no immediate 

plans to settle down. I loved 

the excitement that passion of 

our trysts offered and he 

should have left things at that. 

The more subtly I dropped the 

hint, the more demanding he 

became. In the end, I had to 

send him an e-mail yesterday 

telling him it was over. I 

should have had the guts to 

tell Mac to his face instead of 

sending him a cowardly e- 

mail but I didn’t want to face 

the hurt I was bound to see in 

his eyes!” 

After I hung up, I felt numb. 

Mac is being hit a painful 

punch at the solar plexus yet 

again! How sad. Out there 

are thousands of girls who’d 

give their right arm to land a 

catch like Mac. And this is 

Debola, chucking him out of 

the window! I dread the day I 

would see Mac. My only 

consolation is that I played no 

active role in bringing them 

together. Still, the thought of 

him crying into his beer all 

over again makes me want to 

tell Debola a thing or two 

about how she lives her life. 

But it’s really not my business. 

She has a right to live her life 

the best way she deems. 

Violence against 

women on the 

increase 

One in three women across 

the world has suffered 

physical or sexual violence at 

the hands of her partner, 

research reveals. 

According to new figures, 

35 percent of all women have 

experienced violence, with 

husbands or boyfriends 

responsible in 30 percent of 

those cases. 

Women are also six times 

more likely to be killed by heir 

partner than men, the figures 

According to James 4 vs. 7: 

“ Submit yourselves therefore 

to God, Resist the devil, and 

he will flee from you”. 

Brethren, whatever you do 

not want in your life will flee 

from you, if only you submit 

yourself to God. Submission 

means living according to the 

word of God. A determination 

to avoid sins, no matter how 

attractive it looks. 

Joseph when lured by 

Potiphar’s wife said to himself 

in Genesis 39 vs. 9 “ There is 

none greater in this house than 

I; neither hath he kept back 

any thing from me but thee, 

because thou art his wife: how 

then can I do this great 

wickedness, and sin against 

God?”. 

If Joseph had not fully 

submitted to God, he would 

have succumbed and 

whatever was done secretly 

would be exposed some day 

and his destiny would be 

truncated. 

Brethren, it was not easy for 

Sarah or Hannah but they 

overcame. You too will 

overcome in Jesus name. 

Sarah lost faith in the ability 

of God to give her a child. The 

Holy Bible tells us the story of 

how Abraham and Sarah 

entertained the Lord in 

Genesis 18 vs. 1-16. Our 

emphasis is on vs. 10-12 “ And 

he said, I will certainly return 

unto thee according to the 

time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy 

wife shall have a son. And 

Sarah heard it in the tent door, 

which was behind him. Now 

Abraham and Sarah were old 

and well stricken in age; and 

it ceased to be with Sarah 

after the manner of women. 

Therefore Sarah laughed 

released by the World Health 

Organisation show. 

Partners are responsible for 

39 percent of all female 

murders, compared with just 

six percent of male killings. 

Victims of abuse are also 

more likely to experience 

mental health problems, 

alcohol misuse and sexually 

transmitted disease, as well as 

unwanted pregnancy and 

abortion researchers found. 

The study comes in the same 

week that photos in British 

tabloids emerged showing 

Charles Saatchi with his 

hands around wife Nigella 

Lawson’s throat, sparking a 

national debate about 

domestic violence. 

Holly Dustin, director of the 

End Violence Against Women 

Coalition said: ‘This report 

confirms what we knew, 

which is that violence against 

women has a significant 

impact not just for the woman 

herself but on society more 

broadly. 

‘We need to take 

comprehensive action 

including preventing violence 

in the first place, public 

campaigns to change 

attitudes and offering more 

support for survivors’. 

Dr. Claudia Garcia- 

Moreno of WHO, said one of 

the problems was that staff 

coming into contact with the 

issue were not trained to deal 

with it. 

‘Often health workers 

simply do not know how to 

respond’, she said. 

The study showed that those 

who experience brutality at 

home are almost twice as 

likely to suffer depression and 

their chances of having 

alcohol-related problems – 

and undergoing abortions – 

also double. They are also one 

and a half times more likely 

to be infected with syphilis, 

Chlamydia or gonorrhoea. 

within herself, saying, After I 

am waxed old shall I have 

pleasure, my lord being old 

also?”. 

Note that Sarah had reason 

to lose hope for physical 

reasons. Simply put, she had 

stopped menstruating but 

Abraham didn’t lose hope. 

As recorded in verses 13 and 

14, the Lord lifted up her faith. 

Verse 13: “ And the LORD said 

unto Abraham, Wherefore did 

Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I 

of a surety bear a child, which 

am old?. Is anything too hard 

for the LORD? At the time 

appointed I will return unto 

thee, according to the time of 

life, and Sarah shall have a 

son”. 

Brethren, you know the 

story. It ended in verse 21 vs. 6 

when Sarah who initially lost 

faith in herself and God said, 

“ …. God has made me to 

laugh, so that all that hear will 

laugh with me”. 

This is not the time for 

despair; it is time to hold on 

to God who is able to reverse 

the irreversible. 

It doesn’t matter what you 

may be going through, we 

have a God with whom all 

things are possible. 

You need to lift up your faith 

to receive that miracle you 

have been expecting. 

God is able. Believers must 

never give up. Challenges are 

sometimes steps for us to 

move closer to God. 

This season, by the grace of 

God, whatever has been 

making you unhappy will 

give way to joy, joy 

unspeakable in Jesus name. 

Welcome to a new 

beginning in Jesus name.

PAGE 10 –SUNDAY VANGUARD, AUGUST 2, 2020 

NEW REVELATIONS ON BAKASSI: 

The odds were heavily 

against Nigeria 

—Azinge, Judge of the Commonwealth 

Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal, London (2) 

•Speaks on his title, the Okilolo 

(philosopher, thinker, sage) of Asaba 

By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South 

PROFESSOR Epiphany Azinge, SAN, Judge of the 

Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal, London 

and a former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of 

Advanced Legal Studies, was in the team that argued Nigeria’s 

case at the International Court of Justice on the Bakassi Penninsula. 

In this interview, he speaks on why Nigeria lost the case to 

Cameroun. Azinge also speaks on his title, the Okilolo (philosopher, 

thinker, sage) of Asaba. The first part of the interview was published 

last Sunday. 

Verdict on the legal profession 

The legal profession in Nigeria, both at the 

bar and bench, we have one of the best in the 

world. There are no two ways about it. One of 

the best and brightest, our judges might be 

accused of one thing or the other, but their 

judgments resonate so well all over the world. 

Many people all over the world are scrambling 

to read the judgments of our judges and using 

them for comparative studies. Our lawyers are 

also doing very well, but we have to keep 

pushing for greater frontiers. How well our 

law chambers are managed? Do we have 

partnership that will run into 300? If you go to 

England, America, there are some partnerships 

that have up to 300-500 lawyers in one law 

firm. Have we grown to that level? Yes, we have 

20, 30, 50, but time will tell if we will get to 

300, 500. Is that the way to the future, for me? 

Yes, law should not be “my father was a lawyer, 

I will be a lawyer and my children will be 

lawyers too”. This is the time to expand the 

scope and bring in many people, somebody 

specializing in this area, this person in that 

area and all that. And together you now become 

an octopus that people will come to. Clearly in 

Nigeria, the time of father-son, husband-wife 

legal practice is fading away. 

Why did Nigeria really lose 

the Bakassi case? 

Our case was dead on arrival. 

What informed the judgment of 

the court were some documents 

and treaties that our leaders 

entered before the case. There 

were declarations here and there 

and people trying to draw the 

boundary of Nigeria in such a 

way that Bakassi is excluded, 

things that were done 

innocuously but when the time 

came, it became the centerpiece 

of the judgment. In other words, 

the pivotal aspect where the 

judges concentrated and such 

evidences already pitched 

against us were made by 

Nigerians. So there was no way 

that you can discredit something 

made by you, some of those 

things signed by some of our 

leaders at that point in time 

when they never contemplated 

that a day like that would come at the 

International Court of Justice. So it was like 

they used your own documents prepared by 

you against you and that puts you in a very 

tight corner; that was the basis of losing the 

matter, not necessarily on the basis of legalese, 

skills or any such thing. 

You are the first and only person to be 

conferred with the title of Okilolo 

(philosopher, thinker, sage) of Asaba. What 

is it all about? 

Okilolo means that you have a burden of 

helping to chart a path and articulate positive 

policy thrust that will help to bring about 

desirable changes in the community, while 

reviewing those already in existence and 

modifying them where necessary. It is a title 

that makes you go to bed thinking on how to 

improve on the state of things, the welfare of 

your people, the developmental programmes 

and, of course, helping to advise the institutions 

on how to plan a new course. It is a title that 

puts a lot of responsibilities on you in many 

ways and it makes you to look out for clear-cut 

novel policies that can be translated to 

evolution of your community. My training 

professionally seems to have prepared me for 

the position: a scholar who has attained high 

intellectual accomplishments – a doctoral 

degree well before I was 30 and having being 

in the academia for a very long time. Last 

month (June) marked my 20 years of being a 

professor and I am still in a very strong position 

to fathom how things can be improved at any 

point in time, to shift frontiers, develop new 

ones and fine tune old ones in a way to make 

for positive growth and development in the 

system. 

As an Okailolo, a philosopher in his own 

right and a thinker in the mold of great 

philosophers, you have the responsibility to be 

a leader and the title in Asaba means dube 

anyi, which means “lead us”. So the title confers 

on you that leadership role. 

You are not leading 

because you are in 

competition with the 

throne because it is the 

So it was like 

they used your 

own documents 

prepared by 

you against you 

and that puts 

you in a very 

tight corner 

throne that conferred that 

responsibility on you, but 

because you are a chief of 

the palace. It is the palace 

that selected you, your 

opinion is sought and your 

views are heard and they 

accord it respect and 

listening ears because it is 

coming from an elevated 

pedestal. It is a title that 

was well carved out to suit 

a particular purpose, so I 

wear that title with dignity 

and I am conscious of the 

obligation that goes with it. 

Thinkers like you in 

other climes consult with 

spirits and enlist in 

occultist groups to be able 

to steer their people. Do you consult with 

spirits and in which cult are you? 

(Long laughter) I believe in God. I am a 

prayerful person and I have surrendered my 

life to him; maybe to that extent, I am 

consulting with the spirits because God is Spirit 

and everybody that worships Him must do so 

in spirit and truth. That for me is the divine 

way of going about it. But I do not think in 

human life that we need these extra powers to 

do what we are supposed to do. You do not 

need them to pass through college, university, 

do master’s and doctorate degrees and all that. 

I believe that one with God is with the majority; 

the only thing is that you read widely, you open 

up yourself and draw 

ideas. Those of us in the 

academia are creative 

people; you do not need 

cult or ancestral spirit to 

lead your people. 

The phenomenon 

about the Azinge family 

But there is one thing 

common about the 

Azinge family of Asaba: 

Our great grandfather 

was the chief priest of a 

deity in Asaba, the 

Onishe Shrine, but one thing that marvels 

people is that the major symbol of the Azinge 

family currently is Christianity. My father 

moved fully into Christianity, abandoning his 

roots of being the offspring of a chief priest, 

his senior brother; there were only two of them. 

So, two brothers, who were offspring of a chief 

priest of a deity, abandoned that path and there 

is no Azinge today that is not a very strong 

Christian. We have reverend fathers, pastors, 

we are completely disconnected and our 

family’s symbol is a Bible opened with a pen. 

So, the Azinge people identify with religion 

and education. Some of us also marvel today 

how our fathers were able to disconnect and 

we have not had any repercussion arising 

from their wonderful decision. And beyond our 

imagination, the family has prospered 

enormously, giving us the impression that the 

decision of the two brothers was the right 

decision. 

Asaba struggling with both modernity and 

tradition 

Well, before Delta State was created, Asaba 

was a sleepy, rusty town by the Niger, but the 

creation of Delta State and siting of the capital 

in Asaba certainly seemed to have expanded 

and widened our scope of development. And 

for that we are grateful. In the midst of all 

these, Asaba has remained a peaceful capital 

territory of Delta State, one that is so attractive 

to people either from other parts of Delta, Edo 

State, and, more importantly, people from 

across the Niger. It is a melting point so to 

speak. To God be the glory, at the time this is 

happening and before it started, we were lucky 

to have a traditional ruler, the Asagba of Asaba, 

Obi (Prof) Chike Edozien, a leading scholar in 

his own right, traditionalist, reformer and 

administrator to navigate and chart the course 

for his own people. He has been instrumental 

in the way we have been able to delicately 

balance the issues of tradition and modernity. 

It is not that all have been rosy; we have paid 

the price of being a capital territory. Asaba is 

completely if not totally deprived of land at 

this point in time. Most of the land of the people 

have been taken over by government to the 

extent that some of us are now wondering where 

our children will build. People are trying to 

look for even one acre of land in Asaba and 

cannot find; that, to me, is a gun powder that is 

waiting to explode because our children will 

•Azinge 

ask critical question when the time comes and 

they may not get favorable answer. But beyond 

that, we are happy with the level of 

development and many other things that it has 

attracted to us. We are happy that it has 

exposed Asaba to the international community, 

not that we had not been exposed before now, 

mark you, Asaba used to be the headquarters 

of the Royal Niger Company, which makes us 

the equivalent of the capital of Nigeria at that 

point in time; we have always been there, but 

now, you cannot mention Delta State without 

mentioning Asaba. But like I said, the burden 

of being a capital city is also there, but we have 

tried as much as possible to retain our tradition 

without necessarily allowing it to be an 

impediment to growth and development. So 

that balancing is what we have strived to get 

right at every point in time, but our tradition is 

still in place. 

We are not the first to venture into this 

situation. Benin City is still there and, as a 

role model in that regard, Benin is strongly 

a traditional seat, yet it has developed the 

way it has developed, the throne is still 

there, the tradition and custom is known 

to those who are even non-indigenes. I 

believe that is what we are facing in Asaba 

and, of course, we have a lot to borrow from 

Benin City. However, depending on the 

person that is leading at any point in time, 

the thinking of a reformer on the throne 

of our forefathers, as the Asagba of Asaba, 

Obi (Prof) Chike Edozien, he understands 

from his vast knowledge and experience 

that Asaba must be given the opportunity 

to grow, but without compromising the 

things that are dear to our history, custom, 

tradition, beliefs, among others. We have 

been able to manage all these, but then 

again we have our land and other things 

what we have lost. 

What prepared you for your numerous 

achievements? 

The blessings of God, the little goodwill that 

flows from good parenting and the innermost 

desire to become a success. It is the hand of 

God that makes one to achieve His desires. 

Personally, I had the drive to accomplish the 

much as I can. I wanted to read law and 

prepared myself for it. 

Regrets 

I do not have any regret; there is nothing 

that I had wished that I have not achieved for 

myself at this point in time.

Margaret Idahosa: First 

Female Archbishop in Africa 

Early last week, 

emerging railway 

stations in Nigeria 

were reportedly named after 

some citizens. Apart from one 

or two names, most of those 

so honoured belonged to the 

political class. This showed 

again that in our clime, each 

time we have cause to honour 

people our first official 

thoughts focus on politicians 

as if to hold a political office 

automatically conjures good 

conduct and excellent 

performance; yet we all know 

that the same political class 

has always been behind the 

nation’s woes. Indeed, it is now 

officially accepted that any 

person who is declared winner 

of an election to our federal 

legislature immediately 

becomes an illustrious and 

eminent personality with the 

appellation ‘distinguished’ or 

‘honorable’ immediately 

affixed to his or her name as 

senator or member of the 

House of Representatives 

respectively. Interestingly, 

many citizens including even 

those so honoured hardly 

believe they deserve such 

favour. 

When some two days after 

the railway story, I ran into a 

PhD,Department of 

Philosophy, 

University of Lagos 

08116759758 

opuruiche2000@gmail.com 

he failure of Dr. Azikiwe 

Tand Chief Awolowo to 

unite against Sir Robertson’s 

northernisation agenda is 

regrettable because it not only 

allowed Britain to get away 

with odious political 

shenanigans that unjustly 

favoured the north, it also laid 

the foundation for the 

subsequent entrenchment of 

mediocre Fulani caliphate 

colonisation which over the 

decades has crippled Nigeria. 

Before independence in 1960 

British officials had displayed 

with impunity favouritism 

towards the north. So, it is 

unrealistic to expect them to 

hand over power to either 

Azikiwe or Awolowo both of 

whom, as I suggested earlier, 

played into their hands by not 

joining forces together to 

thwart Sir Robertson’s 

intentions. Remember also 

that northern delegates to the 

constitutional conferences 

held before 1960 had 

repeatedly used the threat of 

secession to get more 

concessions from colonial 

officials who usually 

responded as if Nigeria was 

created by the British for the 

north. 

Clearly, the emergence of 

Sir Tafawa Balewa as Prime 

Minister meant that Nigeria 

entered independence on a 

wrong footing. First, Balewa 

did not possess the requisite 

intellectual sophistication, 

relevant exposure and 

experience to govern a 

modern nation-state based on 

secular constitutional 

democracy. Second, his party, 

the NPC, was an extremely 

report in an obscure corner of 

a local newspaper, which 

stated that Dr (Mrs.) 

Margaret Idahosa had 

clocked 77 years, it occurred 

to me that something was not 

right about our perception of 

values. If those who honour 

many of our fake politicians 

had taken a little time to look 

out for citizens who had made 

substantial contributions to 

our nation’s growth and 

development, they would 

probably have come across 

Idahosa, Matriarch of 

Pentecostalism in Nigeria and 

a leading religious teacher 

and moral reformer. But that 

is hardly done, instead, many 

of those that are always lucky 

to be picked are simply noise 

makers and election riggers 

with no second address or 

persuasive antecedents. It is 

time to depart from such 

irritating comedy and search 

for citizens with enviable 

track records. One such 

Nigerian, is Dr (Mrs.) 

Margaret Idahosa, widow of 

Benson Idahosa widelyacclaimed 

Father of 

Nigeria’s Pentecostalism. 

The life and times of 

Margaret Idahosa testify to 

the fact that certain women 

Was the amalgamation of 

northern and southern Nigeria in 

1914 a mistake? (3) 

clannish political 

organisation guided by its 

motto of “One North, One 

People,” with no elected 

member from the south in the 

House of Representatives. 

Third, as I have already 

indicated, Robertson was 

more interested in making 

Balewa Prime Minister than 

in delivering a free and fair 

elections that might produce 

Azikiwe or Awolowo instead. 

Fourth, southern politicians 

were at the forefront of the 

nationalist struggle for 

independence while their 

northern counterparts 

oftentimes delayed the process 

or acted as spoilers because 

they knew that the north at that 

time lacked an efficient 

modern administrative 

machinery and educated 

workforce that can function 

on its own. Matters came to a 

head in 1953 on the floor of 

the federal House of 

Representatives when 

Anthony Enahoro from AG 

tabled a motion for 

independence in 1956. The 

northern majority in the House 

flatly rejected the date, and 

substituted it with the more 

modest and vague goal of 

attaining independence 

“when practicable.” Thus, it 

was a clear case of rewarding 

Sardauna and his cohorts for 

their reluctant approach to 

independence when the NPC 

took political control from the 

departing British, with the 

NCNC as junior partner in a 

wobbly coalition whereas the 

AG under Awolowo formed 

the Opposition. 

An important point that has 

behind successful men can 

hold the fortress on their own, 

when their men are no more. 

That has been the fate of Mrs. 

Idahosa who in the last two 

decades and more, has 

excellently managed the 

Church of God Mission 

International (CGMi) 

founded by her husband, the 

legendary Archbishop Benson 

Idahosa who passed on in 

1998. Those who had feared 

that the man’s magnificent 

legacy may dwindle have 

since found that his widow is 

a talented, committed builder, 

leader and coordinator of 

repute. Rather than a decline, 

the church attained 

astronomical progress two 

years ago, during its golden 

jubilee under Margaret, the 

new leader with sterling 

qualities. This probably 

influenced the statement 

credited to Edo Governor 

Godwin Obaseki at the golden 

jubilee of CGMi that “we 

thought the passing of the 

founder would lead to the 

collapse of the Church but we 

are here celebrating the 

vibrancy of the Church in the 

past 50 years. Vice President 

Yemi Osinbajo corroborated 

this observation by describing 

the lady as “a woman of 

history, destiny and the future, 

who has been able to crack 

the glass ceiling in the gospel 

world that is dominated by 

male preachers and whose 

messages have changed the 

destinies of many.” Today, 

not received adequate 

attention from supporters of 

amalgamation is the virtual 

impossibility of creating a 

stable democratic state based 

on secular constitution in a 

geopolitical environment 

where one part is 

predominantly Muslim and 

the other hosts a significant 

population of western 

educated Christians. Modern 

democratic government and 

Islamic theocracy based on 

sharia are like water and palm 

oil – they cannot mix since 

their fundamental 

presuppositions are 

contradictory. This point has 

been explored by Ibn Warraq 

in his remarkable book, Why 

I am not a Muslim. As applied 

to Nigeria, the template set by 

the arch-jihadist Uthman Dan 

Fodio even before the 

founding of Nigeria and 

reiterated at various times 

since independence by 

Ahmadu Bello, Maitama 

Sule and others is that 

Northern Muslims must 

dominate southern Nigeria 

using any means necessary, 

including military conquest 

and Islamisation. Once this 

factor is inserted into the 

analysis of major political 

events in the country after 

colonial rule, the error of the 

amalgamation leaps into 

prominent relief and the 

primitive nepotic leadership 

of northerners that has 

reached its zenith in the 

present dispensation becomes 

intelligible. Let me put it this 

way: Islamic theocracy is at 

odds with secular 

constitutional democracy. 

Leading members of the 

northern intellectualpolitical-military 

establishment are devout 

Muslims who feel deep down 

that sharia is superior to the 

constitution and should be the 

grundnorm for Nigeria. 

Therefore, although 

northerners that have ruled 

Nigeria made pretensions 

about constitutional 

democracy and some of them 

had indeed supervised the 

drafting of constitutions to 

that effect, recognition of 

sharia in the constitutions and 

CGMi has presence in well 

over 4000 branches across 

Nigeria, as well as Africa, 

Europe, North America and 

Asia. 

One of the greatest factors 

behind the success story of the 

As a courageous leader, 

she did not hesitate to 

deprecate politicians 

whose love for 

materialism often 

hinders development 

Idahosas is fervent 

continuation of the belief of 

their patriarch in the vision of 

Nelson Mandela that 

“education is the most 

powerful weapon which you 

can use to change the 

world.” This is because like 

religion, education plays a 

major role in the 

socialization process of 

society. This obviously 

explains the existence today 

of the Benson Idahosa 

University (BIU) in Benin 

City which started in 1993 

as the Christian Faith 

University-Institute of 

Continuous Learning in 

affiliation with the 

University of Benin, and the 

then Edo State University, 

now Ambrose Ali University, 

Ekpoma. In February 2002, 

BIU, which received the 

required license to operate 

as a private university in 

Nigeria from the National 

Universities Commission, is 

now a world-renowned 

university with five Faculties 

which in addition to the 

existing campus are now 

located at the permanent site 

Overall, the amalgamation 

was very beneficial 

politically and economically 

for Britain and her puppets 

from northern Nigeria 

its implementation in 

northern states is a stark 

reminder that the Muslim 

north is merely playing along 

for now because the unitarist 

constitution in place is 

favourable to it and, in fact, is 

compatible to sharia in some 

important respects, especially 

the excessive powers granted 

the President and the federal 

government. As far back as 

1942, northern traditional 

rulers had insisted that 

“holding this country together 

is not possible except by means 

of the religion of the prophet. If 

they [southerners] want 

political unity let them follow 

our religion.” Two years later, 

the then Sultan of Sokoto, 

Siddiq Abubakar III, 

proclaimed that “Those 

southerners who desire a united 

Nigeria should first embrace 

Islam as their religion.” Boko 

Haram, the terrorist wing of 

the northern establishment, 

issued a bulletin in December 

2011 wherein it reiterated its 

core mission as follows: “We 

want to reemphasise that our 

main objective is the restoration 

of the sharia legal system in 

line with the teachings of the 

Holy Qur’an. We want the 

Nigerian constitution 

abrogated and democracy 

suspended and a full-fledged 

Islamic state established.” 

Needless to say, President 

Buhari not only made a case 

in defence of Boko Haram in 

2014 but also boldly 

supported the spread of sharia 

nationwide. That Britain 

ignored the instability and 

turbulence inherent in the 

deep-rooted differences 

between the Muslim north 

and southern Nigeria with a 

substantial non-Islamic 

population and still went 

ahead with the amalgamation 

is indicative of the contempt 

she has for black people. 


known as the legacy 

campus. Among other 

accolades, BIU is one of the 

first institutions to 

participate in the training of 

delegates under the 

Presidential Amnesty 

Programme which attests to 

its relevance to the entire 

Nigerian society. 

Benson Idahosa 

University is daily making 

huge gains from the 

goodwill of its founder. In 

2017, it was a thankful 

Chancellor of the University, 

Archbishop Margaret 

Idahosa, that commissioned 

a one-Kilometer dual 

carriage road donated by 

the Managing Director of 

Ray Royal Construction 

Company, Rev. (Dr.) 

Matthew Okpebholo, at the 

legacy campus. Only in 

March, the University 

commissioned a N1 billion 

faculty of engineering 

building donated by the 

founder and President of 

Christ Embassy Church, 

Rev. Chris Oyakhilome - one 

the outstanding religious 

leaders inspired by the late 

Archbishop Benson Idahosa. 

Although the University is 

the most popularly known 

among its educational 

institutions there are several 

others at lower levels 

initiated by CGMi. Being a 

trained educationist herself, 

Margaret Idahosa takes 

pride in her establishment of 

the Word of Faith Schools 

which currently has more 

than 100 schools at 

Kindergarten, Primary and 

Secondary levels all over 

Nigeria. 

CGMi is also dedicated to 

the extension of health 

delivery service to mankind 

hence it established in 1989, 

the Faith Mediplex group of 

hospitals in Benin. The 

initiative clearly depicts the 

CGMi leadership as lucid, 

unlike some other church 

leaders who naively counsel 

their followers to shun 

health delivery service on 

the basis of religion. The 

The collapse of the British 

contraption which led to the 

civil war less than six years 

after independence is the most 

consequential indictment of 

the amalgamation. Both the 

remote and proximate causes 

of that costly conflict have 

been competently 

documented by historians and 

writers of different stripes and 

ideological orientations. The 

most unfortunate aspect of it 

all is that, out of stupidity, 

hatred of the Igbo, and 

myopic vision northern 

Nigerian leaders failed to 

harness the scientific and 

technological ingenuity 

showcased by Biafrans during 

the war. More tellingly, the 

dominant northern ruling 

power block and their puppets 

from the south are still 

repeating the same mistakes 

that led to the war. They are so 

pachydermatous, corrupt, 

selfish and wicked that the 

lessons of the conflict seem to 

be completely lost on them. 

Detailing here the deep selfinflicted 

wounds on “Niger 

Area” caused by Yakubu 

Gowon and others since July 

29, 1966 would elongate this 

analysis unnecessarily. 

However, they are very glaring 

in the current administration 

of President Muhammadu 

Buhari which has failed 

abysmally in the three 

cardinal pillars on which he 

campaigned for the 

presidency in 2015, namely, 

rebuilding the economy, 

enhancing security, and 

decapitating corruption. 

“Niger Area” is poorer and 

more divided now because of 

his unprecedented nepotism 

and mediocrity. I have said it 

before and I will repeat it 

again: Buhari governs the 

country as if she were the 

Fulani Republic of Nigeria, 

which is why flotsam and 

jetsam Fulani in the north and 

from other West African 

countries are pouring into the 

southern forests in large 

numbers. Never before in our 

history have northern 

Muslims of questionable 

abilities dominated the 

topmost positions in the three 

branches of the federal 

excellent service being 

rendered in the hospital 

tallies with the founding 

mission of Archbishop 

Benson Idahosa to “merging 

the hand of prayer with the 

hand of medicine to heal the 

whole person - spirit, mind 

and body.” Like all the 

legacies of Papa Idahosa, 

the hospital complex has 

since grown by leaps and 

bounds into a multispecialty 

teaching hospital 

complex with multiple 

training programmes and 

extension hospitals in 

Abuja, FCT and Uyo, in 

Akwa Ibom State. Only 

recently, an Annex of the 

hospital known as the Big 

Ben Children’s Hospital 

(BBCH) came on board to 

specifically provide state of 

the art, labour and delivery 

facilities, obstetrical 

theatre, neonatal ICU, and 

birthing centre suites. 

Archbishop Margaret 

Idahosa is apolitical but 

exercises no hesitation in 

supporting the government 

of the day to develop the 

state. As a courageous 

leader, she did not hesitate 

to deprecate politicians 

whose love for materialism 

often hinders development. 

Hence amidst political 

tension in Edo state, she 

admonished Governor 

Godwin Obaseki “not to be 

distracted by the things you 

hear or see. There are some 

who would not appreciate a 

performing Governor like 

Your Excellency but thank 

God you have people like 

me and my prayer group 

lifting you to God, and no 

weapon, no incantation, no 

fiery darts of the enemy will 

touch you.” Margaret 

Idahosa has always been a 

lucky woman; though her 

husband is no more, she is 

blessed with an amazing 

son, Bishop Feb Idahosa, 

who serves as Vice President 

and modern engine of the 

world of CGMi. To Mama 

Margaret, many happy 

returns of July 29. 

government, the security 

system, and most key areas of 

the economy. Given the 

grotesque unitary 

arrangement in operation 

especially since 1967, poor 

leadership at the centre, like 

a horrible pandemic or 

cancer, has devastated the 

entire country. Consequently, 

it is time to dismantle the 

colonial amalgam so that the 

constituent ethnic 

nationalities can build their 

own nations with others that 

are geographically, 

historically and culturally 

connected to them, and may 

subsequently come together in 

future to form a 

confederation of nations. 

People with warped and 

hawkish warmongering 

outlook think, wrongly, that 

such a radical reconstitution 

of Nigeria must necessitate 

violence. That may be true 

considering the obduracy of 

the northern power block and 

their agbata ekee southern 

collaborators benefiting from 

the skewed system and whose 

foot-soldiers threaten violence 

whenever any southern ethnic 

group demands selfdetermination. 

But history, 

like the vulture, is patient: that 

which will be will be, in due 

time, depending on the 

dialectical interplay of 

complex historical forces. 

Overall, the amalgamation 

was very beneficial politically 

and economically for Britain 

and her puppets from 

northern Nigeria. But to 

peoples of the former eastern 

and western regions 

especially since 1966 it has 

been a colossal mistake of 

historical proportions 

because belonging to a unified 

Nigeria has prevented them 

from harnessing the 

impressive human and 

natural resources in their 

domains for rapid 

development. Certainly, it is 

not mere coincidence that 

Nigeria witnessed her best 

period of progress when the 

east, the west and northern 

regions were governed as 

semi-autonomous entities. 

Think about that. 

CONCLUDED.


2023: 

How the North can 

help Igbo become 

President, Arthur Eze 

•Slams region’s govs for not caring ‘whether you eat or not’ 

•‘Why I am taking Anambra monarchs to Buhari in Abuja’ 

Igbo billionaire, Prince Arthur Eze, says for the Igbo to realise their dream of 

producing the President of Nigeria in 2023, they must work with the North. In 

this interview conducted by Nnamdi Ojiego in his country home, Ukpo, in 

Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State, Eze reveals why he’s taking 

Governor Willie Obiano to court, his support for President Muhammadu Buhari, 

among other issues. Excerpts: 

Recently, there have been calls from 

some quarters for an Igbo to be president 

of Nigeria in 2023. What’s your take on 

this? 

Listen, I don’t have any objections to that 

because only God can make anybody 

president including Igbo person. It is 

possible for an Igbo person to become 

Nigeria’s president in 2023. However, for 

us to achieve that, we must work with the 

North. Again, we shall pray to God to find 

an Igbo man who has character to help 

people. I would prefer someone who has 

conscience; somebody who will 

remember the people. I don’t care where 

he or she comes from. During the time of 

President Jonathan, we had the Secretary 

to the Government of the Federation 

(SGF), Pius Anyim. What did he do for 

Igbo people? He brought Julius Berger 

and they tarred his own road; the one 

leading to his house. All our roads were 

bad. It is President Buhari that is tarring 

our roads now. Look at Enugu – Onitsha 

Road, Enugu – Port Harcourt Road, 

Second Niger Bridge. He went and 

modernized Zik’s grave. Did Jonathan do 

that? These South-East governors, does 

any of them ask whether you eat or not? 

For example, in Anambra 

State, Dunukofia Local 

Government Area makes 

about N150 million every 

month. Has Governor 

Obiano built anything in 

Dunukofia? Has he brought 

any industry to Anambra? 

Tell me. Your children, 

where are they going to go 

tomorrow? Go to Yoruba 

land in Ogun, you will see 

industries. Go to Rivers and 

you’ll see industries. I 

started politics when I was 

very young. My father was 

a member of the Eastern 

House of Chiefs during the 

time of Nnamdi Azikiwe 

and then Premier Okpara. 

I used to open doors for 

politicians whenever they 

come around, and my father 

never opposed any leader, 

be he Yoruba or Hausa. It is 

not in our blood. We 

preferred to live in peace 

with everybody. So, for the Igbo to be 

President, they must love themselves and 

work other regions. We must learn from 

Nnamdi Azikiwe. Zik was a wise man. 

During his time, he built bridges with the 

North through the Sardauna of Sokoto 

and Tafawa Balewa. It is important that 

we emulate Zik at this point in time in 

Then, they 

put me in oil 

business. 

They didn’t 

care where I 

came from. 

Tell me any 

Igbo man who 

can do that 

our lives as a people. The seed of discord 

between the North and Ndigbo should be 

broken totally so that both regions can 

enjoy harmonious relationship for the 

benefit of all. 

You said northerners love the Igbo. 

Why did you say so? 

Yes. Why I said so is because, after civil 

war, when Igbo properties were being 

seized in Rivers and other areas, 

northerners didn’t seize anything. In fact, 

they returned all Igbo properties 

including money made from them. So, 

northerners are kind. Again, when I went 

to the North, they didn’t know who I was 

but they supported me and helped me to 

establish (businesses). Abubakar Rimi 

(second republic Kano governor) gave me 

$12 million for Kano TV in 1980 when I 

didn’t have one naira. He called Governor 

Lar and he gave me that of Plateau for 

$12 million. It was the same thing in 

Katsina, Borno and Kaduna. Then, they 

put me in oil business. They didn’t care 

where I came from. Tell me any Igbo man 

who can do that. 

We learnt that you are taking Anambra 

State traditional rulers to 

President Buhari. What’s 

the purpose of the visit? 

Yes. The Anambra State 

Council of Traditional 

Rulers held a meeting with 

me. The purpose of the 

meeting was to appraise 

the achievements of 

President Buhari in the 

South-East and to reach a 

resolution for a thank you 

visit to the President. You 

see all he’s doing for us? 

Did you see the Onitsha- 

Enugu road? It is the best 

in Africa. What about 

Onitsha-Enugu road, 

Enugu - Port Harcourt 

road, Enugu airport, 

Second Niger Bridge and 

many others. Buhari built 

and decorated the Zik’s 

mausoleum. Only a 

northerner can do that. So 

basically, we are visiting 

the President to thank 

him for the numerous developmental 

projects both completed and ongoing in 

the South-East, and to appeal to him to 

complete ongoing projects. We will also 

use the visit to beg him to dredge River 

Niger to allow ships berth at the river to 

help our people who are largely 

importers. 

•Eze 

It was reported that you are taking your 

governor, Willie Obiano, to court. Why? 

To compel him to pay traditional rulers 

their outstanding statutory entitlements 

which were approved by the late General 

Sani Abacha. The late Head of State 

allocated five percent for traditional 

rulers. The North has been implementing 

their own up till today. Northern 

governors are paying their traditional 

rulers. Western governors are paying 

theirs but South-East governors, except 

that of Enugu State, are not paying, why? 

So I am taking Obiano to court unless he 

pays the outstanding money owed 

traditional rulers, start doing something 

for the people and stop wasting state’s 

resources on projects that have no 

economic impact on the people like the 

airport he’s building. Obiano is spending 

$3billion to build airport at Aguleri while 

the people of Aguleri don’t have good 

roads. Enugu, where there is an airport, 

to Anambra is about 20 minutes’ drive, 

then you have Asaba airport close by. So, 

do we really need another airport? Why 

not use the money to build industries and 

other critical infrastructure? Provide 

something for your people, your own 

children. Very soon we shall die. Your 

children, where are you going to engage 

them? Which industry did they build? 

They didn’t build any, not even one that is 

producing toilet tissue. That is the 

problem. 

It was alleged that you were having a 

running battle with Obiano over the 

siting of the Zone 13 Police Command 

facility? 

I’m not aware of anything like that. On 

the siting of the police command, it will 

interest you to know that in Anambra, 

Dunukofia or Ukpo is in the middle 

position. From here to Enugu with the new 

express road is just 20 minutes. From here 

to Ebonyi is about one hour using the road 

Buhari built for us. Here is a centralized 

place, that’s why it is sited here. Governor 

Obiano wanted it to be in Aguleri, his 

hometown. I thought that he would be 

happy we brought it to the centre because, 

from here to his place is less than seven 

minutes’ drive and from here to Onitsha 

is seven minutes. I thought that we were 

working together until I heard that he 

went to Abuja to spray money. The point 

is that I didn’t even fight. I didn’t have the 

impression that I was fighting but when I 

heard that Obiano wrote a petition 

against me, I knew that there was actually 

a war. His people, Aguleri and Umueri, 

have been fighting war for many years, 

killing themselves but he has never 

reconciled them. Now, he’s interested on 

where to site Zone 13 Headquarters. The 

most important thing for him now should 

be to reconcile Aguleri and Umuleri 

communities, this is important and should 

be his utmost concern. So, where the 

facility is sited does not bother me. 

By next year, Anambra will be electing 

another governor and there is this 

argument over zoning. Where do you 

stand on this issue? 

The point is, if you see a good man, no 

matter where he is from, go and help him. 

Let them have the opportunity; provided 

that there is a good human being from 

that area; not a criminal that will deal 

with the people when he acquires power. 

Any man from the minority which has not 

gotten power should be allowed. This is 

because if you don’t do that, God can 

change situations anytime.

SUNDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 2, 2020, PAGE 13 

The nightmare of an irate ex-lover’s bedroom attack! 

t’s never been wise to leap 

Iinto a relationship on the 

rebound. This Samantha found 

out the hard way. “I was in love 

with my fiance Mike. I met him 

when I started work at the 

company we worked with. He 

had such a warm personality 

that we’d hit it off straightaway. 

He treated me like a princess 

from the word go and took me 

on dates to very interesting 

places and when he asked me 

to marry him, I agreed. 

“It was shortly after that we 

started rowing over money. I 

thought we should start saving 

for the wedding but Mike didn’t 

want to let go his independence 

and social life. The arguments 

went on and on – silly 

arguments but enough to come 

between us. In the end, we 

decided to cool things until we 

were both clear as what we 

wanted. 

“It was weeks after that a 

friend told me Pious, with 

whom I’d had casual fling years 

ago, was asking after me. He 

would be a bit of fun, I thought, 

a welcome distraction. So I 

texted him and we agreed to 

meet at his flat. We were a bit 

nervous as we chatted about old 

times. I couldn’t help but notice 

that Pious, now in his late 30s, 

was now drinking a lot. He had 

a slight menacing look on 

his face now,but after a 

pleasant evening 

reminiscing, I didn’t see any 

harm in giving him a chance. 

“But it wasn’t easy. He was 

a computer analyst and I was 

a matron in a teaching 

hospital, so it was hard for 

us to arrange convenient 

dates. On top of which his 

boozing got worse and he 

could be nasty and 

menacing when he’s drunk. 

“We were at a friend’s 

party one evening when I 

glanced his way and saw 

him giving me a murderous 

look. What’s the matter with 

him now? I thought. What 

have I done and got myself 

into? As soon as we got to his 

place, I got out of his car and 

made for mine. “Where do 

you think you’re going, he 

snarled,leaping out of his car 

and dragging me roughly 

across to his flat. I stared at 

him, shocked by what he was 

doing. He grabbed at my 

boobs and squeezed hard. 

`You want sex, right?’ he 

taunted. `I saw you lusting 

after that jerk you were 

talking to at the party. If you 

want sex, I’ll give you plenty!’ 

“I broke away from him 

and luckily, some of his 

neighbours heard the 

commotion and came out. I 

dashed into my car and sped 

off. Mike would never have 

dreamt of laying a finger on 

me, I cried sadly as I drove 

home. Pious was definitely in 

my past now, I resolved. He 

pleaded and promised to 

change, but those menacing 

looks he always wore when he 

was drink helped make up my 

mind to give him a wide berth. 

He bombarded me with 

abusive text messages, calling 

me a slag and a whore and I 

had to report him to the police 

so he could be warned to keep 

the peace. 

Meanwhile, Mike had 

started texting me again. After 

the nightmare of being with 

Pious, he was like a breath of 

fresh air. I couldn’t contain my 

delight. I invited him round 

to my flat and all of my old 

feeling for him came flooding 

back. We talked for hours 

about giving our relationship 

another go. Much later, it was 

too late for him to go home. 

Since he next day was a 

Saturday, he slept over. I was 

trying to get breakfast the 

next morning when he dame 

into the kitchen and started 

kissing me passionately. It felt 

so good after all the stress 

Pious had put me through. 

We were suddenly taken over 

by the passion of the moment 

and we started having sex 

right there in the kitchen. 

“When it was over, Mike 

lifted me up and sat me on 

the work top. The next thing I 

knew, there was a terrible earsplitting 

noise. Heart 

thumping, I turned to the 

window, the glass had been 

shattered and I knew instantly 

it was Pious – he was coming 

for revenge. What on earth 

would he do when he saw 

Mike here with me? Seconds 

later, he smashed his way into 

the flat. He was clutching a 

stick and I froze in terror. It 

was like something out of a 

horror movie! Wide-eyed with 

fear, I looked at Mike. I leapt 

into action, covering up my 

naked body. As he bent down 

to pull up his trousers, Pious 

lugged a him, swinging the 

stick he had with him at Mike. 

I screamed as Pious started 

whacking him, his eyes cold 

with rage. It was as if he’d been 

possessed by the devil. `I saw 

you, you sex maniac’, he raged, 

`you were shagging my girl!’. 

“I continued screaming an 

tried to separate them but it 

was no good. My small frame 

was simply swamped by the 

two big burly men fighting in 

my kitchen. Mike started to 

fight back. He was hitting 

Pious blow after blow, trying 

to save us from this maniac. 

My screams mus have 

attracted my co-tenants as a 

few of them rushed in to 

subdue Pious. The thug ran off 

like the coward he was. 

“I made a full report at the 

police station where I’d earlier 

reported him and he’s 

currently facing assault 

charges. Mike and I are 

stronger than ever. Only, 

whenever I run into any of the 

neighbours who came to our 

rescue, I cringed. Thanks to 

that monster, they now know 

how I look like naked!” 

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Dear readers, please note that we neither operate, nor are we an affiliate of any match–making agency in or outside the 

country. Any reader who transacts business with any one claiming to be our agent does so at his/her own risk. Our mission 

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Also note that neither Vanguard, nor Yetunde Arebi will be liable for any error in the publication of requests which may 

result in any form of embarrassment to any member of the public. We therefore request that text must be sent through at least 

one of the numbers for contact. This notice is necessary to enable us serve you better in our refreshingly different style. You 

can send your requests to 33055. For enquiries, text or call 08026651636, or 08054700825 

UK group backs call for end to marginalisation of Urhobo 

group, Urhobo Kpobaro, 

A made up of Nigerian 

professionals in the diaspora, 

has backed the agitation by 

Campaign for the Economic 

Survival of the Urhobo Nation 

(CATESUN) seeking inclusion 

and a better deal for the 

Urhobo in the oil and gas 

sector and resources, 

describing it as the way forward 

towards eradicating the 

marginalization suffered by the 

ethnic nationality over the 

years 

The group, which is based in 

the United Kingdom (UK) and 

Ireland, in a statement by Chief 

Otite Otite (President), Chief 

Ovie Ukueku (General 

Secretary) and Mr Sunny 

Idigbe (Legal Adviser) stated 

that the mantra taken by 

CATESUN, led by Olorogun 

Ese Kakor, and “his 

counterparts in Ijaw and 

Itsekiri, is something we 

should have taken on as a 

nation long before now.” 

According to the group, “As 

the fifth largest ethnic group in 

Nigeria, as acclaimed by 

some scholars with 10 local 

government areas and 24 

Kingdoms across DeltaState 

with most of them as oil 

producing communities 

with a capacity of 64 million 

barrels of oil annually this is 

according to the first oil 

summit, it is a shame that the 

Urhobo nation has nothing 

to show in terms of sociocultural 

and infrastructural 

advancement. It is also a slap 

on us as a nation when our 

indigenes were not included 

in the bidding process for the 

just conducted sale of 57 

marginal fields situated in 

the region by the Federal 

Government, International 

Oil Companies and Niger 

Delta Development 

Commission. 

Oil revenues from the 

region has been craftily 

hidden from the people, so 

much so, that the last ever 

revenue on record we have 

of the region is well over 26 

years ago with Kokori alone 

generating as much as N68B 

in one year. One beginsi to 

ask, what is the true revenue 

generated, not from Kokori, 

but the entire oil producing 

communities, which include 

Sapele, Idjerhe, Okpe, Isoko, 

among others? 

“We welcome the action of 

CATESUN, just as we 

welcome the call for calm as 

done recently by the Deputy 

Governor. However, the time 

for talks are over, we want to 

see an action plan. Most 

importantly, we want to see a 

pathway towards resolving 

this anomaly that has been 

meted on the Urhobo people 

over the years. 

“Urhobo Kpobaro UK and 

Ireland salute Olorogun Ese 

Kakor and his group, the 

courage of the Okpohrokpo 

Ofuafo ‘R Agbon Kingdom 

on this issue and most 

importantly, we also salute 

the Federal Government for 

taking the initiative to wade 

in via the state government 

primarily to look into this 

inevitable agitation. We are 

watching!” 

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SALLAH: Muslims laud Okowa, others 

Muslims in Uvwie 

L o c a l 

Government 

Areas of Delta State have 

commended Governor 

Ifeanyi Okowa, the member 

representing Sapele/ Okpe/ 

Uvwie Federal Constituency 

at the Federal House of 

Representatives, Chief Efe 

Afe,member representing 

Uvwie Constituency in Delta 

State House of Assembly, 

Chief Solomon Ighrakpata 

and HRM Emmanuel 

Ekemejewa Sideso, Abe 1, the 

Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom over 

their gifts and goodwill 

messages during the Eid- El- 

Kabir celebration. 

The Sariki (leader) of Arewa 

community in Uvwie Local 

Government Area, Alhaji 

Suleiman Jauro, who played 

host to hundreds of guests, 

including Muslims and 

Christians, during the 

Muslim festival at his Effurun 

residence in a chat hailed the 

governor. 

He also disclosed that Chief 

Afe presented gift items to the 

Muslims in Uvwie Local 

Government Area. 

The Hausa leader said 

Muslims in Uvwie were 

grateful to Chief Solomon 

Ighrakpata for his gifts. 

He further hailed HRM 

Abe 1, the Ovie of Uvwie 

Kingdom for his goodwill 

messages to Muslims in the 

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Absence of Judge stalls hearing of 

bizman arrested for gun possession 

By Perez Brisibe 

HE absence of Justice 

TEmeka Nwite of a 

Federal High Court sitting in 

Warri, stalled the suit filed 

against an Eku based 

businessman who was 

arrested for alleged 

possession of two pump action 

rifles and 38 rounds of 

ammunition. 

The suspect, Mr. Paul 

Tuoma Okene, was arrested 

on June 26, 2020, by 

policemen from zone 5, 

Benin-City following a 

petition to the Assistant 

Inspector General of Police 

over his possession of the said 

area. 

On his part, an Islamic 

teacher of Islamic 

Propagation Centre, Warri, 

Muhammad Muhajir Bin, 

described Governor Okowa 

as a true leader who does not 

discriminate against any 

religion. 

guns and ammunition. 

According to the charge 

sheet with suit number FHC/ 

WR/64C/2020, he is being 

charged on a four count 

charge of illegal possession of 

firearms with 38 live 

ammunition without licence 

or mandated authority. 

The offences are said to be 

punishable under sections of 

the firearms act Cap F28, 

laws of the federation of 

Nigeria 2004. However, the 

accused could not be formally 

arraigned owing to the 

absence of the presiding judge 

and the matter was however 

adjourned to October 28 for 

hearing.


2020 ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING HERO OF NAPTIP: 

aptain Idahosa Wells Okunbo, 

Cfondly called “Captain Hosa” 

means many things to many people 

in Edo State and Nigeria generally. 

Anyone who had come in contact 

with him will have an interesting 

recount of the encounter. 

In 2018, when Captain Idahosa 

Wells Okunbo celebrated his 60th 

birthday in the ancient city of Benin, 

the event attracted all strata of the 

society including the ordinary 

people whose lives he had directly 

or indirectly touched positively as 

an individual. The event which was 

ordinarily to celebrate and appreciate 

God for sparing his life to that 

symbolic age of 60, turned out to be 

like the unveiling of a humanist and 

God’s special gift to man. 

The birthday was an eye opening 

event, lending credence to the old 

saying, that a golden fish has no hiding 

place. The glowing tribute which 

rented the air at the occasion clearly 

indicated the fact that he was truly 

what Chinua Achebe described as 

“Man of the people” loved by all 

and sundry. 

The event attracted the revered 

patriarch of Igbinedion dynasty and 

a traditional title holder in ancient 

Bini kingdom, the Esama of Bini, 

Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion. 

In spite of his busy schedule, Chief 

Igbinedion made it to the occasion 

to honour their illustrious son. Pouring 

encomiums on Captain Hosa, 

Chief Igbinedion said, “At 60, you 

have excelled, conquered, achieved, 

mature; so I am saying thank you to 

God almighty. I know how your 

parents cared for you. You never, 

never at any moment let me down, 

keep on son, have a longer life, God 

will protect you and guide”. 

The governor of Edo State, 

Godwin Obaseki in his remark described 

Captain Hosa as “A real 

patriot, a genuine Bini man, a great 

Edo citizen, who has accomplished 

through hard work. His accomplishments 

are self-made. What is great 

about him that most people don’t 

know is that he is very empathetic, 

he can barely see people in need, 

languishing or suffering and he’s not 

pricked to assist”. 

By Kennedy Mbele 

ke Bayode-Thomas, 24, 

Ojust bagged the highest 

award a young person can 

receive for social action and 

humanitarian efforts - The 

Diana Award for Young 

Heroes. The award was 

instituted in memory of the late 

Princess Diana of Wales and 

given out by the charity of the 

same name and has the support 

of her both sons, The Duke of 

Cambridge and The Duke of 

Sussex. Oke speaks on what the 

award means to him. 

Who is Oke Bayode-Thomas? 

I am a Nigerian trained computed 

tomography specialist medical 

radiographer. I am also a member 

of the European Society of 

Radiology and currently the 

Administrative Director and Cofounder 

of The Invasion Group, a 

nonprofit organization which 

focuses on harnessing the strength of 

young minds for change and also the 

co-founder of Mentors in Nigeria 

Initiative, a community of mentors 

who support young people to make 

empowered decisions and believe in 

their potential. Growing up in an 

under-served community, I 

experienced the profound impact of 

mentoring myself and want other 

young people to have this opportunity 

too. My organizations have over one 

hundred committed volunteer 

mentors who provide support to 

young people. Many mentees are 

resistant at first but soon see the 

potential. 50 of the young people who 

have been mentored through the 

programs have gone on to become 

mentors themselves. I am a strategic 

thinking professional with more than 

three years’ experience in the nonprofit 

space. Highly skilled at 

relationship building with clients and 

across organizations and teams, I 

also work with community-based 

organizations and government 

health institutions to advance health 

education and promote awareness, 

and for which I have been 

Capt Hosa and the 

humanitarian service 

of excellence 

•Citation by NAPTIP in celebration of its 2020 anti-human 

trafficking hero (Capt. Hosa Okunbo) in marking the 2020 

World Day Against Human Trafficking on Thursday, July 

30, 2020, culled from NAPTIP’s Official Facebook page. 

Governor Obaseki further described 

him as “Very kind hearted, 

a very pragmatic businessman; a 

cultural icon and someone who believes 

in progress, development of 

other people and the State.” 

Captain Hosa availed himself of 

the opportunity in marking his 60th 

birthday on the 16th of February 

2018 to organise a public lecture 

on “Youth migration, consequences 

and current realities.” The public 

lecture which attracted men and 

women from the ivory tower made 

resounding presentations on the 

burning twin issues of migration 

and human trafficking, with the 

presence of the Director-General of 

the National Agency for the Prohibition 

of Trafficking in Persons, 

NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah Donli. 

The lecture did not only go a long 

way in bringing the ravaging issue 

of human trafficking and migration 

to the front burner of public sensitization 

but also proved his love for a 

better society, particularly Edo 

State. 

Also, Captain Hosa has remained 

a formidable individual in 

partnering with NAPTIP by committing 

personal resources into the fight 

against the illicit business of human 

trafficking and illegal migration by 

empowering victims of Human Trafficking 

and support NAPTIP to 

mark the 2019 World Day Against 

Human Trafficking. 

This is an uncommon display of 

Captain Hosa’s burning love for humanity, 

when viewed against the 

background of many wealthy Nigerians 

who prefer to live in their 

comfort zone and cannot voluntarily 

spare their resources to support 

the fight to stem the tide of human 

trafficking, which is a threat to human 

dignity. 

My parents made me 

believe I can be the best 

—Oke, winner of (Princess) 

Diana Award for Heroes 

nominated for several awards, 

publications in prestigious 

newspapers and subsequent A-grade 

national TV interviews. I am a role 

model and strong influencer for 

hundreds of young people across 

Nigeria. I took a medical degree 

from the University of Lagos. I am a 

young African Leadership Initiative 

(YALI) fellow and a finalist in the 

regional finals of the Hult Prize 

business competition Abuja, 2018. I 

am also a certified design thinker 

having undergone trainings with the 

USAID and the Lufthansa group. My 

latest award is the 2020 The Diana 

Award for World Outstanding Young 

Heroes created and endorsed by the 

two sons of late princess Diana, the 

Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex. 

What are the objectives of 

your NGOs and how do you 

fund your programs? 

To create an ecosystem of vibrant 

youths with a changed mindset, 

equipped to be ethical leaders and 

motivated to deliver and scale 

positive impact through Sustainable 

Development Goals (SDGs): 

Environmental and Social 

Economic; harness the strength of 

youths to effect a change in their 

immediate environment by 

inspiring, empowering and 

equipping a new breed of leaders 

through the acquisition of skills for 

personal, organizational and 

community transformation; grow to 

be an organization with global 

standards and best practices 

providing empowerment initiatives 

and global services, with core interest 

in education for a sustainable future, 

and achieve the Sustainable 

Development Goals by the Model 

United Nations. 

We have a program that aims at 

matching youths with caring adult 

mentors who are trained to focus on 

positive reinforcement, trustbuilding, 

and the achievement of 

goals, by engaging youths in a 

manner to enhance selfdevelopment. 

As a young man, you were set 

out to make a difference? What 

drives you to do all these 

because you talk and act more 

than your peers? 

I have always had this drive to be 

an outstanding individual in every 

sphere and area I find myself. Being 

a medical student, I was exposed to a 

lot of opportunities that I could 

leverage to pursue excellence at all 

cost which was what made me to start 

my first project with friends who 

shared similar values. The project 

was named THE INVASION 

GROUP. Later on, while achieving 

great milestones, we thought young 

people between the ages of 13 and18 

are at the most vulnerable stage of 

their lives and are faced with the 

challenge of making life-defining 

decisions. Due to lack of direction, 

many young persons have made bad 

decisions which have resulted in 

negative outcomes such as high 

school dropout, substance abuse or 

participation in risky behaviours. 

Through repeated failures in the 

classroom and the development of 

destructive habits, at-risk young 

'God has not 

let me down’ 

• Primate Nicholas Okoh’s 

Legacies in Anglican Church 

By Folu Olamiti 

n our world today, the biggest challenge 

I to the church of God is how to 

maintain sanity in mankind in the midst of 

trending unusual behavioral patterns fast 

•Okoh gaining social acceptance especially 

among the younger generation. 

It is no more odd to see people shamelessly identify themselves 

publicly as lesbians, gays, bi-sexual and transexual as the authorities 

in many countries have legitimized these deviant and anti-social 

behaviors under the guise of freedom, not minding the immoral 

implications and the resultant surge in dangerous crimes. 

Ironically, these abominable social trends have crept into many 

churches globally even as some members of the priesthood who ought 

to know better have joined the bandwagon. And some have gone as far 

as engaging in some of the most reprehensible of these acts such as 

same sex marriage. 

For the church, this challenge which, obviously, is not the will of God 

for mankind, is a wake-up call for continuous revival to bring all of 

mankind to align with God’s original plan and purpose for the world 

while at the same time redirecting those who had lost the way back to 

the creator’s purpose for their lives. 

One of the greatest advocates of this kingdom responsibility and 

obligation in contemporary times is Most Reverend Nicholas Dikeriehi 

Okoh, the immediate past Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican 

Communion, who retired in March after completing his mandatory 

tenure as head of the church. 

For all of his full term of ten years, he was able to shield the Nigerian 

congregation from these destructive trends and tendencies even as he 

spoke vehemently at several international forums against allowing 

the church of Christ to deviate from the eternal values ordained by 

God in the scriptures for mankind under the guise of modernity or any 

other excuse.. 

Under his leadership, the church of Nigeria resisted the urge to join 

the western world in accepting or tolerating these non biblical acts. He 

was able to carry the various authorities of the church along to decisively 

resolve some cases that came up. Some of the priests involved in such 

incidents resigned and left the church while some repented and retraced 

their steps. 

As he retired this year, Primate Okoh felt fulfilled that the Church of 

Nigeria maintained the purity of the Anglican orthodox faith under 

his leadership. In his words: “We in the leadership have been vilified, 

they said we are illiterates. Now, standing from the point where I am 

and looking back to the past ten years, I said God You have not let me 

down. I will hand over this church to my successor an orthodox Anglican 

church." 

Continues online at www.vanguardngr.com 

•Bayode- 

Thomas 

people (13-18) have lost faith in the 

possibilities that await them if they 

are successful in putting their lives 

together. I then co-founded Mentors 

in Nigeria Initiative with the sole aim 

of creating a community of mentors 

saddled with the responsibility of 

promoting a positive mindset in 

young people and helping them 

make better life-defining decisions. 

So I would say my drive and passion 

was to be an influence on people 

which I have been doing with all 

diligence for the past four years now. 

It was not easy combining it with my 

studies, as a medical student, but the 

Lord has always been my strength. 

How did you feel when you were 

informed about this award? 

I was amazed because I never saw 

it coming, but I was excited because 

it came in timely when I launched 

my Conversation series on the social 

media themed: Your one step to 

Transformation with Oke Bayode 

which made me so excited. 

Apart from this award, which 

other awards do you have? 

I have bagged several awards and 

nominations right from my primary 

school days. I had a series of awards 

for the projects I did while at the 

University of Lagos, but this is the 

best award I have received so far. 

Who is your role model? 

I have been privileged to have a lot 

of mentors who I look up to and who 

have shaped my life in diverse ways. 

I have a spiritual figure in the person 

of Rev. Alexander Faranpojo. But 

Babayomi and Funmilayo Oke, my 

parents, were my first mentors who 

made me believe that I can be 

anything I want to be if I put my mind 

to it. My role model is Dupe 

Akinsiun, Head, Leadership & 

Culture Center of Expertise at Coca- 

Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, 

Nigeria. 

What’s your big picture of 

your NGO in 5 years? 

A conglomerate! I envision a safe 

space where we would have 

produced youths who will become 

great people of influence and who 

will also go on to create a prototype 

of themselves, filling the world with 

people who can reach their 

potentials. I want to see these NGOs 

as resource hub for others in that 

space. 

What do you have to say to 

your admirers and team? 

I have the best team in the whole 

world; all of these achievements 

would never have come without their 

efforts. I am speaking about my cofounders, 

Olusegun Marvellous and 

Ogunbela Ridwan. These are great 

men of influence in their respective 

fields. They made our projects easy 

and we were able to put our strengths 

together to achieve these milestones. 

To my admirers, keep out of crime 

and always jump out of the train of 

ills, choose your friends and don’t be 

open to any body as a friend. A friend 

that can’t add value to your life is 

not worth being around you. Most 

importantly, fear God and keep 

doing what you’re doing and do it 

best. Lastly, don’t settle for anything, 

always have a choice. 

Continues online at 

www.vanguardngr.com

SUNDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 2, 2020, PAGE 15 

MARRIAGE CRISIS IN FOREIGN LAND: 

My son wrongly jailed over 

wife’s murder in France, 

Nigerian mother cries 

•Begs Buhari, Macron to intervene 

By Chris Ochayi, Abuja 

Members of the Anthony family 

from Edo State are sad that their 

son is languishing in jail in 

France for an offence they believe he did 

not commit. 

Worse still, he was allegedly thrown into 

jail by his in-laws who alleged that he killed 

their daughter he divorced a year earlier. 

Mother of the victim and a widow, Mrs. 

Joy Anthony, alleged that her son, Rufus, 

was thrown to jail on trumped-up charges 

and called on President Muhammadu 

Buhari to interface with his French 

counterpart, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, to 

release him from prison. 

Mrs. Anthony, who spoke on the 

circumstances which led to the 

imprisonment of Rufus, said he was wrongly 

convicted to serve 18 years. 

She called on both countries to carry out 

a judicial review of the case with a view to 

setting her son free. 

Her story: 

“My son, Rufus, in his 40s, is currently 

serving a term in prison at Saint-Etienne, 

France over the death of his estranged wife, 

Rhoda, who reportedly died sometime in 

February 2015 in France”, the widow 

started. 

“Rhoda separated from her husband, 

abandoning her son, Michel, with 

her husband. This happened on 

February 14, 2014 when Rhoda 

left my son’s house only for the 

police to storm his residence 

where he was living with his exwife; 

whom he begged to reunite 

with on December 15, 2015, one 

and a half years later to arrest him 

for the murder of Rhoda.” 

Mrs. Anthony lamented: “The 

police arrested my son, charged 

him and the court in France 

convicted him to serve 18 years for 

being the one that saw Rhoda last; 

and now Rufus is languishing in 

prison custody. 

“He has spent about four years 

and seven months in jail. Even 

though no proof linked him to the 

wife’s murder, my son was sent to 

prison because they insisted he 

was the last person that saw her. 

“My son alerted me 

By Princewill Ekwujuru 

& Ephraim Oseji 

Childlessness is an individual, 

national or international 

challenge that could be corrected 

through reproductive intervention. 

At the individual level, consequences abate 

which include grief and sadness; social 

isolation and stigma and economic 

challenge of the couple(s). 

However, there are great differences 

between cultures and societies in the non- 

Western world. 

Everywhere, childlessness leads to great 

suffering, especially among women. 

Experiences and consequences may vary. 

In developing countries, childlessness has 

consequences at individual and sociocultural 

levels. 

In the West, consequences are mostly 

restricted to individual feelings. 

In poor-resource countries, there are 

limited possibilities for modern biomedical 

treatment. 

On the national level, there are few 

incentives and possibilities for development 

of adequate infertility treatment. 

Though local and national authorities 

might be sensitive to the problem, allocation 

of funds is mostly determined by 

international agencies, which consider 

other issues more important. 

At the international level, Western 

perceptions about the urgency of health 

•The 

late wife 

and son 

immediately Rhoda packed out of his house 

and police came one year and a half later 

to arrest him for the murder that doesn’t 

stand. 

“That is why I am calling on 

Presidents Buhari and Macron 

to come to my rescue. “Let the 

If Rhoda had 

separated 

from my son 

for 18 months, 

whoever she 

was then 

communicating 

with during the 

period should 

be unraveled 

two leaders institute 

comprehensive investigation 

by deploying all security 

apparatus including Interpol 

in respect of this case in order 

to unveil the circumstance 

surrounding Rhoda’s death. 

Separation 

”If Rhoda had separated 

from my son for 18 months, 

whoever she was then 

communicating with during 

the period should be unraveled 

by the intelligence 

communities of Nigeria and 

France in the course of their 

investigation”. 

A l l e g e d 

Succour for the lucky 40 

•Ibidunni Ighodalo’s vision to help childless 

couples become parents lives on 

issues are still dominant. 

In the Western world, there is little interest 

and understanding in the problem of 

‘barrenness among plenty’ because of the 

focus on population growth reduction and 

other problems. 

Meanwhile, the perception of 

childlessness as an individual problem 

makes it difficult to change this attitude. 

In poor-resource countries, there are many 

problems such as poverty, shortage of job 

opportunities, high frequency of illnesses 

and vast expanding populations. 

Consequences of childlessness in 

developing countries are usually much more 

dramatic, and also show a much wider 

impact than in Western societies. 

Infertility and sterility are generally looked 

upon as medical problems. However, it is the 

social and psychological consequences of 

infertility that make this situation so hard to 

bear. 

Childlessness often leads to poverty. There 

are various mechanisms involved. 

First, there are treatment costs, whether by 

traditional healers or western medicine. 

Traditional treatment is often relatively 

expensive for the couples concerned. 

Western biomedical treatment such as IVF, 

however, is extremely costly. 

•Rufus 

Anthony 

conspiracy 

Madam Anthony, who alleged a plot by 

the family of her son’s late wife to nail him 

at all costs, submitted that the truth will be 

known if the call logs of all parties, 

including Rhoda’s family members and 

Rufus, during the couple’s period of 

separation are scrutinized. 

According to her, Rufus repeatedly told 

her that Rhoda was emphatic in her decision 

that she was no longer interested in the 

marriage. 

“This continued for sometimes and on 

February 14, 2014, she finally left my son’s 

house, though, without her son, Michel, 

because my son insisted she won’t go with 

him”, Mrs. Anthony said. 

She recalled that when that happened, she 

made efforts to reach out to Rhoda’s mother, 

Mrs. Francisca Chucks, to inform her about 

the development to no avail. 

Praises 

She, however, described Rhoda as a nice 

lady, loving, but was “unfortunately 

hindered by external influence”. 

Mrs. Anthony added, “My son too called 

to inform me that he called her mother-inlaw 

to inform her about what was 

happening but she and her daughter, Rita, 

refused to pick his calls. 

“Both of them avoided Rufus’ phone calls 

to them like plague even as he couldn’t reach 

his wife Rhoda either on phone again. I was 

informed that it was my mother-in-law that 

petitioned France authorities that my son, 

Rufus, killed her daughter. Their petition 

got to France authorities in August 2016 

after my son was arrested on December 15, 

2015. 

“They kept the news of Rufus’ arrest from 

me until January 2016. When I heard the 

bad news of his arrest, I became worried 

and I still made some efforts to reach my 

mother-in-law but she shunned me. And she 

That is why the Ibidunni Ighodalo 

Foundation (IIF), a non-profit organization 

which focuses on providing couples in dire need 

of reproductive interventions to become 

parents, has taken it upon itself to tackle the 

challenge headlong. 

This year, the Foundation came out with an 

initiative dubbed, ‘40 at 40’, targeted at women 

50 years and below who, for unforeseen 

circumstances, are childless. 

However, before her demise on July 14, 2020, 

the IIF founder, Ibidunni Ighodalo’s wish was 

to celebrate her 40th birthday on July 19 by 

granting 40 childless couples once in a lifetime 

opportunity to become parents. 

During the commencement of the initiative, 

the Chairman of the Foundation, Pastor Ituah 

Ighodalo, who is also the widower of the 

founder, said: “We are committed to 

went to the police to lodge a report against 

my son about April or May of 2016. My inlaw 

was supposed to reach out to me to ask 

of her daughter but the reverse was the 

case.” 

How crisis started 

According to her, the crisis in her son’s 

life started around October or November of 

2012, when her son left Nigeria for France 

with Rhoda. 

She recalled that Rhoda was not her son’s 

first wife. 

“My son’s first wife, Omorwori Victory, is 

in France. He separated from her to marry 

Rhoda. 

“But I revealed this to Rhoda when my 

son introduced her to me that this is the lady 

he wanted to marry. I told Rhoda that my 

son is a divorcee. 

“And that he had separated from his wife 

who was living with her children in France. 

“Rhoda in her response told me that Rufus 

had also told her about it and dismissed it 

as a non- issue. 

“But when Rhoda left, my son went back 

to his ex-wife to plead with her to accept 

him back including Rhoda’s son. 

“The police later arrested him in his house. 

As I speak with you, Michel, Rhoda’s son, is 

still living with that woman. If not for her, 

Michel would have been taken to an 

orphanage now that his father is in prison.” 

Appeal 

Appealing to the Director General of the 

Nigerian Diaspora Commission, Mrs. Abike 

Dabiri, to intervene, Mrs. Anthony said, “My 

son is not a criminal; he does his legitimate 

jobs to earn a living. Rufus’ life symbolizes 

love, a very kind and easy going person. 

“He doesn’t hurt even a fly. Whenever he 

comes to Nigeria, he mixes up with 

everybody freely. He is loved by people. He 

lives a life of philanthropy”. 

Devastated 

When Sunday Vanguard called Rhoda’s 

mother, Mrs. Francisca Chucks, to hear her 

own side of the story, she said she was 

devastated by the death of her daughter. 

“I think you are a father, you have 

children? Tell me how you would feel if any 

of your children is running temperature”, 

the bereaved mother said. 

“I wonder how you got my number when 

the issue of my daughter’s death was yet to 

be made public”. 

She then declined further inquiries from 

our reporter. 

•Madam Joy Anthony 

L-R: Bola Okolie, Board Member, Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation; Ade 

Adeyemi-Bero, Board Member, Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation; Pastor Ituah 

Ighodalo, Chairman, Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation; Tosin Adefeko, 

Managing Partner, AT3 Resources; and Adedayo Richards, Executive 

Secretary, Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation at the official launch of Project 

40at40 by Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation in honour of its founder. 

Ibidunni’s vision to give joy and keep hope 

alive. 

“We seek between N120million and above 

to undertake this project. We understand the 

emotional, psychological and financial strain 

that comes with pursuing fertility treatments 

and having gone through that pain herself, 

Ibidunni, in her life time, made it her life’s work 

to help desiring but struggling parents.” 

Since her demise, IIF has enlarged and 

strengthened its board, governance structures 

have been put in place, all in a bid to ensure 

capacity to deliver on her last wish and more. 

Also speaking at the occasion, the Executive 

Secretary of IIF, Mrs. Adedayo Richard, stated 

that other activities of the Foundation, annual 

IVF grants, mothers-in-waiting conference, the 

babies’ day out and hospital visits among 

others will continue.


Email:biolasobowale@yahoo.com 

Phone Number: 08055069026 

Twitter:@DrDeleSobowale 

Instagram:delesobowalefranklyspeaking 

Website: www.delesobowale.com 

Is it now Sai Baba and the 40 

thieves? --1 

“Trust is a matter of bets 

about future actions based on 

experience. A track record of 

keeping promises is a good 

predictor” - Rosabeth Kanter, 

Harvard Business Review, 

Sept-Oct 1992. 

ncreasingly, the Federal 

IGovernment of Nigeria now 

resembles the modern version of 

ALI BABA AND THE FORTY 

THIEVES. 

One of my late uncles who 

worked for ELDER DEMPSTAR 

LINES – one of the largest 

shipping companies in the preindependence 

days – was in the 

habit of bringing me small 

pamphlets of story books from 

England. 

He introduced me to Grimm’s 

Fairy Tales, Aesops Fables and 

Tales of the Arabian Nights – in 

which my favourite story was Ali 

Baba and the Forty Thieves. 

Those of us who utter the words 

‘Open Sesame’, without knowing 

its origin, now can add to our 

knowledge. 

It came from that story; it was 

the password of the rogues. 

The story merely reminds us 

that anywhere there is great 

wealth, a gang of thieves will 

invariably emerge aiming to 

carve out more than their own 

fair share of the cake. 

That explains why most 

Nigerians are prepared to do 

anything to get government 

appointment -- including selling 

Mama. After all, “money makes 

everything legitimate; including 

bastards.” (VANGUARD BOOK 

OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 

163). 

I have no evidence or even 

sufficient reason to doubt that 

President Buhari has not 

benefited directly from any 

corrupt practices under his 

administration. 

In fact, while collecting 

materials for my book, 

IBRAHIM B. BABANGIDA 

1985 – 1992: LETTING A 

THOUSAND FLOWERS 

BLOOM, I interviewed a retired 

General who did not hide his 

dislike for Buhari for several 

reasons he stated. 

But, he made one point which 

was recorded for posterity about 

our President from 2015 

regarding his honesty: “You can 

leave your money, bottles of hot 

drinks or packet of cigarettes 

with Buhari; go away for several 

months and find nothing would 

be missing (p 10)..” 

If a man’s self-declared 

antagonist can say that, I am 

satisfied that Buhari is honest. 

But, there, my trust ends. It does 

not extend to any member of his 

family, friends, associates or 

subordinates. 

In fact, the closer the individual 

is to Buhari, the more he/she 

enters my list of “usual suspects”. 

Mrs. Patience Jonathan 

provides my first evidence in this 

regard. 

The wife of the former 

President is now facing charges 

by the Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, EFCC, in 

various courts for reasons having 

to do with her exposure politically 

from 2010 to 2015. 

While prosecution does not 

imply guilt, it at least means that 

the anti-graft agency has what it 

regards as sufficient reason to go 

court. 

Wives of Presidents who thrust 

themselves into the lime light, 

unlike Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s, 

risk getting smeared with dirt. 

Show me your friends and I 

will tell you who you are” was an 

Ariston water heaters unveils 

global communication campaign 

People are 

wondering why a 

man with integrity 

can appoint so 

many suspected 

crooks at the top 

level of a 

government 

which parades 

itself as fighting 

anti-corruption 

war 

adage drilled into our skulls as 

children. I once found myself 

behind the counter at Denton 

Street, Police Station, Ebute 

Meta, Lagos at the age of nine. 

I was coming from Lagos 

Island on one of the regular 

errands I ran for my mother to 

45 Denton Street. 

Like all young lads, it was 

always an occasion to play street 

football with the boys living in 

the big compound. 

The memorable day was not 

different except that before my 

arrival one of the boys had 

“lifted” ten shillings from a cotenants 

pocket and was observed 

by another tenant replacing the 

trousers after the deed. 

The witness did not at first 

know that a theft had occurred 

until the owner raised the alarm. 

Thereafter, a search was on for 

the boy – who had led other boys 

to a different playing ground and 

treated everyone to chicken 

wings and legs before returning 

to the usual playing ground. 

I arrived just in time to join them 

when two policemen arrived with 

the tenant robbed. We were all 

herded to the station. Thus, I 

became an accused without even 

tasting chicken. Fortunately, it 

was still mostly true that “you 

can’t cheat a honest man.” 

The chicken seller was also 

apprehended and made to 

identify her customers. 

She pointed to all of them and 

said emphatically, in Yoruba, “the 

one in red shirt [me] was not one 

of them.” 

Buhari might not realise it yet, 

but some of his appointees may 

already be roping him into the 

Life Lager lights Niger Bridge, reiterates message of 

progress, resilience 

As the novel Coronavirus 

F 

ollowing the launch of 

a new bottle and the 

‘Nduka’ campaign, Life Lager 

Beer has continued to spread 

its strong message of hope and 

resilience to consumers, this 

time with decorative lighting 

on the popular Niger Bridge. 

The lighting project which 

was unveiled yesterday, is a 

new initiative from Life Lager 

Beer as a climax to the 

brand’s re-launch activities. 

riston, a brand in the 

AAriston Thermo Group, 

has unveiled its global 

campaign, ‘The Ariston 

Comfort Challenge’ in Nigeria, 

which highlights its global 

mission of bringing sustainable 

comfort, even where it seems 

impossible. 

The Ariston Comfort 

Challenge focused on ensuring 

thermal comfort could reach 

anywhere in the world. Through 

this mission, Ariston has donated 

a warm shelter to a group of 

scientists from the University of 

Copenhagen involved in climate 

change studies in the remote and 

icy Island of Disko, in 

Greenland (Arctic). 

TheAriston Comfort Zone, an 

innovative modular home, was 

shipped to and assembled—for 

the first time— in Disko Island, 

Greenland.Disko Island is one 

of the coldest regions in the 

worldand before this time, it 

proved nearimpossible for the 

scientists to stay on the island 

for more than a few days due to 

the harsh weather conditions. 

This unfriendly weather, 

whichbecomes even more 

hostile during the winter months 

and interruptsresearch work. 

Thanks to this mission, 

spreads across Nigeria, Life 

Lager Beer launched the 

‘Nduka’ campaign as a 

means of encouraging its 

consumers to keep hope alive 

even as they stay safe at home. 

The campaign theme which 

translates to “Life is Greater” 

saw Life Lager engage in a 

number of communication 

activities to pass its message of 

choosing life in these uncertain 

times creatively. 

With its new lighting initiative, 

Ariston brand has also had the 

chance to give evidence to its 

product quality, which are able 

to work even in Extreme 

Conditions. 

Speaking during a virtual 

media parley in Lagos, Mr. 

Gaurav Bisaria, the Director, 

Central Africa, Ariston Thermo 

Group, said: “A safe and 

sheltered house, heated and 

provided with hot water for the 

maximum comfort even during 

Polar winters would have not 

been possible without our 

commitment to quality.” 

Bisaria noted that the success 

of the Ariston Comfort 

Challenge ‘Greenland 

Mission’ is another proofof the 

company core value of superior 

quality of Ariston products, 

which could be seen in the 

efficiency of the output of the 

product even in the extremely 

weather condition. 

B 

laq Diamond Fashion 

Store, a one-stop fashion 

house incorporating a departmental 

store, salon, Lawyers 

Pack, a logistics company, and 

an online legal service, will on 

August 4, 2020, roll out the 

Life Lager is now spreading the 

importance of resilience, and 

self-preservation as the words 

“Enjoy Life Responsibly” 

appear boldly on its new 

lighting construction along 

with other brand signages. 

The unveiling of the lights 

display which was done at an 

evening event, had in 

attendance the Governor of 

Anambra State, His Excellency 

Willie Obiano, who referred to 

the initiative as a progressive one 

and used the opportunity to 

encourage everyone to keep 

following the right precautions 

to stay safe. 

web of suspicion surrounding the 

inquiries into the EFCC and the 

Niger Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC. 

Tongues are wagging; people 

are wondering why a man with 

integrity can appoint so many 

suspected crooks at the top level 

of a government which parades 

itself as fighting anti-corruption 

war. Let me provide a few 

examples from reports reaching 

us and facts available to us that 

indicate that Buhari might be 

surrounded by cut-throats and 

financial cannibals. 

“The whole NDDC probe 

exercise is a waste of time. Why 

don’t they probe NNPC? It is clear 

now that few people in 

government owe Nigeria any 

obligation. They will continue to 

purloin its wealth and rape it over 

and over again” - Idowu 

Akinlotan, NATION, July 28, 

2020, back page. 

“How then on Friday, it 

emerged that the House will now 

also probe the mismanagement 

of N100 billion within one year 

at the North-East Development 

Commission, NEDC” - Sonala 

Olumhese, PUNCH, July 26, 

2020. 

For me a Sunday without 

reading Akinlotan and 

Olumhense is no Sunday. I can 

forgo food, but not those two – 

even when I don’t agree with 

them. Unless I am not at home, 

nobody touches the bundle of 

papers brought by the vendor 

before me. And, it is always a race 

to the back pages for my Sundayto-Sunday 

delights. On Sunday, 

July 26, 2020, the two eminently 

delightful writers summarised 

the sense of despair surrounding 

Buhari’s increasingly lost battle 

against corruption. 

The NDDC and the NEDC are 

situated on the eastern flank of 

the country. 

The development 

commissions designed to lift 

their zones have been handed to 

their own people to manage in 

trust for the general welfare. 

But, what is rapidly emerging 

is the fact that those appointed 

by Buhari regard the opportunity 

as their own chance to overtake 

Dangote on the rich list with 

nothing to show to justify the 

wealth. When Ghandi, 1869- 

1948, the father of modern India, 

wrote that among the things that 

will certainly ruin us are “Politics 

without principles/Wealth 

AMCON vs POON: We’re yet to settle, 

parties tell court 

By Onozure Dania 

arties in the N58.9billion 

Ploan dispute between Pan 

Ocean Oil Corporation Nigeria 

Limited (POON), its affiliate 

companies and Asset 

Management Company of 

Nigeria (AMCON) have told 

a Federal High Court sitting 

in Lagos that they have not 

been able to agree on terms of 

settling out of court. 

Lead counsel for the firms, 

OAR Ogunde (SAN) and his 

AMCON counterpart, Kunle 

Ogunba (SAN) told Justice 

Mohammed Liman, the 

development at the last 

hearing. 

“We have not gotten any 

feedback that the matter has 

been settled and therefore 

intend to proceed with our 

By Bose Adelaja 

N igeria 

Technicians Automobile 

Association 

NATA, Lagos State Chapter, has 

cried out over what it described 

as forceful eviction of its 

members from their allocated 

sites by land speculators. 

At a press briefing in Lagos, 

some of the affected artisans 

said customers' vehicles brought 

for repairs were destroyed. 

Chairman of the association, 

Asiwaju Jacob Fayeun, said the 

sites were in 40 designated 

areas across Lagos. 

He said the sites were directly 

under the supervision of Lagos 

State Ministry of 

motion,” Ogunde, SAN told 

the court, adding that the 

claimant/respondent had not 

shown any concrete step 

towards settlement." 

He informed the court that 

the order obtained by 

AMCON was executed 

against third parties, who had 

been sent out of the sealed 

properties. 

“If the claimant can be 

restricted, then this will 

encourage us to wait for 

settlement because they are 

expensive buildings and can 

attract thieves if left 

unoccupied,” he submitted. 

Mr. Ogunde SAN also said 

the liability of third parties 

would affect his clients and 

request for an undertaking that 

would allow them to regain 

possession of their respective 

properties. 

Blaq Diamond celebrates anniversary 

drums to celebrate its three 

years of catering to women 

fashion, home and abroad. 

Konye Ishie, the beautiful 

fashionista and founder of the 

Lekki, Lagos, fashion house, 

without work”, (VANGUARD 

BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, 

VBQ, p 245), he had a country 

like our present day Nigeria in 

mind. 

Buhari and the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, are in the news 

for all the wrong reasons – some 

of which derive from the 

appointment of Adams 

Oshiomhole as the party 

Chairman. 

I was surprised that Buhari and 

the rest of the top leaders of the 

APC failed to disassociate 

themselves from the call by 

Adams to political opponents to 

“join APC and your sins are 

forgiven”. 

The cardinal sin which elected 

and appointed officials wanted 

forgiven was related to alleged 

corruption. 

Many had cases to answer with 

the EFCC. So, they jumped, 

mostly from PDP to APC and, 

almost soon after, their case files 

were allegedly transferred from 

the EFCC to the Ministry of 

Justice – under Abubakar 

Malami. Nothing, it was 

reported, has been heard about 

some of those cases since then. 

Uuum! 

‘Nigerian students now 

beggars in UK, Dabiri-Erewa 

tells NDDC’. 

PUNCH, July 29, 2020, p 7. 

The report went on to state that 

“the students had turned beggars 

following the non-payment of 

their tuition and allowances by 

the NDDC.” 

Yet, the Interim Management 

Committee, IMC, spent N81 

billion. 

One of the most famous 

among those who dumped the 

PDP for APC is Senator Godswill 

Akpabio – the transient warmer 

of the seat of Minister for Niger 

Delta. Let me point out the 

circumstances which led to 

Niger Delta students in the UK 

becoming almajiris abroad. 

A letter was said to have been 

dispatched weeks ago to the 

Minister when the first hints of 

scandal became news. 

The Minister was given a 

chance to defend himself against 

all allegations. Till today, reports 

say there had been no reply. If 

this is true, I hope the Minister 

knows that silence means 

consent. 

To be continued… 

TRIBUTE TO MRS 

NGOZI NKIRUKA 

CHUKWUKA AT 60 

Mrs Ngozi Nkiruka 

Chukwuka, who turned 60 on 

July 28, 2020, retired from the 

Federal Civil Service, FCS, in 

October 2019 after 35 years of 

glorious service to her 

fatherland. 

As a female and Igbo federal 

civil servant, she suffered 

discrimination in four ways – as 

a woman, as a southerner, 

Christian and as an Igbo 

woman. She might even have 

been victimised for coming from 

the “wrong state in the South- 

East – Imo. It is very difficult to 

know which form of 

discrimination worked most 

against a woman in her position. 

Had she been a male, northerner, 

Muslim, MSc holder public 

servant from Sokoyo or Katsina 

state, she would certainly have 

retired as a Permanent Secretary. 

She represents thousands of well 

educated and talented southern 

women who belong to her class 

of Nigerian civil servants who 

watch in despair as numskulls 

are promoted over them to 

higher offices. They have lost a 

lot; but Nigeria has lost a lot 

more. 

Yet she persevered until she 

attained the rank of Deputy 

Director in the National Youth 

Service Corps. She was born a 

few months before Nigeria 

became independent in 1960 

with all the promises now 

unfulfilled. 

She holds an MSc in 

Industrial Sociology and 

Personnel Management. She 

has written an interesting book 

titled INNOCENT 

NIGERIANS; full of insights 

gained from 35 years in the 

cesspool which the Nigerian 

public service had become under 

Nigerian rulers. Yet, she retained 

her Christian virtues. We met 

face-to-face only once; we 

communicated often and we are 

on the same page on most issues. 

She will be a positive asset to any 

government for years to come. 

You can read her book on our 

site. 

Kindly join me in wishing a 

woman who gave her entire 

working life to Nigeria and was 

not corrupted by the system very 

many happy returns of July 28, 

2020. 

Auto technicians lament 

'forceful' eviction in Lagos 

Transportation, saying the 

ministry collects annual rent 

and tax from the auto 

technicians. 

According to him, the sites 

situated around canal setbacks 

and power line areas were 

allocated during the 

administration of the first 

civilian governor of the state, 

Alhaji Lateef Jakande. 

He said: "Unfortunately, 

some of these areas have been 

forcefully taken away by the 

By Festus Ahon, ASABA 

EPUTY Speaker of the 

DDelta State House of 

Assembly, Chief Ochor 

Christopher Ochor, has said the 

state legislature is committed 

to ensuring the attainment of the 

Stronger Delta agenda of the 

state government. 

Speaking in an interview with 

newsmen in Asaba, Ochor said 

the House had in the last few 

weeks deliberated over a good 

number of bills and motions 

aimed at promoting good 

governance in the state. 

He listed some of the bills to 

include; the 2020 Revised 

Appropriation Law, the Delta 

State Community Security 

Corps Agency Bill, the Delta 

State Occupational Safety Bill, 

the Delta State Violence Against 

Persons Bill, and the Delta State 

land grabbers.” 

Fayeun said Babs 

Animasaun Mechanic Village, 

off Bode Thomas, Surulere, 

and No. 1, Jimade Close, Odo- 

Aladura, off Ladipo Road, 

Mushin, were taken over by 

those he described as land 

grabbers. 

As of press time, the 

Commissioner for 

Transportation, Dr. Frederick 

Oladeinde, did not respond to 

his calls and text messages. 

STRONGER DELTA: Deputy Speaker 

assures on legislature commitment 

said since its entrance into the 

Nigerian market three years 

ago, Blaq Diamond has recorded 

significant milestones 

across all aspects of its business. 

“We’re focused on delivering 

exceptional services and 

style to our fellow fashionistas,” 

she told Vanguard. 

According to her, Blaq Diamond, 

from start to finish, is 

dedicated to providing a shopping 

experience that is second 

Urban Planning, Development 

and Renewal Bill. 

The lawmaker said the House 

also within the short period 

screened and confirmed 

appointments made by the 

governor, approved several 

requests from the executive as well 

as made far reaching resolutions 

on the floor of the House. 

The Deputy Speaker 

maintained that despite the 

challenges posed by the outbreak 

of Covid 19 pandemic, the state 

House of Assembly is in synergy 

with the executive to enact laws 

that would enhance government 

effort towards sustained peace, 

security and development in the 

state. He assured that the state 

legislature would continue to 

collaborate with Governor 

Ifeanyi Okowa to address the 

effects of the pandemic on 

Deltans. 

to none. 

That commitment is obvious 

in its uncompromised 

brand quality, affordable prices, 

top-notch customer service, 

member loyalty program, 

and special finishing touches.


Rigging by evil 

men looms, but 

Obaseki will win 

—Azegbemi, PDP Chairman 

Tony Azegbemi is the Chairman of the 

Edo State Chapter of the People 

Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview, 

Azegbemi speaks about the chances of the PDP in the 

September 19 governorship election in the state and why 

the party is better structured to win the election with a 

wide margin. Experts: 

How popular is Governor Godwin 

Obaseki and your party? 

I think the chances of our candidate in the 

September 19 governorship election, Mr. 

Godwin Obaseki, without sounding immodest, 

is high. His support base hovers between 80 

and 85 per cent among the electorate in Edo 

State. I challenge you to take a walk on the 

streets of Benin and ask ten people about the 

governor and if they would be voting for him. 

Out of that ten people, at least eight of them 

will tell you that they are going to vote for 

Governor Obaseki. This is not a fluke. That is 

an independent survey people did not too long 

ago. This is not a surprise because people are 

feeling the impact of the government. A few 

politicians may peddle falsehoods repeatedly, 

but the people are finding out that those things 

are not true. For some of us from the private 

sector, we do not go to the root top and start 

shouting, but we always get things done quietly 

and efficiently. That is what the Governor has 

done. 

The Governor has about 3000 projects that 

are lined up for commissioning. These projects 

are not phantom projects. In fact, the projects 

cut across the entire state. Apart from the 

infrastructural projects, Governor Obaseki’s 

vision for the state is extraordinary. He is very 

clear about what he wants to do for Edo people. 

I have not met a man with so much passion 

with a very clear-cut vision of what he wants to 

do for his people and he is not boastful about 

it. 

What do you make of the governor’s 

achievements in the education sector, 

especially as it appears the work does 

not touch on all sectors, as we have 

By Victor Ajihromanus 

Unemployment and idleness are two 

dangerous factors that breed 

corruption, social disorder, insecurity 

and violence in every society. Insecurity 

negates growth and development, the absence 

of which a state is enmeshed in continual fear. 

It was an English philosopher, Thomas 

Hobbes, who described life outside society as 

solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. 

The current state of insecurity under a 

governor that care less about the afflictions 

and fears of his constituents can only be 

likened to that in Hobbes’ philosophy of life 

without government. 

As it is known today, a state or society cannot 

be secure and prosperous unless it is governed 

by a people-oriented leader and real statesmen 

and women with the interest of the citizenry at 

heart. Those who should know believe that 

insecurity affects economic growth by dryingout 

investments, increases unemployment and 

reduces government revenue, among other 

downsides. 

Statistics 

The relationship between insecurity and 

underdevelopment is much stronger than the 

relationship between peace and development. 

It means that where there is conflict, there is 

often underdevelopment. 

According to official data, unemployment 

rate has been on a steady increase in Edo since 

the last three years when Governor Obaseki 

took over leadership of the state. 

Labour force statistics published by the 

Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 

showed that the rate of unemployment in the 

third quarter for Edo State in 2018, increased 

to 25.1 percent, from 19.6 percent in the same 

quarter of the previous year. 

The labour force population was estimated 

at 2,095,235, an increase of 116,032 from Q3 

workers of the College of Education, 

Ekiadolor protesting recently? 

I watched the clip of the protests by lecturers 

at the College of Education Ekiadolor over 

alleged non-payment of salaries. In fact, they 

have sent me a message, requesting me to help 

them draw the government’s attention to their 

plight. I had also listened to the views that were 

canvassed by Edo State Commissioner for 

Education who gave explanations on 

what has transpired. What I know is 

that the Governor will not, for 

whatever reason, withhold the 

salaries of workers. I suspect that 

there was a communication gap 

between College of Education 

workers and the Government. The 

Government cannot come out and 

declare that he is not going to pay 

those people for whatever reason. 

That is not his character or style. So, 

I think that there is a communication 

gap. 

•Azegbemi 

What endeared you to the 

Governor? 

He is a silent achiever and a 

humble leader. He is not boastful. 

Surprisingly, Edo people see through all that; 

they know who is genuine and who is fake! He 

started well and in the first two years, when the 

so-called godfather wanted to bare his fangs 

towards the end of the second year in office, he 

had already laid a foundation. That is why you 

can see the projects in place today. If he didn’t 

start earlier, then the distraction would have 

been a disaster for him. 

The godfather has been blackmailing the 

governor to open the treasury for him to share 

and feed from government funds, but he was 

rebuffed. 

What is your take on the management 

of the resources of the state? 

The Governor has been prudent in the 

management of funds. If he hasn’t been prudent 

in the management of funds, he wouldn’t have 

been able to work on 3000 projects. Obaseki 

had a plan and the process was 

well-thought-out. 

What is the most 

significant thing that has 

made the Governor the 

outstanding candidate in this 

election? 

Aside from infrastructural 

projects, the governor’s resolve to 

fight the godfather is a key selling 

point. He has ensured that 

government works for the people 

and not for a handful of selfish 

individuals. He knows where he 

wants Edo to be in the next four 

years. 

Now that PDP has come 

back to power in Edo and with the 

governor’s popularity, how do you 

think you will perform during the 

election? 

We are not mindful of the rigging plans of 

our political opponent. That is the only thing 

they have to offer. But they will have to contend 

with the resolve of Edo people if they attempt 

such. Accordingly, we have embarked on 

serious mobilization for voter turn-out. In past 

elections, the turnout was between 32-35 per 

Manifestations of insecurity 

as failure of governance 

2017. The total net (created minus lost) number 

of employed persons (full time and part-time/ 

underemployed) decreased by 13,607 persons 

within Q3 2017 and Q3 2018. 

Although the underemployment rate 

declined by 1.06 percentage points from 19.5 

per cent in Q3 2017, to 18.4 per cent in Q3 

2018, no serious government would be careless 

about rising case of unemployment in its 

state considering the known threat or 

implication of such a situation. 

According to the 2018 Labour Force 

Survey conducted by NBS in the third quarter, 

Nigeria had a labour force of 90.47 million 

nationwide. 

Commitment 

The governorship candidate of All 

Progressives Congress,APC, in Edo State, 

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, rightly said recently 

that the current administration of Governor 

Obaseki receives a huge amount of money 

monthly as security vote, but gives the police 

little. 

One thing is clear, an underfunded police 

force cannot effectively fight insecurity. But 

Obaseki seems oblivious of that obvious fact. 

“The present government has not been able 

to show any serious commitment to the security 

funding of the state. Every month, the governor 

collects millions as security vote and gives the 

police little. That does not show commitment 

to security. The amount is not even enough to 

fuel vehicles,”he said. 

Cases of attacks and reprisal attacks by 

banned cult groups in the state have been on to 

the bewilderment of everyone while the 

government turns the other way. 

Hundreds of lives have been lost to the 

daredevil act while the Obaseki-led 

government appears helpless. 

For instance, no fewer than 10 persons were 

killed in a single day in Benin City as rival cult 

groups, Aye and Eiye confraternities engaged 

in reprisal attacks earlier this year. 

But the only 

thing that 

might be 

worrisome is 

that the will of 

people could 

be subverted 

by merchants 

of evil 

•Obaseki 

Nothing was done 

to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators. 

The situation goes unabated. 

Besides that, kidnapping, political thuggery 

and armed robbery have been on the increase 

since Obaseki took over government, 

especially in the last two years. 

More resources need to be dedicated to 

combating insecurity with anticipated 

sincerity on the part of the state administrators 

to securing lives and property. That doesn’t 

seem to bother Obaseki and his team. 

Europe, Asia 

The apparent failure to create jobs for the 

hardworking teaming youths is one that has 

not only increased the rate of criminality, it 

has also won the state an embarrassing laurel 

as the state with the highest number of illegal 

immigrants to Europe, America, Asia and even 

the Middle East. 

According to official information, about 50 

per cent of those who migrate out of the state 

are moving to escape economic hardship/ 

poverty. 

Many Edolites, who are also being forced or 

tricked to emigrate end up being trafficked. 

It is evidenced that the state has practically 

refused to create an enabling environment for 

cent. But we will drive that up this time around 

with what the PDP is doing. We plan to raise 

the turn-out from 35 to 45 per cent. That 10 

percent will make the difference and bring into 

the stream about 200,000 people when that is 

achieved. I do not think anybody with his right 

senses will dare to alter the resolution of those 

200,000 people that we are going to mobilize 

to the streets of Edo State before, during and 

after the election. 

So, I would advise that any person thinking 

of rigging the September 19 election should 

have a rethink because that will not happen in 

Edo. In fact, it is in their own interest to stop 

thinking about that because if they do, the 

consequences will be so devastating more than 

they can imagine. 

How do you intend to achieve these 

plans under the Covid-19 regulation? 

COVID-19 is real and it is not something 

that we should joke about. Clearly, we will not 

have those kinds of large rallies anymore. That 

is not going to be possible. Recall that our 

government in Edo rolled out a gazette in 

March, 2020, banning large political 

gatherings except with permission in any part 

of the state. We will adhere to the NCDC 

protocol. However, these are other ways we 

have worked out in getting our messages to 

the people. Once we start, you will move. We 

intend to get across to every household in Edo. 

We will knock on their doors and give them the 

message of PDP. 

What should the electorate in Edo 

expect from Obaseki in the next four 

years if given the mandate? 

They should expect more work and less talk. 

The aura around the Governor should 

permeate every strata of society. Clearly, there 

will be more work and less talk. On the part of 

PDP, Obaseki will have a better relationship 

with the party. What happened between him 

and his former political party, All Progressives 

Congress (APC), will not happen under my 

watch in PDP. So, we will give him all the support 

and make sure that he succeeds. 

What are the factors that will shape 

the governorship election? 

It is clear that the electorate is prepared to 

vote. They have made their choice to re-elect 

Obaseki and the PDP. The external forces will 

be those who want to subvert the will of the 

people. Due to the mobilization that we want 

to do, they should not dare to actualize their 

evil plans here. They will not succeed in Edo. 

Edo is not any other state. Edo is the heartbeat 

of the nation. So, you do not joke with your 

heart. 

What are your fears in this election? 

We are very good. But the only thing that 

might be worrisome is that the will of people 

could be subverted by merchants of evil. Not 

that it is really worrisome. But it is nonsensical 

and will not happen in Edo. 

the private sector to thrive, failed to create 

direct or indirect jobs, or provide welfare 

package for the aged and vulnerable persons. 

As it stands, Edo is not only leading in 

political thuggery, social disorder, prostitution, 

armed robbery, kidnapping and internet fraud, 

it is also now suffering severe food crisis under 

Governor Obaseki. 

Even in his immediate locality, Obaseki has 

failed. 

Research by Vivian O Omuemu, Efosa M 

Otasowie, Ugochukwu Onyiriuka of the 

Department of Community Health, 

College of Medical Sciences, University 

of Benin, Edo State, gave credence to that. 

The research unveiled the prevalence of 

food insecurity in Egor Local 

Government Area of the state. According 

to the research, the prevalence of food 

insecurity was 61.8 percent. 

Food insecurity was higher among 

households with younger heads. Such an 

alarming figure in one local government 

within the Benin metropolis is an 

indication of prevailing hunger, 

starvation and grand poverty is communities 

and local governments that are distant from 

the seat of power. 

Food security 

The expectation is that government will 

support farmers (both subsistence and 

commercial) under different programmes like 

agripreneurs to ensure food security in the 

state. But that can only be so in the minds of 

those who think Edo should be great again. 

The inability to have both physical and 

economic access to sufficient food by 

individuals and households has been shown 

to cause predictable reactions and responses 

such as feelings of uncertainty or anxiety over 

food supply, perception that food is of 

insufficient quantity and quality for members 

of household, reduction of food intake and 

hunger.One fact Obaseki and his lieutenants 

need to know is that improved food security 

and nutrition are necessary for the achievement 

of the first Millennium Development Goal 

(eradication of extreme poverty and hunger) 

as well as providing an enabling environment 

for achieving the other seven Millennium 

Development Goals. The progressive 

achievement of those goals also will further 

enhance food security and improve nutrition.

PAGE 18— SUNDAY VANGUARD, AUGUST 2, 2020 

Oshiomhole is back in Edo to campaign 

ahead of the September 19 governorship 

election in the state. What is your projection? 

You are right that he is once again leading 

the party in the state ahead of the 

governorship election, and, if you recall, even 

in the days of the PDP, he won in the 192 wards 

in the 18 LGAs of the state for his party which 

had never happened before. And he was not 

popular for nothing; he was popular because 

he built infrastructure: schools, hospitals, 

markets, roads...name it. 

He worked with the good, the bad and the 

ugly to get results. He solidified the APC in 

Edo, but, unfortunately, he didn’t know that 

the man he was going to hand over to was 

a snake in his cabinet. This man 

pretended for eight years. The 

company he was running had 

collapsed. Oshiomhole brought 

him, packaged him and said so 

many good things about him to 

Edo people because he wanted 

to market him. But, little did 

he know that the man never 

meant well for him and 

the people of Edo. Each 

time I read that 

Oshiomhole wants to 

turn himself into a 

godfather, and is the 

reason he fights 

Obaseki, I know 

that is not true. All 

Oshiomhole 

wanted was for 

him to carry on 

with the 

developmental 

programmes 

which he 

started; to 

bring party 

men and 

women 

together, so 

that the APC 

will continue 

to be a 

household 

name in Edo. You 

can imagine, a 

hospital that 

Oshiomhole built 

with tax payers’ money, 

equipped, with this same 

man being the Chairman of 

the Economic Team when 

the decisions were made, 

Obaseki now came and 

destroyed the legacies, refused to allow the 

hospital to run three years after it was 

commissioned by President Muhammadu 

Buhari. 

But for Covid-19 that forced his hands, the 

hospital would have remained shut. Some of 

us saw this earlier, and we told our boss, but 

Oshiomhole did not observe him well enough. 

Some of his (Obaseki) family members even 

advised Oshiomhole not to pick the man as 

his successor, but Comrade felt otherwise. 

Shortly after he was sworn-in, he banned APC 

leaders and party members from entering the 

Government House and sent some leaders 

who disagreed with him like Osakpawan 

Eriyo to jail. He destroyed the houses of some 

of them and, as we speak, he has continued to 

threaten APC members in his cabinet. 

All the while, Oshiomhole never knew that 

the man had been envious of him and his 

achievements, to the extent that he became so 

blinded that he made to undo instead of 

building on them. 

He tried to destroy the structure of the APC 

that was solidified during the Oshiomhole 

•Ebegbulem 

years by enthroning neophytes. Yet, 

Oshiomhole was patient; pleading with party 

members that Obaseki will change. For 

instance, during the 2019 general elections, 

Oshiomhole wanted to the APC to field strong 

candidates capable of defeating those of the 

opposition PDP...this man refused and rather 

fielded weak ones, all of whom lost woefully 

at the polls. In Oredo, for instance, where he 

(Obaseki) comes from, Oshiomhole wanted 

Osaro Obaze to run against Ogbeide Ihama 

of the PDP, the incumbent House of 

Representatives member, because he felt 

Obaze is more grounded in Oredo, but the 

governor felt otherwise. Oshiomhole was even 

trying to save him from disgrace in his own 

LG, but he insisted on a neophyte who 

eventually lost woefully to the PDP candidate, 

and that was how he (Obaseki) lost in his 

polling booth, lost his ward, lost his LG during 

the 2019 presidential election. 

And, shortly after, he shamefully went to play 

golf as if in celebration of Mr. President’s loss 

at the poll. That was how the APC lost the 

Oshiomhole knows 

secret to Obaseki, 

PDP’s defeat 

—Ebegbulem, ex-APC leader’s spokesperson 

•Narrates former principal’s tough battle to remove party from govs’ stranglehold 

•‘Comrade was protecting Buhari while 2023 forces were plotting to oust him’ 

Hon. Simon Ebegbulem was spokesman for the 

immediate past National Chairman of the All 

Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams 

Oshiomhole. Ebegbulem, who is presently Imo State 

Commissioner for Special Projects, speaks on the 

forthcoming Edo State governorship election and his former 

principal’s tenure among other issues. 

presidential and National 

Assembly elections in Edo 

South where the governor 

comes from, while 

Oshiomhole, who he 

wanted to steer clear of 

Edo politics, won Edo 

North for Mr. President 

and the APC. 

That is why in the 

state Assembly 

election, Oshiomhole 

put his foot on the 

ground and rallied all 

the people Obaseki 

had offended, and even 

brought in business mogul, 

Capt. Hosa Okunbor, to rescue 

the APC from total defeat. Oshiomhole 

jettisoned the failed tactic of Obaseki and 

made way for the APC to win all the 24 state 

assembly seats. Even after that, he refused to 

swear-in 14 of the members of the state 

assembly who rejected his decision to foist an 

unpopular member-elect, as Speaker, on 

them. 

During the 2019 APC primaries in Edo, 

while Oshiomhole was trying to field strong 

candidates, the governor (Obaseki), at the 

party secretariat, in Benin, attacked me, and 

asked me to tell Comrade that he was going 

to ‘deploy the resources of the state to ensure 

that’ he removed (Oshiomhole) him as the 

National Chairman of the APC; that he will 

stop him from stepping into Edo; of course, I 

delivered his message to Comrade. It was on 

that day that I found out that the man was 

truly not the person that he claimed to be 

before the Comrade and all those that had the 

interest of the APC and Edo at heart. 

The governorship election is less than two 

months away, and Oshiomhole was seen 

apologizing to the people of Edo for 

misjudging Obaseki. What’s your take on 

this? 

Comrade is not arrogant, and is quick to 

apologize if he feels he has wronged you. He 

was doing that because Benin leaders had 

warned him to be wary of Obaseki. I am happy 

that the campaign is on now and the people 

are fully aware that the four years reign of 

Obaseki is total fraud. 

ANAMBRA 2021: The contenders to watch 

By Tony Nwankwo 

A 

s the race for Government House, 

Awka, Anambra State, in 2021, 

gathers momentum, it is necessary to 

take a cursory look at the frontrunners. Since 

the era of Chris Ngige, Anambra State has 

played a pivotal role in the governorship of 

Igboland. Meanwhile, the field is already saturated, 

as serious contenders are already taking 

positions in their quest to occupy Agu Awka 

next year. 

Prof. Chukwuma Soludo 

Thisformer Central Bank of Nigeria governor 

is the APGA choice. APGA has run the 

state throughout this democratic dispensation. 

Yet on October 9, 2009, the Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, chose Soludo as their consensus 

candidate in a field of about 47 candidates. 

His bid however failed following an inconclusive 

primary that ended up with court injunctions. 

The experience of Prof. Soludo garnered 

over the years is yet to be exploited on the home 

front in Anambra. Depending on which side 

you are in Anambra politics, the Soludo baggage 

could be a factor as the race for 2021 

rolls over in Anambra. 

*Ike Oligbo 

*Ifeanyi Uba 

ambra State. As a new man in the politics 

of the state, Ike Oligbo carries no 

baggage in this quest and if opinions 

in the state is anything to go by, he 

remains among the most trusted politicians 

in Anambra State. 

Amb. Vincent Ike Oligbo 

Since he made public his intention to move 

into Agu Awka in 2021, this international security 

expert has not ceased to amaze the grassroots 

in Anambra. While other contenders were 

still weighing their options, Oligbo put his resources 

on ground, building party offices in 

local governments and ensuring that his party, 

the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had a 

head start in the quest for the Government 

House in Awka. As if that was not enough, this 

neophyte in Anambra politics, put his hat in 

the ring early enough. His commitment and 

love for the people was clearly visible during 

the upsurge of coronavirus in the country. He 

was in the forefront to provide palliatives to 

cushion the effects of Covid-19 on the people. 

Using his well-funded Hon. Amb. Ike Oligbo 

Foundation, he created awareness and sensitized 

the people on the pandemic, beginning 

from the launch at Eke Awka on April 1, 2020, 

providing Covid-19 preventive kits which included 

facemasks, sanitizers and hand gloves. 

Again, the medical team of his Foundation, 

were present in 21 local governments in An- 

Uche Ekwunife 

An experienced politician and a veteran 

in governorship contests in Anambra 

State. In 2007, Iyom, contested 

under PDP for Njikoka/Anaocha/ 

Dunukofia Federal Constituency and 

won. Again, in2010, she contested for 

the governorship position of the state on the 

platform of Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), 

while still a member of the House of Representatives. 

She was the first woman to kick-off 

Covid-19 awareness campaign in the state, 

providing preventive kits,and later other palliatives. 

Meanwhile, the gender issue and the 

zoning issue in PDP could be an issue in her 

quest for Government House, Awka. 

He tried to destroy 

the structure of the 

APC that was 

solidified during the 

Oshiomhole years 

by enthroning 

neophytes 

He promised the people on the Gelegele 

seaport, but, today, if you go to Gelegele, you 

will not see a single block while billions of 

Naira of tax payers’ money, as claimed, has 

been spent on the project. He promised 200,000 

jobs in four years, but contrary to that he has 

made more people jobless in Edo, because he 

sacked thousands of people who Oshiomhole 

empowered, particularly youths. He brought 

in foreigners who are getting richer while the 

natives are getting poorer. 

So, I am happy that we have a governorship 

candidate today, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, 

who is a guru when it comes to the politics of 

the state, and who comes from a well respected 

family in Benin Kingdom. If you may know, 

his father was Esogban of Benin Kingdom. 

He understands the vision of the APC, being 

one of the founding members of the party. He 

was APC Deputy Vice Chairman South-South. 

There is no place for Obaseki. Ize-Iyamu 

will not only bring back jobs meant for the 

people of Benin Kingdom, but also for those 

of the two other senatorial districts. You could 

see that since his emergence, the APC in Edo 

has been rejuvenated and that is why you see 

the mass resignation from the government of 

Obaseki. What Obaseki failed to realise is that 

Oshiomhole has institutionalised APC in all 

the nooks and crannies of Edo. 

Continues online at vanguardngr.com 

Ifeanyi Uba 

Currently,a senator of the Federal Republic, 

Uba can safely be described is a veteran of 

governorship contests in Anambra State. He 

contested under Labour Party in 2013 and 

failed. He tried under PDP in 2017, unsuccessfully, 

before decamping to APGA. He was however 

successful following his contest for the 

Senate on the platform of YPP. He has since 

indicated interest for the governorship contest 

for 2021. He lacks political flair, but has proven 

to be no pushover, as he defeated some 

known political giants on his way to the Senate. 

Ifeanyi Uba has so much baggage as he 

leads his contest for Agu Awka in 2021. 

Godwin Maduka 

Maduka is a well known name in the politics 

of Anambra State. A philanthropist, he has 

proven that he can hold his own. He joined 

PDP from APGA in 2019. His movement to 

PDP was celebrated as he went along with 

many of his supporters. While being new in 

political statecraft, Maduka has no known 

baggage. He was outstanding during the early 

lockdown in Anambra State, providing palliatives 

like rice,face masks, sanitizers, etc. to 

all the 181 communities and 326 wards in 

Anambra State. 

Tony Nwoye 

A political jobber who has been in the scene 

for a long time. Nwoye has lots of political 

baggage. He has contested for governorship 

twice under the platform of PDP (2013) and 

APC (2019), respectively, and failed in both 

attempts. He is currently a member of APC 

but he has an arduous task to replace Governor 

Willie Obiano, with both coming from Anambra 

North. 

As we look to the future of Anambra politics, 

it will be interesting as politicking thickens, to 

know who succeeds Obiano at Government 

House, Awka. It is important to note that although 

Anambra is just a state in the South- 

East, its politics and who emerges governor in 

the State is the major poliical talk in the zone 

and in Nigeria generally.


Called to minister to God (3) 

hose who minister to God lament over 

Tthe things that break God’s heart. We 

grieve over the afflictions of Joseph. (Amos 6:6). 

We commiserate with a distressed Father who 

daily sees His beloved children going astray, 

taking the wrong decisions, and falling into 

the traps of the enemy. We feel God’s pain and 

anguish at the sinful condition of the world. 

The world God created is broken. The people 

He loves have gone astray. Therefore: “Gird 

yourselves and lament, you priests; wail, you 

who minister before the altar; come, lie all 

night in sackcloth, you who minister to my 

God.” (Joel 1:13). 

“Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, 

weep between the porch and the altar; let them 

say," Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not 

give Your heritage to reproach.” (Joel 1:17). 

“Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, 

and pity His people.” (Joel 2:18). 

It also means sitting sometimes quietly in 

God’s presence, as we share in His grief. This 

is what the friends of Job did: “They sat down 

with him on the ground seven days and seven 

nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for 

they saw that his grief was very great.” (Job 

2:13). 

Entering into God’s pain 

God created man in His image and likeness. 

He did this because He wants us to be 

exactly like His Son Jesus. Paul says: “For 

whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be 

conformed to the image of His Son, that He 

might be the firstborn among many brethren.” 

(Romans 8:29). For this reason, we are being 

transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image 

of Christ from glory to glory. (2 Corinthians 

3:18). 

God wants us to share in His divine nature. 

That is one of the reasons why He required 

Valley of dry bones (I) 

God takes us through 

pain and adversity 

because He wants us to 

identify with Him. 

Success in life, ministry: Moral & ministry 

excellence (1) 

Introduction 

IRTUE is the first element 

Vyou develop after you have 

acquired the foundational element, 

faith: giving all diligence, 

add to your faith virtue, to virtue 

knowledge, to knowledge selfcontrol 

perseverance, to perseverance 

godliness, to godliness 

brotherly kindness, and to brotherly 

kindness love (II Peter 1:5- 

7) 

Ṫhe NASB translates “virtue”, 

Pastor Akinola 

or “arête” as “moral excellence”. 

Moral failure must not be blamed entirely on 

temptation. Mishandling love and relationships 

can ruin your moral integrity and open 

you up to temptation. Wisely handle your capacity 

to love, and you will maintain moral 

excellence. Thus you will not stumble but succeed 

in life and destiny. Faith can bring you 

wealth and good results, but without virtue, it 

gives room to indulgence. You must move on 

to develop moral excellence when you have 

learnt faith. With moral excellence, you are on 

your way to success. 

Let us consider the example of Samson in the 

Bible. He was a young man destined for success; 

with great faith and anointing which the 

ZEKIEL 37:4-8,10 says: “Again he said 

Eunto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and 

say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word 

of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto 

these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to 

enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will 

lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh 

upon you, and cover you with skin, and put 

breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall 

know that I am the LORD. So I prophesied 

as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, 

there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and 

the bones came together, bone to his bone. 

And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the 

flesh came up upon them, and the skin 

covered them above but there was no breath 

in them. So I prophesied as he commanded 

me, and the breath came into them, and they 

lived, and stood up upon their feet, an 

exceeding great army.” Beloved, the world 

Abraham to offer up his son, Isaac. God 

planned to offer up Jesus, His only begotten 

Son, for our sins. Therefore, He asked 

Abraham to offer up Isaac, his only begotten 

son, for God. He wanted to see if Abraham 

would agree to go through the same 

ordeal that He would go through in offering 

up His Son Jesus for the sins of the world. 

By agreeing to sacrifice his son, Abraham 

ministered to God. Heaven is designed 

for those who are prepared to be of the same 

mind in the Lord. Accordingly, Paul says: 

“Let this mind be in you which was also in 

Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5). 

Fellowship of sufferings 

Paul prayed concerning Jesus: “That I 

may know Him and the power of His resurrection, 

and the fellowship of His sufferings.” 

(Philippians 3:10). 

God wants those who minister to Him to 

be like Jesus; men and women of sufferings 

and sorrow, acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 

53:3). God appeared to Ezekiel, gave him 

a book, and told him to eat it. The book 

was full of lamentations, mourning, and 

woe. (Ezekiel 2:9-10). God wanted Ezekiel 

Philistines dreaded. A trap was, however, 

set for him in the area of his moral life, 

through Delilah, and that was enough to 

bring him down from the pinnacle of success. 

We must give earnest heed to this element, 

if we are to make any meaningful 

impact in life. 

Some people set money or 

achievements in life as their major 

focus for success. Unfortunately, 

history had proven to us time and 

again that such people had ended 

up their lives miserably! It was 

once said, several years ago, that 

the richest man in the world died 

of malnutrition! Was lack of money therefore 

his problem? Certainly not! His problem 

was a wrong definition of success in 

life. Let us learn wisdom on this important 

subject. 

Moral excellence and relationships 

Relationships between people is the first 

major litmus test of morality, and God is at 

the center of all such definitions and monitoring. 

Living right and acceptably is also 

a function of proper relationships. You stand 

on two positions to determine the propriety 

of relationships. 

•God’s expectation for relationships, and 

•Appropriate expression of love for relationships. 

These two indices will be considered from 

as a matter of explanation is full of men 

and women, adult and children who are 

spiritually dead. People without life of 

God in them, filled with darkness because 

of the type of life they are living, people 

who have immersed themselves in sin and 

are full of wickedness until Christ came 

into the world and began to bring about 

light and life. “For God so loved the 

world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 

that whosoever believeth in him should 

not perish, but have everlasting life” 

(John 3;16). 

The love of God for man brought about 

the awakening and reform-ation of man. 

If not for the emergence of our Saviour 

Jesus Christ, man would have been worse 

than dried bones in nature and essence 

and considered less valuable. 

John 1:5 says: “And the light shineth in 

darkness; and the darkness 

comprehended it not.” 

The world was in deep wicked-ness and 

ignorant of the truth until our Lord Jesus 

Christ came to teach an ignorant, 

benighted, and wicked world the truth 

and way of life. And that is the light that 

came from Jesus Christ. 

That light came from heaven through 

Jesus Christ to enlighten the world and I 

want to let you know that that light shines 

upon the valley of dry bones to give those 

bones lives and sinews. So, in the midst 

to identify fully with his feelings of distress before 

going to preach to Israel. Similarly, Jesus 

redeemed mankind in the travail of His soul. 

Isaiah 53:11). 

God told Elijah that he had prepared a widow 

in Zarephath to feed him. But when he got to 

her, he discovered that she had no food. So, how 

had God prepared her? He prepared her 

through pain and suffering. He prepared her 

through the loss of her husband and in famine. 

If we have not been prepared through pain and 

suffering, losses, and sorrow, then we cannot effectively 

minister to God. 

Hannah was a woman of sorrow over her barrenness. 

She ministered to God in her distress 

and God used her sorrows to produce Samuel, 

a mighty prophet in Israel. God was grieved 

over the sins of Eli the High Priest and his sons. 

He needed to share his grief so He turned to a 

woman of prayer called Hannah. He shut her 

womb and brought reproach on her from her 

rival Peninnah. So, Hannah was in great distress 

but her distress was evidence of God’s love. 

In her distress, Hannah ministered to God in 

prayer. God wanted a mighty prophet as a saviour 

of Israel: Hannah wanted a son. So, God 

took Hannah to the place where, in her distress, 

she struck a tremendous bargain with God. If 

God were to give Hannah a son, Hannah would 

give him up for the Lord. Thereby, Hannah entered 

into God’s ordeal of giving up His only 

begotten Son for the salvation of the world. 

Atonement with God 

To minister to God, we have to be one with 

Him. We have to feel through His heart and see 

through His eyes. Therefore, God takes us 

through pain, losses, and adversities because 

He wants us to identify with Him. 

God shares in our affliction: “In all (our) affliction 

He (is) afflicted, and the Angel of His 

Presence saves (us).” (Isaiah 63:9). Jesus did 

likewise: “He was wounded for our transgressions, 

he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement 

for our peace was upon Him, and by 

His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5). 

In the same manner, God wants his ministers 

to share in His afflictions. God suffers from 

unrequited love. He loves us but we don’t love 

Him back. He loves us but we love money life 

and women. We cannot understand the depth of 

God’s pain at the unfaithfulness of men until we 

have also experienced the unfaithfulness of our 

this serial, as parameters and yardsticks of moral 

excellence, leading to real success in life and 

destiny. People who care less about these parameters 

eventually wreck their moral lives and 

absolute success, no matter how much they 

might have achieved in life or the status they 

have reached. 

God’s expectation for relationships 

Appropriate relationships must first begin with 

God. The Bible says: “The wicked shall be turned 

into hell and all nations that forget God” (Psalm 

9:17). Nigeria is one such unfortunate nation 

on God’s planet Earth today! In the mid-70s, 

when the nation discovered crude oil, her leaders 

then said, that our problem was not money, 

but how to spend it! Had the country not already 

put the wrong foot forward since then? 

Instead of using that wealth to honour God, our 

leaders then went to bring all the idols of Africa 

together for a festival in Nigeria in the name of 

culture (FESTAC ’77), as it were, to honour those 

idols as givers of our prosperity. 

We forgot God that gave the oil! (Deuteronomy 

8:18). The rest is history in the country, and 

in fact Africa at large, as vices and evil deeds 

reigned supreme among both the leadership and 

followership, up till now. Have we now not been 

turned to hell for forgetting God? 

J.K. Akinola. (Senior Pastor) 

The Gospel Faith Mission International 

(GOFAMINT), Ibadan, Nigeria. (Telephone: 

08033376660, 08055405095) 

Pastor (Dr). E.O. Abina – General Overseer 

of darkness of ignor-ance and idolatry, 

killings, kid-napping, rituals etc which overspread 

the world, the light of God shines. 

Matthew 4:16 says: “The people which sat 

in darkness saw great light; and to them which 

sat in the region and shadow of death light is 

sprung up.” The phrase ‘people which sat in 

darkness’ denote great ignorance. As we can’t 

see anything either in darkness or at night, 

and under such condition, we would not know 

where to go, thus, those who are ignorant of 

God, are said to be in darkness and iniquity, 

as ignorance is often connected with crime 

and vice, so darkness is used to denote sin 

until Christ appeared. 

So, the people that sat in dark-ness are 

people seeing shadows and when light sprang 

up through the coming of Christ, it awaken 

their consciousness’ and now they are able to 

comprehend realities. So light shun on people 

in dark-ness and prevailed upon them. I want 

you to take note when our Lord Jesus Christ 

came and be-gan to prophesy, preach, the dry 

bones began to come together just like in the 

case of Ezekiel. The Scripture says that the 

Spirit of God came upon prophet Ezek-iel 

and took him to the valley of dry bones. So 

also the Spirit of God was upon Jesus Christ 

and took Him into the world full of wicked 

people and sinners (dry bones) and as He 

began to preach, people began to come to 

light, to that original nature in which God 

created them, to the truth and reality of life. 

loved ones. 

So, out of God’s love, He takes us through 

the experience of an unfaithful husband or an 

unfaithful wife. Accordingly, God said to Hosea: 

“Go again, love a woman who is loved by 

a lover and is committing adultery, just like 

the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, 

who look to other gods and love the raisin 

cakes of the pagans.” (Hosea 3:1). 

When we share in God’s pain, He then empowers 

us to share in the pain of others. You 

cannot operate in a healing ministry if you do 

not minister to God. 

Expressing God’s anguish 

God does not just give us His Spirit and himself, 

He also wants to give us His life and His 

experiences. God became the son of man so 

that man can become the son of God. When 

God became a man, He expressed our anguish 

and pain: “My God, my God, why have you 

forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46/ Psalm 22:1). 

Now that man has become a son of God, we 

should express God’s anguish and pain to God. 

Ministering to God means listening to God’s 

heartbeat. We are now the body of Christ, which 

means we are now part of God. Therefore, we 

must act accordingly by taking up God’s yoke 

and by bearing His burdens. 

When tragedies occur as is happening right 

now with this coronavirus pandemic, the first 

thing we need to do is minister to God. If 

people are dying, you can be sure God is hurting: 

“‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no 

pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that 

the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, 

turn from your evil ways! For why should you 

die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:11). 

CONCLUDED 

BISHOP MACRRAN 

RANSOM KELNANAH 

The Apostolic Christian 

Chapel, 3, Shoyinka Street, 

Itire 08035130729 

Reverse to know your 

creator 

EXODUS 23:1-3 

N your reversal to know the lord your God 

Iwho is your creator, you would certainly 

acknowledge the existence laws of God almighty 

in Exodus 23:1-3. 

Law of justice: Thou shall not raise a false 

report against anyone put not thou hand with 

the wicked to be an unrighteous witness you 

shall not follow the multitude to do evil; neither 

shall thou speak in a cause to decline 

after many to wrest judgement. Exodus 20:16 

says you should not bear false witness against 

thou neighbour. 

Psalm 101:5 says: “Whoso privily slander 

his neighbor, him will I cut off: him that hath 

an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.” 

The scriptures admonished strongly that 

you should not slander your neighbor and 

harm him; not like what you are doing today 

and destroying your soul which by so doing 

you are also passing damnation to your household. 

You must adhere to the word of God in Ecclesiastes 

12:13 that says: ”Let us hear the conclusion 

of the whole matter; fear God and 

keep his commandments for this is the whole 

duty of man.“ 

Truly in respecting your creator you would 

be able to keep his commandment and fear 

the lord your God in all ramification. Deuteronomy 

10:12 says: “And now, Israel, what doth 

the Lord your God require of thee, but to fear 

the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways and 

love him and to serve the Lord your God with 

all thy heart and with all your soul.” 

If you observe the law of justice and mercy 

you will sincerely abstain from following a 

multitude to do evil and suffer your fellow 

human beings without mercy. You kill, rob, 

loot, and lie to suffer your fellow brethren, 

your life can never be saved because you will 

suffer the nemesis. Matthew 5:7 says blessed 

are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy; 

blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see 

God. Hebrews 12:14 says: “Follow peace with 

all men and holiness without which no man 

shall see God.” Now, because you secured the 

seat of exaltation, you conclude that it is over 

without thinking of your next followers. Reverse 

to imagine the presence of God in you 

and know that without the presence of God in 

you, life wouldn't be possible for you. 

Handling matters without mercy, judges 

judging matters with no evidence and without 

mercy will also face God of judgment as seen 

in Deuteronomy 1:16-17 and I charged your 

judges at that time, saying, hear the causes 

between your brethren, and judge righteously 

between every man and his brother and the 

stranger that is with him. 

You shall not be afraid of the face of man for 

the judgment is God and the cause that is too 

heard for you, bring it into me (God) and I 

will hear you. Thank you and God bless.


The day of supernatural power 

encounter (4) 

e have come to the cli 

Wmax and the great decision 

must be taken for this 

spectacular encounter to be 

consummated. Are you ready 

because the great God is calling 

you to that decision, which 

must be decisive, if the sinful 

past is to be forgotten and 

wiped out from the memory 

data base of the forgetfulness 

of God. 

Let today be the beginning 

of a new dawn in your life and 

let a new life blossom within 

you that would attract others 

because the Lord will change 

your destiny and you will 

never be the same again. 

If this is your day of decision, 

and you are saying, yes, 

I declare for and surrender to 

Jesus, and I believe that He 

died for me as my Lord and 

Saviour, then bow your head 

and confess your sins. Afterwards, 

I will pray for me. 

Father, in the name of Jesus, 

we thank you for those who 

have decided to follow you. 

This is the day of their decision 

to follow and to take 

Pastor William Kumuyi 

Christ as their personal Saviour. 

Lord, according to your 

promise, whosoever that 

calleth upon the name of the 

Lord shall be saved: Lord, I pray, 

save them now and forgive their 

sins. Also, take away the burden 

of guilt and condemnation 

from their heart in Jesus name. 

Let the joy, assurance of salvation 

and the peace of God 

that comes with salvation, give 

to everyone of them right now. 

Thank you Lord: you have forgiven 

and saved them. And I 

pray, that the victory in salvation 

will be there own in Jesus 

name! We thank you because 

we know you have answered. 

In Jesus name we pray. Amen! 

'MFM to start 70 days fasting soon' 

70 Days Fasting and Prayer 

programme of the Ministry 

will soon commence. 

Olukoya, who promised to 

announce when the 70 Days 

fasting programme will start, 

also said that the July Power 

Must Change Hands prayers 

would be repeated in August. 

A statement signed by the 

Chairman, MFM Media 

Committee, Pastor Oladele 

Bank-Olemoh, revealed that 

the prayers, which were rounded 

off at the end of July, would 

continue until further notice. 

sam.eyoboka@gmail.com 

By Sam Eyoboka 

HE Evangelical Church 

TWinning All (ECWA) has 

expressed deep concern over 

unabated attacks of armed 

herdsmen and bandits across 

the country, especially in the 

Middle-belt and Northern 

States particularly in Southern 

Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, 

Benue, Kogi, Katsina, Zamfara, 

Taraba and Adamawa, 

as they continue to destroy 

lives, farms and properties of 

innocent members of these 

native communities with impunity. 

In a communique after its 

67th General Church Council 

(GCC), the church condemns 

in strong terms the 

mindless killing of the indigenous 

Christians in southern 

Kaduna over the past few 

weeks which has assumed a 

genocidal magnitude and 

By Pastor G.C. Osuigbo 

CAC Madaiyese Regional Headquaters 

Plot 701/702 Durumi District 

P.O. BOX 2577 

Garki, Abuja. 

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Allow your time to manifest 

od the creator of all 

Gthings dwells outside 

the confines, boundaries and 

limitedness of time. God is dynamic, 

he cannot be restricted 

to the past , He is presently 

present in the now and has 

already exited the future that 

man is working tireless to 

create. It is therefore important 

that we refer to Him as 

our compass when seeking 

time related direction in life. 

One major psychological 

Faith for the fight 

By Sam Eyoboka 

S the world seeks solu 

Ation to the COVID 19 

Pandemic which has killed 

over 40,000 in Nigeria, members 

of the Mountain of Fire 

and Miracles Ministries 

(MFM) worldwide have been 

directed to continue with the 

ongoing special Power Must 

Change Hands prayers. 

The General Overseer of 

the Ministry worldwide, Dr. 

Daniel Olukoya, who handed 

down the directive, also 

announced that the annual 

AITH in God is an awe 

Fsome undertaking for 

every circumstance in this life; 

it is particularly so in a difficult 

time. Freedom from oppression 

or oppressive circumstances 

is never given, it 

can only be earned through a 

fight. Difficulties and oppositions 

are things we are meant 

to face on earth, and they are 

the real forces that reveal the 

inner man; the real character 

of a person is revealed in the 

face crises, temptation, provocation 

or trouble. In trying 

times, people develop either 

a crushed, conquered spirit or 

a conquering spirit. As a believer, 

the Holy Spirit who 

resides in you, stirs up the giant 

within you – brings out the 

inner qualities you possess, and 

faith is built on great courage. 

Winning faith is born out a 

realization, the awareness of 

God in a personal life and experience. 

God is the source 

faith for all round victory - "for 

everyone born of God overcomes 

the world. This is the victory 

that has overcome the 

Rev. Emmanuel Awazie 

*Assemblies of God Church 

Nigeria, 111 Clegg Street, 

Surulere, Lagos. 

world, even our faith. 5 Who 

is it that overcomes the world? 

Only he who believes that 

Jesus is the Son of God." 1 Jn. 

5:4-5. We must turn to Him 

in true repentance, which initiates 

us into His divine aspects 

of life: the spiritual dimension. 

When times are 

tough, when things are difficult, 

when storms are raging, 

Covid-19: Sharma Educational Foundation holds prayer 

A 

non governmental or 

ganization (NGO), 

Sharma Educational Foundation 

Women Forum has 

held a one day prayer programme 

against Covid-9 

pandemic and welfare of 

members at Enerhen in Uvwie 

Local Government Area of 

Delta State, yesterday. 

The president of the NGO 

Dr. (Mrs.) Onyi Ikemefuna in 

her speech at the event, explained 

that empowerment 

programmes and lecture held 

thrice a year by the foundation 

could not hold owing to 

the outbreak of Covid-19 and 

that the prayer day was held 

to wipe away the disease and 

for healing of the nation. 

Ikemefuna who disclosed 

that the foundation reached 

out to over one thousand 

homes during the lockdown 

period, urged other NGOs 

Members of Sharma Educational Foundation Women Forum 

shortly after their one day prayer programme against 

Covid 19 and healing of the land at Enerhen , Uvwie Local 

Government Area, yesterday. 

rum, Mrs Rose Obi in her 

speech, disclosed that the 

NGO would hold a bumper 

empowerment programme 

and lecture for members in 

October, as she expressed delight 

over the huge turn out of 

members for the event which 

Chieftain urges non-Indigenes to vote for Obaseki’s re-election 

A 

head of the September 

19, 2020 governorship 

election in Edo State, Peoples 

Democratic Party (PDP) 

chieftain, Chief Sunny 

Onuesoke has appealed to 

non-indigenes resident in Edo 

to cast their votes en-mass for 

the re-election Godwin. 

Onuesoke who made the 

call in Benin City yesterday, 

said it is pertinent for nonindigenes 

to join forces with 

the state indigenes to return 

Obaseki as the Governor as 

his support base continues to 

grow due to his integrity and 

performance in office, 

including sectoral reforms and 

investment 

in 

infrastructure, which 

has attracted investors and 

industrialisation of the state. 

The PDP chieftain reiterated 

that the re-election of Obaseki 

and Shaibu for another term 

would further consolidate the 

achievements recorded in their 

first tenure, stressing that Edo 

State is in safe hands under 

Governor Obaseki. 

“ Obaseki needs to be reelected 

for him to continue 

his pragmatism and 

e n d u r i n g 

sagacity in providing happiness 

for the generality of Edo 

masses. His unalloyed 

commitment to the provision 

of good governance has 

ruffled the godfathers and 

those elements who see 

governance as a means of selfenrichment 

to the detriment 

08023145567 (sms only) 

ECWA condemns spate of violence in Nigeria 

calls on the Federal Government 

to apprehend the perpetrators 

to face the full wrath of 

the law, and to compensate the 

victims in the interest of justice. 

"The Council notes with grief 

the several attacks on Southern 

Kaduna Christian communities, 

which are the strongholds 

of ECWA, where over 

120 persons including infants 

and women have been killed 

in the last two weeks alone, 

with scores injured and thousands 

displaced from their villages 

and farmlands by armed 

Fulani militia without any 

care from the Kaduna State 

and Federal Governments. 

"The manifest nonchalance 

of both the Kaduna State and 

Federal Governments to the 

plight of our compatriots is 

suggestive of their loss of the 

plague today’s society is experiencing 

is the non appreciation, 

none understanding and 

the misapplication of time. 

Many are hatching into destiny 

before the set time while or 

some others, the set time is far 

gone and they are yet to manifest. 

Jesus while on earth modeled 

the accurate and wise use 

of time, both kairos and chromos. 

His moves, thoughts, 

speech, action and inaction 

where not cerebrally provoked 

when the fire is burning, it is at 

such a time that we need faith 

in God. And if we have not established 

the relationship with 

Him through faith in the redemption 

of Jesus Christ, we 

shall be alone, and defeated 

when faced with the odds and 

bizarre issues of life. Bonding 

with God is a key factor in life, 

and demonstrates our faith in 

Him: Faith in God and faithfulness 

to God go hand in hand. 

If we have faith in God, we 

will not be unfaithful to Him. 

And it is very impossible to be 

faithful to God without having 

faith in Him. Our devotion 

to God helps forge in us the 

qualities needed for victory in 

life's conflicts; they construct 

and well to do Nigerians to always 

assist the less privileged , 

saying that there is blessing in 

giving. She then expressed appreciation 

to her husband, Engineer 

Greg Ikemefuna and 

others for their support 

The Vice President of the Foshe 

described as awesome. 

While stressing that Covid- 

19 was real, she urged members 

to abide by all government 

protocols aimed at curbing 

the spread of the disease. 

She also preached love 

amongst womenfolks, saying 

" if we love ourselves, the World 

would be a better place for us" 

The Chairman of Brightroses 

Global Care Foundation, 

Mrs Ngozi Nnamocha in her 

speech, explained that she decided 

to collaborate with Sharma 

Educational Foundation 

Women Forum due to its laudable 

achievements and objectives. 

While a beneficiary of the 

NGO, Mrs. Agbo Bibiana 

Chigozie, who is a member of 

Police Officers Wives Association 

(POWA), Ughelli Police 

Division, attested to the benefits 

she and some of her members 

got from Sharma Educational 

Foundation Women 

Forum 

of the larger society. 

“Obaseki should 

be applauded and 

favoured with another term 

in office as a reward for 

his timely and regular 

payment of workers’ salaries 

and ensuring that pensioners’ 

entitlements are promptly 

paid instead of the usual 

practice of owing pensioners 

months or years allowances,” 

Onuesoke disclosed. 

innate humane sense of value 

for life and their seeming abdication 

of their primary responsibility 

of securing the 

lives and property of their citizens," 

the communique 

signed by Rev. Stephen Panya 

Baba, ECWA President and his 

General Secretary, Rev. Yunusa 

Sabo Nmadu Jnr. said. 

The Council also frowns at 

a recent statement credited to 

a Presidential spokesman explaining 

away these genocidal 

massacres as reprisal killings, 

arguing: "No responsible 

government would want to be 

perceived as holding brief for 

terrorists, unless it is complicit. 

"Thus, the Council is even 

more worried about the callousness 

of the government in 

changing the narrative of the 

attacks, bending it towards 

or limited. They were all in 

tandem with the divine programme 

of God. What he said 

was what he heard His father 

say and what he did was as he 

saw His father do. Jesus never 

misappropriated nor was manipulated 

time, despite the 

fact that time at his disposal, 

command and beckoning. 

Rather he allowed his time of 

manifestation to occur as ordained 

by heaven. He programmed 

his life around a 

celestial clock ,sequencing everything 

timely. 

Reading John 8:20 These 

words spake Jesus in the treasury, 

as he taught in the temple: 

and no man laid hands 

on him; for his hour was not 

yet come; John 7:8 Go ye up 

unto this feast: I go not up yet 

unto this feast: for my time is 

not yet full come. We see Jesus 

Christ wait for his time. No one 

in us the very winning nature 

of God who is the very One 

with whom we relate; we are 

brought into His stride, and 

can be said to walk with Him 

- "Do two walk together except 

they make an appointment 

and have agreed?" Amos 3:3. 

Seven key elements will stand 

out in our lives and attitude at 

all time, as our loyalty and relationship 

with God are nurtured. 

The qualities are (1) the 

life of total obedience to God, 

and His word, (2) fearlessness 

in tough times, (3) courage, (4) 

love for God and His people, 

(5) humility and meekness, (6) 

seeking God’s glory in all 

things, and (7) walking with 

God at all times. 

•MikeWorld 

ast-rising Nigerian mu 

Fsician, Mikeworld is set 

to dazzle fans around the 

world with his new single 

“What You Want”; the first 

song released off his EP project 

that’s in the pipeline. 

MikeWorld, born Michael 

Ikechukwu Isichei, is a fastrising, 

Nigerian contemporary 

RnB Musician. Best 

known as a performing artiste, 

MikeWorld is also a prolific 

songwriter and record producer 

Ḣis new song “What You 

Want” shows off yet again the 

loverboy side of Mikeworld - 

an exceptional African prince 

charming, “crowned Mr. Cute 

and Sexy” by many of his female 

fans. In this luxurious 

display of poetry, rhythm and 

euphony, Mike asks that you 

blaming the victims when in 

actual sense it is the government 

that has woefully failed 

in its constitutional responsibility 

of protecting its citizens. 

"In recognition of its divine 

mandate, the Council reminds 

all of the sacredness 

and inviolability of the right 

to life, stating that no person, 

authority or institution has the 

right to terminate the life of 

another unlawfully and urged 

everyone to respect the sanctity 

of human life and end the 

wanton bloodletting in the 

land," it stated. 

It also advocated for a stronger 

collaboration between the 

government, the security agencies, 

and the entire populace 

to make for a more robust and 

rapid response for the protection 

of human lives and property. 

could lay hands on Jesus because 

his time had not yet 

come. He said in John 

9:4that, “I must work the 

works of him that sent me, 

while it is day: the night 

cometh, when no man can 

work.” That he must do the 

works of Him who sent him 

while it is day. As children of 

God we must be conscious of 

our God given time. In John 

12:23 And Jesus answered 

them, saying, the hour is come, 

that the Son of man should be 

glorified.Jesus said, the hour 

is to come for the son of man 

to be glorified. 

Christ was so conscious of 

His duties and the time frame 

within which to accomplish 

them. He reasonably utilized 

His time and did not allow 

environmental distractions 

and social engagements to be 

impediments in His ways. 

Those are formidable spiritual 

forces that our adversary 

cannot gainsay. The challenges 

that confront us in life are 

the divine clarion call to the 

life of obedience to God; this 

attitude leads the way to being 

courageous in tough 

times, fearless in the midst of 

conflicts, sustains our love for 

God and His people, maintains 

in us a life of humility 

and meekness, a passion that 

seeks the glory of God in all 

things, and a walk with God 

at all times. Our walk with 

Him must be consistent and 

unrelenting. With God, you 

are more than a conqueror. 

(Romans 8:31) 

UK-based Nigerian artiste, Mikeworld 

launches another single 

By Akoma Chinweoke 

do him just one favour: “Tell 

me What You Want”. From 

the review of industry experts, 

this new single is set to thrill 

his fans and bring him huge 

prospects in the game as a recording/performing 

artiste. 

For Mike, music isn’t just a 

career, it’s his best means of 

self-expression. Although reserved 

as a person, he is a 

hard-working and highly inspired 

musician who writes 

most of his own songs and coproduces 

some of them. He 

has written and produced over 

30 songs over the years. His 

perfectionist nature pushes 

him to keep refining them 

until he is super convinced 

they’re market-ready. He has 

been influenced and inspired 

by musicians such as Chris 

Brown, XXXTENTACION, 

Bazzi, Bryson Tiller, Tory Lanez 

and Ryan Trey. 

You may define his sound as 

“Contemporary or Fusion 

RnB” but Mike is versatile 

enough to cater to several other 

genres as well. He has created 

music and collaborated 

with other musicians on songs 

which cut across Afrobeats, 

Pop, Hip Hop, Rap and EDM. 

His music appeals to a wide 

spectrum of fans across diverse 

cultures, which has mostly 

over time attracted a lot of 

urban teenagers and young 

adults.

Viewpoint 

By Captain Bob Hayes 

GENERAL Orho Esio Obada (retired)! I 

can't imagine using past tense to 

describe ‘General’ as I fondly called him. 

Obada was a complete gentleman and 

indefatigable friend who graciously became 

my brother. 

He defined what true friendship means. It is 

with great sadness that we are mourning the 

demise of my brother General Orho Esio 

Obada (retired) who passed on to eternal glory 

on the 14th of June 2020 after a brief illness. 

Our paths crossed as young men in the 60s 

when he, as a young and brilliant military 

officer, had to travel to Dar-Salaam, Ethiopia 

on official duty and I was the pilot of the flight. 

We became inseparable as the years rolled 

by. I remember vividly how General, my 

beloved brother, while he was the commanding 

By Michael Obetoh 

THE twist which the political atmosphere 

took on Saturday, July 25, 2020 in Edo State 

can only be equated to the Biblical saying in the 

book of Sirach 27: 30: “Grudges and wrath are 

abominations, but sinful people excel in them.” 

Better still, any keen observer of the Nigerian 

politics will acknowledge the fact that beating the 

drum of war in a political contest as the current 

one in Edo is akin to blowing on a spark to ignite 

a politically tensed system, yet an evil tongue will 

go ahead to do so; not minding the consequences. 

We have a sitting governor and his deputy, who 

left the All Progressives Congress (APC) on 

frivolous claims for the other party whose 

presidential candidate in the 2015 general 

elections, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, repeatedly said 

his political ambition is not worth the blood of 

anyone. 

Better still, when he has continued to blame his 

hitherto godfather, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, 

of overbearing demands, it was expected that 

Governor Godwin Obaseki and Philip Shaibu, 

his deputy, would drop their toga of violence and 

toe the path of peaceful campaign as Jonathan 

who, though a rare patriot, lost the 2015 election 

to President Muhammadu Buhari; 

understandably so. Some forebears: A typical 

example is the experience of Jonathan and his 

wife Patience who were severally maligned and 

mocked even to the point of being called 

unprintable names, yet they did not order the arrest 

or intimidation of anyone. 

By Princewill Ekwujuru 

EXPERTS in the broadcast and marketing 

communications industries have said that 

the recommendation of the committee on the 

reform of the sixth broadcasting code of the 

National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) will 

lead to the final collapse of the advertising industry. 

The code which, according to experts, if approved 

by the Presidency, will not only affect the pay-TV 

industry, but also the web and online platforms; 

experts say this could be an attempt to gag and 

control the online platforms, a situation not 

obtainable in advanced climes. 

The experts said the rules however are wellintentioned 

but are outside of the jurisdiction of 

the NBC, but detrimental to the growth and 

progress of the advertising industry, and will 

advertently destroy the advertising industry as well 

as other platforms. 

The experts also said the amendments to the 

sixth edition of the broadcasting code didnot follow 

International best practice of regulatory rule (s). 

They stated further that the entire amendments 

By Mohammed Gyammas 

THERE is hardly a day that passes without 

one hearing that someone somewhere 

looted the treasury. The cliché is that any public 

office holder is a potential thief. Such a person 

can be termed a crook or one that has 

embezzled or one that has used his office to 

enrich himself. 

Welcome to the new Nigeria, where media 

trial is the in thing. One is judged guilty even 

before a real trial begins and such a person is 

condemned before a law court gives its verdict. 

It gets so bad that it takes a miracle for one to 

extricate himself from the allegations, even if 

he was proven innocent by a competent court 

thereafter. 

At the rate allegations of corruption are 

being discussed, many right-thinking people 

may find it difficult to serve their fatherland. 

This is because anybody and I mean anyone, 

can wake up and allege that Mr. A is a thief. 

And only the grace of God can exonerate such 

a person. His name would have been rubbed 

in the mud and his integrity would not worth 

the paper it is written. Allegations have been 

flying here and there when it actually started, 


The late General Obada: Epitome of true friendship 

officer in Kaduna gave me his official staff 

car and orderly to enable me attend a very 

crucial board meeting in Zaria which I would 

have been unable to attend without his 

assistance. 

Yes, that was General Obada! 

In later years when I relocated to London, 

General and I spoke regularly, sometimes 

twice a day. On his trips to London, we were 

always together as my home became his 

second home. General’s residence in Agbarho 

also became my second home on my visits to 

Nigeria. In Agbarho, General Obada and I 

always spent long hours just talking about the 

past well into the night. 

l will forever treasure these moments. 

The bond and love extended to our families 

and the closeness between our children speaks 

volumes. When he took ill and was hospitalized, 

we still spoke every day. 

On the 13th of June 2020, General called me 

from his hospital bed, spoke with my wife and 

myself. Alas! Now I knew it was goodbye. 

I was not ready to say goodbye to General 

yet. Even though I know that death is inevitable, 

as a true Christian which he was, we must take 

solace in the fact that my brother has gone back 

to meet with the Lord. My heartfelt condolences 

go to the entire Obada family, the Agbarho 

community, and indeed Nigeria for the loss of 

a great son. Please know you are not alone at 

this difficult time. 

Adieu my beloved brother General Esio Orho 

Obada! Till we meet again to part no more. 

•Hayes is first Nigerian pilot to fly a plane 

to New York 

The Benin palace attack and other things on Obaseki 

Even as a sitting President, Buhari has also been 

demonized in many quarters. Some even called 

him Jibril of Sudan while others labeled him ‘Baba 

go slow’. Some critics went as far as saying Buhari 

was cloned. 

Despite all that, heaven did not fall. 

Amid such demonization and strong insults on 

the leaders, they never uttered a word of high 

handedness or tyranny as we see in Edo today. 

Away from Nigeria, American President Donald 

Trump has been facing stiff opposition from 

various quarters. He is now about the most 

criticized American President. 

But a democrat like Buhari and Jonathan, 

Trump has not witch-hunted or harassed anyone 

opposed to his policies and administration. 

Tyranny as being witnessed in Edo under the 

supervision of Obaseki has no place in any 

democratic establishment. Is Edo blessed or cursed 

with intolerant leadership? Your guess is as good 

as mine. 

The unfortunate keeps happening. But the body 

language and conduct of the governor and his 

deputy in the face of the momentous gathering of 

political activities in the state of recent leave much 

to be desired of a team that claims confidence in 

winning the September 19 governorship election 

in the once peaceful Edo. 

On one hand, Obaseki claims widespread 

acceptability of the electorate to the extent that he 

brags of defeating Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the 

APC by a landslide. 

On the other hand, he has been accused of 

sponsoring attacks and hounding perceived 

opponents. That alone is an indication of a 

contestant who is unsure of himself in a state where 

he presides as chief security officer. The governor 

and his deputy have been accused of making 

attempts to intimidate supporters of Ize-Iyamu 

and other respected APC supporters, including 

Captain Hosa Okunbor. 

The latest of such attacks took place when 

suspected supporters of Obaseki launched a violent 

attack on APC supporters near the palace of the 

Oba of Benin leaving several persons injured. 

It happened when PDP governors, led by the 

Chairman of the PDP Campaign Council, 

Governor Nyesom Wike, visited the Oba of Benin. 

The visitors, who were in the state to flag off 

Obaseki’s campaign, watched as many APC 

Experts bemoan NBC 6th Code on ad industry 

I am afraid NBC is under the 

illusion that it still has active 

control of where people will go 

to consume content. Digital is 

changing that space 

to the code are full of prescriptions and rules that 

are disguised as well intended, but in reality will 

result in the emasculation of the struggling 

Nigerian in those industries. 

Speaking on section 7.8 of the code, Maxwell 

Mbamara, a social critic said from all indications 

the code seems of good intention, but not to have 

the input of stakeholders from the creative 

agencies and the outdoor looks hurriedly put 

together. “These rules look well-intentioned but 

are outside of the remit of NBC, especially in 

drafting them without stakeholders input.” 

“This should be APCON's role at best in 

conjunction with NBC. But for a broadcast 

regulator to deploy such emotive prescriptive 

language in a regulation of enterprise which though 

impacts its licensee is outside its remit, this looks 

like another evidence of overreach and 

misconception of what NBC is, and should be 

doing, in an evolving digital media marketplace.” 

Further,“Section 7.8.2: shows the apparent level 

of misconception. Again, on face value, it reads 

and sound very nationalistic, but the unintended 

consequences are vast, and injurious.” 

Favouring the online platforms, a social 

enterprise expert, Abbas Ojo-Ige who is based in 

Osun state, said: “I am afraid NBC is under the 

illusion that it still has active control of where people 

will go to consume content. Digital is changing 

that space.” 

“Has the NBC conducted any study to find out 

why Nigerian advertisers chose to produce abroad? 

has it discussed this with the industry.? He queried. 

He added: “Like most government agencies this 

section is mere propaganda meant to appeal to 

Who wants North East Devt Commission destroyed? 

many would not be accurate in the dates, but 

it started gradually and now it is like torrents. 

And those outside the shores of Nigeria 

would not be happy with what is happening to 

those who are selflessly serving their 

fatherland. The truth is that there is no highly 

placed person today in Nigeria that has not 

stepped on the toes of some people and these 

are the people who shout to high heavens that 

their boss is a thief. And not forgetting, of course, 

those eying the position. 

They can and would do everything possible 

to disparage the occupier of the seat. And I 

think that is what is playing out in North East 

Development Commission,NEDC. 

No one is saying those accused are saints, 

but the hatred being shared in the media would 

be difficult for any of them that might be 

declared innocent hereafter to wash himself 

clean of these allegations. 

While Nigeria was still trying to wrap its 

fingers around the allegations of financial 

recklessness going on in the Niger Delta 

Development Commission, the alarm was 

raised of another round of alleged corruption 

The governor and his deputy 

have been accused of making 

attempts to intimidate 

supporters of Ize-Iyamu and 

other respected APC 

supporters, including Captain 

Hosa Okunbor 

uncovered in NEDC. The NEDC, established 

by President Buhari in 2017, is charged with 

the responsibility of coordinating funds 

accruing from the Federation Account and 

donor agencies for purpose of rehabilitating 

and resettling victims of insurgency, 

reconstruction of homes and infrastructural 

development, tackling poverty and illiteracy 

in the North-East states of Adamawa, Bauchi, 

Borno, Taraba and Yobe. 

Boko Haram insurgency in the North East 

has resulted in the massive internal 

displacement of persons, loss of lives and 

destruction of properties. The House of 

Representatives has waded in and a special 

committee has been mandated to find out about 

the allegation. It has eight weeks to submit its 

finding to the Green chamber. 

But the Commission has already been judged 

guilty in the conventional and social media, 

even before the committee began sitting. 

N100billion is alleged to be missing. 

While not speaking for the management of 

the Commission, the job of the Commission 

has been spelt out in the law establishing it. 

General Orho Esio Obada 

members and those believed to be opposed to the 

governor’s re-election were manhandled. 

Obaseki should take a cue from political leaders 

who preach that election should not be a do-ordie 

affair. It is a civil contest and should be 

moderated to that extent, with decorum. 

Ugly incident: Whether true or not, it is alleged 

that the governor instructed his supporters to 

attack the people for jeering as his team arrived 

with chants labeling him a rejected candidate 

and for spurning his rally. 

Instead of doing introspection on his public 

rejection at the palace, Obaseki and Shaibu 

unleashed their attack dogs on innocent APC 

supporters. 

The governor’s loyalists allegedly destroyed 

their own bill-boards at different locations in the 

state to deflect responsibility and get a reprieve 

for the alleged organized destruction of APC 

billboards after the party filed a petition with the 

police. 

Like Edo State Media Campaign Council of 

the APC rightly noted, it is sad that Obaseki has 

displayed the same trait of intolerance that made 

the people of Edo unanimously reject him. That 

is unbecoming of a governor who was elected to 

protect and secure lives and property irrespective 

of party affiliation. 

•Obetoh, a political analyst, is Edo indegene 


www.vanguardngr.com 

"Nigerian nationalistic emotions" without 

achieving concrete results. Continually places 

burdensome responsibilities on industry players 

without any commensurate inputs, incentives or 

investment by government.” 

Abroad cast entrepreneur and a social critic 

based in Abuja, Getrude Okocha, said that people 

have been discussing about the effect of the code 

on the pay TV industry, leaving other platforms 

like the advertising industry, and Web/Online 

platforms. 

“Which ever way you look at it these kinds of 

restriction will cost Nigeria more even in the short 

term. If you look at the acceptance Nigerian 

content receive overseas, our television shows, and 

Music video if this 6th codetakes effect, how would 

Nigeria maintain its place as global content 

player,”she queried. 

“Without government putting incentives down 

that will help advertisers/agencies/producers to 

achieve this goal, this will fail, and cause more 

harm, giving room for below the table dealings.” 


www.vanguardngr.com 

The allegations include the high 

handedness by the Managing Director, 

Mohammed Goni Alkali. 

If a public officer at the helm of affairs does 

not allow mediocre to hold sway, he is accused 

of highhandedness, inflation of contracts, 

awards of non-existent contracts, massive 

contract splitting and flagrant disregard for 

the procurement laws in the award of 

contracts. 

It was alleged that N100 billion so far 

disbursed to the Commission by the federal 

government vanished under a year without 

any visible impact on the refugees nor any 

infrastructural development. It is from the 

money that the commission pays salaries and 

allowances among others. 

The truth is that those throwing the stone 

maybe the people that might have been denied 

one favour or the other at the NEDC 

headquarters. Lies may be on the prowl for 

long, but the truth must surely have its way. 

*Gyamas, a public affairs commentator, 

writes from Abuja

PAGE 22, SUNDAY VANGUARD, AUGUST 2, 2020 

Viewpoint 

By Kennedy Mbele 

IT came like a tsunami, sweeping over the 

mankind, taking the whole world by 

surprise, and causing panic on the planet earth 

with no solution to stem the sorrow arising 

from the uncountable deaths it brought to the 

entire world. 

A member of the Uganda Parliament and 

reggae musician, Robert Kynangula, with 

stage name Bobi Wine and Nubian Li in their 

duet, described Covid-19 as a global pandemic 

that can never be taken for granted, while 

calling on every one to be alert. 

The cause of coronavirus is also linked to 

animals. Precisely, an animal market in the 

city of Wuhan, China is said to be the origin of 

the outbreak. It is a calamity which requires a 

holistic approach, irrespective of religion, race, 

colour, and educational or scientific 

background. 

The pandemic has thrown the world 

By Toni Kan 

ON Friday July 31st, 2020, Augustine 

Ojunekwu Avuru, co-founder and pioneer 

CEO of Nigeria’spre-eminent independent Seplat 

Petroleum Development company retired from 

thecompany he helped grow into a Nigerian 

success story and corporate case study. 

AsRoger Brown takes over the helms, Austin 

Avuru, as he is popularly called,tells the story of 

how he and Dr. ABC Orjiako set up the company 

which has nowbecome a metaphor for 

entrepreneurial success. At Platform, ourmarginal 

field was close to OML 38. There was production 

from the Ovhor field,which straddles OML 38 

and OML 41. If you remove that field, the 

totalproduction from OML 38 was probably less 

than 6,000 barrels. So, there was verylittle activity 

by Shell in OML 38. 

Now, when weformed Platform, the intention 

was to set up a company, build internal capacityand 

then look for opportunities. In fact, that was why 

we chose the namePlatform. We thought this 

marginal field was our platform for really 

gettinginto the thick of things. So, our ambition 

had always been to try and dosomething bigger 

than the marginal field. 

Platform had amarginal field inside OML 38 

and we had actually made a proposal to Shell 

tosay, “Look, give us the rest of OML 38, we can 

work the fields.” But they nevergot back to us. 

Shell’s internal planning process works in a 

different way andsometimes it reaches a point 

By Obiajulu Iwegbue 

IN a move described by many political ob 

servers as “slow, steady and progressive,” 

the coming into the race for the Asaba Government 

House by no less a person than Olorogun 

Kenneth Gbagi, has changed the political firmament, 

temperature, arithmetic... as his challenge 

has thrown a spanner into the works of 

many who hitherto had seen themselves as 

heavyweights in Delta State politics. 

Olorogun Gbagi, according to generally 

accepted opinion across the State, is the best 

man to take over the reins of power from Governor 

Ifeanyi Okowa, who has over the years 

being a trusted ally of the Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, the frontrunner in that State rich in 

culture, human and natural resources. 

He has seen it all, a party man, complete 

gentleman, dogged and rugged, suave, urbane, 

polished, educated in so many cultures across 

the globe, Olorogun Gbagi, like the octopus, 

cut his teeth across all facets of human endeavours—from 

being a successful lawyer in the 

By James Udemba 

FOR more than five hours on Saturday, 

July 18, 2020, Governor Hope 

Uzodinma put off all his phones, cancelled 

other private and public engagements and 

concentrated only on one assignment. He 

devoted those hours primarily to find a solution 

to the dwindling economic fortunes of Imo 

State occasioned by the ravaging COVID-19 

pandemic. The high unemployment rate of 24 

percent in a state with employable population 

of two million and literacy level of 75 percent 

had been giving the governor sleepless nights. 

For that Saturday, every other thing had to 

wait as he engaged Imo professionals, captains 

of industry, the academia and core economists 

in a virtual conference aimed at fashioning a 

sustainable economic growth in the state at 

the end of the pandemic. 

In fact when the Imo Economic 

Development Initiative (IEDI), a private sector 

think-tank headed by the former Chairman of 

Independent National Electoral Commission 

(INEC), Prof. Maurice Iwu, intimated the 

governor with the need for the conference, he 

readily accepted because in the last six months, 

POST-COVID-19 ECONOMY: Need to enforce local content 

economy out of kilter. How nations survive the 

economic meltdown will decide their fate and 

the life of billions of people in the coming years. 

Like most countries, Nigeria is greatly 

affected by the pandemic. Being a product 

economy that is dependent on oil revenue, 

Nigeria is greatly at the receiving end of the 

impact of the pandemic. 

It is high time Nigeria began to look inward 

and embrace local content in the scheme of its 

economic reckoning. One visible aspect of 

petroleum is refining of its crude. 

A refinery is a facility where raw materials 

like crude oil are converted into some valuable 

substances, having impurities removed. 

Artisanal refinery is a “small-scale or 

subsistent distillation of crude oil petroleum 

over a specific range of boiling points to 

produce useable products such as kerosene, 

fuel, diesel, bitumen etc 

Over the years, activities of artisanal 

refineries in Nigeria have been considered 

illegal mainly because they source their raw 

materials (crude oil ) from unofficial sources, 

which means they do not obtain them the 

NNPC, the government approved Agency that 

oversees the Oil and Gas Sector. 

The current move by the Federal 

Government through the Office of the Senior 

Special Assistant to the President, Niger Delta 

Affairs to integrates the artisanal refinery 

operators into the mainstream of refinery 

activities is timely and commendable in view 

of the global decline in oil prices occasioned 

by the global pandemic. 

The decision of key stakeholders at the 

meeting coordinated by the Office of the Senior 

Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta 

Affairs to harness the enormous potential of 

artisanal refinery operators by encouraging 

How Austin Avuru started Seplat 

where they will do what they want to do. Then 

theycan check their database and remember that 

this person actually expressedinterest in something. 

Shell, as weeventually found out, was in the 

process of initiating this divestmentprogramme 

arising from the crisis they had in 2008 where, for 

about 18 months,their entire western operation 

was shut down. So, Shell was asking 

themselves,what are the blocks we need to get rid 

of if we had to shrink and get away fromthe major 

areas of crisis? All those crises were along key 

pipelines, so youtake a pipeline like Trans- 

Forcados and they are asking themselves, which 

ofthe blocks that produce to Trans-Forcados can 

we get rid of? 

As it turnedout, our report was there and they 

had the name of Platform Petroleum in 

theirdatabase. At that time, too, Platform had 

become pretty well-known among themarginal 

field companies as a well-run marginal field 

company. 

Dr. ABC Orjiakoof Shebah had also been 

making a case for getting OML 4. One person 

who was a common link in all ofthis was Nasir 

Ado Bayero. Nasir was on the board of both 

Shebah and Platformand, by a stroke of good 

luck, Nasir was also very close to the top 

managementof Shell at that time. 

What happenedwas that Anne Pickard, who was 

Shell’s Vice President had mentioned to Nasir 

that shehad some companies on her list. “Do you 

know them?” she asked. 

I was sittingdown in my house one evening and 

I got a phone call from Nasir saying, “Willyou be 

interested if you can get OML 38?” I said, “Yes, 

that’s what I have beenpraying for the past two 

years. We actually sent a very comprehensive 

proposalto Shell about that. Of course, we are 

interested.” 

I hadn’t dealtwith Shell in any official capacity 

since 1985, and this discussion was in2009, 14 

years later. So, it wasn’t really because of my 

personal experience inShell. It was the little 

reputation of Platform Petroleum, which was now 

intheir database, and whatever they also knew 

about Shebah, and the fact thatthere was also 

somebody sitting in the room while the discussion 

was going onwho knew both of us and had just 

told the Shell people, 

2023: Time for Delta South Senatorial District 

Uzodinma’s vision for post COVID-19 Imo economy 

I need not emphasize the 

fact that a post COVID self 

sustaining economy cannot 

do without a vibrant 

education sector 

he had witnessed firsthand the economic 

consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on 

Imo people. He was glad that patriotic Imo 

sons and daughters were also on the same page 

with him, hence his eagerness to unveil to them 

his vision of post COVID-19 Imo economy. 

With more than 280 participants at the virtual 

conference, Senator Uzodinma told them that 

his ultimate vision is to create a total of 500,000 

jobs in the next three years leveraging on public 

and private sector funding. Said he, “I believe 

that the major task of this conference should 

be how to empower no fewer than 300,000 

youths (especially graduates) with different 

skills for self employment and create 500,000 

jobs therefrom. This is the agenda I want to set 

for the conference”. 

For a start, we had to name our 

new company, so I suggested 

that we joined Sepcol and 

Platformtogether to form Seplat. 

I suggested it to him and he 

agreed 

As the participants that included Minister of 

State for Education, Dr. Emeka Nwajuba, 

Chairman of Zinox Technologies, Chief Leo 

Stan Eke, Public Health Specialist, Dr. Francis 

Ukwuije and Harvard trained Scholar, Dr. 

Emeka Osuji among others, nodded their heads 

in affirmation, there was no doubt that the 

governor’s vision resonated with their own 

thinking. Other participants comprising 

Captains of Industry, egg heads from the 

academia, globally renowned entrepreneurs 

and retired senior military and paramilitary 

officers also listened with rapt attention as 

Uzodinma broke down the plans for the future. 

According to the governor, the Imo state 

government has already keyed into the Central 

Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s agriculture and trade 

loan scheme and graduate skills acquisition 

with 100,000 Imo youths as potential 

beneficiaries. He said with the rehabilitation 

of Adapalm Nigeria Limited and other public 

sector initiatives, another 100,000 youths will 

become self-employed and ultimately 

graduate to offer employments to their peers. 

But he acknowledged that building such an 

them to form cooperatives and set up modular 

refineries to create sustainable production 

chain in the Crude Oil Production Sector is a 

welcome development and as such needs to be 

supported.. 

Background report from resolution meeting 

held by key stakeholders in the industry and 

artisanal refinery operators coordinated by the 

Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the 

President on Niger Delta Affairs admitted that 

a large quantity of petroleum products 

consumed in Nigeria are produced or refined 

and circulated by the operators of local or 

“illegal or artisanal or modular or “puu fire” 

refineries operators in the Niger Delta states 

with camps in Anambra ,Kogi,Lagos, and 

indeed most states where the crude oil pipeline 

on NNPC traverse. 


“Oh, I knowthem, I can call them.” Nasir called 

me, and he must have put the same call toABC 

because, eventually, Shell asked both of us to come 

to London to have adiscussion. 

Essentially,they just said to us, “Look, we are 

toying with the idea of selling OML 4, 38and 41. 

We are not going to be dealing with too many 

parties. Two of you, goand see how you can work 

together and come back to us. Let’s start 

adiscussion.” 

That wasessentially what that first meeting was 

about. I had never really met Dr. ABCOrjiako 

until that time. I knew him from a distance. I 

knew a couple of peoplewho knew him. I had 

known Dr. Okolo when he was Exploration 

Manager at PanOcean.He was now working for 

Shebah. I had known Chief Okpara when he was 

in Mobiland I was a youth corps member at 

NNPC. I had known people who were working 

forDr. Orjiako and I always saw him in the same 

mould as Kase Lawal, whom I hadworked for; 

young men who were operating at a very high 

level in the O&Gindustry. Now, that in itself was 

an issue because I had to treat him withabsolute 

caution. I didn’t want to go into a partnership with 

somebody thatcould “swallow” me. 

My thinking was: “I don’t want wahala.” 

For a start, we had to name our new company, 

so I suggested that we joined Sepcol and 

Platformtogether to form Seplat. I suggested it to 

him and he agreed…. 


gab of Aare Afe Babalola; the late Gani Fawehinmi 

et al, he is unarguably one of the richest 

lawyers in West Africa. Olorogun Gbagi is an 

entrepreneur and the highest employer of labour 

in the oil-rich Delta State with chains of 

successful businesses across the State; a criminologist, 

an attorney, hotelier, philanthropist 

of repute, impeccable character to whom integrity 

makes a huge sense. 

Olorogun Gbagi, a People’s Democratic Party, 

PDP Chieftain, is an added value to the party 

in his State and has done more than any 

individual to give life abundantly to the umbrella 

party in the Niger Delta Region and this 

accounted for why he is called the “Man with 

the Midas Touch” across the Delta region, little 

wonder there is huge clamour by the overwhelming 

grassroots population for the Urhobo-born 

security expert and educationist to 

take the baton from Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, 

whose tenure will be coming to an end in May 

2023 trusting him to continue building a prosperous 

State for all at the fullness of the current 

administration’s time. He has criss-crossed the 

entire State from one traditional ruler to the 

other; the people keep assuring him of their 

unflinching support having stood in for them 

at their time of need. From Burutu in Delta 

South through Delta Central to Delta North 

Senatorial Districts, the former Minister of 

State, Federal Ministry of Education has planted 

himself in the hearts of the people over time. 

A notable verse in the Bible, 2 Samuel 2:4 

stated clearly that before David was anointed 

King of all Israel, the elders of Judah came 

and anointed David to become King over the 

House of Judah. In the same vein, the Urhobo 

traditional rulers endorsed Olorogun Gbagi 

just as David was anointed before the enthronement 

of David’s kingdom. Shortly after that 

decision by the elders (2 Samuel 2:4), David 

became King of all Israel (2 Samuel 5:3). 

According to Archbishop Mike Odafe: “I 

have no doubt that the royal covenanted declaration 

is clear a clear message to opponents, 

oppositions and enemies alike that in the race 

for Delta State Governorship 2023, Olorogun 

Gbagi candidature is not contestable; it 

is divinely signed, sealed and delivered! This 

is my understanding of this highly prophetic 

traditional exercise.” 

A speaker at one of the events welcoming to 

their Kingdom had expressed joy that Olorogun 

Gbagi was waxing stronger by the seconds 

in his bid to take over from the current 

Administration which he described as the 

most successful in the history of the State. According 

to the speaker, having succeeded in 

his chains of businesses across the country, he 

(Olorogun Gbagi) alone has what it takes to 

succeed the Ika-born Governor Okowa. “If 

you could manage just Caravan Plaza successfully, 

then, to manage our State would 

amount to doing what you know best,” the 

speaker had enthused. 

*Iwegbue, a political analyst, conflict communications 

specialist lives in Kwale, Delta State 


economy will be difficult without a virile and 

vibrant education system. Hear him, “I need 

not emphasize the fact that a post COVID 

self-sustaining economy cannot do without a 

vibrant education sector. That informed our 

emphasis on quality and functional education 

at all levels. It also informs the establishment 

of a second university, the University of 

Agriculture and Environmental Services for 

the State”. 

Apart from education, Uzodinma believes 

that his administration’s cardinal programme 

of 3Rs (Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and 

Recovery) will enhance the creation and 

sustenance of a vibrant Imo economy after 

the pandemic. Assuring that his government 

will be at the forefront for the economic 

emancipation of the state, the governor 

declared: “Let me therefore assure all of us 

that under my watch as the governor of our 

dear Imo State, no stone will be left unturned 

in ensuring that we secure our state for post 

COVID-19 resilient economy that will create 

and sustain employments for our people”. 

Continues online at www.vanguardngr.com

Gattuso, Giuntoli pressured me to ‘break the 

bank’ for Osimhen — Napoli president 

NAPOLI president, 

Aurelio De Laurentiis 

has said that it was 

coach Generio Gattuso 

and director of football, 

Cristiano Giuntoli that 

pushed him to broke the 

club’s transfer record to 

sign Victor Osimhen from 

Lille. 

Napoli coughed out 

$82.4 million to land the 

former Golden Eaglets 

striker. Napoli most expensive 

player was Goonzalo 

Higuaín, who cost $45.9m 

million when he was signed 

from Real Madrid in July 

*Osimhen 

2013. 

Laurentiis said on the 

transfer : “Gattuso and 

Giuntoli both wanted him, 

and they convinced me to 

part with $82.4m. 

“With bonuses it can rise 

to $94.1m, and if you consider 

the wages which rise 

over the course of the deal 

overall this is a $117.1m+ 

deal. 

“He is not a player we are 

expecting to be ready right 

away. He is not a 25-30 

goal scorer, but he should 

bring an extra element of 

great play to the team, scoring 

and providing for his 

teammates”. 

FIFA wishes Osimhen best of luck at Napoli 

WORLD soccer gov 

erning body FIFA, 

in a congratulatory message 

to Victor Osimhen 

on the conclusion of his 

transfer to Napoli, 

wished the former Golden 

Eaglets star good luck 

with the Italian Seria A 

clubside. 

Osimhen who won the 

FIFA U-17 World Cup 

No sports until Covid-19 curve 

is flattened—Sports Minister 

SPORTS minister, 

Sunday Dare has 

said there would be no 

sporting activity in Nigeria, 

until there is a 

reversal of the upward 

spiral of coronavirus infections 

in the country. 

This is just as athletes 

and coaches are bemoaning 

the prolonged 

lockdown of the 

various stadia where 

they train. Business 

owners who have suffered 

loses also called 

on Mr. Dare to come out 

with a statement on the 

reopening of the stadium. 

While speaking on the 

prospect of hosting the 

National Sports Festival 

this year, Mr. Dare submitted 

that sports would 

have to wait until the 

coronavirus infections 

curve is on a downward 

slide. 

“Our expectation is 

that the NSF happens 

this year. Our implementation 

committee is 

looking at the possibility 

of hosting it between 

now and December. 

*Dare, Sports Minister 

“We have a spike in 

coronavirus infections in 

the country, until we flatten 

that curve there cannot 

be any sporting activity. 

We are working with 

the NCDC and the PTF, 

until they assure us that 

it is safe we cannot give 

the go ahead. 

“In other countries 

where sporting activities 

have resumed, they have 

adequate testing and the 

strictest measures to curtail 

the spread, we don’t 

have those in place,” 

Dare told Channels TV 

sports. 

However, some athletes 

are not bothered by the 

concerns raised by the 

s p o r t s 

minister.Coronavirus is 

not as serious in Nigeria 

as the government is 

making us to believe. 

We understand the 

need to curtail the 

spread and we are ready 

to abide with all the safety 

measures. Closing the 

stadium and stopping us 

from training is not helpful 

to anyone,”said a 

400m runner yesterday. 

*Gattuso 

golden boot in 2015, 

signed for Napoli on Friday 

after a drama filled 

transfer for a record 

$82.4m with add ons that 

will see the the young 

player earning $4.7m 

and more in bonuses in 

a year. With this transfer 

Osimhen became the 

most expensive Nigerian 

player after Alex Iwobi 

topped the list with his 

transfer to Everton with 

a $39.2m fee. 

“From starring at the 

U17WC with the Golden 

Eaglets in 2015 to becoming 

@sscnapoli’s marquee 

signing” 

SUNDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 2, 2020, — PAGE 23 

“All the best in this 

next chapter of your career, 

Victor!” FIFA wrote 

on its official Twitter account 

immediately after 

the deal was announced. 

Osimhen remarked 

that it was a relief signing 

the contract after 

back and forth between 

Lille and Napoli. 

“Can’t wait to put on 

this iconic jersey, thank 

you for the warm welc 

o m e 

@sscnapoli,”tweeted 

Osimhen who will wear 

Napoli’s number 9 shirt 

for the upcoming season. 

Aribo, Balogun help Rangers 

to first win of 2021 season 

SUPER Eagles duo Joe 

Aribo and Leon Balogun 

yesterday helped Glasgow 

Rangers to a 1-0 win 

over rivals Celtic in the first 

match of the 2020/2021 

Scottish Premier League. 

Ryan Kent capitalised on 

Rangers’ first-half dominance 

as he streaked away 

21 minutes in to score the 

only goal. Balogun who 

made his debut was solid at 

the back for Rangers. 

t was a more cagey affair 

after the break but Rangers 

refused to blink and ground 

out victory against a Dons 

side reduced to 10 late on 

when Andy Considine was 

dismissed for a crude lunge 

on Scott Arfield. 

A delighted Gerrard, 

whose side now turn their 

attention to Thursday’s Europa 

League return clash 

with Bayer Leverkusen, 

said: ‘It’s a marker for us 

because all eyes were on us 

in the first game. 

‘When the fixtures came 

out, everyone was saying, 

“Oh, it’s Aberdeen away, 

will they drop points?”’’ 

Meanwhile Aribo has 

expressed his delight after 

winning the Rangers 

Young Player of the Year 

and Goal of the Season 

awards. 

“Thanks to God [for winning 

the] Young Player of 

the Season and Goal of the 

Season awards,” Aribo 

posted on Instagram. 

Blatter wants Infantino out of FIFA 

FORMER FIFA presi 

dent Sepp Blatter has 

called for his successor, Gianni 

Infantino, to be suspended 

by the global soccer 

body after criminal proceedings 

were opened 

against Infantino in Switzerland. 

Swiss authorities said 

on Thursday that proceedings 

had been 

launched against the current 

FIFA boss by a special 

prosecutor looking 

into meetings he had with 

Swiss Attorney General 

Michael Lauber. Lauber 

and Infantino have denied 

wrongdoing. 

*Joe Aribo 

“For me, the situation 

is clear, that the FIFA 

ethics committee has to 

open a case against Mr 

Infantino and so it has 

to suspend him,” Blatter, 

84, said in a statement 

to Reuters. 

FIFA did not immediately 

reply to a request 

for comment on Blatter’s 

statement. 

Blatter, who was FIFA 

president for 17 years, 

himself was suspended 

and later banned by 

FIFA’s ethics committee 

after he became the subject 

of criminal proceedings 

in Switzerland in 

2015. 

Liverpool unveil new home 

jersey for 2020/21 season 

LIVERPOOL have re 

leased their new home 

kit for the 2020/21 season, their 

first ever with new sponsors 

Nike. 

The reigning Premier 

League, Champions League 

and World Club Cup champions 

will wear the new strip 

in for the first time in a competitive 

game when the top 

flight resumes on September 

12. The shirt is already available 

from the Nike online 

shop, and will be on wider 

sale from August 6. 

Nike has also released a 

series of training gear to complement 

the home shirt release, 

with the jackets in particular 

likely to prove popular 

with Reds fans. 

The kit features the traditional 

red, although in a slightly 

brighter shade than has been 

seen in recent years – in a nod 

to the “youth and vibrancy” 

*Van-Dyk 

of some propsects in the Liverpool 

squad – with the usual 

white trim, and the addition 

of teal, normally only 

found on the club’s crest. It is 

finished off with a ‘96’ emblem 

on the nape of the neck, 

in reference to the Liverpool 

fans who died in the Hillsborough 

tragedy in 1989. 

The full kit will also have 

red socks and red shorts – a 

mainstay since their introduction 

under legendary manager 

Bill Shankly in the 1960s. 

PSG coach fumes over low 

goals stats 

THOMAS Tuchel in 

sisted he is not concerned 

by Paris Saint- 

Germain’s lack of goals 

after they completed a 

domestic clean sweep of 

trophies on Friday. 

PSG added the Coupe 

de la Ligue trophy to 

their triumphs in the Trophee 

des Champions, 

Ligue 1 and Coupe de 

France this season when 

they beat Lyon 6-5 in a 

penalty shoot-out. 

The showpiece at the 

Stade de France was not 

befitting the last ever 

Coupe de la Ligue final 

as neither team could 

find a goal across 120 

minutes, with PSG clearly 

missing the brilliance 

of injured forward Kylian 

Mbappe. 

Since their season resumed, 

PSG - who found 

the net 75 times in 27 

Ligue 1 games in 2019- 

20 - have only scored 

twice across 210 minutes 

when Neymar netted the 

winner in the Coupe de 

France final last week. 

Yet when such a statistic 

was put to Tuchel, he 

reacted angrily. 

“So, what’s the big 

deal,” he said to reporters. 

“Yes, we’re still lucky. 

You can write it down. 

It’s the only thing, we’re 

lucky. That’s the way it 

is, no quality, only luck. 

“It’s football. It’s football. 

It’s only football. 

Boxing experts rate Joshua second 

best heavyweight boxer behind Fury 

With the highly anticipated 

bout between Anthony 

Joshua and Tyson 

Fury on the horizon, boxing 

experts at Ring Magazine 

have named Tyson 

Fury as their number one 

in the division ahead of 

Nigerian-born British pugilist, 

Anthony Joshua. 

In picking Fury as the 

best heavyweight boxer 

in the division, the experts 

opinied that the 

Gypsy King is the only 

man on the top 10 list 

who is unbeaten, stressing 

that after dismantling 

Deontay Wilder in their 

second bout, the only 

fight that was on the 

cards for the Englishman 

was Joshua. 

According to the experts, 

“although (Joshua) 

is not facing Wilder or 

Fury yet, he has managed 

to beat almost every 

other star the division 

has to offer, despite it taking 

him a second go at 

Andy Ruiz Jr.”. 

Eaglets Star, Abba Bichi bags 

Double Awards of Excellence 

FORMER Golden Ea 

glets player, Abba 

Bichi also known as Bichi 

Jr has bagged two awards 

from two different organizations, 

for his meritorious 

service to the society. 

*Bichi 

The Brazil 2019 FIFA 

Under-17 World Cup product, 

was honoured with an 

Award of Excellence by the 

Five CEOs Club, in recognition 

of his contributions 

to Sports Development. 

According to a citation 

read by the Five CEOs and 

Anony Entertainment, 

“this Award of Excellence 

being given to Abba Bichi 

is a result of your tireless 

efforts and bravery.” 

Meanwhile, in another 

ceremony held in Abuja, 

Bichi, also bagged another 

award, the Face of the 

Youth.

SUNDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 2, 2020 

SEE SOLUTION PAGE 3 

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(ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: WALE AKINOLA 08023145556. All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

02082020 - Miyetti Allah attacks Christain Elders, Afenifere, Ohanaeze over S/Kaduna Killings

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