25112020 - Selfish Northerners opposing restructuring, says el-Rufai

Nigeria's 

poverty 

capital status: 

Solution (2) 

OHANAEZE LEADERSHIP: 

Uwazurike, Asoluka kick 

against Obiozor's emergence 28 

17 

N-Delta leaders demand restructuring as 

12 

panacea for peace 

CBN flays use of parallel market rate to push naira devaluation 12 

VOL. 27: NO. 64213 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 

Selfish Northerners opposing 

restructuring, says el-Rufai 

5 

•Discloses why APC stepped down restructuring bill in 2018 •Says APC still committed to restructuring 

•Notes opposition elements don’t represent North •Advocates for state police, state judicial autonomy 

•It’s game to hoodwink the unwary—AFENIFERE •It’s all part of APC’s lies to Nigerians— OHANAEZE 

•APC govt not honest with Nigerians — PANDEF 

FG, S-SOUTH STAKEHOLDERS MEETING... 

From left, Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu; Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege; Leader of Federal Government Delegation/Chief 

of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari; Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers; Chairman South-South Governor's Forum/ Delta State Governor, Dr. 

Ifeanyi Okowa; Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom; Governor Douye Diri of Baylesa; Governor Ben Ayade of Cross 

River; and Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo, during a stakeholders meeting between the Federal Government and Leaders of Mr & Mrs 

the South-South Region, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke. 

30% levy cut on imported vehicles’ll 

#ENDSARS: 

Senate asks FG 

to compensate 

affected states, 

individuals, 

others 

spell doom, local assemblers warn 31 

WTO: Coast clear for Money laundering: Court begins 

Okonjo-Iweala, as trial of ex-Pensions boss, Maina 

South Korea withdraws in absentia, orders arrest of son, 

candidate —REPORT 8 Faisal, summons his surety 7 

8 

COLUMNISTS NNANNA16 

FASAN 16 HAKEEM 21 DEAR BUNMI 25

2— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020—3


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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

CBN POST MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING MEDIA BRIEFING —From left: Deputy 

Governor, Operations, Mr Adebisi Sonubi; Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Mrs Aishah 

Ahmad; Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele; Deputy Governor, Corporate 

Services, Mr Edward Adamu and Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Dr Kingsley Obiora at the CBN 

post Monetary Policy Committee meeting media briefing in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikam 

Selfish Northerners opposing 

restructuring, says Gov el-Rufai 

•Discloses why APC stepped down restructuring bill in 2018 •Says APC still committed to 

restructuring •Notes opposition elements don’t represent North •Advocates for state police, 

state judicial autonomy •It’s game to hoodwink the unwary—AFENIFERE •It’s all part of 

APC’s lies to Nigerians— OHANAEZE •APC govt not honest with Nigerians — PANDEF 

By Anayo Okoli, Regional Editor, Southindividual 

was getting restructuring in a 

for himself did not apply derogatory way in a 

East, Dapo Akinrefon, Emmanuel Elebeke 

directly to the entire manner that portrayed 

& Chioma Onuegbu 

north. 

all the northerners as 

The and its counterpart in 

backward people. 

He said: “The way 

some people present 

restructuring is so 

LAGOS — 

Kaduna State 

Governor and 

Chairman, All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC, Restructuring 

Committee, Mallam 

Nasir El-Rufai, 

yesterday took a swipe at 

Northerners opposed to 

restructuring of the 

country, saying they 

were doing so for selfish 

reasons. 

He also said the draft 

bill produced on 

restructuring by his 

committee in January 

2018 was stepped down 

for fear of politicization, 

ahead of 2019 general 

elections. 

However, El-Rufai’s 

comments drew the ire of 

Yoruba socio-political 

organisation, Afenifere, 

the South-East, 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, who 

described it as a ploy to 

hoodwink Nigerians. 

But the governor, who 

spoke while fielding 

questions at a panel 

discussion at the ongoing 

26th Nigerian 

Economic Summit, 

NESG, holding at 

Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, 

pointed out that there 

was a difference between 

the position of Northern 

Elders Forum, NEF, 

against restructuring 

and northerners as a 

people. 

He argued that there 

were over one hundred 

million Northerners 

whose interests were at 

stake, maintaining that 

whatever advantages an 

‘No advantages 

to the North’ 

“We have the highest 

number of out-of-school 

children. We have the 

highest poverty rate. We 

have the lowest JAMB 

cut-off rate. So, what are 

the advantages to the 

North in the current 

situation? 

“As governor of Kaduna 

State, I have had to look 

at these issues and try to 

see how I can get the 

people of my state up on 

the ladder. I think you 

need to differentiate the 

knowledge from a few 

and the voice of the 

silent majority,” he said. 

El-Rufai, however, 

regretted that certain 

people present 

insulting and 

derogatory. We should 

have an honest 

conversation on what is 

working and what is not. 

We don’t have anything 

to benefit making 

derogatory remarks 

against a particular 

group of people because 

of restructuring. 

“If there are northern 

leaders today by virtue of 

the fact that I am a 

governor, I must be 

there. So, who are these 

northerners against 

restructuring? Who are 

they? Who are they 

speaking for? So, let us 

have a very honest, 

u n e m o t i o n a l 

conversation without 

looking down on people 

or insulting them or 

framing them.” 

‘APC still 

committed to 

restructuring’ 

El-Rufai, who noted 

that some interested 

members of his party are 

making frantic efforts to 

get the draft bill 

presented to the 

National Assembly for 

consideration before the 

end of tenure of the 

present administration, 

said the ruling party is 

still committed to 

restructuring. 

The governor spoke 

while fielding questions 

at a panel discussion at 

the on-going 26th 

Nigerian Economic 

Summit, NESG, holding 

at Transcorp Hilton, 

Abuja. 

He explained that the 

committee made bold 

recommendations at the 

time and prepared a 

draft bill for onward 

transmission to the 

National Assembly 

which every law maker 

could take up and 

sponsor as a private bill. 

According to him, “we 

do not need executive 

bill to start action on the 

draft bill submitted by 

the committee.” 

The governor insisted 

that it was the position of 

the party and the 

President to see the draft 

bill passed into law, 

assuring that 

consideration of the bill 

would soon commence. 

“The consideration 

could be done piecemeal 

as we do not require an 

omnibus amendment of 

the constitution to 

restructure the country,” 

he said. 

‘Violence worse 

in Northern 

Kaduna than 

South’ 

On insecurity in 

Southern Kaduna, the 

governor posited that the 

violence in Northern 

Kaduna was more 

devastating than the 

insecurity in Southern 

Kaduna as perceived by 

the public. 

He, however, declined 

to speak in details about 

the real cause of the 

violence, promising that 

he would make himself 

available only if a 

separate session would 

be arranged to discuss 

the issue. 

“Though, the violence 

in Southern Kaduna has 

been over-reported, the 

insecurity in Northern 

Kaduna — Birnin Gwari, 

is more than that in 

Continues on Page 35 

By Yinka Latona 

On Nigeria's second recession in 5 years (2) 

WITHOUT doubt, 

t h i s 

is a trying period 

for the nation and people 

at the grassroots have 

been experiencing 

recession before now. The 

FG should support the 

agric sector, especially 

agribusiness as well as 

SMEs 

and 

manufacturing. This 

would in turn lead to 

employment generation, 

food supply and output 

growth. 

—Shokoya John, 

Health Info personnel 

WITH the way things 

are playing out in 

Nigeria, with all the ups and 

downs the economy is going 

through, it is no surprise that 

we are in recession. 

Leadership is everything, 

without good leadership there 

won’t be any good planning 

for the bad days and this year 

really exposed how urgent 

this country needs good 

leadership. 

—Ayo Afolabi, 

Analyst 

IN my opinion, this 

is the time to cut 

down on the cost of 

governance and the 

bureaucracy across 

board from the 

executive, to the 

legislature and 

judiciary. There is need 

to cut all inappropriate 

spendings and wasteful 

expenditures. 

—Mrs Akanni Olufemi, 

Busineswoman 

MOST states in the 

North-West and 

North-East which produce the 

bulk of agric produce in 

Nigeria, have been taken over 

by terrorists and bandits. That’s 

why we are currently 

experiencing food crisis. The 

Presidency should change the 

current economic managers or 

bring in new hands to work with 

them to rejig and support 

ongoing efforts. It is clear their 

best is not good enough. 

—Yetunde Olanipekun, 

Secretary 

I 

hope we don’t hit 

third recession with 

the way things are going. 

It’s so sad and 

disappointing that the 

current administration has 

not lived up to expectations. 

However, I sincerely hope 

and pray that we don’t 

experience any second 

wave of COVID-19 to avoid 

further economic 

complications. 

—Adeshina Badmus, 

Software Engineer 

Ifeel so pained. Imagine 

one of Africa’s leading 

economies suffering its worst 

economic crisis twice in just five 

years and there seems to be no 

way out anytime soon because 

of some cabals benefiting from 

the setback! I kept asking myself, 

where have we gone wrong? 

But as Nigerians, the Giant that 

we are, all hope is not lost; we’ll 

surely survive and rise again. 

—Sinabio Abraham, 

Entrepreneur

C 

M 

Y 

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6 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 

Gunmen kidnap 

secondary school 

teacher in Delta 

By Perez Brisibe 

ABRAKA—A 

female 

teacher at Erho 

Secondary School, Abraka in 

Ethiope East local government 

area of Delta State, was 

Monday evening, abducted by 

gunmen. 

The victim, identified as Mrs 

Ojoboh is the wife of a lecturer 

with the Department of 

Mathematics and Computer 

Science at the Delta State 

University, DELSU, Abraka, Dr 

Sunny Ojoboh. 

Though details of how she 

was abducted were still sketchy, 

some sources disclosed that 

she was waylaid and abducted 

close to her shop located along 

Old Eku-Abraka road by the 

FSP junction in the town. 

According to an eye witness, 

the hoodlums shot sporadically 

into the air before whisking the 

victim away in their car. They 

also went away with her Lexus 

Jeep. 

The source, who spoke on 

condition of anonymity, said the 

hoodlums zoomed off towards 

Eku with their victim. 

When contacted, the State 

Police Public Relations Officer, 

Onome Onowakpoyeya, 

confirmed the incident but 

failed to give details on 

how it happened. 

Two to die by 

hanging for 

armed robbery 

in Ekiti 

ADO-EKITI—AN Ekiti 

State High Court, 

yesterday, in Ado Ekiti 

sentenced two persons, 

Adekunle Osho (31) and 

Chinedu Ugwu (34), to death 

by hanging for armed robbery. 

In his judgment, Justice 

Adekunle Adeleye said the 

accused were involved actively 

in the robbery and were linked 

with the stolen vehicle 

recovered. 

“In the consideration of the 

above, the accused are guilty 

as charged and hereby 

sentenced to death by 

hanging,” the judge said. 

According to the charge, the 

act was committed on 

November 14, 2014, at Oke Ila, 

Tinuola area, off Afao road, Ado 

Ekiti, where they robbed one 

Chief Ojo Gbenga of his Toyota 

Camry valued N3.3 million 

and N150,000. 

During the robbery, the 

convicts were armed with gun 

contrary to Section 1(2) of the 

Robbery and Firearm (special 

provision) Act Cap R11, Law of 

Federation of Nigeria 2004. 

The victim, Chief Ojo 

Gbenga, in a statement to the 

police, said the armed robbers 

blocked his car with theirs 

while on his way home, 

dragged him out, shot him on 

the leg and took away his car 

alongside his N150, 000. 

To prove his case, the 

Prosecutor, Gbemiga 

Adaramola called three 

witnesses and tendered 

exhibits which included the 

recovered Toyota Camry, two 

native dresses belonging to the 

victim and the sum of N84,700. 

Three dead children found at retired police 

officer’s home in Enugu 

By Ikechukwu Odu 

NSUKKA—THE people of 

the rustic town of Ugwu 

Ogede in Itchi, Igbo-Eze South 

Local Government Area of Enugu 

State are still trying to unravel the 

circumstances that led to the 

mysterious death of three children 

discovered in a car at a retired 

police officer’s home Monday. 

The victims, whose names were 

given as Chibugo Eze, Chinenye 

Eze, and Ebuka Ene, had gone to 

fetch water at a commercial 

borehole owned and located at the 

home of the former police officer, 

Fabian Ogbu, but did not return 

home alive. 

Two other children, Kingsley Eze 

and Mmasichukwu were found in 

the same car and rushed to the 

hospital where they were 

resuscitated. 

The parents of the children had 

raised the alarm when their 

children, who had gone to the 

aforementioned borehole at about 

8 a.m. on Sunday to fetch water, 

did not return home as usual. 

Vanguard gathered that amidst 

confusion, the parents of the five 

children raised search parties 

who ransacked every corner of the 

community but could not find the 

missing children. 

The traditional ruler of the 

community, HRH Igwe Ike Oke, 

who confirmed the development 

to Vanguard, described the 

news as mysterious. 

The monarch, who is also the 

chairman of Igbo-Eze South 

Traditional Rulers Council, said 

that he also mobilised personnel 

of vigilante and Forest Guard 

groups who joined in the search 

of the missing children. 

He added: “We were almost 

frustrated in our search when a 

community member who went to 

fetch water heard the voice of a 

little child calling her name. She 

traced the voice to a car that had 

been parked for over six months 

in the compound of the ex-police 

officer where she discovered the 

children and raised the alarm. 

“We found three of the children 

already dead by the time we 

opened the car. I think they 

suffocated to death because the 

car doors were stiff when we tried 

to open it at first but we engaged 

an artisan who forced them open. 

“One of the two children 

OKADAMEN CLASH WITH PRISON OFFICERS: The scene of the fracas between commercial 

motorcyclists (Okada) and Prison Officers around Agodi prison in Ibadan yesterday. 

Man, 55, arrested with four human skulls, 

other body parts in Ogun 

By James Ogunnaike 

ABEOKUTA—A 55-yearold 

man, Yesiru Salisu, has 

been arrested by men of the Ogun 

State Police Command for being 

in possession of four human 

skulls, two dry human hands and 

three jaws. 

The suspect, Yesiru Salisu, who 

resides at No. 7, Odenusi Street, 

Ijebu Igbo was apprehended 

Monday. 

A statement by the command 

spokesperson, DSP Abimbola 

Oyeyemi, indicated that the 

suspect was arrested following a 

report lodged at Ago Iwoye 

division that a man was seen with 

a bag suspected to contain stolen 

property, and when he was 

challenged, he dropped the bag 

and ran into the bush. 

Oyeyemi said: “upon the report, 

the DPO Ago Iwoye, CSP Paul, led 

his detectives to the scene where 

they opened the bag and 

discovered that it contained dry 

human parts. 

“Consequently, the bush he ran 

into was properly combed and the 

suspect was subsequently 

apprehended.” 

On interrogation, the suspect 

confessed harvesting the human 

parts from one cemetery in Oke 

Eri, Ijebu Ode together with one 

Lekan Bakare, who is now at large. 

Oyeyemi said the State 

Commissioner of Police, Edward 

Awolowo Ajogun, has ordered 

the immediate transfer of the 

case to state criminal 

investigation and intelligence 

department for further 

investigation and prosecution. 

OLD SCOUNDREL: The suspect and his wares. 

rescued said they went to fetch 

water but didn’t meet anyone at 

the borehole because the owner 

and the family entire members 

had gone for church service. 

“He informed us that they were 

about going home when three 

hooded men came from a hill 

beside the scene of the incident 

and abducted them into the car 

and left. He said they were all 

dressed in red cloths. He also 

said that the hoodlums returned 

at the middle of the night to take 

them away but they couldn’t open 

the car doors because they were 

stiffed. 

“We are still investigating the 

incident and the dead victims 

have been deposited in the 

mortuary. The owner of the house 

has been arrested by police,” he 

explained. 

The youth leader of Nkalegu 

Obukpa community, where two 

of the victims hailed from, Ifeanyi 

Eze, described the news as 

shocking. 

The youth leader also said the 

stakeholders in the community 

are working assiduously to 

unravel the circumstances 

which led to the mysterious 

death of the children. 

Cybercrime 

suspect offers 

N1.9m bribe to 

police detectives 

By Evelyn Usman 

EFFORTS by a cybercrime 

suspect to bribe police 

detectives attached to the Akwa 

Ibom State command with N1.9 

million naira was reportedly 

frustrated by the refusal of the 

detectives to accept the offer. 

The suspect, Edet Okpo is 

facing a six-count charge of 

cybercrime, advance fee fraud, 

conspiracy, criminal defamation 

of character among other related 

offences, at the Federal High 

Court, Calabar Division. 

Okpo, 37, was alleged to have 

withdrawn the amount offered to 

the detectives from the Uyo 

branch of one of the first 

generation banks. 

He was charged alongside his 

48-year-old sister, Mary Okon 

Okwong, Inyene Udo, 25 and 

others said to be at large. 

The suspects were alleged to 

have demanded N2 million from 

the Rector of the Maritime 

Academy of Nigeria, Commodore 

Duja Efedua (retd) through a 

WhatsApp conversation, using a 

phone line registered with a fake 

identity. 

They allegedly threatened to 

publish alleged sex escapades of 

the Rector if he failed to pay. 

At the court sitting in the suit 

filed by the Inspector General of 

Police, yesterday, one of the 

defence counsels had deposed to 

an affidavit in the bail 

application, alleging that the 

police forced the accused at 

gunpoint to withdraw N2 million 

from an Automated Teller 

Machine, ATM. 

But the prosecuting counsel, A. 

A Ewa kicked against the request 

for bail. 

The presiding judge, Justice 

Simeon Amobeda, adjourned the 

matter to today, to continue 

hearing the application for bail.

C 

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:Vanguard News 

Appear for budget defence in your own 

interest, Gbajabiamila warns MDAs 

•Gives House Committees 48hrs to submit reports 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu 

ABUJA — Speaker of the 

House of Representatives, 

Femi Gbajabiamila, 

yesterday warned some Ministries, 

Departments and Agencies, 

MDAs, of government yet 

to defend their respective financial 

estimates in the 2021 

Appropriation Bill to do so in 

the overall interest of the 

country. 

The speaker, who gave the 

warning in his remarks while 

welcoming members back to 

plenary after about one 

month break to work on the 

2021 budget at committee levels, 

noted that some agencies 

were yet to appear before the 

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

LAUNCHING — From left: Managing Director, Hope PSBank, Mr. Ayotunde Kuponiyi; the Chairman, Hope 

PSBank, Alhaji Shehu Abubakar; the Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Rabiu Olowo; the Director 

General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Alhaji Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi and 

Director, Hope PSBank, Mrs. Fatima Mede during the official launch of Hope PSBank in Lagos, yesterday. 

Money Laundering: Court begins trial 

of ex-Pension boss, Maina in absentia 

•Orders arrest of Maina’s son, Faisal, summons his surety 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

ABUJA — The Federal 

High Court in Abuja, 

yesterday continued to try the 

former Chairman of the defunct 

Pension Reformed Task 

Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, 

in his absence. It also issued a 

warrant for the arrest of Maina’s 

son, Faisal, following his 

refusal to appear for continuation 

of his trial on money 

laundering charges. 

Trial Justice Okon Abang 

gave the Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, 

EFCC, the nod to tender 

more evidence against Maina, 

whose decision to jump 

bail, led the court to remand 

his surety in Kuje prison. 

Maina is facing a 12- 

count money laundering 

charge alongside a firm, 

Common Input Properties & 

Investment Limited. 

EFCC alleged that he used 

account of the firm and laundered 

funds to the tune of 

about N2 billion, part of which 

he used to acquire landed 

properties in Abuja. The court 

had in a ruling on Monday, 

remanded the Senator representing 

Borno South, Ali 

Ndume,who stood surety for 

the former pension reform 

boss, in custody, following his 

inability to explain the whereabouts 

of the defendant. 

It held that Ndume should 

remain in detention pending 

when his Abuja property is 

sold to raise the N500million 

bail bond on Maina’s head. 

It directed that proceed 

from the sold property should 

be paid into the federation 

account. Alternatively, the 

court asked Ndume to produce 

Maina for continuation 

of his trial. 

Meanwhile, Maina, who 

had since September 19, 

failed to attend his trial, was 

also absent in court at the resumed 

proceedings in the 

matter yesterday. Likewise, 

none of his lawyers entered 

appearance before the court. 

Owing to the development, 

counsel to the EFCC, Mr 

Mohammed Abubakar, 

urged the court to foreclose 

Maina’s right to continue to 

cross-examine the sixth prosecution 

witness, PW-6, who 

was in the witness box before 

the defendant jumped bail. 

Justice Abang granted the 

request, even as he okayed the 

seventh witness, Sani Ali, to 

give evidence in the matter 

and tender exhibit against the 

defendants. 

The court held that the defendants, 

by their absence, 

waved their right to either 

cross-examine the witnesses or 

to challenge exhibits tendered 

by the prosecution. 

EFCC had in the charge 

marked FHC/ABJ/CR/256/ 

2019, alleged that the ex-Pension 

boss used fictitious names 

to open and operate various 

bank accounts, as well as recruited 

his relatives that were 

bankers to operate fake bank 

accounts through which illicit 

funds were channelled. 

Meanwhile, the Federal 

High Court in Abuja yesterday 

issued warrant for the arrest 

of son of former Chairman 

of Pension Reform Task 

Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, 

Faisal, following his refusal 

to appear for continuation of 

his trial on money laundering 

charges. Trial Justice Okon 

Abang ordered security agencies 

to arrest Faisal anywhere 

he was found. 

The court equally summoned 

the member representing 

Kaura-Namoda Federal 

Constituency, Umar Dangaladima, 

to appear before it 

on Wednesday to show cause 

why he should not be remanded 

in custody or made to forfeit 

N60million bail bond on 

the head of the defendant, to 

the Federal Government. 

Relying on section 352 (4) 

of the Administration of Criminal 

Justice Act, 2015, Justice 

Abang gave the Economic 

and Financial Crimes Commission, 

EFCC, the nod to 

prosecute Maina’s son in absentia. 

The orders followed an 

application the EFCC made 

through its lawyer, Mr. Abubakar 

Mohammed. 

The prosecuting counsel 

had at the resumed proceeding 

in the matter on Tuesday, 

drew attention of the court to 

the absence of both the defendant 

and his lawyers. 

lawmakers to defend their 

proposals. 

He said: “I have observed 

during the recent budget defence 

process that there are 

still some ministries, departments 

and agencies that consider 

the exercise of the legislative 

authority to review their 

budget proposals as an undue 

incursion on the management 

of their offices. This posture 

stems from a fundamental 

misunderstand-ing of the 

legislative role in the appropriations 

process. 

“Let me at this time reiterate 

that when the Committees 

of the House of Representatives 

and the Senate convene 

to review the heads of expenditure 

contained in the Appropriation 

Bill, we do so in the 

exercise of clear and concise 

constitutional authority. Let 

me also state very clearly that 

this is a responsibility we take 

seriously, and will not evade, 

regardless of whatever objections 

may arise from any quarters. 

“It is in the best interests of 

our country that all parties 

concerned subject themselves 

to this process in good faith, 

knowing that this too is an obligation 

of service to our country. 

We will pass the budget, 

and we will do it early, and we 

will do it right. ’The Nigerian 

people expect as much from 

us. I thank all of you for the 

work you have put in thus far, 

and I encourage you to continue 

in this regard.” 

Gbajabiamila also asked 

Nigerians to take advantage 

of the constitutional review to 

make necessary inputs, adding 

that the House would 

amend the Electoral Act to 

reflect the realities on ground. 

“The Special Committee on 

the Review of the Constitution, 

ably led by the deputy speaker 

of the House, has been inaugurated, 

and they have resumed 

their essential work. 

‘’The committee has put out 

a request for memoranda and 

other submissions that will 

guide their work. It is through 

the aggregation of the many 

and varied opinions of all Nigerians 

that we will arrive at 

a constitution that meets all 

the best expectations we have 

for our country. 

“In the same vein, the 

House has commenced longanticipated 

efforts to review 

and amend the Electoral Act 

well in advance of the next 

general elections. Perfecting 

the process through which we 

choose the people that will 

serve in government is an essential 

requirement for the 

continued development of our 

democracy. 

“Therefore, I encourage all 

of you to reach out to your 

various constituencies and 

encourage your constituents 

to participate in both the Constitutional 

Review and Electoral 

Amendment processes 

by articulating and submitting 

the changes they wish to 

see. This too is part of the joint 

task of nation-building,” he 

said. The speaker also gave a 

48-hour ultimatum to the 

standing committees of the 

House to submit their budget 

defence report to the Committee 

on Appropriation on or 

before tomorrow. 

The committees include Finance, 

Aviation, Petroleum 

Upstream and Downstream, 

Army, Science and Technology, 

Commerce, Solid Minerals, 

Health Care Services, 

Health Institutions, Works 

and Basic Education. 

Others are Climate change, 

health care services, rural development, 

agriculture, national 

security, local content, 

labour employment and productivity, 

Niger Delta National 

Drugs Law Enforcement 

Agency (NDLEA) Agriculture, 

Labour and Employment, 

Tertiary Education, Poverty 

Alleviation, Gas Resources, 

among others. 

Buhari writes Senate, seeks 

confirmation of Yakubu as 

INEC chairman 

ABUJA — PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari 

said yesterday that the realization 

of the Refinery Roadmap 

rolled out by his administration 

in 2018 will lead the 

country to become a net exporter 

of petroleum products. 

He also said the establishment 

of modular refineries in 

the country would make petroleum 

products available in 

the country and eliminate 

importation. 

Buhari, who stated this at 

the virtual inauguration of the 

5,000 barrels per day Waltersmith 

modular refinery in 

Ibigwe, Imo State, as well as 

the Ground-Breaking Ceremony 

for the Phase-2 works 

By Henry Umoru 

ABUJA — PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari 

has written the Senate, seeking 

the screening and subsequent 

confirmation of Professor 

Mahmood Yakubu as 

chairman of the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, 

INEC. 

The letter from President 

Buhari was read yesterday on 

the floor of the Upper Chamber 

by the President of the 

Senate, Senator Ahmad 

Lawan. It would be recalled 

that Professor Yakubu’s name 

was submitted to the Senate 

for reappointment having 

completed his first five year 

tenure. Buhari also forwarded 

to the Senate for confirmation, 

nominees as chairman 

and members of the Governing 

Council of Hydroelectric 

Power Producing Areas Development 

Commission, HYPA- 

DEC, and National Commission 

for Persons with Disabilities. 

The requests were contained 

in separate letters read 

on the floor during plenary 

yesterday by Lawan. 

In a letter dated November 

12, 2020, the President requested 

the upper chamber to 

confirm the nomination of 

Ityav Joseph Terfa as chairman 

of HYPADEC. 

According to him, the request 

was made pursuant to 

Section 3(2) of the Hydroelectric 

Power Producing Areas 

Development Commission 

Act. 

Also to be confirmed are: 

Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa 

(Kebbi) as Managing Director; 

Alh. Isa Ozi Salami (Kogi) 

as member; Taoheed Daud 

Toyin (Kwara - member); 

Hon. Mikail A. Bmitosahi 

(Niger – member); Saleh 

Mohammed Galadima 

Kanam (Plateau – member); 

Engr. Aminu Muhammed 

Ganda (Sokoto – member); 

and Chief Utum Eteng (Cross 

River – member). 

Senate approves Buhari’s request 

to refund N148.14bn to Rivers, 

Bayelsa, C/River, Osun, Ondo 


ABUJA — THE Senate 

yesterday approved 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari’s request for a refund 

of N148,141,969,161.24 to 

Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River, 

Osun and Ondo states. 

The refund is for projects 

executed by the five states on 

behalf of the Federal Government. 

A breakdown of the 

money showed that Bayelsa 

will get N38,404,564,783.40; 

Cross River, N18,394,732, 

608.85; Ondo, N7,822,147, 

577.08; Osun, N4,567,456, 

673.63 and River State, 

N79,953,067,518.29. 

Senate’s approval was sequel 

to the consideration of a 

report by the Committee on 

Local and Foreign Debts presented 

by the Chairman, 

Senator Clifford Ordia, Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

Edo Central. In his presentation, 

Senator Ordia explained 

that most of the federal highways 

in the beneficiary states 

where said projects were executed 

“were at a deplorable 

state before the intervention 

of the state governments.” 

According to him, “series of 

visits were carried out by the 

Federal Ministry it Works and 

Housing on all Federal Roads 

completed by the States and 

ascertained that the quality 

off work done met the required 

standard.” 

Ordia, who noted that states 

like Cross River, Rivers, 

Bayelsa and Ondo States embarked 

on the highway 

projects execution as far back 

as 2005 to date, said that 

while the State Governments 

have completed all projects, 

as well as paid all contractors, 

the Federal Bureau of Procurement 

on its part certified 

that due process was followed 

accordingly. Meanwhile, the 

Senate yesterday confirmed 

the nomination of Barr. 

Benedict Umeano (Anambra 

– South East; Hon. Ehiozuwa 

Johnson Agbonayinma, Edo 

- South South; and CP. 

Olayinka Babatunde 

Balogun Rtd, Ogun –South 

West as members of the Code 

of Conduct Bureau, CCB. 

The confirmation of the 

nominees followed the consideration 

of the report of the 

Senator Ayo Akinyelure, PDP, 

Ondo Central led Senate 

Committee on Ethics, Privileges 

and Public Petitions. 

Meanwhile, the Upper 

Chamber yesterday referred 

President Buhari’s request 

seeking the confirmation of 

nominees to the Federal 

Competition and Consumer 

Protection Commission Tribunal 

to its Committee on 

Trade and Investment. 

Realization of refinery roadmap‘ll 

make Nigeria net exporter of 

petroleum products — Buhari 

to expand the capacity of the 

refinery to 50,000 barrels/day, 

said the deployment of modular 

refineries was one of the 

four key elements of his administration’s 

Refinery Roadmap 

rolled out in 2018. 

Noting that its implementation 

would make Nigeria a 

net exporter of petroleum 

products, the President expressed 

delight that Waltersmith 

refinery in Ohaji Egbema 

Local Government Area 

of Imo State was coming on 

stream within two years of the 

commencement of the Roadmap, 

after many years of 

granting licenses for the establishment 

of modular refineries 

with nothing to show for it.

C 

M 

Y 

K 



Nigeria needs N500bn 

annually to develop road 

infrastructure — FG 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

ABUJA—THE Federal 

Government has said it 

would require a minimum of 

N500 billion annually for the next 

three years to develop its 35,000 

kilometres network of roads, 

saying work was ongoing on 

13,000 kilometres of the network. 

Minister of Works and Housing, 

Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, who 

disclosed this yesterday in Abuja 

when he granted audience to the 

Press Corps of the ruling All 

Progressives Congress, APC, said 

if past administrations had shown 

commitment to developing road 

infrastructure like the President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s 

administration, most of the roads 

would have been completed. 

He said: “We inherited a 

number of roads and we resolved 

that we were going to complete 

as many of them as possible. 

‘’Many of these roads, some of 

them started in 2007, some in 

2006 and others are even older, 

but unfortunately for reasons 

that we can only imagine, at a 

time that the country was 

earning more revenues, up to 

$100 per barrel, the total budget 

of this country was N4 tr. 

‘’It is now that the country is 

earning very less, $40 per barrel 

that it is budgeting N13 tr. So, 

those roads should have been 

done before we came. Even the 

ones done by the state 

governments were not paid for, 

and so we are just paying. 

“I think that a minimum of half 

a trillion every year over the next 

two, three years would be a strong 

support to really advance and 

complete as many as the 711 

contracts we have. Again, some 

people are mistaking these 

contracts to mean roads. No. 

‘’For example, on Lagos-Ibadan 

expressway, we have one road 

but two contracts. On Benin- 

Lokoja, we have one road but five 

contractors. So, the totality of 

these are 711 and the total road 

network now under construction 

or rehabilitation is a little over 13, 

000km in different stages of 

repairs out of the total federal road 

network of 35, 000km.’’ 

He said that due to different 

climatic conditions in different 

parts of the country, the materials 

used to build roads react 

differently, explaining that this 

was why the ministry decided to 

also use different construction 

components for different areas. 

Fashola also blamed the 

nonchalance of some Nigerians 

for the rapid decay of roads being 

constructed by the government. 

“How do we get the best out of 

these roads? It is to use them 

properly. We must stop abusing 

the roads. Let me tell you some of 

the ways we abuse roads. I have 

told you we have designed to 

some of the highest conditions 

but the more we design, the 

more some of our people 

exceed their axle load,'' he said. 

Big men in Nigeria still evading 

tax — FIRS boss, Nami 

•Moves to recover billions from defaulting Lagos 

tax firm •Liquidates N11bn of N18bn debt 

By Soni Daniel, 

Northern Region Editor 

E 

X E C U T I V E 

Chairman of Federal 

Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, 

Muhammad Nami has said tax 

evasion was still high in the 

country. 

He also pledged to design and 

deploy new digital solutions to 

tackle the problem so as to haul 

in more money for the Federal 

Government for the development 

of the country and provision of 

services for Nigerians. 

Nami, who disclosed during a 

media briefing held in his office 

that the agency netted N4.178 

trillion of the revenue target of 

N5.076 trillion it was given by the 

Federal Government, said: “Tax 

evasion is a serious crime in 

Nigeria and we are not sleeping 

about it. There are big men in 

Nigeria who are still evading 

taxes. 

“For this reason, we have 

deployed technology to trace the 

evaders and collect the money 

due the government.’’ 

He spoke of an unnamed Lagos 

firm, which he said had collected 

billions of Naira from Value Added 

Tax, VAT, but refused to remit 

same to the FIRS, thereby sitting 

on huge government revenue. 

According to him, FIRS has 

already compiled the amount 

being withheld by the defaulting 

Lagos firm and has forwarded a 

demand notice to the firm to pay 

the huge amount it was owing 

the agency or be ready for the 

consequences of sitting on 

government’s cash without 

any justification. 

“We have done an assessment 

and the amount the company is 

keeping back is billions of Naira 

and we have equally sent him 

appropriate invoice to pay back 

the money with immediate 

effect,” the chairman disclosed 

without mentioning the 

offending firm’s identity. 

The FIRS boss said the agency 

has raked in N4.178 trillion, 

adding the figure represents 98.7 

per cent of the N5.076 trillion 

revenue target set for the agency 

by the federal government for the 

fiscal year 2020. 

He pointed out that the about 

99 percent revenue 

accomplishment was achieved at 

the end of October this year, 

expressing optimism that the 

target of N5.076 trillion would be 

achieved before the year end. 

Muhammad said that although 

the assessment and collection of 

taxes were hampered for most 

part of the year due to the 

nationwide lockdown occasioned 

by COVID-19 pandemic, the 

FIRS adopted strategic digital 

techniques to haul in more taxes 

than would have been possible, 

even in in-person drive, especially 

in the months of March and April 

this year. 

According to him, the service 

garnered N62 billion in the 

months of March and April 

when the pandemic was at its 

peak in the country and 

praised the dynamism, 

commitment and resourcefulness 

of his staff in collecting taxes 

for the government, despite 

the drawback. 


PRAYERS FOR LATE NEWSPAPER VENDOR, IFEANYI OKEREKE: Speaker, House of Reps, Femi 

Gbajabiamila, members and the executive members of the Abuja Newspapers Distributors Association, ANDA 

and the Newspapers Vendors Association, Abuja, NVAA (in the gallery) while observing prayers for the repose of 

the soul of late newspaper vendor, Ifeanyi Okereke at resumption of plenary yesterday. 

#EndSARS: Senate wants affected states, 

individuals, organisations compensated 

•Asks FG to rebuild vandalised infrastructure in Lagos, Calabar, others 

•Seeks 1% VAT to repair Lagos, others affected by violence 


ABUJA—THE Senate 

yesterday asked the 

Federal Government to urgently 

establish special economic 

assistance to Lagos State, other 

states, individuals and 

organisations affected by the 

violence that trailed the 

#EndSARS protests that led to 

massive looting and wanton 

destruction of property. 

Consequently, the senate 

asked government to make 

available a financial grant-in-aid 

of not less than one percent of its 

Value Added Tax, VAT, as grant 

for the affected states. 

According to the Senate, the 

succour from the Federal 

Government will be extended to 

other cities and states such as 

Calabar, Benin, Uyo, Niger, 

among others, where incidents 

of equally large scale destruction 

and looting took place during the 

protests targeted at scrapping the 

Special Anti-Robbery Squad, 

SARS. 

Urging the Federal 

Government to set up a visitation 

panel to assess the level of 

destruction of public and private 

assets in all the affected states, 

the Senate mandated its 

Committees on National Security 

and Intelligence, Defence, Police 

Affairs, Judiciary, Human Rights 

and Legal Matters to investigate 

the invasion of the ancient city 

of Calabar on October 24, 2020, 

and report back at plenary. 

Resolutions of the Senate were 

sequel to the consideration of two 

separate motions sponsored by 

Senators Biodun Olujimi, PDP, 

Ekiti South and Gershom 

Bassey, PDP, Cross River South. 

Coming under Order 42 and 52 

of the Senate Rules, Senator 

Olujimi noted that the 

#EndSARS protest, began on 

October 3, 2020, and assumed a 

global dimension, following the 

alleged shooting of a young 

Nigerian in Ughelli, Delta State, 

and drew the attention of the 

Senate to the level of destruction 

to public and private property in 

Lagos. 

Following the similar nature of 

the two motions, the Senate 

resolved to consider them 

together as well as merge the 

prayers. 

There was, however, a mild 

drama at the hallowed Chamber 

of the Senate soon after the 

presentation of the motion by the 

former Senate Minority Leader 

when it was time for contributions 

by lawmakers, especially with 

regard to debate on 

compensation for states affected 

by the #EndSARS protests across 

the country. 

It was, however, observed that 

while the debate was raging, the 

senators representing Lagos 

State did not make any 

contribution, especially 

considering the fact that Senator 

Olujimi’s motion and prayers 

were centred around Lagos State 

in view of its strategic socioeconomic 

significance. 

Trouble started when the 

Chairman, Senate Services 

Committee, Senator Mohammed 

Sani Musa, APC, Niger East, was 

called to second the motion by 

Senator Olujimi on whether 

compensation for states affected 

by the #EndSARs violence 

should include states in the 

Northeast suffering from banditry 

and Boko Haram crises. 

Senator Musa, who asked that 

the grant be extended to victims 

of bandit attacks in his 

constituency and other parts of 

the North, said: “We have seen 

the destruction in my 

constituency and on my 

constituents and nothing like 

compensation has come up. 

“I support the idea of 

compensation to all victims. As 

the #EndSARS are being 

compensated, victims of banditry 

should also be compensated. If 

we should just limit it to Lagos or 

Cross River, it will be unfair to 

other parts of the country. It 

should be extended to other 

parts. Any intervention by the 

government should be holistic 

and not restricted to Lagos State 

or Calabar.” 

In their different presentations, 

both Olujimi and Gershom 

Bassey disclosed that there was 

large scale destruction of public 

and private property, including 

police stations and other public 

facilities, and the residence of a 

serving and former lawmaker in 

Lagos and Cross River states. 

Senator Biodun Olujimi 

lamented the extent of 

destruction suffered by the South 

West and Lagos State in 

particular, even as she listed the 

damage to include the 

destruction of Ajeromi Ifelodun 

Local Government Secretariat, 

Palace of the Oba of Lagos; Lagos 

High Court, Igbosere; ‘Oyingbo- 

BRT terminus; Ojodu Berger BRT 

terminus; Vehicle Inspection 

Office, Ojodu Berger; among 

others. 

She also itemised Lagos State 

Public Works Corporation, Ojodu 

Berger; Lagos City Hall and Circle 

Mall, Lekki; numerous luxury 

shops in Surulere, The Nation 

newspaper, TVC and Shoprite 

Lekki including 27 BRT vehicles 

estimated to cost $200,000 each 

and another 57 BRT vehicles 

estimated to cost $100,000 each, 

all totalling about N3.9 billion, as 

other properties affected by the 

violence. 

According to her, the state lost 

N1 trillion as more than 27 BRT 

buses were vandalised in the 

crises. 

In his argument, Senator 

Gershom Bassey lamented the 

crisis in Cross River State, saying 

“it is unfortunate that what 

started as a peaceful protest was 

hijacked by hoodlums, who 

unleashed terror on innocent 

citizens.” 

According to him, “government 

must do what is necessary to 

ensure that the situation does 

not happen again.” 

In his contribution, Senator 

Abdullahi Adamu, APC, 

Nasarawa West, condemned the 

violent protest, describing it as 

one of the worst in Nigeria’s 

political history. 

He, however, cautioned the 

Senate not to be prejudicial to 

the judicial panel of inquiry set 

up in most of the affected states. 

“It will be prejudicial to the 

tribunal set up, so we have to 

tred with some caution. Let’s wait 

for awhile and see the outcome,’’ 

he said. 

Also in his contribution, 

Chairman, Senate 

Committee on Public 

Accounts, Senator Matthew 

Urhoghide, PDP, Edo South, 

urged law enforcement agencies 

to work extra length to recover 

all the arms and ammunition 

looted by hoodlums. 

WTO BOSS: Coast clear for Okonjo-Iweala as 

South Korea withdraws candidate — REPORT 

SOUTH Korea has 

decided to withdraw its 

candidate from the World Trade 

Organisation, WTO, directorgeneral 

race, according to 

Washington Trade Daily. 

Yoo Myung-hee is South 

Korea’s Trade Minister and its 

candidate for the top job at the 

WTO following the resignation 

of Roberto Azevedo. 

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s 

candidate in the WTO race, had 

secured the popular vote by a 

wide margin on October 28 but 

was not named DG because the 

US opposed her candidacy. 

The two women are the last 

candidates standing and the 

eventual winner will set a record 

as being the first female WTO DG. 

However, there are 

speculations that the US might 

change its stance following Donald 

Trump’s failure to get re-elected 

as president. 

After the October 28 meeting, 

WTO also said Okonjo-Iweala had 

the best chance of getting a 

consensus. 

Washington Trade Daily quotes 

sources as saying South Korea 

has notified the US of its decision 

and is expected to make it public 

“in the coming days.” 

“Washington refused to accept 

the recommendation made by the 

selection panel chaired by 

General Council Chair Amb. 

David Walker that Okonjo-Iweala 

is the candidate most likely of the 

two to attract consensus because 

she clearly carried the largest 

support by members in the final 

round and clearly enjoyed broad 

support from members from all 

geographic regions and has done 

so throughout the process. 

“Yoo from Korea failed to receive 

enough support from members of 

all levels of development -1e., the 

developed, developing and 

least developing countries, as 

well as geographically in 

comparison to the largest 

support received by Ms 

Okonjo-Iweala” the report read.




Steer clear of Osun, PDP warns 

Aregbesola 

By Shina Abubakar 

OSOGBO—THE Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

yesterday, warned the Minister 

of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, to 

steer clear of Osun State to 

prevent a breakdown of law and 

order, saying the state has 

suffered too much violence in 

recent times. 

This came as the party also 

disclosed that there is nothing 

‘progressive’ to celebrate in the 

state, as Aregbesola’s 

administration has caused more 

harm to the teeming populace, 

adding that his coming to the 

state was a ploy to cause another 

round of mayhem. 

In a statement by the Deputy 

National Publicity Secretary of 

the party, Prince Diran Odeyemi, 

the PDP urged security 

operatives in the state to pay 

diligent attention to the planned 

visit by Aregbesola to celebrate 

the 10th anniversary of 

progressive administration in the 

state, on the same day his 

successor would be celebrating 

two years in office. 

The statement read: “It is more 

than mere coincidence that Rauf 

Aregbesola decided to mark 10 

Miners in Ogun accuse ministry 

of extortion 

By James 

Ogunnaike 

A BEOKUTA— 

M I N E R S ’ 

Association of Nigeria, 

MAN, in Ogun State, 

has raised allegations of 

extortion, harassment 

and imposition of illegal 

multiple taxations on 

them by officials of the 

Ministry of Trade, 

Industry and 

Investment, in 

contravention of the 

country’s Constitution. 

The miners alleged that 

officials of the Ogun State 

Government in the 

Ministry of Trade, 

Industry and Investment, 

are collecting outrageous 

and illegal taxes from 

them and forcing them to 

register with the state 

government despite 

registering with the 

Federal Government 

Court fines Ondo govt over 

Ororo Oil field 

By Onozure Dania 

LAGOS—A Federal High 

Court in Lagos, yesterday, 

fined the Ondo State 

Government, following its failed 

bid to join in a suit challenging 

the Federal Government’s 

revocation of the Ororo Marginal 

Oil Field license. 

The Ororo field, discovered in 

1986, is located within OML 95 

in shallow waters, offshore Ondo 

State. It is owned by Owena Oil 

and Gas Limited, with Ondo 

State being one of its 

shareholders. 

Following the revocation of the 

license in April, Ondo State 

brought an application seeking 

to join suit FHC/L/CS/587/2020 

filed by Owena. 

The Minister of Petroleum 

years of progressive administration 

on the very day his successor, 

Governor Gboyega 

Oyetola, wants to celebrate his 

second year in office. It is 

obviously meant to test the 

power and popularity with the 

use of thugs and hooligans. 

“What is he coming here to 

celebrate? Where is MKO 

International Cargo Airport 

where over N3 billion was spent 

by Aregbesola? What is good 

about his administration, after he 

left over N200 billion debt 

according to the National Bureau 

of Statistics as of November 2018 

when he left government and 

thugs tagged state boys? 

“Where is our Opon Imo, now 

known as a tabloid of fraud 

awarded to his relative at the rate 

of N7 billion? Where is Dagbolu 

International Market that 

Aregbesola promised Osun people 

after spending a huge amount of 

money? 

“Aregbesola left N36 months 

unpaid half salaries to Osun 

workers and pensioners 

amounting to N30 billion. Where 

is Igi Iye project of Bola Ilori that 

swallowed several billions of 

naira? Where is Osunwon 

omoluabi introduced by 

Aregbesola’s government? 

Where is Osun helicopter? 

under the Federal Ministry 

of Mines and Steel 

Development as stipulated 

by the 1999 Constitution 

of the Federal Republic 

of Nigeria. 

The Chairman of the 

Miners’ Association of 

Nigeria in Ogun State, Mr. 

Olusola Aikulola, who 

briefed the press in 

Abeokuta, Ogun State in 

company of other members 

of the association, argued 

that after getting clearance 

and permit from the Federal 

Ministry of Mines and 

Steel Development, which, 

as stipulated by the 

constitution, permits them 

to pay a royalty to the 

Federal Government every 

month, “it is illegal for 

Ogun State Government 

through its Ministry of 

Trade, Industry and 

Investment to impose and 

enforce the collection of 

another regime of taxes 

from miners in the state.” 

Resources, Department of Petroleum 

Resources, DPR and 

Guarantee Petroleum Company 

Limited are first to third 

respondents in the suit. 

When the application was heard 

in October, Ororo Oil Field 

counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, 

argued that the case challenging 

the license revocation “is totally 

different” from a shareholders’ 

case. 

He urged the court to dismiss 

the state’s application. 

In his ruling, yesterday, Justice 

Muslim Hassan upheld 

Pinheiro’s argument and 

dismissed the application. 

While agreeing with their 

contention, Justice Hassan 

awarded N100,000 to each of 

them against the Ondo State 

Government. 

The court adjourned further 

proceedings till January 14. 


CLASH—Security officials at the scene of the clash between the commercial motorcycle operators 

(okada riders) and Prison officials, around Agodi Prisons, in Ibadan, yesterday. Photo: Dare Fasube. 

Ondo Assembly impeaches deputy 

speaker over gross misconduct 

•My removal null, void, done clandestinely —Ogundeji 

By Dayo Johnson 

AKURE—THE botched 

impeachment of the Deputy 

Governor of Ondo State, 

Agboola Ajayi, yesterday, 

resulted in the 

impeachment of Deputy 

Speaker of the state's 

House of Assembly, Iroju 

Ogundeji. 

Meanwhile, a panel has 

been constituted to 

investigate the allegation of 

gross misconduct against 

the former deputy speaker, 

by the assembly. 

The leadership of the 

assembly said that 20 of the 

26 members signed the 

impeachment of the deputy 

speaker. 

But, in a swift reaction, 

Ogundeji described his 

impeachment as null and 

void, insisting that the 

leadership of the assembly 

does not have the required 

number of lawmakers to 

impeach him. 

He said: “It was done 

clandestinely.” 

The deputy speaker is the 

arrowhead of the nine 

lawmakers that refused to 

sign the failed 

impeachment notice served 

on the deputy governor a 

few months ago. 

The deputy speaker and 

other lawmakers, including 

Messrs Favour Tomomewo, 

Wale Williams and Tomiwa 

Akinribido, were 

suspended from the 

assembly for their action 

citing gross indiscipline 

and misconduct but they 

were later reinstated by an 

Akure High court. 

But announcing 

Ogundeji’s impeachment 

and removal of other 

principal officers ordered to 

be reinstated by the Court 

of Appeal, the chairman 

Ad-hoc Committee on 

Information, Mr. 

Olugbenga Omole said 

Mr. Aderoboye Samuel 

representing Odigbo 

Constituency 2 has been 

elected to succeed 

Ogundeji as the deputy 

speaker. 

Omole, in a statement, 

said: “The former Deputy 

Speaker, Iroju Ogundeji, in 

a parliamentary resolution 

presented by Mr. Tomide 

Akinrogunde was accused 

of gross misconduct, which 

is inimical to the progress 

of the House. 

“The resolution, which 

was signed by 20 members 

of the House was in line 

with the Standing Order of 

the House, hence was 

adopted by the House at 

plenary. 

“The Speaker, 

Oleyelogun David, 

therefore, called for 

nomination and Mr. 

Aderoboye Samuel was 

elected through a majority 

voice vote. 

“Mr. Samuel was Deputy 

Speaker of the House 

during the fourth 

Assembly. 

“Mr. Oluwole 

Ogunmolasuyi, 

representing Owo 

Constituency 1, has been 

appointed as the new 

Majority leader; Mr. 

Akingbaso Festus, 

representing Idanre State 

Constituency, is the new 

Minority Leader and Mr. 

Taofeeq Mohammed is the new 

Chief Whip of the House.” 

6 persons injured as police, warders, 

okada riders clash in Ibadan 

By Ola Ajayi 

IBADAN—SIX persons were 

injured, yesterday, during a 

bloody clash that erupted among 

officers of the Nigerian 

Correctional Centres, police and 

commercial motorcyclists (okada) 

at Agodi Gate area of Ibadan in 

Oyo State. 

Vanguard gathered that 

the clash was triggered by the 

insistence of the staff of the 

correctional centre that all okada 

riders should not park at the 

entrance of the facility. 

The riders usually ply Iwo-Road 

and Bashorun-Akobo road. 

During the heated argument, 

security men fired gunshots 

which injured some of the riders. 

It was further gathered that 

when the policeman that fired the 

shot attempted to escape in an 

armoured personnel carrier, the 

vehicle hit a tricycle with four 

Suspected toxic waste: 

Customs, terminal 

operator distance self 

By Godfrey Bivbere 

L AGOS—THREE 

w e e k s 

after Vanguard’s exclusive 

report of the suspected toxic 

waste container abandoned 

in Lagos, the terminal 

operator and the Customs 

Command from where the 

container was allegedly 

cleared, yesterday, denied 

that the contentious 

container was not cleared 

from their facilities. 

A 20-foot container was 

abandoned at Berger Suya bus 

stop, along the Cocoanut-Mile 2 

end (close to the pedestrian 

bridge) of the Oshodi/Apapa 

expressway, and was only 

r e m o v e d 

after Vanguard’s report. 

This came as the National 

Environmental Standards and 

Regulations Enforcement 

Agency, NESREA, had refused 

to disclose the outcome of the test 

it carried out three weeks after 

collecting test samples. 

When contacted, the Kirikiri 

Lighter Terminal Command of the 

Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, 

and Joatlim Bonded Terminal that 

operates under the command, 

claimed that the controversial 

container was not cleared from 

that facility. 

The Public Relations Officer of 

the Customs Command, who 

identified himself as Tunde, said 

that the controversial container, 

with number TLLU 2813171, was 

not cleared from his command. 

passengers on board. 

Though the passengers did not 

die, they reportedly sustained 

injuries. 

This stoked a fresh crisis as the 

APC vehicle was reportedly set 

on fire. 

Police react 

Speaking on the incident, the 

State Police Public Relations 

Officer, SP Gbenga Fadeyi 

dismissed the claims that it was 

the police that injured them. 

Fadeyi said: “Contrary to the 

currently trending news online 

that policemen fired shots leading 

to injury at Agodi gate area this 

morning. 

“The truth is that there was a 

clash between officers of the 

correctional service and bike men 

stationed at agodi gate. 

“Upon receipt of this 

information, policemen, as well as 

other security agencies, moved 

to the scene to ensure there was 

no breakdown of law and order 

that could lead to a coordinated 

attack on the prison facility. 

Policemen fired no shot. Further 

unfolding development will be 

communicated later. 

“The protesters were reportedly 

heading towards Yemetu Police 

station where they believed the 

policemen came from. 

“To prevent ugly occurrences 

similar to the recently suspended 

#EndSARS protests, policemen 

kept vigilance on various police 

stations in the city."

Vanguard, , WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 — 11 

:Vanguard :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 

VISIT—Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (4th left); his Police Affairs counterpart, Alhaji 

Muhammad Dingyadi (4th right); All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu 

(middle), and other officers of paramilitary services, during their courtesy visit to Tinubu, on the sidelines 

of the on-going Stakeholders' Engagement on Internal Security and Conflict Resolution in Lagos, yesterday. 

EndSARS saga, a wake-up call to all 

—Sanwo-Olu 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

LAGOS—GOVERNOR Babajide 

Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, 

yesterday, noted that the recent 

EndSARS protests remain a wake-up call 

to all Nigerians. 

This came as the Minister of Interior, 

Rauf Aregbesola, said that Lagos State is 

the Destiny of the Black Race, which 

must be protected. 

They made these statements at a oneday 

stakeholders’ meeting, tagged: 

‘Stakeholders’ Engagement on Internal 

Security and Conflict Resolution Across 

the Country’, jointly organised by the 

Lagos State Government, through the 

Office of the Secretary to the State 

Government/Cabinet Office, in 

conjunction with the Ministries of 

Interior and Police Affairs, held in Alausa, 

Ikeja. 

The event attracted top government 

functionaries, security chiefs, civil 

organisations, traditional rulers, 

organised private sector, OPS, religious 

leaders, among others. 

In his opening address, Governor 

Sanwo-Olu said: “The state of insecurity 

being experienced across the nation calls 

for serious concern, considering its 

implication, not only on the socioeconomic 

development and prosperity of 

our people but also the unity and 

territorial integrity of our nation. 

“The importance of an effective 

strategy for peaceful resolution of conflicts 

cannot be overemphasised. Nations 

have engaged in war and civil strifes 

based on issues that could have been 

resolved peacefully without the 

unnecessary loss of lives and destruction 

•Lagos, destiny of Black Race —Aregbesola 

of property. 

“The incidents leading up to October 

20, 2020, and the aftermath have created 

a lot of tension in the land. We should 

not allow fifth columnists or conspiracy 

theorists capitalise on the after-effect of 

the protests with the collateral damage 

of police stations burnt and vandalised 

with arms and ammunition looted. 

“That incident, through which 

extensive damage was wreaked on 

public infrastructure and private 

businesses, is a wakeup call to all wellmeaning 

individuals and organisations 

that we cannot afford to allow external 

forces or factors threaten or undermine 

our wellbeing and security as a people. 

“It is our duty and responsibility as 

leaders to rise above the present 

challenges and provide the needed 

leadership that will restore and ensure 

the continued confidence and trust in 

the governance system and the 

beneficial effect on the lives of all categories 

of citizens in Nigeria. 

“Let us take on the challenge and 

provide leadership that will galvanise the 

patriotic fire in the chest of our youths 

and assure them that indeed the future 

is very bright for Nigeria and Nigerians. 

“Lagos State is the strategic hub for 

socioeconomic, political or entertainment 

development in Nigeria and the 

ECOWAS sub-region, therefore any 

negative development will have a ripple 

effect across the geopolitical zone. It is in 

our joint interests as a people to come 

together and restrategise on security 

initiatives that will prevent further 

occurrence of the wanton damage and 

destruction of lives and properties of 

innocent people and public infrastructure 

which replacement will come at a 

prohibitive cost.” 

Lagos, destiny of 

Black Race 

—Aregbesola 

Also speaking on ‘Lagos, the destiny 

of our race’, Aregbesola said: “This 

meeting is not an afterthought. We had 

planned to hold it months ago as part of 

our nationwide engagement with 

Nigerians on the critical issue of security. 

This meeting had held in Maiduguri and 

Katsina with Lagos, Calabar and Owerri 

on the card last month. 

“No development, political, economic 

and social can be undertaken outside of 

security. Our right to life can only be 

guaranteed in a secure environment. 

“We may not have attained the most 

secure state at the moment, but we 

should not take what we now have for 

granted, notwithstanding our present 

challenges.” 

Besides, he said: “Lagos is not just a 

city in Nigeria, it is the symbol of the 

black race and the city most 

representative of our people.” 

“Lagos security challenges include, but 

are not limited to, armed robbery, 

carjacking, burglary, pipeline and public 

infrastructure vandalism, fraud and 

white-collar crime, cybercrime, road 

accidents, ritual killing, land and property 

theft, murderous armed gangsterism, 

cultism, piracy and theft of intellectual 

property, extreme domestic violence, 

gender violence and natural disaster, 

such as rain and flooding. 

“A dangerous new dimension was 

added last month with prolonged protests 

dovetailing into an orgy of killings, looting, 

vandalism and arsonist attacks on public 

and private property and, bizarrely, 

cannibalism”, he said. 

Air safety: We don’t cut corners, airline 

operators reply Senate 

By Lawani Mikairu 

LAGOS—THE Airline Operators of 

Nigeria, AON, yesterday, denied 

reports in certain news media quoting 

the Senate Committee Chairman on 

Aviation, Senator Smart Adeyemi, as 

saying that Nigeria airline operators will 

start cutting corners, if they are not given 

immediate bailout by the Federal 

Government. 

Debunking the report on behalf of 

other operators, President, AON, Dr. 

Abdulmunaf Yunusa, said Nigerian 

operators would rather shut down their 

operations than cut corners. 

Yunusa said: “The attention of the 

Airline Operators of Nigeria has been 

drawn to the reports in certain news 

media, quoting a senator saying that as 

a result of the financial problems brought 

to the airlines by the effects of COVID- 

19 and, as result of lack of adequate 

government bailouts for the airlines, that 

the airlines had resorted to cutting 

corners. 

“AON wishes to state categorically here 

that there is no iota of truth in this 

statement. Nigerian airlines have not cut 

corners, do not cut corners, and will never 

cut corners. We want to believe that the 

Senator was misunderstood and quoted 

out of context because there is never 

any available fact supporting such a 

conclusion. 

“In most of the media reports, the 

senator was quoted as pleading with the 

Federal Government to stop the Customs 

department from re-introducing the 

payment of duties and VAT on the 

importation of commercial aircraft, 

commercial aircraft spares and engines, 

noting that the reintroduction was 

flagrant disobedience of the Executive 

Order by President Buhari granting zero 

duty and zero VAT on the importation of 

commercial aircraft, aircraft spares and 

aircraft engines noting that such 

decision by the Customs could make the 

airlines to start cutting corners because 

of their inability to clear their spares from 

the customs. 

“It was equally reported in most media 

that the senator is asking that Nigerian 

airlines be supported with adequate 

bailout funding, warned that if this was 

not done, that some airlines may resort 

to cutting corners. 

“We wish to state categorically that no 

Nigerian airline would cut corners under 

any circumstance. Nigerian airlines will 

never compromise safety under any 

circumstance. If the burden of running 

our business becomes unbearable as a 

result of the Customs duties and VAT, 

we would rather shut down and suspend 

our operations, rather than cut corners." 

Washed down with a gourd of undiluted 

bkt/pito...good system manager! 

...And 80% of those that 'went up' have 

crumbled! 

Yes...those dollars can also suffocate 

him in seconds, if not well managed! 

C 

M 

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KICKSTART—From left: PS, Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs. Boladele Dapo- 

Thomas; MD, International Breweries, Hugo Rochas; Representative of the Vice President, Minister of State for 

Labour and Employment; Festus Keyamo, SAN, represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Skill Acquisition 

and Entrepreneurship, Dr. Osagie Nurudeen; Chairman, Advisory Board, International Breweries Plc., Peter 

Bankole, and Legal & Corporate Affairs Director, International Breweries Plc., Mrs. Temitope Oguntokun, during 

the 5th International Breweries Plc. Kickstart Entrepreneurship Summit, held in Lagos. 

NAIRA: Basing devaluation on parallel 

market rate wrong —CBN 

•Says parallel used for corruption purposes 

•Retains MPR at 11.5 % 

•Gives N1 trn to corporate orgasnisations over COVID-19 

•N149 b to targeted households, SMEs 

Emma Ujah, Abuja 

Bureau Chief 

ABUJA—THOSE using 

parallel market rate to 

put pressure on the Central 

Bank of Nigeria (CBN) 

to devalue the Naira won't 

have their way. 

The CBN Governor, Mr. 

Godwin Emefiele gave this 

indication at the end of the 

last 2020 Monetary Policy 

Committee (MPC) meeting, 

in Abuja, yesterday. 

He said "It is unfair that 

even analysts who should 

know are using parallel market 

rate to say that our currency 

is overvalued and 

therefore calling for devaluation. 

This is very unfortunate. 

"The parallel market is a 

shallow market of only 

about 5 per cent of the foreign 

exchange market 

which is patronized by people 

who go there for cash to 

offer bribes and corruption. 

Parallel market is the place 

where people who don't 

want to provide documents 

go. 

"I don't see why those 

who should know are asking 

for devaluation. We 

don't agree that the determination 

of the foreign exchange 

should be based on 

a market that is tainted. We 

will not use this as our 

benchmark to determine 

the value of our currency. 

"At the E& I (Import& Export) 

Window, the rate is 

about N386 or N387 / $1. 

We don't control the I & E 

window. Why will anyone 

use the parallel market to 

say that the exchange rate 

is over N480/$1?" 

According to the governor, 

the Naira had already 

been devalued by about 28 

per cent this year, just like 

many other currencies of 

the world. 

COVID-19: 

149bn to 317 

beneficiaries 

Governor Emefiele disclosed 

that about N149 billion 

had been given to 317 

beneficiaries of the COVID- 

19 Fund, consisting of Targeted 

Households, as well as, 

Small and Medium Enterprises 

(SMEs). 

He said that the organization 

was encouraged to increase 

funding beyond the 

initial N50 billion due to the 

positive impact it had on the 

Nigerian economy by boosting 

outputs and consumption. 

According to him, another 

N92 billion was given to operators 

under the Agri-business/Small 

and Medium Enterprises 

Investment Scheme 

(AGSMEIS) and another 

N60 billion to healthcare sector 

players, in the battle to 

contain the COVID-19 pandemic 

and improve the nation's 

health sector. 

Similarly, Mr. Emediele disclosed 

that about N2. 9 billion 

of the Creative Industry 

Initiative Fund has been disbursed 

among operators in 

the fashion, music and Information, 

Communication 

Technology and the movie 

industries. 

According to the CBN boss, 

"the various funds have been 

"quite impactful" adding, 

these have been helpful in 

moderating the impact of the 

COVID-19 pandemic in the 

country." 

An elated Mr. Emefiele 

said that the various funds 

disbursements would be 

done in such a way that all 

regions of the country would 

benefit from the interventions. 

"We have insisted that it 

should be done in such a way 

that it will go round all the 

zones. This will boost consumption 

and ensure output 

is impacted for the good 

of our people." 

On the current recession, 

the governor said, "We are 

somewhat cautiously optimistic 

that with the record of 

performance of various sectors, 

in the first quarter of 

2021, we will exit the recession." 

According to the CBN 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT HARCOURT— 

GOVERNORS and people 

of the South-South Geopolitical 

zone have demanded 

for restructuring in line 

with the principle of true federalism, 

to guarantee peace, 

security and stability of the 

nation. 

The leaders and governors 

of the region during a meeting 

with FG in Port Harcourt 

yesterday, noted that the country 

is not at peace with itself 

and not working as it should, 

stating that the people of 

South-South region are not 

attended to. 

Speaking, Chairman of the 

South-South Governors Forum 

and Governor of Delta 

State, Senator Ifeanyi 

Okowa while disclosing the 

position of the zone during the 

regional stakeholders meeting 

with presidential delegation 

led by the Chief of Staff 

to the President, Ambassador 

Ibrahim Gambari, at the 

Government House, Port 

Harcourt on Tuesday, called 

for restructuring of the nation 

and true federalism. 

Okowa said: "True federalism 

guided by the principle 

of derivation, revenue sharing 

and control of resources 

by each State of the federation 

as it was the case in the 

boss, the external reserves 

position, stood at US$35.18 

billion as at November 19, 

2020 compared with 

US$35.95 billion at end of 

September 2020, as crude 

oil prices continue to fluctuate 

with downward pressure. 

The CBN retained 

Monetary policy 

Rate (MPR) at 

11.5% 

It also retained all other 

parameters with Cash Reserve 

Ratio and Liquidity 

Ratio at 27.5 per cent and 

30 per cent respectively. 

Consequently, the MPC 

retained the asymmetric 

corridor of +100/-700 basis 

points around the MPR. 

Dikio vows to stop corruption 

in PAP, assures contractors 

of payment 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT HARCOURT— 

THE Interim Administrator, 

Presidential Amnesty 

Programme, PAP, Col. Milland 

Dixon Dikio (retd) has 

vowed to stamp out corruption 

in the Presidential Amnesty 

Programme. 

The amnesty coordinator 

also clarified that the scheme 

owed contractors about 

N71.4 billion, noting that the 

office would pay based on 

their contractual agreement. 

Dikio, yesterday said the 

figure was based on the report 

of an investigative committee 

set up by the Presidency 

to probe the past activities 

of the programme. 

He said that the office was 

resolved to digitalise the 

operations of the amnesty 

programme, adding that 

such would make it more 

transparent to reduce incidences 

of corruption. 

Dikio noted that in line 

with the standard set by the 

United Nations, that the 

amnesty office must be reorganised 

for optimum performance, 

adding that he 

would restructure the office 

to run on a lean and efficient 

workforce in line with 

international standard recommended 

for such programmes. 

The amnesty boss said: 

"There are many complaints 

that I think are process-driven. 

For instance 

we want to digitalise our 

operations and create a system 

in which there will be 

transparent transactions. If 

we do that very well it will 

first republic." 

He said the kind of federation 

the South-South geopolitical 

desires, is one where 

federating units are constitutionally 

empowered to create 

their own structures like Local 

Government Areas, manage 

their elections and control 

their judiciary. 

He said: "We are all aware 

of the huge endowment of this 

country. As such, it is imperative 

to stress that with a little 

bit of efforts, imagination, 

hard work, sacrifice and leadership, 

every state of the Federation 

as of today, has the 

ability and capability to contribute 

to the national purse. 

This should be encouraged 

rather than the whole country 

depending substantially on a 

region of the country. 

"What is worse and even 

more painful in this ugly situation 

is the deliberate lack of 

understanding, empathy and 

the uncompromising attitudes 

of some Nigerians, who 

have refused to understand the 

challenges of the South-South 

region of the country especially, 

the degradation of the environment 

and our waters. As 

a result, most of the demands 

of the region have remained 

unattended to while the resources 

of the region have been 

used continually to develop 

other parts of the country." 

The governors reiterated the 

call for the relocation of the 

headquarters of major oil 

companies, NNPC subsidiaries 

from Lagos and Abuja to 

the South-South region, requesting 

immediate implementation 

of the consent judgment 

entered in the Supreme 

Court Suit No: SC/964/2016 

to enable the South-South region 

get its share of $55billion 

shortfall of collection on 

deep offshore and inland basin 

production sharing contracts. 

The governors further 

called for the reconstruction 

and rehabilitation of the region's 

major seaports in Port 

Harcourt, Calabar, Warri in 

order to enhance the economic 

development of the South- 

South region, regretting that 

they demanded that the two 

refineries in Port Harcourt and 

one in Warri which have continued 

to bleed the country's 

resources in the name of turn 

around maintenance, should 

be privatised. 

On the issues of Niger Delta 

Development Commission, 

NDDC, Okowa observed that 

one of the major failures of 

the intervention agency was 

its refusal to forge and foster 

synergy, consultation and cooperation 

with the state governments 

especially, on 

project location, development 

and execution. 

He said: "We have resolved 

and we, as the State governments 

will no longer allow 

NDDC to execute any project 

(s) in any state of the region 

without it consulting State 

governments. Frankly, 

enough is enough and we 

reduce the incidences of corruption". 

"I am very conversant with 

how the UN runs its DDR 

programme. The amnesty 

office has become a place for 

tenured appointment. That 

is far from how to operate a 

programme like this. 

"I intend to reorganise the 

place with the blessings of 

my superiors to create lean 

and efficient machinery so 

that we can drive each phase 

of the programme with the 

requisite qualified staff, so 

that we can deliver set targets 

on time. 

He noted that the office 

owed N71.4bn to contractors, 

saying: "The investigation 

committee established 

that contractors 

were owed about N71.4bn 

and that is way above our 

yearly budget of N65bn. 

On our part what we are 

committed in doing is to 

ensure prudent allocation 

of funds in need-driven 

line of expenditure. 

"I want to also say that 

apart from the verification 

done by the investigation 

committee, we had also 

completed a reconciliation 

of those figures before I 

went on tour, so when I 

come back we are going 

to start payment after a review 

of our records. We 

want to assure our contractors 

that their payment 

will be based soly on their 

terms of contract." 

He further said the office 

could only pay for benefits 

captured in the books, 

stating that the school fees 

and other allowances of 

most of the scholarship beneficiaries 

under the scheme 

had been paid.‘‘ 

N-Delta leaders demand restructuring as panacea 

for peace 

have a court judgment to back 

our position." 

However, the Chief of Staff 

to the President, Ambassador 

Ibrahim Gambari, said the 

stakeholders meeting was at 

the instance of President Muhammadu 

Buhari, to the presidential 

delegation comprising 

of all the Ministers from 

the region to visit and consult 

with representatives of the 

people regarding the recent 

EndSARS protest. 

Gambari, noted that reports 

indicated that there were instances 

where breakdown of 

law and order was reported 

across various locations in the 

South-South states, commending, 

the governors of the 

South-South States for their 

quick response and actions in 

addressing the EndSARS crisis 

Ġambari said the President 

acknowledged that citizens 

have also been dealing with 

other concerns that are particular 

to the region such as 

the degradation of environment 

due to decades of mishandling 

and adherence to environmental 

standards, promising 

to convey the demands 

of the region to the President 

Meanwhile, the Deputy President 

of the Senate, Obarisi 

Ovie Omo-Agege, urged the 

leaders of the region to avail 

themselves of the ongoing review 

of the 1999 Constitution 

by the National Assembly 

since most of the issues contained 

in their demands are 

constitutional matters.

C 

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METING: From 

left— Chief of Staff to 

the President, 

Ambassador Ibrahim 

Gambari; Deputy 

Senate President, 

Ovie Omo-Agege and 

Bayelsa State 

Governor, Senator 

Douye Diri, at the 

meeting of South- 

South stakeholders 

with the presidential 

team at Government 

House, Port Harcourt, 

yesterday. 

Igbo’ll resist any attempt to arrest Abaribe 

over Kanu's bail —MASSOB 

By Vincent 

Ujumadu 

AWKA—THE Move 

ment for the Actualization 

of the Sovereign State 

of Biafra, MASSOB, 

warned yesterday that the 

Igbo nation would resist 

any attempt to arrest Senator 

Enyinnaya Abaribe, who 

stood as a surety for the 

leader of the Indigenous 

People of Biafra, IPOB, 

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. 

MASSOB leader, Comrade 

Uchenna Madu, in a 

statement, faulted the call 

by the Alhaji Yerima Shettima 

- led Arewa Youths Consultative 

Forum (AYCF) for 

the arrest of Abaribe, regretting 

that the northern 

youths were always willing 

tools of destruction in the 

hands of their leaders. 

According to Madu, Senator 

Abaribe's surety for 

Nnamdi Kanu was totally 

different from the one Senator 

Ali Ndume stood for 

Maina Abdulrasheed. 

He said: “Maina was being 

charged over allegation 

of corruption and looting of 

public funds when he was 

the chairman of the defunct 

National Pension Task 

Team. He was also accused 

of laundering money meant 

for aged pensioners. He 

can therefore never be compared 

with Nnamdi Kanu 

of IPOB. 

“Senator Enyinnaya 

Abaribe's surety for Nnamdi 

Kanu was a unanimous 

decision of Ndigbo; it was 

not a personal venture. 

“The treasonable and felonious 

court case against 

Nnamdi Kanu is closed 

because Nigerian government 

knows it has no evidence 

against him. Therefore, 

any attempt to arrest 

Senator Enyinnaya 

Abaribe will be resisted by 

Ndigbo.” 

He warned the Arewa 

Furniture dealers commend FG on MSME 

By Onozure Dania 

PRESIDENT OF United 

Furniture Dealer’s Association 

of Nigeria, Prince 

Emeka Egwuekwe has commended 

the Federal Government 

over the inclusion of 

members of the association in 

the Micro, Small and Medium 

Enterprises, MSEME, 

scheme. 

This came as he renewed his 

call for the association to be 

included in the Central Bank 

of Nigeria, CBN, N50billion 

COVID-19 stimulus package 

for households and small businesses 

in the country. 

The Federal Government 

recently released the guidelines 

to access the N75 billion 

MSME Survival Fund and 

Support Initiatives which took 

effect from September 21, 

2020. 

• Says Nigeria 'll soon start exporting fuel 

The scheme, which is the 

core of the N2.3 trillion 

stimulus package of the 

Nigerian Economic Sustainability 

Plan includes 

the N60 billion MSMEs 

Survival Fund and the N15 

billion Guaranteed Offtake 

Schemes. 

Egwuekwe said the furniture 

manufacturing industry 

has lost over 

N600million during the 

COVID-19 lockdown, noting 

that if care is not taken, a lot 

of companies will be shut 

down after the pandemic. 

According to Egwuekwe, 

“The government should look 

into the furniture industry 

because if care is not taken, a 

lot of furniture dealers would 

go out of business after this 

COVID-19 pandemic. As the 

President of the United Furniture 

Association Of Nigeria, 

I want the government 

to look at ways of including 

members in the CBN 

N50billion COVID-19 intervention 

loan. Our members 

need this bailout loan as the 

furniture industry provides 

over 6,000 jobs. If you go to 

Kugbo furniture market, 

you will discover over 6,000 

Nigerians making their living 

from the market. 

“I tell you that after this 

COVID-19, a lot of companies 

will go extinct as most 

of our raw materials are imported 

from China and we 

have not been able to import 

for sometime and the companies 

are not working. So, I am 

pleading with the Federal 

Government to include us in 

the bailout funds. We have lost 

over N600million not only in 

revenue but because of the 

pandemic.‘‘ 

Youths Consultative Forum 

to stop the systematic and 

calculated plan to blackmail 

the personality of Senator 

Abaribe who he described 

as one of Nigeria’s most 

distinguished Senators in 

the red chamber. 

“MASSOB will never allow 

people to play the hypocritical 

game of pulling 

down the best leaders of 

Ndigbo in the name of politics,” 

he said. 

Buhari commissions new refinery in Imo 

By Chinonso 

Alozie 

ODENT WERRI—PRESI 

Muhammadu 

Buhari, yesterday, assured 

Nigerians that his administration 

would soon start 

exporting petroleum products 

within and outside the 

African countries. 

Buhari gave this assurance 

while commissioning 

virtually, the 5000 barrels, 

per day, capacity modular 

refinery built in Ohaji/Egbema 

Local Government 

Area of Imo State 

by Walter Smith. 

The President said that it 

was for this reason among 

others that his administration 

has been fast tracking 

his agenda for the petroleum 

sector by encouraging 

the construction of 

modular refineries. 

“Development of modular 

refineries is one of my 

administration’s four key 

road maps to tap into the 

potentials of the petroleum 

sector and very soon, Nigeria 

will start exporting 

petroleum products to other 

countries of the world,” 

Buhari said. 

The President was excited 

that the Modular refinery 

built by Walter 

Smith had shown his commitment 

towards the actualization 

of his agenda 

in the petroleum sector 

and that it came after successive 

administrations 

could not do it. 

Speaking also, the Minister 

of State for Petroleum 

Resources, Chief Timipre 

Sylva, said: “We are looking 

forward to a day in the 

near future when Nigeria 

will regain its position as 

a net exporter of refined 

petroleum products. President 

Buhari is ready to 

provide an enabling environment 

and the necessary 

support to encourage 

local refineries." 

Utazi's community, Nkpologu, 

visits Ugwuanyi 

ENUGU—THE people 

of Nkpologu in Uzo- 

Uwani Local Government 

Area of Enugu State, yesterday, 

paid a Thank-you 

visit to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, 

at the Government 

House, Enugu, for his special 

love and attention to the 

community especially in the 

areas of security, infrastructural 

development and appointments. 

The people who were led 

by their son and the Senator 

representing Enugu 

North Senatorial District, 

Senator Chukwuka Utazi, 

expressed their joy and 

deep appreciation to Gov. 

Ugwuanyi for bringing uncommon 

infrastructural and 

human capital development 

to their community after 

decades of neglect by 

past administrations. 

Harmattan season: EEDC warns 

S'East residents against fire 

outbreak 

By Chinedu Adonu 

ENUGU ELECTRICITY 

Distribution Company, 

EEDC, has cautioned her 

customers as well as the 

general public against indiscriminate 

bush burning 

and acts capable of causing 

fire outbreak, as the harmattan 

season sets in. 

The Head of Corporate 

Commission, EEDC, Mr. 

Emeka Ezeh, made this call 

during a chat with newsmen 

in Enugu yesterday. 

Fire outbreaks have been 

identified as one of the common 

risks facing EEDC, especially 

during the harmattan 

season. As a result of 

this, EEDC is reminding her 

customers of the need to be 

cautious during this period. 

Ezeh disclosed that 

EEDC has commenced public 

sensitization of her customers 

across its network, 

using the electronic mass 

media and digital platforms. 

"The harmattan season is 

synonymous with dry wind 

which makes it very easy for 

fire to spread, thereby causing 

destruction of lives and 

FUTO renews commitment to 

transform Nigeria's economy 

By Chidi Nkwopara 

OWERRI—THE man 

agement of Federal 

University of Technology, 

Owerri, FUTO, yesterday, 

renewed its "commitment to 

practical training geared towards 

transforming the nation's 

economy from consumer-oriented 

to production-oriented, 

with a sound technological 

base." 

On security, they said that 

the purchase and donation 

of patrol vehicles with communication 

gadgets to the 

security agencies by Gov. 

Ugwuanyi’s administration 

and the prompt drafting of 

the Army and Police to Nkpologu 

to complement the 

efforts of their Neighbourhood 

Watch group and Forest 

Guards, among others, 

have reduced crimes and 

insecurity in their community 

in particular and Uzo- 

Uwani in general. 

“Notwithstanding the security 

measures in place, you 

also ordered the clearing of 

over 300 meters on both sides 

of Nkpologu-Adani road in 

order to expose and eliminate 

any possible hide-out for 

kidnappers and criminals 

along the highway”, they 

added. 

property. 

“Our major concern is 

those in the rural communities 

that engage in hunting 

activities, who usually 

set the bush on fire. We 

appeal that even if they 

must engage in such, that 

they should exercise caution 

and do so in a wellcoordinated 

manner to 

avoid causing damage." 

The distribution company 

used the opportunity to 

encourage customers not 

to take any electrical spark 

in their homes lightly as 

they could lead to fire outbreak. 

They are advised to 

always engage the services 

of competent and qualified 

electricians in carrying 

out electrical repairs. 

“Overloading of electrical 

sockets is also identified as 

a potential cause of fire outbreak 

and customers are 

advised to desist from such 

act”. 

"EEDC is working assiduously 

to ensure that safe 

environment is maintained 

across its network and that 

the already improving service 

quality is sustained." 

The Vice Chancellor, VC, 

Professor Francis Eze, stated 

this while flagging off the 

three-day, 9th International 

Conference on Gender, Empowerment 

and Sustainable 

Development, in FUTO. 

"In line with our mantra, 

Driving the Culture of Excellence, 

we will continue to 

uphold best practices, and 

provide the enabling environment 

for the generation 

and dissemination of cutting-edge 

knowledge that 

solves practical problems for 

humanity", the VC said. 

According to Professor 

Eze, FUTO is currently 

home to two World Bank 

Centres of Excellence. 

"There are the Africa Centre 

of Excellence in Future 

Energies and Electrochemical 

Systems, ACE-FUELS, 

and the Centre of Excellence 

in Sustainable Procurement, 

Environmental and Social 

Standards Enhancement, 

CE-SPESSE", Professor Eze 

said. 

Continuing, the VC said 

that the theme for this year's 

conference could not have 

been more apt and timely, 

especially as the world grapples 

with the impact of Covid-19 

pandemic. 

"As gender remains the 

critical variable in measuring 

the impact of pandemics and 

crisis, empowerment and entrepreneurship, 

becomes imperative 

in finding a lasting 

solution to Covid-19 and other 

diseases, restoring livelihoods 

and rebuilding ravaged 

communities and 

economies", Eze said.



Troops neutralise 23 terrorists, 

capture IED specialist 

By Ndahi Marama 

TROOPS 

of 

Operation Fire Ball 

under Operation Lafiya 

Dole in the North-East 

have neutralised 23 

terrorists and captured one 

Improvised Explosive 

Device (IED) specialist in 

Ngamdu, near Maiduguri. 

The Acting Director, 

Defense Media 

Operations, Brig-Gen. 

Benard Onyeuko, who 

disclosed this yesterday, 

said some of the terrorists 

were decimated while 

trying to obtain ransom from 

relatives of abducted 

victims. 

According to him, two 

women and three children 

were rescued unhurt from 

the Boko Haram/Islamic 

State of West Africa Province 

(ISWAP) terrorists. 

“The gallant troops 

intercepted some Boko 

Haram criminals while 

attempting to collect ransom 

from relations of their 

abducted victims leading to 

the decimation of the 

criminals and successful 

rescue of two women and 

three children unhurt.'' 

He said weapons 

recovered from the 

criminals include four gun 

trucks, one fabricated 

vehicle, two anti-aircraft 

guns, one general-purpose 

machine gun, two PKT 

guns, eight AK-47 rifles and 

two AK-47 rifles magazines, 

one AK 47 rifle cover and 

one Dane gun. 

“The gallant troops of 

Operation Fire Ball in the 

various sectors of the 

Theatre, have continued to 

dominate the general areas 

of operation and carry out 

their tasks relentlessly and 

professionally,'' he said. 

Manufacturers move against 

importation of pencils 

I NDIGENOUS 

manufacturers under 

the body of Pencil 

Manufacturers 

Associations of Nigeria are 

working with the Federal 

Ministry of Trade, Industry 

and Investments to stop all 

forms of pencil importation 

into the country. 

This was the outcome of 

a meeting of the 

association, stakeholders 

and officials of the Federal 

Ministry of Trade, Industry 

and Investments held in 

Abuja. 

In a release signed by the 

Secretary of Pencil 

Manufacturers 

Association of Nigeria, 

Engr. Ogwu Ajie and its 

Chairman, Dr Mrs 

Christy Obi-Keguna, 

the body noted that it 

was high time Nigeria 

stopped the importation 

SON against product cloning 

— SALIM 

THE 

Standards 

Organisation of 

Nigeria (SON) has said it 

would discourage the 

registration of any product 

having a similar business 

name with an existing 

brand to check fake and 

substandard goods in the 

country 

The Director-General, 

SON, Mallam Farouk 

Salim, said product cloning 

short-changes the 

unsuspecting consumers 

of their hard-earned money 

spent on products, while 

also bringing hardship on 

the already impoverished 

Nigerians. 

The Director-General 

stated this during a 

courtesy visit by the Alaba 

International Amalgamated 

Traders Association to SON 

office in Lagos. 

The SON boss also 

added that product cloning 

makes traceability of 

products difficult should a 

product fail to meet the 

minimum requirements of 

the Nigeria Industrial 

of pencils and called for 

a blueprint to make 

Nigeria pencils- sufficient. 

The association also 

opined that grants and 

loans be made available to 

the pencil manufacturers at 

a single digit interest. 

The body noted that it was 

of national importance and 

urgency for the 

government to formulate a 

standard of pencil 

production from Standard 

Organization of Nigeria 

(SON), pleading the need 

for special intervention 

funds for members of the 

association to be accessed 

through the body. 

The association pledged 

the readiness of the 

association members to 

liaise with relevant 

government agencies to 

provide local content in the 

production of pencils. 

Standards (NIS). 

He explained that going 

forward, the agency would 

discourage the registration 

of any product having a 

similar business name with 

an existing brand that 

hides under the names of 

successful brands to shortchange 

the unsuspecting 

consumers. 

“The issue of a trademark 

cannot be handled alone by 

SON, but going forward, 

we are going to put a stock 

of the products we 

register and certify. 

Anytime a new product 

comes and looks similar 

to another product 

registered that is already 

popular in the market, we 

will try to discourage the 

registration of that product 

with such a name so that 

other products would be 

identified properly,” he 

said. 

Also speaking, the 

Executive Chairman, 

EDAN, Fabian Ezeorjika, 

said there is an already 

existing partnership with 

SON to achieve a 

substandard-free market. 


BIRTHDAY: From left; Olori Janet Mba Afolabi; Celebrant and Asiwaju of Apomu Kingdom, Chief 

Olaitan Alabi and his wife and the Alapomu of Apomu kingdom, Oba Kayode Adenekan Afolabi 

during 80th birthday and 50th wedding anniversaries of Chief Alabi, which was marked with the 

conferment on him as the life National Vice President of NACCIMA and public presentation of a book 

titled: Standing Tall at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan. Photo: Dare Fasube. 

CONVENTION: Yari, best replacement for 

Oshiomhole — APC Aspirants Forum 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

ABUJA—AHEAD of 

the planned 

National Convention of the 

ruling All Progressives 

Congress, APC, aspirants 

who contested the 2018 

APC primaries into various 

elective positions have 

thrown their weight behind 

the immediate past governor 

of Zamfara State, Alhaji 

Abdulaziz Yari to succeed 

Comrade Adams 

Oshiomhole as the National 

Chairman of the party. 

National Coordinator of 

the APC Aspirants Forum, 

Bashir Muhammed Yusif, 

in a statement issued 

yesterday in Abuja, said the 

former Zamfara governor 

stands a better chance of 

taking APC back to winning 

ways. 

Yusif said the party needs 

a genuine party man who 

has had a stint running the 

party before and at the same 

time understands the 

thinking and workings of 

the executive and legislative 

arms of government. 

He said: “The moment the 

APC is unable to produce a 

reliable, knowledgeable 

and hardworking executive, 

the situation the party found 

itself during the 2019 

primaries may reccur. 

“The 2019 experience was 

a sad moment which no 

genuine APC member 

would want to see repeat 

itself as we work towards 

retaining our party’s 

position at the national, 

states and local government 

levels. 

“Now looking at the usual 

zoning of Nigerian national 

leadership, one may not 

need to ask where the APC 

party chairman is expected 

to emerge from. As the 

presidency is currently 

being housed in the North, 

it is obvious that the next 

party’s presidential flag 

bearer will definitely come 

from the South. 

Sequentially, the party’s 

chairmanship will rotate to 

the North, thus swapping 

positions. 

“In view of the above, 

there is no point going 

round scouting for who the 

next chairman of the APC 

will be but to beam our 

searchlight on AbdulAziz 

Yari, former governor of 

Zamfara State if we truly 

need to reposition our party 

and bring it back to its 

winning ways. 

“We believe that as a 

former National Assembly 

Member, our members in 

the National Assembly will 

see him as their own. 

“Yari was a former twoterm 

governor and be rest 

assured our governors 

equally consider him as 

their own knowing fully 

well that governors are the 

leaders of the party in their 

various states and he was 

in that position too. 

“Yari was not only 

governor of Zamfara State, 

because his leadership 

qualities, matched with his 

knowledge on party issues, 

he was made Chairman of 

the Governors Forum. 

“Governor Yari is a highly 

detribalized person and 

this is well known across 

political circle. With the 

nature of our current 

sectional agitations, we 

need him to come play the 

card well for every zone, 

section and state to feel 

comfortable as they will be 

carried along.’’ 

Amaechi begs Nigerians over hitches 

on Abuja - Kaduna rail route 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

Lof 

AGOS—MINISTER 

Transportation, 

Rotimi Amaechi, has 

apologized to Nigerians 

over the recent failure of 

locomotives on the Abuja - 

Kaduna rail corridor. 

The Minister, speaking in 

Lagos during the monthly 

inspection of the Lagos - 

Ibadan rail project in the 

company of members of the 

Joint House Committee on 

Land and Marine Transport 

and Marine Safety and 

Education), observed that it 

is worrisome that brand 

new locomotives should 

start developing problems 

within a short span of usage. 

He promised to dialogue 

with the Chinese company 

in a bid to make them recall 

the locomotives as he 

believes that what was 

ordered for does not tally 

with recent incidences. 

He added that the 

locomotives are under 

warranty and “we have 

called the Chinese to come 

back for the locomotives that 

are bad or have failed.” 

While expressing 

displeasure over the poor 

performances of the 

locomotives, Amaechi 

assured Nigerians that 

engineers were on top of the 

situation to forestall future 

occurrences. 

Meanwhile, the Minister 

has charged the China Civil 

Engineering Construction 

Company, CCECC to 

speed up work as the 

stations must start 

operations in December 

and must be commissioned 

by President Muhammadu 

Buhari in January 2021 as 

promised. 

On the Kano - Maradi, 

Niger Republic rail line, the 

Minister disclosed that the 

positives far outweigh the 

negatives as apart from the 

rail corridor creating 

employment, the project on 

completion would make 

Nigeria a destination of 

choice of export for Niger 

Republic’s goods being 

that the country is 

landlocked. 

According to him, a direct 

link from Maradi through 

By Ibrahim Hassan 

THE Speaker of Gombe 

State House of 

Assembly, Abubakar 

Sadique Ibrahim, was 

yesterday, impeached and 

immediately replaced by 

Abubakar Luggerewo. 

The motion for the 

removal of Ibrahim during 

the house plenary was 

moved by Shuaibu Haruna, 

the member representing 

Kwami state constituency. 

Mr Ibrahim, who 

represents Yamaltu West 

constituency, was 

Kano to Lagos will facilitate 

trade as well as attract more 

businesses to Nigeria. 

Reacting to questions on 

the coastal rail line, 

Amaechi said the project 

has been approved by the 

Federal Executive Council 

but the paucity of funds is 

delaying its take-off. 

On completion of the 

Apapa axis of the rail line, 

the Minister said the 

Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation, 

NNPC pipes at Ijora are 

constituting a problem. “We 

are talking with NNPC; 

they need to move the 

pipelines. When they move 

the pipelines, we will 

continue with the 

construction.'' 

Gombe Assembly removes 

speaker, 2 other principal officers 

subsequently removed 

when 16 of the 24 members 

of the Assembly passed a 

no confidence vote on him. 

The new speaker, 

Luggerewo is from Akko 

Central constituency. 

The house also removed 

the majority leader, Samuel 

Markus and replaced him 

with Yerima Gaule 

representing Kaltungo 

East. The Deputy chief 

whip, Yahaya Kaka, was 

removed and replaced with 

Saidu Mohammed, 

representing Deba 

constituency. 

C 

M 

Y 

K

Y 

K 

Vanguard,WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 — 15 

C

C 

M 

Y 

K 


Send Opinions & Letters to: 

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Buhari’s unholy romance with Niger Republic 

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari’s 

romance with Niger Republic has 

become worrisome. When he was swornin 

as an elected president in 2015 he went 

to Mamadou Issoufou’s presidential 

palace in Niamey, Niger Republic, to 

celebrate. They gave him the reception of 

a conquering Fulani warlord: a white 

horse and sword. 

I found that curious. How can a Nigerian 

leader celebrate his electoral victory in a 

foreign country and not Daura, his 

supposed hometown in Nigeria? The 

answer has since been provided through 

Buhari’s policy actions in the past five plus 

years. 

The borders defined by the European 

colonial masters mean nothing to typical 

Northerners. When you hear that Nigerian 

borders are porous, what it really means is 

that there is no intention in the minds of 

Northern Nigerians and their elite to create 

an effective barrier between them and their 

kith and kin in the neighbouring countries 

of Niger, Chad and Northern Cameroun. 

Meanwhile, the Southern borders are 

strictly monitored (within the limits 

permitted by the selfish interests of corrupt 

Customs and Immigration officials). 

When Buhari’s government in August 

2019, “closed the borders” it was the 

Southern borders that were actually 

closed. Fatuhu Mohammed, a nephew of 

President Buhari’s, who represents Daura/ 

Mai’adua/Sandamu Federal Constituency 

in the House of Reps alerted during a 

plenary session that smuggling was still 

freely thriving at the Daura border, 13 

kilometres from Buhari’s country 

residence. 

It was in this dispensation that the 

political leaders of that country threw 

caution to the wind and attended Buhari’s 

rallies in Kano with large contingents led 

by governors of Maradi and Zinder 

provinces! If you thought these were 

inconsequential and harmless cultural 

exchanges, Buhari has proved you wrong. 

He has taken several concrete policy steps 

that showed his engagement with Niger is 

longer a joke. Early in 2018, the Federal 

Ministry of Transportation revealed plans 

by the president to build a railway line from 

Kano through Daura and Jibia to Maradi 

in Niger Republic. 

I wrote an article condemning the 

project, but of course, they pressed ahead 

with it. The Federal Executive Council in 

September this year, announced an award 

of $1.9bn contract for the project. The 

money is part of the numerous loans 

Buhari’s government has been freeloading 

from China. Also in June this year, the 

Federal Government announced the award 

of contract for the construction of 614-km 

gas pipeline from Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano 

with eventual termination in Morocco 

through Niger Republic worth $2.8bn. 

The latest story in town is that on 

November 20, Nigeria signed an MOU to 

import petroleum products from Niger. The 

shipments will be coming from Soraz 

Refinery in Niger’s Zinder oilfields. The 

refinery, which is jointly owned by China 

(60 per cent) and Niger (40 per cent) has a 

daily output capacity of 20,000 barrels. 

Niger’s domestic consumption requires 

only 5,000 barrels per day. The surplus 

15,000bpd will be taken up by Nigeria to 

service our adjoining Northern fringes. 

Ordinarily, there is nothing wrong about 

buying refined products from 

neighbouring countries if our countrymen 

in the Northern fringes will find that 

cheaper and more easily available. 

However, there is a shameful, or is it 

personal impunity factor at play here. 

Buhari who as Petroleum Minister in the 

late 1970s oversaw the construction of the 

Why aren’t Nigerians 

complaining about the use of 

Nigeria’s largely borrowed 

funds to develop another 

country? 

second (150,000bpd capacity) Port 

Harcourt Refinery, Warri and Kaduna 

Refineries; has been his own self-appointed 

Petroleum Minister since 2015. 

He had promised to fix our refineries 

during the campaigns. When he took up 

the Petroleum portfolio, his supporters said 

he was bringing his “wealth of experience” 

to reform the sector. Almost six years down 

the line, the industry remains comatose. 

Even the reforms proposed by the 

PriceWaterhouse and Coopers, PWC, audit 

exercise in 2014 has been altogether 

abandoned. Meanwhile, the Nigerian 

National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, 

continues to import fuel while Nigerians 

are forced to swallow the bitter pill of the 

full deregulation of the downstream sector. 

The first question is: What exactly has 

Buhari achieved with his position as oil 

minister? The first audit report of the 

NNPC in 43 years revealed that the Kaduna 

Refinery gulped N63.4bn without 

generating a kobo in 2018. Also in 

September 2020, another NNPC report 

disclosed that three refineries reportedly 

swallowed N140bn to produce less than 

40 metric tonnes of crude oil. There is no 

clear picture about anything being done 

to bring back our refineries. Rather, we 

await for Dangote and other private 

refineries. 

What “magic” is Niger employing to 

refine petroleum that Nigeria’s President 

and Oil Minister, Buhari, cannot deploy in 

Nigeria? Why aren’t Nigerians 

complaining about Buhari’s status as Oil 

Minister and the use of Nigeria’s largely 

borrowed funds to develop Niger Republic 

when our own infrastructural deficits are 

among the world’s worst? The $1.9bn 

railway line to Maradi was never taken to 

the National Assembly for approval; it was 

an act of naked impunity. It is an 

impeachable offence, but who will bell the 

cat? 

Buhari is using our scarce, borrowed 

resources and resources mined mainly 

from the Niger Delta and the Lagos 

business districts to service another 

country. He is going beyond developing 

Northern Nigeria. And why are Nigerians 

who will repay the loans letting him get 

away with these? 

These are issues that should concern 

Southern political leaders, elected 

representatives and statesmen. Rather, they 

struggle to be selected as leg men to serve 

the interests of a foreign country. It is a 

shame and a pity. 

The shame of Donald Trump’s 

presidency 

THE antics of outgoing 

American President, Donald 

John Trump, to overturn outcome 

of the November 3 presidential 

election in America clearly 

illustrates the Yoruba saying that 

when a household is at peace it is 

only because the bastard of that 

home has not yet come of age: Ti 

ilekan ba tooro, omo ale ibe ni o ti 

dagba. Donald Trump epitomises 

the outcast of American 

presidency if not of the country’s 

entire political history. 

He is and has always been a con 

artist his entire life, projecting an 

image of a deal-making, 

consummate billionaire 

businessman who is totally at 

variance with the man that he truly 

is. For so long he has gone 

undetected under the radar or has 

been given but cursory scrutiny for 

having operated most of his life as 

a private citizen. Which gave him 

more than enough time to hone his 

skill as a dishonest human being 

who could make a lifetime career 

from putting things behind others 

and still cover his track. 

By the time America and the rest 

of the world were forced to pay 

attention, Trump’s duplicitous 

ways had been fully formed. There 

is hardly any reason to see him as 

anything other than insincere. He 

laid the foundation of his 

presidency and his political career 

on fraud and there is no doubt that 

his presidency if not his political 

career is ending also on that note. 

Democrat today, Republican 

tomorrow, he started out his life as 

a politician by demonising the first 

Black President in America, 

Barack Obama. Trump claimed, 

falsely, that Obama was not born 

in America, thereby inaugurating 

the so-called ‘birther’ movement 

that, among other things, cast 

Obama as a closet Muslim whose 

ambition was to open America up 

to be overrun by foreigners. All of 

this in spite of proofs that Obama 

had been born on American soil. 

This was the time that clearsighted, 

non-bigoted Americans 

ought to have taken close watch 

and paid attention to Donald 

Trump. 

But many turned a blind eye to it 

and both humoured and enabled 

Trump in his racist agenda to put 

a roadblock on the path of 

Americans of ‘colour’ aspiring to 

rule this quintessential land of 

immigrants. Throughout Obama’s 

eight years, two-term presidency, 

the lies that Trump had sown 

around him would dog him and 

emboldened White tribal warriors 

following him to seek to 

delegitimate the government of a 

gifted and highly intelligent 

politician like Obama. 

It is, therefore, no surprise that 

Trump became the first beneficiary 

of the political backlash that 

trailed the election of the first 

Black man to be president and his 

rallying clan call was MAGA or 

Make America Great Again! In his 

and the warped thinking of his 

tribal followers, the election of 

Obama represented a stain on 

American politics, bringing 

America down the ladder of 

greatness. The only way to change 

things was to whip up tribal 

sentiments among rural Whites 

and to scapegoat Americans of 

other colours. 

He promised to end corruption 

by fighting the American 

The delusional 

Trump cannot just 

wrap it round his 

head that he has 

been rejected by 

America and has lost 

the White House 

establishment, having portrayed 

himself as an outsider to the regime 

of corruption in the American 

capital. But Americans ought to 

have seen that rather than draining 

the swamp Trump was in fact the 

swamp. 

He got into office with the sole 

mission to roll back everything 

that Obama represented and did 

in office. He divided America 

along racial lines and blocked with 

the poisoned stain of his politics 

all the gains that could have 

accrued from that country’s 

apparent rise above its blighted 

history of slavery and the systemic 

injustice of the unequal treatment 

of people who just happened not 

to be white. 

After four years of criminal 

politicking Trump was to the relief 

of many in America and around 

the world defeated by Democratic 

challenger and former Vice 

President, Joe Biden and, horror 

of horrors, a woman, Kamala 

Harris, of African and South Asian 

parentage. Winning both the 

popular and electoral votes by a 

relatively wider margin than gave 

Trump the White House in 2016, 

Biden has triumphed in part 

because of Trump’s irresponsible 

handling of the COVID-19 

pandemic. Otherwise, Americans 

might now be telling a different 

story. 

Trump had refused to concede the 

election to Biden. With about 80 

million popular votes and 306 

electoral college votes to Trump’s 

73 million popular votes and 232 

electoral college votes, Biden who 

Trump in his tantrum-throwing, 

infantile bluster likes to call Sleepy 

Joe, succeeded in his quest to end 

Trump’s tenancy of the White 

House. 

This is too much for Trump to 

bear and he has since been seeking 

both legitimate and mostly 

shamelessly illegitimate and even 

criminal means to overturn the 

results of the votes. So far, no less 

than 30 of the legal challenges 

sponsored by Trump and or his 

surrogates have been tossed out of 

the courts. But he continues to 

allege without proof widespread 

fraud in the election. 

The delusional Trump cannot 

just wrap it round his head that he 

has been rejected by America and 

has lost the White House. He is 

trashing around like a scorched 

snake in the throes of a dying 

presidency. Worse yet, he has 

blocked any plan for a smooth 

transition and has been locking 

out the Biden team from getting 

briefings required to make them 

function without hiccups once they 

take over at noon on January 20, 

2021. 

Not only has Trump and his 

shameful presidency exposed and 

widened the fault lines of 

American politics, Trump has 

exposed the racist assumption of 

White or Western exceptionalism. 

If an entrenched democracy like 

America’s could be stressed to the 

extent that it has after the defeat of 

Trump, if Trump could employ in 

plain sight many of the underhand 

tactics that he has employed before 

and since the loss of the American 

presidency and yet enjoy 

enthusiastic support from his base 

and beyond, then what right has 

America to criticise the so-called 

banana republics of the world? 

With its own potential Hitler, 

Mussolini, Idi Amin and many of 

the world’s sit-tight rulers, can 

America still lay claim to being the 

most developed democracy? What 

becomes of its police man role in 

the world? 

What would the world have said 

had Barack Obama or any Black 

person behaved like Trump- with 

the countless lies, barefaced 

misogyny, racism, corruption and 

dictatorial habits? But Trump 

continues to find supporters, no 

less in Nigeria where some rolled 

out the drums to canvass his 

victory in the election he has now 

lost. 

His deluded supporters in 

Nigeria are spinning the simple 

truth of his loss in a web of lies 

fuelled by conspiracy theories, 

while entertaining hopes of their 

man reclaiming the presidency 

through some legal magic. 

Madness has no other name.

C 

M 

Y 

K 

Nigeria's poverty capital status: 

Solution (2) 

LAST week, I discussed the 

menace of poverty which 

now seems to have been woven 

into the fabric of Nigeria’s 

existence. I noted that as at the 

'50s and '60s when subsistence 

farming was widely practised, 

Nigeria was segregated into 

mainly two classes consisting of 

the White men, the Obas and 

Chiefs who were generally 

referred to as the upper class, 

while other Nigerians remained 

in the lower class. I equally 

noted that by the '80s, an 

entirely new crop of societal 

organogram emerged: the 

super-rich, the politicians, the 

tycoons, the middle class 

consisting of civil servants and 

professionals, the workers, the 

poor, and the very poor. 

Without a doubt, the steady 

increase in the disparity 

between the very rich and the 

very poor in Nigeria has its 

roots in the discovery of crude 

oil. The analogy is quite simple: 

when a vast majority of 

Nigerians practised an agrarian 

lifestyle, poverty was never an 

issue. However, the discovery 

of oil, amongst other related 

factors, led to the emergence of 

a new class, creating a parallel 

line between the poor and the 

rich in the society. Perhaps, the 

solution to Nigeria’s poverty 

crises is the re-introduction of 

medium and large-scale 

farming, coupled with adequate 

support from government. This 

will not only ensure a greater 

capacity in food production, but 

will equally increase the 

revenue generated from the 

sale and export of farm produce. 

Agriculture as the mainstay 

of the Nigerian economy 

Before the discovery of oil, 

Nigeria, which is blessed with 

mineral deposits of all types 

including tin, gold, coal and 

many other minerals, earned 

appreciable income from the 

aforementioned minerals. The 

tin, gold, coal fields were 

abandoned following the 

discovery of oil. During the First 

Republic, Agriculture was the 

mainstay of the economy. The 

North had cotton, groundnuts 

and other products. The East 

and the Southwest had palm oil 

and cocoa, respectively. With 

revenue generated from these 

products, the regional 

governments were able to cater 

to the needs of their regions. 

They embarked upon 

programmes which impacted 

positively on the populace. In 

the Southwest, buildings such 

as the Cocoa House in Ibadan 

and the magnificent structures 

of the University of Ife (now 

Obafemi Awolowo University) 

are eternal reminders of the 

prosperity of that era. However, 

with the increased production 

of oil and the huge revenue 

which it attracted, successive 

Nigerian governments and the 

military ones in particular soon 

began to pay less attention to 

the need for sustainable 

agricultural policies. Such was 

the country’s newly found 

comfort that an entire civil war 

was prosecuted without any 

external borrowing of funds. 

Unfortunately, instead of 

refining the crude oil which was 

in high demand because of the 

quality, we exported the crude 

oil which was refined overseas 

by European countries and we 

imported the refined products 

at a higher price and also 

purchased the by-product of the 

crude oil exported by us. 

Because of the price of crude 

oil at that time, we had excess 

money, so much so that 

government increased the 

salaries of government workers 

and even paid one year arrears. 

There was so much money 

going round among 

A return to agriculture 

has become imperative; 

the return to an agrarian 

lifestyle will, no doubt, 

bridge the everwidening 

gap between 

the rich and the poor in 

the society 

government workers that the 

farmers were induced to come 

to the cities as labourers and cart 

pullers. Government even told 

the world that the problem of 

Nigeria was not money but how 

to spend it!!! 

The cart pullers and labourers 

who were attracted to the town 

by easy money going around in 

the town became more 

comfortable than their 

colleagues who remained on the 

farms. That was the beginning 

of the abandonment of farming 

which led to reduction in 

production of raw materials 

and, of course, a big drain on 

our foreign reserves. Nigeria 

had to import food items which 

we were producing before the 

introduction of IMF which 

further complicated matters as 

naira depreciated in value. 

Unemployment crept in and 

poverty skyrocketed. 

Consequently, the unemployed 

and those who could not feed 

themselves or even rent houses 

started to beg. Firstly, in corners 

but lately openly at burials, 

weddings, chieftaincy 

installations, churches, 

mosques, birthday parties and 

now on the highways. Recently, 

the few who made money from 

oil and imported goods formed 

a new class of super rich. The 

gap between the rich and the 

poor is becoming wider by the 

day. We now have extremely 

rich people and extremely poor 

people. 

Poverty-induced societal ills 

The widening gap between 

the rich and the poor has 

naturally come at a cost. It has, 

for example, brought about with 

it a devaluation of societal 

values, as those without the 

means of getting rich 

legitimately have devised other 

means of meeting up with their 

rich counterparts. This accounts 

for the rise in vice and crimes 

such as armed robbery, 

kidnapping, oil bunkering and 

pipeline vandalisation, drug 

smuggling, internet fraud, etc. 

Every year, Nigeria is 

continually listed amongst the 

most corrupt and crime-ridden 

countries. Many businesses 

cannot hope to survive or thrive 

without having to resort to 

corrupt practices. Sometime 

ago, a foreign investor who left 

Nigeria attributed its decision 

to the prevalence of corruption. 

Things have become so bad that 

one cannot but see comparisons 

between our present state and 

the words of Ayn Rand in her 

novel Atlas Shrugged, 

published in 1957, where she 

wrote the following: “When you 

see that in order to produce, you 

need to obtain permission from 

men who 

produce 

nothing. 

When you see 

that money is 

flowing to 

those who 

deal, not in 

goods, but in 

favours. 

When you see 

that men get 

richer by graft 

and by pull 

than by work, 

and your laws 

don’t protect 

you against 

them, but 

protect them 

against you, 

when you see 

corruption 

b e i n g 

rewarded and 

honesty 

becoming a 

self-sacrifice, 

you may 

know that 

your society 

is doomed.” 

Agriculture 

is the 

solution 

It is 

common 

knowledge 

that the first 

profession 

ordained by 

God was 

agriculture. 

The great 

countries of 

the world, 

including 

Canada, 

USA, Brazil, 

Argentina, 

European 


countries, Russia, China, month alone was due to the 

Australia, New Zealand, etc., drastic fall of the price of oil as 

give pride of place to well as the inability of the 

agriculture. Most of the country to meet its production 

wealthy citizens of these quota due to production losses 

countries are farmers. The first arising from the shutdown of 

wealthy Nigerians I grew up to trunk lines and pipeline 

know were farmers. They vandalism at the various export 

acquired their wealth from terminals. To further compound 

proceeds from cocoa, palm oil, matters, it has already been 

palm kernel, rubber, cotton, predicted that current oil 

groundnut, etc. Gone are the depositories may become 

days when the road between exhausted in less than 50 

Ibadan and Lagos were laced years’ time. Also, with the 

on both sides with cocoa advent of the COVID-19 

plantation. The roads from Ado- pandemic which generally 

Ekiti to Ilesa, or Ilesa to Ibadan, occasioned a collapse in the 

or Ibadan to Ijebu-Ode through price of oil globally, there is an 

Gambari were not left out. The urgent need to consider other 

foreigners from US and Europe potent solutions, with 

who visited Nigeria often agriculture being the most 

wondered why Nigeria has vast viable. 

underdeveloped land Therefore, for Nigeria to 

overgrown with green thrive in the coming years, we 

vegetation. Yet Nigeria orders must either begin serious 

maize from far away Argentina exploratory activities to discover 

to feed poultry farms. Nigeria fresh oil deposits or we must put 

imports rice worth several in place urgent plans to 

billions of naira annually. At the diversify the revenue base of the 

moment it is estimated that only economy. However, even with 

12 per cent of arable land in the discovery of new oil 

Nigeria is cultivated, while the deposits, Nigeria will continue 

remainder are not utilised. to retain a greater percentage 

However, it was only a matter of the poor who will enjoy no 

of time before we realised that direct benefit from the oil 

we could not depend entirely discovery. This is where a return 

on oil-based revenue. In to agriculture becomes 

September 2015, the severity of imperative. The return to an 

the situation was brought home agrarian lifestyle will, no doubt, 

when N502.09 billion was bridge the ever-widening gap 

received as revenue, an amount between the rich and the poor 

lower than the N 601.05 billion in the society. 

received in August 2015. This 

decline of N99.55 billion in one 

To be continued

C 

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THE coronavirus pandemic has 

contributed a lot to the current food 

inflation ravaging Nigerian families. 

Coming in February/March, the 

beginning of the planting season, and 

forcing a prolonged national 

lockdown, it prevented many of our 

farmers from sowing their seeds. 

Food inflation, according to the 

National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, 

rose from 16.66 per cent to 17.38 per 

cent in September this year and 

getting worse as the year draws to a 

close. 

General inflation in the economy 

stands at 14.33 per cent. The prices of 

staple food items such as yam, garri, 

pepper, onions, rice, tomatoes and 

others have gone sky high at a time 

when the incomes of average families 

have dwindled or run out altogether 

due to layoffs and pay cuts. 

It promises to be a very bleak 

Yuletide festive period. 

The situation we face could have 

been much more manageable if the 

Solving insecurity, ending food inflation 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

administration had made good its 

campaign promise of solving our 

security problem which is part of the 

regime’s three-point agenda: 

economy, security and anticorruption. 

Indeed, the security situation has 

worsened under the watch of this 

regime due mainly to poor 

management and the kid gloves with 

which it has treated aspects of our 

insecurity. 

Though the Federal Government 

often beat its chest that it has dislodged 

Boko Haram jihadists from their 

captured territories, the terrorists have 

multiplied beyond Boko Haram, with 

the Islamic State in West Africa 

Province, ISWAP, now equally 

formidable. 

The foreign bandits that some evil 

politicians had brought to fight their 

turf wars have now turned their guns 

on residents of states in the North 

West and North Central, particularly 

Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna Niger and 

parts of Kogi. 

Also, armed Fulani militias from all 

parts of Africa masquerading as 

herdsmen have flooded the forests and 

farmlands of states in the Middle Belt 

and South, killing and kidnapping for 

ransom, robbing, destroying 

farmlands with their cattle and forcibly 

settling on people’s lands. 

Curiously, the herdsmen militias are 

the only terrorist groups that 

government has refused to tag the 

terrorists that they are. It has also 

refrained from deploying the army to 

flush them out of our bushes. 

All these agents of insecurity 

marauding all over Nigeria have 

succeeded in displacing farming 

communities and making farming 

unsafe. 

Farmers are afraid to engage in their 

legitimate occupation. With the 

closure of the borders and restrictions 

on food importation, it is not 

surprising that Nigeria is on the verge 

of famine. 

If the Federal Government is 

unwilling to get rid of the armed 

herdsmen, then it should allow each 

community to deal with them and 

allow farmers back to work. Without 

solving our insecurity problems there 

are simply no other ways out of this 

problem. 

Drug use – the forgotten epidemic 

By M. BUBA MARWA & OLIVER 

STOLPE 

IN 2018, the National Bureau of 

Statistics, NBS, in cooperation with the 

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 

and the European Union conducted the first 

ever national drug use survey in the country. 

With a drug use prevalence of more than 14.4 

per cent among Nigerians aged between 15 

and 64 years - almost three times the global 

average of 5.5 per cent - the findings were truly 

preoccupying. Then, a total of 14.3 million 

Nigerian adults had used illicit drugs or had 

made non-medical use of prescription drugs, 

primarily pharmaceutical opioids, during the 

preceding 12 months. The survey found a total 

of almost three million persons suffering from 

some form of drug use disorder - dwarfing the 

statistics of illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS and 

more recently COVID-19. Drug use disorder 

is a multi-dimensional health and social 

problem. It severely affects the general health 

of users, making them significantly more 

susceptible to contract and pass on other 

illnesses, such as Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and 

Tuberculosis. 

Drug use in Nigeria has some particularities. 

While the most used drug - like in many other 

countries - is Cannabis, the use of Cocaine and 

Heroin is comparatively rare. The most 

dangerous widespread drug use is the nonmedical 

consumption of Tramadol and similar 

pharmaceutical opioids, normally used in 

clinical pain management. As a matter of fact, 

West Africa is presently facing its very own 

opioid crisis of proportions similar to the one 

experienced in North America. 

Since 2018, the situation may very well have 

further deteriorated. In a poll conducted by 

UNODC and UNICEF in June 2020 among 

80,000 Nigerian youths, the majority felt that 

drug use had increased in the wake of COVID- 

19 related lockdowns, school-closures, and the 

economic downturn. ENACT, a research 

programme funded by the European Union, 

predicts that the number of people who use 

drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa will increase 

approximately 2.5 fold by 2050, with the lion’s 

share in West Africa. For Nigeria, this 

projection signifies that it might have to grapple 

with more than 35 million drug users. 

The Nigerian Government has recognised 

What is needed is an urgent 

investment into the health and 

wellbeing of people if we want to 

prevent millions of Nigerians 

from falling prey to drugs 

the urgency of the situation. In December 2018, 

President Buhari established the Presidential 

Advisory Committee for the Elimination of 

Drug Abuse, PACEDA. The Committee 

conducted indepth inquiries into the nature of 

drug use and the drug markets in the country 

as well as of the dedicated law enforcement, 

prevention and treatment capabilities. The 

final report was submitted to Mr. President in 

October 2019. While follow-up action has been 

delayed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and 

the ensuing economic crisis, government has 

been working on a new edition of the National 

Drug Control Master Plan 2021-2025. 

While waiting for government’s next step, it 

OPINION 

appears worthwhile to reflect on how we got to 

where we are. How did Nigeria, which 

considered itself for many years primarily a 

transit country, become one of the primary 

drug consumers worldwide? The answer, to a 

large extent, is already implied in the question. 

Drug use, for long, was ignored. It was 

considered a vice of the West. Local 

consumption primarily affected the less 

wealthy in society. Also, the spill-over effect 

expected to be caused by Nigeria’s role as a 

transit hub in the international cocaine trade 

did not materialise to the extent feared. Selfmedication, 

a lack of access to appropriate 

pain medication and a largely un- or 

underregulated market for prescription drugs 

are likely to have fuelled the widespread use of 

pharmaceutical drugs for non-medical 

purposes. 

With the very first national representative 

study on drug use conducted only in 2018, drug 

use could have festered and spread for decades 

essentially unobserved by policy makers. The 

response to drugs in Nigeria, also due to 

international pressures, focused for decades 

on supply reduction through law enforcement. 

The primary objective was to stop the flow of 

drugs being trafficked by Latin American 

cartels and Nigerian organised crime groups 

from South America through West Africa to 

Europe. Moreover, drug use was - and by many 

still is - considered a personal moral failure 

rather than a health issue. 

Going forward, what is needed is an urgent 

investment into the health and wellbeing of 

people, including future generations,if we want 

to prevent millions of Nigerians from falling 

prey to drugs. Drawing on the successful pilot 

testing of unplugged - an evidence-based drug 

prevention programme for secondary school 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

children - PACEDA recommended to roll it out 

to all public and private schools in the country. 

We also need to expand the network of 

community based drug drop-in centres to drive 

drug education and prevention at the 

grassroots, provide counselling and after-care 

services to drug users and their families, and 

to refer cases that require medical treatment 

to specialised facilities. We further must 

improve regulated access to prescription drugs 

for those in need, while curbing unregulated 

drug markets. 

There is also an urgent need to improve 

treatment services for drug users. UNODC 

estimates that there are barely 1,000 drug 

treatment places in the country. Considering 

the three million Nigerians living with a drug 

use disorder and approximately 350,000 highrisk 

drug users, this is obviously inadequate 

and affects in particular female drug users who 

face much greater challenges in accessing such 

services. 

This health and people-centred approach 

should be complemented by “smart” 

enforcement which focuses on intelligence-led 

operations targeting the organisers of the 

billion naira drug trade. In short, while the 

country’s response to drug use may come late, 

it is not too late. Building on its successes in 

responding to COVID-19, government has a 

unique opportunity to tackle the raging drug 

epidemic by acting on the PACEDA report with 

the same zeal and sense of purpose. 

•Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, OFR, is 

Chairman of the Presidential Advisory 

Committee on the Elimination of Drug 

Abuse, PACEDA, and Oliver Stolpe is Country 

Representative, United Nations Office on 

Drugs and Crime, UNODC, Nigeria

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Lagos-Ibadan Rail: Amaechi warns 

Chinese contractor 

ors over deliver 

ery deadline 

By Godwin Oritse 

ECONOMY 

The minister of Transport, 

Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday, 

handed down January 

2021 target timeline for commissioning 

of the Lagos-Ibadan 

Rail Line to the contractor handling 

the project, China Civil Engineering 

Construction Company, 

CCECC. 

Speaking during an inspection 

tour of the construction of the 

rail project, Amaechi threatened 

to bring in his personal 

engineers to carry out an assessment 

of the work done and 

produce a work plan for the 

contractors. 

He also threatened that if the 

contractors are not able to provide 

their work plan, which also 

include their equipment delivery, 

labour and other necessities 

that are needed to complete 

the Lagos-Ibadan rail, the 

Kano-Kaduna Rail Line construction 

will not be approved 

for them. 

He stated: “I want to see your 

work schedule and I want to 

work for the President to commission 

this project by January 

next year. So we want to see that 

the equipment in place is commensurate 

to your work plan.” 

Speaking on the development, 

Managing Director of the Nigerian 

Railway Corporation, NRC, 

Engr. Fidet Okhiria, said a test 

run of the Lagos-Ibadan rail services 

will be carried out in the 

first week of December ahead of 

the Presidential commissioning 

in January. 

Okhiria explained that commissioning 

of rail tracks is different 

from commissioning operation 

of train service, adding 

that by January next year, train 

services between Lagos and 

Ibadan will be in full swing. 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

RAND 

1.14 -0.44 

1,840.00 2.62 

1.15 -0.07 

47.80 +1.71 

47.80 +1.71 

379 379.5 380 

505.5102 506.1771 506.844 

449.7593 450.3527 450.946 

415.0695 415.6171 416.1647 

3.6296 3.6344 3.6391 

0.6685 0.6785 0.6885 

540.3712 541.0841 541.797 

57.5454 57.6218 57.6981 

101.0532 101.1865 101.3198 

24.7725 24.8052 24.8379 

CBN Exchange rate as at 24/11/2020 

AWARD: From left, Mr Yemi Adefisan, Group Chief Executive, Cititrust Holdings Plc, 

presenting the staff of the year award to Mr Chuks Osuya , staff of Cititrust Holdings 

Plc in Lagos. 

Speculators will lose money as CBN has 

enough reserves to defend end naira — ABCON 

Peter Egwuatu 

MONEY MARKET 

The Association of Bu 

reaux De Change Operators 

of Nigeria 

(ABCON) has sent 

strong warning to foreign 

exchange speculators 

pushing the 

naira to forceful depreciation 

through 

their illegal activities. 

Speaking to financial 

journalists on 

market development 

over the weekend in 

Lagos, ABCON President, 

Alhaji Aminu 

Access Bank emphasises environmental sustainability 

MONEY MARKET 

Access Bank has empha 

sized its commitment to 

the attainment of the Sustainable 

Development Goals. The 

bank’s Head of Sustainability, 

Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan, 

stated this at the United Nations 

Global Compact Business 

Live event. 

Emphasising the inter-relatedness 

of innovation, 

sustainability and collaboration 

in helping organisations 

navigate policies in their business 

operations, Victor- 

Gwadabe, said: 

“Forex speculators 

are taking huge risks 

with their funds, as the 

Central Bank of Nigeria 

(CBN) has enough 

financial muscle to 

defend the naira and 

close the widening 

gaps between official 

and parallel market 

rates.” 

It will be recalled 

that the naira has in 

the last few days depreciated 

to N480 to 

the dollar in the parallel 

market but has remained 

stable at N379 at the Investors 

& Exporters window of 

the forex market. 

According to Gwadabe, with 

nearly $36 billion foreign reserves, 

the CBN has what it 

takes to punish the enemies of 

the economy who are forcing 

the naira to depreciate 

through speculative activities. 

He said the CBN Governor, 

Godwin Emefiele, has continued 

to take the right steps to 

achieve exchange rate stability 

and ensure that foreign exchange 

is made available to 

manufacturers and end users 

who need the funds for their 

medical trips, school fees payment, 

travel allowances 

among others. 

According to him, the funding 

of BDCs has also helped to 

deepen the forex market and 

reduce the level of forex scarcity 

that always formed the 

basis for speculative activities. 

He said that with the CBN having 

the needed financial 

strength to fund the market, 

the rates will soon converge to 

save the naira. 

Laniyan noted that Access Bank 

has collaborated with various 

stakeholders and built models 

that highlight this. 

“Through our partnership 

with SMEFunds, a social enterprise, 

we have sought to end 

poverty by promoting sustainable 

enterprise development. 

This partnership helps nature to 

recover itself by curbing the felling 

and selling of trees in rural 

Nigerian communities. Furthermore, 

following the launch of the 

new Access Bank brand in 2019, 

we launched the Paper2Pencil initiative 

that enabled us convert old 

branded notebooks and paper 

Notore records 

N9.3bn operating 

profit for Q4 

2020 

By Babajide Komolafe 

CAPITAL MARKET 

Notore Chemical Industries 

Plc has recorded N9.3 billion 

operating profit for the fourth 

quarter of the twelve-month period 

ended 30th September 2020. 

This represents a 172 percent increase 

from profit recorded the 

previous year. 

Group Managing Director/Chief 

Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. 

Onajite Okoloko, disclosed this in 

a statement adding that the increase 

was mainly attributable to 

surpluses from the professional 

revaluation of its assets. 

He further disclosed that the 

company recorded revenue of ¦ 

18.80 billion during the period, 

adding that in spite of the harsh 

economic situation – largely due 

to the COVID-19 global pandemic 

– and the political climate in Nigeria, 

Notore achieved several important 

milestones to position 

the company for a great future. 

“Afreximbank, on 31st December 

2019, disbursed a N13.32 

billion facility, which set the stage 

for the commencement of the 

Turn Around Maintenance 

programme (TAM) for our plant. 

A significant part of all the equipment 

and spares ordered during 

the year for the TAM 

programme have been delivered, 

while most of the others are 

in transit. 

“Although disruptions to global 

economies as a result of the 

outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic 

has resulted in supply 

chain and logistics interruptions, 

particularly with respect to acquisition 

of parts and spares occasioned 

by the various restrictions 

and health advisories put 

in place by governments globally, 

the TAM is on course and 

expected to be completed at the 

end of January 2021, barring any 

further shutdowns or restrictions 

occasioned by the COVID-19 

pandemic.” 

He stated further: “Once completed, 

we expect significant 

improvement in the plant’s reliability 

and production output 

to meet and sustain its 

500,000MT per annum nameplate 

design capacity. Achieving 

this level of production output 

will not only lead to significant 

improvements in the company’s 

cash flows from operations, but 

also significant increases in revenues 

annually post-TAM. It is 

worth noting that about 70 percent 

of the additional post-TAM 

revenue will contribute straight 

to the company’s bottom line, a 

major key to returning the company 

to profitability.” 

On the outlook for the new year, 

the company maintained that 

the Nigerian fertilizer demand remains 

robust and is expected to 

continue to grow. 

into pencils. Today, we’ve distributed 

those pencils to over 10,030 

students across Nigeria,” she 

said. 

Despite the environmental 

and health implications of 

cooking with firewood, with 

some 93,000 annual deaths 

related to smoke inhalation 

from household pollution 

caused by firewood smoke (per 

data from The International 

Centre for Energy, Environment, 

and Development), millions 

of Nigerian households 

still employ this cooking 

method. 

C

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9mobile, Cherie Blair Foundation boost Nigerian women entrepreneurs 

By Prince Osuagwu, Hi- 

Tech Editor 

ELECOM operator, 

T9mobile has linked up 

with the Cherie Blair 

Foundation to provide easy 

platform for Nigerian 

women entrepreneurs to 

thrive in business. 

The partnership saw to the 

development of an 

application HerVenture app, 

which gives women 

entrepreneurs the 

commonest rudiments and 

strategies to grow in whatever 

line of entrepreneurship they 

have undertaken. 

The app will also help 

Nigerian women 

enterpreneurs develop the 

confidence and skills they 

need to grow their MSMEs 

at scale. 

9mobile will harness its 

technology and networks to 

promote HerVenture, among 

women entrepreneurs in 

Nigeria. 

This new partnership is 

expected to deliver on its 

objectives by leveraging a 

combination of 9mobile’s 

technology and technical 

expertise with the 

Foundation’s products and 

programmes. 

It will also enable the 

upscaled provision of 

integrated mobile business 

support services for women 

entrepreneurs in Nigeria. 

In addition to the tech 

support 9mobile is to 

provide to oil the 

partnership, the telco also 

promises to launch 

Payment Service Bank, 

9PSB, to provide 

innovative online banking 

facilities for women 

entrepreneurs. 

9mobile said it was 

pushed into the partnership 

by the realisation that 

given the effects of the 

COVID-19 pandemic and 

the imperative to fast-track 

the world into a digital 

economy and create more 

women entrepreneurs, 

there is an urgent need to 

support women to develop 

the business skills needed 

to succeed now and postpandemic. 

CEO of 9mobile, Alan 

Sinfield, said: “9mobile 

recognises the importance 

of leveraging its technology 

to support very important 

segments of society like 

women, to build and grow 

resilient businesses 

through this pandemic and 

beyond. We’re delighted to 

be working with the Cherie 

Blair Foundation for 

Women to support their 

efforts to advance women’s 

entrepreneurship 

potentials in Nigeria.” 

Cherie Blair Foundation 

said it has also responded 

to this need by enhancing 

the HerVenture app to offer 

new opportunities in the 

digital space including e- 

commerce and digital 

marketing. 

COVID-19: How tech integrations 

revitalise different sectors 

Stories by Juliet Umeh 

Despite the disruptions to the 

world economy, ocassioned by 

the COVID-19 pandemic, it has 

also been confirmed that 

different sectors of the economy 

that quickly readjusted their 

operations, integrating 

technology solutions fared well 

At a recent Nigeria e- 

Government Summit in Lagos, 

different sectors of the economy 

gave account of how technology 

helped them navigate the 

murky economic waters 

heralded by COVID-19. 

Representatives of the sectors 

in a panel section shared varying 

stories of how they applied 

technology to solve problems 

as the effects of the pandemic 

bit harder. 

The event, with theme: Covid- 

19: 'Impetus for accelerated e- 

Government adoption, had 

stakeholders in tech, health, 

finance and transportation 

sectors, among others in 

participation.' 

They confessed that tech 

solutions, can actually provide 

the needed tonic for Nigeria's 

economic turn around, post 

covid era. 

LIR S- e-Tax 

For instance, in a state like 

Lagos, the Lagos State Internal 

Revenue Service, LIRS, said it 

generated N25 billion from e-tax 

in March during the peak of 

covid-19. 

Sharing LIRS' experience, the 

agency's Director of information 

and communication 

technology, ICT, Mr Rasheed 

Olu-Ajayi, said e-tax is an 

enterprise tax administration 

system which the agency used 

to harmonise and digitize all 

their tax processes. 

Olu-Ajayi said: "At the heat of 

Covid-19 in March, we were able 

to generate N25 billion for Lagos 

State when lot businesses, 

Ministries, Departments, and 

From L-R: Prof. Ibrahim Mustapha from LASUTH; President, Nigeria Internet Registration 

Association, NiRA, Mr. Mohammed Rudman; MD VDT Communications, Mr Biodun 

Omoniyi; Director of ICT, at LIRS, Mr Ayodele Subair; Commissioner of Science and Tech, 

Lagos State, Mr. Hakeem Popoola Fahm; MD, Lagos Water Corporation, Engr. Muminu 

Badmus; MD, eStream Networks, Mr. Muyiwaya Ogungboye; Director, VIS, Engr. Akin 

Fashola; GM, LASTMA. Mr. Olajide Oduyoye 

Agencies, MDAs were locked 

down. 

"This was because there was 

a payment module within our 

e-tax application which meant 

that organisations, company 

entities within the comfort of 

their homes make payment for 

their taxes. 

"What led to the emergency 

of e-tax was that before now, we 

had instances where some 

individuals and companies had 

duplicate tax payer 

identifications, IDs, which 

meant that it was difficult for us 

to be able to say how many tax 

payers we have in our tax net. 

"We were able to leverage the 

Bank Verification Number, 

BVN, to clean the entire 

multiple payer IDs and 

automate all our processes 

starting from enumeration, 

registration, tax payment, 

assessment, reconciliation, tax 

auditing, annual return filling, 

report and analytics. 

"So, it meant that all those 

processes were at the touch of 

the button possible for every tax 

payer or for every company 

entity in the comfort of their 

zones," Olu-Ajayi said. 

He also noted that filling of 

annual returns has been made 

possible through e-tax platform. 

He said: "About two years 

ago, there were about 1600 

people within our office who 

were trying to file in their tax 

returns to avoid the late penalty 

fee on the 31st December. But 

with the e-tax, all that has 

reduced because we were able 

to complete about 25000 

companies online successfully 

in the last annual returns that 

we did," Olu-Ajayi remarked. 

LASUTH -E-health 

Also, Prof. Ibrahim Mustapha 

from the Lagos State University 

Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, 

said the hospital recognised the 

that e-health, e-medicine, 

telemedicine, electronic medical 

records are very important in 

dealing with wholesome 

healthcare service to the people. 

Mustapha said: "Patientsinq.Digital 

Nigeria wins NTITA 

awards for positive 

contributions to tech industry 

Cyber security: Sophos reveals cyber threat patterns for 2021 

N ext-generation Cyber 

Security Company, Sophos, 

has revealed the pattern cyber 

attackers will adopt to ravage and 

corporate IN 2021. 

According to the company, the 

report provides a threedimensional 

perspective which 

includes the gap between 

ransomware operators at different 

ends of the skills and resource 

spectrum will increase. 

It said: "At the high end, the 

big-game hunting ransomware 

families will continue to refine 

and change their tactics, 

techniques and procedures 

(TTPs) to become more evasive 

and nation-state-like in 

sophistication, targeting larger 

organizations with multimilliondollar 

ransom demands. In 2020, 

such families included Ryuk and 

RagnarLocker." 

At the other end of the spectrum, 

Sophos anticipates an increase in 

the number of entry level, 

apprentice-type attackers looking 

for menu-driven, ransomware-forrent, 

such as Dharma that allows 

them to target high volumes of 

smaller prey. 

Another ransomware trend is 

"secondary extortion," where 

alongside the data encryption the 

attackers steal and threaten to 

publish sensitive or confidential 

information, if their demands are 

not met. In 2020, Sophos reported 

on Maze, RagnarLocker, 

Netwalker, REvil, and others 

using this approach. 

"The ransomware business 

model is dynamic and complex. 

During 2020, Sophos saw a clear 

trend towards adversaries 

differentiating themselves in terms 

of their skills and targets. 

Principal research scientist of the 

company, Chester Wisniewski, 

said: "We have also seen 

ransomware families sharing bestof-breed 

tools and forming selfstyled 

collaborative 'cartels,'. 

"Some, like Maze, appeared to 

pack their bags and head for a life 

of leisure, except that some of their 

doctors' interactions used to be 

on papers and you have 

bundles upon bundles case 

notes that one can find difficult 

to trace when patients come. So 

we realized that we needed to 

have electronics medical records. 

"Beyond patients-doctors' 

interactions, we are doing few 

surgeries these days mainly 

because of the internet 

backbone and electronic 

backbone. We are able to have 

teleconferencing which is 

telemedicine." 

VIS - Automated number 

plates 

In his agency, the Director of 

Lagos State Vehicle Inspection 

Service, VIS, Engr. Akin Fashola, 

said the sector is also leveraging 

ICT in many ways. 

Fashola said: "With automatic 

number plate system, an 

offender gets text message once 

he violates any law. But if you 

are in doubt of what the offence 

is, you can come to any of the 

offices and we will show you 

what you have done. 

tools and techniques have 

resurfaced under the guise of a 

newcomer, Egregor. The 

cyberthreat landscape abhors a 

vacuum. If one threat disappears 

another one will quickly take its 

place. In many ways, it is almost 

impossible to predict where 

ransomware will go next, but the 

attack trends discussed in Sophos' 

threat report this year are likely to 

continue into 2021." 

In another dimension, the 

company said that everyday 

threats such as commodity 

malware, including loaders and 

botnets, or human-operated Initial 

Access Brokers, will demand 

serious security attention. 

loud and Digital Service Provider, inq.Digital Nigeria 

CLimited, has received Telecom Business of the Year and 

best Unified Communications Provider of the Year for its 

consistent contributions in the telecommunication sector. 

The award which was organised by the Nigeria Information 

Technology & Telecom Awards powered by Instinct Wave UK, in 

partnership with Association of Telecommunications Companies 

of Nigeria, ATCON. 

Chief Executive Officer, Instinct Wave, Akin Naphtal, said the 

choice of inq.Digital Nigeria was based on popular votes by 

members of the general public and members of the Information 

Technology community that have come to recognize the reputational 

capital of the company within the industry. 

According to Akin, inq.Digital Nigeria's footprint in the country 

is synonymous with technology and digital development with a 

consistently positive contribution to the development of the sector 

through the provision of unique cloud and digital solutions 

services. 

In response to the awards, Managing Director inq.Digital 

Nigeria, Valentine Chime, appreciated the award and for 

recognizing the series of activities, roles, and the contribution of 

inq. Digital in the country's sojourn in the technology and digital 

space. 

Valentine stated that the organizers of Nigeria Technology and 

Telecom Awards have consistently provided quality information 

for the industry through various platforms such that the award 

programme has evolved to be an independent rating institution. 

Innovation: Wealth.ng's personal 

Wealth Advisor to optimize 

investment service delivery 

P 

ersonal Finance Platform, Wealth.ng has announced the 

launch of a personal Wealth Advisor, 'Ola,' an AI-powered 

conversational investments chatbot developed to optimize 

Investment service delivery via WhatsApp. 

According to the company, Ola aims to make it easy for 

Wealth.ng customers to invest and manage their portfolio easily 

via the social media. 

It said users can chat with Ola through the dedicated 

WhatsApp Chatbot number or link. 

It said: " You can perform much all the Investment Services 

such as: Creating a Wealth.ng account, link your Wealth.ng 

account, browse investment products, Fund Cash Balance, 

Invest, View your Portfolio, View Market Summary, Check 

Order Status and ask Ola a question. 

Artificial Intelligence-enabled chatbot solutions like Ola make 

it easy to interact with users by providing virtual assistance 

24-7, just as a human. 

It explained that WhatsApp allows its users to communicate 

using less data while protecting shared data conversations, 

media content, banking details among others. Ola also 

processes authenticated transactions via one-time-passwords, 

OTPs sent to users' registered phone number or email. 

The company's Digital Marketing Manager, Ifeoluwa 

Apampa said that the decision to deploy the service is part of 

Wealth.ng's strategy to deliver optimum customer experience 

through technology while also increasing the investment 

participation of customers by providing a scalable and efficient 

service for managing their investments and portfolios. 

It said: "Such threats can seem 

like low level malware noise, but 

they are designed to secure a 

foothold in a target, gather 

essential data and share data back 

to a command-and-control 

network that will provide further 

instructions. If human operators 

are behind these types of threats, 

they'll review every compromised 

machine for its geolocation and 

other signs of high value, and then 

sell access to the most lucrative 

targets to the highest bidder, such 

as a major ransomware operation. 

For instance, in 2020, Ryuk used 

Buer Loader to deliver its 

ransomware. 

Also, it noted that in the last 

dimension, "All ranks of 

adversaries will increasingly 

abuse legitimate tools, well known 

utilities and common network 

destinations to evade detection 

and security measures and thwart 

analysis and attribution. The 

abuse of legitimate tools enables 

adversaries to stay under the 

radar while they move around the 

network until they are ready to 

launch the main part of the attack, 

such as ransomware. For nationstate-sponsored 

attackers, there 

is the additional benefit that 

using common tools makes 

attribution harder.

C 

M 

Y 

K 

Gamblers and journeymen 

Politics are almost as exciting 

as war, and quite as 

dangerous. In war you can only 

be killed once, but in politics, 

many times —Winston 

Churchill,1874-1965 

IF it is not such a sad 

reminder of the depth of 

mediocrity and the contempt 

with which our political leaders 

treat our democratic process, it 

would have been amusing 

watching leaders of the All 

Progressives Party, APC, get all 

excited at the defection of 

Governor Dave Umahi of 

Ebonyi State from the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, to their 

party. As tradition allows, the 

man who received majority of 

votes on a political party 

platform walked away with the 

peoples‘ mandate and joined 

the side his supporters helped 

him defeat. 

It is not illegal, but if politics 

has moral standards, this 

practice will be the equivalent 

of the man who sells his father’s 

house and then moves in with 

the buyer as a squatter. To be 

fair to Governor Umahi, he has 

he snake is not a likeable 

Tcreep. Especially if you 

have had a brush with its 

venomous danger as I have, 

twice in my life and nearly got 

finished off at the second 

encounter, you have no reason 

to like the snake at all, and 

once you smell the danger 

from a distance, you reach for 

a strong stick. 

This is my point of interest 

this morning. As you hit the 

snake, the creepy animal is 

not looking at the hand 

holding the stick or the owner 

of the hand, the snake is 

focused on the stick and 

probably working on plans to 

take the stick out. 

Unfortunately, the stick has no 

life of its own but must obey 

the voice of the master, and 

quickly take out the snake and 

spare the society of a creepy 

danger. 

The outburst of the Minister 

of Information and Culture, 

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, last 

week, can lay credence to that 

little allegory of the snake and 

the stick. Really, Mohammed 

was angry, so angry that after 

the domestic channels seemed 

to have been conquered with 

a fine and reprimand, a 

foreign channel could dare to 

act as the little gadfly to 

irritate the imperial 

positioning of an 

administration that is doing 

very well! 

In fact, it was not anger. It 

was indignation. When I was 

in the secondary school, one 

of our teachers told us in the 

class that the word means 

righteous anger. Oh, those 

teachers at Annunciation 

Catholic College, Irrua, Edo 

State, may God bless them. So, 

that very day the Minister 

removed his focus from the 

#End SARS movement to vent 

his frothing anger onCNN. 

"CNN engaged in 

joined a long, distinguished line 

of politicians who see politics 

in purely personal terms, and 

party members and voters as 

disposable irritations. There are 

very few politicians in Nigeria 

today whose entire journey has 

been made in only one political 

vehicle. 

Governor Umahi says he 

defected to the APC to protest 

against the injustice of his party, 

the PDP whose presidential 

ticket has never been zoned to 

the South-East zone. This zone, 

he protests, has supported the 

PDP since 1999, but had never 

had its presidential ticket zoned 

to it. He is not moving to the 

APC for any reason other than 

to protest this injustice. His 

former party disagrees. It says 

he has a strong personal reason 

for defecting to a party which 

can barely feel the ground in 

his zone: he has his eyes on a 

possible APC presidential 

ticket. 

His new party is not waiting 

to count how many people from 

his state he will deliver for 

baptismal in a region bursting 

with grievances but stubborn in 

08055069060 (SMS Only) 

Email: aihebho@yahoo.com 

incredible sensationalism and 

did a great disservice to itself 

and to journalism. In the first 

instance, CNN, which touted 

its report as an exclusive 

investigative report, sadly 

relied on the same videos that 

have been circulating on 

social media, without 

verification … 

"This is very serious and 

CNN should be sanctioned for 

that. CNN merely said the 

videos were "obtained by 

CNN" without saying 

wherefrom and whether or not 

it authenticated them. Were 

CNN reporters and 

cameramen at the Lekki Toll 

Gate that evening?" 

Mohammed didn't have to 

wait for long as CNN 

responded immediately 

saying that the organization 

verified photos and videos 

acquired from multiple 

eyewitnesses and protesters 

using timestamps and other 

data from the video files. 

Video footage shows solders 

who appear to be shooting in 

the direction of protesters. And 

accounts from eyewitnesses 

established that after the army 

withdrew, a second round of 

shooting happened in the 

evening. 

Now it is eyeball to eyeball. 

Who will be the first to blink - 

CNN or our great Minister? 

This question wouldn't be 

necessary only if we know 

how to hold back our anger 

and learn a little lesson in 

crisis management. Doing the 

right communication is part of 

that crisis management 

because when the head is in 

pains, you don't need to put it 

out with a hammer but apply 

the right medications in order 

to restore peace. 

I am of the opinion that the 

government's position 

concerning what happened at 

Lekki Toll Gate will strain 

terms of looking at new options. 

It is not showing signs that his 

arrival has raised more 

questions on its claims that it is 

not a party of a Northern 

leadership on its way out, and 

a handful of politicians from the 

South West who are already 

showing signs of a bruising 

battle over a ticket no one is sure 

will be secured by anyone in the 

region. 

Governor Umahi is either 

exclusively privy to a secret or 

an optimist with no equal. He 

says he knows that PDP will not 

zone its presidential platform to 

the South East. It is possible he 

Without a decisive 

shift from the past, 

the two dominant 

parties may run the 

country aground in 

their attempts to 

ride it before the 

next elections 

also knows that APC will 

surprise the long-suffering 

people of the South East by 

offering them its ticket. If PDP 

does choose a candidate from 

the South East, Umahi will not 

sip the champagne, and few 

people will remember his 

sacrifice because he will be in 

a party that will have its own 

problems in the zone and with 

Nigerians. 

If Umahi’s new party does 

not zone the ticket to the 

South East, few people will 

remember his name, not to 

talk of the possibility that he 

For broadcasting, truth 

troubled by the times 

credulity any day because of 

the equivocations of the 

variousarms of government 

before a glimmer of truth 

started to emerge on the 

horizons. First was the claim 

by the Lagos State Governor, 

BabajideSanwo-Olu that he 

did not invite the Army. 

Followed by the position of the 

Army that its men were not at 

the Toll Gate. Yet there was 

It never occurred 

to anybody that the 

picture we were 

painting was that of 

failed state where 

there is no 

recognized 

government, so 

frightening that 

hoodlums could be 

shooting non-stop 

in a vital part of the 

city, and there was 

no response from 

the security, 

whatsoever. 

another opinion that 

hoodlums were the ones who 

shot for hours at the Toll Gate. 

Then some little fragments of 

truth, the Army was there on 

the invitation of the Governor. 

It never occurred to anybody 

that the picture we were 

painting was that of failed 

state where there is no 

recognized government, so 

frightening that hoodlums 

could be shooting non-stop in 

a vital part of the city, and 

there was no response from 

the security, whatsoever. Oh, 

add this. The Army has since 

told the Panel that its men 


went to the Toll Gate with 

Rubber Bullets and Live 

ammunition. Since the CNN 

story! 

In plain speaking, the 

government soiled its 

sincerity on the Lekki Toll 

Gate tragedy and should work 

to right its position instead of 

digging itself deeper into a 

hole. Only then can it begin 

to seek compassion from those 

with a heart to forgive. 

That little suggestion might 

bring some discomfort to 

Mohammed; this is 

understandable because he 

speaks for government. My 

little concern here is the place 

of truth in dispute resolution. 

Concerning what happened at 

Lekki Toll Gate, truth has 

become a misbegotten casualty 

and may upend every effort to 

resolve the #EndSARS crisis 

until a much needed catharsis 

takes place. 

Before the catharsis, let's 

make a detour to 

broadcasting? Is it actually 

possible to punish CNN as the 

Minister canvassed? Without 

claiming erudition in legal 

matters, meaning I am totally 

unlearned as the lawyers 

would put it, I tried to look at 

the Act setting up the National 

Broadcasting Commission 

(NBC) and the Nigeria 

Broadcasting Code, the bible 

of broadcast operations in 

Nigeria, I am unable to see 

any law empowering the 

government to sanction CNN. 

Having failed in my quirky 

search, I went to my industry 

sources, who, too, are unable 

to lay their hands on any local 

law to punish an international 

broadcaster whose global 

feeds are received in Nigeria. 

They were very categorical 

that the most Nigeria can do 

under the circumstance is to 

ask for a right of reply, which 

is a standard industry 

practice. Outside that nothing 

much can happen. Another 

source noted that if Nigeria 

could win a Senate seat. If both 

parties poison his zone with 

wealth of two tickets, he will 

be in the midst of the scramble 

with a valid case that he 

offered to be the sacrificial 

lamb. That may not count for 

much in a region that is 

replete with quality and tested 

politicians who have remained 

slightly more loyal to their 

parties. 

Umahi’s defection hints at 

the enduring tradition in 

Nigerian politics that values 

such as party loyalty and 

respect for rules are only 

useful if they serve an 

individual’s interests. The 

party he has just left has 

raised the standards of 

disregarding rules to the 

status of the Holy Grail, and 

much of the stress beginning 

to show in many camps is 

evidence of popular 

knowledge that nothing is 

sacrosanct. No politician in the 

PDP will hang his ambition on 

the certainty that the rotation 

principle in the party will be 

respected in 2023. Before 

2015, it had suffered such 

injury from desperate 

politicians that the party’s 

bleeding from fights around it 

contributed substantially to its 

defeat. 

In Port Harcourt in 2018, 12 

Northerners lined up to be 

selected as flagbearer. 

Southern PDP politicians 

salivated at the prospect that 

it will be their turn in 2022. 

They started to lose sleep 

when they began to hear 

rumours that the zoning 

feels very strongly about the 

CNN broadcast, it could take 

the diplomatic channel to 

lodge a complaint. Overall, 

they believe the press 

conference by the Minister 

was unnecessary and capable 

of putting Nigeria in very bad 

light as a country without 

capacity to stomach 

inconvenient truth. Oh, the 

country already has enough 

problems than to add the 

status of a pariah state! They 

moaned. 

But how much of truth do we 

have to confront the 

presentation by CNNapart 

from the hackneyed 

ventriloquy of fake news? In 

some battles you must arm 

yourself with the right words, 

and drop them as little bombs 

where necessary. Nigeria did 

that in the past and there was 

a vindication, even if not total. 

In 2007, there was a CNN 

reporter in Nigeria called Jeff 

Koinange, of joint US-Kenyan 

nationality. In those troubling 

days of Movement for the 

Emancipation of Niger Delta 

(MEND), Koinange had 

sources that gave him lethal 

information for great stories. 

Reporting Nigeria, he quickly 

became a star, some say, 

superstar on the platform of 

CNN. But the Nigerian 

government thought that 

something was wrong and that 

Koinange was staging stories 

to build his own image. The 

government was strong on the 

point that Koinange was 

paying MEND members to 

stage stories for him. Mind 

you the government of the day 

never tried to invalidate the 

operations of MEND but did 

not like the reportage which 

looked suspicious. 

But from an unlikely source 

came a confirmation of the 

suspicion by the Nigerian 

government. A Swiss author 

turned girlfriend, Marianne 

Briner, released emails she 

had exchanged with Koinange 

principle was being reinterpreted 

to mean that 

someone from a region must 

win and exercise power before 

the other region smells an 

opportunity to field a 

candidate. The ghost of 

President Jonathan’s 

desperate effort to disown the 

principle was also being 

invoked to suggest that the 

principle of rotation had died 

from anemia caused by bad 

faith and desperation of 

politicians. 

Threats of dire consequences 

that will follow the refusal of 

both parties to cede tickets to 

candidates from any of the 

three zones in the South do not 

appear to have impressed 

some powerful Northern 

politicians or voters. A few of 

APC’s bigwigs have suggested 

that it will serve the interest of 

justice to have a candidate of 

the party from the South. These 

voices are being drowned by a 

torrent of indignation at the 

mere suggestion that the party 

will dare field a candidate from 

the North. 

There is a particularly strong 

sense of entitlement to the 

ticket from the South West, but 

the region is being seriously 

damaged by a civil war. There 

are also strong cases being 

made by other Southern zones 

that it makes better politics to 

plant the party in lands that will 

nourish it with appreciation 

and certainty that it will have 

life after President Buhari 

ceases to have any political 

relevance in the country. 

where the latter bragged of 

paying sources for CNN to get 

great stories and he, his fame. 

That did it. In February of that 

year, CNN issued a denial that 

the organization does not pay 

for interviews. Koinange was 

recalled from Nigeria and he 

left CNN in May 2008. The 

Nigerian baggage never 

allowed him to take his head 

above troubled waters. 

My little question is: does 

the government have the 

convenient truth to dilute the 

CNN report or are we 

pursuing the Shakespearean 

Macbeth to tell us a "tale full 

of sound and fury signifying 

nothing"? Some say we 

shouldn't pursue the answer 

but look at other things that 

trouble us. Quite a number of 

people are of the opinion that 

the #EndSARS movement is 

a little window into our rotten 

state of being and that the 

government should do 

something urgently. 

The nation is in grave 

danger. In the past two weeks, 

I have had the little bad luck 

of flying into Asaba in Delta 

State, moving into Edo State 

by road, and hitting the state 

capital after a few days in 

some other locations. With 

airport arrangements in Benin 

completely messed up, one 

had to return to Abuja by road! 

On the road, I remembered 

my friend, Anikulapo - the 

one who wears death in his 

pouch but this was not a sense 

of invincibility. You literally 

see death every inch of the 

way but between Auchi and 

Lokoja in Kogi State is a 

complete void, a despicable 

absence of governance and a 

perilous fraternization with 

nihilism. 

Were somebody to follow the 

road with a camera, how will 

the government describe the 

report? Fake news? Will the 

people who live along the 

route believe their government 

or the report? What then is the 

definition of truth? My prayer 

is for the people not to give 

the answer because such 

response would overwhelm 

the government in whatever 

way.

Y 

K 

22— Vanguard,WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 

C

Y 

K 


C

Y 

K 

24— Vanguard,WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 

C

C 

M 

Y 

K 


I can’t handle my violent 

wife 

Dear Bunmi, 

My wife has always been 

very possessive and hates me 

going out without her, even 

before we got married nine 

years ago. Recently, though, 

her jealousy has become so 

bad that the rows have turned 

violent. If I talk to another 

woman at a party, she kicks 

me viciously under the table, 

and when we get back home, 

she attacks me. I try to fend 

her off, but it is difficult, as 

she is bigger than me. 

I have teeth marks and other 

bruises, and it’s difficult 

coming up with a story 

explaining my wounds that 

my workmates would believe. 

I’ve also have a nasty gash at 

the back of my neck, after she 

pushed me backwards off my 

chair. I’ve tried talking to her 

but she wouldn’t listen, and 

He’s adamant he doesn’t want a 

third wife 

Dear Bunmi, 

I’ve been with my partner 

for almost eight years. He is 

a fairly successful 

businessman and was 

married twice. His two wives 

don’t live with him. 

He’s told me from the word 

go that he was not keen on 

living with a woman. I live 

in my own house and he is 

supportive. 

My rival's a sugar-mommy 

Dear Bunmi, 

I knew my boyfriend was 

romantically linked to a 

fashion designer, almost 16 

years his senior, when I met 

him. He was a widower and 

his lover visited as often as 

she could because she was 

married. 

As compensation, she was 

financially responsible for 

virtually everything he had - 

Domestic 

violence against 

men is one of 

the last taboos, 

but it’s a 

growing 

problem. 

You need to let 

your wife see 

she’s killing 

your marriage. 

Make it clear 

that you will end 

the marriage 

and, if she 

won’t change, 

pack your bags 

and leave 

I have a son and would 

want, at least, a child now 

that I’m approaching 40. He 

said he would go along with 

me having his child but he’s 

not getting married to any 

woman again. Do you think 

he will change his mind? 

I don’t really mind being a 

third wife. 

Nike, by e-mail. 

Dear Nike, 

After eight years together, 

the bed, his clothes and 

second hand car. 

After I met him, we started 

meeting fairly regularly and 

I even stayed over in his flat 

from time to time. 

He made it clear, though, 

that he was very fond of this 

older woman and wouldn’t 

want to hurt her. I asked him 

if he didn’t want to remarry, 

and he said 'not in the 

You knew this man was 

involved with an older woman 

when you met him, and now 

he’s not ready to sacrifice his 

cushy existence for a permanent 

relationship with you. You could 

either stay for the fling or find 

another man who'll be proud of 

a relationship with you. 

the violence is getting worse. 

I’m afraid she might really 

hurt me one of these days. 

What else do you think I can 

do? 

Steve, by e-mail. 

Dear Steve, 

Domestic violence against 

men is one of the last taboos, 

but it’s a growing problem. 

You need to let your wife see 

she’s killing your marriage, 

and she must seek help for 

her anger and jealousy. Make 

it clear that you will end the 

marriage if she attacks you 

again. In the meantime, you 

have to let a few of her 

relatives know what danger 

your life is in. 

If she won’t change, pack 

your bags and leave, albeit 

temporarily. If that doesn’t 

work, then I’m afraid you 

have to make an alternate 

plan, so you could have a 

stress-free life. 

there’s absolutely no chance 

your partner is going to 

change his mind. He’s been 

honest with you from the 

start that this is the type of 

life he intends to live. 

Can you live with this? You 

have for the past eight years, 

though a lot of women 

looking for better 

commitments would have 

given him his marching 

orders. 

immediate future'. I have seen 

this woman and she’s not half 

as pretty as I am. 

What in God’s name does he 

see in her to prefer hurting me 

like this? 

Bussy, by e-mail. 

Dear Bussy, 

It has been established that 

a lot of men in relationships 

with much older women are 

sometimes the ones who find 

it difficult to make decisions 

and take responsibilities for 

themselves. 

They’re happy to let an older 

woman do it for them, just like 

their mum did. You knew this 

man was involved with an 

older woman when you met 

him, and now he’s not ready 

to sacrifice his cushy 

existence for a permanent 

relationship with you. You 

could either stay for the fling 

or find another man who cares 

enough for you to be proud of 

a relationship with you. 

My teenage daughter is 

sexting! 

Dear Bunmi, 

I have two teenage girls 

aged 17 and 14. Recently, I 

was contacted by the principal 

of my youngest daughter’s 

school and told she had been 

sending explicit photos and 

texts to boys in her class. She 

has been suspended, but I’m 

at a loss as to how to deal 

with this at home. Any ideas 

as to how to approach this 

without her feeling she 

behaved like a tramp. 

Joyce, by e-mail. 

Dear Joyce, 

You need to keep her off 

school for a while and seek 

counselling. There are a lot of 

information on-line; all you 

have to do is hit your google 

button for useful information 

and advice. Using this as 

basis, talk to your daughter 

about the dangers of what 

she’d done and how to be 

strong enough not to make the 

same mistake again. 

Hopefully, there would be no 

repercussions for her or any 

of the other children 

involved. 

My husband says he wants a 

break 

Dear Bimmi, 

My husband and I began 

trying for a baby when we got 

married three years ago. I fell 

pregnant immediately, but 

miscarried a few weeks later. 

Sadly, my second and third 

pregnancies also resulted in 

miscarriages. I want us to try 

for another baby straightaway, 

but my husband says he 

needs a break - not just from 

the baby stuff, but from me as 

well. 

I feel as though my whole 

world is falling apart, 

especially when I heard from 

the grapevine that an old 

girlfriend is expecting his 

child. 

Mariam, by e-mail. 

Dear Mariam, 

You need to have an urgent 

talk with your husband with 

a mediator present. 

It’s no secret that there are 

some men who equate 

successful marriage with 

babies, just as there are 

women who find it difficult to 

stay with men who couldn’t 

give them children, either 

because of a low sperm count 

or erectile failure. Your 

husband would be hedging 

his bet if it’s true he’s 

expecting a child by another 

woman. 

It’s too early to be throwing 

away a marriage, but it 

happens. You need your 

peace of mind back and you 

need to find out from your 

doctor why you seem to be 

having these miscarriage. 

The solution could be a 

medical problem that could be 

easily fixed. 

Seriously though you must 

reconsider your future with a 

husband who leaves you in 

the lurch at the sight of 

emotional problems. 

Why is he sending love texts 

to his ex? 

Dear Bunmi, 

I recently had to use my 

boyfriend’s mobile, with his 

consent, but curiously peeped 

through his messages. To my 

horror, I discovered he’d been 

sending steamy texts to a 

woman called Jakie. He said 

she’s an ex when I confronted 

him, and the texts are just 

their way of communicating. 

This still sounds far-fetched to 

me. What do you think? 

Dami, by e-mail. 

Dear Dami, 

It’s obvious you don’t trust 

this man of yours or you 

The solution could 

be a medical 

problem that could 

be easily fixed. 

Seriously though 

you must 

reconsider your 

future with a 

husband who 

leaves you in the 

lurch at the sight 

of emotional 

problems 

wouldn’t be scrolling through 

his messages. You don’t 

believe his excuse and now 

he can’t trust you not to peep 

at his private messages. The 

tone of these texts appears 

suspicious, though. 

Ex-girlfriends should be in 

the past and any talk should 

be friendly, not using the 

language of lovers. 

If you can’t genuinely 

believe what he’s telling 

you then your relationship 

isn’t that solid. It is now up 

to you really; either you 

give him the benefit of the 

doubt or you find a 

different partner who'll 

make you feel secure. 

Share your problems and release 

your burden. Write now to 

Dear Bunmi, 

Vanguard Newspapers, 

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

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk


VOL. 2 NO. 69 

Igbo monarchs battle Ezeigbo 

in Diaspora 

• Southeast governors should wade into it — Eze Matthew Oweni 

• We are the cause of our problem — Imo monarch 

• It is belittling Igbo culture and tradition — Igwe Spencer Ugwuoke 

• It portrays great disrespect, disservice and bastardization of Igbo custom, tradition 

By Anayo Okoli, 

Ugochukwu Alaribe, 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu, 

Chinonso Alozie & 

Ikechukwu Odu 

ENUGU—The issue of Ezeigbo in 

Diaspora has been one issue that 

has divided the opinions of Igbo 

leaders and stakeholders. Some 

have argued that it has belittled the 

powers of traditional rulers in Igbo 

land who sit over the cultural and 

traditional affairs in the various 

communities only to hear of one of 

their subjects being made Ezeigbo 

in another place outside his domain. 

This has been embarrassing to many 

monarchs. They argued that in as 

much as there is need for Igbo 

outside their domain to have 

leadership for better direction, it is 

absurd to call such leader Ezeigbo. 

According to them, any other name 

is suffice but definitely, not Ezeigbo. 

The controversy has been raging. 

Even some monarchs outside Igbo 

land have complained and expressed 

their opposition to such titles in their 

domain which they believe is illegal 

and should not be allowed in their 

domain. 

The Chairman, Abia State of 

traditional rulers, Eze Ndubuisi 

Nwabeke, sees this practice as illegal 

and absurd and called for the 

abolition of the title of Eze Ndigbo 

for Igbo people residing in other 

states and cities in Nigeria and 

abroad. This, he said is completely 

against Igbo tradtion. 

According to Eze Nwabeke, it is 

against Igbo tradition to have 

traditional rulers outside Igbo land. 

The South East council of traditional 

rulers, he said, had long advised Igbo 

people residing outside Igbo land to 

address their leaders as Onye Ndu 

Ndigbo, (leader of Igbo people) not 

EzeNdigbo. 

Nwabeke, who is the traditional 

ruler of Eziama Ntigha Autonomous 

Community, Isiala Ngwa North 

Council Area, explained that the 

title ‘Eze’ is reserved for traditional 

rulers duly elected by a local 

community, presented to the Local 

Government Council by the 

community and recognized by the 

State Government and issued with 

a staff of office by the Governor of 

the State. 

“This thing called Eze Ndigbo or 

Eze Igbo in other states or cities of 

this country outside their 

respective states or communities 

should not be encouraged. It must 

be abolished. It portrays great 

disrespect and disservice to the Igbo 

traditional rulership system. The 

South East Council of Traditional 

Rulers had long ago advised Igbo 

indigenes residing outside Igbo land 

to choose the name of Onye Ndu 

Ndigbo in their respective states or 

cities where they live. 

“An Eze should rule a community 

•Eze Ndubisi Nwabekee. 

that has a map showing the area of 

his authority and a constitution that 

guides his rulership. No one can be 

an Eze in another person's land or 

state. You must be a free born of the 

community you are to rule. Tenants 

in urban areas should not talk of 

having palaces in a foreign land 

where they reside. 

“If I may ask, how does an Eze 

Ndigbo in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna or 

Kebbi get recognition or staff of 

office? Who screens or confirms him 

as Eze Ndigbo? Who gives him 

authority? How does he determine 

his area of authority or jurisdiction? 

Is it the Governor or Local 

Government chairman of another 

state who doesn’t understand the 

Igbo custom and tradition? 

“Most of the so called Eze Ndigbo 

have gone on to build palaces in 

their states of residence. We are not 

against the building of palaces, but 

the proper things must be done. In 

all these, you observe that the Eze 

Ndigbo title is certainly a 

bastardization of Igbo custom and 

tradition as long as our traditional 

rulership system is concerned. 

“There has never been an Emir of 

Aba or Oba of Aba by any Hausa or 

Yoruba man residing in Aba. It is 

therefore reckless of any Igbo 

man residing in any city in Nigeria 

or abroad to arrogate to himself a 

title of Eze Ndigbo. It shows lack of 

respect to the traditional institution 

and should not be encouraged”, Eze 

Nwabeke declared. 

He therefore urged governors, 

chairmen of Local Government Areas 

and traditional rulers outside Igbo 

land to deny recognition to Eze 

Ndigbo title, but accept leaders of 

Igbo groups in their respective areas 

as Onye Ndu Ndigbo (Igbo 

Leader). 

He also urged Igbo people 

residing outside Igbo land to have 

associations for their social 

interactions while such must have 

leaders addressed as Onye Ndu 

Ndigbo in their states or cities. The 

•It is against Igbo tradition, should be abolished 

— Chairman, Abia Council of traditional rulers 

•Igbo monarchs at an event. 

monarch maintained that the age 

long Igbo tradition of Ezeship must 

be accorded the respect and support 

it deserves, stressing that people are 

addressed by how they portray 

themselves among other ethnic 

groups. 

“Ndigbo should respect and 

support their age long tradition of 

Ezeship as the name you call your 

dog is what it answer. Let us for once 

respect our traditional title of Eze as 

other ethnic groups do to their Oba, 

Emir, among others”, the monarch 

further admonished. 

Also, a prominent monarch in 

Enugu State and the traditional ruler 

of Obimo Autonomous Community 

in Enugu State, Igwe Spencer 

If I may ask, how does 

an Eze Ndigbo in Lagos, 

Abuja, Kaduna or Kebbi 

get recognition or staff of 

office? Who screens or 

confirms him as Eze 

Ndigbo? Who gives him 

authority? How does he 

determine his area of 

authority or jurisdiction? 

Is it the Governor or 

Local Government 

chairman of another 

state who doesn’t 

understand the Igbo 

custom and tradition? 

Ugwuoke, has condemned in strong 

terms the conferment of Eze Ndigbo 

in Diaspora on Igbo indigenes. 

Ugwuoke said any Diaspora 

community recognizing another Eze 

Ndigbo in a foreign land is belittling 

Igbo culture and tradition. 

He however commended the 

efforts of the President General of 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia 

Nwodo, in fighting for Igbo agenda, 

but insisted that he needs to carry 

the traditional rulers of different 

Igbo communities along in seeking 

solutions to some issues plaguing 

the Igbo nation. 

“How can any Igbo man who 

suckled his mother's breast milk go 

out to any foreign land and be 

crowned Eze Ndigbo? What sort of 

thing is that? We now have Eze 

Ndigbo in Malaysia, Germany, 

Lagos and what have you. This is 

very embarrassing and a tragic 

disservice to our culture and 

tradition. 

“Have you ever heard of Emir of 

Kano in Enugu or Sultan of Sokoto 

in Dubai or are the Hausas not living 

in those places? It has reduced our 

respect as traditional rulers from 

the Igbo extraction. In old Anambra 

State, you cannot wear red cap 

unless you are a titled man but look 

at what is happening today. 

Everybody wears it without any 

regard to the traditional Igbo 

institutions who own it. These days, 

I don't wear red caps anymore 

because it has been devalued. 

“There should be chairmen of 

Diaspora Igbo associations, not 

kings. How can you go to someone 

else's country and claim to be a king? 

A king in another person's home and 

you expect him to be happy with 

you? Why don't the English people 

crown king of England in Nigeria? 

I think we should give a second 

thought to our actions so that we don't 

fall victims of some situations”, 

Ugwuoke said. 

Describing it as an "abnormal 

development", the monarch noted 

that "the positive impacts of 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo have been felt 

within and outside Nigeria. The 

group resolved to stop it but you 

know that money takes precedence 

in anything an Igbo man does. 

“Until the functions of Igbo 

traditional rulers are gazetted and 

brought into the laws of the states, 

things like this would continue to 

happen. Again, when you say 

Ohanaeze, it then means, there is an 

'Oha' and 'Eze.' What we have in 

Igboland is 'Oha' because the 'Ezes' 

being the traditional rulers of 

different communities are not 

carried along in the scheme of 

things. The traditional rulers do not 

take priority seats in any function 

being organized by the Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo. This needs to be amended 

because it is when the 'Oha' and 'Ezes' 

meet that issues concerning Igbo 

nation such as this would be 

addressed”, the monarch said. 

For the traditional ruler of Ogbor 

ancient kingdom in Isiala Mbano 

council area of Imo State, Eze 

Matthew Oweni, the issue of 

Ezeigbo in Diaspora has continued 

to cause disaffection between the 

Igbo and their host communities. 

Eze Oweni said allowing such 

amounts to having two kings in a 

community. He advised the 

governors to collaborate with the 

traditional institutions and send 

delegations to the various states to 

speak to the Igbos on how to resolve 

the issues. 

According to him, they (monarchs) 

had made such move some years 

back to Lagos and introduced to 

them a new title of ‘ Ochiora’ (leader) 

instead of using Eze Ndigbo. 

“We are the cause of our 

problem. We have rectified this 

matter for a very long time for over 

five years ago. This issue of Eze 

Ndigbo, took us to Lagos State and 

we met Chief Ralph Uwazuruike at 

his Iri ji (New Yam) festival. 

“At that ceremony, we advised the 

Igbo leaders at the occasion and told 

them to avoid this problem by using 

the title, "Ochiora" Ndigbo or "Aka 

na elekota Ndigbo instead of the 

title Eze Ndigbo. We have rectified 

all these issues and anybody you see 

going with that Igbo title of Eze 

Ndigbo wants to use it and cause 

problems. 

“The present Southeast governors 

should invite the traditional rulers 

in Igboland and send them to go and 

talk to our brothers in the various 

parts of the state that are not of 

Igboland”, Eze Oweni suggested. 

In the view of a member of 

Dunukofia Ozo Titled Men in 

Anambra State, Chief Ozoh 

Anaekwe, traditional rulers in Igbo 

land should stop further desecration 

of traditional rulers stools by not 

recognizing people who go 

outside Igbo land to answer Eze and 

Igwe of Ndigbo, resident in such 

areas. 

Describing such people as those 

who want to rule in hell than to serve 

in paradise, Chief Anaekwe, who 

holds the title of Ezeana in the 

Ifitedunu Igwes Cabinet, also urged 

the traditional rulers, kings, Emirs 

of the communities where such 

people parade as Eze Ndigbo to stop 

them because they are also 

desecrating and making nonsense 

of their own traditional stool as 

according to Anaekwe, two kings 

cannot be in one town or throne. 

“Their so called Igbo King or Eze 

Ndigbo in Ibadan, Lagos, Abuja, 

Kano, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Sokoto 

and other states as the case may be, 

is telling people that there are two 

kings in one town is an insult to Igbo 

culture and the culture of the host 

community or state. 

"If it was the time when we had 

Igbo Union, nobody can try that 

nonsense? It is because of the type of 

politicians we have in the country 

today. If not, they cannot be 

recognized as traditional ruler or 

Eze Ndigbo or Igbo King or 

whatever they call themselves, 

anywhere in the country. 

"Those who are aspiring to be 

traditional rulers in other kingdoms, 

domains or states are the people that 

are causing problem in their 

communities. When they vie for 

Igweship or Ezeship positions in their 

communities and fail, because they 

are not wanted they will leave for 

another state to go and start 

answering the traditional ruler. 

Nobody elected or selected them to 

be, in another state and country. 

"They should not be taken seriously, 

they are supposed to be sanctioned 

Continues on Page 27

Catholic priest celebrates 50th 

birthday, 20th priestly ordination 

•Blames rich Nigerians on evil activities of SARS 


Community 

policing has 

failed in 

South East 

— ASETU 

By Chimaobi Nwaiwu 

NNEWI—A Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. 

Hyginus Nwandu, has blamed town 

unions and their leaders as well as other 

individuals in Nigerian for the atrocities 

committed by the disbanded SARS unit of 

Nigeria Police. 

Rev. Fr. Nwandu alleged that so many rich 

men and influential politicians used the SARS 

operatives to achieve their personal goals and 

ambitions. He alleged that they were used for 

illegal jobs as land grabbing, intimidation and 

harassment of people in their communities 

during elections into town union leadership 

and other community related crisis. 

These illegal duties, he said, made the 

operatives to derail from their main duties of 

fighting armed robbery, kidnapping and other 

violent crimes. 

Rev. Fr. Nwandu who spoke during the 

celebration of his 50th birthday, his 

20th Priestly Ordination and presentation of 

four books he wrote, including: The Death 

Sentence Alternative; Behold His Messenger; 

Too Precious to Trust and Salesman of the Good 

News. The ceremony was held at St. Michaels 

the Archangel Catholic Church, Ifite Awkuzu, 

Oyi Council of Anmabra State. 

According to him, the unruly and unlawful 

activities of disbanded SARS was a general 

and holistic problem that existed in the whole 

country because of the poor government 

attitude towards their monitoring their 

activities in Nigeria. 

"The disbanded SARS was hijacked by well 

placed individuals and organizations in 

Nigeria to achieve their aims and objectives 

because the government and the police 

authorities that were supposed to monitor and 

direct their activities failed to do their jobs 

adequately. 

"SARS all over the country was used to 

perpetrate injustice against the masses 

particularly the youths who were the targets by 

many rich people who felt they were threats to 

them, in achieving injustice, intimidation, 

harassment and land grabbing activities in 

communities and states. 

"SARS was equally used by rich individuals, 

communities and groups against poor 

opponents, over land matters, community 

issues, election into office of the town union 

leadership and what have you. They even did 

less in checking armed robbery, kidnapping 

and other violent criminal activities for them”, 

he said. 

He said that in doing such illegal activities 

for them, money exchanged hands and the 

Igbo monarchs battle Ezeigbo in Diaspora 

Continued from Page 26 

and penalized because what they are doing is 

not part of Igbo tradition. We do not recognize 

them and will never recognize them; that their 

THE TEAM 

SUPERVISING EDITOR: 

Chioma Gabriel, Lagos 

(08052201257) 

EDITOR 

Anayo Okoli, Enugu 

08034046839 

Vincent Ujumadu, Awka 

Chidi Nkwopara, Owerri 

Peter Okutu, Abakaliki 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu, Nnewi 

Nwabueze Okonkwo, Onitsha 

Ugochukwu Alaribe, Aba 

Dennis Agbo, Enugu 

Chinedu Adonu, Enugu 

Chinonso Alozie, Owerri 

Chinenye Ozor, Nsukka 

Eric Ugbor, Aba 

Ikechukwu Odu, Nsukka 

From right — Abia State Vice President, Chief Kenneth Okonko; Deputy President General, Chief 

Eric Ebe and National President-General of Association of South East Town Unions, ASETU, Chief 

Emeka Diwe, during ASETU Emergency Security Retreat in Enugu. Photo: Dennis Agbo. 

SARS operatives become corrupt, brutal and 

unruly to the poor masers and at the detriment 

of their jobs.They handled matters that were 

not for them because of the monetary 

inducements that were attached to those 

matters and they could not reject any matter 

that was not for them but were brought to them. 

As far as money was involved, government 

could not stop them even when the masses were 

complaining bitterly against them. 

"The Police belong to government and 

are supposed to be monitored. Their affairs 

are supposed to be directed by the government 

but they failed to do that, even where case of 

alleged criminal activities were reported 

through petitions against the police to 

government by individuals and communities. 

“Matters that should have been resolved 

amicably in the communities in Nigeria were 

taken to SARS where police used brutality to 

in favour of the highest bidder and discarded 

professionalism. 

"All over the world and in civilized countries, 

well trained police offices do not handle matters 

that are not for him. But in the case of SARS, in 

Nigeria, they could not reject matters that were 

not for them across the federation. They 

handled every case whether they were for them 

or not as far as money was involved.They could 

not even allow some matters that were supposed 

to be handled by the court to be taken to court”, 

Rev. Fr. Nwandu said. 

He however said that protests and agitations 

title stops at the state, country or community 

they reside and operate the fake Igwe and Eze 

Ndigbo. 

"We are also calling on the Ohanaeze Ndigbo 

to start the processes of abolishing that 

nonsense they call Eze Ndigbo or Igwe Ndigbo 

in states of the federation because that is not 

part of Igbo culture and tradition. We do not 

recognize them and will never recognize them 

because it is a slap and a desecration of our 

culture and tradition to Igweship and Ezeship 

stool in Igbo land. 

"You see, when you have bad politicians and 

leaders all over the country, that is what you 

get. It started with the people the North 

imposed on us as our rulers after the Civil War. 

They never allowed us to chose our leaders, 

they rather, imposed leaders on us who were 

their stooges and slaves and they started 

allowing those titles because many of them 

never wanted any good thing from Igbo land. 

They wanted us to not only desert our area, 

they wanted to help us destroy our cultures and 

tradition”, Anaekwe said. 

“We are urging traditional rulers in Igbo 

land to ban it and ban any of their sons who 

will go outside Igbo land and be parading as 

Eze or Igwe Ndigbo in any community, state 

or country. It is desecration of the traditional 

rulership stool in Igbo land. 

"Traditional rulers in Igbo land should swing 

into action and ban that nonsense if they must 

against SARS in Nigeria were not only because 

of the alleged atrocities they committed but 

was equally fuelled by the masses, particularly 

the youths frustration over maladministration 

and many shortfalls in governance that the 

poor masses can no longer accommodate or 

tolerate. 

"The education system is in shambles, the 

roads are bad, there is excruciating economic 

condition, hunger is everywhere, high tariff in 

electricity, increase in pump price of petrol 

and other daily needs of the masses and above 

all, lack of employment opportunities for the 

unemployed youths to be engaged in 

meaningful ventures. So, on top of all these 

issues that subjected the youths to grievances, 

police brutality came up and anger of the 

masses became heightened and contributed to 

what looked like the endless protest by the 

Nigerian youths before it was hijacked. 

"However with the #EndSARS protest, 

government should change its style to peoples 

oriented policies, governance should be able 

to meet the needs of the people. Once that is 

done, there will be less grievances and anger 

that could lead to situations like #EndSARS 

protest. 

"Government should therefore, use the 

#EndSARS protest to learn their lessons on 

issues they neglected, overlooked and did not 

act fast on, while the police should use it to 

correct their errors and act professionally like 

they do when they travel for foreign missions." 

get respect from us. The host communities that 

are allowing them should also ban it in their 

communities and states because it is also an 

insult to their own traditional rulership stool. 

There can never be two Kings in one community. 

Any king that allows it is disrespecting himself 

and desecrating his traditional stool”, he further 

said. 

Continuing, Anakwe said: “Most of the Igwe 

who allow their sons to go to Lagos, Kano and 

Abuja to answer Eze and Igwe Ndigbo, do not 

know their culture and traditions. Most of 

them are not elected and crowned by their people. 

They may be those imposed by the government 

on their people. 

"Any community elected and crowned Igwe 

or Eze will never accept his subject to go outside 

his domain to answer Igwe or Eze Ndigbo. What 

that means is that even his traditional ruler at 

home is under him because he is answering Eze 

or Igwe Ndigbo there while his traditional ruler 

at home is just for his community. 

"The people answering Eze Ndigbo are 

politicians registered and working for respective 

political parties, giving fake endorsement 

to parties and individuals against the wish 

of Ndigbo. They want to rule in hell than to 

serve in Paradise, at their communities. 

They are people causing trouble and 

confusion and they are the people who 

oppose all the developmental projects 

because of their selfish interests.” 

By Dennis Agbo 

The Association of South East 

Town Unions, ASETU, has 

described community policing project 

of the South East Governors, in 

conjunction with Nigeria Police as a 

complete failure in the region. 

The association said that the reason 

for the failure was not far from it's 

framework that excluded the town 

unions, a vital organ for community 

mobilisation and security mechanism 

in Igboland. 

The community leaders therefore 

asked the south east governors to go 

back to the regional security 

network proposal they said was 

adopted by majority opinion in the 

zone. 

ASETU's verdict was contained in 

it's communique released after two 

days of emergency security summit 

in Enugu, during the weekend. 

National President-General of 

ASETU, Chief Emeka Diwe who 

read the communique also said that 

the summit x-rayed the issue of 

producing a Nigerian President of 

Igbo extraction in 2023 and advised 

that such a choice should be made 

out of competence and integrity. 

According to Diwe, "much that we 

advocate equity in the rotation of 

the presidency of Nigeria and 

acknowledge the right of the Igbo 

to produce the next president of 

Nigeria, we however wish to state 

that integrity, competence and 

credibility must take pre-eminence 

in the choice of whom Ndigbo will 

put forward for the position." 

On the issues of insecurity in the 

region, ASETU resolved that "the 

only panacea to the ongoing 

atrocities of the herdsmen is the 

enactment of Anti-Open Grazing 

Laws, and we request the 

governors and the respective 

Houses of Assembly once again to 

immediately pass legislations to 

that effect. 

"We insist that for the ongoing 

community policing programme of 

the government of the South East 

to be effective, there must be the 

involvement and full participation 

of the town unions at all levels of 

the policing arrangement. We 

however state categorically as 

leaders of all the communities in 

Igboland that what we want is a pan 

South East regional security outfit. 

This is what our people want and 

this is the only framework that can 

guarantee full security of lives and 

property in our land." 

The association equally reviewed the 

recent EndSARS violent protests and 

scorned at the profiling of Igbo 

citizens as being irresponsible. It also 

harped on the benefits of returning 

Igbo investments in diaspora back to 

homeland and warned the federal 

government on the dangers of 

continued exclusion of South East from 

the national security leaderships. 

The meeting was attended by all the 

local government areas in Igboland 

represented through the coordinators 

of town unions, representatives of all 

the community youth leaders as well 

as women leaders; representatives of 

Igbo Town Unions across Nigeria and 

in the Diaspora.




• Nwodo, Ohanaeze President-General 

OHANAEZE LEADERSHIP: Uwazurike, 

Asoluka fault Obiozor's emergence as 

consensus candidate 

•Say it's illegal, we remain in the race •Nwaorgu keeps mute 

•Why I want to lead Ndigbo —Obiozor 

By Clifford 

Ndujihe, Politics 

Editor 

LEADING ASPIRANTS 

for the President-General 

of apex Igbo Socio-cultural 

organisation, Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo, picked holes 

in the emergence of Professor 

George Obiozor as the 

consensus candidate for the 

position. 

Professor Obiozor, Nigeria's 

former Ambassador to 

the United States was on 

Monday presented as a 

consensus flag bearer by 

Imo State Leaders of 

Thought led by Elder 

statesman, Chief Emmanuel 

Iwuanyanwu at an 

event held at the Government 

House, Owerri. 

Three of the aspirants – 

former presidents of Igbo 

Think-Tank group Aka- 

Ikenga, Chiefs Chris Asoluka 

and Goddy Uwazurike; 

and former Secretary-General 

of Ohanaeze, Dr. Joe 

Nwaorgu spoke on the issue 

yesterday with Uwazurike 

and Asoluka describing 

Obiozor's mode of emergence 

as consensus flagbearer 

as illegal and unknown 

to Ohanaeze Constitution. 

Asked his take on the development, 

Nwaorgu, who 

has been in the Ohanaeze 

leadership hierarchy for 

close to 20 years said he was 

still studying the situation. 

''Sorry, I am not yet ready 

for comments on the issue,'' 

he said in terse reply to a 

text message. 

Owerri jamboree 

unknown to 

Ohanaeze 

constitution 

—Uwazurike 

However, Uwazurike said 

the process of electing Ohanaeze 

leaders has no room 

for interlopers, and scuttles 

attempts to impose candidates, 

adding that the presentation 

of Obiozor as consensus 

candidate was a 

mere jamboree. 

His words: ''Adoption of 

a consensus candidate for 

an office in Ohanaeze by a 

group of people is alien to 

the constitution. Ohanaeze 

only requires a candidate 

to purchase a form and contest 

for the post assigned 

to his state. In other words, 

I can go and gather 1,000 

people and declare that Mr 

A is now a consensus candidate. 

Such an action 

goes to no issue except to 

massage the ego of Mr A . 

''The Ime-obi is yet to sit to 

appoint an electoral committee. 

No electoral guidelines 

have been issued. So, 

what happened in Owerri 

is just a jamboree . Nobody 

can stop a candidate from 

election. This is because 

the Ohanaeze constitution 

expects at least three candidates 

to vie for that office. 

Ohanaeze shies away 

from the manipulation of 

state government in election 

of officers . It shunned 

the attempts of both Ebonyi 

and Imo States to impose 

candidates eight 

years ago by electing independent-minded 

officers. 

''It is only after the 

screening of aspirants by 

the election committee 

that candidates can 

emerge for election for the 

office of the President 

General according to Article 

11(b) of the Constitution 

of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, 

which stipulates that, 

''the President General 

shall be elected by the 

National General Assembly.'' 

Asked if he is still in the 

race, he said: ''Of course 

I am in the race! I dey kampe! 

I cannot be deterred 

by a group of people playing 

out a script. Elechi of 

Ebonyi and Rochas of Imo 

State tried it and failed. 

• Obiozor 

Ohanaeze has its own process 

of election. Definitely, 

presenting a person to a 

governor is not there. 

''Presently, we are all aspirants. 

Ime-obi will soon 

meet to appoint Electoral 

committee members. The 

electoral committee will 

present the guidelines to 

Imeobi for approval. Thereafter, 

aspirants will buy the 

forms and submit themselves 

for screening. If they 

are successful, they will become 

candidates. The voting 

for the next President 

General of Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo World wide will be 

done on the floor of the 

general assembly. The process 

has no room for any 

interloper.'' 

They're jumping 

the gun —Asoluka 

On his part, Asoluka, 

former vice president general 

(Imo) of Ohanaeze, 

co-chairman of South 

East/South-South Professionals, 

SESSP, and chairman/member, 

Ohanaeze 

Election Committee for 

2012 and 2016 elections 

consecutively, said that as 

of now, there are no candidates 

yet until an election 

committee and the 

guidelines have been approved 

by Ime-obi. 

On the presentation of 

Obiozor as consensus 

candidate by Imo Leaders 

of Thought, he said any 

group of individuals is 

free to endorse anyone 

but that it is only “their 

preference, which neither 

binds the election committee 

nor determines who is 

eligible to contest the 

forthcoming elections.” 

He argued that it is premature 

for anyone to 

speak on who and who 

are candidates for an election 

which guidelines are 

yet to be unveiled, adding 

that until the close of 

return of forms whenever it 

opens and closes, no one 

can be said to be running 

as a candidate. It is only 

after the screening committee 

of aspirants by election 

committee that candidates 

can emerge.'' 

On mode of election for 

the Office of the President 

General, Asoluka cited Article 

11(b) of the constitution 

of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, 

which stipulates that, “The 

President General shall be 

elected by the National 

General Assembly from all 

interested candidates from 

the state which turn it is to 

fill the office, provided there 

are at least three candidates” 

The Ime-obi (Inner Caucus) 

of Ohanaeze Ndigbo 

will roll out guidelines for 

electing Nwodo's successor 

next week after an enlarged 

meeting in Enugu. 

Chief Nwodo's tenure will 

end on January 9, 2021. By 

rotational Principle of Ohanaeze, 

the next presidentgeneral 

will come from 

Imo, a reason a host of Imo 

leaders are now in the race. 

Those eyeing the Ohanaeze 

prime seat include 

Professor George Obiozor; 

Chiefs Chris Asoluka and 

Goddy Uwazurike; Dr. Joe 

Nwaorgu; former Imo State 

governor, Chief Ikedi 

Ohakim; former Vice 

Chancellor of Imo State 

University, Prof. Ukachukwu 

Aloysius Awuzie; Professor 

of Law, and former 

Dean, Faculty of Law, Imo 

State University, Dr. Nnaemeka 

Onyeka Obiaraeri 

among others. 

Why I want to lead 

Ndigbo —Obiozor 

Meanwhile, Professor 

Obiozor has thanked Imo 

State Ohanaeze Ndigbo, 

elders and stakeholders for 

adopting and presenting 

him as a consensus candidate, 

and vowed to offer 

selfless service to the Igbo 

because he sees it as ''a 

challenge that I must confront 

triumphantly with honour 

and dignity, and a 

sense of responsibility that 

history beckons on my 

humble self to shoulder, for 

the benefit of Ndigbo, humanity 

and to the glory of 

God. 

''May I equally humbly 

confess that my decision to 

contest for the office of president 

general of Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo World Wide was a 

decision not based on selfaggrandizement, 

personal 

ambition or self-promotion. 

By my age and career history, 

I have long out grown 

all that. Instead, my most 

compelling necessity was 

service, a timely and crucial 

service at one of the 

most critical times in Nigerian 

history with dire 

consequences, particularly 

for Ndigbo as a national 

entity. Indeed, not only 

has governance become 

both difficult and complex 

in Nigeria, but down right 

an existential threat to 

Ndigbo in particular. 

"The Igbo dilemma in 

Nigeria has come home at 

last. And the time requires 

a very careful and delicate 

skilled manager in the relationships 

between 

Ndigbo and other Nigerian 

nationalities especially 

the national power 

elites. This requires a mature 

and experienced person 

with a capacity to 

build enough consensus 

to define and defend the 

interest of Ndigbo,'' he 

said. 

Professor Obiozor said 

his background as Ambassador 

to the US, Israel, 

and Cyprus; Director- 

General of Nigerian Institute 

of International Affairs, 

NIIA; co-ordinator, 

2014 National Conference, 

South-East delegates; 

member: Presidential 

Advisory Committee- 

2014 National Conference; 

adviser to President Ibrahim 

B. Babangida on International 

Affairs; member: 

VISION 2010 Political 

Conference; and member, 

1994 Political Conference 

led by Dr. Pius Okigbo 

among others has 

equipped him to take the 

delicate task of leading 

Ohanaeze. 

His plans for 

Ndigbo 

''With all sense of modesty, 

I can and would assemble 

Igbo talents and experts 

to cater and defend the destiny 

of Ndigbo with appreciable 

success and diplomatic 

dexterity, decency 

and decorum. And Ndigbo 

will never be victims 

again, of Nigerian tragic 

circumstances which they 

did not create nor can 

they control. 

"Again, with all modesty, 

I have had political experience 

on this important 

topic and played apprenticeship 

that went with it, 

with most of our Igbo 

leaders. 

"In my view, ever since 

the end of the civil war, 

Ndigbo have not faced 

existential threats as we 

face today. The national 

situation is precarious 

and our position must be 

carefully handled and 

wisely presented. As Atilla 

The Hun advised, we must 

“choose our enemies wisely 

and our friends carefully. 

"We are therefore at a 

point to re-assess the Igbo 

Dilemna in Nigeria. Every 

major group even the minorities 

are doing same today. 

Ndigbo from all indications 

see restructuring 

as the most preferred option. 

However, whatever 

or whichever options others 

offer, what is real is that 

all the nationalities in Nigeria 

will sooner or later 

go into negotiations or 

debates over Nigeria’s 

future. And through Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo, we must 

be ready to negotiate effectively 

by having a 

skilled and experienced 

people to bargain in the 

interest of Ndigbo. 

"Specifically, we seek 

unity but not unity of 

slaves and masters and 

we seek peace but not 

peace of the grave yard. 

We seek justice because 

we know that throughout 

history, those denied justice 

have had no interest 

in peace. As it stands 

now, it seems Nigeria and 

Nigerians would engage 

themselves in something 

like Penalty Shootout and 

every group must be careful 

in selecting their kickers/strikers. 

What is at 

stake requires the combination 

of the talents of the 

lion and the fox or the eagle 

and the dove. Who or 

the team that represents 

us matters, for that will 

determine much of the 

destiny of Ndigbo in Nigeria 

or what follows. 

"Our position should 

therefore begin with efforts 

to effectively re-integrate 

Ndigbo into Nigerian 

political process effectively, 

significantly and 

relevantly. This will require 

a serious diplomacy 

and not confrontations 

or conflicts. Power elites 

reward their friends and 

frustrate or punish their enemies. 

Diplomacy’s greatest 

lesson is to know how 

to 'choose your enemies 

wisely and your friends 

carefully.' And most intriguing 

is how to make 'your 

enemy' your friend for specific 

objectives. In fact, in 

politics and diplomacy, it is 

the identity of interests that 

are the surest of bonds between 

states and individuals 

in critical circumstances 

and moments as we are 

now. 

Irreducible 

minimal demand 

of Ndigbo in 

Nigeria 

''Generally to me, the demand 

is for justice, equity 

and fairness. That is what 

we wish to achieve by restructuring 

the Nigerian 

political system, by bringing 

governance to a level 

playing field to all its citizens 

and back to the country 

bequeathed to us by our 

Founding Fathers 'where 

tribes and tongues may differ 

but in brotherhood we 

stand.''

C 

M 

Y 

K 

Vanguard, , WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 — 29 

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

ABUJA—THE Coalition of 

Civil Society Organisations, 

yesterday, called on the 

#EndSARS Judicial Panels of 

Inquiry in Anambra and Akwa 

Ibom states to subpoena 

operatives of the defunct Special 

Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, who 

shunned their invitation to 

appear and defend themselves 

against allegations of brutality 

leveled by affected citizens. 

The CSOs expressed worry 

that the continued nonappearance 

of accused SARS 

operatives would cast doubts on 

the panels’ ability to secure 

justice for victims of police 

brutality. 

A statement co-signed by the 

Director of Programme, Yiaga 

Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu, and 

the Executive Director, Enough 

is Enough, EiE, Nigeria, Yemi 

Adamolekun, on behalf of the 

group, said the silence by the 

police hierarchy undermined the 

process of justice for the victims 

and called the government’s 

intention for genuine police 

reform to question. 

The group said: “The nonappearance 

of the Nigeria Police 

Force and the defunct Special 

Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) in 

Anambra and Akwa Ibom States 

cast doubts on the panels’ ability 

to secure justice for victims of 

police brutality. 

“We recommend that 

subpoenas be issued to 

respondents to ensure their 

appearance at the Panels of 

Inquiry. We also call on the 

Nigeria Police Force to ensure 

their officers are present to defend 

themselves before the panels. 

“The Inspector-General of 

Police (IGP) has a duty to ensure 

officers comply as part of his 

commitment to police reform and 


brutality. 

“The non-compliance with 

invitations to the Panels should 

be interpreted as an admission of 

guilt and the continued silence 

by the IGP on this issue 

undermines the process and calls 

the government’s intent to 

question. 

“While not all states have 

established Panels and some 

states are more active than others 

in sitting and responding to 

petitions, it is important the 

Government is seen to be sincere 

in its commitment to ensuring 


brutality and extra-judicial 

killings through its actions and 

media engagements. 

“Nigerians deserve a process 

that inspires confidence in the 

Government’s commitment to 

justice for victims, thus dismissive 

statements and actions that seem 

to suppress the voice of citizens 

must not occur as they undermine 

the work of the Judicial Panels.” 

The group also noted with 

concern last week’s indefinite 

adjournment of the Panel in 

Anambra State over ‘logistics’ 

issues, and called on both the 

Federal and State Government 

to provide adequate resources to 

the various Judicial Panels of 

Inquiry to enable them carry out 

their assignment without undue 

interference. 

“This will ensure the 

independence of these Panels 

and build public trust in the 

process,” they added. 

Petitioner dies 

before case is 

• EndSARS protesters 

#EndSARS: CSOs seek subpoena for 

accused police officers in Anambra, 

A’Ibom 

By Luminous 

Jannamike & 

Onozure Dania 

heard 

The Lagos State Judicial Panel 

of Enquiry and Restitution for 

Victims of SARS related Abuses 

and other matters, was told that 

a petitioner Mr Basil Ejiagwa has 

died as a result of torture meted 

to him by the Police. 

The revelation was made 

yesterday just as another 

petitioners, Okoli Abunike openly 

confronted a police lawyer; 

Emmanuel Eze whom he claimed 

assaulted him some time ago. 

Counsel to the late Ejiagwa, 

Olalekan Gazali told the panel 

that the wife of the deceased who 

came all the way from Imo state 

was at the panel last week, but 

that the case couldn’t go on. 

When the petition filed by late 

Ejiagwa was called for hearing 

yesterday, his lawyer Olalekan 

Gazali told the panel, “The 

petitioner is no more. We lost him 

last week as a result of the torture 

meted to him by SARS. The wife 

came to this panel with his picture 

to show the state of his health, 

but unfortunately the matter did 

not go on. 

“We were to come last Saturday 

but when we placed a call to the 

wife, she said she could not come. 

I want it on record that his wife 

was here last week. That is 

because of findings of panel. The 

reason she’s not here now is 

because she’s bereaved and 

mourning her husband. 

“The relative of the deceased 

is here in representative capacity 

to state how fractures sustained 

by Mr Ejiagwa developed into 

brain tumor and all the hospital 

bills are here before us stating 

his severe health challenge, and 

all his money was spent on his 

health before his demise.” 

Testifying before the panel, the 

deceased’s cousin Chukwu 

Vincent said the Police used big 

iron hammer to damage his two 

legs and thereafter took him to 

Ikeja SARS. 

Earlier a mild drama ensued 

when a petitioner Abunike, 

•As petitioner dies before case is heard 

•Bayelsa panel receives 35 petitions 

spotted a Police lawyer who 

assaulted him at the hearing of 

his case. 

The petitioner, who is a 

litigation clerk, up on getting the 

permission to speak from panel 

chair Justice Doris 

Okuwobi,(Rtd), pointed at the 

police lead counsel, Mr Joseph 

Eboseremen, and accused him of 

assault. 

Abunike said: “I am surprised 

today to see a counsel sitting 

before this tribunal in my 

proceedings, Mr J. Eboseremen 

“Last year he slapped me four 

times at Panti (State Criminal 

Investigating and Intelligence 

Department, (SCIID) when I 

By Samuel 

Oyadongha & 

Emem Idio 

YState ENAGO—BAYELSA 

Government has 

urged the Federal Government 

and other critical stakeholders in 

the oil and gas industry against 

repeating the mistakes that are 

depriving host communities of 

their benefits. 

The state's Deputy Governor, 

Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, 

stated this, while declaring open 

the technical session of the 5th 

National Council on Hydrocarbons, 

at the Dappa Biriye Conference 

Centre, in Yenagoa. 

Making reference to Oloibiri, 

which he described as the cradle 

of oil wealth in Nigeria, the deputy 

governor lamented that the 

pitfalls in oil exploration activities 

have underdeveloped oil producing 

areas in the country. 

Ewhrudjakpo challenged the 

delegates to come up with a policy 

document that will help in 

correcting the mistakes of the past 

as well as maximize the gas value 

chain for the mutual benefit 

of all stakeholders. 

He called on policy makers, 

particularly at the federal level, 

to ensure that while the country 

went to serve him a court process. 

He said I should slap him back if 

I had the balls.” 

In his response, Eboseremen 

denied the allegation, claiming 

that it all started following his 

refusal to compromise his integrity 

in a N200million judgment debt 

recovery case involving a law firm 

linked with Eboseremen. 

“He (Abunike) wants to dent 

my image....Myself? Slapping 

you? I don’t sell my integrity for a 

pot of porridge,” the police officer 

said. 

The case was adjourned till 

December 4, for further hearing. 

Bayelsa panel 

receives 35 

petitions 

The judicial panel of inquiry set 

up by Bayelsa State government 

to investigate police brutality and 

allegations of human rights 

abuses in the state has received 

over thirty-five petitions amidst 

concern over its delayed take-off 

due to paucity of funds. 

The panel headed by Retired 

Justice Y.B.Ogola and Barrister 

Alaowei Opokuma as Secretary, 

was set up in October to equally 

set up the special security and 

human rights committee to 

supervise and monitor the new 

tactical unit of the police strategic 

weapon and tactical squad in the 

state. 

Checks revealed that the 

delayed sitting is caused by the 

non-release of fund by the state 

government and the poor 

submission from the human 

rights and civil society groups. 

It was learned that the Zonal 

office of the National Human 

Rights Commission, NHRC, is 

undecided whether to submit 

about 20 petitions before the 

panel in the state due to the poor 

signal on take-off. 

Most of the petitions received 

by the panel are not only against 

police personnel that served in 

the Special Anti-Robbery Squad 

but from other units of the state 

police command. 

According to sources, though 

the judicial panel has been 

running without a budget from 

the state government and at the 

stage of calling for submission of 

petitions before commencement 

of sittings, the issue of a huge 

slash in the budget proposal to 

N20m despite its non-release is 

responsible for the delay. 

Contacted on the 

development, the secretary of the 

Panel, Barrister Olaowei 

Opokuma, denied knowledge of 

the issue of non-release of fund 

for the take-off of the panel 

sitting, declaring that nothing is 

hampering the judicial panel 

sitting in the state. 

According to him, the judicial 

panel in the state has a schedule 

of activities and that they are at 

the stage of receiving petitions in 

line with the ongoing radio 

announcement in the state. 

He however confirmed that all 

the petitions received are not only 

against the police personnel that 

served with SARS in the state, 

“but also against some of the 

personnel that served in other 

units of the police command.” 

It would be recalled that the 

state governor, Senator Douye 

Diri, while setting up the judicial 

panel and security and human 

rights committee, said it was 

constituted in response to the 

yearnings of the youths as 

articulated in the demands of the 

EndSARS protesters. 

Correct mistakes against host communities, 

Bayelsa govt tells FG 

Oleh killings: Community women protest, demand 

justice 

By Ochuko 

Akuopha 

OIC LEH—ECONOM 

activities were, 

yesterday, brought to a 

halt in Oleh, Isoko South 

Local Government Area of 

Delta State, as hundreds 

of women of the community 

marched round major 

streets of the town, demanding 

justice in the 

killing of 12 indigenes of 

the community. 

Clad in black attires, the 

protesting women displayed 

placards and 

leaves, chanting songs of 

grievances, as they 

moved to the Isoko South 

Council secretariat, the 

palace of the Odio-Ologbo 

of the kingdom, HRM 

Anthony Ovrawah l; the 

Oleh Divisional Police 

headquarters, before terminating 

at the Oleh 

roundabout axis of the 

Ughelli-Asaba expressway. 

The women lamented 

what they described as 

the lackadaisical attitude 

of the state government 

towards the matter, calling 

on the government, 

State Commissioner of Police, 

the Inspector General 

of Police to fish out and 

bring the perpetrators of 

the killings to book without 

further delay. 

Speaking during the 

protest, the women leader, 

Mrs Juliana Itewo 

benefits from gas exploration and 

exports, the host communities 

should not be left to continually 

suffer the brunt of gas flaring and 

other related activities. 

To this end, the deputy governor 

urged the federal government 

and oil companies to pay 

the desired attention to oil producing 

states and communities 

through effective planning and 

implementation of sustainable 

and standard hydrocarbon policies. 

His words, "Clearly, we have 

not gotten as much as we expected 

from the exploration of 

crude oil. So, the thinking now is 

that, we have to go into gas. But 

going into gas, how ready are we? 

Have we learnt the lessons associated 

with the over 60 years of 

oil exploration and exploitation?" 

"As you come here today for 

this academic gymnastics, we 

expect that at the end of the 

day, the policy document you 

will churn out will not only 

help us optimize the gas value 

chain but also ensure that 

all the mistakes that characterized 

our years of crude oil 

exploration do not come to 

bare." 

said: "Our husbands, children, 

mothers, innocent 

souls were killed on 16 

October, 2020 while in 

search of their daily bread 

in the farm and since the 

attack, government has 

not done or said anything 

about it. 

"Since the incident, we have 

not been able to go to our 

farms. Hunger is killing our 

people". While noting that justice 

delayed was justice denied, 

she said, "We are calling on 

government to come out and 

fish out the killers." 

At his palace, Odio-Ologbo of 

the kingdom, HRM Ovrawah 

l, commended the women for 

the peaceful protest. He urged 

the people of the community 

to remain calm, saying "be assured 

that God will fight for us."


vicahiyoung@yahoo.com 

PFA Transfer: Operators risk 

imprisonment for "fake news", 

Ex-PenCom board member warns 

Stories by Victor 

Ahiuma- Young 

FOLLOWING 

the 

launch of Retired Saving 

Account, RSA Transfer 

System, by the National Pension 

Commission, PenCom, 

a former Board member of 

the commission and Executive 

Director, Centre For 

Pension Rights Advocacy, 

CFPRA, Ivor Takor, has 

warned operators, especially 

the Pension Fund Administrators, 

PFAs, and Pension 

Fund Custodians, PFCs, 

against deception and misinformation 

of RSA holders 

to avoid severe consequences. 

Takor who represented 

Labour on the board of Pen- 

Com, in a statement, warned 

that any operator found 

guilty of deceit or misinformation 

to gain undue advantage 

against another 

operator risked prison term 

among other punishment. 

Speaking on the transfer 

window, he said "In 2004, 

when employees commenced 

opening of RSAs 

with PFAs in compliance 

with Section 11(1) of PRA 

2014, none of the PFAs had 

a pedigree in the management 

of pension fund, which 

employees could rely upon 

in deciding which one of 

them was good enough to 

open an RSA account with. 

They were all for the first 

time, commencing the 

management of pension 

funds after being licensed by 

PenCom. 

"Employees therefore relied 

on the marketing strategies 

of the PFAs. Several 

years down the line, from 

2004 to date, the one jacket 

fits all reliance, has been torn 

open. As it is said in day to 

day discussions, the men are 

being separated from the 

boys, if they have not already 

been separated." 

According to Takor, from 

November 16, 2020, "RSAs 

holders will have a 

choice.PFAs will no longer 

take their clients, RSA holders 

for granted. As pointed 

in PenCom's Press Release 

ahead of the opening of the 

transfer system, the activation 

of the RSA transfer process 

will engender competition 

and improve service delivery 

in the pension industry. 

There are added services 

PFAs could have rendered to 

their clients, which they did 

not. They now have no 

choice than to look in those 

areas, if they have to retain 

and attract RSAs holders. 

"While congratulating 

PenCom for the opening of 

the long awaited transfer 

window, we will want to remind 

PenCom of its responsibility 

of ensuring that RSA 

holders are not misinformed 

by PFAs in their attempt to 

undo one another as a result 

of the opening of the transfer 

window. 

"Section 83(3) of PRA 2014 

provides that 'The Commission 

shall ensure that all information 

in brochures, advertisements, 

promotional 

materials and claims of Pension 

Fund Administrators 

are truthful in every way 

without omission of any fact 

which may make the information 

contained therein 

misleading, false or decep- 

Lagos promises to clear pension 

arrears by 2022 

... Plans free transportation for state retiree 

THE Lagos State Gov 

ernment has promised 

to clear arrears of all pension 

payments by the end of 

year 2022. 

Mrs. Ajibola Ponnle, Lagos 

State Commissioner for Establishment, 

Training and 

Pension, made the pledge 

while delivering a keynote 

address at the virtual Lagos 

State Pension Commission, 

LASPEC, pre-retirement 

seminar, in Lagos. 

The seminar was organised 

for civil servants retiring 

between January and 

June 2021 in the state. 

Though the total arrears 

was not disclosed, she said 

"Unfortunately we have a 

backlog of accrued pension 

rights and we acknowledge 

that. But by the end of 2022 

which is about two years 

from now, we are hoping 

that the backlog would be 

cleared. We are working tirelessly 

to ensure that we fund 

all the accounts that need to 

be funded, so that as soon as 

retirees reach the retirement 

age and retire, they get their 

pension." 

According to her, Lagos 

State Government was 

working assiduously to ensure 

that retirees could enjoy 

additional welfare benefits. 

Ponnle said these would 

include free transportation 

for pensioners on the state 

transportation network, implementation 

of which was 

delayed due to the COVID- 

19 pandemic. The commissioner 

noted that the Governor 

Babajide Sanwoolu-led 

administration appreciated 

the role that public servants 

play in governance, saying 

"the governor has demonstrated 

this by the various initiatives 

and policies approved 

in the last one year 

towards enhancing the welfare 

of pensioners. 

"Even though the present 

economic condition is not 

friendly, the governor ensures 

payment and even increment 

of pension. We appreciate 

the valuable experience 

and insights of our 

retirees and pray that they 

retire healthy and happily." 

She, however, advised the 

prospective retirees to be 

wary of joining side associations 

who deceiving pensioners 

of assisting them to 

collect their pension. 

The commissioner admonished 

members of the 

society to always show compassion 

to retirees, saying 

they were the older citizens 

and have a lot more to offer, 

tive.' PenCom should look 

out for unethical practices 

among PFAs. 

"For the avoidance of 

doubt, Section 104(C) provides 

that 'A Pension Fund 

Administrator, Pension 

Fund Custodian, any person 

or body who supplies information 

which he knows to 

be false or supplies the information 

recklessly as to its 

truth or falsity, commits and 

offence under this Act and 

shall on conviction be liable 

to a fine not less than 

N200,000.00 or to imprisonment 

for a term of not less 

than three years or to both 

such fine and imprisonment 

for every false or misleading 

information given and 

where the offence continues 

to a fine not less than 

N100,000.00 for every day 

the offence continues.' 

The Director CFPRA, added 

that the "long awaited 

transfer window has been 

opened with effect from 

Monday 16 November, 

2020. This policy gives an 

RSA holder the opportunity 

to annually review the performance 

of his/her PFA and 

a choice as to retain or 

change the PFA. The policy 

will engender competition 

and improve service delivery 

in the pension industry. 

The law places a duty on 

PenCom as the regulator to 

monitor and ensure that in 

an attempt of PFAs to retain 

and attract RSAs holders, 

they do not give RSAs holders 

false and misleading information 

and where they 

do, the law also provides 

appropriate sanctions." 

and congratulated the prospective 

retirees and acknowledged 

the effort of the 

management and staff of 

LASPEC for putting up the 

webinar. 

Director-General, 

LASPEC, Mr. Babalola Obilana, 

said the essence of the 

programme was to educate 

the prospective retirees on 

the necessary documentation 

required to access their 

accrued rights and pension. 

Obilana noted that having 

worked in active service for 

the state government, it was 

imperative that transmission 

into retirement should 

be without stress 

According to him, the 

seminar also provided valuable 

information on how 

retirees should plan their finances 

and lives after retirement, 

adding "It will also 

provide you health tips on 

how to enjoy your future after 

retirement." 

Assistant Chief Administration 

officer, LASPEC, Mr 

Afees Oyeboin, in a lecture 

titled: "Retirement Benefit 

Documentation under the 

Contributory Pension 

Scheme" charged the retirees 

to update their documents. 

Oyebo said this 

would ensure that the benefits 

and accrued rights due 

to the retirees during their 

service years were accurately 

computed and credited 

into their Retirement Savings 

Account (RSA). 

Madam 

Josephine Obot 

is dead 

MADAM 

JOSE 

PHINE Effiong 

Usua Obot is dead, aged 

71. 

A statement from the 

family said the late Madam 

Obot, who died recently, 

would be buried in 

her Nsukara Offot village 

home in Uyo Local Government 

Area of Akwa 

Ibom State, on Saturday. 

The statement said the 

deceased is survived by 

four children. 

• Late Obot 


Obsequies for 

Pa Uzoukwu 

Pa Uzoukwu Anawanti 

Ihedigbo of Uhabiri, Ossah 

Ibeku, in Umuahia North 

LGA of Abia State, has died, 

aged 67. 

A service of songs will hold 

at his residence on Thursday, 

December 3, 2020, while requiem 

mass will hold at the 

Watchman Catholic Renewal 

Movement, Uhabiri, Ossah 

Ibeku. Interment follows immediately 

at his residence. 

He is survived by his widow, 

Mrs. Ihie Victoria Uzoukwu, 

his daughter, Mrs. Chioma 

Umeha, Health Editor, 

Daily Independent, other children 

and many grandchildren. 

• Late Uzoukwu 

:@vanguardnews 

War'll not give Igbo presidency 

—Uzodinma 

OWERRI—IMO State 

Governor, Senator Hope 

Uzodinma, has canvassed the 

use of tact, diplomacy and negotiation 

as potent weapons for 

the realisation of a president of 

Igbo extraction in 2023, warning 

that beating drums of war 

will not do the job. 

He said Ndigbo must do 

away with confrontation, threat 

of war against the rest of the 

country for them to be taken 

seriously in their quest to produce 

the next president. 

Senator Uzodinma spoke in 

Owerri on Monday when imo 

Leaders presented Prof George 

Obiozor to him as their consensus 

candidate for the post of 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo national 

president. 

He said the rest of the country 

were being scared by the cacophony 

of agitations by Ndigbo. 

According to him, while others 

are beating the war for the 

state of Biafra, others want Igbo 

presidency while others are demanding. 

Uzodinma recalled that in 

thd first and second Republics 

when negotiation and tact was 

the weapon of Igbos they had 

access to political power and 

its consequential influence. 

He argued that although Dr 

Nnamdi Azikiwe was a ceremonial 

President his position still 

gave Igbos access to leadership 

in the military, bureaucracy and 

even commerce. According to 

him, a similar situation played 

out in the second Republic, although 

at a less significance, 

when Igbos sat in the Presidency 

as number two citizen. 

The governor advised Igbos 

to think back and find out at 

what point they missed the track 

on the alliance patterns that 

gave them relevance in the political 

arena. 

He counselled Ndigbo to restrategise 

by abandoning threats 

and confrontation and embrace 

dialogue, negotiation and 

diplomacy to convince the rest 

of the country to cede the presidency 

to them in 2023. 

Senator Uzodinma however 

expressed happiness that a 

man of integrity and intellect 

in the person of Prof Obiozor 

was being supported through 

consensus to lead ohanaeze 

Ndigbo. 

The governor noted the 

choice of the erudite diplomat 

was a signal that the socio cultural 

organisation was reinvigorating 

itself for the challenges 

ahead. 

I am happy with the choice 

of prof George Obiozor because 

he knows the history of 

the first and second Republics 

and he is living with the present 

challenges of Ndigbo. So he will 

draw from history and combine 

it with the future and move 

Ndigbo forward. 

He insisted that Igbo no longer 

need a combative leadership 

but one versed in the delicate 

art of diplomacy like Prof Obiozor. 

Seplat pledges more CSR for host 

communities 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

BENIN 

CITY—THE 

management of Seplat 

Petroleum Development 

Company has promised to 

carry out more Corporate 

Social Responsibilities, CSR, 

for its host communities in 

Edo and Delta states. 

Chairman of the Company, 

Dr Ambrose Orjiako, made 

this promise when he led 

members of the management 

team of the company on a visit 

to Oben, Orhionmwon Local 

Government Area of Edo 

State and Okpe Kingdom in 

Delta State. 

In Oben, he enumerated 

the numerous benefits of the 

Oben Gas Plant to the 

immediate communities, the 

State and the country. He also 

harped on the different 

activities and programmes of 

the Company in Edo State 

which he said include the 

provision of medical 

equipment/items to the State 

Government to support 

containment of COVID-19 

pandemic and also provision 

of palliatives to Communities 

to cushion the effects of the 

lockdown arising from the 

COVID-19 pandemic; "As a 

responsible corporate 

organization, we are 

committed to contributing to 

the development of Edo State, 

economically and otherwise. 

Since the commencement of 

operations in the State, the 

Company has undertaken 

important health, education 

and numerous community 

development projects to 

support sustainable 

development in the State.” 

Defence College seeks FG's 

funding for FUPRE 

By Etop Ekanem 

ATOR, BUJA—COORDINA 

Team 3 of Course 

29, National Defence College, 

Abuja, Air Commodore 

Adebayo Kehinde, has appealed 

to the Federal Government 

for adequate funding of 

the Federal University of Petroleum 

Resources to enable the 

Institution achieve its desired 

purpose. 

Kehinde made this appeal 

when his team visited Federal 

University of Petroleum Resources, 

Effurun in Delta State 

on a study tour and research on 

Technical Education. 

He commended the institution's 

Vice Chancellor, Prof Akpofure 

Rim-Rukeh and his management 

staff for their efforts in 

innovative research, especially 

in the oil and gas industry and 

stated that FUPRE, as a strategic 

Institution for the petroleum 

industry needs proper funding 

to enable it achieve the desire 

purpose of its establishment. 

Ambassador 

Victoria for 

burial Dec 4 

AMBASSADOR VIC 

TORIA Chinenyenwa 

Ahuakagha is dead, aged 

77 years. She will be buried 

on December 4, 2020, 

at her hometown, Orogwe, 

Owerri West LGA of 

Imo State. She is survived 

by her widower, Sir. Goddy 

O. Ahuakagha, MD/ 

CEO, Premier Insurance 

Brokers, Enugu, children, 

sisters, brothers, mother 

in-law and a grandchild. 

• Late Victoria

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 


NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

CHADIAN ENVOY IN ASO ROCK—President Muhammadu Buhari receives His Excellency, Mr Amine 

Abba Sidick, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Chadians Abroad/Special Envoy of Idriss 

Deby Itno, President of the Republic of Chad in State House, Abuja, yesterday. State House photo. 

30% levy cut on imported vehicles’ll 

spell doom, local assemblers warn 

By Theodore Opara 

LAGOS — 

Stakeholders in the 

Nigerian auto industry 

have warned that the 

billions of naira invested 

in the nation’s automotive 

industry might become a 

wasted venture if the 

Federal Government goes 

ahead with its plans to 

reduce the levy on 

imported vehicles from 35 

per cent to five per cent 

without applying same on 

Completely Knocked 

Down and Semi Knocked 

Down, CKD and SKD, 

units. 

About 35 auto 

assemblies plants have 

been licensed between 

2014 to 2020. 

This was the position of 

most of the industry 

stakeholders who spoke 

to Vanguard, following 

the Federal Government’s 

decision to reduce the 

levy as a way of forcing 

down prices of 

automobiles in the 

country. 

It would be recalled that 

the Federal Government 

under the Goodluck 

Jonathan administration 

in 2014, launched an auto 

policy aimed at 

encouraging players in 

the industry to set up 

plants and create jobs for 

the nation’s teeming 

youths. 

Unfortunately, six years 

after, the policy has not 

received any legal 

backing as the Presidency 

refused to assent to the 

bill which had been 

presented twice by the 

National Assembly. 

The inability to give the 

policy a legal backing had 

discouraged major auto 

makers across the world 

from investing in Nigeria 

as they prefer to invest in 

countries such as 

Rwanda, Ghana, South 

Africa, among others. 

At the moment, Toyota, 

Suzuki and Volkswagen 

have settled in Ghana 

and their targeted market 

is Nigeria which has a 

population well over 200 

million. 

Government 

betraying 

investors 

— Maduka 

Reacting to the 

development, President 

of Coscharis Group, Dr. 

Cosmas Maduka, who 

represents over seven car 

brands in Nigeria, said 

the government has 

betrayed the trust of 

investors, noting that 

Naira appreciates to 

N385.50 in I&E window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

THE Naira yesterday appreciated to N385.50 per 

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

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative 

exchange rate for the window dropped to N385.50 

kobo per dollar from N386 per dollar on Monday, 

translating to 50 kobo appreciation of the naira. 

The volume of dollars (turnover) traded in the 

window rose by 258 percent to $163.87 million from 

$45.84 million on Monday. 

government’s new plan 

would destroy the heavy 

investment the local auto 

companies have made in 

the country. 

Dr. Maduka said that so 

far, his company has 

invested more than $50 

million and an additional 

N6 billion which it 

borrowed from the banks. 

Wondering why the 

Federal Government has 

not been consistent with 

its policies, Maduka said: 

“They encouraged 

investors in the auto 

sector to invest since 2014 

and we borrowed from the 

banks and today it is a 

different policy after 

investing heavily with 

borrowed funds with the 

anticipation of reaping in 

future. 

“If they continue this 

way, there is no way 

investors, home or abroad 

would ever trust the 

government. If 

government believes that 

we don’t need the auto 

industry they should 

compensate us for the 

wasted investment they 

encouraged us to make in 

the sector.” 

He said he kicked 

against the policy when it 

was introduced but noted 

that the government 

insisted it was the only 

way forward, adding that 

they all had to comply. 

According to him, the 

government will continue 

to lose the people’s 

confidence by its policy 

changes, adding that this 

was what they did in the 

agricultural sector (rice). 

“It is like the 

government wants to 

make an omelette without 

breaking the egg which is 

not possible. To build the 

assembly plants, we 

borrowed N6 billion from 

a first generation bank. 

‘’Our projection was to 

sell 10,000 vehicles from 

the plants annually but we 

are not producing up to 

five per cent of the 

projection which is not a 

good development,” he 

said. 

While stressing that no 

country can solve its 

problems without going 

through pains, Maduka 

cited India, China as 

some examples. 

He added: “It is rather 

unfortunate that instead 

of encouraging the local 

plants they asked us to set 

up the government 

prefers to buy used 

vehicles from abroad and 

by so doing they are 

killing our business. 

Imagine what will 

happen if we fail to pay 

the banks. They will send 

the Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, after 

us and the rest is better 

not imagined.” 

He said that the 

implication of the new 

government’s plan will 

be that “these plants 

which we borrowed 

money to set up shall soon 

close down and some will 

be turned to workshops. 

We can’t fight the 

government but we are 

asking them to be 

consistent with their 

policies. 

The lesson, however, is 

that we will not get into 

any project again with the 

government and will not 

encourage international 

partners to come and do 

business in Nigeria.” 

Let government 

be sincere 

— CFAO DMD 

In his submission, Mr. 

Kunle Jaiyesimi, Deputy 

Managing Director, CFAO 

Group, appealed to the 

Federal Government to 

show sincerity on the auto 

policy. He said: “We agreed 

on something and based on 

that we made investments. 

It was agreed that the 35 per 

cent levy will enable the 

consumer finance for 

people to borrow at single 

digit to purchase cars from 

local assemblers and to 

also borrow to expand their 

businesses, but none can 

access the fund. The money 

is there. The investors can’t 

borrow at single digit. 

When CFAO wanted to 

expand, we approached the 

Bank of Industry for this 

and were not granted.” 

He estimated that over 

N300 billion had accrued 

from the levy but could not 

be accessed by investors 

struggling to survive. 

Jaiyesimi advised that by 

reducing the duty by 30 per 

cent, government should 

also reduce duty on CKD 

and SKD by zero per cent to 

ensure survival of the local 

auto assembly plants. 

So far, he said that the 

company has invested 

about US$20 million on 

their local assembly plants, 

the Fuso Canter, and 

Kinglong buses and cargo 

vehicles as well as 

installations, machinery 

and technology. 

While explaining that 

investors are not even 

benefiting from the saving 

from the levy, Jaiyesimi 

said:”They turn us about. 

Where are they hiding the 

funds? The National 

Automotive Development 

and Design Council, 

NADDC, said that the 

money is with the Bank of 

Industry and the bank is 

saying that the money is not 

with them. They should tell 

us who has benefited from 

it. 

“The industry is going 

through very difficult times 

even in the hands of the 

Nigerian Customs. For 

every product you bring in 

the Customs would revalue 

it. Even, when the 

manufacturers have given 

the price from the plant, the 

Customs would come up 

with its own price. 

“For all these reasons, 

major auto manufacturers 

are going to Ghana, 

Rwanda, South Africa and 

very soon vehicles will be 

coming to Nigeria from 

Ghana at zero duty. How do 

we compete with vehicles 

from Ghana?” 

Jaiyesimi, however, 

frowned at a situation where 

used cars enjoyed 35 per 

cent duty as against 70 per 

cent by new vehicles. 

On how auto 

manufacturers see the 

Nigerian market, Mr. 

Jaiyesimi said: “If you have 

integrity, people will respect 

you including the 

i n t e r n a t i o n a l 

manufacturers. It is 

unfortunate that six years 

after the launch of auto 

policy in Nigeria, there is no 

law to drive it. 

“As for competing, we 

don’t have any option than 

to just find a way to survive. 

But the ideal thing is for the 

government to consider that 

if they have to reduce the 

levy for imported vehicles 

they should give local 

assemblers zero per cent duty 

on SKD and CKD.” 

Auto sector’ll be 

stifled 

— Nord boss 

Chairman/Chief 

Operating of Nord 

Automobiles Ltd, Mr. 

Oluwatobi Ajayi, said the 

decision would stiffle the 

sector, given that most local 

auto companies had invested 

billions of naira in their 

plants. 

He said: “What happens to 

those that have invested 

billions of naira to build 

plants in the country?” 

Arguing that the reduction 

does not serve the interest of 

the nation’s auto industry, he 

said that many jobs will be 

lost and the plants will 

become wasted. 

According to him, Nigeria 

spends so much creating 

jobs for foreigners with its 

addiction to tokunbo 

vehicles. He disclosed that in 

2019, Nigeria spent N1.8 

trillion (US$3.1 billion) on 

imported vehicles, while this 

year alone a total of N1.28 

trillion ($3.17bn) has been 

spent on imported vehicles 

which add no value to the 

auto industry. 

“We can only imagine the 

amount of jobs and 

supporting industry this huge 

amount would have created, 

if the money was put into the 

economy. We are in a country 

where we need to create jobs, 

so the government should 

create incentives for 

manufacturing, especially 

auto manufacturing and 

assembly plant which is 

catalyst for development. 

Whatever decision the 

government is taking, Mr. 

Ajayi said the government 

should encourage the 

assembly of vehicles in 

Nigeria, adding that the 

country cannot continue to 

import vehicles and expect 

jobs to be created locally. 

While noting that many 

manufacturers were against 

the policy initially because 

they feared that the 

government would come up 

with this kind of decision 

which is what has happened 

now, he said it took three 

years before most of them 

started to invest in local 

assembly of vehicles. He also 

appealed to the government 

to be consistent with policy. 

Organiser of the Lagos 

and Abuja Motor Shows, 

and Managing Director of 

BKG Exhibitions, Mr. 

Ifeanyi Agwu, said: “I am 

not against the reduction but 

what plans do they have for 

those who invested billions 

of naira in local assembly 

plants, bearing in mind that 

the aim of the auto policy 

was to create jobs for the 

people? 

“The investors have 

invested so much in setting 

up plants and what 

concession is the government 

giving to them? With this 

development, investors will 

not trust the government 

when next it calls upon 

them.”



:@vanguardnews 

COMMISSIONING: From left, Lagos Coordinator, Small & Medium Enterprises 

Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr Yinka Fisher; President, 

Unique Fish Farmers Cooperative Multipurpose Factory, Ayobo (UNI- 

COOP), Mr Okereke Stanley; Director General, SMEDAN, Dr Dikko Radda 

and Representative of the Board Chairman, SMEDAN, Oshin Tokunbo, at the 

official commissioning of UNICOOP Fish Processing Factory Ayobo, under the 

SMEDAN One Local Government, One Product (OLOP) initiatiative in Lagos. 

WEDDING: From left, mother of the groom, Lolo Edna; groom, Ozo Okezikam; 

bride, Lolo Ozioma and father of the groom, Prof. Agu Gab Agu during the wedding 

ceremony of Lolo Ozioma and Ozo Okezikam in Enugu. 

Explosions rock Shell, Agip facilities in Bayelsa 

Y ENAGOA—EXPLO 

SIONS have damaged oil 

and gas facilities belonging to 

the Shell Petroleum Development 

Company of Nigeria 

and the Nigerian Agip Oil 

Company around Ikarama 

in the Yenagoa Local Government 

Area of Bayelsa State. 

It was gathered that the 

blasts may have resulted from 

attacks on the oil facilities by 

unknown persons on Monday. 

A youth leader in the community, 

Ben Warder, said residents 

heard loud sounds from 

the affected oilfields and were 

very afraid to go near the impacted 

area. 

"The site is not far from 

Ikarama. We heard sounds 

from the blasts and it sounded 

like dynamites," Warder said. 

"It was not safe to go near, so 

when the situation became 

quiet we had to trace what happened 

and it turned out that 

Shell's gas pipeline and Agip's 

crude lines were destroyed. 

"The incident resulted in air 

pollution from the gas pipeline 

and crude leak which 

members of the affected communities 

are battling to cope 

with," he added. 

A spokesperson for the 

SPDC, Michael Adande, confirmed 

the incident, saying the 

impacted facility had been shut 

down to curtail further damage. 

He said, "We have a report of 

interference on our pipeline 

about 1 kilometre from Ikarama 

community in Bayelsa 

State. 

"We immediately shut-in the 

line and we have informed the 

relevant regulatory government 

agencies and stakeholders. 

"A government-led joint investigation 

team will determine 

the cause of the interference." 

INAUGURATION: From left; Mr Dayo Bello, MD, Global Sight Services Limited, 

Consultant on Artisans/Techniciomo in Nigeria, Alhaja Folake Kasali, Exec Officer, 

Lagos State Tailors &Fashion Desiners Association Nigeria (LASTADAN), Alh Nureni 

Balogun, National/ State President, LASTADAN, Mrs Odunayo Damiro, Vice 

President, LASTADAN, and Mr Yinka Fisher, State Coordinator, SMEDAN, during 

the unveiling of CAC Certificate, and inauguration of State Trustee, and LG Executives 

of LASTADAN at Oshodi/Isolo LGA, Oshodi Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi 

INSTALLATION: From left: Rotn. Remi Bello, District Governor-Elect, Rotn. Alih 

Hassan Ogwu, new President, Attaoja Alih-Ogwu, President's son, Mrs. Rosemary 

Alih -Ogwu, President wife, Iyeiuyo Alih-Ogwu, daughter and Rotn. Babajinmi 

Ajibola, immediate past President, during the Installation ceremony of Rotarian 

Alih Hassan Ogwu as the 17th President of Rotary Club of Omole-Golden, District 

9110, at NECA House, Alausa Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.




Selfish Northerners opposing restructuring, says el-Rufai 

Continues from Page 5 

Southern Kaduna. But 

the newspapers based in 

Lagos and Abuja choose 

to focus on Southern 

Kaduna rather than what 

is really happening,” he 

said. 

The governor noted 

that the crisis was over 

200 years old and could 

not be tackled in a 

minute. 

On population, El- 

Rufai argued that 

population could only be 

controlled through 

education of the girlchild. 

“Countries that 

controlled birth rate 

through legislation are 

now reversing it. There 

is a lot of debate on that 

because countries that 

have tried to curtail 

demographic growth like 

China have now 

reversed themselves. 

“Singapore even pays 

you to have children. 

The current thinking in 

developing economies is 

that population growth 

is not bad if you can 

ensure that the 

population is educated 

and healthy. 

“But at the state level, 

we are all trying our best 

to reduce fertility level. 

And what is the best 

way? The best way is to 

educate girls. If you 

make sure that your girls 

are educated, you 

immediately reduce 

fertility level. 

“The way is to ensure 

that the girls get at least 

senior secondary school 

level because now they 

take their fate in their 

own hands. They start at 

least from the age of 18.” 

It's a game to 

hoodwink the 

unwary 

— Afenifere 

Reacting yesterday, 

Afenifere, in a statement 

by the National Publicity 

Secretary, Yinka 

Odumakin, said: “El- 

Rufai can go to an 

assembly of fools and tell 

them such fallacious 

fabrications and they 

will cheer him but he 

should know that he 

cannot say that to 

enlightened people. This 

is Taqqiya next level. 

“If his reason was 

valid, why have they not 

reintroduced it after the 

2019 elections? He will 

say it is because of 

COVID-19 and 

EndSARS? These fellows 

take fellow citizens to be 

fools. There is no game 

they will not play on the 

way to 2023 to hoodwink 

the unwary.” 

Nigerians now 

wiser 

— Ohanaeze 

On its part, Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo said Nigerians 

were wiser now to be 

hoodwinked, adding that 

the only thing that would 

convince Nigerians was 

for APC to ensure 


country before 2023. 

Speaking through his 

Special Adviser on 

Media and Publicity, 

Chief Emeka Attamah, 

the President General of 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief 

Nnia Nwodo, said what 

would excite Nigerians 

would be to hear that 

President Buhari has 

ordered 

the 

restructuring of Nigeria. 

“Why is it that this 

administration thrives on 

lies? There is no 

programme of theirs that 

they promised Nigerians 

that has been realised. 

“One would recall that 

it was in the build-up to 

the 2019 elections when 

the Southern and Middle 

Belt Leadership Forum 

was agitating for 

restructuring that APC 

half-heartedly set up the 

Governor El-Rufai 

Committee and no sooner 

was the election 

conducted and they 

consigned whatever 

recommendations they 

made to the dustbin. 

“Now, they have come 

again. Motion without 

movement. I think 

Nigerians are wiser now 

and cannot be 

hoodwinked by any 

tongue in cheek 

pretentions any longer. 

“Until they take any 

visibly convincing steps 

this time around, the 

whole El-Rufai story is 

hogwash. Restructuring 

is incontrovertibly 

inevitable before Nigeria 

collapses. 

“Let them carry out the 


country before the 2023 

elections to acquire some 

vestige of credibility 

before Nigerians and the 

international community. 

“Let the breaking news 

be: President Buhari 

orders the restructuring 

of Nigeria immediately. 

By that, he would have 

written his name in gold. 

All the sins of this 

administration will be 

forgiven and forgotten 

and he will become one 

of the greatest, if not the 

greatest leader of 

Nigeria.” 

APC govt not 

honest with 

Nigerians 

— PANDEF 

Apex socio-cultural 

organization of the 

South South geopolitical 

zone, Pan Niger 

Delta Forum, PANDEF, 

has said that the ruling 

All Progressives 

Congress, APC, is not 

honest with Nigerians. 

National Chairman of 

the forum, Air 

Commodore Idongesit 

STAFF OF OFFICE TO THE ROYAL FATHERS —From left: Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly , 

Yakubu Salihu Danlandi; wife of Olupako of Share, Hajia Fatimah Suleiman; Olupako of Share, Oba Haruna 

Olawale Suleiman; Gov AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara; Olusin of Ijara-Isin, Oba Ajibola Ademola Julius; 

wife of Olusin of Ijara-Isin, Elizabeth Ajibola; Son of Olusin of Ijara-Isin, Lawrence Ajibola; Deputy Gov Kayode 

Alabi and Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Community Development , Aliyu 

Muhammad Saifudeen, during the presentation of Staff of Office to the Royal Fathers at Government House, 

Ilorin, on Monday. 

Nkanga, retd, made the 

remark yesterday while 

reacting to a statement by 

Governor El-Rufai that 

the draft bill on 

restructuring 

recommended by his 

committee was stepped 

down in 2018 due to its 

politicization ahead of 

the 2019 general polls. 

His words: “The call for 

restructuring Nigeria did 

not start today. Even the 

All Progressives 

Congress, APC, came 

into power because when 

they were campaigning 

in 2015, they had said 

LAGOS—The 

Presidential Task Team 

managing the traffic 

gridlock on Apapa-Oshodi 

Expressway may have 

abandoned its duty, giving 

way to touts and hoodlums 

to take over the 

management of the road. 

In their crude manner, 

the street urchins have 

unleashed mayhem on 

motorists, battering and 

extorting them to no end. 

The most agonising thing 

is that Vice President Yemi 

Osinbajo, Works Minister, 

Babatunde Fashola and 

Kayode Opeifa, whose 

direct responsibilityit is to 

oversee the situation, keep 

mum as the traffic situation 

in the area goes worse. 

Also, the Lagos State 

governor, Babajide Sanwo- 

Olu who should intervene 

to save his state appears 

not interested. 

Some of the articulated 

vehicles drivers, who spoke 

to Vanguard, lamented that 

in addition to the 

humiliation they suffer in 

the hands of the touts, each 

truck is forced to part with 

not less than N50,000 to 

that they will restructure 

Nigeria. 

“Unfortunately, when 

they came in they 

refused to do that, and 

people were surprised. 

In fact Nigerians started 

asking questions on that, 

reminding them that this 

is what you said you will 

do, that was why they 

(APC government) 

decided to set up that 

El-Rufai’s committee. 

“I am just hearing it 

now that the draft bill was 

stepped down, that must 

have been an internal 

thing within the party, 

and it means that they 

were not honest in the 

first instance, because if 

they stepped it down in 

2014 against 2015, why 

would they step it down 

when the committee met. 

“I think they are not 

honest to Nigerians. And 

PANDEF is asking 

Nigerians to stand up 

and save this country 

instead of leaving it to go 

in disarray before they 

will now say okay we 

want to restructure it. 

This is the time to do it, 

in fact before the next 

election. 

Nkanga noted that El- 

Rufai’s information 

however was not 

necessary now, as 

PANDEF would not stop 

talking about 

restructuring the country 

He reiterated that 

restructuring Nigeria is 

not in the hands of any 

individual, group or 

political party, stressing 

that “it is a national 

discuss and the whole 

country must stand up 

and restructure it, it is 

what can save this 

country.” 

APAPA TRAFFIC CHAOS: 

Osinbajo, Fashola, Sanwo-Olu look 

away as traffic gridlock worsens 

By Theodore Opara, 

Kingsley Adeboye & 

Victor Ahiuma- 

Young 

N70,000 every day. 

One of the drivers, said 

the way they extort us, we 

may end up spending up 

to N100,000 daily before we 

are given access to our 

destination. 

The situation has also 

increased the rate of 

accident in the area. A 

source close to the Federal 

Road Safety Corps told 

Vanguard that a total of 

57 road traffic accidents 

were captured on the 

axis between October 

2019 and 2020 which 

claimed the lives of 16 

people. The source also 

stated that 12 of the 

accidents were fatal and 

22 minor cases. 

When contacted, the 

Lagos Sector 

Commander of Federal 

Road Safety Corps, 

FRSC, Olusegun 

Ogungbemide said: “We 

are going to add more 

men on the axis pending 

the time a permanent 

solution will be found. 

“The problem is a 

national one and needs 

input from all 

stakeholders including 

business operators 

around this corridor. 

“I am aware that the 

Nigeria Ports Authority is 

addressing it by 

concessioning Lilipon. 

They are trying to bring 

up the call up system to 

effectively address the 

problem,” he stated. 

Speaking to Vanguard, 

President of the Nigeria 

Union of Petroleum and 

Natural Gas Workers, 

NUPENG, Prince 

William Akporeha, said 

“the protest that 

followed the #EndSARS 

crisis led to the 

congestion in the ports. 

Already, some parts of 

the country are 

experiencing scarcity of 

petroleum products. 

Since Monday when 

normalcy started 

returning, our members 

(Tanker drivers), from 

almost all parts of the 

country are rushing to 

Lagos to lift products. 

The same thing for 

containerized trucks as 

trucks drivers are trying 

to return empty trucks, 

while imported cargoes 

stranded in the ports are 

finding their ways out of 

the ports. 

“If you check, because 

I was there very early 

today (yesterday), while 

we try to ensure that our 

members are orderly, 

other heavy duty trucks 

are compounding the 

situation because we 

have no control over 

them. Unfortunately, the 

task force team members 

that were enforcing 

orderliness are now 

nowhere to be found 

probably because of 

safety concerns. So, all 

stakeholders need to 

cooperate to ensure free 

flow of traffic.” 

He dismissed 

allegation that the union 

officials were collecting 

money to pass tankers, 

saying “those I saw today 

(yesterday) were touts 

and not union members. 

In any case, we do not 

collect union dues on the 

roads. People need to 

understand how 

NUPENG operates. 

Anybody can claim to be 

a NUPENG official to do 

anything unethical. That 

is one of the reasons we 

have a monitory team to 

ensure 

that 

unscrupulous 

individuals do not drag 

our name to the mud. We 

need to also call on 

government to fix the 

roads leading to the ports 

and tank farms because 

if the roads are 

motorable, I am sure we 

may not be experiencing 

this problem.


YOUR LUCK TODAY 

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 

SCORPIO; The best for you today is to give priority attention 

to practical way to improve on your working pattern and encourage 

better understanding at work. 

SAGITTARIUS; It is nice to rely on yourself but nobody can 

be an Island on his own; meaning that you will need to be as cooperative 

as necessary to be successful today. 

CAPRICORN; Good advice from the veterans within your 

base of operation will go long way to get things done the proper 

way to the betterment of your cause. 

AQUARIUS; If you take good advice from your tried and 

trusted friends you will not have cause to regret but if you 

become reckless it would back-fire. Be loving.. 

PISCES; You like it or not, domestic related issues will become 

prominent on your mind. Career and financial affairs 

can bring you unexpected success today.. 

ARIES; Those of you who are more firmed are in for a rewarding 

day. In whatever you do today it is important you 

don’t forget both immediate and far future. 

L E I S U R BE 

TAKE HEART — ELLA RANDLE 

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” 


“Accept that you are who you are and improve on 

the previous self.” — Take Heart quotes 

You don’t have to be something else to have worth 

or to be good enough. Who you are right now, is 

enough. 

People may not like you and that is okay because 

the point of self-love is that it doesn’t matter what 

other people think of you. What only matters is what 

you think of yourself. — Ella Randle 

SAYINGS OF 

OUR PEOPLE 

A patient that 

can swallow 

food makes 

the nurse 

doubtful. 

~Malagasy 

Proverb 

By Kola Fayemi 

TAURUS; You will have more to gain keeping both your 

personal and financial secrets. Take good advantage of your 

sex appeal to enhance your love life positively 

GEMINI; You are becoming more determined to the betterment 

of your cause. However this is not the right time to rearrange 

(and/or) re-plan your finances. 

CANCER; Giving priority attention to either day-to-day 

working activities or long term career related issue is not bad 

at all but you must be as practical as possible. 

LEO; It will be wrong to drop ambitious plans along your 

career line because of minor disappointment. Take your good 

friends more seriously. 

VIRGO; Time is fast approaching for an important actions 

concerning you career and/or business lines. Don’t allow friends 

to mislead you. Be very practical. 

LIBRA; It is good to express yourself gracefully , but it is 

equally good to watch what you tell others so that you don’t 

promise what you can not deliver. 

DUDU in “ROLLING HOT” By A.O.OLAIDE 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

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’s exactly my future? 

Dear Joshua, 

I want you to tell me how the planets lined up when I was 

born and what both immediate and far future have for me. 

When was I born; I mean the day of the week. 

Julius, Benin. 

Dear Julius, 

You were born on a Monday as indicated by your horoscope 

data given here under. You have future. I hope you 

will take what you will find seriously and utilise them. 

THE HOROSCOPE DATA 

DAY OF BIRTH=MONDAY 

SUN SIGN = CANCER ;SUN IN 6TH DEGREE OF 

CANCER. 

MOON SIGN = ARIES ;MOON IN 24TH DEGREE OF 

ARIES 

STELLIUM SIGN = LEO 

MERCURY IN 1ST DEGREE OF LEO* 

VENUS IN 22ND DEGREE OF LEO* 

MARS IN 17TH DEGREE OF LEO* 

JUPITER IN 22ND DEGREE OF SCORPIO 

SATURN IN 3RD DEGREE OF CAPRICORN 

URANUS IN 14TH DEGREE OF LEO* 

NEPTUNE IN 4TH DEGREE OF SCORPIO 

PLUTO IN 2ND DEGREE OF VIRGO 

NORTH NODE IN 8TH DEGREE OF LIBRA 

SOUTH NODE IN 8TH DEGREE OF ARIES 

NUMBERS OF PLANET HOSTED BY GROUP OF STAR 

SIGNS (ACCORDING TO QUALITY & ELEMENT) ARE; 

CARDINAL = 3 FIXED =6 MUTABLE = I 

FIRE = 5 EARTH = 2 AIR = NONE WATER = 3 

PUSHFUL INFLUENCE = 50% 

NON-PUSHFUL INFLUENCE = 50% 

FINAL DISPOSITOR (PLANET AT HOME)= AMBI- 

TIOUS SATURN 

For the past few years you have entered an endless cycle 

of material success. And your 44th year on earth is meant to 

be a powerful turning point with major emphasis placed on 

MONEY and LOVE. Talking of money, it will come through 

your work . However the great challenge here is how to 

hold on to your profits as there are indications of you expending 

too much of your funds on either women or woman. 

It is not clear if it is on business or your normal responsibilities. 

But mind you if it is on business you will need to 

tarry a while because such may not yield the desired result. 

Actually if you go into joint venture with a woman during 

your 44th & 45th years on earth you are more than likely to 

be cheated; to be fore warned is to be fore armed. 

Romantic aspect of it is if you don’t want another wife you 

will need to be very careful; as romantic escapade can result 

to avoidable trouble and/or sorrow (God forbid). Please 

take me very seriously here, Please! Please!! Please!!! 

VIRGINIA 

dadadekola@yahoo.com 

HOME & ABROAD 

By Lawrence Akapa

C 

M 

Y 

K 


Rohr survives! 

•Minister gives NFF marching orders 

•NFF promises to beef up technical crew 

By John Egbokhan 

The gale of sack hanging over 

the head of Super Eagles 

Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, 

was yesterday, temporarily lifted 

after a meeting between the 

Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare and 

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), 

ended with President of the NFF 

promising to shore up the technical 

crew for optimum performance. 

The NFF officials were also given 

“marching orders” to hold Rohr to 

the higher standards contained in 

his contract. 

At the showdown meeting held in 

the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, 

the Sports Minister who in the wake 

of Eagles double-header AFCON 

qualification games against Sierra 

Leone, which ended in draws, had 

called on the NFF to sack Rohr, told 

the NFF top-shots not to wait for 

Rohr to fail before taking “necessary 

steps”. 

According to a statement issued 

by the minister’s Special Adviser on 

Media, John Akanji, titled, 

‘’National football team: Hold Rohr 

to higher standards-Ministry,, Dare 

appeared to tone down on his earlier 

sack threat, when he said that 

Nigerians deserve better 

performance henceforth from the 

Franco-German trainer. 

‘“The NFF must tightly hold the 

Technical Adviser to the KPIs(Key 

performance Indicators) in his 

contract. Thus, we cannot wait for 

those conditions to come to life 

before we tighten the screws or 

demand higher or better 

performance, else Football lovers in 

Nigeria will be the greatest losers. 

In this area, NFF must take the 

necessary steps and actions beyond 

Rohr to protect our football fortunes. 

“The right of Nigerians to ask of 

Government and indeed NFF 

explanations for dismal 

performances and football 

administration cannot be simply 

characterised as interference. 

“NFF should be more concerned 

about the failure of technical depth 

and absence of a defense mechanism 

which were glaring during the 

encounter with Sierra Leone rather 

than the rush to defend the contract 

of the Technical Adviser. 

“Starting now, Nigeria must 

demand higher or better 

performance from the technical 

adviser. We can’t wait until he fails 

to qualify our team for AFCON and 

the World Cup before we start to ask 

the tough questions. In this respect, 

I charge the NFF leadership to 

immediately take the necessary 

steps to protect our football 

fortunes’’, added Dare. 

•Rohr 

The Sports Minister also raised eyebrows over 

the absence of home-based players in the team that 

faced Sierra Leone over two legs. 

Responding NFF President, Mr. Amaju Pinnick, 

while giving a background to what occurred, assured 

the Minister that “NFF will not shirk in its 

responsibilities”. 

He noted that “ few changes and adjustments as 

discussed and suggested by the ministry will be 

put into motion”. 

Rohr to get psychologist, nutritionist for 

Eagles •To accommodate home-based players 

T 

he much anticipated meeting between 

the Minister of Youth and Sports 

Development Mr Sunday Dare and the 

leadership of the Nigeria Football 

Federation in Abuja yesterday which 

centred around the national football team, 

the Super Eagles came up with some key 

decisions that if implemented, could 

turn the fortunes of the team around. 

Addressing the meeting in his 

office yesterday, the minister 

declared, “I charge the NFF 

leadership to immediately 

take necessary steps to 

protect our football 

fortunes working with the 

Ministry of Youth and 

Sports Development.” 

The minister instructed that 

home-based players must be 

brought into the team for all 

matches involving the team, 

henceforth. 

“We must raise the necessary 

interrogatories about the 

general administration 

around the team, the absence 

of local content or home 

based players in the team, •Chukwueze 

the domestic league 

development and growth, 

issues of ethics, nutrition, 

psychology, content and 

so on. 

‘’NFF should be more 

concerned about the 

failure of technical 

depth and absence of 

a defense 

mechanism which 

were glaring 

during the 

encounter with 

Sierra Leone 

rather than the 

rush to defend 

the contract of the 

Technical 

Adviser.’’ 

The NFF 

President, Mr. 

Amaju Pinnick, 

w h i l e 

providing a background to what 

happened, assured the Minister 

that NFF will not shirk in its 

responsibilities. He said a few 

changes and adjustments as 

discussed and suggested by 

the Ministry will be put into 

motion. 

Some of these changes 

and adjustments include 

a Super Eagles’ 

administrative structure 

that will include a 

physical trainer, 

nutritionist, a psychologist 

and two match readers or more, injection 

of three to four home-based players into 

the Super Eagles picked from the 

professional league. 

Real Madrid are the 

front runners to 

sign Super Eagles 

and Villarreal attacking 

midfielder, Samuel 

Chukwueze. 

According to reports 

by La Razon Madrid 

are eyeing a double 

swoop for Villarreal 

pair Chukwueze and 

Pau Torres and are 

willing to offer € 65m 

(£57.9m) plus a player in 

exchange. Manchester 

United, Liverpool and 

Chelsea are among the 

clubs interested in 

signing Villarreal winger 

Samuel Chukwueze. 

The 21-year-old has 

established himself as a 

regular member of the Villarreal 

first team in recent seasons, 

he owners of Manchester 

TCity are prepared to put 

together a 10-year contract for 

Barcelona forward Lionel 

Messi. 

With his existing deal at 

Camp Nou due to expire 

in the summer, the 33- 

year-old will be 

able to hold formal 

discussions with 

interested clubs in 

January. 

Having failed 

to sign the 

legendary 

Argentine 

earlier this year, 

City remain a 

potential 

destination for 

•Messi 

the attacker as 

he contemplates 

his next move. 

Officials have 

put together a 10- 

year plan, one 

which would see 

Messi represent 

Real Madrid, Liverpool, 

Chelsea, Man Utd fight 

for Chukwueze signature 

Man City draw up 10- 

year plan for Messi 

making 37 La Liga 

appearances in 2019-20 and 

featuring in all but one of their 

matches so far this term. 

Manchester United are 

thought to view the Nigeria 

international as a possible 

alternative to Jadon Sancho, 

while Chelsea, Liverpool, 

Wolverhampton Wanderers, 

Everton and Leicester City 

have also been credited with 

an interest. 

Man United are considered 

the biggest rivals to Madrid 

for his signature, although 

Villarreal are thought to be 

holding out for his full €80m 

(£71.3m) release clause to be 

triggered. 

Chukwueze has scored 13 

goals and assisted 12 more in 

90 appearances for the Yellow 

Submarine. 

New York City FC after 

a spell at the Etihad 

Stadium. 

Messi will also be 

offered the chance to 

take on some sort of 

ambassadorial role at 

one of City Football 

Group’s club in 

China, India, Japan 

or Australia. 

Despite his 

c u r r e n t 

unhappiness at 

Barcelona, the 

player will 

likely be 

offered 

fresh 

terms 

over the 

coming 

months. 

•Ramos 

eal Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane 

R has been handed a huge boost 

ahead of his side’s Champions League 

showdown with Inter Milan in San Siro 

after Casemiro was cleared to make the 

trip. The Brazilian has been absent after 

testing positive for covid-19 but was 

given the all-clear to rejoin the squad 

in time for the pivotal clash against 

Antonio Conte’s Serie A side, who have 

their own personnel issues as a result 

•Casemiro of the virus. Karim Benzema will be a 

huge loss for Zidane though after the 

Frenchman failed to shake off a muscle 

issue he picked up in the defeat at 

Valencia. 

Zidane will be missing several other players in Milan 

including captain Sergio Ramos, who remains sidelined 

with a hamstring injury he suffered during Spain’s historic 

6-0 victory over Germany. Álvaro Odriozola, Fede Valverde, 

Luka Jovic and Éder Militão are also unavailable. 

Madrid are third in Group B and two points ahead of 

Milan after a pulsating 3-2 victory over Conte’s side at the 

Alfredo Di Stéfano before the international break. Shakhtar 

and Borussia Mönchengladbach occupy the knock-out spots 

and meet each other in Germany. 

ollowing the withdrawal 

Fof Togo as host country, 

the Flying Eagles will now 

begin their U20 AFCON 

qualifying campaign on 

December 6 at the Stade de 

Gaulles in Cotonou, Benin, 

against Cote d’Ivoire. The 

match will kick off 4pm local 

time. 

The U20 AFCON WAFU B 

zonal qualifiers were 

originally billed to begin on 

November 18 in Lome, Togo, 

but the tiny West African 

nation pulled out citing 

Coronavirus concerns. 

The Flying Eagles second 

Group B match in Benin will 

be against perennial rivals 

Ghana on December 9. 

•Lukaku R Madrid 

e a l 

beat Inter Milan 

without having to 

face their star man 

Romelu Lukaku 

and Spanish media 

are talking up the Belgian striker 

as the difference-maker ahead of a 

crucial meeting in Milan tonight. 

Zinedine Zidane’s side got their first 

win in Group B by beating Inter 3-2 in 

the Spanish capital. Goals from Karim 

Benzema, Sergio Ramos and Rodrygo 

secured victory in a tight affair. 

But Lukaku, Inter’s goal-machine, 

is set to be reinstated for matchday 

four in the Champions League and 

his head-to-head with Real forward 

Mariano was the key talking point. 

Mariano Diaz has been far less 

effective than Lukaku, netting just 

once this season. But with doubts over 

the fitness of Karim Benzema he may 

lead Real’s attack at the San Siro. 

Inter boss Antonio Conte had 

Ivan Perisic slot in for Lukaku in 

Casemiro back 

for Inter clash 

Flying Eagles begin U20 AFCON 

qualifiers against Cote d’Ivoire 

Acoaches 

thletes 

have 

and 

reacted with 

trepidation following 

suggestions the 2020 

National Sports 

Festival will be 

postponed again due 

to a second wave of 

coronavirus 

infections. 

The Presidential 

Task Force on the 

Covid’19 Pandemic 

New hosts Benin are in 

Group A along with Togo, 

Niger and Burkina Faso. 

The U20 AFCON qualifiers 

will end on December 19. 

Benin will also stage the 

U17 AFCON qualifiers next 

year. 

Edo 2020 suffers another 

postponement 

was said to have 

informed the 

Edo State 

government of a 

l i k e l y 

postponement 

and a new date 

set for early next 

year between 

February and 

March 2021. 

Edo State 

d e p u t y 

governor, Philip 

Shaibu confirmed the 

development. 

“ Let’s forget about 

having the Festival this 

year , not because we 

are not ready to host but 

because of the logistic 

issue raised by the PTF. 

“If they are not going 

to give us the green 

light. It is definitely not 

going to hold,” said Hon 

Shaibu. 

Champions League: 

Zidane worries over 

free-scoring Lukaku 

without Ramos 

Madrid but it didn’t bring 

about the same returns 

that the Belgian can 

provide. 

But a lot has happened 

since the sides played 

each other in Spain. 

An injury to captain 

Sergio Ramos on 

international duty has left 

Zidane exposed in 

defence, his fears only 

heightened by the return 

of Lukaku, who has seven 

goals in Serie A already 

this season. 

Real Madrid have lost 

seven of their last eight 

Champions League 

games without Ramos in 

the team. 

The heavy defeat by 

Ajax in the 2018-19 

season stands out, as does 

last season’s reverse away 

to Manchester City and 

this season’s home loss to 

Shakhtar.


C 

M 

Y 

K 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

YESTERDAY ’S ANSWER 

ACROSS 

1 Crush flat (6) 

4 Prose compositions (6) 

8 Subsequently (5) 

9 Offspring (7) 

10 Not easy disturbed or angered (7) 

11 Conductor's stick (5) 

12 Six (4,5) 

19 Additional (5) 

21 Sports arena (7) 

22 Item of cutlery (5) 

23 Vast desert of North Africa (6) 

24 Team game (6) 

Down 

1 Weighing machine (6) 

2 Falsehood (7) 

3 Bush (5) 

5 The entertainment business (7) 

6 Representative (5) 

7 Espionage (6) 

9 Assumed name (9) 

13 Having more foliage (7) 

14 Nine iron, in golf (7) 

15 Sumptuous meals (6) 

16 Crunchy salad vegetable (6) 

18 Garbage (5) 

20 Capital of Japan (5) 

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. 

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

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Road. Benin City: 4E, Arusa Street. Port Harcourt: 50, Ikwerre Road; Warri: 102, Efurun-Sapele Road. Advert: advertproduction@yahoo.com; E-mail: editor@vanguardngr.com, 

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.

25112020 - Selfish Northerners opposing restructuring, says el-Rufai

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