24092020 - BLACK WEDNESDAY: 30 killed in Kogi petrol tanker explosion

Foreign investors would 

shun a country whose 

central bank is believed to 

lack operational 

independence over 16 

monetary and foreign 

exchange policies 

UK lawmakers write 

Commonwealth over 

insecurity in Nigeria 

•No genocide, they should focus on their problems, APC 

tells UK MPs •British security alert, vote of no confidence on 

PMB- PDP •Reiterates call for sack of service chiefs 

5 

Oct 1: Ohanaeze 

backs IPoB's 

sit-at-home call 

Transportation, Finance Ministries push tax holiday for maritime sector 

13 

19 

VOL. 27: NO. 64165 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

BLACK WEDNESDAY: 

30 killed in Kogi petrol 

tanker explosion 

•Family of 5, Poly students, others roasted to death •Cars burnt, other properties razed 

•Buhari laments frequency of unfortunate accidents •Gov Bello mourns 

Buhari greets KOGI TANKER EXPLOSION TRAGEDY... 

Elumelu, as 

he makes list 

of Time’s 100 

most 

influential 

people 

worldwide 

7 

Electricity 

tariff, fuel 

price hike: 

FG, Govs 

move to avert 

strike, as 

govt meets 

Labour 

today 35 

An inferno ignited by a petrol tanker that lost control around Felele, Lokoja metropolis of the Kogi 

State capital, which claimed over 30 lives, yesterday. Photo: Boluwaji Obahopo. 

OKOWA TO OBASEKI: 

‘Don't let lions, tigers 

8 

Mr & Mrs 

torment Edo people’ again’ 

9 

AMAECHI 30 

COLUMNISTS 17 

SEE 

INSIDE

2— Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020—3

4 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

By Omeiza Ajayi & 

Dirisu Yakubu 

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

UK lawmakers write Commonwealth 

over insecurity in Nigeria 

•No genocide, they should focus on their problems, APC tells UK MPs 

•British security alert, vote of no confidence on PMB- PDP •Reiterates call 

for sack of service chiefs 

LAGOS — Some 

members of the 

United Kingdom’s 

House of Lords, the 

British upper legislative 

chamber, have petitioned 

the Commonwealth over 

the persistence of 

insurgency and farmer/ 

herder crisis in Nigeria. 

The lawmakers in a letter 

dated September 14, 

addressed to Patricia 

Scotland, Secretary- 

General of the 

Commonwealth, said 

failure of the Federal 

Government to protect 

Nigerians was a breach of 

its obligations under the 

Commonwealth Charter. 

This was, however, 

challenged by the ruling 

All Progressives 

Congress, APC, which 

asked the UK lawmakers, 

led by Baroness Cox of 

the House of Lords to 

focus on the problems 

facing their country and 

allow Nigeria solve her 

problems her own way. 

But the opposition, 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, disagreed with the 

ruling party, saying the 

security alert in the 

country raised by 

members of the British 

parliament is an 

indication of a vote of no 

confidence on President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s 

government. 

Those who signed the 

letter to the 

Commonwealth scribe 

include Baroness Cox, 

Lord Alton of Liverpool, 

Baroness Kennedy of the 

Shaws QC, Jim Shannon, 

MP, Lord Williams of 

Oystermouth ( a former 

Archbishop of 

Canterbury) and Lord 

Carey of Clifton, also a 

former Archbishop of 

Canterbury. 

Others are Dr 

Christopher Cocksworth, 

Lord Bishop of Coventry; 

Philip Mounstephen, 

Lord Bishop of Truro; Lord 

Stoddart of Swindon; Lord 

Anderson of Swansea; 

Lord Cormack; Sir 

Geoffrey Nice, QC; Ayo 

Adedoyin of International 

Organization for Peace 

and Social Justice and 

Ewelina Ochab of 

Coalition for Genocide 

Response. 

Mervyn Thomas, CSW; 

Dr Khataza Gondwe, 

CSW; Neville Kyrke- 

Smith of Aid to the 

Church in Need (UK); Dr 

John Eibner of Christian 

Solidarity International 

and Ann Buwalda of 

Jubilee Campaign also 

signed the letter. 

‘Elements of 

govt complicit in 

violence’ 

Referencing a report by 

the UK All-Party 

Parliamentary Group 

(APPG) for International 

Freedom of Religion or 

Belief, the lawmakers 

said thousands of 

civilians have been killed 

and that “elements of the 

Nigerian government 

may be complicit in 

violence”. 

The lawmakers asked 

that a probe be carried out 

into the killings and at the 

least ensure “adequate 

protection and aid for 

those suffering the loss of 

family members and the 

destruction of their homes 

and livelihoods.’’ 

The letter which said 

some of the signatories 

had met and spoken with 

Nigeria’s former Chief of 

Army Staff, Lt. General 

Theophilus Danjuma, 

retd, quoted news reports 

attributed to him to the 

effect that the armed 

forces are not neutral and 

that they collude in the 

ethnic cleansing in 

riverine states by Fulani 

herders. 

“He insists that villagers 

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State (right) and his Rivers State 

counterpart, Nyesom Wike, during a thank you visit by the Governor and 

Governor-elect of Edo State to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday. Photo: 

NAN. 

Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

must defend themselves 

because ‘depending on 

the armed forces’ will 

result in them dying ‘one 

by one’. The ethnic 

cleansing must stop,” it 

quoted Danjuma as 

saying. 

It however conceded 

that the signatories 

“recognize the important 

distinction between the 

Fulani in general (a 

diverse group of millions 

of people with hundreds 

of clans) and the subgroup 

of well armed, 

radicalized Fulani who 

carry out attacks.” 

The letter, titled 

“Nigeria: Unfolding 

Genocide?” read: “We 

write to highlight urgent 

concerns about escalating 

violence in Nigeria, 

where attacks, led by Boko 

Haram, Fulani herders 

and other Islamist militia 

continue in northern and 

central-belt states, with 

reports of increasing 

violence in the South- 

East. 

‘State’s failure’ 

“The state’s failure to 

protect its citizens is a 

clear breach of its 

obligations under the 

Commonwealth Charter 

in respect of human 

rights. 

“There is now an urgent 

need to ensure adequate 

protection and aid for 

On NARTO's withdrawal of trucks from roads (1) 

those suffering the loss of 

family members and the 

destruction of their homes 

and livelihoods, and to 

end impunity by ensuring 

that complaints related to 

human rights violations 

are promptly, 

independently, and 

impartially investigated 

and those responsible are 

held to account after fair 

trials.” 

The parliamentarians 

further asked that the 

issue be raised with the 

Commonwealth 

ministerial action group. 

“We write, therefore, to 

ask whether you are able 

to respond on behalf of the 

Commonwealth and to 

raise these urgent 

concerns with the 

Commonwealth 

Ministerial Action Group. 

We would be very willing 

to meet in person (or 

perhaps more practically 

online via zoom) to 

discuss how we might 

proceed,’’ the lawmakers 

stated. 

Face your 

problems, leave 

Nigeria alone 

— APC 

Reacting last night, the 

All Progressives 

Congress, APC, asked the 

United Kingdom group, 

led by Baroness Cox of 

Continues on Page 35 

By Bose Adelaja, 

& 

Olayinka Latona 

In my opinion, I 

t h i n k t h a t 

government should be 

more empathetic and 

sensitive to the plight of 

this association 

considering the very harsh 

economic situation of the 

time by giving them ample 

time to put things in order. 

The association embarked 

on strike because the time 

frame given by the 

government is very short. 

—Temilola Harley, 

Student 

The action of 

NARTO at this 

particular time is not 

ideal at all. It will result 

into fuel scarcity hence 

hike in the already high 

cost of transportation 

and foodstuffs. The 

Federal Government 

should please also give 

this association some 

time so that they can put 

the necessary things in 

order. 

—Ifeoluwa Bankole, 

Marketing Officer 

I 

don’t think NARTO 

is in any way against 

the decision of the FG to 

ban trucks above 45,000- 

litre capacity from our 

roads. However, the 

move will definitely be 

counter-productive 

considering the fact that 

sudden withdrawal of 

these trucks will impact 

negatively on the drivers 

and the masses. 

—Titilola Quadri, 

Caterer 

How long are we 

going to lament 

incessant strike of tanker 

drivers 

Their grouse is usually 

bad roads, extortion and 

harassment among 

others. What the 

government should do is 

look into their ights and 

task relevant agencies to 

provide somution and 

ensure that their needs 

are met. 

—Dolapo Gbadebo, 

Public Servant 

ALL things being 

equal, the 

government should 

dialogue with truck owners 

and drivers because they 

have been useful in their 

own capacity afterall, they 

are responsible for the 

movement of petroleum 

products to various depots. 

Many Nigerians will suffer 

it if the trucks go on strike. 

— Mrs Abiola Julius, 

Businewoman 

IT is good and very 

appropriate for the 

Petrol tankers' owners to 

withdraw their tankers from 

the roads to tell the FG that 

they should listen to the 

complaints of the citizens. 

—Otunba Adetokunbo, 

Retiree

6— Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

Alleged fake 

monarch 

docked in Delta 

By Festus Ahon 

ASABA—FOR 

allegedly 

parading himself as the Pere of 

Kerebiri-Mien Kingdom in Bomadi 

Local Government Area, Delta State, 

one Mr. Godspower Tam Oporomo 

has been arraigned at the 

Magistrate's Court I, Asaba, the 

state capital. 

The matter was, however, 

adjourned to October 6, 2020, as the 

Chief Magistrate of the court, 

Maurice Okwuasaba, insisted that 

the prosecuting counsel must 

present its witnesses, failing which 

the accused would be discharged 

in accordance with the plea of the 

defence counsel led by Chief Victor 

Otomiewo. 

The magistrate said the matter 

would get definite hearing on the 

next adjourned date, adding that 

the court was committed to giving 

both parties a fair hearing. 

The defence counsel led by Chief 

Otomiewo had prayed the court 

to dismiss the case and discharge 

the accused for want of evidence, 

as the prosecuting counsel had 

failed to produce witnesses. 

Otomiewo argued that the 

accused was being subjected to long 

distance travels from Bomadi to 

Asaba to attend his trial, adding that 

the journey was taking a strain on 

his client’s health. 

The prosecution represented by 

an Assistant Superintendent of 

Police prayed the court to give him 

time to produce his witnesses in the 

next sitting date. 

NAFDAC seals 

factory producing 

fake drugs for 

animals in Kano, 

arrests operator 

By Bashir Bello 

KANO—National Agency for 

Food, Drugs Administration 

and Control, NAFDAC, has sealed 

two animal medicine factory alleged 

to be fake in Bichi Local 

Government Area of Kano State and 

arrested the owner, Mohammad 

Sani. 

NAFDAC state Coordinator, Alhaji 

Shaba Mohammad, disclosed this 

to newsmen when he led officials of 

agency to raid the suspected fake 

products at the factories. 

Mohammad said the agency had 

been on the trail of the suspect for 

the past six months when the 

products were first seen in circulation 

and on sold at Sabon Gari market 

and other places in Kano. 

According to him, “the alleged 

manufacturer of the counterfeit 

products has been producing the 

products for the past one year without 

NAFDAC registration number. He 

has never conducted any laboratory 

test on the drugs he locally produced, 

yet he tagged fake NAFDAC 

registration number on the products. 

“Our personnel on a tip-off were 

able to locate the fake factories, which 

led to eventual raiding of the factory. 

Investigation is currently ongoing 

and we (NAFDAC) would conduct 

laboratory test on the products to 

ascertain the level of damage the 

products have been causing on 

animals in the last 12 months to 

enable us take lawful action on the 

manufacturer." 

Girl allegedly killed by SARS jilted her 

boyfriend of many years—Community source 

By Ebele Orapko& 

Ikechukwu Odu 

IFEOMA Abugu, who was 

allegedly raped and murdered 

by personnel of Special Anti- 

Robbery Squad, SARS, while in 

detention at the Federal Capital 

Territory, Abuja, a fortnight ago was 

said to have jilted her boyfriend of 

many years. 

Recall that Abugu was arrested 

and whisked away from her new 

fiance’s apartment at Wumba 

village, Lokogoma, Abuja 

September 10, 2020 by suspected 

SARS personnel, only to be reported 

dead at the Gwagwalada Specialist 

Hospital, in the Federal Capital 

Territory, next day. 

However, when Vanguard visited 

the deceased’s country home, in 

Ugbaike, Igbo-Eze North Local 

Government Area of Enugu, 

yesterday, a community source, who 

pleaded anonymity, claimed that 

she jilted her boyfriend of many 

years. 

The source further disclosed that 

the deceased was trained at the 

Institute of Management and 

Technology, IMT, Enugu, by one 

Chidi Abugu, who also opened a 

business for her with the promise 

that they would get married after 

her National Youth Service Corps, 

NYSC, programme. 

However, according to the source, 

things took a different turn when 

she was posted to Abuja for her 

youth service, where she started 

a new relationship with one Afam, 

who hails from Anambra State. She 

allegedly abandoned Abugu, who 

saw her through tertiary education. 

Vanguard further gathered that 

the deceased had already started 

marriage counselling programme 

By Evelyn Usman 

•Killed 4 days after marriage introduction to new lover 

•She died of cocaine overdose — SARS 

with her new lover and was billed 

for marriage by December before the 

cruel hands of fate caught up with 

her. It was also learnt that Ugwunwa 

had already gone for marriage 

introduction to the family of his late 

lover four days before she was 

murdered. 

Meanwhile, her mother, a widow, 

is yet to be informed of her 

daughter’s death. 

We only wanted to scare our victims, say suspected 

robbers 

THREE suspected members 

of a robbery gang that had 

been attacking residents of 

Ejigbo area of Lagos, while 

leaving for their respective work 

places in the morning have 

been arrested. 

The suspects’ modus oparadi 

included hiding under the cover 

of the dark at Ebenezer bus-stop 

to attack unsuspecting 

residents, between 4 am and 6 

am, dispossessing them of cash, 

phones and other valuables. 

The latest victim, a man with 

an undisclosed identity, who 

narrowly escaped being stabbed 

with a broken bottle, had some 

bruises on his hand and feet. 

Policemen attached to Ejigbo 

division on patrol, who ran into 

the fleeing victim, chased the 

hoodlums to their hideout in a 

shop, where three of them: 

Abiodun Aihoje, 19; 

Sotomchuckwu Nwafor,19 and 

Victor Paul, 22, were arrested. 

During interrogation, the 

suspects claimed they only came 

out of the shop, which served as 

home for them, to look for their 

missing phones. 

According to Abiodun, “Victor 

was the first to wake up and 

alerted us that our phones had 

disappeared from where we 

The late Ifeoma Abugu. 

The suspects. 

were charging them. 

Somtochukwu got angry and 

went outside. He saw someone 

passing and attacked him but 

the person fled, abandoning his 

bag. I went outside to caution 

him against his action and came 

back inside, only to hear the 

shout of thief! 

On his part, Nwafor, said: 

“Our intention was to scare the 

man because I suspected he was 

the one that stole our phones. I 

threw a bottle at him and he ran 

away. There was nothing inside 

his abandoned bag except his 

ATM card and a wallet.” 

The third suspect, Paul, 

claimed he never participated in 

the attack of the victim, 

explaining that he was squatting 

with Nwafor in his mother’s 

shop because he was homeless. 

The suspects, as gathered, had 

been charged to court. 

Brother’s lamentation 

While reacting to his sister’s 

death, her brother, who identified 

himself as Alex, said he dashed off 

to Abuja from Lagos when he heard 

the sad news. 

According to him, "When I asked 

some of my uncles, who have been 

to the police station, they said the 

policemen claimed they met my 

sister unconscious on the bed and 

they rushed her to the hospital 

where she died. 

“Her fiancee was not at home 

when she was arrested. He said he 

contacted someone he knew at the 

SARS office to help facilitate her 

release, but that the person was 

unable to do it that night. He said 

he gave the woman money the 

following day to help facilitate her 

release, only to be told that Ifeoma 

was dead. 

"When my uncles saw the picture 

of her corpse, there were signs that 

she was sexually assaulted. We are 

waiting for the autopsy result to 

ascertain what happened to her." 

SARS officers 

on illegal duty 

Lawyer to the bereaved family, as 

reported by BBC Pidgin, stated that 

three of the operatives were 

discovered to be on illegal duty on 

that day, as they had no permission 

from their superior to carry out that 

operation. 

But the operatives denied raping 

and killing Ifeoma. Rather, they 

reportedly told the bereaved family 

that she could have died of overdose 

of cocaine. 

They claimed rather that they 

found her dead in her lover’s 

apartment on the day they went to 

effect her arrest and decided to take 

her to a hospital in Maitama, where 

they were told there was no bed 

space. They claimed to have 

immediately rushed her to the 

Gwagwalada Teaching Hospital for 

treatment where doctors 

pronounced her dead on arrival. 

But the family’s lawyer disagreed 

with the explanation, arguing that 

there was no labouratory scientists 

to confirm whether cocaine was 

found on her on not, adding that 

the police were only trying to bury 

the truth. 

He appealed to the Inspector- 

General of Police to ensure the 

matter was thoroughly investigated 

and the killers brought to book. 

Autopsy controversy 

Meanwhile, the deceased’s elder 

brother, Alex Abugu, who is based 

in Lagos, said since he arrived in 

Abuja, the Police had not allowed 

him to see his sister’s corpse. 

Abugu said he had never known 

his late sister to finish a bottle of 

alcoholic beverage, let alone being 

into hard drugs. 

He revealed that investigations, 

including the autopsy, would cost 

the family about N600,000 and 

alleged that SARS officials initially 

requested half the amount from the 

family, until the intervention of the 

FCT Police in charge of the case, 

who said SARS would bear the 

entire cost. 

Meanwhile, the three SARS 

officers, who carried out the 

operation, have been arrested and 

currently being investigated.


:Vanguard News 

:@vanguardnews 


NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

FEC approves $1.96bn rail contract 

from Kano to Niger Republic 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA---THE Federal 

Executive Council, 

FEC, yesterday approved 

about $1.96 billion for the 

award of contract for the development 

of the proposed 

Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Jibia 

to Maradi rail line in Niger 

Republic. 

The Council also approved 

the sum of N745.2 million for 

the procurement of additional 

eight Field Forensic Auditors 

for the forensic audit of 

the Niger Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC and another 

N12.088 billion Umuahia/Bende/Ohafia 

road with a 

distance of 45 kilometres. 

The approval was disclosed 

by the Ministers of Transportation, 

Rotimi Amechi, Works 

and Housing, Babatunde 

Fashola, Niger Delta Affairs, 

Senator Godswill Akpabio 

and Information and Culture, 

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while 

briefing State House correspondents 

at the end of the 

FEC virtual meeting presided 

over by President Muhammadu 

Buhari at the Council 

Chamber, Presidential Villa, 

Abuja. Briefing on the rail 

project, the Minister of Transportation, 

Rotimi Amaechi, 

said his ministry presented two 

memoranda that were approved 

by the council. 

He said: “Two memos for 

the Ministry of Transportation 

were approved by the 

council. The first one is the 

award of contract for the design, 

manufacture, supply, 

testing and commissioning of 

one railway crane of 150 ton 

capacity for emergency and 

recovery of rolling stocks. 

“This is to sort out situations 

of accident on the track. It is 

for a total cost of 

N3,049,544,000. That's the 

first memo that was approved 

for the Ministry of Transportation. 

“The second one is the 

award of contract for the development 

of the proposed 

Kano-Katsina-Jibia to Maradi 

rail line in Niger Republic 

and to Dutse, the capital of 

Jigawa, for a total cost of 

$1,959,744,723.71, inclusive 

of 7.5 per cent VAT.” 

It was gathered that the proposed 

rail line from Kano in 

Nigeria to Maradi in Niger 

Republic is to cover a track 

length of 248 kilometres and 

will pass through seven senatorial 

districts in the North. 

The rail contract which was 

initially budgeted for the 2018 

Appropriation will connect at 

least seven cities in Nigeria 

and one city in Niger Republic 

and is expected to start 

from Kano and pass through 

Dambatta, Kazaure, Daura, 

Mashi, Katsina, Jibia and terminate 

in Maradi, Niger Republic. 

It will connect about three 

states of Jigawa, Kano and 

Katsina and when completed, 

would assist in the supply of 

crude oil from Niger Republic 

to the refinery being built 

in the border town between 

both countries. 

The border town is close to 

Katsina State and a mutual 

agreement for the construction 

of the refinery was some 

time ago reached between 

Nigeria and Niger Republic. 

Also briefing, the Minister 

of Information and Culture, 

Alhaji Mohammed, who 

briefed on behalf of the Minister 

of Finance, Budget and 

National Planning, Dr. Zainab 

Ahmed, said Council approved 

the procurement of 

1,800 units of laptop computers 

for training schools and 

computer-based test examinations 

at three Nigeria Customs 

training schools. 

He said: “On behalf of the 

Minister of Finance, Budget 

and National Planning, I want 

to report also that she got two 

of her memos approved. One 

is for the procurement of 1,800 

units of laptop computers for 

training school and computer-based 

test examinations at 

three Nigeria Customs Service 

training schools in Gwagwalada, 

Lagos and Kano for 

a sum of N351,540,000, with 

a completion period of six 

weeks. 

“The major advantage of 

this particular contract is that 

it saves the department a lot 

of money in hiring consultants 

for training and other services. 

“The Minister also got another 

approval for 

N197,843,100 for the expansion 

of the Nigeria Customs 

Service's cash management's 

software in compliance with 

International Public Sector 

Accounting Standards (IP- 

SAS). This is also going to 

enhance the efficiency of the 

Department of Customs.” 

Also briefing on behalf of 

the Minister of State, Petroleum 

Resources, Timipre Sylva, 

Alhaji Mohammed said: 

“Finally, on behalf of the 

Minister of State for Petroleum 

Resources, a memo was 

presented, yesterday, asking 

for approval for the augmentation 

of the contract for the 

construction of Petroleum 

Technology Development 

Fund corporate headquarters 

office in Abuja, for the sum of 

N3,773,784,399.48, therefore 

raising the initial approval for 

the contract to about N14 billion. 

“However, the important 

thing about this particular 

contract is that the building 

has since been completed, it 

has since been in use and we 

inherited this augmentation 

from 2012, but since governance 

is a continuum, we are 

honouring the augmentation, 

but this headquarters building 

has been completed, the 

contractors have been magnanimous. 

Buhari greets Elumelu, as he makes list of 

Time's 100 most influential people worldwide 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

LAGOS — TIME has 

named Chairman of 

United Bank for Africa, UBA, 

Mr Tony Elumelu, in the list 

of the 100 most influential 

people in the world on its annual 

list. He was listed alongside 

two other Nigerians, including 

Tomi Adeyemi and 

Tunji Funsho. 

The list, which is now in its 

seventeenth year, recognises 

the activism, innovation, and 

achievement of the world's 

most influential individuals. 

Elumelu, who is one of the 

only four Africans on the 2020 

list, is recognised for his track 

record of business turnaround, 

value creation and 

economic empowerment of 

young Africans. 

He is the Founder and 

Chairman of Heirs Holdings, 

his family owned investment 

company, committed 

to improving lives and transforming 

Africa, through longterm 

investments in strategic 

sectors of the African economy, 

including financial services, 

hospitality, power, energy 

and healthcare. 

He is also the chairman of 

UBA which operates in 20 

countries in Africa, the United 

Kingdom, France, and 

is the only African bank with 

a commercial deposit taking 

licence in the United States. 

Elumelu also chairs Nigeria’s 

largest quoted conglomerate, 

Transcorp, whose subsidiaries 

include Transcorp 

Power, one of the leading generators 

of electricity in Nigeria 

and Transcorp Hotels Plc, 

Nigeria’s foremost hospitality 

brand. 

He is the most prominent 

champion of entrepreneurship 

in Africa, having in 2010 

created The Tony Elumelu 

Foundation (TEF), the philanthropy 

empowering a new 

generation of African entrepreneurs, 

catalysing economic 

growth, driving poverty 

eradication and ensuring 

job creation across all 54 African 

countries. 

Since inception, the Foundation 

has funded about 

FIDAU 

PRAYER: 

Kaduna State 

Governor , Mal 

Nasir el-Rufai 

(left), in a chat 

with former 

president Olusegun 

Obasanjo, 

during the 3- 

Day Fida'u 

prayer for the 

late Sarkin 

Zazzau, Alh. 

Shehu Idris, 

held at the 

Emir of Zazzau's 

palace in 

Zaria, Kaduna 

State, yesterday. 

10,000 entrepreneurs and created 

a digital ecosystem of 

over one million as part of its 

ten year, US$100m commitment 

through the TEF Entrepreneurship 

Programme. 

Self-funded, the Foundation 

is increasingly sharing its 

unique ability to identify, train, 

mentor and fund young entrepreneurs 

across Africa, with 

institutions such as the UNDP, 

the ICRC and leading European 

development agencies. 

Buhari congratulates Tony 

Elumelu on being named 100 

most influential people of 

2020 

Congratulating Elumelu in 

a statement by his spokesman, 

Femi Adesina, yesterday, President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

commended his vision of Africapitalism, 

which espouses 

that Africa’s private sector 

must play a leading role in the 

continent’s development 

through long-term investments, 

entrepreneurship, and 

regional connectivity. The 

President added that it was 

just a matter of time before 

such caught global attention. 

We need stringent laws to 

punish road traffic offenders 

--- Justice Dongban-Mensem 

By Chris Ochayi 

ABUJA — President of the 

Court of Appeal, Justice 

Monica Dongban-Mensem, 

yesterday, disclosed that the 

laws against traffic offenders 

in the country were not stringent 

enough. 

Justice Dongban-Mensem, 

who made the observation 

during the 9th annual road 

safety conference and FRSC/ 

KRSD easy competition 

award 2020, held at ICT hall 

of Federal Road Safety Corps, 

FRSC, headquarters in Abuja, 

noted that the absence of 

severe punishment was responsible 

for the reckless and 

dangerous driving that often 

result in death or injury. 

Justice Dongban-Mensem 

spoke at the event to mark the 

10th memorial of the passing 

of her son, Prince 

Kwapda’as Rangna’an Samson 

Dongban, who was killed 

by unknown motorist in Jos, 

Plateau State and in whose 

memory the Kwapda’as Road 

Safety Demand, KRSD Foundation 

was established. 

She said: “We have set aside 

this day for annual conference 

to remember him and several 

others who have departed this 

world in similar circumstance 

and place at the front burner 

of public discourse the unabating 

road crash incidences 

in our country. 

“It’s my conviction that the 

penalties currently listed in 

our laws are no longer as 

COVID-19: FG denies ordering 

arrest of passport seekers at 

Embassy in Switzerland 

By Victoria Ojeme 

THE Federal government, 

yesterday, dismissed 

insinuations that it ordered 

arrest of passport seekers at 

the country's embassy in 

Switzerland over breach of 

COVID-19 protocols. 

Government's reaction came 

against the backdrop of a 

widely-circulated social 

media video alleging that 

embassy officials used the 

police to arrest Nigerian 

citizens at the embassy 

premises in Bern. 

A statement by Abdur-Rahman 

Balogun, head, media 

and public relations unit of the 

Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, 

NIDCOM, said: "In 

view of the video circulating 

on social media alleging that 

the Nigerian mission in Switzerland 

invited police to arrest 

Nigerians who were at the 

Nigerian Embassy in Switzerland 

to procure their passports, 

it is imperative to state 

the facts of the matter and put 

the incident into the proper 

and true perspective. 

"In line with COVID-19 

protocols, the Embassy in 

Bern, Switzerland is only allowed 

to attend to 10 applicants, 

however, the Mission 

worked out a program that 

made it possible to attend to a 

maximum of 20 daily, spacing 

out the appointments. 

"But on this day, 64 Nigerians 

besieged the Nigerian 

mission in Bern. It turned out 

that only 10 of them were on 

scheduled appointment . So 

54 of them had no appointment 

for that day. That apart, 

they had not made the mandatory 

online payment and 

stringent as they were when 

first enacted. On the contrary, 

the grievous acts of over 

speeding, reckless or dangerous 

driving often result in 

death or injury. It appears as 

though, drivers found guilty 

of road offences are given a 

proverbial slap on the wrist 

“We shall continually embark 

on fresh initiatives so as 

to change this anomaly. Now, 

we are in the process of sponsoring 

a Bill in National Assembly. 

The Bill is entitled: 

‘Proposal to the National Assembly 

for the amendment 

and addition of some Sections 

to the Federal Road Safety 

Commission Act 2007’. 

“This amendment seeks to 

impose stringent penalties 

that are meted to traffic offenders. 

This should ensure that 

errant drivers are effectively 

precluded from reckless behaviour 

on our roads or otherwise 

adequately punished 

for it. The idea is to implore 

deterrence. 

“Also, we are reviewing the 

provisions on Third Party 

Motor Insurance Policy. In 

Nigeria, third party insurance 

is compulsory under the Motor 

Vehicle (Third Party) Insurance 

Act 1950. “It is one of 

the six compulsory classes of 

insurance under the laws of 

the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

However, this policy stops 

at coercing motorists to buy 

the stickers. Motorists pay the 

annual premium of N5,000 

and it stops there." 

majority of the applicants 

came from Italy and Spain 

without any appointment 

whatsoever and without any 

payments made on line.. 

"The Embassy only reopened 

after Covid-19 pandemic lockdown 

in July and were restricted 

to attending to a limited 

number as stipulated by the 

country’s COVID-19 protocol. 

"Ambassador to Switzerland, 

Amb. Baba Madugu, 

was addressing them and appealing 

to them to respect the 

Covid-19 rules in place and 

also follow due process, they 

barged in through the front 

door and overcrowded a hall 

that was meant to receive only 

10 people at a time. "The mission 

did not call the Police as 

erroneously stated in the video 

but invited the Embassy 

Protection Unit to bring calm 

and decorum back to the hall." 

"The men of the Embassy 

protection unit addressed 

them, looked through the appointment 

list and advised 

those not on appointment and 

those who had not made their 

payments on line to calm 

down, while they were given 

phone numbers and e- mail to 

access, book an appointment and 

make their on line payments 

"Those on appointment and 

those who had made their online 

payments were attended to, while 

others were advised to follow the 

due process, with an assurance 

that everyone will be attended to 

as long as the rules were abided 

by. 

"The affected Nigerians left the 

hall peacefully only to the surprise 

of Swiss officers of the Embassy 

protection unit and the 

mission, some of them recorded a 

video which definitely misrepresented 

the true scenario.

8 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

Judges appointment: You acted 

unconstitutionally, Court 

tells Buhari 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

ABUJA—THE 

Abuja 

Division of the Federal 

High Court yesterday held that 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

contravened section 256(2) of the 

1999 Constitution, as amended, 

by sending names of newly 

appointed Judges of the High 

Court of the Federal Capital 

Territory to the Senate for 

screening and confirmation. 

The Court in a judgement 

delivered by Justice Inyang 

Ekwo, stressed that President 

Buhari was not empowered by the 

constitution to forward to the 

Senate list of 11 lawyers 

recommended to him by the 

National Judicial Council, NJC, 

for elevation to the FCT High 

Court bench. 

The judgement followed a suit 

marked FHC/ABJ/CS/733/2020, 

which was brought before the 

court by an Abuja-based legal 

practitioner, Oladimeji Ekengba. 

Ekengba had among other 

things, contended that it was 

wrong for President Buhari to 

pick 11 out of 33 names the NJC 

recommended for appointment as 

FCT High Court Judges. 

He prayed the court for an 

order of perpetual injunction to 

Dangote Cement pays over 

N1trn dividends in seven years 

By Peter Egwuatu 

DANGOTE 

Cement 

has grown the wealth of 

its shareholders, paying over N 1 

trillion as dividends in the past 

seven years. 

According to the cement 

company’s Group Chief 

Financial Officer, Mr. Guillaume 

Moyen, Dangote Cement is 

focused on growing the Nigerian 

economy. A breakdown of the 

seven-year dividend history 

gleaned from the company’s 

financial statements indicated 

that N51.1 billion was paid in 2013, 

N119.3 billion in 2014, N102.2 

billion in 2015, N136.3 billion in 

2016, N144.8 billion in 2017, 

N178.9 billion in 2018 and N272.6 

billion in 2019. 

Moyen, who disclosed this 

during the virtual Facts Behind 

the figures and Facts Behind 

Sustainability Report by the 

company to capital market 

stakeholders at the Nigerian 

Stock Exchange (NSE), said 

Dangote Cement has a sustained 

focus on helping the Nigerian 

economy and doing what it can 

to benefit the economy. 

He said :“Arguably our biggest 

achievement to date is taking 

Nigeria from being a big importer 

of cement to being self-sufficient, 

and now an exporter. We are 

developing road infrastructure 

and durable concrete roads, 

which are a major economic 

catalyst and hugely beneficial for 

the country’s transport sector. 

''We began our operations in 

Nigeria and have been 

expanding into other countries 

over the years. Since 2011, we 

have been enjoying robust 

volume growth; to be more 

specific, we have been growing 

at a compound annual growth 

rate of 13.4%.'' 

The company has an 

outstanding financial profile and 

has achieved excellent financial 

performance during this period. 

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

restrain the Senate from 

screening and confirming the 

candidates in the list that was 

forwarded to it by the President, 

as doing so would amount to gross 

violation of the Constitution. 

The plaintiff specifically asked 

the court to abort the screening 

of Abubakar Musa, Edward Okpe, 

B. Abubakar, M. Francis, Jude 

Nwabueze, Josephine Enobi, 

Christopher Opeyemi, 

Mohammed Idris, Hassan 

Maryam Aliyu, Fashola Akeem 

Adebowale and Hamas Muazu. 

Cited as dfendants in the 

matter were President Buhari, 

the Attorney-General of the 

Federation and Minister of 

Justice, the Senate, the Senate 

President, Clerk of Senate, the 

Chief Justice of Nigeria and the 

NJC. 

Meanwhile, the CJN, Justice 

Tanko Muhammad had since 

sworn in the 11 new Judges after 

the Senate declined to act on the 

President’s list on the premise 

that it was not constitutional 

vested with such authority. 

Consequently, in his 

judgement, though Justice Ekwo 

declared President Buhari’s 

action as unconstitutional, he 

however refused to void the 

swearing-in of the 11 judges. 

“It does not affect the 

swearing of the appointees”, 

the court held. 

If we look at the last 7 years, you 

will see that our EBITDA has 

increased by a CAGR of 9%. We 

have paid over N1 trillion in 

dividends to shareholders in the 

last seven years. As Africa’s 

largest cement manufacturer, we 

will continue to prioritize giving 

value to investors and other 

stakeholders,” he added. 

In his presentation, Group 

Chief Executive Officer, Dangote 

Cement, Michel Puchercos, said 

amidst the COVID-19 

challenges, the company placed 

an emphasis on the health and 

safety of team members, 

customers, suppliers, and 

communities at large as a core 

value. 

“We have implemented several 

rigorous protocols in all our 

operations across the continent 

to support public health policies 

and ensure the highest level of 

protection of our stakeholders. In 

addition, we are closely 

monitoring all markets according 

to the guidance provided by the 

authorities in each country to 

prevent and mitigate adverse 

effects of the pandemic,” he said. 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A BUJA—PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari said 

yesterday his administration has 

commenced the distribution of 

palliatives worth N10.9 billion to 

households and Micro, Small and 

Medium Enterprises, MSME. 

Buhari, who disclosed this in a 

speech delivered via a videomessage, 

on the first day of the 

75th session of the UN General 

Assembly Debate, said the 

disbursement of the sum was part 

of efforts to reduce the suffering 

of Nigerians imposed by the 

COVID-19. 

“In order to mitigate its impact 

BLACK WEDNESDAY: 30 killed 

in Kogi petrol tanker explosion 

•Family of 5, school children, Poly students roast to death 

•Buhari mourns •Cars burnt, properties razed •Gov Bello expresses sadness 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru Boluwaji 

Obahopo 

LOKOJA—ABOUt 30 

persons, including school 

children, died yesterday in a 

petrol tanker explosion that also 

razed several cars and other 

properties around Felele area of 

Lokoja, the Kogi State capital. 

Among the casualties were five 

students of Kogi State 

Polytechnic, three primary school 

children who were being taken 

to school by their father and a 

woman with her two kids. 

Although eyewitness accounts 

put the casualty figure at 30, the 

Federal Road Road Safety 

Commission, FRSC, said 23 

persons died in the explosion. 

Several persons who also 

sustained injuries in the 

explosion are receiving 

treatment in different hospitals 

in the city. 

Meanwhile, President 

Muhammadu Buhari yesterday 

said the death of 23 people 

confirmed by the FRSC 

represented another disturbing 

and saddening incident in the 

litany of tragedies that have 

befallen our country.” 

Reacting to the explosion, 

President Buhari said “I am 

seriously worried about the 

frequency of these unfortunate 

on Nigerians, our administration 

has commenced the 

disbursement of the sum of N10.9 

billion to households and Micro, 

Small and Medium Enterprises 

as palliatives,” he said. 

Restating Nigeria’s 

commitment to work with other 

member states to promote the 

well-being of citizens, Buhari said: 

“I should also state that Nigeria 

is committed to working with 

other member states in the spirit 

of global cooperation and 

solidarity to promote human 

health and general well-being. 

“Nigeria will continue to 

partner with WHO and some 

countries to ensure accelerated 

development and manufacturing, 

and large scale tragedies in the 

country which cause needless 

deaths.” 

The President in a statement 

issued by his Senior Special 

Assistant on Media and Publicity, 

Mallam Garba Shehu said, 

“these frequent incidents that 

result in loss of lives and property 

are a national scandal caused by 

our indifference to safety 

standards.” 

He said: “Many accidents are 

preventable if proper proactive 

and precautionary measures are 

put in place or properly observed 

as routine policies.” 

Vanguard gathered that the 

tanker fully loaded with premium 

motor spirit, PMS, which belongs 

to the Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, 

suffered brake failure around 

8:30am and rammed into five cars, 

two motorbikes and three 

tricycles, popularly known as 

Keke NAPEP, killing all the 

occupants. 

Also killed in the inferno was a 

businessman, identified as Pastor 

Samson, his wife and three 

children, who until his death was 

a member of Baptist Church, 

Felele. 

Samson, a dealer in sewing 

machines was said to be on 

his way to drop his children 

off at school when the 

explosion occurred. 

as well as uninhibited supply of 

safe and effective coronavirus 

vaccines to all.’’ 

He noted that government has 

established a N500 billion fiscal 

stimulus package and sustained 

delivery of humanitarian and 

social interventions to poor and 

vulnerable households, adding 

that the Central Bank has 

launched a N3.5 trillion-stimulus 

package to boost manufacturing 

and facilitate import substitution. 

The President described the 

theme of the General Assembly 

as most appropriate and timely, 

noting that it captured the 

common desire for a renewed and 

revitalised organisation in need 

of multilateral approaches to the 

An eyewitness said: “I was 

about crossing the road when I 

noticed the tanker driver 

signalling to motorists to steer 

clear, but before I could say Jack 

Robinson, the tanker was on its 

side falling on all vehicles beside 

it. Immediately the tanker fell, fire 

started and incinerated all 

vehicles along its way.’’ 

Men of the FRSC who arrived 

the scene around 10am came 

with an ambulance from rescue/ 

rehabilitation team to evacuate 

the corpses burnt beyond 

recognition, while locals made 

frantic efforts to identify them. 

Piqued by the sad 

development, some students of 

the state polytechnic, Lokoja, 

whose colleagues were involved 

in the accident, almost mobbed 

the FRSC rescuing team. 

However, the sector 

commander of FRSC, Idris Fika 

Ali, said 23 persons were killed in 

the explosion, while one child 

escaped with injuries. 

President Buhari regretted 

that “ours is a country where we 

move on whenever tragedies 

occur instead of taking 

preventive safety measures to 

forestall future calamities.” 

He called on the county’s 

transport authorities, traffic and 

road management agencies as 

well as law enforcement officials 

to sit up and enforce safety 

challenges facing the world. 

‘’As we reflect on the future 

we want and the United Nations 

we need, we must realise that 

the people of the world not only 

look up to us: they count on us. 

“The future we want must 

guarantee human rights, 

human dignity, and prosperity. 

The principles of ‘Leaving no one 

behind and Doing no harm’ must 

be expressed through 

accountability, strategic growth 

initiatives and elimination of 

threats of all kinds,’’ he said. 

He noted that in the quest to 

provide a future of hope and 

prosperity for all Nigerians, his 

administration had embarked on 

measures to ensure national 

T R A G E D Y : 

Deputy Governor 

of Kogi State, 

Chief Edward 

Onoja (middle) 

and some security 

chiefs at the scene 

of the petrol tanker 

fire explosion. 

standards with more seriousness, 

adding that “refusal to do the right 

thing can cause potential tragic 

problems that harm innocent 

people.” 

According to him, “Nigeria is 

not having a shortage of laws and 

regulations, but our problem is 

lack of zeal to enforce those laws 

and regulations for the sake of 

public safety.” 

He condoled with Kogi State 

government and the families of 

the victims of the tragedy. 

Reacting yesterday, Kogi State 

governor, Yahaya Bello, 

expressed shock and sadness 

over the fatal tanker explosion. 

A statement by the Chief Press 

Secretary to the Governor, 

Onogwu Mohammed, read: 

“Governor Bello is very sad to 

learn of the tragic loss of lives, 

many vehicles, property and other 

valuables in the petrol tanker fire, 

while expressing his deepest 

condolences to the family of those 

affected by the ugly occurrence. 

“This unfortunate accident is a 

sad development and I share the 

feeling of those who lost their 

loved ones in this incident.” 

The governor also urged the 

students of the state polytechnic 

to remain calm and peaceful, 

stating that he equally shared 

in their grieving moment over 

the death of some of their 

colleagues in the disaster. 

COVID-19: We’ve commenced distribution of palliatives worth N10.9bn — BUHARI 

resilience. ‘’We intend to achieve 

this through the implementation 

of the Economic Sustainability 

Plan and the Medium Term 

National Development for the 

period 2020-2025 and 2026-2030. 

‘’We expect that these 

ambitious initiatives will deliver 

sustainable economic growth and 

development to Nigeria,’’ he said. 

On confronting the COVID-19 

pandemic, Buhari said: ‘’In the 

aftermath of the outbreak in 

Nigeria, we prioritised vulnerable 

groups, including women, 

children, older persons and the 

unemployed, in our efforts to 

provide medical and social 

assistance to cushion the socioeconomic 

effects of the disease.''

C 

M 

Y 

K 


Don’t allow lions, tigers torment Edo again, 

Okowa tells Obaseki 

*Exercise peaceful, credible – US govt *Urges further improvement in Ondo poll *Clark, 

factional Edo APC greet Obaseki *Obaseki visits, Wike, Okowa, Diri, others on thank you 

tour *Buni, Bello meet Ize-Iyamu on way forward 

By Clifford Ndujihe, 

Samuel Oyadongha, Henry 

Umoru, Festus Ahon, 

Omeiza Ajayi, Ozioruva 

Aliu & Perez Brisibe 

GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta 

State has urged his re-elected Edo State 

counterpart, Godwin Obaseki not to allow 

lions and tigers to hold Edo State to ransom 

again. 

Okowa, who is still celebrating the victory 

of Obaseki, who contested the September 

19 election on the platform of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, gave the advice 

when Obaseki paid him a 'thank you' visit 

in Asaba. 

Urging Obaseki not to allow ''lions and 

the tigers'' to torment the people of Edo 

state again,'' and to show lots of magnanimity 

and grace, Okowa said he was 

inspired to support Governor Obaseki 

because of his humility and the fact that 

he was being oppressed. 

Okowa spoke as the Chairman of Caretaker/Extraordinary 

National Convention 

Planning Committee of the ruling 

All Progressives Congress, APC, Governor 

Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State on 

Wednesday met with the party's governorship 

candidate in last Saturday's election 

in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. 

The meeting which was held behind 

closed doors at the Abuja residence of 

Governor Buni also had Kogi State Governor, 

Yahaya Bello, in attendance. 

Although details of the meeting were 

still kept under wraps as of the time of 

filing this report, Vanguard gathered that 

"it was essentially to discuss the way forward" 

and ''prevail on Ize-Iyamu to accept 

the outcome of the poll he lost to 

Governor Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP. 

At the end of the election on Sunday, 

Ize-Iyamu described the exercise as 

flawed and said he was still studying the 

situation and would meet with APC leaders 

on the way forward. 

Same Sunday, President Muhammadu 

Buhari congratulated Obaseki on 

his victory. The APC hierarchy toed the 

same path on Monday describing the 

re-election of Governor Obaseki as a victory 

for democracy, adding that the era 

of seeing election as warfare should be 

brought to an end. 

APC leaders' meeting with Ize-Iyamu 

held on a day that the United States Government 

described the poll as credible 

and peaceful in spite of recorded cases 

of vote buying and intimidation of voters 

and observers during the election. 

Meanwhile, a faction of the APC in 

Edo led by Mr. Anslem Ojezua, and Elder 

statesman, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo 

Clark, yesterday, congratulated Obaseki 

on his victory 

This was as Obaseki visited Governors 

Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Ifeanyi Okowa 

of Delta and Douye Diri of Bayelsa, to 

thank them, PDP governors, leaders and 

others for their roles in his re-election. 

Indeed, Governors Diri and Okowa 

said Obaseki's re-election has immense 

implication for Edo, the South-South 

geo-political zone and the country at 

large. 

Don't allow the lions, tigers torment 

Edolites again 

Okowa said: "I want to congratulate 

you (Obaseki) once again and I feel very 

excited that you won the election because 

somebody wanted to play the role of God 

and it ought not to be so. 

"I believe God did this in your life because 

you have proven to be a very humble 

man and people who boast too much 

don't usually end well. I thank all our 

party members and the Edo people for 

their resilience in ensuring your re-elec- 

*Gov. Obaseki 

tion. 

''Now that we are all in the same political 

party, it makes it easier for us to 

relate with ourselves in this region." 

He also commended the Edo Deputy 

Governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu, 

for his loyalty and dedication. 

Earlier in his remarks, Governor 

Obaseki said his re-election on the platform 

of the PDP would pave the way for 

regional cooperation and development 

with all the Governors in the South- 

South belonging to one political party, 

adding that the support of Governor 

Okowa and Deltans had rekindled the 

spirit of the old Bendel. 

Exercise peaceful, credible – US 

The US government in a statement 

by the United States Mission in Nigeria, 

also applauded the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, INEC 

and the Nigerian security services on 

the positive role they played in the election. 

It however said it is concerned over 

recorded cases of vote buying and intimidation 

of voters and observers during 

the poll. 

The statement posted on its verified 

twitter handle, @USinNigeria, said the 

US government also recognized the 

critical role that Governor Obaseki of 

the PDP and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu 

of the APC played during the exercise. 

The statement reads: “Congratulations 

to the people of Edo State on a 

credible and peaceful governorship 

election. We thank the Independent National 

Electoral Commission and the 

Nigerian security services on the positive 

role they played in the election and 

commend their work in strengthening 

Nigeria’s democracy. 

“We recognize the critical role that 

Governor Godwin Obaseki and Pastor 

Osagie Ize-Iyamu played in promoting 

peace. We also thank our civil 

society partners for their invaluable 

work in upholding democracy and accountability 

in this election. 

“The United States remains concerned 

with reports of some violence 

that did emerge during the election and 

by reports of vote-buying and intimidation 

of both voters and civil society 

domestic observers. 

''We will continue to encourage all 

stakeholders, including INEC, political 

parties, and the security services, to 

improve the electoral process in the 

upcoming Ondo State governorship 

election. As a democratic partner of 

Nigeria, the United States remains 

committed to working together to 

achieve our mutual goals of peace and 

prosperity for the citizens of both our 

countries.” 

Obaseki Commends Diri 

Meanwhile, Governor Obaseki has 

expressed gratitude to his Bayelsa counterpart, 

Senator Douye Diri, and the 

people of the state for their support 

which made his re-election possible. 

Governor Obaseki, who said he remains 

grateful to the Bayelsa governor, 

described his victory in the election 

as a unifying factor for the South- 

South region of Nigeria. 

Speaking in Yenagoa Tuesday night 

at a state dinner in his honour, Obaseki 

said the victory, which has brought all 

the states in the South-South under one 

party, will foster rapid socio-economic 

development in the region. 

Governor Diri's Acting Chief Press 

Secretary, in a statement, quoted 

Obaseki as commending President 

Buhari for ensuring a level playing field 

in the poll and expressed the optimism 

that the outcome will rub off positively 

on future elections in the country and 

allow the will of the people to prevail at 

all times. 

Earlier, Governor Diri described 

Obaseki's re-election as triumph for democracy, 

saying it was a litmus test that 

the country passed creditably. 

He noted that the Edo governor's victory 

was significant to people of the state 

as it proved that power comes only from 

God and not man. 

"My brother governor was disqualified 

by his former party, which claimed 

he did not have a certificate. The irony 

was so strong that those of us watching 

from the sides were asking if the party 

was serious that a sitting governor does 

not have the qualification to contest an 

election or that it was going to go like 

what happened in Lagos. 

"This (your victory) would not have 

been possible if you had chickened out 

of that race. You took the bull by the 

horns. You had the support of your people 

and you had the support of your party 

that gave you the umbrella when it 

was raining. 

"May I use this opportunity to congratulate 

all the people of Edo State 

and members of the Peoples Democratic 

Party in Edo. This victory is not for 

Edo people alone. This is a victory for 

Nigeria." 

In a welcome address, the Bayelsa 

Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence 

Ewhrudjakpo, said the victory was a precious 

gift to the PDP family and urged 

the party to sustain the momentum as 

they go into the Ondo election on October 

10. 

Obaseki was accompanied by his 

wife, his deputy, Philip Shuaibu, his wife, 

PDP National Vice Chairman (South- 

South), Chief Dan Orbih, Senators and 

Rep members from the state, top government 

functionaries and party chieftains 

among others. 

Obaseki thanks Wike 

In like manner, Obaseki praised Edo 

people, Governor Wike and other PDP 

governors for their role in his re-election 

during his thank you visit to Wike at 

Government House in Port Harcourt, 

on Wednesday. 

Obaseki was accompanied on the visit 

by his wife, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki; Deputy 

Governor, Philip Shaibu, and his wife, 

Mrs. Maryann Shaibu, with members 

of the Edo PDP Campaign Council led 

by Chief Dan Orbih. 

Obaseki expressed appreciation to the 

Rivers State Governor and Chairman 

of PDP National Campaign Council 

for Edo gubernatorial election, for his 

immense contribution to his victory at 

the poll, adding that Edo people recognise 

his strategic role. 

He assured that Edo will be better 

with his re-election as his administration 

will concentrate on delivering development 

to Edo people. 

On his part, Wike commended Governor 

Obaseki and his deputy, for standing 

firmly, adding that it was a motivating 

factor for them to join hands in solidarity. 

The Rivers State Governor said he is 

excited that all the states in the South- 

South geopolitical zone now belong to 

one political party and can now speak 

with one voice. 

He urged Obaseki to forgive those 

who stood against him in the buildup to 

the election. 

Edo APC congratulates Obaseki, 

urges Ize-Iyamu, others to sheathe 

swords 

Meantime, the Edo State Chapter 

of the APC has congratulated Governor 

Obaseki and his deputy, Comrade 

Philip Shaibu, on their victory in 

the September 19 election in the state. 

State Chairman of the APC in Edo 

State, Anselm Ojezua , who signed the 

congratulatory message issued in Benin 

City, said: “We join President Buhari 

and the National Caretaker 

Committee of our great party to congratulate 

Governor Obaseki and his 

Deputy Philip Shaibu on their victory 

at the just-concluded governorship 

election in Edo State.““The election 

has been generally acclaimed to be 

peaceful, orderly and transparent. The 

people of Edo State have made their 

choice in a very clear and unambiguous 

manner.” 

The APC State chairman, however, 

explained “our loss at the poll stems 

from the needless and avoidable crisis 

foisted on the party by a selfish, 

insensitive, arrogant and irresponsible 

leadership.” 

“While we begin to take steps to try 

and salvage the well-being of our party 

in the state, we call on the Governor 

to be magnanimous in victory while 

we urge all the contestants to sheathe 

their swords and put the elections behind 

them.'' 

Clark hails Buhari, INEC, Obaseki, 

Shuaibu, PDP, Edo people 

Also, former Federal Commissioner 

for Information and South-South 

Leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark 

has commended President Buhari for 

his role and the admonitions he gave 

to politicians, INEC and security agencies 

prior to the poll that led to free, 

fair and credible election in Edo. 

In a statement yesterday in Abuja, 

Clark who also hailed INEC, security 

agencies who conducted themselves 

professionally, before, during and after 

the election, the people of Edo State 

for living up to expectations, also congratulated 

Governor Obaseki and his 

deputy, Philip Shuaibu, on their reelection 

for second term. 

The Elder statesman who also congratulated 

the PDP for the victory, said 

that the election which was a complete 

departure from what obtained 

in 2018 and last year during the conduct 

of Osun and Kogi states elections 

respectively. 

Clark, who appealed to the leadership 

of APC in Edo State and all stakeholders 

to accept the outcome of the 

election as the decision of the people 

of Edo State, urged them to join hands 

with the governor, in the overall interest 

of the state. 

The Elder statesman called on Governor 

Obaseki to let bygones be bygone, 

to extend an olive branch to all. 

"We hope that Mr. President will issue 

similar directives to the security agencies, 

to INEC, and to everybody, on 

the forthcoming governorship election 

in Ondo State, and the senatorial 

by-elections coming up on the 31st of 

October, 2020," he said. 

We’ve replaced burnt card readers meant for 

Ondo — INEC Chairman 

By Dayo Johnson 

NATIONAL Chairman of the 

Independent National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, Prof. 

Mahmood Yakubu, has said that 

the commission has replaced the 

over 5141 card readers burnt in a 

recent fire incident that engulfed the 

the Ondo State headquarters of the 

commission. 

Speaking during a three-day 

working visit to Ondo ahead of the 

election, the INEC Chairman disclosed 

that the commission had 

replace the destroyed card readers 

and is ready for the conduct of the 

poll. 

“We have already recovered 

some smart card readers. We unfortunately 

lost over 5000 smart 

card readers to the fire incident. We 

have however recovered by getting 

requisite number of smart card 

readers from neighbouring Oyo 

State and delivered to Ondo State 

for the election on October 10,” he 

said 

Two containers where the 5141 

card readers were stored went up 

in flames at about 8.30pm exactly 

a month to the poll. 

Police finding attributed the 

cause of the fire incident to electrical 

fault and ruled out sabotage as 

speculated by political parties in 

the state. 

The INEC boss is expected to 

meet with the Resident Electoral 

Commissioner, Ambassador Rufus 

Akeju and other head of departments 

ahead of the election.


:Vanguard 

News 

We’ll get Yoruba nation without 

violence —Prof Akintoye 

By Ola Ajayi 

LEADER of Yoruba 

nation, Professor 

Adebanji Akintoye, has said 

that over 55 million people 

in Yoruba land will get their 

freedom without breaking 

the law of the country, or 

shedding of blood. 

He said this, yesterday, at 

the celebration of Kiriji War, 

which happened many 

years ago. 

While insisting that 

nothing would stop the 

liberation of Yoruba from its 

enemies, he warned the 

youths who he said, were 

very important in the fight 

for struggle. 

Akintoye, who presented 

the keynote address said: 

“We have been saying we 

will have a Yoruba nation 

of our own. Yoruba World 

Congress is committed to 

helping Yoruba nation to 

secure its position in the 

comity of nations.” 

To stress the importance 

Odua Republic: We’re holding 

Oct 1 rally in 6 continents 

—Yoruba diaspora group 

By Dapo 

Akinrefon 

A 

Diaspora coalition, 

Yoruba One Voice, 

YOV, Wednesday, said its 

proposed sensitisation rally 

slated for October 

1, remains sacrosanct, 

assuring participants of a 

peaceful rally. 

The YOV, presently in 176 

countries across all the six 

continents, is the umbrella 

group of over 300 groups 

of Yoruba descendants in 

the world. 

The group explained that 

the self determination rally 

tagged:”Oodua Republic” 

sensitization campaign was 

designed to draw the 

attention of the global world 

to situations and 

happenings in Nigeria, 

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

Ondo PDP writes Buhari, accuses 

Akeredolu, security agencies of violence 

• As DG Ajayi’s campaign alleges attack on secretariat by APC thugs 

• ZLP only looking for attention; pose no threat to us —Akeredolu 


Athree KURE—BARELY 

weeks to the 

Ondo State Governorship 

election, the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, in 

the state has written to 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari accusing the 

security agencies of 

culpability in the unending 

violence allegedly 

perpetrated by supporters 

of the ruling All progressive 

Congress, APC, ahead of 

the election. 

In a similar development, 

candidate of the Zenith 

Labour Party, ZLP, in the 

Ondo governorship 

election, Agboola Ajayi has 

raised the alarm over the 

attack on his campaign 

secretariat by suspected 

thugs loyal to the ruling 

APC in the state. 

PDP, in an open letter 

written by its state Publicity 

Secretary, Kennedy Peretei, 

appealed to Buhari to call 

his party in the state to 

order and stop the violence. 

It warned that “The 1983 

violence that engulfed 

Ondo State must not be 

allowed to recur. The 

service chiefs had been 

giving free access to the 

political thugs assembled to 

maim and kill the people 

of Ondo State in order to 

achieve a desired political 

objective. 

“A lot of people had been 

maimed and injured, while 

petitions to the federal 

authorities had yielded no 

result. 

The letter read: “We want 

Your Excellency to be aware 

of these atrocities 

committed under your 

watch. We are also asking 

the International 

Community to note these 

atrocities. We believe that 

there is complicity involving 

even the Inspector General 

of Police and some service 

chiefs. 

“Anywhere Governor 

Rotimi Akeredolu goes to 

campaign, about five or six 

buses loaded with political 

thugs, wielding guns 

accompany him. Only on 

Tuesday, September 22, 

these thugs unleashed 

violence on the people 

during Akeredolu’s 

campaign in Idanre. 

“The story has been the 

same anywhere he goes, 

be it Akure or Ondo town. 

If care is not taken, there 

will be genocide in Ondo 

State.” 

While stating that the 

Ondo people would resist 

imposition and 

manipulation of votes, the 

party said it would be 

terrible for violence to 

engulf Ondo State under 

Buhari’s tenure. 

But in a swift response, 

the state Publicity Secretary 

of the APC, Alex Kalejaye 

said that the party “has no 

Falana, Odinkalu, others kick against new CAMA law 

By Henry Ojelu 

L AGOS—HUMAN 

rights lawyer, Mr Femi 

Falana (SAN) and a former 

Chairman of the National 

Human Rights 

Commission, Prof. Chidi 

Odinkalu, among others, 

yesterday, attacked the 

newly passed Companies 

and Allied Matters Act 

of the struggle, he noted 

that when they first started, 

they had 45 organizations 

but now they can boast of 

107 different 

organizations. 

Speaking further, the 

renowned historian said: 

“They do say I don’t 

compromise. It’s not every 

time. But once we say, we 

will take a common stance, 

I don’t know how to betray. 

We will get Yoruba nation 

free without violence, we 

will not break the laws of 

Nigeria. If there is anyone 

who wants to be violent, we 

will tell them, no.” 

On the proposed rally 

fixed for October 1,2020, by 

some youths he said they 

reserved the rights to stage a rally 

but should be careful not to allow 

violence that could lead to deaths. 

“If you’re violent and there are 

dead bodies on the streets, you 

are circumventing our purpose. 

We are telling the world that we 

want our own country," 

Akintoye said. 

stressing that the rally 

would be conducted in line 

with the global template for 

the fulfillment of its desire, 

as well as the liberation of 

the Yoruba people in 

Nigeria. 

In a statement by YOV’s 

Director 

of 

Communications, Mr. 

Zacheaus Somorin, stated 

that all arrangements have 

been concluded to ensure 

a peaceful rally. 

Somorin said: “The rally 

is to sensitize the world on 

the need to liberate Yoruba 

race from the shackles of 

bondage. We have made 

our position known to our 

people in Nigeria.The reason for 

seeking self determination as the 

best means and alternative is to 

save the nation from impending 

implosion." 

2020, saying many of its 

provisions would allow for 

gross violation of 

fundamental human 

rights. 

Falana and Odinkalu 

argued that the new law 

gave too much powers to 

the Registrar General of the 

Corporate Affairs 

Commission, which can 

easily be used to arbitrarily 

clamp down on civil society 

organisations. 

But the RG of CAC, Garba 

Abubakar, speaking 

through Mr. Justine 

Nidiya, said the new law 

should be allowed to 

operate first and given 

“benefit of the doubt; and if there 

are challenges we will address 

them by way of amendments.” 

They spoke at a virtual townhall 

meeting, with the theme, 

“CAMA 2020: Regulation or 

reason whatsoever to 

engage in, or encourage 

thuggry. 

“The governor of the state 

and APC flag bearer, 

Rotimi Akeredolu would 

never be a man to go about 

with guns or be a party to 

violence of whatever 

colouration.” 

“The desperation of PDP 

leaders is responsible for 

the bulk of crises recorded 

so far in the State. The so 

called “Akure Agenda”, 

because its candidate is 

from Akure, explains why 

the members from the 

capital have severally 

launched unprovoked 

attacks on our members. 

On the attack on 

secretariat, Ajayi said that 

the thugs who stormed his 

campaign secretariat in 

Akure, the state capital fired 

several gunshots, 

threatened to kill the guards 

and destroyed his 

campaign billboards and 

other valuable items. 

It would be recalled that 

seven political thugs 

arrested with arms and 

ammunition were 

arraigned in court on 

Tuesday and ordered to be 

remanded in prison by the 

trial Chief Magistrate. 

This happened as the 

state police Commissioner, 

Bolaji Salami read riot act 

to political thugs in the 

state, saying that warm 

reception awaits them, and 

sponsors of political 

violence at Olokuta prison. 

Premium Times, VOTAC launch platform for innovation, investment 

in Africa 

Nominal Gross Domestic 

ATimes BUJA—PREMIUM 

and Voices of the 

African Continent, 

VOTAC, have announced 

strategic alliance with a 

focus on news coverage of 

African Capital Markets to 

boost economic mobility. 

This happened on the 

heels of 29 stock exchanges 

representing 54 countries 

(markets), a $2.5 trillion of 

Repression?” co-organised by 

European Union-ACT; Open 

Society Initiative for West Africa; 

Working Group on Civil Society 

Regulatory Environment; 

Socio-Economic Rights and 

Accountability Project and the 

CAC. 

Falana, in his remarks, faulted 

Section 389 of the law that 

empowers the CAC to suspend 

the Board of Trustees of an 

organisation in crisis and appoint 

an interim committee to manage 

Product, GDP, (2019 

estimates), economic 

growth stabilized at 3.4 per 

cent in 2019 and expected 

to hit 3.9 per cent in 2020 

and 4.1 per cent in 2021 

(AfDB, 2020). 

In a joint statement by 

Publisher, Premium Times, 

Dapo Olorunyomi and 

Abraham Tuyo, founder 

VOTAC, said, “It is no 

longer what Africa is today 

its affairs. 

Describing the section as a 

violation of the rights to freedom 

of association, Falana argued 

that the CAC should allow 

organisations to manage their 

internal crisis in line with their 

constitutions. 

In his remarks, Odinkalu 

described Part F of CAMA 2020 

as a 'mish-mash' of borrowed laws 

from the United Kingdom, hastily 

copied without the safeguards in 

the English law. 

but what it is becoming. By 

providing a global media 

platform, Premium Times 

and VOTAC will offer 

subject matter experts, 

industry and market analysts, 

commentators, investigative and 

financial news journalists with indepth 

knowledge of Africa, guided 

by professional disciples.” 

According to the statement, 

VOTAC will produce, in 

collaboration with Premium 

Times; ACM TODAY (African 

FLAG-OFF—Governor 

Seyi Makinde 

of Oyo 

State (2nd 

right); Secretary 

to the State 

Government, 

Mrs. Olubamiwo 

Adeosun 

(2nd left); Head 

of Service, Mrs. 

Amidat Agboola 

(3rd left), and 

one of the representatives 

of 

Remax Realtor 

Ltd., during the 

flag-off of construction 

of 360 

housing units at 

Ajoda New 

Housing Estate, 

yesterday. 

Capital Market), a financial news 

program, livestreamed from 

studios in San Francisco and 

Abuja. ACM TODAY will also be 

carried on U.S. cable networks 

reaching 33 million television 

households; and will be available 

on local television channels in the 

following United States, U.S. 

media markets: Atlanta, Chicago, 

Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, 

Los Angeles, and New York Tri- 

State Area—New York, New 

Jersey and Connecticut.

C 

M 

Y 

K 


:Vanguard :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews 

NEWS HOTLINES: 

08052867023, 08052867058 

CAMPAIGN—From right: Prince Solagbade Amodeni; State Chairman, Zenith Labour 

Party, ZLP, Joseph Akinlaja; former governor, Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; State 

Deputy Governor and flag bearer, ZLP, Agboola Ajayi, with other party members and 

officials, during one of the party's governorship campaigns. 

CACOVID donates N1.4bn food palliatives 

to Lagos 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

LAGOS—PRIVATE sector led 

Coalition Against Covid- 

19,CACOVID, has donated food 

supply relief packages worth N1.4 

billion to Lagos State Government 

for distribution to indigent and 

elderly citizens of the state as part 

of measures to mitigate the impact 

of the pandemic. 

This happened as the state 

government on Wednesday, 

announced various activities 

lined up to commemorate the 60 

years anniversary of Nigeria’s 

independence on October 1. 

Earlier, receiving the palliatives 

onbehalf of the state government 

at the Lagos House, Alausa, 

Ikeja, Acting Commissioner for 

Agriculture, Ms. Abisola 

Olusanya, said a single 

beneficiary will get each pack 

containing 10 kilograms of rice, 

five kilograms of garri, five 

kilograms of sugar, one kilogram 

of salt, two cartons of noodles 

(Indomie) and one carton of 

pasta, for his or her family. 

She said: “According to the 

CACOVID team, Lagos State is 

supposed to receive 107,546 

Lagos clamps down on unsanitary 

abattoirs 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

LAGOS—LAGOS 

State 

Government has read the riot 

act to operators of all unsanitary 

slaughter houses and abattoirs to 

ensure hygienic operation in 

order to minimize harmful effects 

or face severe sanction. 

The state Commissioner for the 

Environment and Water 

Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello, gave 

the warning on Wednesday, 

during a one day workshop for 

abattoir operators in the state, 

themed: “Environmental and 

Health Implications of unsanitary 

abattoir operation” held at State 

Agric Complex, Oko-Oba, Agege. 

Bello, who was represented by 

the Permanent Secretary, Office 

of Environmental Services, Mr 

Belinda Odeneye maintained 

that abattoirs must be approved 

by the regulatory authorities for 

hygienic slaughtering of animals, 

processing and distribution of 

meat products for human 

consumptions. 

Hev said, “Due to rapid 

increase in the demand of 

meat, slaughter houses are 

....As govt unveils activities for Independence fiesta 

beneficiary packs for our citizens 

- for the indigents, the elderly, for 

those that do not have the 

wherewithal or the capacity to 

have food on their tables on a 

daily basis.” 

Speaking during the handover, 

CACOVID 

Lagos 

Representative, Amaechi Okobi, 

who is the Head of Corporate 

Communication of Access Bank 

Plc. disclosed that the coalition 

had already provided support to 

the states and federal government 

in the public health front. 

According to him, CACOVID 

has provided testing support by 

providing testing kits, 

laboratories, medical supplies, 

isolation centers, training of the 

frontline medical personnel and 

grassroots awareness campaign. 

“Having done all these we 

thought it right to provide relief 

packages to our country men, the 

poor and those most vulnerable 

in our communities,” he stated. 

Commissioner for Home 

Affairs, Prince Anofiu Elegushi, 

at a press briefing on Wednesday, 

while unveiling activities to mark 

the Independence Day, said 

Lagos would maintain its leading 

position in the country by 

springing up in the nooks and 

crannies of the state to meet the 

needs of the people thereby 

raising a lot of operational 

problems and issues happening 

from their harpharzard way in 

which they carry out their 

businesses and making it 

detrimental to the environment 

and to human health.” 

He said the workshop became 

necessary in order to improve the 

hygiene status of abattoirs across 

the state and to prevent 

continuous pollution of the 

environment from both solid and 

liquid waste as a result of their 

operations. 

LAGOS—LAGOS State Governor, 

Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday, 

handed over 51 Sport Utility Vehicles, 

SUVs, and eight houses to judges of the 

state High Court, vowing that no arm of 

government in the state would be 

deprived of all required tools to perform 

its statutory duties. 

The governor reiterated that his 

continuing to be the face of 

Nigeria in infrastructural 

development, industrialization, 

trade investments and 

information technology. 

The state government is 

however, opting for a low key 

celebration because of the 

scourge of COVID-19, saying 

that “this Diamond Jubilee calls 

for sober reflection and thanksgiving 

to the Almighty for keeping the Nigerian 

state together thus far.” 

COVID-19: Lagos 

cancels practical 

assessment exam 

for JSS 3 students 

LAGOS—LAGOS 

State 

Government has canceled the 

practical assessment examination 

for candidates ahead of the 

conduct of 2020 Basic Education 

Certificate Examinations, BECE, 

for Junior Secondary School 

Students ,JSS 3. 

The exam is scheduled to hold 

from Tuesday, October 6 to 

Monday October 12 at 

designated centres from 9.00 am 

daily. 

In a statement by the Director, 

Lagos State Examinations Board, 

Mr Supo Gbadegesin on 

Wednesday, the board explained 

that the assessment examination 

has been canceled due to Covid- 

19 pandemic in order not to allow 

candidates spend long hours at 

examination centres. 

Recall that the board last week 

announced a new dates for the 

conduct of 2020 screening test 

into Lagos State Model Colleges 

and upgraded Junior Secondary 

Schools in the state. 

While the board set from September 

26 to 30 for the conduct of the Computer- 

Based Testing version of the screening 

at the Lagos State Examinations Board, 

October 3 was slated for the paper 

pencil testing, PPT, version of the 

examination in all the six education 

districts. 

Sanwo-Olu hands over 51 vehicles, 

8 houses to judges 

By Onozure Dania 

administration would continue to 

support the judiciary and raise the bar of 

legal practice in line with global standards. 

Recall that the governor last year 

October gave out 50 official cars to 

magistrates to aid their duties. 

The governor who said there would 

be no good governance and development 

without a formidable judiciary, reassured 

members of the judicial arm that the 

executive arm under his leadership 

would be a dependable partner. 

She'll kill herself for nothing! 

Pls, stay 'away'! 

If you try, na die dey hungry you!

12—Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 




NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

AGREEMENT: From left, Mahendra Pratap, Business Head, Simba TVS, Nigerian football 

legend, Nwankwo Kanu, and Karthik Govindrajan, Head, Marketing, Simba Group, when 

Kanu signed as the company's Ambassador, in Lagos, yesterday. 

Allocating 13% derivation to govs 

fuelling N-Delta’s crisis, Enang insists 

•N20trn allocated to region in 15 years was mismanaged — HOSCON 

derivation should go for the N20trn allocated 

development of the oilproducing 

communities, 

to region in 15 

through special purpose years was 

vehicles to be created. mismanaged 

“Since we have seen the — HOSCON 

way and manner the Also speaking, Chairman of 

governors had utilised the 13 HOSCON, Dr Mike Emuh, 

per cent derivation fund, I lamented that oil and gas 

think it is time we go back and bearing communities had 

obey the provisions of the been consistently denied their 

constitution and cause that rights in the area of the 13 per 

these monies be used for the cent derivation fund, stating 

development of oil and gas that paying the money to the 

producing communities states was against the law. 

directly for their development He appealed to Ita Enang 

so that this affliction would be to help escalate the demands 

arrested.” 

of HOSCON in the area of 

By Michael Eboh 

SENIOR 

Special 

Assistant to the President 

on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator 

Ita Enang, yesterday, insisted 

that the allocation of the 13 per 

cent derivation fund to the 

governors of oil-producing 

states was fuelling underdevelopment, 

bitterness and 

rancour in host communities 

and Niger Delta in general. 

Enang stated this in Abuja, 

when members of the Host 

Communities of Nigeria, 

HOSCON, producing oil 

and gas, visited his office to 

present a paper, stating their 

position on the 13 per cent 

derivation fund and other 

issues bordering on the 

development of oil-bearing 

communities. 

He said: “It will be 

inappropriate for the state 

governors to take the 13 per 

cent derivation money and 

apply it only for building new 

governor's lodge, buying 

private aircraft, increasing the 

number of vehicles in their 

convoys or doing any other 

things, which are sometimes 

obscene, making the oilproducing 

communities 

angry and forcing them to 

disrupt crude oil and gas 

production.” 

He noted that even the 

Revenue Mobilisation 

Allocation and Fiscal 

Commission, RMAFC, had 

considered, examined and 

concluded that the 13 per cent 

derivation fund was 

exclusively for the host 

communities and that there 

were a misapplication and 

misdirection of the fund. 

Enang stated that concrete 

steps needed to be taken at 

the federal level to redeem the 

oil-bearing communities from 

the squalor that they are faced 

with, noting that over the 

years, governors of the Niger 

Delta had treated derivation 

funds the way they treated 

local government allocation 

He said: “What ought to be 

done now is that the money is 

not given to the respective 

states. The governors should 

take the same allocation as 

other states of the federation, 

which is the statutory 

allocation, taxes and Value 

Added Tax, VAT; but the 

the derivation fund to 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari, as well as in the area 

of ensuring the setting up of a 

trust fund for the management 

of the gas flare penalty money 

and the award of pipeline 

surveillance and protection 

contracts to host communities. 

He bemoaned the fact that 

over the last 15 years, about 

N20 trillion had been allocated 

to oil and gas producing states 

without any form of 

accountability from the 

governors and concrete 

development in the Niger 

Delta. 

AkwaIbom@33: Emmanuel attributes 

achievements in healthcare, others to 

proactive leadership 

By Chioma 

Onuegbu 

UYO 

—GOVERNOR 

Udom Emmanuel of 

Akwa Ibom State, has 

attributed the achievements of 

his administration particularly 

in heathcare delivery in the 

past five and half years despite 

the turbulent economic climate 

to proactive leadership. 

Emmanuel, yesterday, 

during his 7am state wide 

broadcast for the 33rd state 

creation anniversary, 

explained that the state 

recorded one of the lowest 

rates of infections and fatalities 

in the country because of the 

leadership provided by his 

administration. 

He said: “For more than five 

years, and counting, with your 

prayers and support, and 

despite the turbulent 

economic climate that has 

defined most of the years I 

have been in the saddle, we 

have experienced great and 

wonderful years of 

renaissance, of the 

reawakening of the Akwa 

Ibom identity. 

“We have seen five and half 

years of great developmental 

strides that have confounded 

the cynics, and drawn 

admirations even from those 

on the opposite side of the 

political divide. It could only 

have been God. Because we 

are a proactive government, 

the COVID- 19 pandemic did 

not meet us unprepared. 

“Our huge investments in 

healthcare delivery came in 

handy. Before the world was 

confronted with this 

pandemic, we had already set 

up a fully functional isolation 

centre equipped with the most 

modern amenities at the Ibom 

Specialist Hospital, supported 

by a functional Intensive Care 

Unit, ICU. 

“We did that because long 

before COVID-19 had 

arrived our shores, we were 

prepared for other deadly 

diseases such as lassa fever, 

chicken pox, monkey pox etc. 

Compatriots, in healthcare 

delivery, I am proud to 

announce that our 

investments have paid off. 

“As part of our completion 

agenda, healthcare will 

remain a key priority of this 

government because as I have 

always said, we need a 

healthy population to drive 

our industrialization agenda." 

Hike in fuel, electricity tariff, 

economic suicide —Ijaw leader 

By Etop Ekanem 

IJAW LEADER and 

GMD/CEO of Tamfel Global 

Resource, Chief Julius 

Babogha, has condemned the 

recent increase in prices of 

petroleum products and electricity 

tariff by the Federal 

Government, describing it as 

economic suicide. 

Babogha, while speaking 

with newsmen, appealed to 

the Federal Government to 

pay attention to the plight of 

the low income earners in the 

country. 

He said the hike in the prices 

of petroleum products and 

electricity was ill timed, 

"mostly at this period that the 

country is gradually recovering 

from the coronavirus pandemic, 

which has crumbled 

the country's economy." 

He lamented that the "common 

man will continue to suffer 

because the government of 

the day has deliberately refused 

to consciously produce 

petroleum in the country 

when it is the producer of the 

raw materials." 

He said it would be economic 

suicide and a calculated 

emotional blackmail to deregulate 

the downstream sector 

when the country has the 

capacity to own more refineries, 

reiterating that the country 

"has all it takes to export 

both petroleum products and 

raw materials to the whole 

world, and it is wrong for the 

country to be exporting crude 

only to import petroleum 

products to the country." 

We’ll resist implementation 

of Water Resource Bill, 

Urhobo youths tells FG 

By Perez Brisibe 

UGHELLI— YOUTHS 

from Urhobo ethnic 

nationality under the 

umbrella body of Urhobo 

Progress Union, UPU, Youth 

Wing also known as Ukoko 

R’Ighele R’Urhobo, have 

described the insistence of the 

Federal Government to go 

ahead with the National 

Water Resource bill as 

insensitive and a threat to 

peace and insecurity in the 

country. 

Minister of Information, 

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had 

on Tuesday during a press 

conference on the 

government’s position on the 

bill amidst criticisms, insisted 

that “there is no going back 

on the bill.” 

President of UPU Youth 

Wing, Ovie Ebireri, while 

reacting to the outburst of the 

minister, advised the Federal 

Government to listen to the 

voice of reason and discard 

the proposed bill in the 

interest of national peace and 

unity, adding that as youths, 

he and others will resist its 

implementation in their 

areas. 

He said: “The insistence on 

the bill despite the outcry from 

Nigerians that has greeted it 

is insensitive and capable of 

causing more chaos and is a 

threat to the security and 

peace in the Niger Delta 

region. 

“The bill is capable of 

causing further 

discontentment and conflicts 

in Niger Delta, especially the 

Urhobo nation as it will 

dispossess our people of their 

inheritance, ancestral, 

traditional and cultural rights 

and ownership of her water 

resources, and we align with 

the stand of our fathers, UPU 

worldwide, in unequivocally 

and categorically rejecting 

this bill." 

Dikio resumes as PAP 

coordinator, vows to change 

narrative of programme 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT HARCOURT — 

The new Interim 

Coordinator of the 

Presidential Amnesty 

Programme, PAP, Col. 

Milland Dikio (retd) has 

resumed duty at the 

Amnesty Office, Abuja. 

This was disclosed in a 

statement in Port Harcourt, 

Rivers State, by Dibiaezue- 

Eke Florence, Director, 

Information, Amnesty Office. 

Dikio, who addressed 

members of the senior staff of 

the office, promised to work 

with all stakeholders and 

complementary agencies to 

the PAP, to ensure that the 

programme benefits the 

people of Niger Delta. 

He said a lot of fictions and 

misconceptions had been put 

out in the public about what 

the Amnesty Programme is, 

adding that such narratives 

would be changed. 

Dikio, while noting that the 

new administration did not 

intend to dwell on the past, 

said: "We shall not neglect the 

lessons of the past; if we learn 

well, we will do better. 

“The programme will be 

focused on service delivery. 

The primary purpose shall be 

to focus on the reintegration 

of the ex-agitators and seek 

the input of relevant 

stakeholders in the region to 

realise the objectives for 

which this programme was 

set up. 

“PAP entails disarmament, 

demobilization and 

reintegration, DDR, a subset 

of the amnesty package. The 

amnesty package is a basket 

of government avowed plans 

to address and ameliorate the 

grievances that led to the 

agitations and subsequent 

armed struggle in the Niger 

Delta.” 

Delta monarchs urge govt to 

devise harsher measures to deal 

with fake traditional rulers 

By Onozore Dania 

THE Delta State Council 

of Traditional Rulers has 

urged the Delta State 

government and security 

agencies to adopt more 

stringent measures to curb the 

excesses of fake and selfimposed 

traditional rulers in 

various communities across 

Delta State. 

In a communiqué at the 

end of their meeting in Asaba, 

the monarchs applauded the 

current prosecution of some 

self-styled traditional rulers 

but called on the police to 

intensify its efforts at bringing 

the culprits to book. 

Chairman of the council 

and Obi of Owa, Dr 

Emmanuel Efeizomor 11, 

who read the communiqué 

decried the “unwholesome 

activities of the fake royal 

fathers, whose actions tend 

to threaten the peace and 

security of communities across 

Delta State.” 

The royal fathers also 

questioned the integrity of 

town planners in Delta State 

Ministry of Land and 

Surveys, accusing them of 

compromising town 

planning laws for selfish 

reasons. 

The communique said the 

monarchs frowned “at 

inconsistencies arising from 

non-adherence to laid down 

rural and urban development 

laws. We insist that the rules 

should not be bent by town 

planning officers to the 

detriment of the economic 

interest of the Delta State and 

Deltans generally."




HACKATHON: From left — MOJEC International MD/CEO, Ms. Chantelle Abdul; Lagos State Commissioner for 

Energy and Mineral Resources, Olalere Odusote, and Chief Commercial Officer, Eko Electric Distribution 

Company, Mrs. Enobong Ezekiel, at the just-concluded Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon in Lagos. 

Oct 1: Ohanaeze backs IPoB's 

sit-at-home call 

By Peter Okutu & 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu 

A BAKALIKI—APEX 

Igbo socio-cultural organisation, 

Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo has given support 

to the Indigenous People of 

Biafra, IPOB's, directive 

yesterday, that Biafrans in 

Nigeria and the diaspora 

should observe a sit-athome 

order scheduled to 

hold on October 1st, 2020. 

Comrade Emma Powerful, 

Media and Publicity 

Secretary for IPOB in a 

statement said, "there is 

credible intelligence that 

terrorist groups are planning 

to slaughter our children 

should they venture 

out to celebrate or march on 

October 1st." 

The statement read in 

part: "We, the global movement 

of the Indigenous 

People of Biafra (IPOB) ably 

led by our great Leader, 

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish 

to announce to all Biafrans, 

friends of Biafra and lovers 

of freedom all over the 

world that Biafrans across 

the globe shall observe a sitat-home 

in Biafraland and 

where permissible in the 

diaspora, join our Yoruba 

brethren agitating for 

Oduduwa Republic, in 

public protests to mark October 

1, 2020. 

"We therefore, enjoin all 

Biafrans and every conscious 

Nigerian, especially 

those ethnic nationalities 

reeling from the triple double 

blow of state sponsored 

terrorism, bad governance 

and economic annihilation, 

to boycott every government 

organised ceremony 

designed to eulogise the 

failure that Nigeria has become. 

This is the time to let 

the world know how disastrously 

intolerable human 

existence is in Nigeria today. 

"If you want to see an end 

to terrorism and organised 

mediocrity, now is the time 

•To honour victims of terrorists, 

herdsmen, bandits 

to register your anger by 

ensuring that you and your 

household sit-at-home on 

October 1, 2020. Do not risk 

the lives and well-being of 

your children by allowing 

them to gather in groups in 

the open where terrorists 

may find it easier to blow 

them up or kidnap them. 

There is credible intelligence 

that terrorist groups 

are planning to slaughter 

our children should they 

venture out to celebrate or 

march on October 1st. 

"This order is to highlight 

our position and resolve as 

Biafrans that we are no longer 

interested in proping up 

a crumbling terrorist state. 

The leadership of this great 

movement in conjunction 

with supporters of Biafra 

freedom across the globe 

have concluded every arrangement 

to let the whole 

world know and understand 

that we are no longer 

part of this shambolic monument 

to terrorism and failure. 

"As this long expired man 

made contraption marks 

her abused independence 

on October 1st this year, we 

IPOB will appropriately declare 

our intention towards 

the full and irreversible restoration 

of Biafra sovereignty 

and independence for all 

oppressed ethnic groups in 

Nigeria. 

"Complete and total lockdown 

of Biafraland and other 

terror ravaged areas of 

the Middle Belt come 1st of 

October 2020 is sacrosanct, 

irreversible and non-negotiable! 

Wholesale slaughter 

of innocent Judeo-Christians 

and state sponsored 

ethnic cleansing cannot be 

going on in our land at the 

same time as fake jamborees 

are being organised by 

the same sponsors of terror 

attacks in order to deflect 

our attention from the imminent 

danger we are all in. 

"We therefore urge that all 

markets, schools and businesses 

in Biafraland and 

beyond be shut down as a 

mark of respect to all those 

who have died as a result 

of terrorism against innocent 

civilians especially 

Christians, ethnic cleansing 

in Southern Kaduna 

and elsewhere across the 

Middle Belt. Everywhere 

in Biafraland must be under 

lock for Nigeria and the 

world to know that we are 

all united in our march toward 

total freedom. There 

should be no public events 

or ceremonies in Biafraland 

to avoid any needless loss 

of lives. 

"We also advise those terrorists 

recruited into Nigeria's 

security forces to face 

the monster they created in 

places like Sambisa forest, 

Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe, 

Borno and other parts of the 

North where terrorists 

have been killing both soldiers 

and civilians in large 

numbers. 

"Nigerian army and police 

should direct their attacks 

on these northern terrorist 

groups and leave innocent 

and unarmed Biafrans 

alone. But should 

Enugu govt reopens all primary, 

secondary schools Sept 28 

ENUGU—THE Enugu 

State Government has 

announced the phased reopening 

of all primary and 

secondary schools in the 

state, for 3rd term academic 

activities, on Monday, 

September 28, 2020. 

In a statement by the 

Commissioner for Education, 

Prof. Uche Eze, the 

decision was reached “following 

the Enugu State 

Education sector stakeholders’ 

consensus and gracious 

approval of His Excellency 

the Governor”. 

Prof. Eze pointed out that 

“it is important to note that 

necessary measures have 

been put in place in our 

schools for safe re-opening”. 

He added that “teachers/ 

Okpamen hails Obaseki's 

victory at the polls 

By Simon Adewale 

THE DIRECTOR Gener 

al of Esan youth coalition, 

Hon. Henry Okpamen 

has described Gov. 

Obaseki's victory at the Saturday 

poll as historic and 

well deserved, considering 

his achievement in the past 

four years as governor of Edo 

State. 

Hon. Okpamen in his congratulatory 

message to Governor 

Godwin Obaseki and 

his Deputy, Philip Shuaibu 

and the Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, for the victory at 

the Edo State polls said the 

historic victory serves as a 

strong and unambiguous 

lesson to leaders;that the 

people of Edo have shown 

that they remain the key factor 

to Gov Obasaki's victory. 

He stressed that “Governor 

Obaseki has over the years, 

through his people-oriented 

.... Lauds Umahi over infrastructural devt 

By Peter Okutu 

ABAKALIKI—THE Presi 

dent-General of Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo, Chief Nnia 

Nwodo, yesterday, commended 

Governor David Nweze 

Umahi of Ebonyi State for 

changing the narrative of the 

state through Infrastructural 

development. 

Nwodo stated this during 

Ebonyi 2020 Business Summit 

at Ecumenical Centre, 

Abakaliki, when Silver Bird, 

Everyday Group and Computer 

Village Technology 

Merchants of Nigeria signed 

a Memorandum of Understanding, 

MOU in the state. 

He expressed surprise that 

in spite the fact that Ebonyi 

State has the lowest federal 

they feel as usual to descend 

on the innocent on 

that day, they should know 

that the world will be watching 

and that we are a people 

that can never be obliterated 

from the surface of 

this earth." 

We're totally in 

support of it 

—Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo 

In a telephone chat with 

Ohanaeze's National Publicity 

Secretary, Barr. Uche 

Achi Okpaga, the group 

explained that there was 

nothing wrong for a people 

to sit at home provided 

they are not violating the 

law of the land. 

According to him, such 

practice was obtainable 

even outside the country. 

"If IPOB said so, we are 

supporting it. They are our 

children. We are supporting 

it since it is not against 

the law and so far as it is 

not a violent act. It is obtainable 

everywhere in the 

world. So, we are totally in 

support of it." 

allocation in the entire Southeast, 

developments were still 

ongoing across the length and 

breath of the state. 

According to him, "Governor 

Umahi combines his engineering 

acumen, his sense 

of frugality, his continuous jovial, 

social relationship which 

has a capacity to making you 

subdue your motive of profitmaking 

in order to admire 

Umahi who is out to make a 

difference in Ebonyi." 

In his words: “In five years 

of Governor David Umahi's 

leadership in Ebonyi State, 

there is unprecedented, phenomenal 

development never 

seen before. The developments 

are taking place in 

spite of the fact that Ebonyi 

State has the lowest federal 

allocated revenue in the entire 

Southeast. 

“I also know that capital developments 

in Ebonyi State 

are done at the cheapest rate. 

The cost of building a house 

may cost three or four times 

in other states more than the 

cost of building a house in Ebonyi 

State. 

“Governor of Ebonyi State 

combines his engineering 

acumen, his sense of frugality, 

his continuous jovial, social 

relationship which has capacity 

to making you subdue your 

motive of profit-making in 

order to admire Umahi who 

is out to make a difference in 

Ebonyi. 

“I don’t think that I have 

seen any building of this 

nature (the Ecumenical 

centre) in any other state 

in the southeast." 

students/pupils are therefore 

requested to ensure 

that they abide by the approved 

guidelines on 

COVID-19”, stressing that 

“no person will be allowed 

into any school without appropriate 

facemask/shield”. 

According to the commissioner, 

“strong monitoring 

teams at state and Local 

Government Areas have 

been constituted to monitor 

compliance with the 

approved guidelines for the 

safety of all that operate in 

our schools”. 

He therefore noted that 

“Primary six and Junior 

Secondary three students 

have completed their examinations 

and are not expected 

to be back to 

school”. 

programmes and policies, 

earned the goodwill and 

trust of the people of Edo 

expressed their power at the 

polls. 

Enumerating some of the 

achievements of Gov Obaseki 

across the state, Okpamen 

lauded the governor for his 

unparalleled human capital 

development, infrastructural 

development, even distribution 

of political appointments, 

accessibility and 

transparency in governance, 

that he is confident that his 

victory will bring greater fortune 

to the state. 

He noted that the margin 

of 84,000 votes at the polls 

showcased the beauty of democracy 

and the supremacy 

of the people; as he congratulated 

the South -South 

governors and leaders for 

their support and by standing 

firmly behind Gov 

Obaseki. 

AG Mortgage Bank partners 

Meg-Max Global on real 

estate devt 

By Dave Oso 

ABUJA—ONE of the 

leading mortgage 

banks in Nigeria, AG Mortgage 

Bank Plc has signed 

a multi-billion Naira joint 

venture agreement with 

Meg-Max Global Limited 

for real estate development 

in the Federal Capital Territory, 

Abuja. Evangel Properties 

Limited will serve as 

developer for the project. 

The event which took 

place at AG Mortgage Bank 

Plc head office in Lagos, had 

in attendance, the MD/ 

CEO, Mr. Ngozi Anyogu 

and other senior management 

staff of the bank; representative 

of Meg-Max 

Global, Mr. Richard Chris 

Ekere and Evangel Properties 

Limited, a real estate development 

company. 

Speaking during the signing, 

AG Mortgage Bank's 

MD, Mr. Ngozi Anyogu 

said the joint venture is for 

the development of banks' 

land assets in Kubwa, Abuja, 

and aimed at adding 

544 housing units in the 

first instance, to the existing 

housing stock in 

FCT, Abuja. 

Anyogu noted that the 

project is for low and medium-income 

earners and the 

Mortgage Bank shall be providing 

facilities to buyers of 

the housing units.



Emir of Zazzau was my 

friend, my confidant 

— OBASANJO 

By Ibrahim Hassan 

FORMER 

President 

Olusegun Obasanjo, 

yesterday at the 3rd day prayers 

for late Emir Shehu Idris, 

described the late Emir as a friend 

and confidant. 

The former President said he 

was in the town not to mourn, 

but to celebrate his friend and 

adviser for many years, saying: 

“The reign of the late emir 

coincided with the period I started 

government in Nigeria as a 

military Head of State and when 

I came back as president. He 

helped me. 

“I got from him all the help I 

needed in running the affairs of 

this country as best I can 

remember. I remember a 

particular problem I had in 

Plateau, I had nobody to help me 

in meditation and reconciliation, 

sorting out the age-long problem, 

then I called him. The emir was a 

reconciliator and a man of peace; 

a man who showed no 

discrimination either ethnic, 

religious or socially.” 

Obasanjo urged Nigerians to 

take a cue from the life of late 

Shehu Idris, saying “whether we 

We’ll not tamper with Ile-Arugbo, 

Kwara govt tells court 

By Demola Akinyemi 

I State 

LORIN—KWARA 

government 

yesterday at the resumed 

hearing yesterday of Ile- 

Arugbo suit, told the state 

High Court sitting in Ilorin, 

that it would not tamper or 

do anything on the disputed 

property of late Dr Olusola 

Saraki’s land otherwise known 

as Ile Arugbo pending the 

determination of the case at the 

court. 

It however accused the Saraki 

family of abusing court process 

by delaying the matter even 

when the government did not 

effect the court award of 

N200,000.00 against the family. 

The claimants (The Saraki 

family) through Asa Investments 

Limited), had requested for a stay 

of proceedings on the matter 

pending the determination of an 

appeal it filed at the Appeal 

Court, Ilorin against the August 

like it or not, short or long; sooner 

or later, we have to depart. My 

prayer is that the life of peace he 

had lived and the peace that 

descended in Zazzau Emirate 

during his reign may continue to 

pervade the Emirate, Kaduna 

State and the whole of Nigeria.” 

Also at the prayer were the 

Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ 

Forum and Ekiti State governor, 

Dr. Kayode Fayemi and 

Chairman, Northern Governors 

Forum, Governor Simon Lalong 

of Plateau State. 

It was attended by the 

governors of Kaduna State, Nasir 

El-Rufai; Abubakar Bello of Niger 

State and Badaru Abubakar of 

Jigawa State. 

Many emirs were also in 

attendance. 

Governor Fayemi said they 

were there on behalf of 

Nigerian governors to pay 

their respect and condolences 

to the citizens of Zazzau and 

Kaduna State. 

On his part, Governor Lalong, 

said he was representing the 

Northern Governors who were 

supposed to be at the prayers, 

saying “The late emir was a 

father to all in Nigeria and 

Africa and his loss was a great 

loss to all,” he said. 

6, 2020 ruling of the trial court. 

Asa Investments Limited had 

in January secured an interim 

injunction restraining the state 

government from tampering with 

the property after the state 

demolished the structures on the 

disputed land. 

The state High Court presided 

over by Justice Abiodun Adebara 

had on August 6th, this year, 

vacated the interim injunction 

granted the claimants and as well 

awarded costs against the 

claimants. 

Dissatisfied, the claimants 

challenged Justice Adebara’s 

ruling at the Court of Appeal, 

Ilorin Division. 

The applicants in the Motion 

on Notice filed before the 

appellate court and dated 

September 4, 2020 said Justice 

Adebara’s ruling of August 6, 

2020 has the effect of empowering 

the respondents (Kwara State 

government)to destroy the Ile 

Arugbo) of the suit. 


BRIEFING: The book author, Chief Felix Amadi (middle) flanked by two Media Executives, Mr. Peter 

Jones Ailuorio (left) and Mr. Samuel Diala at the pre-launch media briefing of the book titled; 'Retirement 

in Nigeria: A management approach’ held at CCL Conference Room, GRA Ikeja, Lagos. 

Zulum redeems N26m pledge to late 

Col Bako’s family, 3 other soldiers 

By Kingsley Omonobi 

& Ndahi Marama 

M GOVERNOR 

AIDUGURI— 

Babagana Zulum of Borno State, 

has fulfilled his N26 million 

pledge made to the families of late 

Colonel Dahiru Chiroma Bako 

and other three soldiers who lost 

their lives in the wake of Sunday 

ambush by Boko Haram 

terrorists in Wajirko village of 

Damboa Local Government Area 

of the state. 

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. 

Gen. Yusuf Tukur Buratai, 

disclosed the governor’s 

fulfillment of the pledge in a letter 

of appreciation to the governor. 

Buratai in statement by the 

Acting Director Army Public 

Relations, Colonel Sagir Musa, 

said “The Governor of Borno, Prof 

Babagana Zulum has redeemed 

his pledge to the family of Late 

Col DC Bako and the 3 other 

soldiers that died with the senior 

officer in the course of defending 

our beloved country. The 

governor redeemed the pledge 

when he visited the wife of Col 

Bako this morning (yesterday) in 

Maiduguri, aHe was received by 

the Acting GOC, 7 Division Brig 

Gen AK Ibrahim. 

“The Governor consoled the 

wife and family members of Col 

Bako, and prayed for the repose 

of the late senior officer and the 

three other soldiers who paid the 

supreme prize along with him. He 

described him as a great patriot 

and formidable commander. 

“The Governor used the 

opportunity to present a cheque 

of N20 million to Mrs Bako, which 

he earlier pledged and also 

promised to redeem his pledge of 

getting the family a house. 

“The governor also donated N2 

million each to the three 

deceased soldiers. They are - 

Lance Corporal Nwobuji 

Desmond, Lance Corporal 

Adebiyi Oluwaseye and Private 

Aliyu Ibrahim, whom he 

described as gallant and patriotic 

soldiers. Theatre command, 

Operation Lafiya Dole hereby on 

NAPPSA calls for pharmaceutical industry 

development blueprint 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

K ANO—NIGERIAN 

Association of 

Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical 

Scientists in the Americas 

(NAPPSA) has called on the 

Federal Government to develop 

and execute a blueprint for the 

economic development of the 

country’s pharmaceutical 

industry. 

NAPPSA president, Dr 

Anthony Ikeme, made the call 

yesterday while delivering his 

keynote address on 

“Advancing Industrial 

Pharmacy Sector in a Volatile 

Economy” at the 23rd 

Annual National Conference 

of the Association of 

Industrial Pharmacists of 

Nigeria (NAIP) in Kano State. 

Dr Ikeme, who delivered his 

address virtually from the United 

States, said the blueprint, which 

is long overdue, became more 

pressing now following the 

devastation of the COVID-19 

pandemic, which further exposed 

the inherent weaknesses in the 

nation’s healthcare system. 

behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, 

officers and soldiers of the 

Nigerian army extend our 

immense appreciation to the 

governor of Borno State for the 

kind gesture. The Nigerian Army 

wishes to once again assure 

Nigerians of its continuous 

determination and commitment 

to ending terrorism and other 

insecurities in Nigeria.” 

No food security without 

constitutional backing — FIF 

PROFESSOR 

of 

Agricultural Economics 

and Policy and President, Food 

and Infrastructure Foundation, 

FIF, Gbolagade Ayoola , has 

advised Nigeria to make right to 

food a human right in the 

constitution, contending that 

without food as human right in 

the constitution, food security 

and agribusiness development 

would become a mirage. 

He gave the advice in a 

memorandum addressed to 

Deputy Senate President/ 

Chairman, Senate Ad-hoc 

Committee on the Review of 

1999 Constitution, National 

Assembly, Abuja, Senator Ovie 

He said: “Perhaps our greatest 

failure is in the lack of an actively 

executed National Strategy for 

Nigeria’s Pharmaceutical 

Economic Sector Development. 

Nigeria must come up with aN 

actively executed National 

Strategy for Pharmaceutical 

Economic Sector Development. 

Nothing less will do.” 

He explained that such bold 

step is needed now to ensure the 

country develops a robust and 

globally competitive 

pharmaceutical sector that can 

take advantage of the 

coronavirus-induced global 

supply deficiencies. 

Edo group congratulates Obaseki over poll victory 

A 

socio-cultural group, 

HeartBeat Professional 

Association (HPA), has hailed 

Governor Godwin Obaseki of 

Edo State over his re-election in 

the just-concluded governorship 

election. 

The group, in a congratulatory 

message jointly signed by its 

President, Vice President and 

Secretary respectively, Mr. 

Ikpmonwosa Egharevba, Mr. 

Uyiekpen Asuen and Engr. 

Osagie Otokhagua said the 

governor’s re-election is a 

testimony of the confidence 

bestowed on him by the people 

of Edo State. 

The statement read in part: 

“Your giant developmental 

strides, building of sustainable 

institutions, a profound sense of 

engagement with the people and 

dedication to service and the 

overall well-being of Edo people 

were reflected in the results of 

the election. 

“Your focused leadership has 

been exemplary, especially as it 

relate to the prosperity and 

progress of our people. 

“We have followed your 

activities keenly as a group and 

we are quite confident that you 

will do even more in your second 

term of office. It is our hope that 

your job creation and 

infrastructural development 

efforts will be sustained.’’ 

The group, also known as Edo 

Young Professionals said 

Governor Obaseki demonstrated 

that a greater Edo is possible 

during his campaigns, adding that 

‘’We affirm our support as a group 

for the state government and we 

are ready to offer our professional 

expertise in various fields to make 

Edo State great again.’’ 

Omo-Agege, entitled: ‘The Need 

to Make the Right to Food a 

Fundamental Human Right in 

the Constitution of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria.’ 

Based on the inherent 

advantages of the bill, Ayoola 

urged the committee to be 

positively disposed to 

recommending the Right to Food 

Bill currently pending before the 

Senate. 

The bill requires amending the 

constitution in Chapter 2 

(Directive Principles of State 

Policy, wherein not justiciable), 

and in Chapter 4 (Fundamental 

Human rights, wherein 

justiciable).



RECENTLY, 

after 

reading,for the umpteenth 

time,about 

President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s “orders” to 

the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, I 

tweeted: “All this @MBuhari ‘asks’, 

‘orders’, ‘directs’, ‘instructs’ the 

@cenbank to do this or that is doing 

enormous damage to the 

credibility of #Nigeria’s central 

bank.” Hundreds of people liked 

and retweeted the tweet, an 

indication that the issue generated 

a lot of interest. And rightly so! 

The central bank is too critical 

an institution to be subject to 

political influence. As Milton 

Friedman, the renowned 

economics Nobel laureate, said, the 

relation between the central bank 

and the government is 

comparable to the relation between 

the judiciary and the government. 

Just as one wouldn’t expect a 

president to tell a court how to 

decide a case, it’s anathema for a 

president to instruct the central 

bank how to discharge its mandate. 

But President Buhari ignores 

such niceties. “I have ordered the 

central bank to …” is the language 

he has used since assuming office 

in 2015, despite former CBN 

leaders’ warning that such 

authoritarian language would 

harm the credibility of the apex 

bank. 

In 2015, Professor Charles 

Soludo, former CBN governor, said 

in a speech that frequent reports 

in newspapers that “‘Presidency 

directs central bank to …’ got many 

players in the economy seriously 

worried”. He added that:“When 

the market knows or believes that 

the central bank is merely an 

extension of the Presidency and 

takes daily ‘directives’ from there, 

the Bank loses credibility.” 

Nations grant independence to 

Buhari’s orders to the central bank 

are harming its credibility 

their central banks to safeguard their 

economic credibility with the 

market and investors. For 

instance, the creation of 

independent central banks in 

many former communist 

countries was a signal of their 

readiness to embrace the free 

market system. Similarly, after 

nearly 20 years out of power,due 

to perception of economic 

incompetence, the UK Labour 

Party had to announce in 1997 

that it would grant operational 

independence to the Bank of 

England, if elected, to win the 

confidence of the market. 

Foreign investors would shun a 

country whose central bank is 

believed to lack operational 

independence over monetary and 

foreign exchange policies. 

Furthermore, where a central 

bank regulates other financial 

institutions, the integrity of the 

entire financial system is at risk if 

the bank is perceived to be prone to 

political influence. 

Sadly, the CBN lacks both 

political and economic 

independence. It lacks political 

independence because it cannot 

determine its policy objectives 

without political interference. And 

it lacks economic independence 

because it is apparently taking 

orders from the president on how 

to use the policy instruments at its 

disposal. 

For instance, the CBN could do 

nothing until President Buhari 

reluctantly agreed in 2016 to 

partially float the naira, even 

Foreign investors would 

shun a country whose 

central bank is believed to 

lack operational 

independence over 

monetary and foreign 

exchange policies 

when Nigeria was experiencing 

massive capital flight and rapidly 

haemorrhaging foreign exchange 

due to the naira’s fixed value. 

President Buhari accused anyone 

calling for a flexible exchange rate 

of wanting “to kill the naira”. The 

CBN was in lock-step with him, 

legitimising the fallacy that 

allowing the naira to find its 

market value was “killing” it! 

Scholars say that a central bank is 

independent when it has four 

characteristics. First, its governor 

is insulated from political 

pressures; second, the bank can 

make policy decisions 

independently of government 

involvement; third, its sole 

mission is to maintain price 

stability and a sound financial 

system; and four, there are 

limitations on the extent to which 

the bank can lend to government. 

On the four characteristics, the 

CBN, under the Buhari 

government, falls far short of being 

independent. In fact, it is not 

independent at all. I mean, Godwin 

Emefiele, the central bank 

governor, is probably the most 

political CBN governor in recent 

memory. While central bank 

governors tend to favour liberal 

policies and reforms, Emefiele does 

President Buhari’s bidding at 

every turn, supporting his statist, 

protectionist and interventionist 

policies. 

What’s more, Emefiele made a 

shocking partisan intervention in 

last year’s presidential election. He 

publicly criticised the manifesto of 

former Vice President Atiku 

Abubakar, telling him: “Don’t drag 

Nigeria back to the Structural 

Adjustment Programme, SAP, 

era.” There is hardly anywhere in 

the world where a central bank 

governor would blatantly 

intervene in a presidential election 

campaign in that way, apparently 

taking sides in a political contest! 

Of course, by criticising Atiku’s 

programme of economic 

liberalisation and deregulation, 

Emefiele nailed his own colours to 

the mast:that he was Buhari’s 

ideological kindred spirit.It is thus 

not surprising that, rather than 

market reforms, Emefiele’s central 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

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bank is pursuing a socialist 

agricultural policy and feeding the 

Buhari government’s appetite for 

debt by lending heavily to the 

government to finance its huge 

fiscal deficit. Being banker and 

financial adviser to the government 

is not the same thing as printing 

money to bankroll it! 

The CBN has been somewhat 

independent under governments 

pursuing liberal economic policies. 

For instance, following the adoption 

of the SAP in 1986, General Ibrahim 

Babangida’s regime granted the 

CBN limited autonomy under 

Decree 24 of 1991. But the Sani 

Abacha regime, which operated a 

closed economy, especially after 

becoming 

extremely 

authoritarian,enacted Decree No 4 

of 1997, which removed the CBN’s 

limited autonomy. 

Ten years later, the central 

bankwas granted full autonomy 

under the CBN Act of 2007. The 

act says that “the Bank shall be an 

independent body in the discharge 

of its functions”. Surely, no reasonable 

interpretation of those words could 

justify President Buhari’s “orders” to 

the CBNon how to discharge any of 

its functions. 

Thus, Dr Kingsley Moghalu, former 

CBN deputy governor, was right to say, 

according to the BBC, that President 

Buhari’s directives contradict the law, 

and that the central bank's economic 

policy should not be "imposed by a 

political authority". 

Apparently, President Buhari sees the 

CBN as arm of the Presidency and has 

no regard for its independence. But he 

is harming the Bank. The CBN’s 

credibility would be in tatters if Buhari 

continues to order, direct or instruct it 

to do anything! 

Deregulating Nigeria’s oil sector: Travailing to bring forth 

By DAN AIBANGBE 

OIL exploration commenced in 

Nigeria as far as 1903 under licence 

given to Nigeria Bitumen Company and 

later to Shell BP (1908). A series of 

realignments and some six million British 

pounds worth of exploration expenditure 

culminated in the discovery of the first active 

oil well in Oloibiri in 1956 and production 

in 1958, some 50 years later! 

Incidentally, the first three refineries built 

in Nigeria were of the ‘Complex’ class. It is 

worthy of note that the three were built by 

government rather than private/commercial 

ventures. These are among the possible 

reasons for their current decrepit states and 

the refusal of International Oil Companies, 

IOCs, to invest in that sector. The fear of 

competing directly with government! 

Another historical element worthy of 

exploration is the history of oil (PMS) price 

adjustment in Nigeria. From the regime of 

General Yakubu Gowon, right through to 

the current administration of President 

Muhammadu Buhari, there have always 

been price increases, except for during the 

short regime of the late President Umaru 

Musa Yar’Adua. 

Most recently during this present 

administration, precisely at the end of May, 

2020, the current administration reduced 

fuel price by an unprecedented 16.55 per 

cent, from N145 to N121! During that space, 

the Group Managing Director of NNPC, 

Mr. Mele Kyari, indicated that government 

had decided to scrap the subsidy regime, 

recently nicknamed ‘under-recovery’ by the 

NNPC. The fact that this government 

reduced fuel price at all is an indication of 

the good intentions and the hope that we 

may yet experience another reduction if and 

when the parameters are right. 

What was not made clear then is whether 

government has commenced total 

privatisation. It now appears government 

has been checkmated from the prodigal 

subsidy regime by a number of factors such 

as declining revenues from crude oil exports 

and worsening Naira-Dollar exchange rate, 

both caused by the COVID-19 economy. In 

addition, the Bretton Woods ‘Big Brothers’ 

have been watching and warning the nation 

of the unsustainability of the Nigerian 

economic anathema called oil price 

subsidy. 

It is a grotesque economic phenomenon 

that government would ever consider 

subsidising consumption of a generic utility 

(energy) in an economy suffering acute 

under-development. This evil has been 

sustained by the warped logic that 

uncontrolled fuel (PMS) prices will cause 

untold hardship for the common man, when, 

in fact, it is the subsidy of the widely 

consumed product that actually fuels 

corruption, mis-allocation of scarce 

government revenue and most importantly, 

vital foreign exchange to the detriment of 

the development of vital infrastructure and 

the real sector. 

The case for complete removal of subsidy 

is extensive. Firstly, subsidies on fuel 

consumption are unbudgeted and cannot be 

budgeted for in a scientific manner that 

would ensure expenditure is controllable. 

That is a perfect recipe for extensive 

corruption. Secondly, there is no doubt as to 

the need for complete deregulation or 

privatisation of the fuel supply sector of the 

economy. A full analysis of this will come in 

subsequent parts of this article serial. Suffice 

to say here that privatisation magnetises 

foreign direct investment and creates jobs 

in a sustainable manner. This midstream 

and downstream sectors of this our Godgiven 

natural resource should have been the 

largest employer of labour in the last six 

decades! 

Thirdly, considering that the PMS 

consumed in Nigeria is virtually 100 per 

cent imported, it carries with it imported 

inflation due to the declining exchange rates 

of the naira to the dollar. This phenomenon 

is apparent to a basic student of 

accountancy. If fuel price is N145 per litre 

when a dollar exchanges for N360, then the 

price must be automatically adjusted to 

N156.6 now that the exchange rate has 

become N387 to a dollar! What I am saying 

is that government has not really increased 

the price of PMS, but merely reflected the 

current reality of the increasing weakness 

of the dollar, which is a result of our reducing 

export earnings, increasing external 

borrowing and reducing foreign reserves. 

All these would have been needless had 

Nigeria been refining her own crude for 

domestic consumption! 

A fourth reason for the necessity of 

increasing the fuel price is the need to dump 

this economic anathema of subsidising the 

consumption of a foreign good. Yes, PMS is 

PMS is a foreign product in 

Nigeria as of today, a big 

shame; it is even far worse than 

rice importation 

a foreign product in Nigeria as of today; a 

big shame. It is even far worse than rice 

importation. I had argued on another 

platform that government did not fully 

maximise the rice project. It would have been 

better to use the rice project to solve the 

petroleum issue (one stone to kill two birds). 

The mechanics of that model will be 

presented another day. 

Fifthly, there must be something 

compelling about fuel price deregulation if 

all but one regime since Gowon to date have 

embraced it. Military, Civil-Military, 

Civilian, PDP, APC and any other will always 

return to this crossroad, unless the present 

regime finds the courage to go the whole 

hog of privatising the sector. The maxim that 

government has no business in business may 

be roaring here. 

A sixth reason is that the recurring error 

in idea that there is any benefit in 

maintaining a unitary price of fuel across 

the Nigerian jurisdiction is desirable or 

beneficial to any part of the country is a 

mirage. For simple illustration, assuming 

fuel price in the North is 15 per cent higher 

than in the South, economic arbitrage will 

even out the negative impact on the North 

with the positive impact in the South within 

six months, max. The reason is that the goods 

in the North required in the South will 

import the excess price to the South, while 

the goods and services in the South will 

export the reduced fuel price to the North. 

That is the power of allocation of resources, 

a basic economic principle! 

Seventh, government subsidies are 

disincentive to the real sector from providing 

a lasting and sustainable solution to local 

production of fuel and derivative refinery 

products. By my experience in value-chains, 

about 60 per cent value is created between 

harvest of the raw or crude product and 

delivery of the final product for 

consumption. Of this 60 per cent, Nigeria 

loses at least 50 per cent to the external 

refineries in the fuel sector. 

The eighth reason why fuel prices need to 

go up is to discourage smuggling. You may 

ask whether smuggling is still going on with 

the border closure. The answer is blowing 

in the wind! But outside the direct 

smuggling, there is indirect smuggling, the 

mechanics of which will be explained in 

later serials of this article. 

I rest with a ninth reason why the current 

fuel price increase is a necessary travail for 

Nigeria to emerge unhurt from the 

impending doom. Government revenue has 

been seriously impacted by COVID-19. 

Nigeria is approaching her borrowing peak. 

The creditor institutions are demanding for 

a stop to our crazy subsidies on utilities, 

failing which they will blacklist the nation. 

This may not be apparent for now, but the 

international financial market can be 

unforgiving and cruel. You do not wait for 

them to come calling. You better go to them 

before they come! 

•Aibangbe, a media and public relations 

consultant, wrote from Lagos.

The Obaseki blowout in Edo poll 

IT was a real shellacking. Even those 

who predicted a Godwin Obaseki 

win in the Edo governorship poll on 

September 19 didn’t foresee a 

blowout. And four days after the result 

was announced, some are still 

pondering how Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a 

man reputed as a grassroots 

politician, took such a drubbing. He 

should blame his political party, the 

All Progressives Congress, APC, and 

its two chieftains - Adams Oshiomhole 

and Bola Tinubu - for his loss. 

I will explain. Oshiomhole, former 

governor of Edo and sacked APC 

national chairman, is quite a 

character. The former Nigeria Labour 

Congress, NLC, president loves picking 

fights, most times gratuitously. As the 

smart alec he thinks he is, he behaves 

as if he knows everything. And because 

he is Mr. Know-All, he is opinionated, 

intolerant and blinkered. Like every 

smart alec, he is irritating. Little 

wonder he is the best hated man in the 

APC today. 

Oshiomhole’s APC-Obaseki-Iyamu 

odyssey echoes the allegory of the 

tortoise who embarked on an illadvised 

trip. Advice by friends who 

were apprehensive the trip would end 

badly was derisively rebuffed. “Must 

you go on this journey?” they asked in 

a last ditch effort to save him from 

himself. The wily animal riposted 

affirmatively. Exasperated, they made 

the final push. “If you have to go, when 

will you return?” Tortoise retorted: 

“Not until I am disgraced.” 

That is exactly the story of 

Oshiomhole. Many who are 

celebrating the outcome of the poll are 

as happy for Obaseki’s triumph as they 

are over Oshiomhole’s humiliation. 

Blinded by infantile hubris and quest 

for vendetta, Oshiomhole could not 

correctly interpret the handwriting 

on the wall even when he saw and read 

it. If he was perspicacious enough, he 

would have noticed that his 

antagonism and Obaseki’s forceful 

pushback burnished the governor’s 

political credentials. 

Obaseki won the battle when he 

successfully framed it as a resistance 

against wannabe godfathers. Most 

APC stalwarts in the state agreed with 

him. John Odigie-Oyegun, former Edo 

governor and former APC national 

chairman, not only refused to endorse 

Ize-Iyamu, he also distanced himself 

from the hustings. He put it succinctly 

in his congratulatory message to 

Obaseki: “You and your exemplary 

deputy have shown that with good 

work and principled leadership, the ills 

of overbearing and egocentric 

politicking in our nation can be 

overcome.” 

As the election drew closer, 

Oshiomhole became more boastful 

and conceited, likening himself to a 

“political lion”. Told that Obaseki had 

vowed to end his political career after 

the September 19 election, a visibly 

irritated Oshiomhole thundered: “A 

political lizard is saying that he is going 

to end the political relevance of a 

political lion … examination day is on 

Saturday and we will find out.” 

Of course, the result was announced 

a day after the examination and the 

political lion’s voice is now muted. 

Beyond Oshiomhole’s theatrics, 

composition of the 49-member Edo 

APC campaign council was a study in 

self-hate. By appointing the Kano State 

Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, and 

Hope Uzodinma, the Supreme Court 

governor of Imo State, chairman and 

deputy chairman, respectively, the 

Mai Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker/ 

Extraordinary National Convention 

Planning Committee sent a very wrong 

signal to the Edo electorate that were 

already wary of APC. 

What informed the choice of both 

men with purloined mandates, who 

most Nigerians believe typify all that 

is wrong with the country’s 

democracy, as arrowheads of APC’s 

quest to wrestle back Edo to its 

column? What were they expected to 

bring to the table - ability to rig 

elections? But the most egregious 

assault on the sensibilities of Edo 

people was Tinubu’s recorded 

broadcast which was released shortly 

before the election. 

Perhaps, deceived by the selfappointed, 

albeit non-existent position 

of APC national leader, Tinubu 

overreached himself by directly 

calling on Edo people to reject one of 

their own at the polls. His action was 

as needless as it was tactless. If the 

video was intended to help Ize-Iyamu, 

it backfired spectacularly, energising 

the Obaseki camp. Even undecided 

voters easily made up their minds 

thereafter. 

A vote for Obaseki became a vote not 

only against Ize-Iyamu and homebrewed 

godfathers but their ilk from 

outside the state seeking to extend the 

reach of their political empire. By 

brusquely injecting themselves into 

Obaseki won the 

battle when he 

successfully framed 

it as a resistance 

against wannabe 

godfathers 

the Edo political fray, Oshiomhole and 

Tinubu freely handed Obaseki the 

surface-to-air missile to shoot down 

Ize-Iyamu’s political copter. It was the 

axiomatic free chicken. 

Instead of the election being a 

referendum on Obaseki’s first term, it 

became a referendum on the godfather 

scorecard of both. The result was 

predictable: An Obaseki blowout with 

307,955 votes to Ize-Iyamu’s 223,619 

votes. But the election, which many 

consider relatively free, fair and 

violence-free, has also thrown up a 

fundamental issue. 

Many observers - local and foreign - 

have given kudos to the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, INEC, 

for a well-conducted poll. Ditto for 

security agencies, particularly the 

police, for creating the enabling 

environment. But there is also a school 

of thought that believes that the bulk 

of the credit should go to President 


Muhammadu Buhari for giving the abiding by his May 29, 2015: “I belong 

INEC and the security Economy 

agents the to everybody, and I belong to nobody” 

freehand to conduct the election. 

Obaseki reflected this sentiment in 

his thank you message. “We thank 

President Muhammadu Buhari for 

defending our democracy and 

allowing the Independent National 

Electoral Commission and the security 

services to perform their 

constitutional functions without 

interference,” he said. 

Many others are falling over 

themselves to eulogise Buhari for 

allowing free and fair election in Edo 

and pleading with him to do same in 

subsequent elections. I find the 

supplication insulting. The president 

is not the guarantor of our democratic 

rights, and free and fair polls should 

not be at his pleasure. In any truly 

democratic country, the idea of 

pleading with a president to allow 

institutions of state the free rein to 

deliver on their constitutional 

mandates is offensive and ridiculous. 

Not when Buhari himself 

acknowledges that “without free and 

fair elections, the foundation of our 

political and moral authority will be 

weak”. In his congratulatory message 

to Obaseki, the president rightly noted 

that: “Democracy will mean nothing if 

the votes of the people don’t count or 

if their mandate is fraudulently 

tampered with.” 

Threat of 

sanctions 

There is no doubt that Buhari kept 

his distance from the Edo election. 

And there could be a million and one 

reason for that. Having secured his 

second term, he may no longer be 

interested in do-or-die elections, thus 

vow. It could also be that he was truly 

embarrassed by Oshiomhole’s antics 

and did not want to be seen as 

supportive, or it may well be that he 

was simply scared from interfering by 

the threat of sanctions from the 

international community. 

Truth be told, those praising the 

police and the INEC for the success of 

the Edo poll are only telling a single 

story. The other side of the story and 

perhaps the most important is what 

Buhari decided to do, which is, remain 

neutral and allow the democratic will 

of the people to prevail. The police 

remain the same and Mohammed 

Adamu who superintended the bloody 

Kogi governorship election in 

November 2019 is still the Inspector 

General of Police. 

The only difference is that this time 

around, there was no indication from 

Aso Rock where the pendulum should 

swing. If not, we would have had 

another Kogi drama. The same goes for 

the INEC. Nothing has changed. 

Mahmood Yakubu is still the 

helmsman. If the body language from 

Aso Rock indicated otherwise, at best 

the Edo vote would have been 

inconclusive as happened in Osun in 

2018 and Kano in 2019. 

Therefore, while the outcome of the 

Edo poll is a huge big step forward in 

our democratic peregrination, the fact 

that it was only made possible because 

the president decided to be 

presidential is an issue. There is a 

fundamental problem when a country 

depends on the benevolence and 

goodwill of one man, even if that man 

is the president, to get free, fair and 

transparent elections. It is not yet 

uhuru. 

C 

M 

Y 

K


THE Socio-Economic Rights and 

Accountability Project, SERAP, 

deserves the commendation of 

Nigerians for its proactive 

commitment to ensure that the federal 

and state governments render full 

account of funds spent in tackling the 

on-going coronavirus pandemic, 

COVID-19. 

As the nation embarked on 

emergency lock-downs as part of 

efforts to curb the spread of the virus, 

SERAP had, March 22, 2020, called 

on governments to monitor the 

disbursement and management of 

funds to minimise corruption and 

ensure that people at the grassroots 

benefited. 

This was more so as many publicspirited 

individuals, corporate 

organisations and international 

humanitarian groups made huge 

financial contributions towards the 

fight. 

Six months later, SERAP has 

followed up with two Freedom of 

Information, FoI, requests to the 

Governor of the Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, 

Calls for accountability on 

COVID-19 spending 

and the Minister of Humanitarian 

Affairs, Disaster Management and 

Social Development, Ms. Sadiya 

Umar Farouk. 

The social watchdog and advocacy 

group expressed its concern that 

these monies, added to the N31bn the 

Federal Government claims it has 

spent on fighting the pandemic, might 

have failed to benefit millions of 

Nigerian poor and vulnerable who 

were forced to endure the adverse 

effects of an absolute lockdown. 

The most curious aspects of the 

Federal Government’s actions were 

the distribution of raw cash across the 

table to well-dressed individuals of 

questionable vulnerability, personally 

supervised by Minister Sadiya 

Farouk; and the “school feeding” she 

claimed to have carried out while 

schools were shut and the pupils 

were with their families during the 

absolute lockdowns. 

The Minister later claimed that 2.6 

million vulnerable Nigerians from “all 

over the country” benefited from the 

N20,000 cash disbursements without 

foolproof evidence. Also, the source 

of the fund used for these purposes 

has remained unclear. 

While Minister Sadiya Farouk was 

quoted as saying that the fund was 

from a World Bank loan, the African 

Network for Environment and 

Economic Justice, ANEEJ, claimed 

that it was part of the $322.5 million 

Abacha loot returned to Nigeria from 

Switzerland. The call for 

accountability is valid and supported. 

It is in line with public expectations 

as it will provide answers to many 

questions following the manner in 

which the COVID-19 pandemic has 

been handled by the authorities. 

A government that makes anticorruption 

a core agendum should 

not even wait to be cajoled before 

giving account. 

Nigerians also need to know 

whether the stealing of funds, food 

and relief materials by officials which 

has bedevilled the North East 

humanitarian crisis management has 

been repeated in the fight against the 

pandemic. 

A situation where the frontline 

health workers deployed to save lives 

have been forced to go on strike 

several times over neglects naturally 

calls to question as to how funds were 

spent. We fully support this advocacy. 

We are waiting to hear from 

government. 

OPINION 

Curbing kidnappings along Obajana-Okene highway 

By BONIFACE ENEKWECHI 

WHILE the attention of security 

agencies are focused on tackling 

kidnappings, banditry and terrorism in the 

North West and North East of the country, 

the failure to effectively man the Obajana- 

Okene axis has worsened the security 

situation in the area which now records a 

weekly incident of kidnapping of luxury 

and mini bus passengers. In the latest 

incident which occurred on Tuesday 

September 22, 2020, three passengers of 

one of the major transport companies in 

Nigeria were kidnapped by men said to be 

in military uniform. Their whereabouts 

remain unknown till today. 

While some might suspect the likely 

involvement of army personnel on account 

of the military uniform worn by the 

kidnappers, but it is also possible that this 

was used as a disguise to deceive their 

victims. It is a well-known fact that the 

responsibility of protecting lives and 

properties rests with the Federal 

Government and failure to do this leaves 

the citizens distraught, helpless and at the 

mercy of agents of darkness. 

Granted that the Muhammadu Buhari 

administration has made tremendous 

efforts to curtail the activities of these men 

of the underworld, but it is important that 

immediate attention is shifted to Obajana- 

Okene and Abuja-Lokoja axis as the 

incidents of kidnappings, murder and 

sundry crimes have become a daily 

occurrence. The police and army 

authorities in the area ought to justify their 

positions by taking the fight to the 

criminals. 

As the federal and state governments 

make spirited efforts to rejuvenate the 

economy, attract foreign investors and 

create jobs for the citizenry it is important 

that all efforts be geared towards eliminating 

kidnappings along the country’s highways. 

It is indeed pitiable that innocent citizens 

who struggle on daily basis to make ends 

meet travelling at night and day usually 

fall victims to men of the underworld who 

extort and subject them to indecent and 

inhuman treatments, including rape, as 

well as main and even kill them. 

Indeed, it has become imperative to restore 

police escorts to luxury buses in order to serve 

as a deterrence against bandits and terrorists 

who presently take advantage of the failed 

portions of the highways and absence of 

Nigeria has the capacity and 

security personnel to confront 

this danger and the time to 

deploy the human and material 

resources for the purpose is now 

security personnel to carry out their evil 

intentions along the country’s highways. 

Road transport owners and stakeholders 

have tabled the dangers facing them to the 

highest police authorities, but rather than 

abate, reports rather indicate an upsurge in 

kidnapping incidents. As a matter of fact, 

most of the major bus transport companies 

in Nigeria have at one time or the other fallen 

victim to the marauders. 

Every passing day Nigerians are 

inundated with pitiable tales of kidnappings 

involving passengers, drivers and 

conductors of interstate mini and luxury 

buses. Incidentally, the victims are the 

productive business men and women, as well 

as travellers who power the country’s 

economy through their productivity. Apart 

from that, they are also breadwinners of their 

families, and their dependents suffer 

irreparable damage if their sources of 

livelihood are kidnapped and killed. 

Similarly, kidnappings portend grave 

danger to Nigeria’s tourism sector which is 

projected to contribute to the country’s Gross 

Domestic Product in this era of dwindling oil 

revenues. 

Therefore, there is the need for the 

Nigerian security agencies to redouble their 

efforts towards curbing the incessant 

kidnappings going on our highways, 

especially the Okene-Obajana axis. Also the 

state, local and federal governments must 

synergise towards finding a lasting solution 

to this menace as it not only threatens the 

lives of innocent citizens but it deprives the 

affected state and local governments of the 

much-needed internal revenue for 

development. It should also be recalled that 

President Muhammadu Buhari had 

challenged the security chiefs to wake up 

and do more to curtail insecurity in the land. 

He had also told them that their efforts were 

not good enough. 

It is indeed regrettable that a transport 

company had in the past one month 

witnessed three incidents of attacks of its 

buses along the Obajana-Okene axis in Kogi 

State with one person killed, several persons 

abducted and millions of naira paid as 

ransom to these dare-devil criminals. As a 

country, we must not surrender to the 

whims and caprices of these devilish men. 

Government must of necessity immediately 

initiate moves to confront this menace before 

it becomes cancerous. 

Already, there is apprehension in the land, 

including the once peaceful Southern part 

of the country, that bandits and terrorists 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

are taking positions with plans to attack 

innocent citizens and their communities. 

These must not be allowed to happen as the 

consequences will be dire for Nigeria, 

especially with the international 

community watching. 

Already we have witnessed periodic 

advisories by some foreign embassies in 

Nigeria to their citizens to avoid travelling 

to some parts of the country. It now behove 

the federal and Kogi state governments to 

prove the naysayers wrong by taking 

proactive measures towards curtailing the 

evil activities of kidnappers along the 

Obajana-Okene axis of the state. 

It must also not be forgotten that Kogi, as a 

confluence state, remains a transit point for 

travellers from all parts of the country, and 

they use the opportunity to do business along 

their travel routes. This means of trade and 

survival is being seriously undermined by 

kidnappers, armed bandits and robbers as well 

as terrorists. Nigeria has the capacity and 

security personnel to confront this danger, and 

the time to deploy the human and material 

resources for the purpose is now. On September 

22, 2020, three persons, including a lady, 

were kidnapped and over 15 passengers injured 

when one of the buses plying the Obajana- 

Okene highway was attacked. A ransom of 

N10 million is being demanded from the 

families of those kidnapped. These nefarious 

activities come with costly implications for 

the companies, innocent travellers and the 

country as a whole. 

Therefore, government has an obligation to 

clean up the Augean stable by going after the 

perpetrators of these heinous crimes in order 

to save people’s lives and their properties. In 

this fight, we must not allow the kidnappers to 

win. A stitch in time saves nine. 

•Enekwechi, a journalist wrote from 

Abuja


Transpor 

ransportation, finance ministries push 

for tax holiday for maritime sector 

By Godfrey Bivbere 

MARITIME 

MINISTRIES of Trans 

portation and Finance are 

working at rolling out tax incentives 

for operators in the maritime 

sector to spur growth in the industry. 

The move which is in response 

to the impact of Coronavirus 

(COVID-19) pandemic, is the Federal 

Government’s efforts to 

stimulate investment and boost 

activities in the maritime industry 

and other sectors of the 

nation’s economy. 

Director-General of the Nigerian 

Maritime Administration and 

Safety Agency, NIMASA, Bashir 

Jamoh, who disclosed this in 

Abuja during a visit to Minister of 

Finance, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, 

said that the minister of Federal 

Ministry of Transportation is seeking 

a package of tax incentives for 

the maritime sector. 

The NIMASA boss told the finance 

minister that the minister 

of transportation, Rotimi Chibuike 

Amaechi, is committed to ensuring 

the growth of the maritime industry 

in Nigeria. 

A statement signed by Head, 

Corporate Communications of 

NIMASA, Philip Kyanet, noted 

that the NIMASA helmsman said 

many governments around the 

globe had introduced massive tax 

reduction or elimination to spur 

activities in key sectors and rev 

up their economies during the 

Coronavirus pandemic. 

Jamoh stated: “The maritime 

sector is critical in the growth and 

development of transportation 

and, by extension, international 

trade in the country. Thus, the 

need for Federal Governmentoriented 

programmes and stimulus 

packages to deliver a response 

that catalyses a sustainable economic 

development cannot be 

overemphasised.” 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

RAND 

1.11 0.09 

2,588.00 +32.00 

13.13 -0.25 

$41.66 -0.06 

41.06 +0.52 

379 379.5 380 

485.2337 485.8739 486.514 

445.0597 445.6469 446.234 

414.0267 414.5729 415.1191 

3.6244 3.6291 3.6339 

0.6646 0.6746 0.6846 

536.2001 536.9075 537.6149 

55.9227 55.997 56.0712 

101.0451 101.1784 101.3117 

22.6956 22.7255 22.7554 

CBN Exchange rate as at 23/09/2020 

Jamoh said the proposed incentives 

included zero import duty for 

brand new vessels imported by Nigerians 

or Nigerian shipping companies 

for use in foreign or domestic 

trade; 0.5 per cent only import 

duty for vessels aged between one 

and five years intended for use in 

foreign or domestic trade; and one 

per cent only import duty for vessels 

aged between five and eight 

COMMISSIONING: From left, Group Technical and Development Director, Vitafoam 

Nigeria Plc, Mr Abbagana Abatcha; Director General and Chief Executive Officer, Forestry Research 

Institute of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mr. Adeshola Adepoju; Minister of Environment, 

Dr. Mohammed Mohmood Abubakar; Chairman, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Dr. Bamidele Makanjuola and 

Group Managing Director, Mr Taiwo Adeniyi, during the commissioning of Vitapur Systems House, 

Ikeja Lagos. 

DPR links $1.03bn remittance to oil royalties, 

legacy debts 

By Ediri Ejoh 

ENERGY 

THE Department of Petro 

leum Resources (DPR), has 

identified oil and gas royalties and 

legacy debts as a major contributor 

to its revenue generation 

years intended for use in foreign or 

domestic trade. 

There was also a proposal for 

zero import duty for parts or components 

imported by Nigerian 

shipyards for local shipbuilding, 

which will be for an initial period of 

four years after which it can be reviewed 

by government. All these 

are expected to give the sector the 

vibrancy it needs for growth. 

amounting $1.03 billion 

remitted to the Federation 

Account. 

DPR stated that the revenue 

was achieved 

through robust regulatory 

reforms put in place 

to ensure timely and efficient 

revenue collection 

drive. 

The Director, DPR, Mr. 

Sarki Auwalu, in the 

statement, said the DPR 

collects oil and gas royalties, 

that shows the proportional 

value of oil and 

gas production, flare gas 

penalties, concession 

rentals paid for grant of 

oil and gas acreages and 

miscellaneous oil revenues 

comprising statutory 

application fees, licences, 

and permit fees. 

Meanwhile, the DPR 

had said it generated a 

total sum of N742.5 billion 

for the federal government 

between January and 

August 2020. 

He expressed optimism that the 

regulatory agency would surpass 

its revenue target for the year 

despite the ‘triple force’ of COVID- 

19 pandemic, oil price crash and 

OPEC plus production cuts. 

He stated: “DPR is a revenue 

collection agency for revenues 

accruable to government from 

oil and gas industry operations. 

“ DPR operates a cashless revenue 

system which enables all 

revenue remittances to be paid 

directly to the federation account in 

total compliance with the Treasury 

Single Account (TSA) policy of government. 

“The agency conducts comprehensive 

quarterly and annual reconciliations 

of revenue payments to ensure 

accurate and timely remittances 

to the federation account. It also collects 

oil and gas royalties which represents 

proportional value of oil and 

gas production and sales from 

oilfields, gas flare penalties imposed 

for gas flaring,” he said. 

NERC directs DISCOs to supply meter to customers 

within 10 days of payment 

By Ediri Ejoh 

ENERGY 

THE Nigerian Electricity 

Regulatory Commission, 

NERC, has directed the 11 electricity 

Distribution Companies, 

DISCOs, to ensure electricity 

customers are metered within 

10 days after payment. 

This was disclosed in a virtual 

town hall meeting organized by 

the Commission with DISCOs 

and representatives of Meter 

Asset Providers (MAPs). 

The Commission reiterated 

He said the incentives were being proposed 

because of the importance of the 

Nigerian maritime sector to the entire 

sub-Saharan African region. 

He emphasised that Nigeria accounted 

for more than 65 per cent of 

the entire shipping trade of the sub-African 

continent. Nigeria is also the largest 

producer and exporter of oil and gas 

in the continent and Africa’s largest 

economy. 

its position on ensuring efficient 

metering scheme for all electricity 

consumers in Nigeria. 

NERC’s Commissioner, Mr. 

Nathan Shatti, at the forum, stated: 

“Customers must be metered 

within 10 days of payment. Failure 

to do so negates regulations. 

“Customers must ask the DISCOs 

for the availability of the meters 

before making payment.” 

While responding to customers 

complaints, he also stated, “If your 

meter is spoilt, it needs to be replaced”. 

Shatti, urged DISCOs to take responsibility 

for customer’s meter 

maintenance, insisting that the 

DBN: Experts 

advocate more 

capacity building 

for increased 

lending to SMEs 

By Princewill Ekwujuru 

ECONOMY 

EXPERTS in business and 

finance at the Development 

Bank of Nigeria (DBN) Capacity 

Building Webinar have 

tasked financial institutions on 

the need to engage more Small 

Medium Enterprises (SMEs) 

in capacity building initiatives 

to develop their business expertise 

and provide them more 

access to finance. 

They also emphasized the 

need for behavioural change 

amongst small business owners 

in Nigeria, tasking them to 

incorporate the knowledge acquired 

at the training sessions 

into their daily business routine 

to make them more attractive 

and loan worthy for banks. 

The DBN MSME Webinar 

which is the third in the series, 

is a capacity-building initiative 

aimed at building synergy 

between financial institutions, 

Micro, Small, and Medium 

Scale Enterprises, and 

other stakeholders to upscale 

their competencies and facilitate 

funding to this critical subsector 

of the Nigeria economy. 

In her presentation, Ms. 

Nwamaka Onyiuke, Independent 

Non Executive Director, 

DBN, explained that capacity 

development of SMEs will 

help them build the required 

structure for their business, aid 

their leadership development, 

help MSMEs scale up and ultimately 

help them to utilize 

their resources in the right way. 

Speaking on the core of capacity 

building as a funding 

tool, Dr. Oladimeji Alo, Non 

Executive Director,DBN, 

stated that banks need to know 

that the needs of the micro 

small and medium enterprises 

often differ depending on their 

scale. He stressed that it is in 

the enlightened self-interest of 

financial institutions to develop 

the capacity of MSMEs. 

“Some of the financial institutions 

say they have the funds to 

lend but the SMEs are not coming 

for the funds. The banks 

need to know the special needs 

of the sector and, also know that 

lending to the sector is not plugand-play. 

The banks do very 

well when they deal with highly 

structured organizations, but 

when they deal with the SMEs, 

there is a level of frustration because 

the basic things are not 

there. Therefore, when you develop 

their capacity and they do 

better, they not only create employment, 

they end up creating 

a bigger base of customers for 

the banks“ he noted. 

quality of meter produced 

locally are of same with those 

imported. 

He also stated: “For all customers 

who have made payment 

for meter and have not 

received it should be compensated 

by DISCOs and 

MAPs. 

“Commission is working on 

ways to monitor the quality 

of service, number of interruptions 

and so much more. 

Stating that the process will 

take a bit but it will be done. 

We will ensure we implement 

all policies that will move the 

power industry forward.”

20—Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020


By OYEYINKA OLUDAYISI 

FABOWALE 

If you never believed 

there’s a strong spiritual 

link between man and 

his name, you are bound 

to reappraise or jettison your 

doubt after reading Chief 

Olusegun Osoba’s 

autobiography, Battlelines. 

From higher spiritual 

knowledge, it is known that 

the name is more than a label 

but encapsulates the innate 

gifts, qualities, abilities the 

bearer brings upon 

incarnating and often 

presages his path of destiny in 

life. A person is, therefore, 

what his name says. 

As a child, Osoba, may not 

have been aware of the 

significance and potency of 

his name, Olusegun (which 

means God triumphs or simply 

Victor). Neither, perhaps, did 

his parents, even if they had a 

vague sensing of it, realized 

why the child’s maternal 

uncle the famous and 

redoubtable Evangelist and 

faith healer, Apostle Ayo 

Babalola, charged that he be 

addressed solely by this 

particular appellation of the 

many beautiful ones he took 

at his christening. 

But the import of the 

prophet’s admonition was to 

unravel later in the life of the 

lad, in the many battles he 

had to fight as an iconic 

newsman, politician and 

former governor of Ogun State 

in effort to distinguish himself 

and help foster a better society, 

first, as a career reporter, 

media manager, boardroom 

player, and then in politics 

and ultimately governance! 

Battlelines is the story of the 

transit of an exceptionally 

brilliant, vibrant, albeit naive 

young man and his fortuitous 

immersion into the sociopolitical 

dynamics and 

machinery that determine the 

affairs of the Nigerian nation 

for almost all of its 60 years, 

but essentially during critical 

phases and potentially 

disruptive junctures of 

national history. 

It is the tale of a battle of 

passion, of patriotism and 

treachery, selflessness and 

betrayal, of service, wins and 

setbacks at the end of which, 

despite the travails, emerges 

the portrait of an apparently 

misunderstood patriot! 

Although autobiographies 

are most often nothing but 

revisionist exercises at image 

laundering and/or distorting 

historical facts, the Osoba in 

this account does not fall too 

far away from the image of him 

in the public domain, or that 

one has a fair personal 

knowledge of. 

Neither is there any 

significant departure from the 

integrity of the truth with 

respect to his own side and 

views on controversies in 

which he was embroiled, some 

of which, in fact, are in the 

public domain. Far from being 

a vainglorious and 

extenuating run, Battlelines is 

a moving story presented in a 

classic, credible journalistic 

reporting traditions that does 

Osoba great credit as an 

accomplished professional. 

The narrative evidences 

adherence, as much as 

possible, to ethical rules of 

objectivity, balance and 

fairness as the author gives 

A review of Battlelines: Adventures 

in Journalism and Politics 

equal or more generous vent 

to criticisms and opposing 

views only contesting or 

countering them and 

advancing the frontiers of the 

arguments by divulging fresh, 

illuminating facts including 

documentary proofs. 

Although he was vindicated in 

the end despite his trials, 

Osoba’s narrative is, 

remarkably, devoid of any 

strain of gloating! 

Told in three parts and spread 

over 19 chapters, the first 

section of the book captures 

the preparation of the 

renowned journalist -turned 

politician for the campaigns 

ahead of him – from Osogbo, 

where he was born and 

nurtured in Yoruba and 

Christian values to Abeokuta 

and Lagos where he grew into 

an 

adventurous, 

sporty and 

street -wise 

adolescent. 

His being a 

s c h o o l 

prefect, 

academic 

brilliance, 

sporting 

prowess, 

activism in the 

intrepid, 

Boys’ Scout 

Movement at the 

Methodist Boys 

High School 

(MBHS), one of the 

prestigious 

secondary schools 

in Lagos then, 

combined with the 

circle of peers and 

some of Nigeria’s 

noble and influential 

families among whom 

he grew up as well as 

vast network of eminent 

friends and contacts in 

commanding heights of 

different spheres of 

national life he later 

cultivated, laid the 

foundation for his success in 

his later forays and 

intervention in journalism and 

politics. 

This section also reported his 

stellar career rise and 

invaluable contributions to 

journalism beginning from 

Daily Times where he cut his 

professional teeth and 

became one of Nigerian 

journalism’s finest and 

reporting legends, editor and 

later Managing Director and 

Chief Executive of the 

newspaper conglomerate; to 

his stint, after being headhunted, 

at the Kwara State 

Government-owned Herald 

newspapers; and the 

crusading journalism era at 

the Ibadan -based Sketch 

newspapers where he was 

General Manager before 

returning to the Daily Times 

for a second sojourn. 

The reader is awed at how, 

despite 

perceived 

professional envy, intrigues 

and persecution, Osoba, with 

some of the best education 

received from ivy league 

journalism institutions across 

the world including the 

University of Lagos; Fleet 

Street, England and Harvard 

University, Boston USA, 

tenaciously fought his way up 

to the peak of the career 

ladder, using the press to 

promote social justice, 

fairness, good governance 

and public good. 

In the process of course, he 

inevitably acquired the tag of 

being controversial. The book 

highlights and addresses 

some of the incidents that led 

to this. Notable among them 

were his alleged role in the 

sacking of Chief 

AreoyeOyebola whom he 

succeeded as Editor of Daily 

Times in the aftermath of the 

Murtala/Obasanjo coup d’etat 

in 1975; purported partisan 

use of the press to 

advance 

the 

political 

cause of the 

progressives and late sage, 

Chief Obafemi Awolowo, on 

It is the tale of a 

battle of passion, of 

patriotism and 

treachery, 

selflessness and 

betrayal, of service, 

wins and setbacks 

at the end of 

which, despite the 

travails, emerges 

the portrait of an 

apparently 

misunderstood 

patriot! 

account of his friendship with 

the nationalist and elder 

statesman; his alleged 

dubious claim of 

Kwaraindigeneship to clinch 

the Herald top job; as well as 

plots to rob him of his 

appointment as General 

Manager, Sketch, after a 

competitive board interview, 

and another later to 

unceremoniously ease him off 

the Daily Times MD seat 

during the Gen. Ibrahim 

Babangida’s military era. 

Also documented later in the 

book were his alleged betrayal 

of Frank Kokori, the NUPENG 

Secretary General who was 

the linchpin of the labour 

strike and resistance to Gen. 

Sani Abacha’s dictatorship, 

his perceived treachery in the 

Afenifere fold that 

purportedly led to the 2003 

massive electoral defeat of the 

Alliance for Democracy in the 

South West and more. 

The author reveals his side of 

the story corroborating it with 

compelling and incontestable 

facts from confidential and 

official memos, press reports 

and other archival documents, 

while also citing living 

witnesses to exonerate 

himself of any wrongdoing 

and set the record straight. 

This section also details the 

era in which Osoba devoted 

his vocation to fighting for 

social justice and promote 

progressive politics. Two 

incidents come to mind – the 

illegal deportation of Alhaji 

Abdulrahman Shugaba and 

impeachment/removal 

from office of the then 

Kaduna State radical 

governor, Alhaji Balarabe 

Musa. 

Part two of the book 

chronicles the author’s 

friendship with and 

political tutelage 

under Chief Awolowo 

as well as his 

eventual plunge into 

partisan politics. 

Here, the reader 

comes to see how 

the late elder 

statesman’s 

lifestyle and 

political ideology won 

Osoba as a disciple and 

influenced his politics and 

stint in government. 

We are also introduced to 

how he became friends with 

the late Chief MKO Abiola, 

although a kinsman but 

hitherto a sworn foe, whose 

battle to become the President 

of Nigeria he was to champion 

even at the risk of his own life 

before and during the 

Abacha’s bloody dictatorship! 

This section also records his 

role and life as a fugitive under 

the repressive regime of the 

late tyrant and usurper, while 

fighting as a National 

Democratic Coalition 

(NADECO) chieftain for the 

validation the June 12, 1993 

presidential electoral victory 

of Chief Abiola. 

In between these sections, is 

an intermission wherein the 

author recalls how he met his 

wife “BereDerinola”, to whom 

he pays so much tribute for his 

numerous successes and 

escape from several 

assassination attempts by 

Abacha’s goons! 

Part 3 captures Osoba’s rule 

and legacies as governor of 

Ogun State, which, however, 

he suggests his successor and 

opponents tried to obliterate, 

deny him due credit and 

persecute him for. This 

concluding part of the riveting 

story sheds light on the rift in 

Afenifere, his rumoured sellout 

of the of Awolowo disciples 

to former President Olusegun 

Obasanjo and controversial 

role in his party, Alliance for 

Democracy’s (AD) 

monumental loss in the 2003 

general elections in the South 

West. 

It winds up with an account 

of the formation and 

ascendancy of the All 

Progressives Congress (APC) 

to power in 2015. The 

narrative, however, drips with 

Osoba’s regrets of unfulfilled 

vision and promises that the 

reign of the party since its 

ascendancy to power has 

been, which he blames on 

subversion of the ruling 

party’s ideals and 

misdirection of its noble goals. 

Traveling through the book, 

one cannot but acknowledge 

Chief Osoba as a master prose 

stylist and journalistic 

craftsman. Apart from putting 

to effective use the flashback 

technique, opening the story 

from the midriff only to plunge 

into the beginning and 

relaunching into a 

chronological build-up, 

occasionally and ingeniously 

disrupted by anecdotal 

switches across epochs, not 

enough could be said of the 

author’s racy and breezy 

narrative style which makes 

the book unputdownable! 

But most importantly, 

perhaps, is his professional 

adroitness in avoiding the 

pitfall of prejudice, bias and 

self-adulation common to 

many self -narrated accounts. 

In Battlelines, there is hardly 

any perceptible self - 

extenuation, or attempt by the 

author to deodorize or paint 

himself as a saint. Rather, 

Osoba readily and candidly 

admits to his humanness and 

fallibility. To critics’ attacks, 

scurrilous tales and gossips he 

offers explanations and 

counter arguments with an 

uncanny force of logic and 

corroborative factual 

evidence. 

In the end, emerges a man of 

rare professional talent, a 

conscientious leader, 

consumate patriot and 

champion, who although 

badly bruised, certainly ran 

away with the diadem as one 

who came, saw and 

conquered! 

It is good that Chief Osoba 

thought of gifting the world 

with this book. With its literary 

appeal, scholarly depth and 

profound insights especially 

into the undercurrents of 

landmark events in the life of 

the nation postindependence, 

it’s an 

invaluable reference resource 

not only for historians and 

students and practitioners of 

politics and journalism, but 

also for the general reader 

interested in issues of nationbuilding 

and development. 

·Fabowale is the Editor of 

Newspeak magazine


Why women must be 

protect 

ected ed by y politicians 

— Trade fair boss 

WOMEN are key players 

in any election 

around the world and 

Nigeria in particular. They stay 

in the rain, under the sun to vote 

for the candidate, of the choice; 

even go the extra mile of 

protecting their votes. Despite 

their impact, they are easily 

forgotten after elections. 

In this interview with 

Ebunoluwa Sessou, Chief 

Executive Officer, Lagos 

International Trade Fair, Lucy 

Ajayi who is also a member of 

the All Progressives Congress 

National Committee Campaign 

to Edo election for Pastor Ize- 

Iyamu speaks on the need for 

women to be well protected by 

politicians during and after 

elections. 

What is your take on the 

role of women in the Edo 

election? 

Women are mobilizers from 

ward to ward and local 

government to local 

government. Their impact is 

immense especially as all 

gladiators are always on ground 

to solicit their support in 

ensuring that they win the 

elections. 

Despite the role women 

play during elections, there 

are insinuations that their 

expectations are always cut 

short. Politicians easily 

forget their contributions 

after elections. Do you see 

this happening this time 

around and even in 

subsequent elections in 

Nigeria? 

It is true that women seem to 

be forgotten when elections are 

over but I do not think anyone 

who wins election should forget 

the role of women. Even the just 

concluded Edo election, women 

should be included in the 

masterplan of governance. There 

should be a change in narrative. 

Bringing the views and 

yearnings of the women should 

not be an issue as politicians 

should be true to their words. 

Women are key players when it 

comes to elections. Women are 

mobilizers, we mobilize the men, 

youths and children, we tell them 

where to go and that is the gift 

God has given us to be able to 

persuade, encourage and make 

people do what we want them to 

do. 

Empowerment is a big 

issue especially at this time 

when COVID-19 has taken 

its toll on everyone. 

Women are Wallowing in 

abject poverty and one 

wonders why they would 

be used as machinery and 

dumped by the way side? 

I am playing a role as a woman 

and also a politician elected by 

my party. I was appointed 

based on my contribution and 

involvement and that is what 

every woman should thrive to 

do. I do not expect everyone to 

be an active politician but within 

their community, their 

involvement should be impactful 

for people to notice them. No 

woman should be subjected to 

collecting envelopes in the name 

of election or politics. They 

should aspire to be different and 

get their rightful positions. 

Contrary to your opinion, I do 

not think women are wallowing 

in abject poverty. The traders are 

making money and they are 

doing their business. I am a 

public servant and I have not 

been owed salary and I am a 

woman. Maybe the private 

sector is feeling the heat a little 

bit but I am sure that PMB has 

not owed anyone their salaries. 

We get our salaries on the 27th 

of the month. 

I am helping my home through 

the salary paid by the Federal 

As women, 

we know 

that we will 

be held 

responsible 

for whatever 

comes up in 

Edo state 

Government. There is no cabinet 

without a woman, and that is why 

I am encouraging women to step 

up their game. A trader who is 

not a round peg in a round hole 

will cause problems. 

I set up a foundation to sensitise 

women on the need to empower 

themselves intellectually. You 

are a primary school drop-out 

yet you want to get a 

commissioner’s job. It will not 

work out. We are encouraging 

women to ensure their children 

are graduates so as to be relevant 

in governance perhaps get slots 

for their children. 

For instance, a slot can be given 

to a market woman who has 

children that are graduates. It is 

not possible for everyone to be 

appointed but I believe women 

can be empowered to become a 

role model, thereby helping other 

women whose hopes are dashed. 

There are thousands of women 

who have been compensated 

based on their achievement 

politically. If a woman has the 

credential, I am sure she will be 

given a role to play in the political 

sphere and governance. 

Unfortunately, most women 

seem to be satisfied with the 

envelope they give them during 

the campaign. 

Secondly, Nigerians must 

ensure good governance and with 

good governance, there is no 

need to lobby for anything. If 

everything is going on well, you 

Ajayi 

do not need anybody’s 

connection to get a job. In other 

countries, if you are qualified and 

you applied, you will get a job. 

You do not need to be a politician 

to be up there. We have female 

bankers, engineers and they are 

not politicians. 

As women, we know that we will 

be held responsible for whatever 

comes up in Edo state and that is 

the same way people are holding 

me responsible for voting for 

PMB. So, I have every reason to 

explain the situation on the 

ground. 

Election is over but the 

reality is that women might 

not be represented 

adequately in governance. 

How can this narrative be 

changed in Nigerian politics 

and Edo state in general? 

I have always told everyone, 

not only women, to hold 

themselves in high esteem. There 

Photo News 

is a need to empower women in 

different ways. The market 

women have their own request 

as well as the technocrats who 

also want to be appointed in 

positions. We also have the men 

and until you get there, you do 

not start making promises. 

Thank God that the election 

was without violence. 

For every Governor of a state, 

the first lady is a major factor. 

We want a first lady that will be 

with us. We are not ready to 

have a first lady that is not 

accessible for another four 

years. The Edo women need a 

first lady that is always on 

ground on a daily basis; a first 

lady that would be in Edo State 

Government House on a daily 

basis. Edo first lady cannot be 

operating in Lagos. 

Okonjo-Iweala:Nigeria lobbies Republic 

of Iran’s vote in WTO elections 

By Victoria Ojeme 

THE Nigerian 

government is seeking 

the vote of Iran for its 

candidate, Ngozi Okonjo- 

Iweala in the race to the World 

Trade Organisation’s (WTO) 

Director-General office. 

The WTO is looking for a new 

director-general to replace 

Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, 

who stepped down a year 

earlier than expected at the 

end of August. 

Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala is 

among the five cleared for the 

elections. The others are 

Kenyan minister Amina 

Mohamed, South Korean 

Continues on page 23 

Wife of Ondo State Governor, Arabinrin Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu (middle) paid homage to traditional 

ruler of Igbe Community, High Chief Ajelu Akinselure Ajibuwa (left), his wife Olori Ajibuwa (right) at his 

palace in Owo local government area of Ondo State, during her campaign visit to the area on Thursday, 

17th September, 2020.


Stakeholders harp on the need to prioritize SGBV 

….As WRAHP sets up Ireti centre for psycho-social support 

AS part of efforts to protect 

rape victims Women’s 

Rights and Health 

Project, WRAHP has set up a 

sexual assault referral system 

(Ireti Resource Centre) a centre 

where cases of abuses in 

Alimosho area of Lagos state can 

be reported and also for victims 

access counseling and psychosocial 

support. 

Executive Director of Women’s 

Rights and Health Project, 

WRAHP, Bose Ironsi in a 

welcome address during a 

community meeting organised 

to address issues relating to 

Sexual and Gender-Based 

Violence, SGBV, in Alimosho, 

LGA, Lagos State, noted that, 

over the past four years, 

Alimosho LGA has consistently 

accounted for the highest 

number of SGBV cases reported 

in Lagos State. 

“ Despite this alarming fact, 

women, girls have been unable 

to access justice and medical 

assistance because there were 

no SGBV service centres within 

Alimosho where survivors can 

easily walk in to report cases and 

receive assistance and support 

within their vicinity”, she said. 

As a result of this urgent need, 

she hinted that the organization 

in partnership with the Rule of 

Law and Anti-Corruption, 

RoLAC programme of the 

British Council is working to 

increase access to justice 

resulted social services for GBV 

survivors in Alimosho local 

government council of Lagos 

State. 

It was established in 2007 with 

a vision to contribute to the 

attainment of a society where all 

women, young girls and 

AMID talks of resumption 

of schools in Lagos state, 

the Rotary club of 

Surulere North-East has 

finalized plans of handing out 

school bags and dictionaries to 

public school pupils. 

This was captured in the 

signature project for the 2020- 

21 rotary year, to be executed 

by the new leadership board of 

the club led by Rotarian Tosin 

Alfred-Kemepado, who was 

installed as president at an 

investiture ceremony at the 

weekend. 

According to the projects 

lineup, no less than 150 primary 

school pupils in the vicinity will 

communities enjoy sound health 

and equal development and 

maximum self actualization. 

And the strategies to achieving 

this goal are through Advocacy 

and Awareness Raising Sessions 

within identified social 

structures, Capacity Building, 

community dialogues, 

production and dissemination of 

Awareness raising materials 

where cases of abuses in 

Alimosho and its environs can 

be reported. 

She further explained that the 

community town hall meeting is 

one of the channels to increase 

access points for citizens of 

Alimisho to report sexual and 

gender based violence incidents, 

receive support and to leverage 

on the priorities identified in the 

initial meetings held in January 

Resumption: Rotary to donate 150 school 

bags, 500 dictionaries to Lagos pupils 

By Elizabeth Uwandu 

be getting one school bag each. 

The school bags pegged at 

N1,500 each are to cost a total 

of N225,000, while the 

dictionaries will cost N190,000 

at N350 each. 

Kemepado, who was taking 

over the position from Rotarian 

Giwa Abioye as the 18th 

president of the club, also listed 

the renovation of classrooms and 

the distribution of waste bins as 

well as de-worming of primary 

school pupils, as part of the 

year’s projects in the education 

sector. 

Sinking of boreholes, planting 

of trees and purchase of baby 

incubators are some other 

projects to be embarked on by 

the Kemepado-led board in its 

mission to serve humanity. 

New President, Rotary club of Surulere North-East, Tosin Alfred-Kemepado 

with other Rotarians at her investiture 

Cross section of members of Alimosho community at the meeting recently 

By Ebunoluwa Sessou 

2020 adding that members of 

the community, individuals, 

social groups and religious 

groups must speak up against 

SGBV in every form to end the 

scourge of sexual and gender 

based violence in Alimosho. 

Also speaking, the DPO 

Igando Police Division, CSP 

Taiwo Kasumu warned that a 

man can be imprisoned on the 

basis of physical assault adding 

that, the Law provides for 

protection of rape victims. 

“Dressing provocatively has 

nothing to do with rape whilst it 

is important for parents to train 

their children well, is not a 

justification for rape. 

“The Law is available to 

protect victims. On our own, we 

will do our best to ensure 

protection of rapevictim”, he 

noted. 

In his contribution, Elder 

Ademola Osibeluwo, JP, Council 

Chairman Igando/Ikotun LCDA, 

urged all stakeholders to tackle 

the issue and nit it on the bud. 

“We have created an office 

purposely for GSBV and we are 

VISA, a global financial 

institution has 

announced its 

partnership with She Leads 

Africa - a leading platform that 

connects female entrepreneurs 

with the right information and 

tools that they need to create 

thriving businesses in their 

communities. 

The partnership forms part 

of Visa’s ‘Where you Shop 

Matters’ initiative which was 

launched in June. It is an 

initiative that aims to 

champion and enable 

entrepreneurs across Africa 

while encouraging consumers 

to support small businesses by 

shopping local. 

Women are the backbone of 

African economies, and 

according to The Global 

Entrepreneurship Monitor 

Women’s Entrepreneurship 

Report 2018/2019, the highest 

determined. It is an issue that 

we do not want it to occur again 

in the community. 

“Rape is a serious issue that 

everyone must be ready to 

address. We are sentisizing 

people to take care of the 

children. There is a need to 

properly train male and female 

children and give them 

protection. 

Also, Mrs Olukemi Dosa, the 

Chairperson Lagos State Council 

Trade Men and Artisans, 

LASCOTA, Igando/Ikotun, 

lending her voice called for 

caution on the part of the parents. 

“When parents monitor their 

children, it is easy for them to 

guide their children on how to 

dress properly. Boys are 

attracted with the way girls dress. 

If children are well trained, it will 

be difficult to put up an attitude 

that is not decent in society. 

On the part of the association 

she said, “We have been saddled 

with the responsibility of 

senstisizing our members and 

we’ll tell them how to take care 

of their children. We will also 

engage our landlords to ensure 

surveillance of all those hang outs 

in the area. 

Financial institution partner 

tners She Leads 

Africa to empower female entrepreneurs 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

rates the total entrepreneurial 

activity for women are found in 

Sub-Saharan Africa (21.8%). 

Although women are involved 

in entrepreneurial activity, 

women in Sub-Saharan Africa 

tend to face a much higher 

likelihood of business 

discontinuance than men. 

Through the She Leads 

Africa Spotlight series, Visa will 

provide a platform for 

successful 

female 

entrepreneurs, with incredible 

stories, who will share their 

business journeys, especially 

by transitioning to digital 

channels, in a bid to inspire 

and help upcoming 

entrepreneurs spread across 

Africa. 

The partnership also includes 

a “This is how I did it” 

series which features digital 

marketing experts that will 

provide women with the tools 

to advance their digital 

businesses. 

Okonjo- 

Iweala:Nigeria 

lobbies Republic of 

Iran’s vote in WTO 

elections 

Continues from page 22 

Trade Minister Yoo Myunghee, 

Saudi Arabia’s 

Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri and 

British ex-minister Liam Fox. 

The Minister of Industry, 

Trade and Investment, Richard 

Adebayo told the Iranian 

Ambassador to Nigeria, 

Mohammed Alibak, that 

Okonjo-Iweala’s election 

victory will strengthen global 

trade and economies. 

The Minister stated that 

Nigeria would rely on Iran’s 

support for the election of 

Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela as the 

next DG for WTO, stressing 

that if elected it would be the 

first time an African will 

occupy the position since its 

establishment on 1st January 

1995. 

Adebayo further said the 

Bilateral Trade Agreements 

(BTA) earlier signed between 

the two countries in 2001, 

Investment Promotion and 

Protection Agreement (IPPA) 

in 2008, the establishment of 

Nigeria-Iran Joint 

Commission in 2004 and Iran 

Chamber, Industry, Mines and 

Agriculture in 2016 should be 

sustained. 

He assured the Ambassador 

that Nigeria will work with 

Iran to improve on the current 

low trade volumes as both 

countries have great potential 

that can leverage on 

considering the fact that the 

two countries are oil 

dependent economies. 

He said “We can also share 

knowledge and best practices 

on economic diversification 

and our national development 

goals as Buhari’s led 

Administration is pushing to 

diversify the economy into the 

non-oil sector through various 

initiatives and a strategic 

partnership in the 

industrialization of key sectors 

that can boost efforts towards 

export of Iran and Nigeria.” 

The Minister called on 

Iranian Investors to come to 

Nigeria to invest in the 

numerous Export Processing 

Zones (EPZs), in the country 

in view of the various 

incentives available to 

investors and to pursue 

partnerships in our economic 

development initiatives in 

sectors such as; Fertilizer 

Production, Tractor Assembly, 

Persian Rug Manufacturing, 

Mine and Steel Industries as 

well as Garment Production. 

Earlier, the Iranian 

Ambassador to Nigeria, His 

Excellency, Mohammed 

Alibak said that Iran is willing 

to help Nigeria in the areas of 

technology development, 

water supply and engineering 

among others, adding that an 

invitation will be sent to the 

Minister to visit the 

Agricultural Industrial 

Machinery Show in Iran. 

Alibak further stressed on the 

need to have a joint 

commission between the two 

countries as Nigeria is one of 

the best country in Africa in 

terms of trade with Iran.

24 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020


Institute presents three books for Bala 

Usman’s 15th Memorial Anniversary 

By Norma Perchonok 

THE Yusufu Bala Usman Institute 

is commemorating the 15th Memorial 

Anniversary of Dr Bala Usman, 

a noted historian and committed patriot 

by celebrating his life and his brilliant 

intellectual work as contained in 

three of his most important books 

which are being presented to the public 

in new editions. The ideas contained 

in these works are, if possible, 

even more relevant today than when 

they were first written, and they comprise 

an invaluable legacy for present 

and future generations. 

FOR THE LIBERATION OF NIGERIA. 

This book, first published in 1978, 

originally sold over 10,000 copies. It 

contains 30 essays and lectures that 

Dr. Usman delivered between 1969 to 

1978. They cover topics such as: 

Some Fundamental Problems of Contemporary 

Nigeria; The Direction of 

Nigeria: Structure, Ideology and the 

Constitution; Nigeria’s African Policy; 

Nigerian Universities and Intellectual 

Self-Reliance and The Struggle in 

the South: Angola., Mozambique and 

the Future. 

The new edition of this work has been 

enhanced by a Foreword written by Dr. 

Olusegun Osoba, the Chairman of the 

Yusufu Bala Usman Institute. Dr. Osoba 

is one of Dr. Usman’s oldest and 

closest friends and collaborators. When 

both of them served on the Constitutional 

Drafting Committee, set up by 

General Murtala Muhmmed to write 

a new constitution for a democratic Nigeria, 

they disagreed with the trend 

of discussion of the majority of the 

members and together they produced 

the Minority Report and Draft Con- 

The Foreword, together 

with the original text 

provide a broad and 

perceptive appreciation 

of the issue of manipulation 

of religion 

which is at the heart of 

the problem of Nigerian 

unity 

stitution for the Federal Republic of 

Nigeria, 1967, a work which has had 

wide-ranging impact since then on any 

discussion of the issues around the 

Nigerian constitution. 

NIGERIA AGAINST THE IMF: THE 

HOME MARKET STRATEGY. 

This book comprises essays on the 

subject of the Nigerian economy, such 

as Understanding and Resolving the 

Current Economic Crisis; The Structure 

of the Nigerian Economy and the 

Real Meaning of Structural Adjustment; 

What Exactly is the Problem? 

For Whom is the Solution? among others. 

The new Foreword to this book was 

written by Mike Kwanashie, Professor 

of Economics at Ahmadu Bello Univer- 

•Dr. Usman 

sity and former Vice Chancellor of Veritas 

University, Abuja. Professor Kwanashie 

is an Associate of the Yusufu 

Bala Usman Institute. He is a renowned 

economist with wide experience 

both in and outside of academia. 

He is a long-time associate of Dr. Usman 

and worked with him on many 

projects over the years. His very important 

Foreword provides an updated 

assessment of Dr. Usman’s conception 

about the Nigerian economy and 

demonstrates how prescient Usman’s 

ideas were and how relevant they are 

to the present economic situation in 

Nigeria. 

THE MANIPULATION OF RELI- 

GION IN NIGERIA, 1977-1987. 

First published in 1987, this work 

broke new ground in its examination 

of a critically important issue in Nigeria 

– how religion is manipulated 

to serve the interests of a class of people 

who use religion to obscure and 

cover up their real purpose of dividing 

the country and protecting their 

material interest at the expense of the 

generality of the Nigerian people. 

The substantial Foreword to this 

work was contributed by Professor 

Usman A. Tar, who is one of the Directors 

of the Yusufu Bala Usman Institute. 

He is an Endowed Professor 

of Defence and Security Studies at the 

Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna 

and has published widely in Nigerian 

and International books and journals. 

His Forward brings up to date 

some of the themes touched upon by 

Dr. Usman and presents them in a 

geographical and historical perspective. 

The Foreword, together with the 

original text provide a broad and perceptive 

appreciation of the issue of 

manipulation of religion which is at 

the heart of the problem of Nigerian 

unity. 

There is no doubt that these three 

books by Yusufu Bala Usman are essential 

reading for anyone who seeks 

a deeper understanding of the multifarious 

problems facing Nigeria today. 

•Perchonok is Director at the 

Yusuf Bala Usman Institute.


Lawyers divided over AGF’s plan 

to whittle down EFCC’s powers 

By Henry Ojelu & 

Onozure Dania 

The Assets Recovery body 

created out of the Economic 

and Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, by the 

Attorney-General of the 

Federation and Minister of 

Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, 

which seems to whittle down the 

power of the commission, has 

continued to generate reactions. 

In this edition, lawyers who 

spoke to Vanguard Law and 

Human Rights, expressed 

divergent views. 

Excerpt: 

Kabir Akingbolu: "The plan by 

the AGF to whittle down the power 

of the EFCC is an unfortunate one 

and a clear attempt to undermine 

the very essence of the agency and 

by extension, the end of the 

corruption fighting mantra of the 

Buhari-led administration. For 

crying out loud, the AGF is at the 

centre of the controversy, nothing is 

being done about it but the attention 

of the AGF whom many people, 

especially the NBA, are levelling 

allegations of corruption and other 

malfeasances against, has suddenly 

moved to amend the EFCC enabling 

Act to whittle down the powers of 

the EFCC, perhaps to bring it under 

his control more than ever before. 

“This is bad and highly distasteful. 

I make bold to say this because once 

the independence of the EFCC is 

tampered with beyond what it is 

today, we are back in Egypt as far 

as corruption is concerned. In fact, 

it means the very carrot dangled 

before us to vote for the president 

has become sour. It is a pity and I 

pray the AGF does not succeed in 

this assignment, but if he does, 

posterity will judge our leaders to 

have condoned illegality.” 

Evans Ufeli, Executive 

Director, Cadrell Advocacy 

Centre: “The EFCC Act no doubt 

needs to be amended but not in the 

light the AGF wants it done. The 

AGF wants the EFCC to be 

subservient to him because he feels 

his powers under section 175 of the 

1999 Constitution as amended 

confers on him the enormous 

powers to boss every other law 

enforcement agency. He is wrong. 

The EFCC is a creation of an Act of 

Parliament grafted with 

independent powers to investigate, 

arrest, prosecute and trace 

economic and financial crime 

offenders and their assets thereof 

and subject the proceeds of their 

crimes for forfeiture when necessary 

through the judicial system. 

“The AGF wants to drag the 

EFCC with these enormous 

functions under his whims and 

caprices to weaken the commission 

and soil its reputation. I think the 

EFCC Act should rather be 

amended to allow for a neutral body 

to manage forfeited assets to enable 

the organisation focus on its primary 

duty as an anti-graft agency as 

stated by law. 

“Perhaps, the AMCON Act 

should be amended and its 

jurisdiction expanded to allow for it 

to manage forfeited assets and 

proceeds of crime rather than 

subjecting it to the apron string of 

the AGF. That is too dangerous. Or 

a new institution should be 

established to manage assets 

*Malami, SAN, AGF and Minister of Justice 

altogether.” 

Adesina Ogunlana, NBA exchairman, 

Ikeja branch: “Not 

necessarily. Remember the present 

issue with the deposed EFCC head 

is on the management of recovered 

assets. The division could be a form 

of separation of responsibilities to 

avoid abuse of powers.” 

Chief Morah Ekwunoh: 

said: “Frankly speaking, the EFCC 

is overdue for going under the knife 

of serious reformative surgery, so as 

to slightly unbundle it with a view 

to creating a separate and distinct 

body or agency of government 

saddled with another aspect of its 

present hybrid. As John Gower 

would say, “jack of all trades, but 

master of none.” Powers and 

responsibilities of, amongst others, 

initiation of complaints, 

investigation, prosecution, and 

assets recovery and management, 

but not, to the least, cast in the mould 

of the proposed Proceeds of Crime 

Recovery and Management 

We should be 

concerned about 

the message and 

not the messenger, 

separating and 

creating an 

independent body 

to manage the 

recovered assets by 

the EFCC is a 

welcome 

development and 

has long been 

overdue 

Agency, but in the mould of 

separate prosecutorial agency. 

“Variables which readily spout in 

justification this position include 

radical reduction in, and lightening 

of, heavy yoke of absolute powers 

on EFCC, which, as Lord Acton 

would also say, “corrupts 

absolutely”, and derail it, as 

exemplified by startling revelations 

from the Justice Ayo Salami-led 

Presidential Panel investigating its 

erstwhile Chairman, Ibrahim 

Magu; its service as precursor to 

insulation of the agency from the 

apron strings of the Presidency and 

the Attorney-General of the 

Federation, jointly and/or severally, 

which have, over the years, 

employed and deployed same as 

willing and ready tool to hunt, 

witch-hunt and hound perceived 

political enemies and intellectual 

‘prophets’ and conveyor belts of 

plurality of critical, but highly 

invaluable, views on governance; 

and compliance with globally 

acknowledged practice of not being 

the complainant, investigator and 

prosecutor, all at once, in conformity 

to the basic cannons of impartiality, 

fairness and natural justice, as 

encapsulated in section 36 (1) of the 

1999 Constitution, as amended. 

“In the circumstances, creation of 

separate prosecutorial agency, as 

opposed to the proposed creation 

of Proceeds of Crime Recovery and 

Management Agency, will greatly 

oil and lubricate the agency’s 

operational engine for optimal 

efficiency. 

“On whether the proposal is a plot 

to destroy EFCC for personal gains 

out of its ashes of ruin, l posit, with 

utmost sublimity, that, in all its pitch 

and substance, form and content, 

the move may not destroy EFCC to 

smithereens, but will allow the 

executive, through the umblical cord 

of the new agency, and while 

balancing like a spider at the centre 

of its web, balefully embarks on sole 

cherry-picking over the enormous 

juice and sauces derivable from the 

EFCC very lucrative operations. 

“In another phraseology, it wants 

to be in the position to pluck and 

enjoy the honey, while sidetracking 

08152060944 

Tributes at Karibi-Whyte’s service of songs 

THE family of late Supreme 

Court Justice, Adolphus 

Karibi-Whyte held a service of 

songs for him last Thursday at the 

Church of Nativity, Parkview 

Estate, Lagos. 

Friends and family members of 

the late jurist paid glowing tributes 

to him, acknowledging him as one 

of Nigeria’s most illustrious 

judicial officers. 

In attendance at the event were 

late jusrist’s children led by his 

son, Mr Dagogo Karibi-Whyte, 

notable lawyers and judges, 

including Chief Olakurin, SAN, 

Mr George Etomi, Chuka Agbu, 

SAN, former NBA President and 

Augustine Alegeh, SAN. 

Former Petroleum Minister, Mr 

Odein Ajumogobia, SAN said of 

him ‘although most of his 

judgments were dissenting, 

Parliament changed the laws 

following his judgments, even 

when he dissents from the other 

six justices. 

‘He was a professor of law at the 

University of Lagos before going 

to the Bench and he was very 

and neglecting the bees that 

labouriously produced the sweet 

honey.” 

Chief Goddy Uwazurike, 

former President, Aka Ikenga: 

“I don’t think there is a plan to whittle 

down the powers of the EFCC. The 

Act that set up EFCC clearly 

delineated its powers which are 

clearly enormous. But the activities 

of the body in some areas must be 

subject to the directives of the AGF. 

One of such directives is on disposal 

of seized assets. From the media 

exchanges, we believe that EFCC 

did not take instructions from the 

AGF. The creation of a new agency 

is unnecessary as the function of 

managing the assets can 

conveniently be assigned to a desk 

in the office of the AG. 

“It is more of record keeping which 

I believe is lacking right now. If you 

remember when Magu appeared 

for confirmation in the Senate, a 

couple of years, he could not give 

account of the recovered assets. 

EFCC was created under Obasanjo 

and it has always had a turbulent 

time under different AGFs. The boss 

of EFCC must be mature enough 

to understand that his power is not 

absolute. 

“Until Magu was removed, he 

saw himself as above the control of 

the court. He was untouchable. 

Lawyers, in the process of 

representing their clients, became 

exposed to danger. But Magu feels 

the need for legal representation 

now. It is wrong to accuse AGF of 

seeking to destroy EFCC for 

personal gains. His stay as AGF is 

not permanent. The AGF is the chief 

law officer of the Federal Republic! 

His office is constitutional; EFCC is 

a creation of the National Assembly.” 

Abdulganeey Imran, Centre 

for Law & Civil Culture: “We 

should be concerned about the 

message and not the messenger, 

separating and creating an 

independent body to manage the 

recovered assets by the EFCC is a 

welcome development and has 

long been overdue. It wouldn’t in 

Godly. He had an uncommon 

sense of humour." 

Also, former Rivers State 

Governor and Minister of 

Transport, Rotimi Amaechi said 

Karibi-Whyte, JSC was very 

honest and sincere in his entire 

professional and family life. 

Chief Tonye-Cole said: ‘He 

taught us about integrity. He gave 

us a feel of what it meant to be in 

the judiciary. He lifted us up and 

taught us what it meant to defend 

the integrity of the country.’ 

For former NBA President, Paul 

Usoro, SAN: ‘You must be 

exceptional for Nigeria to 

recognise you. He was exceptional 

as a judge and as a professor of 

law. He made us feel proud.’ 

NBA President, Mr Olumide 

Akpata said: ‘I consider myself 

privileged to have known Karibi- 

Whyte in his life, as I grew up with 

his children.' 

Ajumogobia SAN said: 

‘Factories that produced his types 

no longer exist.’ His son in-law, 

former Attorney-General of Edo 

State, Chief Charles Edosonwan, 

SAN, in his tribute said: ‘It’s hard 

any way destroy or hinder the 

performance of the EFCC statutory 

functions. Over the years, nobody 

could give accurate figures of the 

sum of money, assets- both tangible 

and intangible- so far recovered by 

the EFCC. 

“We have seen and witnessed 

how money and assets recovered 

by the EFCC were again re-looted. 

These are regular serious 

allegations against the anti graft 

body. There must be a way forward 

to address this genuine concern. 

My takes on this is that an 

independent statutorily created 

body, be set up to manage the 

recovered asset, a body similar to 

the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund 

(PTF) created by the late General 

Sanni Abacha and headed by the 

present president, Muhammad 

Buhari. 

“At least, we all witnessed massive 

infrastructural development 

successfully executed by the PTF in 

all the nook and crannies of our dear 

country. I therefore, support the call 

for the creation of Asset Recovery 

Body to manage the loot recovered 

provided there will be water tight 

provision for transparency and 

accountability in the new law setting 

up same.” 

Adenrele Adegborioye: “I 

support the idea of creation of the 

Assets Recovery body. This is 

because when EFCC was created, 

management of seized or recovered 

assets was not put into 

contemplation hence the 

commission was not well prepared 

to manage or handle assets 

recovered as proceeds of crime. This 

has resulted in the cases of 

mismanagement of recovered assets 

which on its own is a major problem. 

Therefore it is my view that to enjoy 

maximum benefits from the 

activities of EFCC and other anti 

corruption agencies there is the 

need to set up a more specialised 

body that will handle recovered 

assets. 

“This will not only give room for 

transparency but the country will 

have optimum benefits from anti 

corruption activities and EFCC will 

concentrate on dealing with 

corruption matters and not bother 

itself with management of recovered 

assets. In my view it is not intended 

to whittle down the powers of EFCC 

but to make it more efficient and 

productive.” 

to deal with the loss of Justice 

Adolphous Godwin Karibi-Whyte 

for one wished he could have gone 

on living forever. However, life is 

such that none lives forever and 

like all mortals, he had to go one 

day, his day being 22nd May 2020. 

He was 88 but his passing was 

still a blow. 

‘Married to Tonye his dear 

darling daughter, just like all his 

children, I called him “dad” to his 

face or “The Old Boy” away from 

him. Larger than life that he was 

to the outside world, he wasn’t the 

big man at home but a taciturn soft 

spoken patriarch to his family 

members; dad to us his children 

and children in-law, and simply 

“Adol” to mommy – Mrs Faith 

Karibi-Whyte nee Bob-Manuel. 

'Many others within the family 

referred to him simply as “Uncle 

Adol” which is far away from the 

formal Judge (Justice, Dr, Sir, 

Chief) Adolphous Karibi-Whyte 

JSC and many other epaulettes 

that announce him to the world as 

a man of global acclaim with 

uncommon achievements.' 

C 

M 

Y 

K


08052202308 (sms only) 

Fuel, electricity tariff hike: All eyes on Labour as 

nationwide strike, mass protest loom 

Stories by Victor 

Ahiuma-Young 

SINCE the hikes in the pump 

price of petrol and electricity 

tariff, there have been pockets 

of protest by aggrieved groups 

in parts of the country to 

denounce the hikes and call for 

reversal. Many groups 

especially members of the civil 

society allies, have called on 

organized labour to provide the 

leadership for protest to force the 

federal government to have a 

rethink. 

Today, all eyes are on the 

leaders of Nigeria Labour 

Congress, NLC, and its Trade 

Union Congress of Nigeria, 

TUC's counterparts, to 

organised a succesful protest 

against the hikes. 

Recall that in 2016 when the 

present government raised the 

pump price price of petrol from 

N86.50 to N145 per lite, the 

attempt by organised labour to 

protest the hike ended in a 

fiasco in wake of TUC and the 

then Joe Ajaero-led faction of 

NLC withdrawal from the 

planned strike. 

However, today not only is 

NLC united, the TUC is fully in 

support of NLC's position on the 

hikes. 

The body languages of leaders 

of NLC and TUC indicate 

prepardness to provide the 

leadership against the hikes. 

The first sign was on 

September 14, strike notice by 

the TUC to the government to 

reverse to old prices within 

seven days or face industrial 

action. 

Similarly, the meeting 

between the federal government 

and organized labour to find a 

common ground to the hikes 

ended in a deadlock with no 

fixed date for reconvening. 

Also, NLC at its meeting on 

Spetember 16, fixed Monday 

September 28, as possible date 

to begin a nationwide strike 

and mass protest against the 

hikes. 

As part of the build-up, on 

September 22, NLC's 

National Executive Council, 

NEC, met and endorsed and 

ratified the September 28, 

date to commence an 

indefinite nationwide strike 

and mass protest should 

government fail to reverse the 

hikes before the deadline. 

TUC has also on same day 

(September 22), extended its 

strike notice to tally with 

NLC's position. 

If the September 28, stands, it 

is expected that leaders of NLC 

, TUC and their civil society 

allies, under the umbrella of 

Joint Action Front, JAF, will meet 

in the coming days to 

harmonise strategies and 

modalities for the action. 

Going by the words of labour 

leaders during September 7 

meeting with the federal 

government representatives, the 

die appears is cast and 

confrontation inevitable, unless 

government reverse the hikes. 

The Government team led 

A cross section of Nigerians protesting against the recent Federal Government's increase in 

prices of petrol and electricity tariff 

by the Minister of Labour and 

Employment, Chris Ngige, had 

Minister of State for Employment, 

Festus Keyamo SAN; Minister of 

Power, Mamman; Minister of 

Works and Housing, Babatunde 

Fashola SAN; Minister of State 

for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva and 

others in attendance. 

Crisis: Food union leaders dismiss allegation of tenure 

elongation 

THE National Union of 

Food Beverage and 

Tobacco Employees, 

NUFBTE, has dismissed 

alleged tenure elongation 

against the Lateef Oyelekan 

led National Administrative 

Council, NAC, by aggrieved 

members, insisting there is 

no crisis in the union as such 

the union remains intact. 

But the aggrieved members 

led by Peter Onoja, 

contended that the root cause 

of the crisis in the union is 

illegal tenure elongation by 

Oyelekan and others, after 

allegedly being in the saddle 

for over 12 years. 

He claimed that Oyelekan 

and others had disobeyed a 

court order to appropriate 

another two years to remain 

in office. 

According to him, among 

others, “Oyelekan’s tenure 

has expired, since January 

11, 2020, he was voted into 

power on January 11th, 2008, 

and has uninterruptedly been 

in office for more than 12 

years. During this time no 

payment of statutory rebate to 

organs of the union’s state 

councils and branches. 

However, at a briefing, 

Oyelekan said the National 

Administrative Committee, 

NAC, elected on December 

19, 2016, for a four year 

tenure was still united apart 

from the national Signing 

Trustee, Onoja Peter who is 

currently on suspension due 

to alleged gross anti-union 

conducts, and the General 

Secretary, Bamidele 

Busari,also on suspension 

over alleged gross infraction 

against the constitution of the 

union. 

Speaking at the meeting, the 

NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, 

faulted the federal government 

for unilaterally fixing of prices of 

electricity and petrol without 

consultations with Nigerians, 

majority of whom he said were 

struggling to survive because of 

the high cost of living occasioned 

According to him, “out of 11 

elected members of NAC, 10 

are very united in performing 

their duties. In the same vein, 

out of six appointed members, 

five are performing their 

respective duties with absolute 

commitment. 

On alleged tenure 

elongation, he contended that 

the two years election 

deferment, referred to as 

‘Tenure Elongation’ was 

specifically targeted at 

achieving the building of 

another befitting hotel project 

in Ibadan to be completed and 

commissioned latest by 

December 2022. 

Oyelekan, while insisting 

that no court injunction was 

served the union up till today, 

he said “we are a law abiding 

union. If we were served, we 

should have obeyed. As we 

by government’s recent policies 

which included increase in the 

Value Added Tax, VAT. 

According to him, “The 

question now is what you have 

on the table to actually cushion 

the effect on workers and their 

families because they have been 

pushed to the wall. They are 

speak, we have not been served 

any court order." 

Reading the press statement, 

acting General Secretary, Mike 

Olanrewaju, said among 

others; “contrary to the 

impression being portrayed in 

media, the truth is that the 

president was never involved 

in the initiative of the 

progressive idea of two years 

tenure extension. Rather, it 

was a collective decision of the 

union members across the 

country to the mutual benefit 

of all members. 

“The deferment of elections 

across board of all organs of 

the union by two years, in 

other words, two years 

extension of the current 

tenure of elected officers of 

our union was a progressive 

decision and overwhelming 

already enraged. Do you have 

anything for us so that we can 

say yes despite this challenges 

this is what I have for Nigerian 

workers that they will be able to 

have something that can cushion 

this effect for them? Already, the 

value of the minimum wage has 

been eroded. The purchasing 

power parity when you compare 

with all West African countries we 

are already on the ground. That 

is the reality. If Ghana compares 

their minimum wage with our 

own you will see their minimum 

wage.” 

Wabba, who accused the 

federal government of 

transferring the “inefficiency in 

the subsidy regime” to the 

consumers which they have to 

pay through hike in price, urged 

the government to fix the nation’s 

refineries and stop lining the 

pockets of fuel through a 

fraudulent subsidy regime. 

“The question our members are 

asking is, does it really mean that 

the politicians represent the rich 

people in this country? Does it 

mean it is only labour that 

represents the poor people?" 

adoption by the National 

Executive Council, NEC, at 

its annual meeting held in 

Abuja in February 4, 2019. 

“The decision was arrived 

as a fall-out of the transparent 

financial report presented by 

the leadership of our union to 

the NEC in session. The 

motive of the deferment of 

elections by two years was 

predicated on the necessity to 

avoid the unhealthy of 

animosity, bickering and 

unnecessary distractions 

usually associated with the 

process and conduct of 

elections. The motion was 

also moved by the same set 

of members now clamouring 

for the discontinuation of the 

tenure extension 

implementation.” 

Jurisdiction: Union tasks senior staff in paper 

industry on court ruling 

PULP Paper and Paper 

Products, Printing and 

Publishing Senior Staff 

Association of Nigeria, 

PPAPPPAPSSAN, has called on 

all workers from the supervisory 

level in the sector, to honour the 

jurisdictional scope for a robust 

collective bargaining approach. 

In a statement by 

PPAPPPAPSSAN President and 

General Secretary, Dada Joseph, 

and Benedict Ikegbulam, the 

uniobn said among others, "No 

junior workers trade union can 

negotiate, represent or defend 

the course of senior employees 

anywhere in Nigerian for lack of 

locus stand! This is the hard 

reality and the position of the law 

in trade unionism in Nigeria. It 

may be pertinent here to inform 

the workers and the employers 

in the industry that Nigeria 

National Industrial Court is the 

final arbiter in all trade union 

disputes in Nigeria. 

"The jurisdictional scope of the 

two unions generated a lot of 

controversies between them for 

over two decades and every effort 

of PPAPPPAPSSAN to settle the 

matter out of Court proved 

abortive. This confusion was 

capitalized on, by the employers 

in the industry to choose which 

of the two unions to operate in 

the Company rather than having 

the two simultaneously as 

provided in labour laws. This is 

inspite of Federal Ministry of 

labour's several clarifications on 

the matter. 

"It was on the consistent refusal 

of NUPPPPROW to limit its 

membership to its jurisdictional 

scope (junior workers) in the 

industry that forced 

PPAPPPAPSSAN to approach 

the National Industrial Court to 

interpret the jurisdictional scope 

of the two unions in May 2019. 

"The Court presided over by 

Justice I. J. ESSIEN in the Suit 

no NJIC/LA/243/2019 in its 

judgment delivered May 11, 

2020 granted PPAPPPAPSSAN 

all its prayers as follows: 

"The jurisdictional scope of 

the defendant shall be limited 

to junior staff while that of 

the claimant to senior staff 

from supervisory or 

equivalent level upward 

within the pulp paper and 

paper products, printing, and 

publishing companies and 

industries wherever it exists 

in Nigeria as approved and 

registered by the registrar of 

trade unions."


HORROR: LG director murdered 

in presence of wife, children 

*How my Husband was killed – Wife 

*Why was my father killed? Son laments 

*Killers would be fished out – Police 

By Rotimi Ojomoyela 

“WHY was my father killed, what 

has he done to deserve such a 

gruesome death, how could 

people be so wicked to snuff life 

out of an easy going man like my 

Father?” 

These were the questions on the 

quivering lips of Jejelowo 

Gbohunmi, one of the sons of the 

slain Director of Administration 

in the Ekiti State Local 

Government Service 

Commission, Prince David 

Jejelowo, to whoever comes to 

sympathize with them on the 

gruesome murder of his father. 

The deceased was robbed 

sometimes in 2005, and 

kidnapped on Monday, January 

7, 2019 along Ijan-Ekiti road, 

while returning from his office at 

Ode-Ekiti, the headquarters of 

Gboyin local government area. 

He escaped death then after 

being held captive for four days. 

He was set free after an undisclosed 

amount of money was paid as 

ransom by his family members. 

Sadly, the police is still searching 

for those responsible for his 

abduction. 

The agent of death came calling 

again nine months after his close 

shave with death. This time, there 

was no escape. His assailants 

pumped hot bullets into him, 

killing him right in the presence of 

his wife and children. 

His assailants may have trailed 

him from either his friend’s place 

or the barber’s shop where he 

visited before retiring to his house 

on the night he was killed in cold 

blood. 

Their house, located on Umesi 

By James Ogunnaike 

A 

coalition of youths of the 

Idejiyo Ruling House of 

Igbesaland, in Ado-Odo/Ota Local 

Government area of Ogun State 

have petitioned the Ogun State 

Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun 

to wade into the Obaship crisis in 

the town and stop the alleged 

desperation of some indigenes to 

subvert due process in the 

installation of the traditional ruler 

of the town 

Speaking through their counsel, 

Casmier Nwoye, the youths in a 

petition titled ‘’Re: Desperation by 

Some Unscrupulous Elements to 

Subvert due process and the rule 

of law in the kingship stool of 

Igbesaland; a plea for timely 

intervention,’’ called on Governor 

Abiodun to wade into the Obaship 

crisis in the ancient town and stop 

the installation of illegal Oba for 

the town. 

“As you may be aware sir, the 

Obaship stool of Igbesaland 

became vacant, by reason of death 

of the then paramount king of 

Late Prince David Jejelowo 

Street, Akinyede Estate, Igirigiri 

area of Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State 

capital, has been busy, as 

sympathizers have been trooping 

in and out since the deceasedwas 

shot dead by unknown gunmen 

around 10pm on a Sunday. 

Neighbours gathered in clusters, 

some wailing, gnashing their teeth 

and stamping the ground while 

others were talking in hush tones, 

as an air of melancholy permeates 

Igbesaland, Oba Olushola Banuso 

in 2015. 

“Since then, attempts and efforts 

have been made, albeit 

unsuccessfully, at the installation 

of a new King for Igbesaland, owing 

to some imbroglios which have 

characterized the said Obaship 

stool from nomination of 10 illegal 

warrant chiefs by the then 

Commissioner for Local 

Government and Chieftaincy 

Affairs, instead of appointment of 

three warrant king-makers to join 

the only surviving king-maker for 

the legal selection of a candidate 

to occupy the Obaship stool out 

of the 10 nominated candidates 

contesting for the throne. 

“It is the case of our clients, and in 

line with the Chieftaincy Declaration 

of Igbesaland, which was made on the 

15th day of September 1955, approved 

on the 18th day of October 1956 and 

registered on the 24th day of April 

1958, that from relatively recent 

antiquity, the Obaship stool of 

Igbesaland had been conscientiously 

and agreeably restricted to three 

ruling houses to wit; (a) Idejiyo 

the whole of Imesi street. 

The living room of the deceased 

was also filled with sympathizers 

with tell tale signs of the attack - 

bullet-ridden walls and bloodstained 

tiled floors. 

To many in the state, Jejelowo’s 

fate appeared as a big jigsaw puzzle, 

which the law enforcement 

agencies in the state would have to 

find an answer. 

How my husband was killed – 

wife 

Narrating how her husband was 

mowed down by the mysterious 

gunmen, traumatized Mrs 

Olusola Jejelowo said: “The 

incident happened around 9:30- 

10 pm on Sunday night. We were 

in our living room watching NTA 

newsline on Sunday, and just 

about a few minutes to the end of 

the programme, we had gunshots 

from one of the windows in the 

living room. 

“My Husband had earlier gone 

out to check the gates and the 

door and this had been his routine 

since he returned from the 

kidnapper’s den early last year. 

All the curtains had been drawn 

down, we had also put off all the 

lights, especially in the living 

room. It was only the television 

light that provided illumination. 

Suddenly, we started noticing 

movement around one of the 

windows and we observed that 

the blind was opened. 

“Immediately, my husband 

stood up and as he was 

approaching the window I heard 

a gunshot, I ran through the 

dinning wing to the room but my 

husband went to the side of the 

sitting room and the assailant shot 

at him many times. 

Royal tussle: Igbesa youths petition Ogun govt 

Ruling House (b) Idorubu Ruling 

House (c) Iganla Ruling House. 

“Pursuant to the above, the Idejiyo 

ruling house had a chance and 

indeed produced the King of 

Igbesaland, Oba Saliu Dada Akinde 

between 1953-1955. Thereafter, it 

was the turn of the Idorubu Ruling 

House, which produced the next 

king of Igbesaland, Oba Adeshola 

Benjamin between 1957-1985. 

Then came the turn of the Iganla 

Ruling House, which produced the 

last king of Igbesaland HRM Oba 

Olushola Banuso between 1986 

and 2015. Rotationally, it is the 

turn of the Idejiyo Ruling House at 

the kingship stool of Igbesaland. 

“It is on record that the resultant 

selection processes of the would-be 

candidate for the Igbesa Obaship stool, 

which were sequel to the already tainted 

(with inequity) nominations was 

eventually declared a nullity by a court 

judgement, which was delivered by His 

Lordship, Hon Justice N.I Agbelu on 

Wednesday, the 26th day of June, 

2019. The said judgement was based 

on the illegal constitution of the warrant 

chiefs who had selected Prince 

My husband was hit by 

bullets in several parts of his 

body including his 

abdomen and shoulder. 

After the assailant left, he 

was in a pool of his own 

blood, moaning and 

gasping for air. 

“Immediately after the 

shooting, the person left, we 

could not identify whether it was 

a male or female, old or young. I 

and the children came out and 

started screaming for help but for 

30 minutes no one could come 

out because the sound of the gun 

was heavy. 

‘’My husband was hit by bullets 

in several parts of his body 

including his abdomen and 

shoulder. After the assailant left, 

he was in a pool of his own blood, 

moaning and gasping for air. The 

words that came to my mouth at 

that moment was ‘who could have 

done this? Is this the end of this 

Abdulazeez Oluwatoyin Akinde, in 

total disregard to the Chieftaincy 

Declaration of Igbesaland. 

“The judgement also ordered a 

reconstitution of the King-makers for 

the purposes of re-selecting the Oba 

of Igbesaland, as the fruit of any bad 

tree can never be good. 

“In spite of the above court 

judgement, some elements in and 

around Igbesa, have kept on 

parading Prince Abdulazeez 

Oluwatoyin Akinde as the Oba-elect 

for the Igbesa kingship stool." 

“We have the instruction of our 

clients, to specifically appeal to you 

to order strict adherence to the 

rotational agreement of the clans 

within the Idejiyo Ruling House as 

the Obaship stool of Igbesaland is 

their turn. As such, a fresh election 

should be ordered, to the exclusion 

of the Saliu Dada (Akinde) clan, in 

that they produced the Oba of 

Igbesaland in 1953 thereby 

allowing other clans of the Idejiyo 

Ruling House to take their chance 

at the Obaship stool of Igbesaland.” 

show? among other words’. 

“It happened right in my eyes, 

my husband was killed right before 

me. We want God to do justice, 

because there is no justice in 

Nigeria now. I believe that the 

Lord that he served would do 

justice. God will expose the 

person(s) behind this. I want 

justice. I want justice from God 

and man. 

“ Let the person(s) responsible 

for this be exposed so that he/she/ 

they can confess and tell the world 

what my husband did that he was 

so tormented to that extent. He 

was a CAC member, a lover of 

Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola. He 

loved God till his death.’’ 

It’s a clear case of 

assassination - son 

Gbohunmi, the second son of 

Jejelowo, claimed that the killing 

of his father was a clear 

assassination based on the 

manner of the operation. ‘’He was 

not a politician or a businessman. 

Why was he killed gruesomely?’ 

He said: “I was inside the room 

with my younger brother when I 

heard my father trying to ask who 

was at the window and the next 

thing I heard was sporadic 

gunshots, and right in my room I 

was praying that the gunshots 

should be to the air because if 

eventually if they meet anyone, 

such person cannot survive them. 

“Lo and behold, we came out 

and met our father in a pool of 

blood. We tried to rescue him, we 

rushed him to a nearby hospital 

but we were referred to the 

University Teaching Hospital 

where he was confirmed dead. 

“We seek justice. We want 

government and security 

agencies to rise up to their 

responsibilities and fish out the 

perpetrator of this evil act. My dad 

at about 8pm paid a visit to his 

bosom friend in the street, he was 

also at a barber’s shop to cut his 

hair that same evening before he 

returned home. He was not killed 

at these spots but in his own house, 

it shows the killer did it with 

confidence. 

“I couldn’t blame anyone 

particularly neighbours who 

couldn’t come out but I am 

surprised that despite our visit to 

the police station to report the 

matter perhaps for first hand 

evidences, they did not show up 

until 10am the next day. 

“If the killer of my dad could go 

free, definitely we are not safe, 

what do you expect of us as 

children, are we safe? 

“My dad was kidnapped 

sometimes last year between 

January 7 and 9. I think both 

crimes are related. After he was 

released from the den of 

kidnappers, a month after, we 

visited a communication 

company to verify the identity of 

the line with which the kidnappers 

contacted us, we were told that 

my dad came to register same line 

a month before the incident and 

my dad confirmed that he didn’t 

register such line. 

“After he was released, my dad 

had been gripped with fear, he 

panicked at every little thing, he 

was scared of travelling, his blood 

pressure rose beyond normal.” 

Killers would be fished out- 

Police 

The Police Public Relations 

Officer, Mr Sunday Abutu, told 

South-West voice that 

investigation is still ongoing to 

unravel the assassins of Jejelowo, 

“we are assuring the public that 

the perpetrators shall be arrested 

and punished for their sins.” 

The police spokesman urged the 

public to oblige the police with 

information that can help them in 

checkmating killings and other 

crimes in the state.


Plans to convert disputed land 

trigger violence in Osun 

•Surveyor murdered on land 

•House razed, farmlands destroyed 

By Shina Abubakar 

THE lingering land 

dispute between two 

neighbouring 

communities in Osun 

State has become a life 

threatening crisis for 

residents of Iloba town as 

most of them have been 

denied access to their 

houses and farms. 

It was gathered that a 

surveyor with Erin-Osun 

community was killed by 

some hoodlums while 

working on the disputed 

land, which the 

community earmarked 

for a housing scheme. 

Vanguard learned that 

the land has been a source 

of dispute between the two 

neighbouring 

communities but tension 

heightened when Erin- 

Osun decided to use it for a 

housing scheme. 

The crisis climaxed with 

the death of one Tairu 

Badmus, 50, who was said 

to be working with a 

surveyor on the disputed 

land on the instruction of 

Erin community on 

September 2, 2020. 

A reprisal attack that 

ensued the following day 

led to burning of houses 

and destruction of 

farmlands and properties 

in Iloba. 

According to a poultry 

farmer in the village, 

Oluwagbeminiyi Agboola, 

some hoodlums invaded 

Iloba, ransacked the 

community and set houses 


THE Bishop of the 

Anglican Diocese of 

Akure, Ondo State, Rt. Rev. 

Simeon Borokini has 

described the increase in 

fuel price and electricity 

tariff by government as 

callous considering the 

impact of the COVID-19 

pandemic on the people. 

Bishop Borokini said this 

in his charge during the 

year’s Synod held at St 

Stephen’s Church, Akure, 

the state capital. 

“It was callous of the 

government to increase the 

prices of essential 

commodities during the 

pandemic 

“Many advanced 

countries were making life 

easier for their citizens 

through tax cuts and 

ablaze, as well as 

destroying means of 

livelihood belonging to 

individuals. 

He said his 200 layers 

poultry was also 

ransacked and destroyed 

completely. 

“I was on my way to 

Ibadan, Oyo State to take 

eggs to the hatchery when 

my car developed some 

mechanical fault. I had to 

call a friend from Ibadan 

to help with the eggs while 

I returned to the farm. 

However, before I got 

there someone called me 

not to return to the farm 

that there was crisis in the 

village. So, I had to take 

another route to Osogbo. 

While I was on the way, I 

saw some hoodlums 

around Erin-Osun, they 

barricaded the road and 

searched every vehicle 

including mine. 

“The following day, one 

of my staffers called me 

that we were given a day 

to vacate the farmland 

else the farm will be 

destroyed that Erin-Osun 

community wanted to use 

the land. 

Meanwhile, I had been 

on the land for a decade, I 

bought it from the Iloba 

people, I wondered why 

some people would be 

laying claim to it now. 

“Even house owners 

have been given deadline 

to vacate the land else 

their properties would be 

destroyed too”, he 

lamented. 

palliatives, the Nigerian 

government was doing the 

exact opposite. 

“There was increase in 

electricity and fuel which 

are uncalled for at this 

time.” 

Speaking on the 

corruption in Niger Delta 

Development Commission, 

NDDC, the clergyman 

asked President 

Muhammadu Buhari to 

“immediately freeze the 

accounts of the NDDC and 

overhaul the commission 

and the Ministry of Niger 

Delta Affairs over 

corruption scandals. 

Bishop Borokini also 

expressed concern over the 

spate of insecurity in the 

country. 

“ The church is 

concerned over the spate of 

insecurity in the country 

especially the incessant 

EDITOR: Dayo Johnson (08033509763) 

Deputy Editor: Dapo Akinrefon 08023844928 

(sms only) 

CORRESPONDENTS: 

Ola Ajayi 

Ibadan 

Dare Fasube 

(Photo) 

Rotimi Ojomoyela 

Ekiti 

Adeola Badru 

Ibadan 

Shina Abubakar 

Osogbo 

James Ogunnaike 

Abeokuta 

A resident identified as 

Abass told Vanguard that 

the state government 

should intervene in the 

dispute, first, with a view 

to saving the lives and 

properties of residents and 

secondly to forestall 

intermittent crisis in the 

communities due to 

possible reprisal attacks. 

The Iloba monarch, Oba 

Gbadamonsi Ajibola, in his 

reaction alleged that Erin 

community mobilised to 

his community to commit 

arson. 

He said the action was 

borne out of bitterness 

because the state 

government had intended 

to elevate his stool to ‘Part 

two Oba’. 

Oba Ajibola appealed to 

the state government to 

intervene in the crisis to 

avoid bloodshed. 

The monarch said he 

does not know those who 

attacked the surveyor and 

his team along Erin/ 

Egbedi road. 

However, counsel to the 

Erin Community, Chief 

Abdulfatia Abdulsalam, 

refuted the claim that 

residents of his 

community razed houses 

in Iloba community. 

According to him, we did 

not raze any house in Iloba 

village or destroy any 

farmland. Those that were 

attacked were working on 

the land of Erin where we 

wanted to build Erin 

Housing Scheme. We did 

not encroach on any land. 

Hike in fuel price, electricity tariff: 

Ondo Anglican Bishop knocks FG 

killings going on in the 

Christian dominated 

Southern Kaduna in 

Kaduna State, armed 

banditry and activities of 

Boko Haram in the North, 

the menace of herdsmen 

and armed robbery as well 

as kidnapping in the 

country. 

“The case of rape and 

special assault in Nigeria is 

alarming and we call on 

government at all levels to 

wake up to their 

responsibilities. 

“With the present 

security situation in the 

country, I won’t support 

self-defence because it will 

lead to anarchy. 

“The church can only 

appeal to those who are 

responsible for the security 

of the country to take 

proactive measure and 

show more concern about 

security.” 

Speaking on 

the Companies 

and Allied 

Matters Act , 

CAMA, he said: 

“We discovered 

that in some 

churches, the 

pastors are the 

alpha and 

omega. They 

don’t have age 

of retirement. 

VISIT: Chief Executive Officer, 9mobile, Alan Sinfield (left) and Executive 

Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications 

Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, during 9mobile's courtesy 

visit to the NCC at the commission's Zonal Office in Ikoyi, Lagos, Monday. 

PROMO: From left, Embassey Taiwo, Head of Region, Channel Sales, 

9mobile; Oluwaseyifunmi Ade-Odewunmi, N1 million winner and 

Adebola Hassan, 9mobile Retail Adviser, at the ongoing 9mobile Mega 

Millions Promo prize presentation, in Lagos. 

MEETING: From left—Pharm. Stephen Onojomete, Chairman, University 

of Benin Alumni Association, Lagos Branch inaugurating Barrister Tony 

Kpokpo, Mr. Edwin Obaseki FCA, Mr. Obukaroro Ovadje, Engr. Godson 

Aikhoje, Engr. Desmond Odiase, Barrister Kenneth Ebroimi (Legal Adviser 

to UBAA) and Engr. Stephen Emehi as members UBAA Lagos Branch 

Project 2020 Standing Committee on infrastructure during its general 

meeting held at the UNIBEN Guest House, Lagos. 

VISIT: From 3rd left: Comptroller of Immigration (NIS), Ogun State 

Command, Kunle Osisanya; Comptroller of Prisons Service, M. Olaniran; 

Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, Melville Oluwole, and other officers 

of both agencies during a familarisation visit by the Controller of Prisons 

to NIS in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

30 — Vangupard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

COVID-19: Is phased resumption by students 

solution to keeping universities running? 

•ASUU, NANS, NAPTAN disagree 

By Adesina Wahab 

WITH the decision by some 

state governments to 

reopen tertiary institutions owned 

by them, students in universities, 

polytechnics and colleges of 

education who have been at home 

since March this year now have the 

hope of continuing their studies. 

The institutions were at various 

stages of their academic sessions 

before all schools were closed by 

the Federal Government following 

the outbreak of the Coronavirus 

disease in the country. 

However, during the lockdown, 

many suggestions were made as 

to how schools at all levels in the 

country could continue to 

functions, one of which was that 

students could resume in batches. 

With the Lagos State 

Government blazing the trail in the 

reopening of tertiary Institutions 

in the country, agitation in some 

quarters that the approach be 

adopted by other states and the 

FG, has heightened. 

To those in support of adopting 

tbe step, it would help the system 

to continue in the face of the 

challenges posed by the pandemic. 

Vanguard spoke to some 

stakeholders in the sector on the 

appropriateness or otherwise of 

the action. 

The stakeholders were the 

Academic Staff Union of 

Universities, ASUU, the National 

Association of Nigerian Students, 

NANS and the National Parent 

Teacher Association of Nigeria, 

NAPTAN. They expressed different 

views about on the issue. 

ASUU's position 

The Chairman, ASUU, 

University of Lagos Chapter, Dr 

Dele Ashiru, faulted the move, 

saying the government was only 

trying to dodge the responsibility 

of providing adequate 

infrastructure in the nation's 

universities and other tertiary 

institutions. 

"The government must not shy 

away from the fact that it must 

provide adequate infrastructure in 

our tertiary institutions. Before 

considering phased reopening of 

universities and others, the 

government should expand the 

infrastructure there. Our 

universities are not only 

overcrowded, many basic things 

are lacking. 

"That has formed the plank of 

our agitation for years but some 

people seem not to understand. We 

are aware that some university 

administrators are trying to 

frustrate and sabotage our efforts. 

Incidentally, the same set of people 

do benefit from the dividends of 

our agitation. They benefit when 

the dividends of the agitation are 

being given to lecturers. 

Also, government should resolve 

the issue of our ongoing strike, 

without that, it may be difficult for 

our members to resume work. 

There are a number of issues the 

government has not resolved with 

us. We started our strike before the 

Coronavirus outbreak and up until 

now, they are yet to positively 

respond," he said. 

The view of NANS 

On the part of NANS, the South- 

West Zonal Coordinator, Comrade 

Kappo Samuel Olawale, noted 

that phased reopening of schools 

was one of the suggestions made 

by the body to the government. 

"It was one of our suggestions 

that students should resume in 

batches. University is a large 

community and an outbreak of 

any infection can be fatal. For the 

final year students to resume is 

good because they are almost 

finishing their programmes and 

would soon go into the labour 

market. 

"Students are tired of staying at 

home and it is becoming 

frustrating to them. At least civil 

servants also resumed work in 

batches and markets are opened 

in sequences too. We cannot 

ground the whole system. 

By Elizabeth Osayande 

THE Provost, Corona College of 

Education Ilupeju, Lagos, Dr 

Martin Obinyan, at the virtual 

graduation ceremony of 69 teachers 

stated that the College was the first 

in the country to use technology to 

complete its programmes despite the 

outbreak of COVID-19 which saw 

institutions being shut down. 

At the event which saw the 

induction of new set of students, 

Obinyan said that the teachers were 

presented with the Nigeria 

Certificate in Education, NCE and 

Professional Diploma in Education, 

PDE at the 2nd Convocation 

ceremony of the institution. 

According to the Provost: " We are 

the first College of Education in 

Nigeria to deploy technology 

massively for academic activities 

and we completed our programmes 

within the set time frame despite all 

odds. I therefore urge you as 

graduands to remain worthy 

ambassadors of the College and 

carry along with you the discipline, 

The reality now is that we must 

find a way of living with the virus 

safely. Time is very precious and 

we cannot afford to waste it. We 

must find a way out and that is 

what I think the government is 

trying to do," he said. 

What NAPTAN has to say 

For the National President of 

NAPTAN, Haruna Danjuma, there 

is nothing bad in the students 

resuming in batches, but observing 

all the safety protocols should be 

key. 

"All safety protocols must be 

observed. When that is done, it is 

okay. Doing the needful is 

important, as anything short of this 

will create problems. We don't want 

the lives of our children to be put 

in danger. This is just as we don't 

want their time wasted needlessly. 

We are compiling information 

from our state chapters to know 

what is happening," he said. 

Recall that the Lagos State 

•Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, UI, Prof. Abel Olayinka, right, with the 

Oyo State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Prof. Oyelowo 

Oyewo, during the commissioner's visit to the VC 

Government recently announced 

the reopening of tertiary 

institutions owned by it and that 

was followed by Ogun State 

Government which gave a similar 

directive. 

However, the resumption by the 

Lagos institutions ran into a hitch 

Stanbic IBTC institutes scholarship 

awards for Nigerian undergraduates 

Corona College of Education holds virtual graduation, inducts 69 

values and skills that you have 

developed while at the institution. As 

those values would help shape your 

future." 

Also speaking at the graduation 

ceremony, the College Chairman Mr 

Sulaiman Adedotun, who 

congratulated all graduating 

students and awardees, explained 

that the College, established almost 

a decade ago, was poised to 

contributing towards building 

teachers' capacity in the country 

primarily through continuous 

professional development 

programmes. 

He also appealed to the Federal 

Government of Nigeria and the State 

Government to recognise and 

support private educators as partners 

in progress in the noble cause. 

The Registrar and Chief Executive 

Officer, Teachers' Registration 

Council of Nigeria, TRCN, Prof. 

Josiah Ajiboye, applauded the 

CCED staff, and its management for 

always observing the TRCN 

induction protocols. 

Ajiboye, who praised stakeholders 

By Mary Obaebor 

STANBIC IBTC Holdings Plc, 

a member of the Standard 

Bank Group, has called for 

applications for the maiden 

edition of its 2020 Scholarship 

Programme. 

The Stanbic IBTC 2020 

Scholarship Programme, geared 

towards encouraging hard work 

and academic excellence amongst 

Nigerian undergraduates, and is 

open to students who participated 

in the 2020 Unified Tertiary 

Matriculation Examination 

(UTME) and have just gained 

admission into any of the tertiary 

institutions. 

The foremost end-to-end 

financial services provider has 

said that the total scholarship 

value of at least N40 

million, would be spread 

across four years and 

disbursed in tranches of 

N100,000 per academic 

year. The firm also said 

that subsequent 

disbursement of the funds 

would be based on the 

maintenance of at least 

second-class upper grade 

and good conduct of the 

student as referenced by 

the university. 

Dr Demola Sogunle, 

Chief Executive, Stanbic 

IBTC Holdings Plc, said 

the organisation 

recognised the 

importance and impact of 

education in the life of 

every Nigerian youth. 

According to him: 

“Education empowers 

and encourages the youth 

to prepare for the future 

in the education industry especially 

the government for using technology 

to bridge the gap in the teaching and 

learning process during the COVID 

19 lockdown, said Corona College 

of Education was one of the best 

By Adeola Badru 

DESPITE many demeaning 

comments about Nigeria's 

education system and the quality 

of education itself, two students at 

the Vale Tutorial College, Ibadan, 

Oyo State, John Pius-Obayemi and 

Al-Fatihi Abdulmalik, did pretty 

well, bagging distinctions in their 

Cambridge Advanced Level 

Examinations, held in June. 

Both students came tops with 

Obayemi, scoring three As in 

Physics, Mathematics and 

Chemistry, having the best result, 

while Abdulmalik also got As in 

Sociology, Economics, 

Mathematics, achieving second 

best result. 

as a result of protest by staff unions 

over the payment of the new 

minimum wage/consequential 

increment to the workers. 

Subsequent upon the reopening 

directive, the Lagos State 

University, LASU, the Lagos State 

Polytechnic, LASPOTECH, the 

Adeniran Ogunsanya College of 

Education, ACOED, the Michael 

Otedola College of Primary 

Education MOCPED, announced 

that their final year students would 

come on campus first, so as to 

quickly conclude their studies. 

Students in schools owned by the 

Federal Government are still 

waiting when they will resume and 

how they will resume. 

while also confronting challenges. 

Education is a panacea for growth 

and enduring development of any 

nation or organisation.” 

He reiterated that apart from 

making deliberate efforts to 

cushion the effects of the economic 

hardship caused by the pandemic 

on parents and guardians, the 

Stanbic IBTC 2020 Scholarship 

Programme would also seek to 

reward exceptional candidates 

who demonstrate academic 

excellence and good character. 

While assuring members of the 

public of the organisation’s 

commitment to the growth and 

development of Nigerian youths, 

Dr Sogunle said: “Over the years, 

we have demonstrated our 

obligation to the future leaders 

through the various plans and 

programmes geared towards 

supporting their dreams and 

aspirations. One of such 

programmes is the annual Stanbic 

IBTC Youth Leadership Series 

(YLS), which engages Nigerian 

youth on how to explore their 

innate potentials to become better 

business leaders.” 

The Stanbic IBTC 2020 

Scholarship Programme kicked 

off on September 1, 2020 with the 

call for applications through the 

firm’s website and social media 

platforms. Criteria for selection 

include a minimum score of 200 

in the 2020 UTME and letter of 

admission into a Nigerian 

university, issued by the Joint 

Admissions and Matriculation 

Board (JAMB) or the university. 

Upon the close of entries and 

completion of the scholarship 

process,100 successful would be 

awarded the scholarship. 

private colleges in Nigeria and as 

an ICT compliant college because 

of its adaptation of the e-learning 

platform to run its programmes 

during the pandemic crisis. 

Vale students bag distinctions in Cambridge 

Advanced Examinations 

Vanguard learnt that in 2014, a 

former student of the school, 

Maryam Adeyanju, got distinction 

in Chemistry, Physics, Biology, 

eventually finishing with the best 

result. 

Another student emerged in 2015 

with distinction in Chemistry, 

Physics, Biology, one other student, 

Abdul-Hammed Babatunde, 

achieved the same feat in 2017 with 

distinction in Chemistry, Physics, 

Biology. 

Continuing the string of 

impressive results by the school, a 

former student, Joel Christiana 

also got A, B, B, in Sociology, 

Literature, History, getting the best 

results last year.


C 

M 

Y 

K 

32—Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 



SERVICE OF SONGS: From left, Former NBA president, Paul Usoro, SAN; former 

Petroleum Minister, Odein Ajumogobia, SAN; former A-G, Edo State, Charles Edosomwan, 

SAN; former NBA President, Augustine Alegeh, SAN, and NBA President, Olumide Akpata, 

during the Service of Songs for late Supreme Court Justice, Adolphus Karibi-Whyte, at the 

Church of Nativity, Parkview Estate, Lagos. 

PDP, Ohanaeze mourn victims of Ebonyi 

bus crash 

By Dirisu 

Yakubu 

ABUJA—THE Peoples 

Democratic Party, 

PDP, and apex Igbo sociocultural 

organisation, 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday, 

expressed shock 

over the death of 18 persons 

in a bus accident in 

Akeze-Ukwu River, Ebonyi 

State. 

The party in a statement 

signed by its spokesman, 

Kola Ologbondiyan described 

the accident as 

painful and devastating, 

given that the victims 

were members of a group 

returning from the burial 

of a loved one. 

It commended the intervention 

of officers of the 

Federal Road Safety 

Commission, FRSC, and 

other good- spirited Nigerians, 

"which led to the 

rescue of some of the passengers, 

who are now receiving 

treatments." 

The party also condoled 

victims of the devastating 

flood, which ravaged 

communities, homes, 

businesses and farmlands 

in Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, 

Anambra and other states 

of the federation. 

"The PDP commiserates 

with the government and 

people of Kebbi state 

where no fewer than 

500,000 hectares of rice 

farmland was submerged 

•Lament flood disaster in Kebbi, Kogi, other states 

Anambra APC leaders ask Buhari to 

call Ngige to order 

By Chioma 

Gabriel 

AWKA— All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Local 

Government Area chapter 

chairmen from the three senatorial 

districts of Anambra 

State alongside state officers 

and stakeholders of the party 

have tasked President Muhammadu 

Buhari to nudge 

Senator Chris Ngige towards 

opening the party in the state. 

The stakeholders in a letter 

to the president alleged that 

Dr. Ngige as the leader of the 

party in the state being the only 

minister from the state has not 

shown leadership in carrying 

the party members along. 

The stakeholders in the petition 

also lamented that since 

his advent as minister and 

TATUP launches cash deposit cards 

LAGOS—THE 

more 

than 50 million 

underserved and unbanked 

population in Nigeria and 

West Africa can now heave 

a sigh of relief with the 

introduction of cash deposit 

cards by TATUP 

International Services 

Limited. 

A registered banking 

agent that produces limited 

and personalised banking 

and financial services on 

behalf of banks to their 

customers, TATUP, at the 

pre-launch of its new and 

convenient cash deposit 

cards, last Friday, explained 

the convenient nature of the 

product and why it is the 

future of payment and 

banking solutions in the 

country. 

Ambassador Isa Elbuba, 

Chairman, TATUP Group, 

who was represented by Dr. 

James Grand Okocha and 

Evangelist Happiness Etuk, 

Chief Executive Officer, 

and the Vice Chairman of 

the group, Dr. James 

Okocha, revealed that the 

idea of TATUP was a divine 

calling. 

“We produce and pioneer 

cash deposit tokens in Africa 

and, with our cards, every 

by flood. 

"Our party also identifies 

with compatriots in communities 

in Nasarawa 

State where houses were 

destroyed by flood as well 

as citizens in nine local 

governments in Kogi 

State, who were affected 

by flood occasioned by the 

increase in the volume of 

water from River Niger 

and River Benue. 

"The PDP urges the federal 

government and other 

public-spirited groups 

and individuals to immediately 

come to the aid of 

the communities and victims 

to alleviate their sufferings. 

"We also charge governments 

at all levels to articulate 

strategies to mitigate 

the menace of flood 

and forestall such devastation 

in the future," the 

statement read in part. 

In its own reaction, 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo 

through its Spokesman, 

Chuks Ibegbu lamented 

the casualty in the fatal 

accident that claimed 

leader of the party in the state 

in 2015, that the APC has not 

won one office from councilor 

to governor. 

The stakeholders who authored 

the open letter included 

Hon. Jideofor Ejimofor, 

APC Zonal Publicity Sercretary 

Anambra North Zone; 

Emeka Kammelu, APC 

Chairman, Onitsha South 

Local Government Area; 

Chief Gody Offor, APC Chairman, 

Ekwusigo Local Government 

Area; Chief Henry 

Obiokpala, APC Zonal Youth 

Leader Anambra South and 

Chief Ugochukwu Egbobe, 

APC Chairman, Anaocha Local 

Government Area. Others 

who signed the letter included 

Chief Joseph Molokwu, 

APC Chairman, Ayamelum 

LGA and Chief Paul Chuks 

holder’s phone becomes a 

mobile automated teller, 

ATM, matchine,” said Etuk. 

TATUP cards are available 

in various denominations of 

N500 to N200,000. The 

concealed digits can be 

scratched and loaded on 

mobile phones, from where 

the monetary value can be 

accessed either for 

payments or transfers, on 

the go. The card is secured 

and powered by United 

Bank for Africa, UBA. 

TATUP is already 

operating in Akwa-Ibom, 

Ebonyi, Delta, Rivers, 

Ogun and Edo states, and 

in Ghana. 

more than thirty lives in 

Ebonyi State. 

Ohanaeze consoled the 

government and people 

of Ebonyi State for the 

tragedy .It also consoled 

the families and relations 

of the victims and the Peculiar 

Ministry where the 

victims worshipped. The 

group blamed reckless 

drivers for that kind of fatal 

accidents and called 

the federal and state governments 

to come to the 

aid of the families of the 

victims. 

Umenduka, APC Chairman, 

Aguata LGA. 

They said:“We thank Mr. 

President for graciously reappointing 

Senator Dr Chris 

Ngige as Minister of Labour 

& Productivity, appointing his 

wife, Dr Mrs. Evelyn Ngige as 

Permanent Secretary, Office 

of Head of Service (Welfare 

Office); his biological brother 

Barr Emeka Ngige SAN as 

Chairman, Council of Legal 

Education; his elder brother, 

Chief Edwin Ngige and his 

maternal uncle Mr. Emma 

CJ Nwosu as Chairmen of 

Federal Boards; his biological 

sister, Barr Bene 

Nwachukwu (nee Ngige) and 

his cousin, Uzoma Igbonwa 

as Members of Board of 

NACA, amongst others. 

“ May we sadly inform Mr. 

President that since registration 

of All Progressives Congress 

(APC) on 31st July 

2013 by INEC, with Dr. Chris 

Ngige as its Leader in Anambra 

State, APC HAS NEVER 

WON ANY ELECTION anywhere 

in the state; whether 

Councillorship, Local Government 

Chairmanship, 

House of Assembly, House of 

Representatives, Senate or 

Governorship. It may also interest 

Mr President to know 

that the Councilor represented 

Alor ward (Hon. Minister’s 

ward), whether elected or appointed 

since the inception of 

APC has always been of 

APGA extraction. 

“Same applies to the House 

Member representing the 

Minister’s State Constituency. 

Presently, his Federal Constituency 

has a PDP House of 

Reps Member." 

Police arrest man posing as aide 

to AIG Zone 13 to defraud people 

By Vincent 

Ujumadu 

AWKA—A 35 –year old 

man, Mr. Izuchukwu 

Nwabueze who allegedly has 

been posing as an aide to the 

Assistant Inspector General of 

Police, AIG, in charge of Zone 

13, Ukpo, Anambra State for 

the purpose of defrauding unsuspecting 

members of the 

public has been arrested by the 

police. 

The Public Relations Officer 

for the zone, Nkeiru Nwode 

said in a statement in Awka 

yesterday that many people 

had fallen victim to Nwabueze’s 

impersonation which 

gave him the opportunity to 

defraud unsuspecting traders 

and bourgeoisies in Anambra 

State who believed that he 

was working for the zone. 

Nwode’s statement read: 

“The suspect who had pretended 

to be raising funds for 

the furnishing of unknown 

residential quarters and for 

the installation of a sound 

proof generating set for the 

AIG Zone 13, cornered. Sir 

Chris Okeke, Chief Nwaigwe 

Daniel, both of G20 Foundation 

Awka, and collected a total 

sum of N7.30 million from 

them. 

He also obtained with false 

pretence N240000 from Sir 

Chidi Igor Okoye, N185000 

from Benson Okoye, 

N100000 from Umugama 

village, N100000 from Prince 

Okoyeze, N210000 from Sir 

Chukwudi Okeke and 

N50000 from Prof Anika Sylvanus. 

“Other people he defrauded 

are Chief Nnamdi Egbuha 

(Gas cylinder), Engr Ndubuisi 

Onwuakpa, (One horse 

power Air Conditioner).and 

N1 million from one Ifeanyi 

Umeh Lovelyn on behalf of the 

Anglican Bishop of Awka; Rt. 

Rev Alexander Ibezim”. 

Ebonyi Magistrate Court remands 

two suspects for kidnapping 

By Jane Ikemefula 

ABAKALIKI—A Magis 

trate Court sitting in 

Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, has 

remanded two men, Nnaemeka 

Okoro, 41 and Igwe Simon, 

45, for their alleged involvement 

in kidnapping. 

The first accused, Okoro, 

an indigene of Anara community 

in the Mbano Local Government 

Area of Imo, was alleged 

to have kidnapped one 

Mrs. Ngozi Ike with his gang 

members still at large. 

Okoro and his gang were 

said to have trailed their victim 

for over one month and 

eventually traced her to her 

house at Akam Street, Abakaliki, 

where they allegedly 

robbed her of the sum of N1, 

870,000 and abducted her. 

They took her to Omu Oru 

village, in Ezza North Local 

Government Area of the state, 

held her hostage for seven 

days in the house of the second 

accused, Igwe Simon, 

until a ransom of N5 million 

was paid. 

They are facing a five- count 

charge at the Magistrate 

Court including armed robbery, 

kidnapping, unlawful 

possession of firearms and felony. 

When the charges were read 

to them, the first accused, 

Okoro, who said he is leader 

Nwode added that the suspect 

had also approached Mr. 

Akunwata Chuka Modebe, a 

lawyer, to join him in the forum 

he created to support the 

activities of the newly created 

Zone 13 Police headquarters 

and allegedly convinced him 

to pay the sum of N1million 

on the 1st of September 2020 

to his Fidelity Bank account. 

According to her, he also 

approached one Mr. Stanley 

Chibuzor, the CEO of Brost 

Global Resources and collected 

the sum of N500,000 from 

him to enlist him in his stakeholders 

forum, N370,000 to 

purchase an IPad for the AIG 

and another N1,15 million for 

the furnishing of the office of 

the Personal Assistant to the 

AIG. 

The Police spokesperson 

said that when Chibuzor requested 

for the refund of his 

money, Izuchukwu gave him 

Fidelity Bank cheque of 

N1,150,000 belonging to 

Chriskwik Ventures Limited 

of 32 Isa Williams Street, 

Okearin, Lagos State, which 

he presented to the bank, adding 

that it turned out to be a 

bounced cheque. 

Nwode said the suspect had 

voluntarily confessed to the 

crime and explained that investigation 

was still ongoing 

after which suspect would be 

charged to court. 

Meanwhile, the AIG in 

charge of Zone 13, Dan- 

Malam Mohammed has 

urged members of the public 

who might have been defrauded 

by the said Izuchukwu 

Nwabueze to report to the 

Deputy Commissioner of Police 

in charge of Criminal Investigations 

Department, 

CID, Mr. Echeng Echeng. 

Mohammed also warned 

the public to be wary of “this 

new trend of criminal activity” 

and report suspicions actions 

or persons to the police 

for prompt action. 

of the gang, pleaded guilty 

and begged for leniency. The 

two accused did not have lawyers. 

Pleading guilty, Okoro said 

that he was under a huge debt 

which he needed money to 

repair. 

“I am the person who led 

the operation. We committed 

the crime. I plead for mercy 

because our intention was not 

to suffer or kill the woman. 

We really took care of her 

with food and other things. 

“We were paid N5 million 

as ransom and I gave this 

man here with me, N50, 000 

because he gave his house 

where we kept the woman. I 

gave three others persons 

N400, 000; N200, 000; and 

N100, 000.I took the remaining 

one. It is unfortunate that 

the three others ran away. 

Please, forgive me," Okoro 

pleaded. 

However, the presiding 

Chief Magistrate, Mrs. Nnenna 

Onuoha said her court 

lacked the jurisdiction to handle 

the matter. She ordered 

that the suspects be remanded 

at the Nigerian Correctional 

Centre, while their case file 

should be forwarded to the 

office of Director of Public 

Prosecutions for necessary 

legal decision and adjourned 

the matter till October 9, 

2020.




Delta establishes new secondary, 

primary schools 

Ibori mourns Ebonka, ex-Delta 

deputy gov 

By Festus Ahon 

A SABA—DETERMINED 

to address the educational 

needs of the people, the 

Delta State Government, yesterday, 

approved the establishment 

of six new secondary 

and three primary schools in 

different parts of the state. 

The state government also 

approved N488.4 million for 

the completion of the first 

phase of the Faculty of Arts 

building of the Delta State 

University, Abraka. 

Briefing newsmen after the 

virtual meeting of the State 

Executive Council presided 

over by Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa, the state Commissioner 

for Information, Mr 

Charles Aniagwu said the new 

schools were meant to address 

the needs of people in the areas 

where they are to be established. 

Aniagwu said the six new 

secondary schools would be 

sited at Warri South, Ughelli 

South, Ughelli North, Ika 

South, Ika North East and 

Ukwuani LGAs, while the 

three new primary schools 

would be sited at Ughelli 

North, Warri South West and 

Isoko North LGAs of the state. 

He said: "The government 

has, also approved the construction 

of six new secondary 

schools and three new primary 

schools. It is actually 

supposed to be seven new secondary 

schools but one of 

them in Warri North was 

stepped down because of the 

issue of naming. "The reason 

for the establishment of the 

new schools is that the carrying 

capacities of schools in 

those areas are not meeting 

up with the challenges and the 

need of our people to school 

beyond their primary and basic 

education. 

"You do know that as a state, 

we love education and to increase 

the carrying capacity 

of our educational institutions, 

government has approved 

the establishment of 

these six new secondary 

schools and the three new primary 

schools. 

"We must also commend 

some communities that are 

also providing certain helping 

hands to government by 

making land available in 

some of their communities for 

the establishment of the new 

schools even if they were the 

ones that demanded for these 

schools". 

The commissioner disclosed 

that Exco gave approval 

for the Procurement Officer's 

Cadre in the state civil service 

which, he said, was aimed 

at bringing transparency and 

accountability in governance. 

Disclosing that Exco also 

approved the 6th storm drainage 

would be built in Asaba 

to run through summit road, 

he said the new storm drainage 

would take flood water 

from Gagagas Road, Ogagigifor 

Street, DBS Road. 

By Emma Amaize 

AGovernor SABA—FORMER 

James Ibori 

of Delta State, has described 

the passing of pioneer 

Deputy Governor of 

the state, Evangelist Simeon 

Ebonka, as a great loss 

to the state and the nation. 

Ibori, in a statement, said, 

"Ebonka, who served when 

Olorogun Felix Ibru was 

governor on the platform of 

the defunct Social Democratic 

Party, SDP, was 

among those who laid the 

foundation for the swift infrastructural 

development 

of Delta State. 

"Evangelist Ebonka and 

Olorogun Ibru laid the 

foundation for the swift development 

that Delta State 

has witnessed, though they 

came into office in a new 

state with a new capital, 

and one of the real problems 

they had to grapple 

with was the sharing of assets 

belonging to Delta and 

Edo states." 

Ibori gave thanks to God 

that Ebonka's labours were 

not in vain.. 

The former deputy Governor 

lost his wife, Mrs 

Ngozi Ebonka, in 2014. 

Chief Ibori also condoled 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa 

and the good people of 

Delta State on the death of 

this statesman. 

He prayed that God will 

give Evangelist Ebonka's 

children the fortitude to 

bear this irreparable loss. 

Tinubu's Estate: Family accuses Police of unlawful 

detention 

By Onozure Dania 

THE LEGAL Trustee of the 

Estate of late, Madam Iyalode 

Tinubu has called on the 

Inspector-General of Police, 

Mohammed Adamu to order 

the immediate release of one 

Taiwo Oyewunmi, who is currently 

detained at MAN Police 

Division, WEMABOD Estate, 

Ikeja, Lagos over a land dispute. 

Oyewunmi is the Attorney for 

the Estate of late, Madam Iyalode 

Tinubu. 

Addressing newsmen, lawyer 

to the Trustee, Mr. Kayode 

Bankole, described Oyewunmi's 

arrest as illegal and an 

abuse of his fundamental human 

rights. 

He said that Chief Magistrate 

Patrick Nwaka, had rejected 

police remand application 

on the ground that the subject 

matter that led to the arrest of 

the 45 year-old Taiwo Oyewunmi, 

was a civil case. 

According to him, Oyewunmi 

was arrested along with his 

14 years old son. 

He stated that they were arraigned 

before a Yaba Chief 

Magistrate Court, Lagos, but, 

Chief Magistrate Nwaka refused 

the application filed by 

the Police to remand Oyewunmi 

in custody. 

Refusing the application, the 

Magistrate maintained that the 

court will not allow itself to be 

used as an instrument of victimization. 

He said that, Lagos State 

Properties Protection Law 2016, 

forbids the use of law enforcement 

agents in respect of any 

Remain united, Okowa's aide 

urges PDP members 

landed property except as provided 

for under the Sheriff and 

Civil Process Act or any other 

Law. 

"Besides, the Police had in its 

legal advice issued on November 

20, 2019 and by Augustine 

Sanomi, of the Legal and Prosecution 

section at the Force 

Headquarters, Abuja, advised 

that Police officers deployed to 

the land in dispute at the instance 

of either of the parties 

without appropriate court order 

or due process of the law as 

provided by the Sheriff and 

Civil Process Act or other extant 

law should be withdrawn 

to avert legal action against the 

Police," he said. 

The land in dispute forms 

part of the vast land of late 

Madam Iyalode Tinubu at 

Alaka Surulere measuring approximately 

53.126 hectares, as 

shown in survey plan No- 

AOP12125/010/2015/LA dated 

November 28, 2019. 

U GHELLI—SENIOR 

Special Assistant to the 

Governor on Peace Building 

and Conflict Resolution, Chief 

Joseph Unuame has called on 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP faithful in Akpere-Olomu 

Ward Two to remain united 

and sensitize the people 

about the Stronger Delta 

Agenda of the Okowa administration. 

Unuame made this call 

while hosting the PDP Ward 

two executives and members 

at Akpere Olomu community. 

Addressing leaders and 

members of PDP in Akpere 

Olomu ward two, Unuame 

highlighted the need for political 

leaders to work together 

to promote peace and unity 

in their domain. 

He disclosed that the event 

was to host the Ward executives 

and to introduce them to 

the people. 

He urged the ward executive 

to carry everyone along 

and mobilize the people to 

support Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa. 

The SSA paid glowing tribute 

to late Chief Collins 

Omonemu, a leader of the PDP 

for his contributions to the 

growth of the party in the area 

while alive. 

He called on the people to 

remain peaceful, continue 

their support for Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa and the PDP. 

Chairman of Ughelli South 

PDP, Mr Michael Oshetigho, 

Mrs Ese Adehor and PDP 

Ward two chairman, Mr Victor 

Idolor commended Chief 

Unuame for his efforts in promoting 

peace and unity in the 

area describing him as an 

ambassador of the Stronger 

Delta Agenda of Governor 

Okowa. 

They commended Governor 

Okowa for his development 

efforts in the area and 

promised to continue to support 

him. 

US seeks breakthrough on 

Sudan before election 

WITH weeks to go be 

fore US elections, 

Secretary of State Mike 

Pompeo is racing to make 

a breakthrough with 

Sudan that he hopes could 

also benefit Israel. 

Sudan’s new civilian-led 

government is urgently 

seeking to be removed 

from the US blacklist of 

state sponsors of terrorism, 

and is seen by Washington 

as open to becoming the 

latest Arab state to recognize 

Israel — a major cause 

for President Donald 

Trump’s electoral base. 

“The United States has a 

once-in-a-generation opportunity 

to ensure that 

compensation is finally 

provided to victims of the 

1998 Al-Qaeda-backed terrorist 

attacks on the US 

embassies in Kenya and 

Tanzania,” Pompeo wrote 

in a letter to senators that 

was confirmed by congressional 

sources. 

“We also have a unique 

and narrow window to support 

the civilian-led transitional 

government in 

Sudan that has finally rid 

itself of the Islamist dictatorship 

that previously led 

that country.” 

Sudan is one of four nations 

listed as a state 

sponsor of terrorism by the 

United States, severely 

impeding investment as 

businesses worry of legal 

risks in dealing with the 

country. 

The designation dates 

back to 1993 when then 

strongman Omar al-Bashir 

welcomed Islamists including 

Osama bin Laden, 

the founder of Al-Qaeda, 

which carried out the embassy 

attacks that claimed 

more than 200 lives. 

Washington had been 

gradually reconciling with 

Bashir, who agreed to independence 

for mostly 

Christian South Sudan. 

But Sudan was transformed 

last year when 

Bashir was deposed following 

a wave of youth-led 

Navalny discharged from hospital 

after suspected poisoning 

Leading Kremlin critic 

Alexei Navalny, who 

the West believes was poisoned 

with a Soviet-era 

nerve agent, has been discharged 

from hospital after 

a month and can make 

a full recovery, his doctors 

in Berlin said Wednesday. 

European leaders have 

demanded explanations 

from Moscow since Germany 

said toxicology tests 

showed the 44-year-old 

anti-corruption campaigner 

was poisoned with Novichok. 

But the Kremlin has rubbished 

allegations it was 

behind the poisoning, and 

it said on Wednesday that 

with his recovery, Navalny 

“is free” to return to Russia 

anytime, “like any other 

Russian citizen”. 

The outspoken opposition 

activist fell ill after 

boarding a plane in Siberia 

in August. Russian doctors 

who first treated him 

said their tests did not find 

any toxic substances. 

German lab tests however 

pointed to “unequivocal 

proof” of Novichok, which 

was also used to poison exdouble 

agent Sergei Skripal 

in Salisbury, England, 

in 2018. He survived. 

France and Sweden have 

since said tests they ran independently 

corroborate 

Germany’s conclusions. 

Navalny spent 32 days in 

Charite hospital in the German 

capital, including 24 

days in intensive care, before 

his release on Tuesday, 

the hospital said. 

“Based on the patient’s 

progress and current condition, 

the treating physicians 

believe that complete 

recovery is possible,” 

Charite said in a statement, 

adding however that 

it remained too early to assess 

any long-term effects 

of his severe poisoning. 

For now, Navalny will 

remain in Germany as he 

embarks on rehabilitation, 

his spokeswoman Kira 

Yarmysh said on Twitter. 

‘No other option’ 

Navalny collapsed last 

month while on a flight 

from Tomsk to Moscow after 

a campaign trip to support 

opposition candidates 

in local elections. 

He was evacuated to 

Berlin on August 22 in a 

coma and on mechanical 

ventilation. 

Posting a photograph of 

himself sitting on a Berlin 

bench, Navalny said on 

Instagram Wednesday he 

was far from fully recovered 

and would require 

rehabilitation. 

“The plans are always 

simple: a physiotherapist 

every day. Possibly a rehabilitation 

centre. Stand on 

one leg. Take back control 

of my fingers completely. 

Maintain balance,” he 

wrote. 

The Kremlin critic has 

been active on social media 

since being brought 

out of the coma. 

In his first blog posted 

on Monday since regaining 

consciousness, Navalny 

said that the three European 

labs had found 

protests. British-educated 

economist Abdalla Hamdok 

has become the new 

prime minister with a reformist 

mandate in a transitional 

arrangement with 

the military. 

– Question for Congress 

– 

Sudan’s delisting has 

been held up by a dispute 

over a package of some $335 

million that Khartoum 

would pay as compensation 

to victims’ families and survivors 

of the embassy attacks. 

Completing a compensation 

package “is one of the 

highest priorities for the 

Department of State,” a 

spokesperson said. 

In his letter, Pompeo said 

it was “very likely” that an 

agreement on claims and on 

delisting Sudan from the 

terror blacklist would be 

completed by the end of October 

— days before the November 

3 election. 

Novichok “in and on my 

body”. 

He noted that Russia had 

still not opened an investigation 

but that he “did 

not expect anything else.” 

With his condition improving, 

his spokeswoman 

Kira Yarmysh has said 

the opposition leader 

planned to return to Russia. 

“No other option has 

ever been considered,” 

she told AFP. 

Navalny aides said 

Thursday that German experts 

found Novichok on a 

water bottle taken from 

the hotel room where he 

stayed before being taken 

ill. 

The bottle appears to 

have been key evidence 

for Germany’s 

conclusion that the lawyer 

and outspoken critic 

of President Vladimir 

Putin was poisoned 

with the deadly nerve 

agent. 

Amid Doha Peace Talks: Taliban 

kills 28 police officials 

The Taliban launched a 

wave of attacks on security 

checkpoints in southern 

Afghanistan overnight, 

killing a total of 28 Afghan 

policemen, officials said. 

Zelgai Ebadi, a spokesman 

for the Uruzgan governor, 

said Taliban fighters offered 

28 local and national 

police officials a chance to 

go home if they surrendered 

on Tuesday night, “but 

after taking their guns, the 

Taliban killed them all”. 

A Taliban spokesman, 

Qari Mohammad Yousuf 

Ahmadi, claimed responsibility 

for the attacks and 

said the armed group carried 

them out after the police 

in the area refused to 

surrender to the fighters. 

Another local official, 

speaking on condition of 

anonymity, put the toll at 

least 28 police officials, adding 

that three others managed 

to escape. 

Reinforcements were not 

able to get to the outposts 

to save the officers but Ebadi 

said Afghan security 

forces were later back in 

charge of the checkpoints. 

The violence comes as Taliban 

leaders and Afghan 

government-appointed negotiators 

started the longdelayed 

peace talks in Qatar 

earlier this month. 

The negotiations are 

meant to end the fighting 

and establish a plan for a 

post-war society. 

Wednesday’s killings 

come after at least 14 Afghan 

police and soldiers 

were killed overnight on 

Sunday. 

During the negotiations 

in Qatar, both sides have 

spent more than a week 

deciding agendas and the 

manner in which the two 

sides will be conducting the 

negotiations.

C 

M 

Y 

K 


Illegality of laws authorising AGF and 

governors to detain Nigerian citizens 

By FEMI FALANA 

THE Criminal Ordinance imposed on 

conquered territories by the British colonial 

regime provided for the detention of people 

at the pleasure of His Majesty, the King of 

England. The few traditional rulers who challenged 

the ruthless exploitation of the resources 

of the territory of Nigeria and particularly 

the monopoly of coastal trade by foreign business 

tycoons were deposed and deported to 

remote areas in the Carribean Islands. It is on 

record that some of those traditional rulers 

died in exile. At the end of colonial rule the 

obnoxious provision of detaining citizens at 

the pleasure of governors was retained in the 

criminal procedure codes of the independent 

states, including Nigeria. Under the current 

democratic dispensation some elected state 

governors have continued to depose and banish 

traditional rulers to remote areas in the 

country for security reasons. 

To legitimise the colonial legacy, the Administration 

of Criminal Justice Laws of all states 

in Nigeria has empowered state governors to 

detain people at their pleasure. Curiously, hell 

was let loose recently when Governor Hope 

Uzodimma of Imo State signed into law the 

Administration of Criminal Justice Bill which 

had been passed by the Imo State House Assembly. 

The governor has been singled out for 

sustained attack in the media because section 

484 of the Law has conferred powers on 

him to detain people at his own pleasure. Instead 

of the diversionary fixation on the Imo 

State Law it is high time the constitutionality 

of keeping citizens in custody at the pleasure 

of the AGF and State Governors was examined. 

Justifications for detaining citizens at the 

pleasure of governors: Section 484 of the Imo 

State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 

provides that: “Where any person is ordered to 

be detained during the Governor’s pleasure 

he shall notwithstanding anything in this Law 

or in any other written law contained be liable 

to be detained in such place and under such 

conditions as the governor may direct and 

whilst so detained shall be deemed to be in 

legal custody”. Section 485 thereof states that: 

"A person detained during the governor’s pleasure 

may at any time be discharged by the 

governor on license. The license under the section 

may at anytime be revoked or varied by 

the governor and where license has been revoked 

the person to whom the license relates 

shall proceed to such place as the governor 

may direct and if he fails to do so, may be 

arrested without warrant and taken to such 

place.” 

In supporting the controversial sections of 

the Imo State Administration of Criminal Justice 

Law some lawyers have placed premium 

on the case of Guabadia v. The State (2004) 

guaranteed the personal liberty of every person 

in Nigeria. No doubt, the human right to 

personal liberty is not absolute. But no person 

shall be deprived of such liberty save in strict 

compliance with a procedure permitted by 

law. 

Hence, the conditions under which people 

may be legally deprived of their fundamental 

right to personal liberty are set out in sections 

35. It is specifically stated that "persons suffering 

from infectious or contagious disease, persons 

of unsound mind, persons addicted to 

drugs or alcohol or vagrants" may be deprived 

of their liberty "for the purpose of their care or 

treatment or the protection of the community". 

Section 330 of the Lagos State ACJL 2015 

is in pari materia with Section 484 of the Imo 

State ACJL 2020 except that the term “at the 

pleasure of the governor” is used instead of 

“at the discretion of the Governor” in the Lagos 

State ACJL. Since the President is busy 

with the management of the affairs of the Republic 

the Attorney-General of the Federation 

(AGF) is empowered by section 438 of the 

Administration of Criminal Justice Act to detain 

citizens indefinitely in a safe custody or 

suitable place other than prison or mental 

All laws which 

have conferred 

powers on state 

governors to detain 

convicted offenders 

health asylum. It 

is submitted that 

no violation of 

fundamental 

rights to personal 

liberty and fair 

ALL FWLR (Pt. 

205) 191 SC, 

(2004) 2 SCNJ 55 

where the death 

sentence passed 

on the appellant 

was set aside and 

in its place, the appellant 

was ordered 

to be detained 

at the plea- 

FEMI FALANA, SAN sure of the Gover- 

nor of Edo State. With respect, the case is totally 

irrelevant as the constitutional validity of 

section 208 of the repealed Criminal Procedure 

Law of Edo State was not considered by 

the Supreme Court. In fact, when the constitutionality 

of a similar provision was raised in 

the case of Sunday Modupe v The State 

(1988) All N.L.R.371 the apex court said that 

it could not be considered as it had not arisen 

from the issues for determination formulated 

by the parties in the appeal. 

Other lawyers have made a strong case for 

the retention of the provision of the law on the 

grounds that the order is always made by courts 

to detain convicted children and persons who 

are non compos mentis. It is submitted, without 

any fear of contradiction, that the provisions 

of all laws that empower citizens to be 

detained at the pleasure of the Federal Attorney-General 

and State Governors cannot be 

justified under section 35 of the Constitution 

of Nigeria and article 6 of the African Charter 

on Human and People's Rights Act which have 

hearing can be 

worse than the 

treatment that is 

meted out to a convict 

who is detained indefinitely at the pleasure 

of the AGF. In other words, neither the 

Constitution nor the Criminal Code could 

have contemplated a situation whereby a trial 

court that has tried and convicted a defendant 

will turn round to make an order to the effect 

that the convict be detained by the AGF who 

had successfully prosecuted him! By directing 

a convicted person to be detained indefinitely 

in a safe custody on the orders of the AGF a 

trial court has abdicated its judicial functions 

to the executive organ of the government. 

More so that it is only the AGF who may at 

any time revoke or vary the licence. All laws 

that provide for the preventive detention and 

post-conviction detention of citizens are inconsistent 

with section 35 of the Constitution 

and are illegal, null and void by virtue of section 

1(3) of the Constitution. 

Usurpation of judicial powers by the executive: 

It is submitted that the Constitution did 

not envisage a situation whereby the judicial 

powers of the Federation vested in the courts 

by section 6 of the Constitution will be shared 

with the executive or the legislature. In other 

words, the power to sentence a person who 

has been tried and convicted by a court cannot 

be subjected to the exercise of the discretion of 

the executive. To that extent, all laws which 

have conferred powers on state governors to 

detain convicted offenders at their pleasure 

are illegal and unconstitutional. This point 

was sufficiently addressed in the case of Hinds 

and other v The Queen; Director of Public Prosecutions 

v Jackson, Attorney General of Jamaica 

[1976] 1 All ER 1976, [1976] 2 WLR 

366, (1975) 119 SJ 864, [1976] Crim LR 124, 

[1977] AC 195 where Lord Diplock rightly said 

that “…what Parliament cannot do, consistently 

with the separation of powers, is to transfer 

from the judiciary to any executive body 

whose members are not appointed under Chapter 

VII of the Constitution, a discretion to determine 

the severity of the punishment to be 

inflicted upon an individual member of a class 

of offenders.” To be concluded 

are illegal and 

unconstitutional 

Telemedicine and malpractice insurance 

By FEMI 

OBIKUNLE 

T ELEMEDICINE 

involves remote 

diagnosis and treatment of 

patients through 

telecommunication 

technology. It is manifestly 

beyond diagnosis and 

prescription through 

telephone as the average 

person tends to think. 

Telemedicine allows 

patients to access medical 

expertise quickly and 

efficiently without the need to travel. 

Telemedicine services can be used for a number 

of non-emergency situations such as diagnoses 

of common medical problems such as 

allergies, asthma, bronchitis, cold, or flu, ear 

infection, pinkeye, rashes, digestive problems, 

and many other issues. Some of the potential 

benefits of telemedicine include increased 

access to health care (especially in 

underserved areas and among underserved 

populations), expanded utilization of specialty 

expertise, system coordination and integration, 

ready availability of patient records, and 

reduced opportunity costs of care for patients. 

These advantages and benefits of 

telemedicine practice must be balanced with 

the reality of any professional practice. 

Professionals are individuals who have passed 

rigorous examinations, are licensed to practise, 

subscribe to ethical guidelines and mandatory 

continuous post-qualification training. 

Employers and telemedicine practitioners 

ought to be concerned about medical 

malpractice claims, and how the use of 

telemedicine may affect their legal 

responsibility. Telemedicine may give rise to 

complex legal issues for medical practitioners 

in Nigeria, if proper procedures and guidelines 

are not followed. 

These claims may arise from: 

i) Malfunctioning of telehealth equipment 

ii) Wrong diagnosis 

iii) Wrong patient recordsaccess 

iv) Non-access to patient records 

v) Prolonged downtime of telemedicine system 

vi) Professional negligence of telemedicine 

practitioners 

vii) Failure of telepharmacy 

viii) Post-telesurgery complications 

ix) Employers' collateral liability 

x) Telemedicine employees malfeasance 

Telemedicine insurance plays a very 

fundamental role in ensuring that 

professionals and their employers are 

financially protected against these claims. 

Malpractice describes a breach duty owed 

by someone rendering professional services to 

a person who has contracted for such services. 

According to Gostin (2000), the mortality 

resulting from 

medical errors 

each year in 

USA is 

estimated to 

be between 

44,000 and 

98,000 per 

y e a r , 

accounting for 

more deaths than motor vehicles crash, breast 

cancer, or Acquired Immunodeficiency 

Syndrome. It is instructive at this juncture to 

review the trend of Malpractice claims in a 

North American State. 

No-Fault Compensation for Medical 

Injury: A Case Study: According to Horwitz 

and Brennam (1995), Florida found itself 

facing a crisis in medical malpractice liability 

in the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1970 and 

1975, more than twenty medical malpractice 

insurers canceled their coverage of Florida 

physicians, and by the mid-1980s the state's 

largest malpractice insurer ceased doing 

business there altogether. The major reasons 

for this closure of malpractice claims were 

increasing, particularly for obstetrics; and 

severity of claims (that is, the amount paid 

out) also was increasing, again particularly 

for obstetrical cases. Clearly, a legislative 

response to the perceived crisis was called for. 

In 1988, Florida passed a bill transferring 

liability cases for newborn infants' 

neurological injuries from the tort system to a 

no-fault system. Unlike the tort system, nofault 

liability compensates patients who suffer 

any treatment-induced injury, not just those 

that can be traced to medical malpractice, or 

negligence (Horwitz and Brennan, 1995). 

This is a qualitative advisory for countries 

•Telemedicine service in progress 

Telemedicine allows 

patients to access 

medical expertise 

quickly and efficiently 

without the need to 

travel 

that are yet to embrace telemedicine 

practice. 

In USA, Kilpatrick and Cody (2009) from 

Georgia Telemedicine Center (College of 

Medicine) stated that “a current argument has 

been made that a physician carrying out 

consulting services in telemedicine should be 

protected from malpractice claims from a 

referring physician. Current case law suggests 

that courts will find a physician-patient 

relationship, and hence contractual obligation 

exists in telemedicine. According to Kilpatrick 

and Cody (2009), the courts determined that 

the following factors to form the basis of such 

relationships: 

1) If the Consultant has met the patient, or 

know the patient’s name; 

2) If the Consultant examined the patient’s 

chart; 

3) If the Consultant examined the patient; 

4) If the Consultant accepted a fee for his, or 

her services. 

It is possible for a consulting physician to 

establish legal physician-patient relationships 

if any of these conditions are met. Group 

professional liability insurance reduces cost 

for individual practitioners as the following 

example demonstrates. Some experts in the 

field of telemedicine argue that telemedicine 

reduces individual practitioner's liability 

because the practice involves collaborations 

between several healthcare professionals. 

However, there is a general consensus that 

telemedicine raises patients' expectations 

which could lead to malpractice claims when 

their needs are not fulfilled. In addition, the 

practice itself could challenge an insurance 

company with regards to the grey area of 

coverage provided that may not be properly 

written. 

According to a round table discussion 

coordinated by Diane Hoffmann, who is a 

Professor of Law at the Maryland School of 

Law and Health Program ( 2010), “ there has 

been a lack of telemedicine malpractice cases 

from which to draw some ground rules about 

legal risks associated with telemedicine. The 

majority of legal actions that have been 

associated with telemedicine were brought 

against providers who prescribed medication 

over the internet, rather than claims brought 

against providers for negligent care 

administered through telemedicine.” The case 

study was designed to stimulate discussion 

involved the provision of teleoncology 

consultation services by a medical center in 

one state to patients in another state. The 

complicated fact pattern included a patient 

(Kay) located in Oklahoma and diagnosed 

by her attending physician (Dr. Local) with 

lung cancer but also being seen by a consulting 

oncologist Although there are few legal cases 

involving telemedicine, there is a widespread 

assumption that telemedicine may pose new 

complications to traditional medical 

malpractice claims, in particular 

jurisdictional, choice of law, and procedural 

issues and duty of care concerns. As the use of 

telemedicaaaa2ine grows, malpractice claims 

relating to telemedicine services may increase 

and, if so, these complications are likely to 

create a new body of law. 

Another illustrative malpractice claim is 

expounded in a recent case in Telemedicine 

malpractice that related to online prescribing 

was that of a United States doctor who was 

sentenced in 2017, to nine months in county 

jail with a fine of more than $4,000 for 

practicing medicine in a patient’s home state 

without being licensed in that state. It began 

when a patient filled out an online 

questionnaire. The website forwarded their 

responses to a processing firm which sent them 

to the physician, who was subcontracting for 

an online pharmacy and prescribed an 

antidepressant to the patient. Shortly after 

filling the prescription, the patient committed 

suicide. 

To be concluded

Continues from Page 5 

the House of Lords, to 

focus on the problems 

facing their country and 

leave Nigeria alone. 

Deputy National 

Publicity Secretary of 

APC, Mr Yekini Nabena, 

told Vanguard in a 

telephone interview that 

each country has its own 

fair share of security and 

other challenges. 

Noting that the violence 

in Southern Kaduna, 

some parts of the Middle 

Belt and other states of the 

federation could not be 

described as genocide, 

Nabena advised the UK to 

also begin to look at the 

bright side of things in 

Nigeria. 

He said: “There is 

nothing like genocide. 

They are always looking 

for negative stories in 

Africa, especially Nigeria. 

Yes, there is a situation in 

Kaduna and some other 

places, but it is not 

genocide. They should try 

as much as possible to get 

the UK government to put 

Naira depreciates to N465/$ 

in parallel market 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

THE Naira, yesterday, depreciated to N465 per 

dollar in the parallel market. 

According to naijabdcs.com, the live exchange rate 

platform of the Association of Bureaux De Change 

Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), the parallel market 

exchange rate rose to N465 per dollar from N463 kobo 

per dollar on Tuesday, indicating two naira depreciation 

of the Naira. 

Similarly, the Naira yesterday depreciated by 20 kobo 

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

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative 

exchange rate for the window rose to N386 per dollar 

yesterday from N385.80 per dollar on Tuesday, 

translating to 20 kobo depreciation of the Naira. 

The volume of dollars (turnover) traded in the 

window rose by 58 percent to $69.22 million from 

$29.42 million on Tuesday. 

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

ON NIGER DELTA AFFAIRS—From left: Senior Special Assistant to the 

President on Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Ita Enang; FCT Chairman of Host 

Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas (HOSCON), Apostle Ezekiel 

Akpan; National Chairman of HOSCON, Dr Mike Emuh; and National Woman 

leader, Mrs Josephine Odungide, during the visit of the delegation to the office 

of the Senior Special Assistant in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN. 

UK lawmakers write C'wealth 

over insecurity in Nigeria 

its house in order, 

especially considering 

their economic crisis, 

while Nigeria and Africa 

will also try and put their 

own in order. “Why are 

they always looking for 

negative things to say 

about Nigeria and Africa? 

How about the positive 

things that are also 

happening? How about 

the negative things that 

are going on in the UK? 

They should try and 

project the positive things 

happening in Nigeria 

too.” 

‘A vote of no 

confidence’ 

In its reaction, Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

said the security alert in 

the country raised by the 

British parliamentarians 

was an indication of a 

vote of no confidence on 

the President 

Muhammadu Buhari-led 

government by a highly 

respected member of the 

international community. 

Deputy National 

Publicity Secretary of the 

party, Diran Odeyemi, 

said the Federal 

Government’s inability to 

run Boko Haram terrorists 

out of town showed that 

President Buhari’s pledge 

to deliver on security has 

failed. 

He said: “Nigerians 

know a long time ago that 

security under the watch 

of President Buhari has 

broken down. All efforts to 

draw the attention of the 

Federal Government to 

overhaul the security 

architecture fell on deaf 

ears. 

“If the security situation 

in the country has become 

a subject of debate in the 

British parliament, that is 

an indication that the 

international community 

has passed a vote of no 

confidence on this 

government. 

“For us in the PDP, the 

position of the British 

lawmakers is a 

vindication of our stand 

that things will only get 

worse under this 

government. But we can’t 

stop advising them 

because we want the best 

for our country. 

“If international visa 

ban could make them 

conduct credible election 

in Edo State; we equally 

call on them to listen to 

those lawmakers and sack 

the service chiefs without 

further delay. The service 

chiefs have done the best 

they are capable of and 

time to replace them is 

now.” 

The party also called on 

the government to take 

the fight against terrorism 

to the criminals in their 

enclaves, lamenting that 

in the past few years, 

many Nigerians died 

recklessly owing to 

government’s failure to 

secure them from the 

hands of their killers. 


NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

ELECTRICITY TARIFF, PETROL PRICE HIKE: 

FG moves to abort planned 

strike, invites Labour for talks 

•Govs move to stop strike, hold emergency meeting today 

By Henry Umoru, 

Victor Young, 

Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA — In a desperate 

move to abort the 

planned nationwide strike 

and mass protest over the 

recent hike in electricity tariff 

and petrol pump price 

scheduled for next Monday, 

the Federal Government has 

invited organized labour to a 

meeting today. 

The meeting, which will be 

hosted by the Minister of 

Labour and Employment, 

Senator Chris Ngige, is 

scheduled to hold by 3pm at 

the Old Banquet Hall, 

Presidential Villa, Abuja. 

Recall that the previous 

meeting between 

government’s representatives 

and labour on September 15, 

ended without any agreement. 

One of leaders of Nigeria 

Labour Congress, NLC, who 

spoke to Vanguard on 

condition of anonymity, 

acknowledged receipt of 

government’s invitation and 

confirmed that labour leaders 

will attend. 

He said: “Yes, our leaders 

received invitation from 

government for a meeting on 

Thursday (today). We will 

attend the meeting because we 

have made demands. We will 

attend the meeting to see if our 

demands will be addressed.” 

Both the NLC and its Trade 

Union Congress of Nigeria, 

TUC, counterpart, have 

rejected the hike in the pump 

price of petrol and electricity 

tariff, demanding their 

reversal to avoid nationwide 

strike and mass protest. 

While the TUC had earlier 

given the government a sevenday 

ultimatum which expired 

on September 22, to go back 

to the old prices, the NLC gave 

September 28 deadline for 

government to cancel the new 

increment. 

The TUC had Tuesday 

extended its strike notice to 

tally with the NLC deadline. 

Same Tuesday, the highest 

decision making organ of 

NLC, the National Executive 

Council, NEC, ratified the 

September 28 national wide 

indefinite strike and mass 

protest should government 

fail to revert to old prices. 

It will be recalled that at the 

NLC NEC meeting held at 

Labour House, Abuja, NEC 

ordered the 36 NLC state’s 

councils and the Federal 

Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, 

to intensify mobilization of 

workers and other Nigerians, 

faulting the timing of the 

increments. 

Speaking after the NEC 

meeting, President of NLC, 

Ayuba Wabba, advised the 

Federal Government to, in the 

interest of industrial peace 

and social order, listen to cries 

of workers and other suffering 

Nigerians and rescind the 

increases, warning that failure 

to meet the demands would 

made the planned strike and 

mass protest inevitable. 

According to him, “The 

National Executive Council 

of the Nigeria Labour 

Congress comprising 

members of the National 

Administrative Council, 

President and General 

Secretary of members of the 

affiliate unions and our state 

council chairpersons and 

secretaries of the 36 states and 

FCT met today (yesterday) 

and resolved as follows: 

“NEC resolved to reject in its 

entirety the issue of hike in 

electricity tariffs by almost 

100 per cent as well as the fuel 

price increase in the name of 

full deregulation. This 

decision is premised on the 

fact that these twin decisions 

alongside other decisions of 

government including the 

increase of VAT by 7.5 per 

cent, numerous charges being 

charged by commercial 

banks on depositors without 

any explanations will further 

impoverish Nigerian workers 

and citizens, including their 

families. 

“Therefore, this increase, 

coming in the midst of the 

COVID-19 pandemic, is not 

only ill-timed, but it is also 

counterproductive. NEC also 

observed that the privatization 

of the electricity sub-sector 

seven years down the line has 

not yielded any positive result. 

“Whereas, the entire 

privatization process, the 

entire sector was sold at about 

N400 billion, we are also 

surprised that government 

within the last four years 

injected N1.5 trillion over and 

above the amount that 

accrued from this important 

asset. 

“Therefore, NEC came to 

the conclusion that the entire 

privatization process has 

failed and the electricity hike 

is actually a process of 

continuous exploitation of 

Nigerians. 

“On the issue of the 

refineries and also increase in 

the pump price of PMS, this 

particular issue had been on 

the table for more than three 

decades and the argument 

had not changed. 

“Whether it is the name of 

full deregulation or subsidy 

removal, what is obvious is 

that it is fuel price hike and 

this has further eroded the 

gains of the N30,000 

minimum wage because it 

has spiral effects which 

include the high costs of food 

and services and the 

reduction in the purchasing 

power of ordinary Nigerians. 

In the light of all of these, NEC 

thought that the issue of 

deregulation would be a 

continuous exploitation if it is 

import-driven.” 

TUC extends 

strike notice 

deadline 

On its part, TUC in a 

statement by its President and 

Secretary, Quadri Olaleye and 

Musa-Lawal Ozigi, 

respectively, said TUC “after 

an exhaustive meeting held to 

review its mobilsation 

strategies on the forthcoming 

strike to protest fuel hike and 

electricity tariff increase, 

resolved that the Congress is 

going to work in 

collaboration with its sister 

Labour Centre, the Nigeria 

Labour Congress and the 

Civil Society allies to execute 

the strike. 

“Consequent upon this, the 

ultimatum which should 

expire by midnight of today 

22nd September, 2020 has 

been shifted to 28th 

September, 2020 for effective 

and maximum effect. We 

want to use this opportunity 

to call on Nigerians, 

especially those in the 

informal sector to bear with 

us while the industrial action 

lasts. 

“There is no need for the 

pains we bear. It is a needless 

one. They ask us to tighten our 

belts while they loosen theirs. 

Services are not rendered yet 

we are compelled to pay 

estimated bills. You will recall 

that this government during 

its electioneering campaigns 

in 2014 told the world there is 

nothing like subsidy.’’ 

Govs meet on 

planned strike 

Meanwhile, governors, 

under the aegis of the Nigeria 

Governors’ Forum, NGF, will 

today engage in a marathon 

meeting, with a view to 

nipping in the bud the planned 

nation wide strike and mass 

protest the Nigeria Labour 

Congress, NLC. 

The emergency meeting 

which is scheduled to hold at 

6pm, will be the first NGF 

emergency virtual 

teleconference since the 

outbreak of COVID-19 

pandemic. 

According to a statement by 

the NGF Head of Media and 

Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque 

Bello-Barkindo yesterday, all 

the governors are expected to 

participate in the meeting 

aimed at seeking ways of 

settling the rift between the 

Federal Government and 

Organized Labour. 

The statement read: “Ahead 

of the threat by the Nigeria 

Labour Congress (NLC) to 

resort to an industrial action 

to force the Federal 

Government to rescind its 

decision to hike oil and 

electricity prices in the 

country, the Nigeria 

Governors’ Forum is holding 

an emergency meeting of all 

the governors to seek ways of 

settling the rift and finding a 

mutually agreed soft landing 

on amicable grounds. 

“All governors are expected 

to attend the meeting as the 

matter is considered to be of 

urgent national importance, 

which needs to be quickly 

resolved in order not to worsen 

the already bad situation of 

Nigerians as caused by the 

Corona Virus pandemic, 

according to the D-G of the 

Forum, Mr Asishana Bayo 

Okauru. 

“The meeting which is the 

first NGF emergency virtual 

teleconference starts at 6pm 

tomorrow, Thursday.”


YOUR LUCK TODAY 

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 

TAURUS: Mercury will start to go on backward motion 

soonest, therefore you will need to re-examine both your 

personal ideas and advice given to you by other people. Be 

family minded. 

GEMINI: Avoided you don’t allow others to mislead you, 

things will not go wrong. The more willing you are to take 

the initiative the better for you. Take your love life more 

seriously. 

CANCER: Although you will need to be as secretive as 

you can, your success will attract others’ attention to you to 

the betterment of your cause. Be ambitious. 

LEO: People who more influential than you will be willing 

to support your cause but you will need to make the 

necessary move. The more self assertive you are the better. 

L E I S U R BE 

TAKE HEART — ELLA RANDLE 

Self-care is never a selfish act — it is simply 

good stewardship of the only gift I have, the 

gift I was put on earth to offer to others. 

—Parker Palmer- 

Give yourself permission to love you. You are 

worthy of being loved. This is the first step in 

accepting that you can love yourself and that 

you are choosing to do so. —Ella Randle 

SAYINGS OF 

OUR PEOPLE 

Roosters’ 

tail feathers: 

pretty but 

always behind. 

—Malagasy 

Proverb 

VIRGO: Challenges of yesterday will today bring you 

good opportunities along your career/business 

lines to the betterment of your finances seek supporters 

of powerful ones. 

LIBRA: Think of the best way to improve on your working 

pattern in order to enhance your career 

prospects if you listen to your creative self, things will 

work out fine for you. Be more loving. 

SCORPIO: Success is boldly printed on your cards today. 

Think of both immediate and far future while you are 

savouring goodies offered you but mother nature. 

SAGITTARIUS: You should not have it tough while trying 

to win the needed supports of others. Take good advice 

from some of your friends who are creatively gifted. 

CAPRICORN: Your creativity ...... is enhanced today and 

if you demonstrating this within your working arena, you’ll 

earn success and consolidate on your recent progress. 

AQUARIUS: As mercury prepares to go on backward 

motion it is important you don’t take things for granted. 

Watch carefully what you agree to do. 

PISCES: Better than yesterday. Others will be willing to 

give you the needed co-operation both at home and within 

your working arena. This is a good day for lovers. 

ARIES: Those of you who are more enterprising will 

have much to show for your efforts. The more cooperative 

you. Don’t neglect love. 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” 

DUDU in “ROLLING HOT” 

“HOT” 

By Kola Fayemi 

By A.O.OLAIDE 

ASTROLOGICAL our date and place of COUNSELLING 

birth to the Astr 

tr 

Send your dat 

trological 

Counselling, P.M.B 100 

007, Apapa, Lagos 

WHAT DOES FUTURE HAVE FOR ME 

Dear Joshua, 

I don’t want you to publish my data. However, I want to know 

how the planets lined up when I was born. And which day of the 

week was I born, would I record success in life ? When would 

my success come? 

Azeez, Lagos. 

Dear Azeez, 

You were born on a Jupiter ruled day - Thursday. 

You=ll succeeded earlier than you think. 

Your Horoscope Data 

DAY OF BIRTH: THURSDAY 

SUN SIGN = PISCES: SUN IN 25TH DEGREE OF PISCES 

MOON SIGN: PISCES: MOON IN 21ST DEGREE OF PI- 

SCES 

MERCURY IN 28TH DEGREE OF AQUARIUS 

VENUS IN 28TH DEGREE OF ARIES 

MARS IN 7TH DEGREE OF CANCER 

JUPITER IN ZERO DEGREE OF AQUARIUS 

SATURN IN 27TH DEGREE OF CAPRICORN 

URANUS IN 22ND DEGREE OF LEO 

NEPTUNE IN 11TH DECREE OF SCORPIO 

PLUTO IN 6TH DEGREE OF VIRGO 

NORTH NODE IN 6TH DEGREE OF PISCES 

CARDINAL AND MUTABLE STAR SIGN HOSTED THREE 

PLANETS 

EACH, FIXED AND WATER FOUR EACH, FIRE EARTH 

AND AIR 

HOSTED TWO EACH. 

PUSHFUL INFLUENCE = 40% 

NON-PUSHFUL INFLUENCE = 60% 

HIGHLY HIGHLIGHTED STAR SIGN = AQUARIUS 

FINAL DISPOSITOR = SATURN 

ANALYSIS OF THE HOROSCOPE DATA 

Saturn as the final dispositor-the most influential planet at home 

when you were born, pointed to you as an ambitious person who 

must have a well developed career. You are a disciplined person 

withhigher degree of leadership quality in yourself. Although, you 

can be emotional, you are stable andreliable. Less than 50 per cent 

of push-full influence in you is an indication of your being an 

amiableperson. Both your natal sun/moon in Pisces and Aquarius 

are indications of characteristic of star signs are highly pronounced 

in your inner-self Having your hands on public pulse will always 

bring you unexpected success and fulfilment. Around your 30th 

birthday an endless cycle of great success and achievements will 

start for you. Oil-petrol chemicals will feature in your life when the 

predicted great cycle gets started for you. Congratulation. 

VIRGINIA 

dadadekola@yahoo.com 

HOME & ABROAD 

By Lawrence Akapa

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 — 37 

Don’t let me die, kidney patient 

sends SOS to Nigerians 

... Begs Wike, Amaechi, others for N4.6m lifeline 

By Emmanuel Elebeke 

& Alice Ekpang 

F ORTY-YEAR-OLD 

Adibe Kelechi 

Ephraim is seriously ill 

and fast deteriorating in 

health. 

He urgently needs N4.6 

million to balance the 

N9.6 million required to 

carry out a kidney 

transplant if he is to ever 

stand on his feet again. 

Ephraim, a native of 

Umuagbai Ndoki in 

Oyingbo in Rivers State 

has been suffering from 

kidney failure for over 

two years, and it has taken 

a huge toll on him 

financially. 

Narrating his ordeal, 

Ephraim, a father of four, 

was a student of the 

Nigerian Aviation College 

(NACAT), Zaria where he 

spent a year out of his two 

years course before the 

ailment struck. 

“First, I studied 

computer science at the 

University of Port 

Harcourt. I furthered my 

training programme with 

the Nigeria College of 

Aviation Technology 

Adibe Kelechi Ephraim undergoing dilaysis 

(NACAT) Zaria, where I 

had ambition of 

becoming the first 

commercial pilot from 

my Local Government, 

but it is unfortunate that 

along the line I 

developed kidney 

failure. 

‘‘Since 24th of June 

2016 till to date, I have 

been on constant dialysis 

three times a week. I 

spend N150,000 every 

week for dialysis to stay 

alive and this has taken a 

huge toll on me 

financially. 

‘‘I was admitted at the 

Garki General Hospital 

for over six months and 

was later moved to 

Asokoro General 

Hospital where I have 

gone through series of 

dialysis which has 

depleted my funds 

completely due to the 

cost of treatment and has 

rendered me completely 

empty. 

‘‘I have not urinated for 

the past three years, it 

has been God and friends 

that have been helping 

me and sustaining me to 

do the dialysis. 

‘‘I am passionately 

appealing to Nigerians, 

my governor, Nyesom 

Wike, the Minister of 

Transport, Chibuike 

Amechi; Jim Ovia; Tony 

Elumelu; the Senate 

President, Ahmed Lawal, 

the Speaker of the House 

of Representatives, Femi 

Gbajabiamila, and the 

Ooni of Ife, some of whom 

I have written for 

assistance to undergo 

kidney transplant.’’ 

Ephraim, who vowed to 

return to school to 

realize his dreams after 

treatment said he had 

written over 50 appeal 

letters to no avail. 

Some of those he wrote 

to include: Gov. Nyesom 

Wike, legislators 

representing his 

constituency at the 

National Assembly, the 

Transport Minister, his 

Church (Dunamis), where 

he served as a worker; 

RCCC; Living Faith; Christ 

Embassy; the Senate 

President, his Deputy and 

Speaker House of 

Representatives among 

others. He also appealed 

to other good spirited 

Nigerians to come to his 

rescue, saying ‘‘it would 

be the greatest leap in my 

life and to my family if I 

can do the transplant’’. 

If you are touched 

by Ephraim’s story , 

please send your 

donation to Ephraim 

Kelechi Adibe, Zenith 

Bank 2085344585 or 

call 08037894822. 

SFH tasks Nasarawa State 

on adolescent SRH issues 

...As 2000 unintended pregnancies 

averted, 300 STIs managed 

By Sola Ogundipe 

TOWARDS promoting 

the fortunes of Sexual 

and Reproductive Health, 

SRH, issues of adolescents 

and young persons, the 

Nasarawa State 

government has been 

called upon to intensify 

focus on funding and 

response to Gender Based 

Violence, GBV, teenage 

p r e g n a n c y , 

contraception, among 

other issues affecting 

adolescents and young 

people in the State. 

The call came recently 

as 2,000 unplanned 

pregnancies were averted 

even as over 300 Sexually 

Transmitted Infections, 

STIs, were syndromically 

managed by adolescent 

girls during the COVID-19 

lockdown from March till 

August 2020 in the State. 

Making the call for more 

funding commitment to 

support state-wide 

availability of 

contraceptives and 

increased access to other 

SRH commodities and 

services, the Programme 

Assistant, Adolescents 

360 Project in Nasarawa 

State, Samuel Ombs, 

advocated for 

domestication of the 

various adaptations of the 

Matasa Matan Arewa, 

MMA, project in order to 

meet up the SRH needs of 

adolescents and women of 

reproductive age within 

the state. 

Speaking in Lafia during 

a media roundtable 

organised by the 

Nasarawa State Primary 

Healthcare Development 

Board in collaboration 

with and the Society for 

Family Health/A360 

Project, Ombs stated that 

during the two years of the 

project intervention,a 

total of 7,537 sexually 

active adolescent girls in 

the State adopted at least 

one contraceptive 

method, out of which 525 

girls returned for 

continuity of their 

preferred method. 

In his presentation 

entitled: “Meaningful 

Youth Engagement in 

Adolescents and Young 

People’s Sexual 

Reproductive Health 

Services and COVID -19”, 

Ombs stated that 1,106 

girls had no need of a 

contraceptive, while 101 

girls were confirmed 

pregnant, even as over 

500 girls were 

syndromically treated for 

Sexually Tested 

Infections, STI. 

During the two years of 

intervention, 10,032 

adolescents girls most of 

who are married, were 

reached with SRH services 

and commodities 

including contraceptives. 

“COVID-19 pandemic 

brought a lot of challenges 

such as ban on group 

meetings, restriction of 

movement and local 

transportation, palpable 

fear of being infected. This 

led to the closure of public 

PHCs occasioned by the 

health workers strike in 

the state due to a cut in 

pay.” 

Ombs remarked that 

regardless of the fact that 

the COVID-19 pandemic 

brought a lot of 

challenges, 

strategies adopted by 

the MMA project to 

ensure continuity of ASRH 

services 

Also speaking at the 

roundtable, Synderila 

Bulus, a Young Designer, 

A360 Project, Nasarawa 

State said the 

interventions put in place 

by the A360 Project, 

Family helped avert 

2,000 unplanned 

pregnancies and 

syndromic management 

of over 300 STIs. 

Bulus, in a presentation 

entitled: “Reaching 

Adolescent and Young 

Persons with essential life 

building skills and SRH 

Services in COVID-19: 

Rapid Adaptations to 

Ensure Adolescents and 

Young Persons are 

Empowered to Achieve 

Their Future Dreams”, 

argued that by providing 

the live text-based 

WhatsApp Love Family 

and Health, LFH, class run 

by providers, as well as 

weekly sms to girls who 

received services for 

support continuation, the 

adaptations enabled 

A360 reach and engage 

with girls during the 

lockdown and the health 

workers strike which led to 

the closure of PHCs across 

the state. 

“By this, we have been 

able to avert over 2,000 

unplanned pregnancies 

and syndromically 

managed over 300 STIs 

cases from March till 

August. As COVID-19 

continues to heighten the 

vulnerabilities of people 

groups, especially women 

and girls. A360 continues 

to adapt to ensure girls 

have access to the SRH 

information and services 

they need to achieve their 

life goals and raise healthy 

families.” 

Further, Bulus observed 

that even as COVID-19 

continues to heighten the 

vulnerabilities of people 

groups, especially women 

and girls, A360 continues 

to adapt to ensure girls 

have access to the SRH 

information and services 

they need to achieve their 

life goals and raise healthy 

families.


UEFA Player of the Year shortlist: 

Messi, Ronaldo absent 

for first time in a DECADE 

Lionel Messi and Cristiano 

Ronaldo are absent from the 

final shortlist for the UEFA 

Men’s Player of the Year for the 

first time in a decade. 

Bayern Munich duo Robert 

Lewandowski and Manuel Neuer, 

plus Manchester City’s Kevin De 

Bruyne, were nominated for the 

2020 edition on Wednesday. 

But in a sign of changing times 

in the game, Messi and Ronaldo 

didn’t make the top three after 

coming up short in the Champions 

League. 

Barcelona star Messi won the 

UEFA award in 2010-11 and 2014- 

15 having been nominated six 

times in the past 10 seasons. 

Ronaldo, of Juventus, has 

collected the accolade three times 

- in 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2016-17 

- all while playing for Real 

Madrid. 

He has been shortlisted nine 

times, finishing second in 2017-18 

and third on five occasions. 

His Juventus side were stunned 

by Lyon in the last-16 of the 

Champions League as they again 

bombed out of Europe’s premier 

competition. 

Messi’s Barcelona suffered an 

even greater humiliation, 

however, as eventual winners 

Bayern thrashed them 8-2 in the 

quarter-finals. 

Both players managed just three 

goals in eight Champions League 

outings last season, trailing 15- 

goal Lewandowski by a 

considerable distance. 

The Polish striker is favourite to 

succeed Liverpool defender Virgil 

Ighalo: Man 

United will start 

campaign at 

Brighton 

Odion Ighalo has backed 

Manchester United to 

revive their Premier League 

campaign with a win against 

Brighton & Hove Albion on 

Saturday. 

United shuttered against Crystal 

Palace in their first game at Old 

Trafford, but according to Ighalo 

the team was not prepared for their 

starting game of the season. 

“We’ve not started the league 

very well, but we’ve won in the 

League Cup and I think it’s a boost 

for this weekend’s game against 

Brighton. We’ll go there and try to 

win and start the Premier League 

[again].” 

“We were disappointed at the 

weekend because we didn’t win 

the game against Crystal Palace,” 

he continued. 

“We only had one week to prepare 

for that game; I think they had 

been preparing for four weeks. So 

it can tell a bit. But, now we’ve won 

this game, I think it’s a boost for 

us. 

van Dijk as the 

winner of the 

award, which will 

be revealed at the 

draw ceremony for 

the Champions League 

group stage on October 

1. 

Lewandowski’s Bayern 

team-mate Neuer is also in the 

mix after another outstanding 

season as he helped his team win 

a Bundesliga, German Cup and 

Champions League Treble. 

De Bruyne inspired City’s run to 

the Champions League quarterfinals, 

where they too lost to Lyon, 

but City surrendered their Premier 

League crown to Liverpool. 

Their nominations suggest a 

changing of the guard as Ronaldo, 

Rivers Sports Commissioner, 

Boma Iyaye says the Stateowned 

Real Madrid Football 

Academy in Port Harcourt will 

produce a future generation of 

football superstars comparable to 

Lionel Messi and Cristiano 

Ronaldo. 

Iyaye stated this when he visited 

the Academy ahead of official 

35, and Messi, 33, move beyond 

their prime. 

It’s been an unsettled summer for 

Messi, who tried to engineer a 

move away from Barcelona to 

reunite with Pep Guardiola at City, 

only to reverse his position and 

stay at the Nou Camp. 

R/Madrid academy to 

produce future generation of 

stars — Iyaye 

resumption, on his way to the 

Rivers United Football Club 

Camp, shortly after inspecting the 

progress of work on the football 

pitches of the Adokiye 

Amiesimaka Stadium in the 

company of his Permanent 

Secretary, Sir Honour Sirawoo, 

and members of SWAN in Rivers 

Rivers Commissioner for Sports, Boma Iyaye (middle) flanked by 

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Sir Honour Sirawoo (left) and 

Special Adviser to Rivers State Governor on Real Madrid Academy, 

Chris Green while briefing sports journalists after inspecting the 

academy in Port Harcourt. 

I didn’t expect Super Eagles callup 

- Tijani 

Red Bull Salzburg loanee 

Samson Tijani has confessed 

that his maiden invitation to the 

Super Eagles for their upcoming 

friendlies against Ivory Coast and 

HOT ROD 

Cafu tips Rodriguez to 

be star of Premier 

League 

RAZIL World Cup legend Cafu 

Bexpects James Rodriguez to be the 

star of the Premier League this season. 

Rodriguez has already impressed in 

two matches since arriving at Everton 

and opened his goals account in the 5- 

2 win over West Brom last weekend. 

The Colombian, the 2014 World Cup 

Golden Boot winner, had a difficult time 

with Real Madrid and mixed 

performances on loan at Bayern 

Munich. 

But Cafu is confident the 29-year-old 

will wow fans across the country this 

campaign with his playmaking skills. 

Cafu said: “I saw James Rodriguez 

play for the Colombian national team. 

“I saw him play for Real Madrid and 

for Bayern, too. 

Tunisia came as a surprise, and 

has claimed that he did not have 

any contact with manager Gernot 

Rohr and his assistants in the days 

leading up to the squad 

announcement. 

However, the former Golden 

Eaglets skipper has revealed that 

the Franco-German football 

tactician assured him and other 

Nigeria U17 stars last year that 

there was a pathway into the 

Super Eagles if they kept doing 

well. 

Tijani has jumped two age 

groups - Flying Eagles and 

Olympic Eagles - following his 

first call-up to the Super Eagles 

and after only four matches as a 

professional and 322 minutes 

under his belt. 

“I feel good about being invited 

but I didn’t expect the call-up 

because I just moved to Europe,” 

Tijani said. 

“It was amazing when I came to 

Europe, I didn’t even play in the 

academy, went directly to the first 

team. 

“When I was sent on loan, I went 

straight to the starting lineup, I 

have played all the games. 

Champions League, Europa League 

set to stick with five subs 

UEFA are expected to 

announce that managers will 

be allowed to use five substitutes 

in this season’s Champions 

League and Europa League today 

in a ruling that could put English 

clubs at a significant 

disadvantage. 

La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga 

and Ligue 1 have all continued 

using five subs this season, but the 

experiment introduced during 

Project Restart was abandoned by 

the Premier League so England’s 

top clubs could find themselves 

playing by different rules in 

domestic and European 

competitions. 

State. 

According to the Commissioner, 

the academy is comparable to any 

in the world in terms of facilities, 

content, curriculum and product. 

He expressed satisfaction with 

the quality and pace of work so 

far; pointing that he was short of 

words as to how to thank Rivers 

Governor, Nyesom Wike for such 

initiative and commitment to 

deliver a world-class facility for 

future generation. 

“I never thought it would be this 

huge when we started this 

project. I am really short of words 

to thank the governor, he has 

made sure that funds are 

provided for this iconic project 

and I am sure that our indigenes 

would be proud of this Football 

Academy. 

“You have seen the hostels, the 

classrooms and all other facilities 

being put in place, this is a great 

legacy and we thank the 

Governor for what he has done. 

If some of us had this 

opportunity, perhaps we would 

have done great in football,” he 

stated. 

The Rivers sports boss stressed 

further that he sees future Lionel 

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo 

coming out of the academy, while 

disclosing that even with a 

formal request for admission yet 

to be advertised, over 1,000 

applications have been sent to 

the academy to underline 

acceptance amongst Rivers 

people and Nigerians at large. 

Utaka shines in Japan 

Former Nigeria international 

Peter Utaka got a brace as 

Kyoto Sanga silenced Tochigi SC 

3-2 in Wednesday’s Japanese J2 

League encounter. 

Having played out a 0-0 draw at 

Ventforet Kofu, Noritada 

Saneyoshi’s team stepped up their 

game to secure their ninth victory 

of the 2019-20 season. 

After a goalless outcome in the 

first 30 minutes of the encounter, 

the visitors took the initiative a 

minute later thanks to Takahiro 

Akimoto, who fired past Tomoya 

Wakahara. 

Two minutes before the half-time 

break, Utaka - who went into the 

game having failed to score in his 

Liverpool new boys set for 

debut today 

Liverpool travel to Sincil Bank for their EFL 

Cup third round tie with Lincoln City. 

Jurgen Klopp’s first choice team will be rested 

after victory over Chelsea last Sunday and 

the Reds’ boss will have an eye on the 

Premier League clash with Arsenal 

next Monday. 

With a packed fixture list Klopp will 

have to rotate his side wherever 

possible and there will likely be 

plenty of changes again for their 

first cup tie of the season. 

Ahead of the game at Lincoln, 

Liverpool assistant manager 

Pepijn Lijnders told the club 

website that they will be fielding 

a team: “With players who feel 

responsibility to show our hunger, 

the desire.” 

Europe’s top clubs have been 

lobbying UEFA all summer for five 

subs to be permitted on the 

grounds of minimising player 

fatigue in a season that has been 

cut by four weeks due to the impact 

of Covid-19, and a decision will be 

made at the European governing 

body’s Executive Committee 

meeting today. 

The problem of fixture congestion 

will be further highlighted when 

UEFA confirm their plans for 

Europe’s 2022 World Cup 

qualifying tournament, which is 

expected to begin with two tripleheaders 

next March and 

September. 

Suarez leaves 

Barca’s training 

ground in tears 

Luis Suarez has been captured 

leaving Barcelona’s training 

ground in tears as he closes in on 

a move to Atletico Madrid. 

The Uruguayan said his goodbyes 

to good friend Lionel Messi and 

the rest of his team-mates on 

Wednesday and is expected in the 

next few hours to be confirmed as 

the latest star to leave the Nou 

Camp in a £3.7million deal. 

The 33-year-old - who will leave 

Barcelona as the club’s third 

highest goalscorer of all time - was 

then captured shedding tears as 

he briefly put his head down while 

he drove out of and away from the 

Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper 

facilities. 

Since moving to Barcelona from 

Liverpool in 2014, Suarez has 

netted a remarkable 197 times in 

283 appearances and the club are 

expected to make a farewell 

gesture to the striker on Thursday. 

The Uruguayan will sign for two 

seasons with Atletico, who have 

agreed to pay just under £4m for 

each of the two seasons for which 

the Uruguayan will sign for. 

However - much to the relief of 

Ronald Koeman who is against the 

clock to bring in fresh faces - 

Suarez’ tears appear to signal the 

end of yet another transfer saga at 

the Catalan side this summer. 

last two outings - levelled matters 

after capitalising on a horrendous 

mistake from Kazuaki Tasaka’s 

side. 

Both teams approached the last 

45 minutes cautiously, and when 

it looked like the game at the 

Sanga Stadium would end on a no 

winner, no vanquished note, 

Shimpei Fukuoka put the hosts 

ahead in the 76th minute – beating 

goalkeeper Shuhei Kawata from 

close range. 

Four minutes later, Utaka 

completed his double to seal the 

win for his team to render 

Yasutaka Yanagi’s 90th-minute 

effort a mere consolation.


C 

M 

Y 

K 

Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

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YESTERDAY’S ANSWER 

ACROSS 

1 Amazing (10) 

7 Small waves (7) 

8 Large town (4) 

10 Assist (4) 

11 Eleventh month (8) 

13 Formal headgear (3,3) 

15 At the back of a ship (6) 

17 Knitted jacket (8) 

18 One of two equal parts (4) 

21 Brass instrument (4) 

22 Airman (7) 

23 Campanologist (4,6) 

DOWN 

1 Horrify (5) 

2 Cash register (4) 

3 Outcome (6) 

4 Become less (8) 

5 Eminent (7) 

6 Designer of buildings (9) 

9 Change into another shape (9) 

12 Sane (8) 

14 Intention (7) 

16 US island state (6) 

19 Subsequently (5) 

20 Monarch (4) 

How to Play Sudoku 

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

two of the same number). 

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

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

(nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means 

that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row. 

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

multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination. 

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

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

24092020 - BLACK WEDNESDAY: 30 killed in Kogi petrol tanker explosion

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