09042021- Insecurity: Tension mounts in Imo, Abia, Rivers

Patients lament as 

resident doctors’ 

strike persists 

•Ikpeazu assures NARD of 

resolution of outstanding 

issues 

OLU OF WARRI: Keyamo advises aggrieved 

persons to accept decision or go to court 12 

Strike still on, no concrete 

resolution reached 

—JUDICIARY WORKERS 

2 4 

8 

Dangote, 

Flour Mills, 

BUA in bitter 

sugar war 

CBN gets order to freeze 194 accounts in 17 banks 

19 

VOL. 27: NO. 64310 FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 

Insecurity: Tension mounts 

in Imo, Abia, Rivers 5 

•Another police station attacked in Imo, two officers injured•Imo govt fingers former gov for 

raging attacks•DSS alerted police, Uzodimma before Imo attacks; it’s not true – IMSG•Consult 

me on how we kept Imo peaceful, Okorocha tells Uzodimma•Imo monarch, chiefs kidnapped 

after attending traditional wedding•Tension in Aba over shooting around police station•Abia 

shuts school after discovery of ‘explosive devices’ in classroom•Police barricade roads to 

correctional centre, Police HQ•Cults clash claims three lives in Rivers; LG chairman kidnapped 

BOOK LAUNCH TO MARK FIRST LADY'S 50TH BIRTHDAY... 

The First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari with her 

predecessor, Dame Patience Jonathan. 

Wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo (2nd r) coordinating the 

cutting of a cake by the children and in-laws of the First Lady, Hajia Aisha 

Buhari to commemorate her 50th birthday during the public presentation of 

the book, "Aisha Buhari: Being Different" at the State House Conference 

Centre, Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida. SEE 

MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 14. 

Bandits must be 

wiped out 

because they’ve 

lost rights to live, 

El-Rufai insists 8 

AZU 13 DONU 16 LAKEMFA 17 

•SEE 

INSIDE 

8 

FG presents 

provisional 

licenses to 20 

newly approved 

private varsities 

ACF laments 4 

Kaduna govt’s 

inability to rescue 

kidnapped Afaka 

students 

Aisha 

Buhari’s 

‘controversial’ 

posture 

endears her 

to Nigerians 

—OSINBAJO, 

TINUBU 

4 

Mr & Mrs

2 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 

. 

. 

FG, NARD meet today 

Nigerians should sue govt hospitals — OSANYIN 

Patients lament as resident doctors’ 

strike persists 

By Sola Ogundipe & 

Gabriel Olawale 

PATIENTS 

have 

continued to bear the 

brunt of the strike called by 

the Nigerian Association of 

Resident Doctors, NARD, 

the body of medical doctors 

that constitute 70 percent of 

doctors in government and 

state owned hospitals in 

Nigeria. 

As the strike entered the 

eighth day yesterday, 

public hospitals that are 

normally beehive of 

activities have become a 

ghost town. 

In Lagos, doctors in the 

state government hospitals 

are in total compliance with 

the directive of the national 

NARD to join the ongoing 

strike. 

When Vanguard visited 

some of the affected 

hospitals in Lagos on 

Thursday, the wards were 

scantily occupied by 

patients, who were being 

attended to by consultants, 

nurses and midwives. 

It was gathered that 

majority of the patients with 

pressing health issues had 

either been discharged or 

discharged themselves to 

explore alternative care. 

At the Lagos University 

Teaching Hospital, LUTH; 

Federal Medical Hospital 

Ebute Metta, National 

Orthopaedic Hospital, 

Igbobi, Lagos, NOHL, and 

Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, 

Yaba, new patients were not 

being admitted except 

emergency cases. 

A female patient who was 

accosted by our reporter at 

LUTH, lamented that she 

had been booked for a 

surgery before the strike. 

"I am supposed to 

undergo surgery, today is 

my appointment, 

unfortunately this strike has 

affected everything and my 

health is worsening every 

day. I don't have money to 

go a private hospital and I 

am confused," she 

explained. 

The patient who 

identified herself as Mrs. 

Joan Ebuka, said she had 

come from Ogun State to 

seek quality healthcare at 

the LUTH, but her hopes 

had been shattered. 

"I was told to revisit the 

hospital whenever the 

strike is called off. The 

question on my mind is 

when?" 

Another patient, Mr 

Olakunle Ibukun tearfully 

recounted how his 7-yearold 

daughter who was in 

pain could not receive the 

required urgent attention. 

"My daughter is dying. I 

hope the strike is called off 

soon so that they will see 

my daughter. Our health 

system is already weak and 

Patients waiting for attention at a government hospital in Lagos yesterday. 

embarking on strike will 

only make it worse for poor 

people like us. I am 

appealing to the 

government to negotiate 

with the workers so that we 

can be attended to." 

Even though the 

consultants and nurses 

were seen attending to 

patients, the absence of the 

resident doctors was telling. 

Up till the mid-afternoon, 

a number of patients were 

still loitering around 

hoping to be attended to. 

At the National 

Orthopaedic Hospital, 

Igbobi, and the Federal 

Medical Centre, Ebute 

Metta, both in Lagos, 

similar scenario prevailed. 

Ade Adedayo who was at 

the hospital to consult with 

a doctor over a joint 

dislocation, appealed for 

speedy resolution of the 

issues at stake. 

"I am sure many people 

have died because of this 

strike. Why is our 

government doing this? 

Let them answer them 

because am feeling pain," 

he remarked. 

FG, NARD meet 

today 

Meanwhile, hopes of a 

speedy resolution of the 

strike appear to have 

emerged as the Minister of 

Labour and Employment, 

Dr. Chris Ngige has invited 

the NARD to an emergency 

meeting today. 

A letter addressed to the 

National President of the 

NARD, through the 

Minister Special Adviser 

(technical), Mrs. C.C. 

Dike, dated April 8, 2021, 

called for a meeting 

between the parties in the 

office of the minister at 

3.00pm. 

"I am directed to invite 

you to an emergency 

meeting between the 

leadership of the National 

Association of Resident 

Doctors, NARD and the 

relevant representatives of 

the Federal Government of 

Nigeria for further 

discussions on the current 

issues in dispute. 

The meeting is scheduled 

to hold as following, 

Friday, April 9, 2021. Time 

is 3.00 pm and the venue 

is Conference Room of the 

Honourable Minister, 

Federal Ministry of Labour 

and Employment, Federal 

Secretariat Complex, Phase 

1, Abuja." 

Nigerians should sue 

govt hospitals 

— OSANYIN 

The first and only African 

on the Board of Governors 

of the World Association for 

Medical Law, Barrister 

Olaolu Osanyin has 

expressed displeasure over 

the ongoing strike 

embarked upon by the 

NARD. 

Osanyin, a medical 

lawyer with over 15 years 

experience said that it is 

high time patients begin to 

institute legal action 

against the government 

and any health institutions 

that embark on strike. 

While admitting that it is 

the right of doctors to go on 

strike after notifying the 

hospital, he argued that it's 

also the duty of the hospital 

management to ensure that 

patients do not suffer in the 

course of their negotiation 

with health workers. 

In an exclusive interview 

with Vanguard, Osanyin 

said that if all federal 

medical centres and 

teaching hospitals in the 

country are being sued in 

their capacity, the 

government will take the 

issue of negotiation with 

health workers serious. 

"The right to engage in 

industrial action is one of 

the rights of any workers all 

over the world. The only 

thing is that before you 

proceed on strike, you 

need to give adequate 

notice. 

“In this case, it is resident 

doctors that are on strike 

not entire hospital but they 

constitute a larger percent 

of doctors. 

“The resident doctors 

have already played safe 

by way of notify the general 

public that they are going 

on strike, that people can 

seek healthcare elsewhere. 

But ultimately, I believe it's 

high time patients need to 

exercise their right more. 

“If I registered my father 

in the hospital and the 

hospital goes on strike, in 

my capacity I should be able 

to institute legal action. 

"If different patients across 

the country sue their 

respective federal 

government owned 

hospitals management I 

believe the government 

will take the issue of 

negotiation with health 

workers serious.” 

Osanyin noted that when 

the government hospitals 

are being sued for hundreds 

of millions of naira, 

government would get a lot 

of financial exposure, and 

would take the issue of 

negotiation serious and 

avert unnecessary strikes. 

“If I sue the Federal 

Medical Centre Ebute- 

Metta N500 million another 

person sue Gwagwalada 

Teaching Hospital 

N1billion, another person 

in Kebbi sues for N500 

million, if it goes like that 

all over the country they 

need to get lawyers for 

defense, then they will 

understand that they have 

exposure of about N7 

billion. 

“Let us file action all over 

the country, let the Ministry 

of Justice be sending 

lawyers up and down, why 

will the Federal 

government sign 

agreement they know they 

are not going to honour? 

It's high time the patient 

need to save doctors. 

They need to speak with 

one voice to save the 

situation by filing action 

against federal 

government hospitals 

COVAX reaches 100 countries 

with 38 million doses of vaccines 

By Gabriel Olawale 

THE COVAX Facility 

has now delivered lifesaving 

vaccines to over 100 

countries since making its 

first international delivery 

to Ghana on 24 February 

2021. 

So far, more than 38 

million doses of vaccines 

from manufacturers 

AstraZeneca, Pfizer- 

BioNTech and Serum 

Institute of India, SII, have 

now been delivered, 

including 61 counties 

eligible for vaccines 

through the Gavi COVAX 

Advance Market 

Commitment. 

Nigeria has received 

3.92 million doses of the 

AstraZeneca vaccine out of 

the 16 million doses 

allocation. 

COVAX aims to supply 

vaccines to all participating 

countries that have 

requested vaccines, in the 

first half of 2021, despite 

some delays in planned 

deliveries for March and 

April. 

Speaking on the 

milestone, CEO of Gavi, 

the Vaccine Alliance, Dr 

Seth Berkley said it is 

gratifying that the roll-out 

of COVAX doses has 

already reached 100 

countries under four 

months since the very first 

mass vaccination outside a 

clinical setting began 

anywhere in the world. 

“COVAX may be on track 

ABIA State Governor, Dr 

Okezie Ikpeazu has 

said that his administration 

will provide the needed 

funds for accreditation of 

Departments at the Abia 

State Univerdity Teaching 

Hospital, ABSUTH, study 

the Act of the National 

Association of Resident 

Doctors for domestication 

as well as maintain regular 

payment of salaries of 

resident doctors in the state. 

Ikpeazu who spoke 

while receiving a 

delegation of the NARD, 

said the issue of salary 

arrears predates his 

administration, but he was 

determined to tackle it. 

He said since inception, 

his administration had 

remained willing and 

committed to the 

improvement of ABSUTH 

and the general health 

sector of the state. 

The governor explained 

that several healthcare 

frameworks rolled out by 

his administration to 

improve health services to 

Abians, include 

procurement of five 

containers of world class 

dialysis equipment, 

Telehealth Centre with 

about 20 doctors, 

ambulances and prompt 

to deliver to all 

participating countries in 

the first half of the year yet 

we still face a daunting 

challenge as we seek to end 

the acute stage of the 

pandemic: we will only be 

safe when everybody is 

safe and our efforts to 

rapidly accelerate the 

volume of doses depend on 

the continued support of 

governments and vaccine 

manufacturers. 

“As we continue with the 

largest and most rapid 

global vaccine rollout in 

history, this is no time for 

complacency.” 

On his part, the Director- 

General of World Health 

Organisation, Dr Tedros 

Adhanom Ghebreyesus 

said: “COVAX has given 

the world the best way to 

ensure the fastest, most 

equitable rollout of safe and 

effective vaccines to all atrisk 

people in every country 

on the planet. 

“If we are going to realise 

this great opportunity, 

countries, producers and 

the international system 

must come together to 

prioritise vaccine supply 

through COVAX. Our 

collective future, literally, 

depends on it.” 

COVAX expects to 

deliver at least 2 billion 

doses of vaccines in 2021. 

In order to reach this goal, 

the COVAX Facility will 

continue to diversify its 

portfolio further, and will 

announce new agreements 

with vaccine manufacturers 

in due course. 

Ikpeazu assures NARD of 

resolution of outstanding issues 

replacement of dental 

equipment vandalized 

during the EndSARS saga, 

among others. 

He recalled that the 

Office of the Wife of the 

Governor had taken 

delivery of two Incubators 

for the pediatric section. 

Ikpeazu however, 

challenged the NARD 

leaders to advise their 

members on productivity 

and prudence and work out 

ways to win back the 

confidence of the people 

through quality services 

and as such improve the 

state’s Internally Generated 

Revenue. 

Earlier, the Chairman, 

Committee on State 

Institution of NARD, Dr 

Daniel Isoje who led the 

delegation, extolled the 

Governor for his efforts 

towards improving the 

health sector especially the 

Molecular Laboratory, 

procurement of medical 

equipment and 

reconstruction of the 

dilapidated road of 

ABSUTH. 

He appealed for 

assistance for accreditation 

of some departments of the 

teaching hospital, payment 

of salary arrears to their 

members and 

domestication of the NARD 

Act.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 — 3


:Vanguard News 

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

LAUNCH: From left; Former Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje; former President of the 

Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki; and Dr Jamiu Mujlhamned Salis, representative of the former Vice-President, 

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, at the formal launch of the Abubakar Kawu Baraje Foundation in Abuja. 

Aisha Buhari’s ‘controversial’ posture endears 

her to Nigerians — OSINBAJO, TINUBU 

•Says she’s an unusual kind of First Lady •Her achievements have shown the 

need for the office of first lady – Tinubu 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA—VICE President 

Yemi Osinbajo yesterday 

showered encomiums on the 

First Lady, Dr. Aisha Buhari, 

saying she has with her views, 

forthrightness, truthfulness and 

once in a while controversial 

stance, endeared herself to 

Nigerians. 

National leader of All 

Progressives Congress, APC, 

Bola Tinubu, also said the First 

Lady had proven the need for 

the office of first lady in Nigeria. 

He said contrary to the 

criticism of those who opposed the 

office, Aisha had been a voice of 

conscience in carrying out her role 

as first lady. 

Vice President Osinbajo stated 

this at the presentation of the 

book, “Aisha Buhari: Being 

Different”, written by the Senior 

Special Assistant to the President 

on Administration and Women 

Affairs, Office of the First Lady, 

Dr Hajo Sani, at the Old Banquet 

Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja. 

He said the First Lady was 

always concerned about the 

issues that concerned ordinary 

Nigerians, especially those 

bordering on good governance, 

security, food for the people, 

education of children, prompt 

payment of pensions to army 

veterans, drug abuse, among 

others. 

Osinbajo described the First 

Lady as an unusual occupier of 

the First Lady’s office, whose 

spontaneity had redefined the 

role of the office. 

He said Aisha Buhari had taken 

steps outside the box of what used 

to be the personage and 

traditional roles in Nigeria’s 

presidential history, adding that 

her unusual approaches had 

endeared her to the Nigerian 

public. 

Osinbajo said: “Dr. Hajo Sani 

has written a most engaging book 

on an incredibly fascinating 

person, Her Excellency Aisha 

Buhari, Nigeria’s First Lady. It’s 

Strike still on, no concrete 

resolution reached 

— JUDICIARY WORKERS 

THE Judicial Staff 

Union of Nigeria, JUSUN 

said yesterday that its strike was 

still on because no concrete 

resolution had been reached. 

The legal adviser to JUSUN, 

Mariam Usuf-Gusau, stated this 

in an interview with News 

Agency of Nigeria in Abuja. 

“The strike is still on while we 

await the outcome of the 

negotiation, we are not backing 

off until our demands are met,” 

she said. 

JUSUN began an indefinite 

strike on Tuesday over continued 

delay to implement financial 

autonomy for the judiciary. 

The President, Major General 

Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had 

on May 22, 2020, signed the 

Executive Order 10 for the 

enforcement of the financial 

autonomy status granted to state 

legislature and judiciary in the 

Nigerian Constitution. 

Executive Order 10 of 2020, 

made it mandatory for all states 

to include the allocations of both 

the legislature and the judiciary 

in the first-line charge of their 

budgets. 

The order also mandates the 

accountant-general of the 

federation to deduct from source 

amount due to the state 

legislatures and judiciaries from 

the monthly allocation to each 

state, for states that refuse to 

grant such autonomy. 

“How can state high courts beg 

from governors for what is 

constitutionally theirs,” Usuf- 

Gusau sais. 

In the same vein, Sunday 

Adetola, an Abuja-based lawyer 

urged government to meet the 

demands of JUSUN for financial 

autonomy. 

Adetola told NAN, “Does 

government understand the 

symbiotic relationship between 

justice and social cohesion? 

Justice is the sacred womb where 

peace and tranquility are 

conceived and birthed. 

unlikely that any First Lady in 

Nigeria’s history has, in such a 

few years, captured the 

imagination of Nigerians as 

profoundly as Aisha Buhari. 

“She’s, of course, the first First 

Lady to be on Twitter, Instagram, 

and other social media platforms, 

getting her unfiltered views 

across to the Nigerian people and 

she’s probably the first to receive, 

in real time, the opinions of 

Nigerians on her views. 

“With her views, forthright, 

crisp, truthful and once in a while 

controversial stance, she has 

established an ongoing 

conversation with the Nigerian 

people. The issues that concern 

them most, the issues that 

concern us the most; good 

governance, security, putting 

food on the table, the education 

of our children, prompt payment 

of pensions to army veterans, 

drug abuse, the violation and 

victimisation of women and every 

once in a while she airs her own 

personal struggles, her 

annoyance, in a manner, 

probably unprecedented in the 

role of the First Lady anywhere. 

“There is no question that 

Aisha Buhari is different. Her 

difference has been to empower 

Nigerian people and there is 

never any question that her 

comments come from a good 

place, a place of genuine love and 

respect for the Nigerian people 

and our several concerns.” 

Making reference to what 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

said on the character of the First 

Lady, Osinbajo said, “Aisha, as the 

world has come to know her, is 

kind-hearted. This made her 

transition to philanthropy and 

humanitarianism easy.” 

The Vice President described 

the book, authored by Dr. Sani 

as a work that had summarised 

the past five years of the life of 

the First Lady in her husband’s 

administration, even as it 

successfully preserved highlights 

of the activities of the 

administration for history. 

He said the book explored the 

various aspects of the First Lady’s 

life; growing years, home front, 

life in public office, various sweet 

and sour encounters, as well as 

her philosophies and 

humanitarian ventures. 

Also speaking, APC national 

leader and former Lagos State 

governor, who was chairman of 

the occasion, Bola Tinubu, said 

Mrs Buhari had proven the need 

for the office of first lady in Nigeria. 

Tinubu said Aisha’s 

achievements had laid to rest the 

concerns of those who once 

argued that such office was illegal 

and not needed, and described 

her as a voice of conscience. 

Extolling the virtues of sincerity 

and courage among the 

invaluable contributions of Aisha 

Buhari, Tinubu said: “Given the 

first lady’s achievement, no one 

can reasonably question the role 

of a first lady any longer. 

“Remember that there were 

those who argued that the 

constitution does not assign any 

official role to the first lady. With 

Dr. Aisha Buhari, their concerns 

have been forever laid to rest. 

“(The) first lady has played an 

uplifting, unifying role, both in 

symbol and substance. She has 

been a voice of conscience calling 

us to be at our better self for the 

good of the nation and for the 

vulnerable among us. 

The role of First Lady provides 

critical support to the public 

functioning of the presidency. The 

author thus must be commended 

not just for documenting the 

background, education, career, 

family and public life of Mrs. 

Buhari in an enjoyable, easily 

readable manner but also in 

narrating the political and 

constitutional context within 

which Mrs. Buhari has moulded 

the position of the First Lady in 

Nigeria. 

The book presentation was 

attended by dignitaries from 

different walks of life and political 

divide, including former First Lady, 

Dame Patience Jonathan and 

wife of former Vice President, 

Amina Sambo, as well as former 

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs 

under the government of 

President Goodluck Jonathan, 

Godsday Orubebe. 

Others include Secretary to the 

Government of the Federation, 

SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, who 

was represented by the Head of 

the Civil Service of the 

Federation, Deputy President of 

the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege; 

Chairman of the Nigerian 

Governors’ Forum, and governor 

of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi; 

wife of the Vice President, Mrs 

Dolapo Osinbajo; the Ooni of Ife, 

Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; the 

Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, 

Sa’ad Abubakar III, as well as 

state governors and ministers. 

Education key to 

addressing nation’s woes 

— Atiku, Saraki, others 

By Dirisu Yakubu & 

Fortune Eromosele 

A Vice BUJA—FORMER 

President, Atiku 

Abubakar, ex- Senate President, 

Dr. Bukola Saraki, and national 

chairman of Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, Prince Uche 

Secondus, yesterday, identified 

investment in the education of 

youths as the panacea to the 

myriad of challenges facing the 

nation. 

The trio spoke in Abuja at the 

launching of an educational 

foundation, championed by 

former acting national chairman 

of PDP, Abubakar Kawu Baraje. 

Lauding Baraje for the 

initiative, Atiku said the 

foundation birthed at the right 

time, given the need to “salvage 

our frail nation from the resultant 

negative impact of poor public 

investment in Human Capital 

Development, as evidenced in 

our abysmal ranking in the global 

Human Capital Development 

index.” 

The Wazirin Adamawa linked 

the nation’s poor investment in 

education to the country’s large 

army of out-of-school-children, 

legion of the unemployed, 

rampaging insecurity, rising 

poverty rate and persistent 

underdevelopment 

He said: “This calls for all hands 

to be on deck to break the vicious 

circle of illiteracy, unemployment, 

poverty and insecurity that have 

imprisoned our youth and nation 

as a whole. 

“This can be achieved if we 

continue to advocate for 

increased public and private 

investment in youth 

development and empowerment. 

It is a step that should be taken 

with all sense of urgency.’ 

“As at the second quarter of 

2020, according to the National 

Bureau of Statistics, 13.9 million 

Nigerian youths are 

unemployed. It further shows 

that the highest unemployment 

rate was recorded for youths 

between 15 — 24 years ( 40.8 per 

cent) and followed by ages 25 — 

34 years (30.7 per cent).’’ 

On his part, former Senate 

President, Bukola Saraki, said the 

security challenge in the land was 

due largely to the neglect of 

youths over the years. 

He charged government at all 

levels as well as traditional rulers 

to invest more in moral and 

spiritual education of the youths. 

Similarly, PDP National 

Chairman, Uche Secondus, 

chided the nation’s leaders for 

doing too little in the area of 

investment in education. 

“The country is in distress and 

we need to be putting down 

something that can reverse the 

trends 

“This is a foundation that will 

groom new leadership for Nigeria 

and the world. Our leaders lack 

mentorship and that is the 

problem. And that is why they 

get into office and the next thing 

they do is stealing of public funds,” 

Secondus said. 

The Abubakar Kawu Baraje 

Foundation, according to its 

founder, is aimed at providing 

quality education at no cost 

to children of the less 

privileged in the society. 

ACF laments Kaduna govt’s 

inability to rescue kidnapped 

Afaka students 

By Ibrahim 

HassanWuyo 

K Consultative ADUNA—AREWA 

Forum, ACF, 

yesterday expressed regrets over 

the inability of Kaduna State 

government to secure the release 

of kidnapped students of Federal 

College of Forestry 

Mechanization, Afaka, Kaduna, 

weeks after their abduction. 

Recall that five of the students 

were released by their abductors 

earlier this week. 

Rising from a meeting in 

Kaduna yesterday, the ACF in a 

communique signed by the 

National Publicity Secretary, 

Emmanuel Yawe, said: “The 

National Executive Council 

Meeting of Arewa Consultative 

Forum held a meeting in Kaduna 

today. The meeting was declared 

open by the National Chairman 

of the Forum, Chief Audu Ogbeh. 

After extensive discussions, the 

following resolutions were taken: 

“The Forum expressed 

satisfaction with the progress 

made so far with the 

reorganization and membership 

drive of the state chapters of the 

Forum. It however urged 

members to intensify efforts in this 

direction because as the apex 

socio cultural organization of all 

Northern people it needed 

people to be close to the people 

to serve them better. 

“The Forum also announced 

the setting up of Arecon 

Intergrated by the ACF to serve 

as a business arm and industrial 

hub since the Forum itself 

cannot engage in business 

activities. Already contacts have 

been made with the Minister of 

the FCT and some state 

governors of the North who have 

promised land to facilitate the 

takeoff of Arecon Ltd.. 

“On insecurity, the Forum 

expressed displeasure at the state 

of affairs in the north and in the 

country in general. The Forum 

condemned the activities of 

insurgents, kidnappers and 

bandits in the north saying that 

their activities are killing the 

peace and progress for which the 

north was noted for when the 

the founders of the region were 

in power. 

“The Forum decried the 

utterances of some actors and 

leaders who have sought to 

inflame regional, ethnic and 

religious passions out of the 

current situation in the country. 

The Forum called on Nigerian 

leaders to exercise restraint in 

their utterances in the current 

circumstances. 

“ The Forum was also briefed 

by parents of the kidnapped 

students of Federal College of 

Forestry Mechanization in 

Kaduna. 

“The Forum regretted that the 

kidnapped students had 

remained in captivity.''

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

RESCUED—The five students of of the Federal College of Forestry 

Mechanisation Kaduna, who were rescued and presented to their families, 

yesterday. PHOTO: Olu Ajayi. 

Insecurity: Tension mounts 

in Imo, Abia, Rivers 

By Marie-Therese Nanlong, Chinonso 

Alozie, Ugochukwu Alaribe, Davies 

Iheamnachor & Steve Oko 

OWERRI — The 

raging storm of 

insecurity 

blowing across the country 

took a dangerous turn, 

yesterday, sweeping across 

Imo, Abia and Rivers states, 

leaving blood, tears and 

tension on its trail. 

In continuation of their 

attacks, which started on 

Monday and Tuesday, 

hoodlums attacked a police 

station in Mbieri, Mbaitoli 

Local Government Area of 

Imo State. 

Two police officers were 

injured during the attack, 

three vehicles were 

damaged, while no fewer 

than four persons were 

said to have been abducted 

by the gunmen 

Gunmen also kidnapped 

the traditional ruler of 

Umueze Nguru in the 

Aboh Mbaise Local 

Government Area of the 

state, Eze Charles Iroegbu, 

and members of his cabinet 

who accompanied him to a 

public function in the state. 

There was tension in Aba, 

the commercial capital of 

Abia State, following 

reported sporadic shooting 

by police personnel around 

Azikiwe Road and Jubilee 

Road just as a bag 

containing suspected 

explosive devices was 

discovered in a primary 

school in Umuahia, the 

Abia State capital 

The Police have 

barricaded all roads 

leading to the Correctional 

Centre and the Police Area 

Command in Aba. 

The flames of insecurity 

took a bloody turn in Rivers 

State where a battle for 

supremacy by cults for the 

control of an area led to the 

loss of three lives. 

Imo mayhem 

In Imo, suspected 

hoodlums, Wednesday 

night, attacked a police 

station in Mbieri, Mbaitoli 

Local Government Area 

and injured two police 

officers in a gun battle. 

Imo State Police Public 

Relations Officer, PPRO, 

Orlando Ikeokwo, told 

newsmen in Owerri that 

the incident occurred at 

about 11:30 pm. 

He said no officer got 

missing or kidnapped in 

the attack, adding that the 

hoodlums were repelled by 

the officers on duty. 

The PPRO said: “Mbieri 

Divisional Police 

headquarters was attacked 

at about 23:30 pm but 

successfully repelled. Two 

officers injured are 

currently receiving 

treatment. The police 

station was not set ablaze. 

No officer missing or 

kidnapped.” 

However, an eyewitness 

told Vanguard said that no 

fewer than four persons 

were kidnapped. 

“The hoodlums arrived in 

two vehicles and as they 

tried to enter the station, the 

policemen on duty started 

shooting at them. The 

shooting lasted for more 

than 40 minutes. 

“At the end, as they were 

about going, we saw three 

persons they dragged into 

their vehicles around the 

police premises, including 

the ones already in their 

vehicles shouting for help.” 

Asked how many persons 

he saw, he said: “I saw four 

persons and I also heard a 

female voice shouting for 

help. We don’t know 

whether they are police 

officers because they were 

in mufti. They may be some 

persons they kidnapped 

along the road as they were 

coming to attack the Mbieri 

police station. “When the 

gunfire became too much, 

the hoodlums jumped into 

their vehicles with those 

they kidnapped and drove 

away,” he said. 

Fish out 

perpetrators, Imo 

govt urges 

security agencies, 

fingers exgovernor 

Reacting, Imo State 

government, through the 

Commissioner for 

Information and Strategy, 

Declan Emelumba, said: 

“We have urged security 

operatives in the state to 

expedite their 

investigations into the 

recent attack on Police and 

Nigerian Correctional 

Services facilities by 

hoodlums to ensure the 

perpetrators are fished out 

and made to face justice. 

“The government also 

called on the security 

agencies to beam their 

searchlight on all possible 

suspects and avoid the 

temptation of focusing in 

only one direction to ensure 

that the brains behind the 

mayhem are fished out and 

prosecuted accordingly. 

“The government 

directed the security agents 

to expedite their 

investigation and make 

sure that no stone is left 

unturned and to beam their 

searchlight in all possible 

suspected areas and 

ensure that those who 

perpetrated this dastardly 

act are fished out and 

brought to book as quickly 

as possible.” 

In the last 72 hours, many 

police stations had been 

attacked in Imo State. They 

include Imo State Police 

headquarters, Ehime 

Mbano Police station and 

Mbieri Police station. Also 

attacked was the Owerri 

Correctional Centre. 

Emelumba, yesterday, 

blamed a former governor 

of the state for Monday’s 

attacks on some federal 

facilities in Owerri. 

He alleged that the 

former governor engaged 

thugs whom he had earlier 

granted amnesty to 

unleash violence in the 

state to prod the Federal 

Government to declare a 

state of emergency in Imo. 

Addressing a press 

conference in Owerri, 

Emelumba averred that all 

that took place in the state 

on Monday had the 

imprimatur of the former 

governor. 

According to him, the fact 

that the former governor 

sponsored some northern 

youths who called for the 

declaration of a state of 

emergency in Imo barely 

hours after the attacks made 

him a culprit. 

Chief Emelumba alleged 

that the former governor 

wants to get back at 

Governor Hope Uzodinma 

for insisting on the 

implementation of the 

white paper that indicted 

him. 

The commissioner said all 

that happened on Monday 

were orchestrated to 

portray Uzodinma as an 

incompetent governor as a 

prelude to the declaration 

of a state of emergency in 

Imo by the Federal 

Government. 

Consult me on 

how we kept Imo 

peaceful, 

Okorocha tells 

Uzodimma 

However, immediate past 

governor of Imo State, 

Senator Rochas Okorocha, 

has advised Governor 

Uzodinma to tow the path 

of consultation rather than 

confrontation in solving the 

security challenges in the 

state. 

Okorocha, now a serving 

senator, said despite the 

challenges of IPOB and 

other agitators during his 

tenure, he was able to keep 

the state peaceful because 

he consulted widely with 

relevant stakeholders. 

Speaking at Kuru, Jos 

South Local Government 

Area of Plateau State 

during a condolence visit to 

the family of late Mrs. 

Felicia Biskanga, 

Okorocha said except 

Continues on Page 26 

By Providence 

Adeyinka 

& Cynthia Alo 

Alleged assault on securityman in Abuja by CCT chairman (4) 

No one should be 

above the law. If the 

Code of Conduct 

Tribunal chairman is 

found guilty of the 

offence, he should be 

made to face the music 

as a common citizen. 

No more, no less. 

Already, Falana said he 

is likely to be jailed if 

charges are pressed 

against him on the 

matter. 

—Akinwunmi Ibrahim, 

Photo Journalist 

What the CCT 

chairman did to the 

security guard over 

parking space in Banex 

Plaza, Abuja is absurd. I 

was surprised that those 

who were at the scene let 

him go without beating 

him up like he did to the 

poor security guard. If it 

were in a sane country, 

he would have resigned 

by now or sacked 

immediately. 

—Boiti Atayese, 

Haulage Expert 

What Mr. Danladi 

Umar, the Code of 

Conduct Tribunal 

chairman did was bad. 

He should be charged to 

court and left to me, he 

should go to jail and 

learn his lessons. 

This will serve as a big 

lesson to those 

oppressing the innocent 

citizens of this country. 

—Doris Aloku 

Businesswoman 

Such behaviour in 

public shows that 

some people in sensitive 

positions in Nigeria are 

not qualified to occupy 

such offices. For a senior 

public officer to publicly 

assault a security guard 

who was merely doing 

his job, leaves much to 

be desired. He should be 

prosecuted to serve as 

deterrent to others. 

—Prince Saviour Ichie, 

Entrepreneur 

He should be 

prosecuted. He 

assaulted a citizen of the 

country with evidence. A 

public officer should be 

more responsible. This 

is the kind of person the 

government of the day is 

giving power. If he can 

do this to an outsider, 

imagine what would 

happen to people 

working for and with 

him. 

—Christian Kanu, 

IT expert 

I 

think he should take 

responsibility for his 

actions. In a sane 

country, Danladi Umar, 

the Chairman of the CCT 

would have been 

suspended by now 

pending investigation of 

the shameful conduct. 

But, since it is Nigeria, 

it will slide. Such men 

don’t deserve to be in the 

corridors of power. 

—Zeelux, 

Media Influencer

6— Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 

Man burns 

ex-lover, 2 

children to death 

in Ibadan 

A 

man, identified as Ahmed 

Saka, set ablaze the room of 

his ex-lover, Mutiat Oladele, in 

Ibadan, leading to the death of 

the woman and her two children. 

It was gathered that the incident 

happened Wednesday night at 

Shogoye, Idi-Arere area of Ibadan, 

Oyo State. 

It was also gathered that Mutiat 

and Saka had been lovers before 

the woman broke up the 

relationship. 

Saka had allegedly threatened 

to end his life and that of Mutiat 

for calling off the relationship with 

him and later carried out the act 

at midnight. 

Three other children also 

sustained injuries as a result of 

the fire and are currently receiving 

treatment at Anglican Diocese 

Hospital, Molete. 

The man later died in the 

aftermath of the arson. 

The Police Public Relations 

Officer in the state, Olugbenga 

Fadeyi, who confirmed the 

incident, yesterday, said: “The 

woman was a concubine; the man 

went to set the house of his exlover 

ablaze because the woman 

said she was no longer interested 

in the relationship." 

8 kidnapped 

RCCG 

members 

freed in 

Kaduna 

By Sam Eyoboka 

GENERAL Overseer of the 

Redeemed Christian 

Church of God, RCCG, Pastor 

Enoch Adeboye, announced, 

yesterday, that eight members 

of the church abducted two 

weeks ago in Kaduna have 

regained their freedom. 

Adeboye, who made the 

announcement through his 

Twitter handle, said the affected 

individuals, who were 

abducted on March 26, 2021, 

in Kaduna had been taken to 

the hospital for medical checkup. 

He said: “Today (yesterday), 

I got the exciting news that our 

brethren, who were in the 

captivity of kidnappers have all 

been released and taken to the 

hospital for check-up and tests. 

Glory be to Jesus. We pray for 

lasting peace in Nigeria." 

The church’s Public Relations 

Officer, Pastor Olubiyi Olaitan, 

said he was not aware ransom 

was paid to the abductors. 

He said: “The abductees were 

released last night piecemeal. 

Three people, made of two 

women and one man, were first 

released, five others were 

released later, making eight. 

"There is no confirmation that 

ransom was paid before the 

release of the captives." 

It would be recalled that the 

freed persons are members of 

the RCCG Region 30, Trinity 

Sanctuary in Kaduna. 

They were on their way to 

Kachia for the church annual 

evangelism programme, 

tagged:’Let’s Go Fishing’ when 

their bus was ambushed by 

bandits. 

Doctor, nurse kidnapped in Ogun 

•Bandits abduct 3 at Ibadan quarry 

•As police rescue 2 Chinese miners kidnapped in Osun 

By Ola Ajayi, Adeola 

Badru & James 

Ogunnaike 

A 

medical doctor, Oladunni Odetola, 

and a nurse identified as Mrs 

Bamgbose were, Wednesday, 

kidnapped while driving along 

Abeokuta-Olorunda-Imeko road in 

Ogun State. 

Odetola, it was gathered, is the head 

of General Hospital, Imeko in Imeko- 

Afon Local Government Area of the 

state. 

It was gathered that the gunmen 

emerged from the bush at Olubo village 

to attack their targets. 

The vehicle of the abducted persons, 

a Toyota Camry with number plate, 

KTU 584 FR, was left in the middle of 

the road with one of the tyres deflated, 

while the windscreen was shattered. 

It was also gathered that the police 

had recovered the doctor’s NMA 

identity card and a minute of the 

association’s meeting in the vehicle. 

A source told our correspondent that 

two empty shells of AK-47 ammunition 

were seen at the scene of the incident. 

Contacted, the state Police 

Command’s spokesperson, DSP 

Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the 

incident. 

Bandits abduct 3 at 

Ibadan quarry 

In a related development, three 

quarry workers were reportedly 

kidnapped, Tuesday, by suspected 

hoodlums at Megabolex Quarry site, 

Idi Ayunre area, located along the 

Ibadan-Ijebu Ode Road, Ibadan, the 

Oyo State capital. 

The abduction is coming less than 

two weeks after that of three farmers in 

the same local government area. 

It was gathered that the victims were 

reportedly blocked by the gunmen at 

about 4:30 pm as they were coming 

out of the site. 

One of the workers, Tope Solomon, 

who escaped from the kidnappers by 

the whiskers, reported the incident at 

Idi Ayunre police station at about 4:50 

pm. 

Narrating his ordeal to newsmen, the 

escaped worker said his friends Isaac, 

Ubong and Wasiu were taken to the 

bush by the abductors. 

Contacted, PPRO, Oyo Command, 

Fadeyi said: “Yes. They were abducted 

on Tuesday. Despite our efforts, these 

criminals are still going behind to 

NABBED: Some suspected hoodlums terrorising Ibadan residents being paraded 

by Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko, at the state Police 

Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan yesterday. Photo: Dare Fasube. 

Pregnant mother of 7 stabs husband to 

death in Delta claimed did not take care of her and 

By Festus Ahon & 

Ochuko Akuopha 

UGHELLI—A 

30-year-old 

pregnant mother of seven 

children, Blessing Emmanuel, has 

reportedly stabbed her 43-yer-old 

husband, Jonathan Umamode, to 

death at Ohoror community, Ughelli 

North Local Government Area, 

Delta State. 

It was gathered that the suspect, 

pregnant with her 8th child, 

confessed to the act and said she 

stabbed her husband, who she 

the children and as she has been 

taking care of herself and her kids. 

Delta State Police Public Relations 

Officer, Mr Bright Edafe, who 

confirmed the incident yesterday, 

said: “She sells fried chicken. On 

that faithful day, according to the 

suspect, she said her husband came 

and demanded she goes home with 

him, which she refused. 

“She said the deceased gathered 

her fried chicken, poured kerosene 

and set it ablaze, she angrily used 

the knife in her hand to stab the 

husband in his heart and ran away.” 

Edafe said the corpse of the 

Police arrest 3 community leaders for murder 

By Bose Adelaja 

THREE community leaders 

were, Wednesday, arrested 

by the Police in Ikotun Area of 

Lagos State following the 

lynching of a suspected 

burglar in the area. 

The community leaders 

arrested were Sakariyau 

Biliaminu, 66, John Adeyemi, 

77 and Gabriel Ajayi, 55. 

The burglar reportedly 

gained unlawful entrance into 

the room of one Mrs Adeyemi 

Opeyemi at Asalu Bus Stop, 

off Abaranje Road, Ikotun, 

Lagos in an attempt to rob her 

but she raised alarm. 

The burglar reportedly 

escaped when she raised the 

alarm that attracted some 

members of the community, 

who apprehended and beat 

the suspect to death. 

Spokesperson of Lagos State 

Police Command, CSP 

Muyiwa Adejobi, in a 

statement, said the arrested 

community leaders have some 

questions to answer about the 

killing of the suspect. 

deceased had been removed and 

deposited at Central Hospital for 

autopsy, adding that the case is still 

under investigation. 

Also yesterday, the State Police 

Public Relations Officer revealed that 

one Abdulrazaq Mohammed has 

been arrested for his alleged 

involvement in the murder of a 

member of the vigilante group, 

Onajite Okolejo of Zone 12, Hausa 

Quarters, Warri. 

He said the chairman of the 

vigilance group had reported he 

received a phone call from the 

deceased that he was being attacked 

by some armed gang." 

NURTW vs Delta govt: Arhiyor 

appeals court ruling 

CHAIRMAN, Delta State 

Management Committee on 

Public Motor Parks and Land 

Transportation, Chief Francis 

Arhiyor, has appealed the 

judgement of Asaba High Court 

which dissolved the committee. 

The judgement was sequel to suit 

No A/14/2020 instituted by Tony 

Kanayo and others on behalf of the 

National Union of Road Transport 

Workers, NURTW, against 

Commissioner of Transport, Delta 

State Government, Chief Francis 

Arhiyor and others. 

The Commissioner of Police, 

Lagos State, CP Hakeem 

Odumosu has condemned the 

act of jungle justice meted on 

the suspect and vowed to kick 

against such in the state. 

After listening to Arhiyor’s plea 

through his counsel, Mr O. Agbaja, 

to set aside the judgement, the court 

adjourned the case to May 5, 2021 

for further hearing.. 

Arhiyor said he approached the 

court to set aside it judgement said 

he would never allow anybody to 

shave his hair on his behalf, saying 

he was not served with any court 

process before the judgment and 

that he wants the court to allow him 

to defend himself in the case. 

He urged members of the 

committee to remain calm and go 

about their legitimate businesses. 

kidnap people. The police are 

collaborating with hunters to ensure the 

release of the victims.” 

Police rescue 2 

Chinese miners 

kidnapped in Osun 

Meanwhile, the Osun State Police 

Command, yesterday, said two Chinese 

miners kidnapped at a gold mining site 

at Okepa/Itikan village, Ifewara, 

Atakunmosa-West Local Government 

Area of Osun State on Monday, have 

been rescued. 

Police spokesperson in the state, SP 

Yemisi Opalola, said the kidnapped 

persons were rescued at about 9 p.m. 

on Wednesday. 

She said: “The Police Command in 

Osun has rescued the two Chinese 

miners, Zhao Jian, 33 and Wen, 50, who 

were kidnapped on April 5, at a gold 

mining site in Ifewara, Osun." 

Alleged murder: 

Estate 

association urges 

IGP to probe 

activities in Zone 

2 command 

By Onozure Dania 

STONEWATER Royal Estate 

Landlords and Tenants Association, 

SRELT, in Lagos State, has appealed to 

the Inspector General of Police and the 

Police authorities to investigate the 

activities of Section D8 men of the Police 

Zonal Command Headquarters, Zone 

2, Onikan, Lagos, over their alleged 

refusal to investigate the murder of one 

Mr Ifeanyi Olebala, who allegedly died 

on February 22, 2021. 

SRELT, through its lawyer, 

Bartholomew Aguegbodo, alleged that 

on February 22, 2021, at 1a.m., one 

Charles, who claimed that he works 

for one Mr Udoye Nwabike, as a 

bulldozer driver, drove a bulldozer 

within the estate towards a security 

building by the gate of SRELT, in Abule- 

Ado, Satellite town, Lagos, to demolish 

a structure, erected by SRELT. 

He said there has been a prior 

contest over who owns the land, 

adding that the security men at the 

gate upon noticing the approaching 

bulldozer told the driver to stop, but 

he refused on the basis that he has 

the instruction of his master to 

demolish the structure. 

He said: “The security men on 

duty had a heated verbal exchange 

with Charles (driver), who called 

two other employees of Nwabike, 

one of whom is the deceased to join 

him. 

“The security men insisted that 

whatever would be done, should be 

in the day time and not at that late 

hour, noticing they couldn’t continue 

with their plans, they left the 

bulldozer by the gate and left.” 

Aguegbodo alleged that at 8.am., 

of the same day, some area boys 

with two armed mobile policemen 

came into the estate and took the 

security men found at the security 

house after shooting sporadically, 

which caused other residents to run 

for safety. 

He said: “The security men were 

taken to Trade Fair Police Division 

and later transferred to Festac Police 

Division, on February 24, 2021, after 

a petition by Nwabike, the matter 

was transferred to State SCIID, Panti 

Yaba, for further investigation. 

“While the investigation was 

going on, Nwabike, further 

petitioned the Assistant Inspector 

General of Police, AIG, Zone 2 

Command headquarters alleging 

bias on the part of the officer 

investigating the matter at Panti."


ODUMAKIN: Triumph of activism over materialism 

By Muiz Banire 

THE remnants of the rev 

olutionary left in Nigeria 

were recently dealt a devastating 

blow on the April 2, 

2021, with the demise of the 

fiery activist, Yinka Odumakin. 

It is not that his death 

did not confound others of 

different orientations and 

ideological backgrounds, but 

the Leftists in Nigeria would 

probably lay claim to Odumakin 

as belonging to their 

primary constituency based 

on his antecedents and activism 

till death. 

The announcement of his 

death has left many in a state 

of shock, as there was no public 

knowledge of his prior ill 

health. 

On the same day, it was announced 

that another civil society 

activist, Innocent Chukwuma, 

bowed to the cold 

hands of death. 

It has been one death too 

many considering the fate that 

befell the same community of 

activists with the demise of 

some other ferocious fighters 

for human rights and revolutionary 

activism in the persons 

of Professor Abubakar 

Momoh and Bamidele Aturu 

who died a few years ago. 

However, news of Yinka’s 

death has continued to shake 

the firmaments ever since it 

was announced and one wonders 

if his achievements could 

be matched by his age at the 

time of his death. 

A student union leader of the 

late 1980s, Yinka rose to become 

the public relations officer 

of Obafemi Awolowo 

University, Ile Ife, where he 

left an indelible mark in the 

golden days of student activism. 

Those were days when the 

student movement determined 

the pulse of the nation 

and the government could be 

sure of an immediate response 

once a policy unfavourable to 

the masses was rolled out. 

Those were days when the 

National Association of Nigerian 

Students, NANS, was a 

barometer for determining 

whether the government was 

doing well or not. 

Despite victimization by the 

university authorities in the 

days of military despotism, 

Yinka and his colleagues 

stood firm and projected responsible 

radicalism that did 

not give way to personal interests. 

It was a period in Nigerian 

history when leaders of conscience 

were leading the student 

movement, unlike what 

we have today where student 

leaders cannot be distinguished 

from cultists and political 

jobbers whose sole aim 

is to become political parasites 

and partake in the national 

loot as being done by 

the condemnable leaders of 

the land. 

His graduation from OAU 

did not rest his revolutionary 

spirit, he consistently fought 

for the nation he believed in 

until his last moments as he 

served on various platforms 

leading to the emergence of 

the current democratic dispensation 

in 1999. 

Yinka rose to the call for a 

better Nigeria by serving as 

the spokesperson for 

Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba organization 

modelled after the 

lofty aspirations and wisdom 

of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. 

Notwithstanding that he 

was the youngest in the midst 

of old but established politicians 

of the First and Second 

Republics, like Sir Olaniwun 

Ajayi, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, 

Chief Ayo Opadokun, Chief 

Reuben Fasoranti and many 

others, he was nominated as 

the voice of the organisation 

and served in that capacity for 

not less than 13 years. 

Yinka was in the 2014 Confab, 

where he made gargantuan 

contributions on how he 

believed Nigeria could be remodelled 

to achieve social 

equality and justice. He was a 

passionate believer in Nigeria 

and his conviction on the 

need to find a worthy leader 

and reformer made him work 

with others for Muhammadu 

Buhari to become President 

(in 2011). 

His agitations for a greater 

Nigeria were never hidden 

and despite criticisms and 

disagreements from some of 

his old comrades, he stuck to 

his guns on his conviction on 

how he believed the struggle 

for a better nation could be 

achieved. His days as the secretary 

of Save Nigeria Group, 

SNG, led by Pastor Tunde 

Bakare and others in 2012, 

were an endorsement of what 

conscionable activism can do 

in rebuilding a nation that has 

fallen into a terrible moral 

and economic miasma like 

ours. 

Yinka was a dogged fighter 

who would not bat an eyelid 

in projecting his views and 

mobilizing to achieve his aim. 

He travelled the length and 

breadth of Nigeria with a 

strong resolve to ensure that 

the otherwise endowed country 

could be placed in its rightful 

place in the comity of nations. 

He was a great writer, a 

good speaker of English language, 

a manufactory of brilliant 

ideas and a complete 

package of intellectual sagacity 

Ẏinka was a strident voice 

against ethnic marginalization, 

tribal favouritism or nepotism. 

His agitation for the 

protection of his ethnic origin 

within the context of a restructured 

Nigeria has no sentiments 

for tribal irredentism. 

It was a struggle balanced on 

the pivot of right to self-determination 

of all peoples within 

a united country. 

As if trying to avoid the problems 

of wrongly marrying a 

woman without an understanding 

of his ideological 

orientation, Yinka’s choice of 

a woman is a perfect combination 

of two souls with a single 

conscience. He married 

Joe-Okei Odumakin, a Ph.D 

holder whose activism dates 

back to the student movement 

in Ilorin and whose entire life 

has been dedicated to the 

cause of agitating for a better 

humanity. 

In all these, Yinka neither 

asked for, bagged a government 

portfolio nor served in 

an executive capacity in any 

government. Yet, he left an indelible 

mark in the sands of 

time. 

•Late Yinka Odumakin and Innocent Chukwuma 

Yinka was a 

strident voice 

against ethnic 

marginalization, 

tribal 

favouritism 

or nepotism. 

There is a lesson to learn in 

his lifestyle by both the younger 

and the older ones. 

The fad today is to enter 

politics fresh from the university 

and aspire to be a local 

government chairman, be 

appointed a commissioner, 

get elected into the state 

House of Assembly or National 

Assembly and struggle to 

convince the unwary masses 

that the only way they can have 

a better life is to eternally have 

you in office. It has become 

the vogue to think that it is 

only in public office that one 

can make a substantial contribution 

to the development 

of the people. It is certain that 

this line of thinking is not 

borne out of altruism as examples 

of self-seeking politicians 

have shown that, in most 

cases, it is to line a private 

pocket and achieve personal 

aggrandizement. 

I have repeatedly said that 

no one needs to particularly 

occupy a public office before 

making unforgettable contributions 

to the service of humanity. 

The death of Yinka Odumakin 

has proven this philosophy 

right. 

His death has made a harvest 

of eulogies, soporific tributes 

and fulsome praises* 

tumbling down from both 

worthy and unworthy mouths. 

Both enemies and friends 

have converged in unison to 

acknowledge that this gentleman 

was an embodiment of 

service to humanity. 

The past few days have proven 

that a man could live a 

worthy and unforgettable life 

without necessarily occupying 

a public office where he 

could have unrestricted access 

to public funds. 

Yinka’s house has become 

a Mecca of a sort to which 

mandatory pilgrimage has 

been made a pillar of political 

relevance. 

His wife, another fiery activist 

with multiple laurels to 

her name, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, 

could not hide her surprise 

for the recognition and 

praises accorded her husband 

in death by those who would 

not give him a drop of water 

in a desert. She wishes her 

husband were alive to listen 

to his avowed traducers and 

haters as they keep on singing 

hosanna to his name during 

this Easter season. 

Could Yinka have had a fate 

with the aura and lessons of 

the resurrection of Jesus that 

he chose to leave around the 

same time? 

Hmmm! The Yoruba say 

eniyan o sunwon laaye. Ojo a 

ba ku laa d’ere, which means 

humans are not treasured 

while alive. It is in death we 

become wondrously invaluable. 

You can learn a thing or two 

from the life and times of Yinka 

Odumakin. 

You can serve humanity 

without necessarily aspiring 

to or holding a public office. 

You can lead from the rear 

and give commands into the 

future. You can sow into humanity 

without having to be 

enveloped in the grandeur of 

public office. 

You can become a pillar to 

rest on without having all the 

money in this world. 

Let these praise singers by 

way of honouring the dead 

emulate his ways, adopt his 

philosophy and be repentant, 

as death is inevitable. 

A few activists are in Nigeria 

who still embody these virtues. 

When Alhaji Lateef Jakande, 

the inimitable former Governor 

of Lagos State, died earlier 

this year, we saw a harvest 

of praises, eulogies and enticing 

and exciting condolences 

like are being accorded Yinka 

Odumakin now. 

But how many of these 

emergency recognisers of 

these virtues are ready to live 

such a worthy life? 

How many of them are 

ready to make life worth living 

for the masses as campaigned 

for by Odumakin 

and delivered by Jakande? 

How many of them are 

ready to give to the masses 

what belongs to the masses? 

The cosmogenic Ifa verse of 

Eji Ogbe decrees that what 

belongs to the people should 

not be denied them. It renders 

stupid the ambitious craze of 

the Leviathan that seeks a 

contract of agistment of a fowl 

with death. Ogbe f’ohun 

f’olohun is the warning of the 

oracle that deplores gluttony 

and stealing. Where the rights 

of the people are accorded 

them, where the nation is allowed 

to breathe without the 

suffocating noose of incompetence, 

corruption and nepotism, 

where the leaders of the 

land would allow the resources 

of the nation to serve the 

people and stop redecorating 

a dead horse, setting up a 

committee on how to ride a 

dead horse of a refinery and 

creating white elephants to 

loot our commonwealth, 

where the youths are meaningfully 

engaged and a future 

is carved out for them to enable 

them live without a pang 

of hunger, certainly the memory 

of Yinka Odumakin and 

others like him would have 

been well preserved. 

Yinka is gone but his works 

live after him. 

One wonders if his death is 

not a condemnation of ill-gotten 

wealth as many billionaires 

have died in the past one 

year of COVID-19 harvests, 

including several supposedly 

powerful men in public office 

and, yet, hardly did the world 

know that a soul was harvested 

by the Grim Reaper; hardly 

were they sung for more 

than hours but quickly forgotten 

together with the allure of 

their Rolls Royce, Lamborghini 

and other terrifyingly intimidating 

moving machines. 

They had eaten up their contributions 

to humanity while 

cruising the surface of the 

earth in luxurious splendour 

that took no cognizance of the 

wailing of the poor. 

For the other activists, this 

is a reinforcement of our conviction 

that there are absolutely 

returns on investment 

than material. 

*We are on the right path, 

notwithstanding the victimization, 

intimidation and persecution 

we might be going 

through. 

Yinka’s death is a testimony 

triumph of activism over 

materialism. 

Relevance that brings Recognition 

Yinka’s death is a brochure 

of how to die young as a hero 

than to depart this world unsung. 

As American poet, 

Maya Angelou, counselled 

Oprah Winfrey, “Your legacy 

is every life you have touched 

and every moment you are 

building your legacy.” 

Adieu, Yinka Odumakin! 

The Innocent Chukwuma I knew 

Innocent was a 

dedicated, conscious 

hard worker who 

went beyond the call 

of duty to build a 

high network of 

contacts within the 

police sector in his 

efforts to getting 

police reforms 

By Richard Akinnola 

HE usually had this mis 

chievous grin, as he 

would greet/hail me-“Baba 

Richie.” He was overly playful 

but that did not reflect in 

his work as he was alive to his 

official responsibilities-thorough 

and hard working. 

Innocent Chukwuma was 

one of the first sets of ex-student 

activists we recruited in 

the early 90s of the Civil Liberties 

Organisation, CLO, 

when he first came in as a 

youth corper and was assigned 

the police desk, from 

where he grew into an authority 

in that field, churning out 

detailed, investigative works 

on the police. This culminated 

in the CLO book, Above the 

law, which he edited, detailing 

various acts of police impunity. 

It was, therefore, not a surprise 

that he went on to establish 

the CLEEN Foundation, 

which focused on police reforms. 

Innocent was a dedicated, 

conscious hard worker who 

went beyond the call of duty 

to build a high network of 

contacts within the police sector 

in his efforts to getting police 

reforms.


:Vanguard 

News 

Bandits must be wiped out because they’ve 

lost rights to live, El-Rufai insists 

By Ibrahim 

HassanWuyo 

KADUNA — Governor 

Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna 

State has said bandits terrorising 

Nigeria have lost 

their rights to life under the 

constitution and must be 

wiped out. He also said a situation 

where security agencies 

only responded to incidents of 

banditry was unacceptable. 

The governor stated this at 

a town hall meeting on national 

security organised by 

the Ministry of Information 

and Culture held in Kaduna, 

with theme, “Setting Benchmark 

for Enhanced and National 

Unity in Nigeria”. 

He said: “The bandits are 

at war with Nigeria and there 

is no other way to approach 

the current insurgency but for 

security forces to take the war 

to the bandits and recover forests 

where they are occupying. 

“The security agencies mostly 

react to cases of banditry 

and abduction, we are in a war 

with these terrorist challenging 

the sovereignty of the Nigerian 

state. “Our security 

forces must collaborate to 

take the war to the bandits and 

terrorist, recover and restore 

the forest to enable our law 

abiding citizens to engage in 

legitimate farming and livestock 

production,’’ 

El-Rufai stated that no one 

in a position of responsibility 

could deny the need for sustained 

action against criminals, 

adding that security operations 

that were more 

proactive would cripple the 

outlaws and reassure ordinary 

citizens. He said government 

must identify and deal with 

non state-actors and others 

challenging the existence of 

the country. 

The governor advised that 


ICAN CONFERENCE: From left — Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, MTN Nigeria, Cyril Ilok; Chief Transformation 

Officer, MTN Nigeria, Olubayo Adekanmbi; Chief Financial Officer, MTN Nigeria, Modupe Kadiri and 

President, Institute of Chartered Accountants Nigeria, Mrs Onome Joy Adewuyi during ICAN's 50th Annual 

Accountants’ Conference at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja sponsored by MTN Nigeria. 

...Says it’s unacceptable that security agencies only 

react to banditry 

security forces should be increased 

and be well equipped 

to deal with insurgency, adding 

that judiciary must also be 

decentralised to serve justice. 

“To address the banditry 

problem, we must implement 

the National Livestock Transformation 

Plan, NLTP, already 

produced four years ago to 

enable accelerated investment 

in modern animal husbandry 

on operating rapid decentralization 

of herders in known 

locations,” he said. 

Governor El-Rufai also 

stressed the need for security 

agencies to be proactive in the 

fight against banditry and 

other violent crime, saying a 

situation where they only responded 

to incidents of banditry 

was unacceptable. 

He said security agencies 

must collaborate and take the 

fight to bandits and kidnappers 

because the country was 

at war with them. 

“The situation in which the 

security agencies mostly only 

react to cases of banditry and 

abduction is unacceptable. 

“We are in a war with these 

terrorists who are challenging 

the sovereignty and monopoly 

of the instruments of coercion 

of the Nigerian state and 

its territory. 

“Our security forces must 

collaborate to take the war to 

them, recover and restore the 

un-governed forests these terrorists 

occupy, and enable our 

law-abiding citizens to engage 

in their legitimate pursuits,’’ 

the governor said. 

He reiterated his position 

that bandits must be “wiped 

out” because they had lost their 

right to life, by virtue of the 

constitution. He said: “These 

bandits have lost their right to 

life under our constitution and 

must be wiped out in their entirety. 

There is no other way to 

approach the current insurgency 

situation today as far 

as governmental action is 

concerned.’’ 

Dangote, Flour Mills, BUA in bitter sugar war 

By Kenneth Ehigiator 

ABUJA — Three Nigeri 

an conglomerates – 

Dangote Group, Flour Mills 

and BUA Group are currently 

locked in a bitter war over 

production and export of sugar. 

Chairman of Dangote 

Group of Companies, Alhaji 

Aliko Dangote, and Chairman 

of Flour Mills Nigeria, 

Mr. John Coumantaros, had 

on January 28,2021, written 

the Minister of Industry, Trade 

and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, 

accusing BUA’s refinery 

in Bundu Free Trade Zone in 

Port Harcourt of undermining 

the national sugar master 

plan, NSMP. 

BUA Group has fought 

back at claims by Dangote 

Industries Limited and Flour 

Mills of Nigeria that its sugar 

refinery “poses a threat” to the 

Nigerian local sugar industry. 

The NSMP is a policy road 

map for sugar production introduced 

in 2013 to achieve 

self-sufficiency in sugar production 

and save foreign exchange 

on the importation of 

sugar and ethanol. 

In the joint letter, Dangote 

and Coumantaros alleged 

that the sugar refinery in Port 

Harcourt was built with the 

intention to undermine the 

NSMP, and asked the minister 

to investigate the quantity 

of raw sugar imported by 

BUA’s sugar refinery, with a 

view to imposing on the company 

60 percent duty and 10 

percent levy. 

Calling for a fair and discipline 

implementation of the 

NSMP by the regulator, the 

Nigerian Sugar Development 

Council, NSDC, the duo stated 

in the letter: “Publicly available 

information suggests that 

BUA International, one of the 

players in the sugar industry, 

has commissioned a sugar 

plant in Port Harcourt, Rivers 

State. ‘’With the new refinery, 

the country’s refining capacity 

goes from 2.75 million metric 

tones to 3.4 million metric 

tones per annum, or from 170 

percent over capacity over last 

year’s import quota to over 

210 percent capacity. 

“This investment in the Port 

Harcourt refinery was clearly 

done with the intention to undermine 

the NSMP. We are 

particularly surprised by the 

brazenness as we believe that 

the choice of location and the 

publicity campaign behind 

the investment has been deliberately 

engineered to provoke 

public sentiment and put the 

Federal Republic of Nigeria 

against its people.” 

They also asked the ministry 

to ensure that no additional 

allocation of quota was given 

for raw, very high polarity 

sugar or refined sugar for the 

refinery in Port Harcourt for 

local market production. 

But responding to a request 

for information from the trade 

ministry over the petition, 

Chairman of the BUA Group, 

Abdul Samad Rabiu, said his 

company’s project was governed 

under the Nigeria Export 

Processing Zones Authority, 

NEPZA Act and the Free 

Zone approved by President 

Muhammadu Buhari. 

Rabiu, who noted that Dangote 

and Coumantaros were 

calling to question the authority 

of the President’s power and 

the diligence of the trade ministry, 

said: “Therefore, we see 

this as an affront to the powers 

of the president and an attempt 

to undermine Nigeria 

and its institutions as well as 

edge out competition, to gain 

a monopoly that holds the 

country to ransom.’’ 

Describing the duo as coconspirators, 

Rabiu, in his response 

dated February 11, 

2021, said it was a well-known 

fact “in Nigeria and anywhere 

in the world that wherever 

Dangote is operating in any 

sector or business, he seeks to 

muscle out competition 

through any means necessary” 

and “this scenario is 

playing out again in this case. 

“It is, however, strange that 

his current co-conspirator, 

John Coumantaros, a Greek/ 

American national, was once 

a victim of Dangote’s. 

‘’They are only just acting as 

friends in connivance because 

of their interest to push out 

competition and create a monopoly 

for themselves.” 

He said under the NEPZA 

act, companies were allowed 

to process and, if they so 

wished, sell 100 percent of 

their production in Nigeria 

with payment of duties based 

on the current raw materials’ 

tariffs. “As a matter of fact, 

Aliko Dangote of Dangote Industries, 

who is one of the 

complainants alleging and attacking 

this approval has also 

applied and obtained the 

same approval for his refinery 

project in Lekki, Lagos 

State, where he is currently 

enjoying the benefit of the being 

in an NEPZ,” he said. 

He said his sugar refinery 

in Port Harcourt was mainly 

for export, rather than the Nigerian 

market, adding that it 

was doing everything possible 

to ensure that its backward 

integration programme, BIP, 

was on course through it’s 

20,000 hectares Lafiagi Sugar 

Project encompassing a 

10,000tpd sugar mill, 

200,000tpa sugar refinery, 20 

million litres Ethanol plant 

and a 35MWpoer plant from 

Bagasse. 

FG presents provisional 

licenses to 20 private 

varsities 

By Joseph Erunke 

ABUJA —THE federal 

government yesterday 

presented provisional licenses 

to the 20 new private universities 

recently approved by 

the Federal Executive Council, 

FEC. 

Recall that FEC had on 

Wednesday, February 3, 

2021,during its weekly meeting 

presided over by President 

Muhammadu Buhari, approved 

the establishment of 20 

new private universities, 

bringing the total number of 

private universities in the 

country to 99. 

The approved universities 

are,Topfaith University Mkpatak, 

Akwa Ibom State; 

Thomas Adewumi University, 

Oko-Irese, Kwara State; 

Maranatha University, Mgbidi, 

Imo State;Ave Maria University, 

Piyanko, Nasarawa 

State; Al-Istiqama University, 

Sumaila, Kano State; 

Mudiame University, Irrua, 

Edo State;Havilla University, 

Nde-Ikom, Cross River State; 

Claretian University of Nigeria, 

Nekede, Imo State. 

Others are NOK University, 

Kachia, Kaduna;Karl- 

Kumm University, Vom, Plateau 

State; James Hope University, 

Lagos; Maryam 

ABUJA — FORMER 

President of the Senate, 

Senator David Mark, has said 

if the current security challenges 

in the country must be 

nipped in the bud, it has become 

very imperative for Nigerians 

to bury religious and 

ethnic differences. 

According to Senator 

Mark, all leaders and citizens 

must, as a matter of urgency, 

come together to establish a 

common front against forces 

threatening the peaceful coexistence 

among the people. 

He said it was time for all 

men and women of good conscience 

to rise to the occasion 

and proffer lasting solutions 

to the lingering insecurity that 

had enveloped the entire country 

Ṡpeaking yesterday at St. 

Mulumba Catholic Chaplaincy, 

Apo, Abuja, to mark his 

73rd birthday, Mark, who 

noted that Nigerians could 

no longer deny the current 

level of insecurity and disharmony 

tearing the country 

apart, said that at 73, he was 

now an ambassador of peace 

in his home state, Benue and 

Nigeria, with a resolve to serve 

God and humanity. 

Senator Mark said: 

“Though we have different 

reasons to celebrate at different 

times, we cannot shy away 

from the present abnormality 

of insecurity and disharmony 

threatening the very foundation 

of our country. 

“It is important for all of us 

to come together and fashion 

out a workable and equitable 

solution to end this menace.” 

Mark said he believed Nigeria 

would overcome the situation 

if the people and their 

leaders were willing to do the 

right thing. Recall that Senator 

Mark served as Nigeria’s 

Abacha American University 

of Nigeria, Kano;Capital City 

University, Kano;Ahman Pategi 

University, Kwara; University 

of Offa, Kwara State. 

Also approved are, Mewar 

University, Masaka, Nasarawa 

State;Edusoko University, 

Bida, Niger State; Philomath 

University, Kuje, Abuja; 

Khadija University, Majia, 

Jigawa and Anan University, 

Kwall, Plateau State. 

Minister of Education, 

Mallam Adamu Adamu, in 

his remark at the National 

Universities Commission, 

NUC Auditorium, Abuja, venue 

where the licenses were presented, 

said the approval of 

the establishment of these universities 

was a testimony to the 

continued partnership of the 

federal government with the 

private sector. 

Adamu, who was represented 

on the occasion by the Minister 

of State, Chukwuemeka 

Nwajiuba, urged the proprietors 

to live up to the standard 

of NUC, warning that quality 

assurance standards must not 

be compromised. 

On his part, the Executive 

Secretary of National Universities 

Commission, NUC, 

Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, noted 

that the approval was a 

landmark achievement for 

Nigerian universities. 

Insecurity: Mark tasks leaders, 

citizens on need for 

common front 

By Henry Umoru 

Senate President from 2007 

to 2015 and is fondly remembered 

for his role in the enactment 

of “the Doctrine of Necessity,” 

that saved Nigeria 

from a major leadership crisis, 

following the illness of late 

President Umaru Yar’Adua in 

2010. 

Present at the mass were 

prominent Nigerians including 

the National Chairman of 

the Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, Uche Secondus, former 

Secretary to the Government 

of the Federation, SGF, Anyim 

Pius Anyim, former Chief of 

Staff to the President, Chief 

Mike Ogiadomhe, former 

Senate Leader, and Senator 

Victor Ndoma Egba, SAN 

among others.




OPENING: Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa; His Edo State counterpart, Mr. Godwin Obaseki 

and Executive Director, Institutional Banking, Sterling Bank PLC, Mr Emmanuel Emefienim, during 

the opening ceremony of the 20th National Sports Festival sponsored by Sterling Bank in Benin City. 

Ebonyi massacre: You woke up late, IPOB 

tells Umahi 

By Peter Okutu & 

Steve Oko 

THE INDIGENOUS Peo 

ple of Biafra, IPOB, has 

mocked Gov. David Umahi 

over his lamentation on the 

massacre of locals by herdsmen, 

saying that the governor 

is waking up to realities 

rather too late. 

IPOB in a statement by its 

Media and Publicity Secretary 

Emma Powerful, said 

Umahi and other South 

East governors ignored the 

warnings by its Leader, 

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu about 

the hidden agenda of Fulani 

herders in the zone. 

The pro-Biafra movement 

accused Umahi of shedding" 

crocodile tears" when 

they failed to take proactive 

measures to avert the mayhem. 

Gov Umahi, had recently , 

while receiving Vice President 

Yemi Osinbajo who 

came on condolence visit to 

Ebonyi State, said governors 

of the region were currently 

hiding their faces in 

shame. 

He accused herdsmen of 

betraying the South East 

governors who had been 

protecting them even 

against the wishes of the 

people. 

His words: " We have been 

called all kinds of names 

and we feel ashamed that 

the same people we fight for 

day and night as governors 

and leaders of South-East to 

ensure the oneness of this 

country would know about 

attacks on Ebonyi State and 

they were asked to leave and 

they left and we were 

slaughtered and killed. 

"What face do we have then 

to face our people? We feel 

so ashamed to face our people." 

IPOB blamed the governors 

for pampering herdsmen 

but quick to proscribe 

IPOB paving the way for the 

federal government to tag it 

terrorists. 

The statement read in 

part: "When our Leader 

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was 

warning you people and 

your fellow saboteurs, you 

called him a miscreant. 

" You and your fellow Igbo 

leaders hurriedly outlawed 

IPOB, a peaceful movement 

and prepared the ground 

for the federal government 

to tag us terrorists. 

•As Police repel attack on Police station 

•Govt to set up 1000 vigilante groups 

" Igbo leaders approved 

Operation Python Dance 

that claimed many innocent 

Igbo youths. Thank God for 

the miraculous escape of 

our Leader, otherwise the 

vampires would have drank 

with his skull. 

"When our Leader set up 

Eastern Security Network, 

ESN, following the failure 

of the South East governors 

to protect the people, instead 

of supporting him, you connived 

with the federal government 

to hunt down our 

men staking their lives to 

protect our ancestral land. 

"Now that the Fulani you 

have protected have risen 

to kill your subjects in return, 

face them like men and stop 

lamenting like women. Why 

shed crocodile tears? They 

are your friends and One 

Nigeria brothers! 

"Why haven't you ordered 

for their arrest the same 

way you governors approved 

of the onslaught 

against our men at Orlu? 

You hate your own and protect 

your enemy. 

"Clean your tears and live 

with your One Nigeria 

brothers. Stop lamenting. 

We warned you but you took 

us for fools because of your 

selfish political ambition." 

Police repel 

attack on Police 

station 

Meantime, police in Ebonyi 

said they have repelled 

another attack by gunmen 

on another police station in 

the state. 

One of the assailants was 

allegedly killed in a shootout 

with the police. 

Vanguard reliably gathered 

that one of the police 

officers who repelled the attack 

was injured and rushed 

to hospital for treatment. 

The incident happened at 

Ugbodo Police station in Ebonyi 

Local Government area 

of the state. 

A top security source in the 

state, who spoke to Vanguard, 

said the gunmen 

launched the attack around 

2am on Tuesday. 

“But they met stiff resistance 

from the police men 

at the station. In the ensuing 

battle, a Police officer sustained 

an injury while the 

gunmen later retreated with 

some of them being hit by 

the bullets from the Police. 

"In the morning, the police 

went on a search of the bushes 

in the area and discovered 

the corpse of one of the gunmen,” 

the source said. 

It was learnt that a gallon 

of petrol was also found 

near the dead gunman 

which was believed was to 

be used to set the station 

ablaze. 

Govt to set up 

1000 vigilante 

groups 

On Wednesday, Ebonyi 

State Government said it 

was going to ensure the setting 

up of 1000 vigilante 

groups across the rural and 

urban settings of the state. 

This was part of the resolution 

reached during the 

State's Expanded Security 

Council meeting at the old 

Government House, Abakaliki. 

Addressing newsmen at the 

end of the meeting, the Secretary 

to the State Government, 

Dr. Kenneth Ugbala 

who stated that the government 

was prepared to handle 

the security architecture/ 

network of the state from the 

grassroot level added that 

"all the necessary facilities 

that can help them do their 

work better including mobility 

and training will be 

instituted through the Ministry 

of Internal Security 

immediately. 

"The meeting had extensive 

discussions on the establishment 

of vigilantes and 

we want to take our security 

from the grassroot the way 

it has always traditionally 

been done. Every community 

in Ebonyi State is to have 

five vigilantes and that will 

give us a total of 700 vigilantes 

at the 13 local government 

areas of Ebonyi 

State. 

"They will be responsible 

outside our normal community 

vigilantes that have always 

been our traditional 

way of safeguarding our 

people which the government 

encouraged that all the 

villages and communities 

should set out their own vigilante. 

We all grew up to 

meet all these things being 

done and this is the right 

time to create barricades on 

the roads at odd hours and 

checkmate who is going out 

and coming in at our local 

government areas and communities. 

"The state will equally set 

up 700 vigilantes across the 

13 LGAs and another 300 at 

the urban centres, making 

it a total of 1000 vigilante 

members. The essence of it 

is that all the necessary facilities 

that can help them 

do their work better including 

mobility and training 

will be instituted through the 

Ministry of Internal Security 

immediately. The vehicles 

have already been purchased 

by government to 

make sure that they are strategically 

located in all the 

corners in the state to ensure 

that our people are not attacked 

by bandits." 

He called on the Police 

and other security agencies 

not allow their commands 

or Divisions to be attacked 

by gunmen. 

"Government will have no 

option than to allow such division 

or command to be 

closed down. 

"The reason is that our security 

agencies have the primary 

responsibility of protecting 

not only their stations 

or personnel working 

with them but our citizens 

but where they cannot even 

protect themselves, it is a big 

problem because they are 

trained for that and government 

agreed that if the agencies 

allowed their facilities 

to be attacked, then Ebonyi 

government will be requesting 

for close down of such 

station or area command 

while the officers working in 

such places will face disciplinary 

actions. 

"We encourage security 

agencies to have a combined 

team of security at 

each of the police stations 

and area commands 

throughout the state to safeguard 

their facilities. The 

council equally resolved 

that every police station 

should make effort to clear 

grasses from their facilities 

200 radius away from the 

station. A situation where 

police stations and area 

commands are allowed to 

be surrounded by bushes 

will give room for insecurity." 

2023: Igbo Presidency'll end 

agitations for secession 

—Udeogaranya 

A 

FORMER Presidential 

aspirant of All Progressives 

Congress , APC, in 2019, 

Chief Charles Udeogaranya 

has called on President Muhammadu 

Buhari to end agitations 

for secession and disintegration 

of Nigeria by 

making a public statement 

supporting the long overdue 

president of Igbo extraction in 

2023. 

According to Udeogaranya, 

President Buhari did not in any 

of his 2015 presidential campaigns 

in the South-East distance 

himself from the region 

producing Nigeria's presidency 

in 2023, which was loudly 

campaigned by his campaign 

team. 

Udeogaranya went down 

the trenches to remind that 

when Abacha was facing similar 

issues of disintegration, he 

simply got Chief Emeka Ojukwu 

to tell Ndigbo to stand for 

Nigeria and that was the end 

of the matter. 

He stressed further that if not 

for Zik 's relentless efforts of 

yesteryears, the North would 

have seceeded from Nigeria. 

“It's then surprising that 

those that Igbo leaders laboured 

for to still be part of 

Nigeria are gravely showing 

signs of ingratitude to Ndigbo 

to an extent of marginalzing 

them.” 

Udeogaranya concluded 

that the ball is in the hands of 

President Buhari to do the 

needful by proclaiming support 

for Igbo Presidency in 

2023 and all manner of secession 

and disintegration agitation 

will evaporate. 

Ikpeazu launches 30-year devt 

plan in Abia 

By Ugochukwu 

Alaribe 

U MUAHIA—GOVER 

NOR of Abia State, Dr 

Okezie lkpeazu, has launched 

a 30 year Development Plan, 

which will serve as a blueprint 

for sustainable economic 

growth and development in 

governance for succeeding 

administrations in the state. 

The plan, titled; Abia State 

Long Term Development 

Plan, ABSLTDP, would last 

from 2020 – 2050, 

Ikpeazu, who stated this 

during the launch and public 

presentation of the ABSLTDP 

in Umuahia, noted that if the 

development plan which his 

administration has already 

keyed into is seriously followed 

and sustained by subsequent 

administrations, the 

state would be a reference 

point for other states to emulate. 

The governor who was represented 

by his Deputy, Sir 

Ude Oko Chukwu, commended 

the State Planning 

Commission for collaborating 

with the Partnership Initiatives 

in Niger Delta, PIND, 

and other development partners 

in ensuring the successful 

take off of the programme 

in the state. 

Ikpeazu assured that his administration 

would do everything 

in its power to ensure 

the successful implementation 

and legislation which will 

be incorporated into every 

sector of the state and urged 

the people of the state to own 

and protect the project. 

“The Abia State Long Term 

Development Plan (ABSLT- 

DP) 2020 - 2050, will offer a 

blueprint to sustainable economic 

growth and development 

in governance for succeeding 

administrations for 

many years to come. If the 

development plan which this 

administration has already 

keyed into is seriously followed 

and sustained by subsequent 

administrations, Abia 

State will be a centre of attraction 

and a reference point 

for other states yet to key into 

such programme. I commend 

the State Planning Commission 

for collaborating with the 

Partnership Initiatives in Niger 

Delta (PIND) and other 

development agencies in ensuring 

the successful take off 

of the programme in the 

State. We will do everything 

in our power to ensure the successful 

implementation of this 

long term development plan.” 

Anambra 2021: We need someone 

with Ojukwu's ideology 

—APC women 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

A women WKA—ANAMBRA 

in All Progressives 

Congress, APC, have 

vowed to ensure that the next 

governor of the state would be 

someone who has the ideology 

of the late Ikemba Nnewi, 

Dim Chukwuemeka 

Odumegwu Ojukwu. 

Speaking when a governorship 

aspirant on the platform 

of APC, Chief Azuka Okwuosa 

interacted with women 

from the 326 political wards 

in the state in Awka, their leader, 

Mrs. Nkechi Nnoli said 

Okwuosa represents Ojukwu's 

ideology by the way he carries 

women along in his political 

programmes and assured 

him of their unalloyed support. 

She said: "We need a man 

that has the ideology of Ojukwu 

to rule Anambra State and 

Azuka Okwuosa is the man 

because he has the charisma, 

the political energy, the principles 

and most especially, the 

ideology of the late Igbo leader, 

which is to restore the glory 

and dignity of Ndigbo. 

"We believe in the Azuka 

Okwuosa project and so do 

the 326 women leaders of 

APC in Anambra State. 

"Throughout Sir Okwuosa's 

walk with APC, he has never 

faltered or disappointed us, 

but has always given the 

women folk an opportunity in 

all assignments.“"We are confident 

that he would give the 

women a pride of place in his 

government when elected 

governor of Anambra State. 

"Sir Okwuosa knows that 

Anambra has very vibrant 

women, who can be called 

upon when the going gets 

tough. He has absolute trust 

in our women because we 

have never disappointed, especially 

in Anambra APC. He 

believes in women's participation 

in politics.He is the godson 

of Dim Chukwuemeka 

Odumegwu Ojukwu, the 

Ezeigbo gburugburu and 

Ikemba Nnewi."


:Vanguard 

News 

ODUMAKIN: He never betrayed 

Yoruba trust —SSSG 

By Dapo Akinrefon 

LAGOS—THE Southwest 

Stakeholders Security 

Group, SSSG, yesterday, 

described the late Afenifere 

spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, as 

a man of great conviction, adding 

that his death was irreparable to 

the Yoruba nation. 

Odumakin was chairman of the 

strategic department of the 

SSSG. 

The group, in a statement by 

its General Secretary, Owolabi 

Amusat, expressed sadness over 

the death of the late Odumakin, 

maintaining that the late 

Afenifere spokesman did not 

betray the trust of the group. 

Amusat said: “We have lost one 

of our best brains and courageous 

members, who had been a symbol 

of what we stood for as a race, and 

we will always work towards 

sustaining his ideals and the 

struggle for which he lived and 

died.” 

The stakeholders later 

Rail mass transit: 

Lagos diverts 

Ikeja traffic for 15 

months 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

LAGOS—LAGOS State 

government, yesterday, 

announced plans to divert the 

traffic on Adegbola Street, Ikeja, 

from Sunday, April 11, 2021, for 

15 months, in readiness for the 

construction of Ikeja Overpass, 

Lagos Rail Mass Transit, Red Line 

Project. 

The Commissioner for 

Transportation, Dr. Frederic 

Oladeinde, in a statement, 

explained that the diversion was 

in line with the construction of 

an overpass rail line bridge, to 

ensure safety of road users. 

Oladeinde said: “Motorists from 

Computer Village and Simbiat 

Abiola Way heading towards 

Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway will 

be diverted to Akinremi Street to 

link Oshifila Street to make their 

way through the rail level 

crossing to their desired 

destinations.” 

appointed Owolabi Amusat 

and Prophet Oluyemi Olufemi 

as the General-Secretary 

and Treasurer of the group, 

respectively. 

Also speaking, the Convener 

of the group, Aare Onakakanfo 

of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, 

said the appointment of the new 

exco was an urgent response to 

the security question raised 

across South-West. 

He said: “In view of the 

prevailing security challenges 

across the South-West, we have 

considered it imperative to keep 

a close watch on the unfolding 

events, bearing in mind the 

urgent need to get things done 

in the most appropriate way 


INSECURITY: There are plots to cause fresh 

violence in S-West —Kiriji group, YAF 

By Dapo Akinrefon, 

Omezia Ajayi & 

Shina Abubakar 

OSOGBO—A sociocultural 

group in 

Osun State, the Kiriji 

Heritage Defenders, 

yesterday, alerted security 

agencies in the state to the 

influx of marauding Fulani 

herdsmen into some parts 

of the state, just as the 

Yoruba Appraisal Forum 

YAF, accused some 

secessionist elements of 

plans to cause fresh 

violence in the South-West. 

This came on a day the newly 

elected president of the Oodua 

People’s Congress, OPC, Mr. 

Wasiu Afolabi, said that the OPC 

would collaborate with other 

security agencies to tackle the 

insecurity challenges facing the 

South-West. 

The Kiriji Heritage Defenders, 

in a statement by its 

spokesperson, Dr. Ekundayo 

Osogbo, disclosed that the 

herdsmen were penetrating into 

the state through Kwara State, 

via Odo-Otin local government 

area. 

Ademola said: “We have it on 

good authority that suspected 

Foundation to empower girls 

with cybersecurity skills 

C 

Y 

B E R S A F E 

Foundation, Nigeria’s 

leading non-governmental 

organization focused on 

improving cyber safety, 

particularly amongst the 

vulnerable, recently 

announced the launch of a 

fellowship programme, CyberGirls. 

A statement from the 

foundation said that 

CyberGirls, a one-year fellowship 

program, was initiated to equip 

girls between the ages of 15 and 

21 with globally sought-after 

cybersecurity skills, positioning 

them to start a career in 

cybersecurity and seize work 

opportunities within Nigeria and 

across the world. 

During the one-year 

fellowship, beneficiaries will be 

exposed to training in digital 

literacy, cybersecurity 

fundamentals, soft skills and 

career specific paths in 

cybersecurity, which will include 

Networking, Cyber and IT 

Security Audit, Incident Analysis/ 

Response, Penetration/Vulnerability 

Testing, Security Intelligence, 

Web Application 

Testing and Cloud security. 

CyberGirls fellows will also enjoy 

hands-on training experience, 

mentorship from female 

cybersecurity professionals, as 

well as internship opportunities 

and entry level job placements 

during the last 3 months of the 

fellowship. 

Confidence Staveley, 

Founder/Executive Director 

of CyberSafe Foundation, 

urges Nigerians in the public and 

private sectors as well as other 

non-governmental organizations 

to collaborate and provide in-kind 

and in-cash support needed to 

ensure these girls have all they 

need to achieve the task ahead. 

She also invites prospective 

employers to support this 

initiative and signup as job 

placement partners for the 

purpose of providing paid 

internship or job placements for 

CyberGirls Fellows upon 

graduation from the fellowship. 

CONDOLENCE—From left: Babatunde Ashamu; Issa Aremu, Vice- President, Industrial Global 

Union; Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, and Ibrahim Monsuru, during the condolence visit to late Yinka 

Odumakin's wife in their residence, at Omole, in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Kehinde Shonola. 

• It’s under control —Amotekun commandant 

• As OPC vows to collaborate with Amotekun 

violent Fulani herdsmen "are 

moving around with a large 

number of cattle and already 

constitute a security threat to 

residents of the state. We also 

have intelligence that some of the 

herdsmen were seen around 

Owode-Ede last week. 

“Similarly, the herdsmen were 

also suspected to be involved in 

the kidnapping that occurred in 

Osu, Osun State, recently. We 

call on government and security 

agencies to act on the intelligence 

before these criminals perpetrate 

more crimes. 

“The Kiriji Heritage Defenders, 

as a group funded by its leaders, 

has resolved to protect all the 

routes that connect South West 

with other regions. We are also 

monitoring and protecting our 

borders.” 

There are plots to 

cause fresh 

violence in 

S-West —YAF 

Similarly, YAF, in a statement 

by its National Coordinator, 

Adesina Animashaun, said 

intelligence reports revealed that 

the masterminds of the recent 

spate of violence in some parts of 

South-West, are part of the plans 

by some elements to throw 

Yorubaland and Nigeria into 

unimaginable chaos. 

The Forum accused the 

individuals and groups claiming 

to be fighting for Yoruba 

independence of “planning to 

take advantage of the current 

security challenges in the country 

to wreak further havoc, starting 

with the South-West and 

expecting to instigate reprisals 

against Southerners in the North 

with the ultimate objective of 

destabilising the country. 

The statement reads: “We want 

to warn again that the recent 

violence arising from the activities 

of these self-styled Yoruba 

freedom fighters, especially the 

rash of threats to some other 

Nigerians residing in Yorubaland 

by certain individuals, was just 

the onset of the large scale and 

widespread violence already 

scheduled by those planning the 

eventual disintegration and 

dismemberment of the Nigerian 

nation, with the South-West as 

their launch pad. For them, that 

was just the beginning.” 

“We, therefore, urge the police 

authorities to take appropriate 

and urgent steps to deal decisively 

with these elements who are bent 

on fomenting trouble in the 

South-West. The police and other 

security agencies should not mind 

the disguised antics and plans of 

these shameless and unpatriotic 

self-styled freedom fighters. It is 

imperative the police and other 

security agencies take appropriate 

actions against them to nip their 

evil plans in the bud”, it stated. 

It’s under control 

—Amotekun 

commandant 

Reacting to the alarm raised by 

the Kiriji group, the Amotekun 

Corps Commandant in Osun 

State, Brig. Gen. Bashir 

Adewinmbi (retd), while reacting 

to the issues said the state has 

put a mechanism in place to curb 

violence and insecurity in the 

state. 

Adewinmbi said: “The 

movement of Fulani herdsmen 

into the state is not an 

impossibility. However, the state 

is well prepared ahead of it. There 

is a committee at the Osun state 

House of Assembly, saddled with 

the responsibility of ensuring 

peaceful co-existence between 

herdsmen and the farmers. 

“We have regular meetings 

with Miyetti Allah leaders in the 

state, and we are reaching an 

agreement that there will be no 

further escalation of any security 

issues. We are handling the 

situation through dialogue and 

resolving issues through peaceful 

means. I am assuring you that 

everything is under control.” 

We’ll collaborate 

with Amotekun 

to tackle insecurity 

—OPC 

Meanwhile, the leader of the 

Dr. Frederick Fasehun OPC 

group vowed to work with all state 

and non-state agencies to secure 

the country. 

Afolabi said this after his 

emergence as the group’s leader 

at its National Convention held 

at Century Hotel in Lagos. 

He said: “Let me quickly 

address two key issues of national 

interest that should be of concern 

to us as Nigerian citizens. 

On the issue of insecurity, we 

say that OPC is ready to work 

with all state and non-state 

agencies to ensure that Nigerians 

can sleep with their two eyes 

closed, travel without fear, raise 

their families with hope and carry 

on their businesses without 

danger. We shall cooperate with 

the Nigeria Police and other 

security agencies to make the 

entire Yoruba environment safe 

for living and livelihood. The job 

of securing the environment does 

not belong to the police and 

security agents alone. It is for 

every patriotic and law-abiding 

citizen. And in this regard, OPC 

is ready to work with vigilante 

groups, patriotic persons and 

Amotekun. 

However, let me sound a note 

of warning to our members that 

they must not break the law in 

order to arrest lawbreakers. No 

OPC member should take the 

laws into his hands extrajudicially. 

“We shall encourage every 

delegate to return home and 

encourage all members to 

cooperate with our newly-elected 

leaders. This is the only way we 

can maintain the legacy of our 

great Founder and President, Dr. 

Frederick Fasehun.” 

Speaking on his plans for the 

OPC President, he said: “I want 

to assure you that we shall not 

fail. We shall not disappoint our 

millions of members throughout 

Nigeria and abroad. By the grace 

of the Almighty God, together, we 

shall direct the ship of this 

organisation towards the 

Promised Land. 

“Under our watch, OPC shall 

continue to fight for the 

enforcement of social justice in 

Nigeria to ensure that this country 

becomes a land where no man is 

oppressed.” 

We’ll take anti-graft war to 

next level —EFCC boss 

By Ola Ajayi 

I BADAN—CHAIRMAN 

of the Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, Mr. 

Abdulrasheed Bawa, 

yesterday, vowed to take the 

fight against corruption to 

the next level. 

He said this during his visit to 

the Ibadan and Ilorin offices of 

the commission. 

A statement by its Head of 

Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson 

Uwujaren, quoted the anticorruption 

boss as saying he 

would digitalize all the processes 

of the commission. 

During the visit to the Ibadan 

office, he charged the staff of the 

commission to be hardworking 

and devoted to work, as Nigerians 

are looking up to them for success 

in the fight against corruption. 

Bawa said: “As the saying goes, 

the eagle is now in the hands of 

the EFCC but the mission and 

the vision of the Commission 

remain the same. Therefore, I 

urge you to be committed to your 

job. Always do what is right and 

guard against wrong doing. 

“The Ibadan zonal office is one 

of the offices I love. I hope you 

will maintain it and be on top of 

your game. If the story of my life is 

not an inspiration to you as 

officers, nothing will. I want you 

to join me to steer the ship to 

another level.” 

Alademomi for 

burial today 

Mrs. Sikirat Rachael 

Alademomi is 

dead, aged 60. Funeral 

services and thanksgiving 

holds, today, at St. Fidelis 

Catholic Church, Ojido 

Street, Ado-Ekiti, by 10am. 

Interment will be at her 

residence, while reception 

follows immediately at the 

church premises.

Vanguard, , FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 — 11 

:Vanguard :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 

Social Media Conversation 

PRESENTATION—From left: Minister of State for Education, Dr. Emeka Nwajiuba; Executive 

Secretary, National Universities Commission, NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed; Permanent 

Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono; Chairman, Nok University, 

Bishop Matthew Kukah, and Proprietor of Nok University, Chief Anthony Hassan, during 

the presentation of licences to the 20 new private universities, approved by the Federal 

Executive Council, in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN. 

Nigerian Press instrumental to birthing 

Nigeria —Osinbajo 

....Tasks media on curbing fake news 

By Prisca Sam-Duru 

LAGOS—VICE President 

Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, 

commended the media for being 

instrumental to the birthing of 

Nigeria, just as he called for the 

need to curb the proliferation of 

fake news in the country. 

He said this at the launch of a 

book on The Guardian and 

posthumous award to its founder, 

Mr. Alex Ibru, held at the Federal 

Palace Hotel in Lagos. 

The event attracted notable 

Nigerians and media icons, 

including former governor of 

Cross River State, Mr. Donald 

Duke; Chairman of Board of The 

Guardian, Professor Wale Omole; 

Publisher of ThisDay, Nduka 

Obaigbena; General Manager 

and Editor-in-Chief of Vanguard 

newspapers, Mr. Gbenga 

Adefaye; Ambassador Patrick 

Dele Cole, Senator Anyaogu Eze, 

and others. 

Tracing the history of the 

Nigerian press and that 

of The Guardian newspapers, 

the Vice President said: “To grasp 

the significance of The Guardian, 

it is important to situate its 

odyssey within the larger 

Nigerian story and particularly in 

the context of the evolution of the 

Fourth Estate in our country. The 

Nigerian press has deep roots, 

going back about 150 years. 

Indeed, the Nigerian press came 

into existence before Nigeria 

itself, and was instrumental to the 

birthing of this nation.” 

The Vice President eulogized 

the late founder of The Guardian, 

Mr. Alex Ibru, for gathering a cast 

of insightful thinkers with a 

profound understanding of the 

Nigerian media landscape, who 

were eager to make a change. 

He said: “But the change could 

not have happened without an 

entrepreneur who shared that 

vision, a co-visioner, Chief 

Olusegun Osoba. While Dr. 

Stanley Macebuh, Dr. Patrick 

Dele-Cole, Mr. Lade Bonuola, 

Mr. Femi Kusa, Dr. Eddie Iroh, 

later joined by Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi 

and Mr. Nick Ndukwe, formed 

some of the core team of thinkers 

behind The Guardian. Mr. Alex 

Ibru was that visionary-investor 

that was courageous enough to 

trust the thinkers.” 

Assessing the role of the media 

in a democracy, the Vice 

President said there is a need to 

checkmate the proliferation of fake 

news. 

He said: “Even as we strive to 

make governance more 

transparent and accountable in its 

workings and to abandon the 

habits of secrecy and opacity that 

became deeply ingrained during 

the era of military rule, we have 

realized that abuse of state power 

is not the only threat to the liberal 

tradition. Right now, we also have 

to deal with issues such as the 

proliferation of fake news. 

“Almost daily, fake news or 

mischievously manipulated news 

is trafficked with the clear intent 

of warping the perception of 

reality and inducing conflict.” 

Earlier in his address, chairman 

of the occasion, Aremo Olusegun 

Osoba, relived memories of his 

association with the late Guardian 

founder, describing him as a deep 

intellectual. 

Osoba said: “Ibru never 

interfered with the professionals 

in The Guardian. He tolerated 

what they wrote. He never 

dictated to the columnists.” 

He, however, frowned at the 

attitude of Nigerians, who have 

made giant strides but fail to 

document them. 

True federalism has 

come to stay 

—Maiden Ibru 

In her remarks, wife of the late 

founder of The Guardian, 

Maiden Ibru who hailed the 

authors, Aaron Ukodie and 

O’Seun Ogunsetan, for honoring 

her late husband, said that the 

publication of the book was very 

valuable to the family. 

On the state of the nation, she 

said: “True federalism is an idea 

which its time has come and no 

one can repel that idea and that 

is why we have been committed 

to weekly commentary on the 

front page of The Guardian on 

the issue. 

“We would like our president 

to know that a return to true 

federalism will solve most of our 

security and economic 

challenges. It is not new, the issue 

of restructuring is one of the 

promises of the administration of 

president Buhari hasn’t kept; it 

is part of the APC manifesto and 

there’s a report on the El Rufai 

committee by the party since 

2018. There have been many 

other reports on this including a 

2014 report on restructuring from 

the conference during President 

Jonathan’s administration which he 

handed over to President Buhari. 

“There is, therefore, a crisis of 

coherence. What is worse is the serious 

allegations of northernisation and 

Islamisation as a fundamental objective 

and directive principle of state policy. 

These are signs of a sinking state. The 

president should at this time, 

demonstrate that he indeed belongs to 

nobody.” 

Lekki Gardens decries attack on its contractors 

By Kingsley Adegboye 

LAGOS—A real estate 

development company, Lekki 

Gardens, yesterday, decried an 

alleged attack on its contractors 

by Osborne Foreshore Residents’ 

Association, OSFRA. 

The firm, in a statement by one 

of its officials, Mr. Emmanuel 

Essien, said: “The baseless and 

desperate vendetta of the 

residents’ association was taken 

to a new dimension, yesterday, 

when they resorted to violence by 

attacking the contractors and staff 

of the developer.” 

The statement reads: “This is 

coming barely a week after the 

stakeholders’ meeting convened 

by Lagos State Ministry of 

Physical Planning and Urban 

Development where stakeholders 

were advised to engage and 

resolve all issues among them. 

“Lekki Gardens had mobilized 

its contractors to some of its sites 

at Osborne Foreshore, following 

approvals recently received from 

the state government only for the 

contractors to be prevented from 

gaining entrance into the estate 

by OSFRA. They were only 

allowed in after the intervention 

of the relevant authorities invited 

by us in a bid to maintain peace. 

“Feeling thwarted in their plans 

to frustrate the developer by 

constituting a major nuisance at 

the gate of the estate thereby 

disturbing free flow of movement 

into the estate, the association led 

by the chairman mobilized touts 

and stormed the site of the 

company where they resorted to 

rough handling and beating up 

everyone they saw on site, insisting the 

contractors must leave the site.” 

O boy!...this one na my portion, 

in Jesus name. Amen! 

When your papa born a whole community 

and still de call am family! 

Inside life, you go see deeper life!




Olu of Warri: Keyamo advises aggrieved 

persons to accept decision or go to court 

•Agbolaya urges Itsekiri to rally round Olu-designate 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA—Minister 

of 

State for Labour and 

Employment, Olorogun Festus 

Keyamo, SAN, has appealed to 

aggrieved persons in the just 

concluded selection of the Olu 

of Warri-designate to accept the 

choice in good faith. 

The minister also told those 

dissatisfied with the selection to 

follow due process and explore 

legal avenue to ventilate their 

dissent. 

He also commiserated with 

the Itsekiris worldwide on the 

passage of their monarch, the 

immediate past Olu, His Royal 

Majesty, Ogiame Ikenwoli. 

A statement by his Senior 

Special Assistant on Legal and 

Community Affairs, M. E. 

Ukusare, in Abuja, yesterday, 

said: “The minister equally 

congratulates the new Oludesignate, 

Prince 

Utieyinoritsetsola Emiko, as 

announced by the Iyatsere of 

Warri Kingdom. He looks 

forward to hitch-free coronation 

ceremonies while praying for 

God’s guidance and a successful 

reign on the exalted throne. 

“The minister also notes the 

dissent expressed by some 

people on the issue. As one of 

the leaders of the Bar and a 

SAN, he advised those 

aggrieved to either accept the 

decision in good faith in the 

overall interest of the Itsekiri 

Kingdom and Delta State or 

have recourse to due process and 

legal avenues in ventilating their 

dissent. Resorting to violence 

cannot be an option.” 

Meanwhile, a chieftain of 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

in Delta State, Dr Toyin 

Agbolaya, has appealed to all 

Itsekiri sons and daughters to 

rally round the new Olu of Warri 

designate. 

Agbolaya described Prince 

Tsola Emiko as a well-equipped 

man who has the basic 

requirements of royalty to pilot 

the affairs of Iwere land to 

greater heights. 

Agbolaya who was recently 

ordained in the Lord’s 

vineyard as an evangelist, 

said: “I am very sure the 

Omoba will sail the Iwere 

ship to the promised land and 

better days ahead for Warri 

Kingdom." 

INSPECTION: Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State (2nd right); Commissioner for Basic and 

Secondary Education, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare (left); Commissioner for Housing, Chief Festus Ochonogor 

(2nd left); Provost, College of Education, Agbor now University of Delta, Agbor, Dr. Joseph Ukadike (right). 

and Kesta Ifeadi, Project Consultant (middle) explaning the building plan for one of proposed buildings of 

the new institution during the governor's inspection of facilities in the school. 

Nigeria could be owing N16trn by end of 2021 —Obaseki 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

BENIN CITY—Governor 

Godwin Obaseki of Edo 

State has raised the alarm over 

the country’s rising debt profile, 

saying the situation was more 

critical now because of the huge 

amount borrowed to service the 

ailing economy and lack of 

income from sources other than 

crude oil. 

Obaseki, who spoke at the Edo 

State Transition Committee and 

Stakeholders Meeting in Benin 

City, yesterday, lamented that 

major oil giants such as 

Chevron Nigeria Limited and 

Shell Petroleum Development 

Company, SPDC, no longer 

invest so much on oil as was 

obtainable in the past. 

He said: “In another year or 

so, where will we find this money 

that we go to Abuja to share every 

month? Last month, we got 

Federal Accounts Allocation 

Commission, FAAC, for March. 

“We say remove subsidy, they 

say no. This April, next week 

again, we will go to Abuja and 

share. By the end of this year, the 

total borrowing is going to be 

more than N15 trillion to N16 

trillion. 

“I worry that we will wake up 

one day like Argentina, the 

naira will be N1,000, N2,000 

and will be moving because we 

don’t have money coming in. 

You are just borrowing, 

borrowing and borrowing 

without any means or idea of 

how to pay back.” 

Obaseki, who also spoke on 

the 2023 general election, said 

politicians, whose aim is to buy 

or manipulate votes during the 

polls, will find it tough to do so. 

He backed the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, on the 

deployment of technology to 

track and monitor elections in 

By Chioma 

Onuegbu 

UYO —NO fewer than 

5,000 per sons have been 

displaced in Essien Udim Local 

Government Area of Akwa 

Ibom State as a result of the joint 

military operation conducted 

on Tuesday to flush out 

hoodlums camped in the area. 

The displaced persons, 

according to a statement by the 

Chairman of Essien Udim 

council, Mr Anthony Luke, are 

from 12 communities. 

Luke said nine communities 

seriously affected by the security 

situation in the area include 

Ntak Ikot Akpan, Ukana Uwa, 

Ikot Udo Ekpat, Ikot Otu, Ikot 

Afanga, Nto Nsek, Ikot Abia, 

Ikot Ankan, Ikot Ukpong Etor, 

Ikot Ada Utor, Nsasak, and Ikot 

Akpan Essiet. 

He disclosed that the 

displaced persons from those 

villages were currently taking 

refuge at St Ann's Cathedral, 

Ikot Ekpene, Civic Centre Atan, 

Ikot Okoro and St Brigid's Parish, 

Urua Akpan, all in the 

neighbouring Ikot Ekpene LGA 

of the state. 

Luke said: “In the past weeks, 

a dangerous criminal gang had 

the country. 

He said: “INEC itself has 

also begun its process of change. 

It has been worried, 

scandalised by what happened 

in Kogi and Bayelsa and is 

trying to redeem itself. 

“So using technology, they 

make sure that as soon as you 

finish voting in the polling unit, 

that result is transmitted and 

uploaded straight into a portal, 

so they can see the pattern which 

makes it difficult to change 

results at the collation centres." 

Joint military operation: 5,000 persons 

displaced in A’ Ibom LG — Council chair 

launched attacks on various 

security agents/agencies, which 

sadly resulted in the death of 

some security personnel. Their 

activities such as extortion, 

intimidation, robbery, and 

general abuse of the 

fundamental human rights of 

the people degenerated to a 

point that people were living in 

fear. 

“The nefarious activities of 

these hoodlums led to the 

displacement of our people 

from their homes as lives and 

property across Essien Udim 

council were no longer safe. 

“Again, the military operations 

also sent shivers through the 

spines of the people, who for fear 

of being caught up in the crossfires, 

are displaced. We have 

about 5,000 of them that have 

been displaced. 

‘’I have visited the displaced 

persons to encourage them, gave 

them hope and assured them 

that they would be catered for, 

even as we sympathise with them 

over what had befallen them, 

especially this planting season 

as our people are predominantly 

farmers, it is unfortunate.” 

I don’t want to see any Cross 

Riverian in pain —Ayade 

By Emma Una 

CALABAR—Governor Ben 

Ayade of Cross River State 

has said if he has his way, all 

indigenes of the state would be 

included in the state’s payroll to 

stem poverty and 

unemployment. 

Speaking in Calabar, during 

the industrialisation rally in 

support of his administration by 

18 local government chairmen 

and councillors in the state, 

Ayade said he has created an 

opportunity for at least one 

person from each family in the 

state to be in government. 

He said: “Why do I have to 

pay 13,000 political appointees 

and 14,000 people at the council 

level? It is because I care not 

because I have too much and in 

my natural self, I don’t want to 

see any Cross Riverian be in 

pain.” 

Stop killing kidnapped Christians 

or face God's wrath cleric warns 

By Onozure Dania 

THE Leader/Founder of 

Jesus Died for All Nations 

Outreach A.K.A Evangelical 

Tour, Evang. Sunday Udurume, 

has condemned the incessant 

killing of Christians, high rate 

of kidnapping of clerics in 

Nigeria and money laundering 

by political leaders, adding that 

the wrath of God would soon 

fall on them. 

Warning against the killing of 

Christians in the North and 

kidnapping of pastors in parts 

of the country during a two-day 

crusade at Imode and 

Agbaghare communities in 

Ughelli South LGA of Delta 

BCI holds webinar to sustain 

awareness on background 

check 

By Etop Ekanem 

NIGERIA’S 

foremost 

background check 

company, Background Check 

International Ltd, BCI, is set to 

hold a webinar to promote the 

overall importance of 

background check in the country. 

The webinar, which is part of 

BCI’s 16th anniversary is aimed 

at deepening the knowledge of 

the target audience about the 

critical role of background check 

in eliminating fraud, false claims 

and criminal tendencies. 

Chief Executive Officer, 

Background Check 

International, BCI, Mr Kola 

Olugbodi, said the webinar, 

which is tagged “The impact of 

background check on businesses, 

now and in the future” is aimed 

to further educate corporate 

He said his focus on building 

industries was to provide a future 

for the youths of the state to find 

employment and a solid 

financial base for the state. 

The governor called on the 

Federal Government to focus 

more on human capital 

development by providing 

succour, employment and 

welfare schemes for the 

populace and not concentrate 

solely on ‘gigantic 

projects‘while the people are 

dying. 

“God does not reward you for 

the wealth you acquire for 

yourself and your family but 

what you provide for others and 

expect nothing in return.” 

He commended the council 

chairmen and councillors for the 

initiative to celebrate the 

industrial revolution in the state 

which he said would put the 

economy in solid financial 

standing in years to come. 

State, he said the wrath of God 

would be upon those engaged 

in killing of Christians and 

kidnapping of pastors. 

He said: “Political leaders 

indulging in money laundering 

should also desist from the 

practice henceforth. Those 

countries where the monies are 

taken to are developed, whereas 

Nigeria is still a developing 

country. Those involved in 

carrying our money out of the 

country should desist from it. 

“Political leaders should use 

the wealth of the country to build 

industries here that will help 

solve the problem of 

infrastructure and youth 

unemployment.” 

organisations and business 

owners on the crucial role of 

background check to their 

business existence. 

The webinar scheduled for 

Wednesday, April 14 by 2pm has 

Barry Nixon, Founder and COO 

of Pre-employment Directory, 

USA as the keynote Speaker.The 

panelists are Yemi Faseun, Head, 

Human Resources, Globacom; 

Mary Ikoku, Editor-in-Chief, 

Working Moms Africa 

Magazine and Kunbi Adeoti, 

Divisonal Director, Leadeway 

Assurance Company Ltd.. The 

CEO of BCI, Kola Olugbodi, will 

make remarks on salient issues 

on background Check during the 

webinar. 

Rufai Oseni, A TV Host is 

expected to moderate the 

webinar which will critically 

analyse the trends and prospects 

of background check. 

2023: APC vows to unseat PDP in Delta, elects NYC exco 

By Festus Ahon 

ASABA— THE All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC, Delta State chapter, 

yesterday, vowed to unseat the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

in the state in 2023. 

The convener and organiser 

of the National Youth Council, 

NYC, Delta State chapter of the 

APC, Joy Akoyere, who stated 

this while conducting an election 

for the Delta State chapter of 

the body in Ughelli, said it was 

for the party to take over 

governance of the state come 

2023. 

Akoyere said: “We have 

noticed that our party is not 

involving the youths in most of 

its activities, hence we have 

deemed it fit to organise a 

platform and key into the 

programmes of the party." 

Those elected through 

consensus, which were drawn 

from the three senatorial districts 

of the state are Prince Benafa, 

Coordinator; Emmanuel Da- 

Arepamowe, Assistant 

Coordinator; Omonigho 

Playwell, Assistant 

Coordinator; Hero Hero, 

Assistant Coordinator; Osita 

Olunwa, State Deputy 

Coordinator and Frank Izekor, 

Secretary. 

Also elected were Ukoko 

Haggai, Legal Adviser; 

Innocent Ekere, State Treasurer; 

Ntozuka Isioma, State Assistant 

Treasurer; Edhekpo Uyoyou, 

State Financial Secretary; 

Nwachokor Sunday, State 

Assistant Financial Secretary, 

Agboma Peter, Director of Youth 

Development; Daniel Osiebe, 

Organising Secretary and 

Aperebo David, Assistant 

Director of Youth Development. 

The rest are Ogori 

Peremobo-Owei, Publicity 

Secretary; Ekehazia Okolie, 

Auditor; Prince Chukwuemeka 

Okolie, Ex-officio; Cynthia 

Olojoba, Women Leader; 

Delight Charles, Deputy 

Women Leader; Henrietta 

Omagu, Assistant Organising 

Secretary, Andrew Ezekwe, 

Assistant Publicity Secretary 

Print and Electronic Media, 

among others.

The audacity of anarchy 

THERE was a BBC News 

story in February that 

caught me between laughter 

and bemusement. The news 

channel reported, in very 

strong language matched only 

by the alarming reactions of the 

persons interviewed, a spate of 

stabbings across parts of south 

London that left at least one 

dead. 

It’s sad that anyone should 

take the law into their own 

hands, and sadder still that even 

one innocent person should 

suffer injury or die from such 

senseless attacks. 

One of the law enforcement 

officers interviewed, Ade 

Adelekan, obviously with 

Nigerian roots, described the 

south London incidents as 

“shocking” and went on to say 

that the “absolutely horrific 

news would devastate our 

community”. 

In comparison with what has 

been happening in Nigeria in 

recent times, Adelekan’s 

response to the south London 

attacks would appear to be 

outrage that should have been 

reserved for two-fighting. His 

misery, however, genuinely 

concerning, would not make it 

to the Sitrep of the local police 

authorities in Nigeria, much less 

become a matter of interest at 

the state or national level. 

Violence now registers in its 

grossest numbers and scale, 

and would become instant 

national news if it affects one or 

two people of power and 

influence. The country is sliding 

into anarchy and the harder 

you try to run from headlines of 

deaths and violence and 

destruction, the faster the news 

catches up with you. 

Even social media with its 

incredible capacity for the banal 

and the bizarre couldn’t make 

up the heartrending wave after 

wave of utterly distressing news 

of violence in recent times. 

Troubled East 

The South East, home to one 

of the three largest ethnic 

nationalities and the theatre of 

a brutal civil war that left over 

two million dead, has been 

facing something worse than a 

crisis in the last few weeks: it’s 

been at war, again. Between 

January 8 and March 22, nine 

police officers have been 

murdered, 12 police stations 

burnt down and three 

checkpoints attacked and 

vandalised by gunmen. 

But that was only small potato 

compared with the horrific 

events that would follow. 

In two straight days, gunmen 

attacked and burnt down two 

major police facilities and a 

correctional centre in Owerri, 

Imo State, and released over 

1,800 inmates. The attacks were 

bad enough. The audacious 

manner in which they were 

carried out makes Syria look like 

a peace haven. According to 

reports, the gunmen announced 

themselves with a carnival near 

the Government House in the 

wee hours, chanting war songs, 

shooting into the air, and 

generally making merry. 

For 30 minutes while the 

madness lasted, no one, that is, 

no state official stirred. Not the 

police whose headquarters 

shares a wall with the 

Government House where this 

drama was taking place, not 

Governor Hope Uzodimma of 

Imo who only a few weeks 

earlier deployed busloads of 

armed policemen in an 

internecine war with his 

predecessor and political rival, 

What happened in Imo 

is inexcusable; the only 

way to prevent it 

happening again, 

whether in Imo or 

elsewhere in the 

country, is to find the 

perpetrators and punish 

them before ethnic 

politics inflames the 

tragedy 

not one single security official 

stirred. 

After the rehearsal in front of 

the Government House, which 

the gunmen could have 

recorded and shared on social 

media if they wanted to, they 

then proceeded to attack the 

Police headquarters and the 

correctional facility. 

In the morning, the governor, 

the police high command and 

every single public official who 

should have been hiding in 

shame rushed to the crime 

scene chewing microphones in 

a rehearsed show of pretentious 

rage and improvised shock and 

surprise. The law, they 

promised, would take its course 

- that is, after the next mayhem, 

and the next one… 

Enough, and then… 

Yet, to send a message that 

they were not to be trifled with, 

the gunmen attacked another 

police station in the state within 

24 hours. This attack came even 

after President Muhammadu 

Buhari replaced Police 

inspector general, Mohammed 

Adamu one month ahead of 

schedule. Weeks after Buhari 

said never again following the 

kidnap of hundreds of students 

from their dormitories in the 

North of the country, trouble 

came back with its own shade. 

The new Inspector General of 

Police, Usman Alkali Baba, has 

his work cut out for him. He is 

taking the reins at a time when 

the reputation of the force and 

public confidence in it are at 

their lowest. 

There’s hardly any search that 

won’t turn up the force among 

one of the world’s worst either 

for corruption or human rights 

abuses, ranking it, in some 

instances, with forces in DR 

Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Haiti 

and Pakistan. And yet this was 

a force ranked among the best 

in international peacekeeping 

in the past. 

At the heart of the #EndSARS 

protests which nearly brought 

Buhari’s government to its 

knees last year was the legend 

of police brutality and 

corruption, with stories ranging 

from chilling human rights 

abuses, to corrupt recruitment 

and tropes of how you can rent 

the force or hire arms for less 

than a piper’s fee. The rot is 

deep, very deep. And it’s 

beyond the missionary zeal of 

any new appointee. 

Nothing justifies the brazen 

attacks on police facilities and 

policemen or the freeing of 

inmates. Nothing. But it 

doesn’t matter how many times 

Buhari replaces the head of the 

police, until he is prepared to 

make more than cosmetic 

changes, until he is prepared 

to deal with the root causes of 

spiraling violence, including 

the deepening feelings of 


malicious exclusion, failure of 

intelligence and proliferation of 

illegal arms, things would get 

worse. 

A 2016 Oxfam report put the 

estimated legal and illegal 

small arms and light weapons 

circulating in Nigeria at about 

two million. But the number, 

according to former head of 

state Abdulsalami Abubakar, 

has tripled in five years, 

reaching six million. 

The unraveling of Libya 

apparently accounts for some of 

the proliferation, but no one can 

say for sure how many are 

pouring in through the porous 

borders and how many are 

hired for a fee by rogue 

elements in the security forces. 

Crime is crime 

And then there are the “soft” 

issues, which also appear to be 

just as deadly. You can tell how 

serious these “soft” issues are 

in how the debate has drifted 

from finding the culprits of the 

Imo attacks and punishing 

them, to name-calling and 

finger-pointing. 

Crime is crime. No one who 

attacks and burns down a 

police station and frees inmates 

should go unpunished, 

whether they are members of 

the Eastern Security Network, 

IPOB or any of their franchises. 

The problem is that politicians 

have been captured by the same 

mob, gang leaders and ethnic 

warlords they raised to win 

elections – the monsters they 

nursed over the years: those in 

the South West are willing 

captives of Sunday Igboho; 

those in the South East kowtow 

to Nnamdi Kanu; and those in 

the North take peace offering 

Criminals will be brought to justice 

By OGBENI RAUF 

AREGBESOLA 

I 

RECEIVED with much 

sadness the report of the 

coordinated attacks on the Owerri 

Custodial Centre and the Imo 

State Command Headquarters of 

the Nigeria Police in the early 

hours of Monday April 5, 2021. 

Much havoc was wreaked at both 

places by the assailants, including 

the forced release of 1,844 inmates 

in lawful custody. 

I commiserate with the 

government and good people of 

Imo State and Imo State 

Commissioner of Police on these 

sad and unfortunate 

developments. 

During the #EndSARS riots of 

late last year, there were 

coordinated attacks on custodial 

centres in Edo State, while an 

unsuccessful attempt was made in 

OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA 

Lagos. Thus, a pattern of 

syndicated attacks on custodial 

centres is emerging. 

From the preliminary report on 

the attacks, it is the worst of such 

ever witnessed in living memory. 

Unprovoked attacks on the 

institutions of state, especially the 

law enforcement institutions is 

nothing short of a declaration of 

war on the Nigerian state and her 

people. 

Attacking police headquarters 

could only have been intentioned 

to cripple the Nigerian state and 

stop it from its duty of protecting 

the lives and property of the 

people. The attack on a custodial 

centre and forcible freeing of 

inmates was meant to imperil law 

abiding citizen with possible harm 

that could come to them from 

hardened criminals on the loose. 

These acts, therefore, are capable 

of unleashing anarchy and gravely 

imperil the lives and property of 

the Nigerian people. The 

perpetrators are without doubt the 

enemies of the people and should 

be treated as such. 

It also has all the characteristics 

of terrorism, meant to put fear in 

the people, disrupt communal 

peace and create disaffection 

among the people. 

The Federal Government will 

react appropriately by going after 

these criminals and make them to 

face the full wrath of the law. We 

will leave no stone unturned in 

fishing them out. Make no 

mistake, they will be hunted to the 

ends of the earth. They can only 

run, but they cannot hide. We shall 

bring them to justice, or in the 

alternative, take justice to them. 

Additional security will be 

provided for all custodial centres 

from now on, for the safety of 

personnel and inmates and 

security of the facilities. 

Full investigation will also 

commence immediately. I am 

appealing to all escaped inmates 

to voluntarily return to custody. 

Those who heed this call will be 

to Abubakar Shekau and his 

murderous gang of Boko 

Haram, bandits and herdsmen. 

Our politicians are done for. 

Unfortunately, we’re paying the 

price. 

When President Buhari who 

instead of showing the way 

with the tough, no-nonsense 

firmness that endeared him to 

Nigerians in his earlier life, 

choose instead to act like a 

captive of the mob, he lost the 

chance to stop the problem from 

escalating. 

With career politicians 

muddying the waters ahead of 

2023, the perception that 

Buhari’s government takes 

sides with the partisan mob will 

only compound our collective 

misery. 

But we can’t - and won’t - 

surrender to anarchy. Of 

course, what appears to be the 

official government policy of 

negotiating with bandits and 

criminals in one part of the 

country, while demonising and 

shelling them in other parts, has 

emboldened criminality. It must 

stop. 

Crime is crime. Criminals 

should be sussed out, whoever 

they are and in wherever they 

are found, and punished as a 

deterrent. What happened in 

Imo is inexcusable. The only 

way to prevent it happening 

again, whether in Imo or 

elsewhere in the country, is to 

find the perpetrators and 

punish them before ethnic 

politics inflames the tragedy. 

Crime thrives on indulgence. 

That was what the south London 

policeman saw. Buhari must 

show, by his clear unambiguous 

choices, that his government is 

not feeding anarchy. 

given amnesty on the possible 

consequences of escaping from 

lawful custody. 

I urge all correctional officers to 

be vigilant and take the security of 

the facilities and the inmates 

seriously, more than ever before. 

We are at war with an enemy that 

you may not yet know but knows 

you inside out. 

I want to assure the good people 

of Imo State, and indeed all 

Nigerians, of the commitment of 

the Federal Government to the 

protection of lives and property 

and maintenance of law and order. 

I am also calling on citizens with 

useful information on the 

perpetrators of this dastardly acts 

and escaped inmates to inform the 

nearest law enforcement agency 

post nearest him or her. It is a 

patriotic duty to do so. 

The onus is on traditional rulers, 

religious leaders, community 

leaders, professional associations, 

family heads and others in 

positions of leadership and 

authority to make our 

communities incommodious to 

criminals.No criminal should 

have accommodation and 

protection in our communities. 

Let me assure you all once again 

that the Federal Government will 

get to the root of this incident and 

deploy the full security apparatus 

of government to deal with the 

criminals bent on undermining 

our security, peace and protection. 

Being speech delivered by the 

Minister of Interior Ogbeni Rauf 

Aregbesola, while inspecting the 

Owerri custodial centre in the 

aftermath of the Monday, April 5, 

2021 attack on the centre, last 

Tuesday


PRESENTATION OF BOOK TO CELEBRATE AISHA BUHARI @ 50 

The public presentation of the book; "Aisha Buhari: Being Different" to commemorate the 50th birthday of the First Lady, Hajia Aisha 

Buhari held at the State House Conference Centre, Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday. PHOTOS: ABAYOMI ADESHIDA. 

The First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari with her predecessor, Dame Patience 

Jonathan. 

From left; Representative of a guest presenter, Princess Ivie Idahosa Emiko; 

Representative of the Chairman of BUA, Dr. Idi Hong; Representative of 

the President, Dangote Group, Hajia Fati Wali and APC National Leader, 

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu with the effigy of the book. 

Author of the book, Dr. Hajo Sani (left) exchanging pleasantries with Representative 

of Chairman of BUA, Dr. Idi Hong and Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State. 

From left, Former Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Almakura; Former 

Borno State Governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff; Acting. Managing Director 

NDDC, Barr. Effiong Akwa and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator 

Godswill Akpabio. 

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi (right) and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji 

Sa'ad Abubakar III arriving for the presentation. 

From teft, Wife of former Vice President, Hajia Fati Namadi Sambo; ex- 

First Lady, Patience Jonathan and ex-Minister of Industries, Dr. Nike Akande. 

From left, Wife of ex-Akwa Ibom State Gov, Mrs. Uloma 

Akpabio; NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd) Kogi State gov, Yahaya Bello (left) and Deputy 

and his spouse Hajia Munirat Marwa. 

Senate President, Sen Ovie Omo-Agege 

Former Super Eagles Striker, Daniel Amokachi 

(centre) with other guests.


BOOK LAUNCH & POSTHUMOUS AWARD TO LATE ALEX IBRU 

The launching of a book; Making of The Nigerian Flagship and Posthumous Award to late publisher of Guardian newspaper, 

Mr Alex Uruemu Ibru held at Balmoral Hall, Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos yesterday. PHOTOS: BUNMI AZEEZ. 

From left: Mr. Lanre Idowu, Chairman, Diamond Publication, Mr. Lade Bonuola, 

former Editor in Chief of Guardian Newspapers, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, 

former Governor of Ogun State and Chairman of the occasion and Mr. Gbenga 

Adefaye, GM/ Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard newspapers. 

From left: Mustapha Isah, President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mrs. Ayo Obe, 

Mr. Abdul Oroh and Mr. Eze Anaba, Editor, Vanguard Newspaper. 

From left: Prince Nduka Obaigbena, Publisher, Thisday Newspapers, From left; Mr. Danald Duke, former Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Wale Omole, 

Mr. Toke Ibru, Executive Director, Guardian Newspapers and Mr. Martins former Chairman, Editorial Board of Guardian Newspapers, Mr. Lade Bonuola, former Editor 

Oloja, Editor in Chief, Guardian Newspapers. 

in Chief of Guardian, Sen Ayogu Eze and Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, Chairman, Tanus Communication. 

(LEFT:) Mr. Louis 

Odion, former 

Commissioner of 

Information, Edo 

State (left) and 

Comrade Issa 

Aremu, Vice 

P r e s i d e n t , 

IndustriALL Global 

Union. 

(RIGHT): 

From left: 

Prince Jacob 

Akinde, Mr. 

Sunmi Smart- 

Cole and Amb. 

Dele Cole. 

Owhrode Community gets new executive 

THE 

Owhrode 

Community in Udu 

Local Government Area of 

Delta State has elected a 

executive thus witnessing 

a peaceful transition of 

leadership for the first time 

in over three decades. 

Speaking after the 

election, the new President 

General of the newlysworn 

executive, Engr 

Fidelix Ofuya said his 

administration would use 

the three years mandate to 

consolidate on the positive 

developments achieved by 

his predecessor. 

Also speaking at the 

conference, former 

Chairman of Udu Council, 

Mr Raymond Edijala and 

the President General of the 

Union of Udu Community, 

Chief Godwin Notoma 

hailed the outgone 

executive led by Edafe 

Oghenekaro for not 

clinging on to power like 

past leaders. 

Edijala and Notoma 

noted that Oghenekaro 

willingness to peacefully 

hand over power was a 

signal of a new dawn in 

Owhrode Community and 

a formidable model for 

other communities in Udu 

Kingdom. 

They charged the new 

executive to work with 

people in the community. 

Giving his account of 

stewardship, the outgone 

President General of 

Owhrode, Edafe 

Oghenekaro appealed to 

the people of the 

community to close ranks 

and place its interest above 

personal interest. 

Union Systems CEO, Onyebuchi becomes 

British Computer Society Fellow 

CHUKS Onyebuchi, 

the CEO of Union 

Systems, has been 

conferred with the 

Fellowship of the British 

Computer Society (BCS) 

which is the highest 

professional grade of the 

British Computer 

Society. This was 

achieved after a rigorous 

evaluation process by the 

association’s board of 

evaluators. 

Fellow of the British 

Computer Society (FBCS) 

is a title conferred by the 

British Computer Society 

for innovative IT leaders 

who have made an 

outstanding contribution to 

the advancement of the 

industry and inspire the 

next generation. Chuks 

will join the league of IT 

leaders globally to 

contribute to policies that 

will shape the industry. 

Onyebuchi is a 

technology business leader 

with over 25 years of 

experience in the 

information technology 

industry. He has had an 

accomplished career 

developing and delivering 

software solutions to major 

banks in Africa. Under his 

leadership, Union 

Systems introduced Trade- 

X, a home-grown trade 

finance software 

application that solves all 

the peculiar problems faced 

in the Nigerian trade 

finance operations.


Farewell to Joy 

THE last time I spoke to my 

dear, precious, brilliant 

friend Joy Okoye, I promised to 

see her when I next visited London. 

I flew into London from Abuja last 

Saturday, just before Easter 

Sunday. Joy died the same day, so 

our reunion never happened. 

Nearly 40 years ago, when we 

were both in our early 20s and 

fresh out of the British universities 

we’d attended, I met Joy in Lagos. 

She was at the Law School in 

Victoria Island. I was doing my 

national youth service, NYSC, at 

Shell Petroleum’s headquarters on 

Marina. We bonded immediately 

and deeply for all sorts of reasons, 

including the fact that we were 

both feisty, both thoroughly 

enjoyed Life and both smoked and 

drank like Oyinbo girls at a time 

when such habits were regarded 

as inappropriate for Nigerian 

ladies from good homes. 

When traditionalists 

complained about our 

“misbehaviour”, I would point 

out that Joy and I were, at least, 

not sexually promiscuous!!! In 

some ways, we were tomboys; and 

we liked to hang out with male 

chums who treated us like fellow 

guys and engaged us in lively 

intellectual discussions and 

heated but amicable debates 

about current affairs, philosophy, 

legal matters, et cetera. 

That year in Lagos (1981-82) 

was absolutely fabulously 

carefree and one of the happiest 

years of my life. We 

made so many 

wonderful friends and 

went to tonnes of fun 

parties and nightclubs 

and beach picnics on 

Tarkwa Bay. We fondly 

reminisced about these 

halcyon days whenever 

we got together in the 

decades that followed. 

Joy and I eventually 

decided to return to the 

UK where I became a 

journalist and she a 

barrister who took a 

keen interest in 

defending ethnic 

minority underdogs 

who were victims of a 

British criminal justice 

system she constantly 

assured me was racist 

to the core. 

When we were in our late 30s, I 

decided to have another go at 

living in Nigeria; and I moved to 

Abuja with my husband and son. 

Joy came to stay with me for a 

while; and I looked for her 

whenever I was visiting London. 

As we aged, our conversations 

mostly revolved around the 

multiple painful disappointments 

we had endured. 

We would talk for hours and 

hours about the stupid mistakes 

we had made and the bitter 

betrayals that had been inflicted 

on us by folks we had helped and 

expected small basic kindnesses 

from. We reacted differently to the 

emotional suffering, financial 

worries and professional 

problems that scarred us so 

profoundly. 

I got tougher and angrier and 

more selfish. Joy continued to be 

an angel. She was one of the most 

generous and courageous 

individuals I have ever had the 

privilege of knowing; and she 

wore the sadness and fear that she 

often experienced with 

superhuman dignity. I nearly 

collapsed from raw, headspinning 

grief when she calmly 

told me that the cancer that had 

attacked her body was terminal. 

Since I was told about her death, 

I have shed so many tears. I am 

totally, inconsolably heartbroken. 

May she rest in peace in the bosom 

of the Almighty. Farewell, until we 

meet again, JoyGirl. 

•The late Joy Okoye 

•Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (r), acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali 

Baba, and Police Affairs Minister, Mohammad Dingyadi, at the decoration of the new IGP 

Who fights their boss?! 

EARLIER on this week, 

the Vice-President, 

Professor Yemi Osinbajo, 

decorated the new Acting 

Inspector General of Police, 

IGP, Usman Alkali Baba, at the 

Presidential Villa, Abuja. 

The vice president said: “You 

are assuming office at a very 

turbulent time in the life of our 

people. There are multiple 

threats to law, order and 

public safety. The role of law 

enforcement agencies, 

particularly that of the Police 

Force as the primary agency 

charged with maintaining law 

and order, has never been 

more important.” 

The vice president made 

other perfectly sensible 

comments on this occasion. 

But guess what? 

Medical 

reasons 

I have heard a barrage of 

gripes from people who feel 

that the vice president has no 

business decorating a 

Northern IGP (who is, 

allegedly, junior to senior 

Southern policemen who were 

more qualified for the job). 

Others are expressing the 

view that the vice president 

should not lift a finger to 

perform any official role on 

President Buhari’s behalf 

because the latter allegedly 

insulted him by not officially 

handing over to him when he 

took off to London last week 

for medical reasons. 

“Mumu!!!” 

and 

“Powerless!!!” are words that 

are frequently used, in private 

gatherings, to describe the 

vice president nowadays. 

And I’m totally appalled by 

the disrespect that is being 

directed at one of the most 

capable public servants in 

Nigeria…and shocked by the 

hypocrisy of harsh detractors 

who are hellbent on chastising 

him for not rebelling against 

his Boss and “Fulani 

I don’t think 

the vice 

president 

should leave 

because he is 

doing a lot of 

worthwhile 

things for this 

country behind 

the scenes 

Muslims”. 

“Osinbajo should resign if he 

doesn’t have the balls to 

assert himself and represent 

Southern Christians 

properly!” according to a 

contemptuous fellow APC 

politician from my state. You 

know what annoys and 

amuses me about such 

criticisms? 

Whether they are in 

government or the private 

sector, Nigerians are famed 

for their cowardice and the 

sycophancy they display in the 

presence of superiors. And I 

am pretty sure that not one of 

the people who are abusing 

the vice president for being too 

tame would behave any 

differently if they were 

occupying the Number Two 

slot. 

The vice president is being 

respectful; and I’m 100 per 

cent OK with his decision to 

wisely play second fiddle and 

not try to carve out a separate 

agenda that will put him at 

loggerheads with the man 

who appointed him. 

As far as I am concerned, 

you either agree to be a superloyal 

deputy or you throw a 

tantrum and leave when you 

don’t like the lie of the land. 

And I don’t think the vice 

president should leave 

because he is doing a lot of 

worthwhile things for this 

country behind the scenes. 

Frankly, I would have blown 

a fuse by now if I had been in 

his shoes. But it is precisely 

because I am the crazy, fuseblowing 

type that I will never 

be in his shoes!!! And it is 

precisely because he is not a 

volatile drama king that I 

regard him as a safe pair of 

hands. 

RESPONSES TO 

donzol2002@yahoo.co.uk or 

to 0805 404 6887. PLEASE 

KINDLY NOTE THAT UNLESS 

YOU REQUEST ANONYMITY, 

YOUR EMAIL OR TEXT MAY 

BE PUBLISHED WITH YOUR 

NAME AND CONTACT 

DETAILS ATTACHED.

The return of Luna and Gbagbo 

THE former Latin American 

labour leader and past 

Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio 

Lula da Silva, and African 

intellectual and ex-President of 

Cote d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, 

have returned from years in prison 

to be the hope of their various 

countries. Both are victims of 

international conspiracy executed 

by local lackeys employing 

dubious judicial processes 

designed to work to a given 

answer. 

Luna and Gbagbo are 

courageous men who challenged 

decades of subservience 

to international powers and 

profiteers; their leadership gave 

hope to their people. Both 

men have just survived vicious 

schemes to quash them. 

Luna had led the 

Brazilian Workers Party to 

victory in 2003. The trade 

unionist who had been 

imprisoned for opposing military 

rule, secured 39 million votes or 

46.4 per-cent of the votes to 

become president said after his 

victory: “I, who so many times 

was accused of not having a 

university diploma, won my first 

diploma as president of the 

Republic of Brazil.” 

He had tried to reverse the 

exploitative relations between the 

state and the Brazilian people. 

He introduced massive social 

works, lifted 19 million 

Cybersecurity in 2021 – What to expect 

By JASON IKEGWU 

YEAR 2020 was a significant one for all 

people worldwide with the outbreak of 

the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a year in 

which all aspects of our lives were drastically 

affected, exposing our collective fragility and 

increasing feelings of fear and uncertainty. The 

arrival of COVID-19 forced people’s lives to 

move online, both at work and in person, and 

digital transformation accelerated. 

Technology helped to maintain social and 

emotional well-being and helped many 

organisations stay afloat. However, this new 

reality has also led to an increase in the 

number of cyber-attacks. 

As cyber-attacks increase and new 

cybersecurity trends continue to emerge, 

organisations must take a proactive IT security 

stance to keep their operations safe. They must 

become more agile, flexible, and collaborative 

as they strive to protect their critical assets and 

infrastructure. They need to increase their 

digital security initiatives, change strategies, 

and educate employees about cybersecurity 

to deal with this increase in cyber-threats. The 

year came with an optimistic outlook 

considering the current strides in developing 

vaccines for COVID-19. As businesses seek to 

transition to a new normal in 2021, we will 

examine some of the projections and 

expectations in the cybersecurity landscape 

and what will underpin organisations’ 

cybersecurity priorities in 2021. 

•There will be increased demand for remote 

working security. As organisations embrace 

remote and smart working, remote access to 

corporate environments brings quite 

significant constraints for enterprises to protect 

and ensure secure access to their networks. 

There is an urgent need for organisations to 

reimagine their cybersecurity approaches and 

evolve countermeasures of protecting 

Brazilians from extreme poverty 

and vastly expanded access to 

education. His government 

gave poor families a monthly 

subsidy of between $12 and $117 

per child which covered 12 

million homes, and moved 30 

million people from the lower 

classes into the middle class. 

Luna was re-elected in 

the October 2006 elections, this 

time securing 46 million votes 

or 48.6 per-cent of total vote cast. 

He was succeeded in 2010 

by fellow party member, Dilma 

Rousseff who continued in his 

steps. Since their opponents could 

not muster the needed votes to 

defeat them at the polls, they 

hatched a ‘constitutional coup’ in 

2016. 

Rousseff was accused in 

parliament that back in 2014, 

she did not disclose the true size 

of the country’s budget deficit 

and that this was tantamount to 

an abuse of office and, therefore, 

impeachable. On that basis, she 

was removed from office. 

Simultaneously, Luna was set up 

for political incineration by 

having what turned out to be false 

cases of corruption brought 

against him. As a result, in 2017, 

he was sentenced to a dozen years 

imprisonment on allegation 

of receiving a seaside 

apartment as part of a contract 

award kickback. On the basis of 

this, he was banned in 2018 from 

teleworkers in the emerging future of work. In 

2021, there will be increased adoption of 

remote and smart working models, and 

organisations must proactively embrace the 

zero-trust architecture to combat remote 

working threats. 

•Multi-Factor Authentication, MFA, will be 

critical. Nowadays, there are daily 

occurrences of authentication attacks and 

cybercriminals have perfected measures of 

using stolen usernames and passwords on 

underground forums to compromise 

organisations, using password spraying and 

credential stuffing attacks. Over time, 

cybercriminals have perfected the act of 

syphoning billions of credentials from 

breached interactions and systems across the 

dark web and underground forums. 

•These databases, paired with the ease of 

automating authentication attacks, means no 

internet-exposed service is safe from cyber 

intrusion if it is not using MFA. MFAs will be 

mandated as authentication requirements by 

regulators in many countries in 2021 and will 

be used to enforce and maintain security levels. 

Organisations should, therefore, make 

adequate preparations for implementing 

different variants of MFAs to cope with 

emerging trends and challenges. 

•The challenges around cloud security will 

increase. Even though organisations were 

gradually migrating to cloud before 2020, the 

advent of the COVID-19 pandemic 

accelerated cloud adoption and empowered 

remote working and online collaboration. This 

rapid migration and cloud adoption opened 

up new security threats and vulnerabilities 

across different computing systems, though 

the traditional cloud technology was premised 

around functionality and convenience and not 

security. Cybercriminals exploit these gaps to 

perpetrate all kinds of havoc, including 

espionage and cross country cyber attacks. To 

contesting the presidential 

election. The Supreme Court in 

November 2019 allowed him to 

remain free while his appeals 

were pending. 

This process led to the rise of 

incumbent President Jair 

Bolsonaro who tried to reverse 

the Luna programmes and erase 

his legacy. Bolsario is not only 

running an anti-people 

government but has led the 

country into ruins with his 

handling of the COVID-19 

pandemic. In aping then 

President Donald Trump of the 

United States, he had declared the 

coronavirus a ruse, a “fantasy”. 

He went far beyond the Trump 

tantrums by actually holding 

mass rallies of people without 

masks during which he shook 

hands to demonstrate to 

Brazilians that that COVID-19 is 

a fiction. Even when these rallies 

Gbagbo’s welcome 

return will give hope to 

Ivorians as Ouattara, 

despite an 

unconstitutional third 

term in office has 

proven to be a disaster 

spread the virus, he dismissed it 

and assured Brazilians they are 

immune to COVID-19 because as 

he falsely claimed, they have 

antibodies. He also 

encouraged them to reject 

lockdowns by local state officials 

and went on as President, to 

declare the lockdowns illegal. The 

states had to approach the 

Supreme Court to reverse him. 

The result was that Brazilians 

began to die like flies. On March 

23, 2021, Brazil’s daily COVID- 

19 death toll soared past 3,000 

with many hospitals 

at breaking point. That day, the 

number of deaths were 3,251 

deaths bringing the overall death 

toll to nearly 299,000. 

protect their information assets, organisations 

will have to focus efforts on improving cloud 

security initiatives. Prevention and detection 

strategies will be crucial for all organisations, 

large or small, to protect themselves against 

these threats. Expanding the use of the cloud 

will require organisations to improve the 

visibility of their cloud presence, assets and 

vendor relationships to manage risks. 

•The adoption of technology-driven security 

tools will be rapid. Today’s most effective 

cybersecurity measures centre around insight 

and response. The mechanism for providing 

spontaneous response and data-driven insights 

rests on technology. These technologies, 

including automated security tools and 

advanced machine learning technologies, 

support decision making and provide alerts 

on risky thresholds in tackling threats and 

vulnerabilities. In 2021 the use of these 

technology-driven security tools will be at the 

centre of cybersecurity implementation. 

With growing data privacy awareness and 

the adoption of the GDPR globally come 

greater scrutiny from clients and consumers, 

who demand their sensitive information be 

kept safe. Legacy technologies built on static 

rules can simply not stand up to this pressure, 

and we are instead going to see even greater 

adoption of intelligent security technologies 

that use contextual machine learning to keep 

data safe. Organisations will need to make 

conscious efforts to create security strategies 

and implement the same with intelligent 

technology-driven security tools and advanced 

machine learning technologies. 

•There will be an increase in ransomware 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021—17 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

On that same day, Bolsonaro 

appointed his fourth Health 

Minister, a Cardiologist 

Marcelo Queiroga, 55. He 

replaced Eduardo Pazuello, an 

army general with no medical 

experience who had been 

appointed based on the 

President’s questionable 

conclusion that COVID-19 may 

require the handling of a strong 

hand. The first two Health 

Ministers, Doctors Luiz Henrique 

Mandetta and Nelson Teich had 

to go when Bolsonario rejected 

medical advice in handling the 

pandemic. 

Now, many Brazilians are 

turning back to Luna to save the 

country both from the pandemic 

and its political version: 

Bolsonaro. The coast for Luna was 

cleared when on Monday, 

March 8, 2021, the Supreme 

Court threw out most of the 

criminal cases manufactured 

against him and restored his 

political rights, including those to 

contest the October 2, 2022 

Presidential elections. 

The set up against Luna began 

to unravel when Justice Sergio 

Moro, the federal judge who 

sentenced him, left the bench to 

join Bolsanaro’s government as 

Justice Minister in what appeared 

as a reward for sending Luna to 

prison. 

Then in June 2019, leaked 

messages between Justice Moro 

and the prosecutors were 

published in which the judge 

gave the prosecutors tips and 

strategic guidance on how to 

make the case against Luna 

appear credible. So the judge was 

also the prosecutor. 

A panicky President Bolsonaro 

vowed that despite Luna’s judicial 

victory, the “Brazilian people 

won’t want to have a candidate 

like him in 2022 and let’s not even 

think about his possible election.” 

But the decision is not in the 

Organisations will need to make 

conscious efforts to create security 

strategies and implement the 

same with intelligent technologydriven 

security tools 

hands of Bolsonaro, but that of 

the electorate. 

In the case of Gbagbo, a 

disputed election with French 

tool, Alassane Ouattara, in 2010 

led to violence in which 

some 3,000 people lost their lives. 

The French then abducted him, 

but since they had no basis 

transferring him to their country, 

they hauled him before the 

International Criminal Court, 

ICC, even when his country was 

not a member of that court. He 

was charged with four counts of 

crimes against humanity, murder, 

rape and other forms of sexual 

violence, persecution and “other 

inhuman acts”. 

In 2019 the ICC found him 

innocent of all charges but under 

the guise of appealing the 

decision, Gbagbo was prevented 

from returning home which would 

have allowed him contest the 

presidential election. He 

was forced to stay in Brussels 

pending the appeal. 

But the Presiding Judge, Chile 

Eboe-Osuji, has now ruled that: 

“The appeals chamber, by 

majority, has found no error that 

could have materially affected the 

decision of the trial chamber. The 

appeals chamber hereby revokes 

all remaining conditions on the 

release of Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. 

Blé Goudé (co-defendant) as a 

result of this judgement.” 

The appeal judges said 

the evidence against Gbagbo 

was extremely weak, and 

wondered why so much time and 

resources were wasted for such a 

long time. The simple reason is 

that it was a political trial 

designed to punish a vocal 

African president who had 

rejected French dictation, 

including on award of contracts. 

Gbagbo’s welcome return will 

give hope to Ivorians as 

Ouattara, despite an 

unconstitutional third term in 

office has proven to be a disaster. 

attacks. COVID-19 brought some social 

challenges, including latent economic 

exposures across the globe. Individuals who 

hitherto were dedicated to specific 

employment relinquished these jobs or earned 

less than required. Of course, this increased 

the number of cybercriminals who attack 

databases and block user accesses to demand 

ransoms before providing access to legitimate 

users. These ransomware attackers will be 

targeting corporate entities, holding the 

company’s databases in exchange for cryptocurrency 

or other forms of financial 

compensation. 

The greatest challenge with ransomware 

attacks is the reputational dent on the 

organisation and the transit data accumulated 

by the attackers. Even when the accesses are 

restored, the attackers can still use the retained 

data to blackmail the organisation, make 

financial demands and publicly expose the 

organisation. Ransomware is becoming more 

technically advanced and sophisticated. In 

2021, ransomware attacks will be the most 

rampant attack across organisations. 

Several entities will be targeted and 

compromised. Organisations, therefore, must 

prepare for ransomware prevention and 

recovery. Networks should be segmented and 

components hardened. Disaster recovery, 

business continuity, and data recovery plans 

should be in place and tested periodically. 

•New forms of 5G vulnerabilities will 

emerge; 5G technology will be one of the 

greatest drivers and revolutions of this decade, 

enabling the fastest and broadest connectivity 

for humanity. As the 5G technology adoption 

set in as the standard form of cloud-based data 

transfer and communication, more 

vulnerabilities, compromises, and new 

cybersecurity threats will also emerge. 

Continues online: www.vanguardngr.com 

*Ikegwu, an IT expert and consultant, wrote 

from Lagos


PROFESSOR Idowu Akanbi 

Sobowale, described as a “teacher of 

teachers”, administrator par 

excellence, astute manager of men 

and resources and an opinion leader, 

is a veritable example of how a man 

can make significant and far-reaching 

contributions to the development of 

his country without necessarily 

occupying any high office. 

Professor Idowu Sobowale is not a 

politician, nor did fate ever draft him 

into the office of the vice chancellor 

of any university, a position he is 

eminently qualified to occupy. 

But his name has gone down history 

as one of the founding fathers of the 

Lagos State University, LASU. 

Before his forays into education, 

Sobowale had a distinguished career 

as a journalist. Born March 29, 1941 

in Ashipa, a small town near 

Abeokuta, of a humble background, 

he began his elementary education in 

1954 at the age of 14. 

He attended the Lagos Baptist 

,Prof Idowu Sobowale, renowned 

educationist at 80 

Academy, graduating in 1964. Later, 

he was employed by the Lagos City 

Council as a health inspector – a job 

he did for only six days because he 

met by chance the late Chief Bisi 

Onabanjo, a fellow alumnus of Baptist 

Academy and first elected Governor 

of Ogun State. 

Chief Bisi Onabanjo introduced 

Sobowale to Mr. Babatunde Jose, the 

editor of the Daily Times who gave 

him a job in the newspaper. 

He later attended the University of 

Lagos, UNILAG, from where he 

earned a Diploma and B.A (Hons) 

degree in Mass Communication. In 

1975, he left the Daily Times to join 

UNILAG as assistant lecturer in the 

Institute of Mass Communication. 

After one year at UNILAG, Sobowale 

left for Syracuse University, USA, for 

his Master’s degree. 

He returned in 1978 with a Ph.D, 

specialising in Scientific Journalism. 

From UNILAG, Idowu Sobowale 

introduced Opinion Polling to 

Nigerian journalism by establishing 

a public opinion polling desk at The 

Punch Newspapers under the 

leadership of Mr. Sam Amuka. 

He later became a Special Assistant 

to the former Governor of Lagos 

State, the late Alhaji Lateef Jakande. 

According to Professor Abisogun 

Leigh, a former Vice Chancellor of 

LASU, there were two people who 

instigated the idea of establishing 

LASU: Idowu Sobowale and the late 

Professor Femi Agbalajobi. 

Between 1999 and 2003, Sobowale 

served as the Lagos State 

Commissioner for Education. Later, 

he was appointed a Professor of 

Journalism by the Lagos State 

University. 

Idowu Sobowale became the 

pioneer Dean of LASU School of 

Communication (2004-2007). After his 

tenure, he moved on to the Olabisi 

Onabanjo University in his home 

state, Ogun. 

For his contributions to national 

development, former President of 

Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, 

decorated him with the Officer of the 

Order of the Niger, OON. At the age 

of 80, we wish Professor Idowu 

Sobowale more years ahead in good 

health and greater prosperity. 

In the year 2035 

By EDDINGTON OBARO 

JONATHAN 

IF you reside in Nigeria and you are not 

planning to leave the country anytime soon 

or to be actively involved in the politics of the 

nation, just take a shovel, dig your own grave, 

and wait patiently for the year 2035. In 2035, 

a dollar will be worth a thousand naira or 

more because our economic experts will have 

succeeded in devaluing the naira beyond 

redemption in a bid to rescue the economy. Of 

course, political thugs and fanatics who help 

to subvert the will of the people do not care 

about exchange rate because they do not even 

know how it affects their lives and personal 

comfort. However, Nigerians who perform 

international transactions will understand the 

nadir of suffering Nigeria will have sunk to by 

the year 2035. 

In the next 10 or 15 years, a custard rubber 

of garri will cost about N4,000. A bag of sachet 

water will cost about N500. Asmall pack of 

seasoning cubes will cost over N1,500. A bag 

of rice will be worth close to N80,000 or more. 

A bag of cement will cost about N8,000 or 

N10,000. Only God knows how much a gallon 

of palm oil or vegetable oil will cost. No doubt, 

the good leaders we have will have quadrupled 

the price of petrol, and the crazy transporters 

will have multiplied transport fare by Godknows-what. 

If you are expecting to see light in any part 

of this tunnel, you probably need to dream 

again because government institutions of 

higher learning will have increased their fees 

to about half a million naira or more. On top 

of these, our good governors will still be 

deliberating whether their states are capable 

of paying a minimum wage of N50,000 or 

N60,000. 

In countries like Canada, there is an 

estimated two percent annual inflation rate. 

This means that the prices of goods and services 

are expected to increase by two percent every 

year. In these countries, employers increase 

the salaries of their employees by a minimum 

of two percent yearly to meet the inflation rate. 

In our beloved country, Nigeria, according to 

statistical data published by the CBN, our 

annual inflation rate has been higher than 

eleven percent since 2016. In January 2021, 

the prices of food items rose by 20.57 per cent. 

Yet one can work in Nigeria for 10 years 

without a single increment in one’s salary. The 

result is quite simple and disheartening: 

societal forces are bent on ensuring that you 

become poorer every year as your purchasing 

power continues to wane as the years go by. 

By the year 2035, ASUU will have gone on 

strike for countless number of times. Our 

Labour comrades will be laughing secretly 

with their friends in the corridors of power. 

Snakes will still be swallowing billions in 

government offices. Stamp Duty (or whatever 

name it is called) will have been trippled. 

Arewa will be complaining of being 

marginalised. Afenifere will be complaining 

too. Niger Deltans will still be seeing their 

Northern brothers as the only reason for their 

poverty. IPOB and MASSOB will be calling 

all the world powers to come to their aid. 

Boko Haram will have bombed more public 

places. Herdsmen and bandits will have 

ravaged and killed more people and will have 

extended their school children abduction to 

the Southern part of the country. Niger Delta 

militants will have fully returned and will be 

enacting war films. A new security enigma will 

have emerged, one that is greater than 

herdsmen and Boko Haram put together, and 

we will be seeking help from China, America, 

Russia or Israel. Billions of dollars will have 

been budgeted for arms’ purchase, and our 

kind Generals will have used the money 

judiciously “to buy weapons”, weapons that 

OPINION 

the foot soldiers will never see. And while they 

will be popping champagne in Abuja, the 

helpless soldiers will be wasting their lives in a 

dense jungle. 

Anyway, more money will have been 

borrowed from China to service our annual 

budgets, and 70 percent of that money will 

have been stolen by those who borrowed the 

money at the expense of the country. The 

concept of pension and gratuity will long have 

been forgotten because we will have extended 

our borrowing to every nook and cranny of 

the world, including countries like Niger, Benin 

Republic, Togo, Chad and Cameroun. 

The National Assembly will have probed 

some agencies, commissions or ministries, and 

some persons will have fainted right in the 

process of the probe and flown to London, India 

or Saudi Arabia for treatment, and the cases 

will have been swept under the carpet just like 

There are only two tribes in 

Nigeria – the rich and the poor; 

if you are not rich, then you are 

poor: there is no middle ground 

the NDDC probe of 2020 because money will 

have exchanged hands or hands will have 

exchanged money. A senator’s salary will have 

surpassed the N100 million benchmark which 

they appear to have set for themselves while 

the rest of the country will be wondering how 

we got here or what we did wrong. 

Most of the brilliant and experienced doctors 

will have migrated to places where doctors 

are well taken care of, and we will be left with 

the ones who are still struggling with injection. 

Most of our first class and second class upper 

graduates will have gained scholarship for 

postgraduate studies in the US, Canada, 

Germany, Norway, Australia or any other 

country magnanimous enough to encourage 

their academic pursuit, and they will have 

remained there even after their postgraduate 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

studies. After all, nobody will ignore the option 

of living a “soft life” and opt for a hard life. No 

wonder Donald Trump said that Nigerians will 

not “go back to their huts” in Africa. 

In the year 2035, Dangote’s refinery will have 

been completed and will be running in full 

capacity, and all our refineries will have been 

sold to him at a meagre sum in the name of 

privatisation, and we will be suffering the 

pangs of monopoly. Electricitywill still be 

going and coming or coming and going like it 

has always been, and power distribution 

companies will still be issuing obnoxious, 

estimated bills. 

And if you think that all these problems are 

because the man at the centre is Hausa-Fulani, 

Igbo, Yoruba, Christian or Muslim, then you 

might need to take some sedatives so you can 

have some very nice sleep and purge your 

devilishly tribalistic mind of all tribal and 

religious sentiments. There are only two tribes 

in Nigeria – the rich and the poor. If you are 

not rich, then you are poor: there is no middle 

ground. Our political elites have always used 

tribalism and religion to separate us as a 

people because our unity will bring an end to 

their reign. That was why heavens fell during 

the EndSARS protest. In the words of the 

controversial French thinker, Joseph de 

Maistre: “Toute nation a le gouvernement 

qu’ellemerite”, which is translated thus: “Every 

nation has the government it deserves.” But do 

we deserve the leaders that have been ruling 

us from inception? Did we deserve Gowon, 

IBB, Abacha, OBJ, GEJ and our frail General? 

Do we deserve the killers of unarmed protesters 

and embezzlers of our commonwealth? 

Continues online:www.vanguardngr.com 

•Jonathan teaches English Language and 

Literature at Chokhmah International 

Academy, Port Harcourt.

CBN gets order to freeze 194 accounts in 17 banks 

By Henry Ojelu 

MONEY MARKET 

The Central Bank of Nigeria, 

CBN has secured three separate 

interim orders from a Federal High 

Court in Abuja to freeze bank accounts 

linked to 194 business entities 

and individuals in 17 banks. 

This was contained in post by the 

apex bank on its website yesterday 

pursuant to the court order. 

The freeze orders were sequel to 

three exparte applications filed by the 

apex bank seeking a mandatory order 

of court to ask the 17 banks to 

freeze the account of the business 

organizations and individual pending 

the outcome of an ongoing investigations 

the apex bank had initiated. 

In one of the suits against Nuru 

Abubakar and 24 others, the court 

granted the request by CBN to freeze 

the account of the defendants in the 

banks for 45 days. 

Justice A.R Muhammed who made 

the order in his ruling on March 30, 

2021 said: “An interim order is hereby 

made empowering the applicant to 

direct the head office of the listed 

banks to freeze forthwith all transactions 

on the bank account of the defendants 

for a period of 45 days pending 

the outcome of investigation and 

inquiry currently being conducted by 

CBN.” 

In another suit filed by CBN against 

Sethwealth Ventures and two others, 

the court granted an exparte application 

by the apex bank to freeze 50 

accounts linked to the three defendants 

in 13 banks. 

A similar order was also made in 

the suit by CBN against Bluebeam 

Capital Ltd freezing 60 accounts of 

the company in 13 banks. 

The 17 banks affected are Access 

Bank, First City Monument Bank, 

Fidelity Bank, Sterling Bank, Keystone 

Bank, Providus Bank, United 

Bank for Africa (UBA), Wema Bank 

and First Bank. 

Others are Guaranty Trust Bank, 

Ecobank Bank, Heritage Bank, Polaris 

Bank, Zenith Bank, Stanbic 

IBTC Bank, Standard Chartered 

Bank and Union Bank. 

The companies affected include 

Bluebeam Capital Limited, 

Sethwealth Ventures, Seasons Bureau 

De Change, Lat-Ade Logistics, 

Sani Polo Global Investment Ltd, 

Saneo Global Resources Limited and 

Romvic Ventures Nigeria Limited. 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

RAND 

126.85 +4.75 

2,376.00 -40.00 

15.16 +0.32 

62.86 +0.71 

59.42 +0.77 

379 379.5 380 

523.9675 524.6588 525.35 

447.4474 448.0377 448.628 

403.965 404.498 405.0309 

3.4348 3.4394 3.4439 

0.6604 0.6704 0.6804 

536.8738 537.5821 538.2904 

57.8237 57.9005 57.9772 

101.0532 101.1865 101.3198 

25.1095 26.1439 26.1784 

CBN Exchange rate as at 08/04/2021 

Global Money Week – From left: Dabo Japhet Taiwo, Deputy Director/Vice Principal, GSGS, 

Ikoyi; Olamide Adeosun, Chief Financial Officer, FBNQuest Merchant Bank; Tutu Owolabi- 

Kadiku, Vice President, FBNQuest and Akintunde Johnson, Principal Education Officer, GSGS, 

Ikoyi, at the 2021 Financial Literacy Day celebration in Lagos as part of Global Money Week 

FCCPC casts shadows on Shoprite exit 

from Nigeria 

*Says M&A application pending 

By Princewill Ekwujuru 

The Federal Competition and 

Consumer protection Council 

(FCCPC) said it is not aware that 

retail conglomerate, Shoprite, is 

exiting Nigeria, but that there is a 

pending application for merger/acquisition 

involving it. 

The Executive Vice President/ 

Chief Executive Officer, FCCPC, 

Dr. Babatunde Irukera, in a telephone 

conversation with Vanguard 

said: “We do not know whether 

Shoprite is exiting Nigeria or not, 

but we have a pending application 

for merger /acquisition by a buyer. 

“The media can report anything, 

what I know is that there is a pending 

merger/acquisition application 

in my office. Merger/acquisition 

applications do not suggest 

ECONOMY 

whether a company is leaving or 

not. What I know is that we have 

an application for merger/acquisition 

here.”. 

A media report earlier in the 

week had alleged that Shoprite 

has finally sold its 100 percent 

equity in Nigeria and is set to exit 

Nigeria by December 2021. 

Recall that it was first reported 

in August 2020 that Shoprite was 

exiting operations in Nigeria, citing 

a re-evaluation of its operating 

model, which was denied 

through its Public Relations 

agency in Nigeria, chastex Consult. 

The report also said the retailer 

has in its latest financial reports 

stated that terms of sale have been 

ECONOMY 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 —19 

concluded and is waiting for the 

approval of FCCPC. 

However, as at the time of filing 

this report name(s) of the 

buyer(s) have not been revealed 

and efforts made to speak with 

Shoprite PR agency failed as telephone 

calls did not go through. 

Vanguard had earlier published 

a story where Shoprite 

debunked rumour of its exit 

from Nigeria some months ago 

where it said: “Shoprite is not 

leaving Nigeria. Who leaves a 

$30billion investment and closes 

shop?” 

“We are only just opening to 

Nigerian investors which we 

have also been talking to just before 

now. We are not leaving, who 

leaves over a $30billion invest and 

close shop. It doesn’t sound right. 

We only just gave this opportunity 

to Nigeria investors to come 

in and also help drive our expansion 

plan in Nigeria. So we are 

not leaving.” 

COVID: FG may miss N2trn oil revenue target 

— Agusto Consulting 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

There are indica 

tions that the 

Federal Government 

may not meet the 

N2.01 trillion oil and 

gas revenue target as 

encapsulated in the 

2021 budget over low 

energy consumption 

occasioned by the 

Covid-19 pandemic, 

according to an expert. 

Speaking at a conference 

convened by 

First Bank of Nigeria 

(FBN) Limited, Mr 

Jimi Ogbobine, Head, 

Agusto Consulting, 

noted that despite the 

uptrend in international 

oil prices, that 

has seen prices surpass 

the $40 per barrel 

budget benchmark, the 

country would still suffer a 

period of low oil and gas export 

revenue this year due to 

the supply cuts by the 

Organisation of Petroleum 

Exporting Countries (OPEC). 

“There may be trends and 

spikes that may cause oil 

price to go up, but on the 

long term, especially this 

year, we are still not excited 

about oil prices. Energy consumption 

is still low because 

of remote work experience; 

and consumption of aviation 

fuel is also low. 

“Secondly, OPEC is currently 

curbing supplies to 

stimulate pricing. So, even 

when prices rally for whatever 

reason, Nigeria’s oil 

supply will still be low because 

OPEC + has cut our 

supplies. So, irrespective of 

the rally in prices, the cut in 

supply means that we will 

not be where we want to be 

in terms of oil revenue,” 

Ogbobine stated. 

At the backdrop of the adverse 

implications of the 

lower oil export earnings on 

the economy, he advised 

women entrepreneurs to expand 

their online presence, 

target diaspora consumers 

and also improve the 

bankability of their businesses 

to stay afloat. 

Mr Adesola Adeduntan, 

CEO, First Bank of Nigeria, 

speaking at the event, said 

the bank gave out a total of 

N58 billion to over 81,000 

female entrepreneurs and 

professionals in 2020, adding 

that the FirstGem initiative of 

the bank takes an inclusive 

approach to empowering 

women to make confident and 

sound decisions with respect 

to their business, family, 

and future. 

Why we restored 

financial services 

channel — MTN 

ECONOMY 

MTN Nigeria has shed more 

light on the negotiations that 

trailed the suspension and restoration 

of digital banking services last week. 

In a statement yesterday, the telecom 

giant said it would revert to its previous 

cost of sales structures with banking 

partners until a new long-term 

agreement can be reached on a sustainable 

pricing structure going forward. 

According to the statement, “Following 

the temporary suspension of 

sales of MTN products through our 

banking channel partners on April 2, 

2021, services were restored on Sunday, 

April 4, 2021 with customers able 

to access all services. This was agreed 

on the basis that MTN would revert to 

its previous cost of sales structures with 

banking partners, until a new longterm 

agreement can be reached on a 

sustainable pricing structure going 

forward. 

“Consequent on the intervention of 

the Minister of Communications and 

Digital Economy, the Nigeria Communication 

Commission and the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, since April 6, 

2021, MTN has been participating in 

a series of meetings to align on longer 

term pricing structures. We will provide 

a further market update once these 

discussions have been concluded. 

“The streamlining MTN undertook 

is international standard and best 

practice as scale is built along distribution 

channels. We are confident that 

partners in the banking sector will 

work with us to ensure this process 

concludes as quickly as possible to the 

benefit of the entire industry.” 

NB invested N36bn 

in Nigeria in 2020 

*Proposes N7.7bn 

scrip dividend 

CAPITAL MARKET 

By Peter Egwuatu & 

Providence Adeyinka 

Nigerian Breweries (NB) 

Plc said it expended over 

N36 billion in capital investment 

into its operations across 

Nigeria during the 2020 financial 

year, and has recommended 

N7.7 billion special 

scrip dividend scheme for its 

shareholders for the year. 

Speaking at a virtual pre- 

AGM media briefing of the 

company, Managing Director, 

Jordi Borrut Bel, said aside the 

investment, the company recorded 

significant growth in 

sales volume in the 2020 financial 

year despite the impact of 

the COVID-19 pandemic on 

businesses. 

Bel explained that the investments 

included the construction 

of a PET line inaugurated at 

Ijebu Ode Plant, the Ibadan 

Brewery Solar Power project 

among others, reiterating that 

the company remains a great 

believer in the Nigerian 

economy and would continue to 

play its part by investing to create 

more employment opportunities 

and contribute to the 

nation’s economic growth. 

He stated: “The 2020 financial 

year was a remarkable one for 

us as it afforded us the opportunity 

to invest heavily and position 

for growth. We spent not less 

than N36 billion on various assets 

to enhance business growth. 

“For 2021, we will strive to 

sustain the performance of the 

second half of 2020. However, 

we will still expect a challenging 

operating environment with 

devaluation, forex scarcity, inflation 

and affordability.” 

Meanwhile, the special scrip 

dividend scheme would give interested 

shareholders the option 

to elect to receive new ordinary 

shares in the Company instead 

of the final dividend in cash.


SPECIAL INTERVIEW 

We have an Olu-designate, no Edict 

was violated – Reyenieju 

…Says chiefs are not kingmakers in Itsekiri 

By Jimitota Onoyume 

Mr Daniel Reyenieju is a 

leader in Itsekiri nation 

and former member of the 

House of Representatives. In 

this interview, Reyenieju 

among other things looked at 

the edict that has been 

peddled around by some, over 

developments in Warri Kingdom 

in the selection of an Oludesignate, 

saying that no portion 

of it was violated in the 

process leading to the emergence 

of an Olu designate. 

Excerpts: 

The Olu-designate has 

been unveiled. Any comment? 

Let me correct an assertion. 

I do not want to say that some 

of the things that played out 

before the announcement of 

the demise of the Olu of Warri, 

Ogiame Ikenwoli and the 

unveiling of an Olu designate 

were negatives. I want to believe 

that those who are for 

meant well and those against 

equally meant well. They are 

all for the good of the Itsekiri 

nation. We are getting somewhere. 

Meanwhile, on the Oludesignate, 

it is a welcome development, 

that is what the 

people want. It is very progressive. 

It is also what the divinities 

want. What we just experienced 

is a combination of two 

critical factors in the ascension 

of the kingship. We have 

had about 20 kings. We have 

tried to maintain certain 

standards which people from 

outside do not understand. 

I tell people that it is a 

unique process towards being 

crowned in Itsekiri. What has 

happened is a combination of 

the physical and the metaphysical. 

The physical is that 

the kingdom took control of 

the process and said this is 

how it should be done, then 

the metaphysical came in its 

way. At the point of the metaphysical, 

ideas were sought 

from the oracle. 

Chief Ayiri Emami has said 

he has some key roles to play 

in the whole process. And 

since he has not done his 

part, all that had happened 

were null and void. What is 

your response? 

I am not going to join issues 

with him, he has his opinion. 

Let me also say this, the 

Olu is to govern over the people 

and only the people can 

remove him. Then the other 

metaphysical aspect of it contributes 

and complements 

what the people want. 

He (Ayiri) is one of the people. 

And if he is abstaining, to 

say I am not part of this, he 

cannot be bigger than Itsekiri 

nation. I can tell you that over 

95 percent of the people want 

the Olu-designate. He has 

been supported by what we call 

the Ife or the Ifa (oracle). 

They cited an edict and said 

the Olu-designate, Tsola was 

disqualified in the past? 

These are some of the issues 

I don’t want to go into because 

I am in a reconciliatory role 

now. The man is going to superintend 

over all of us. Not 

for a particular person or 

group. He is going to rule over 

the entire Itsekiri all over the 

world. There is a saying in Itsekiri 

when translated means: 

“the people make the king, we 

make the king and he owns 

us. The king belongs to us and 

we also belong to the king. 

“We own you and you (king 

)own us.” It’s a symbiotic relationship. 

And we hold him 

supreme, that is why we bow 

to the king, knock our heads 

on the ground for the king. It 

tells you how high we hold our 

royalties. Chief Ayiri has said 

only two of the kingmakers 

were at Ode-Itsekiri, that they 

were supposed to be seven. 

They are not kingmakers. 

The King Makers are those of 

the Royal House. They are the 

only ones with the responsibility 

to produce a successor. 

For him (Ayiri), his role is to 

vet through the metaphysical. 

So he is not a kingmaker. It’s 

a process you only have to 

manage, it does not make you 

a kingmaker. A chief cannot 

be a kingmaker. No role for 

any of the traditional seven 

chiefs. What they do is just administrative, 

to take whoever 

has been submitted by the Ruling 

House for final vetting. 

The Ruling House comes up 

with the most suitable and after 

that, you pass it on to the 

seven. The Ologbotsere and 

the other six do not have the 

right to appoint or disqualify. 

There is only one Ruling 

House in Itsekiri and that is 

the Ginuwa I Ruling House. 

The King Makers are the 

Ginuwa I Ruling House. 

Male children of Erejuwa 

II came up with some conditions, 

also citing the edict for 

succession. Any comment? 

Whatever they are saying is 

an afterthought. We have gone 

past this process. Not when 

somebody has been picked. 

The process of selection has 

been concluded. 

I saw the names in the advertorial 

by the male children. 

I said I don’t want to cast aspersion 

on any individual. All 

I can say is that it was an afterthought. 

This came up after 

the process had been completed, 

they know. But I want 

to be very reconciliatory. 

And the Itsekiri are happy 

that the process is cruising to 

berthing. Ayiri is my friend 

and brother, I will encourage 

It is the people that 

make the king and the 

King rules over the 

people. I encourage 

them to be reconciliatory, 

no violence and 

hopefully, we will get 

to the crowning of the 

Omoba in the next 

three months 

him to come back. 

Ayiri said at the time he was 

suspended there was no Regent. 

This is generating a lot 

of argument. I will leave him 

to his opinion. A Regent is an 

English word. I think the person 

filled the vacuum. The 

Princes belong to other strata 

different from the chiefs. The 

Princes are more powerful 

than the chiefs. The chiefs are 

appointees of the king. 

Any comment on the edict? 

People call it an edict but I 

call it a Proclamation made 

under a particular law, the 

1979 law in the then Bendel 

State. It’s a proclamation 

made by the Itsekiri people. 

And it is only the people that 

can tell how the succession of 

their king should go. So this 

we did. What I see there is that 

to make laws is one thing and 

to interpret law is another 

thing. If I give my view, it may 

not be correct to another until 

it gets to the law court. But I 

will not encourage anybody 

to go to court. 

Was the edict violated in 

this instance? 

No, not in any way. In 2015, 

somebody will tell you the Olu 

designate, Tsola was disqualified 

because his mother is 

Yoruba. But If I want to answer 

you now, I will ask you 

who are the Itsekiris? Where 

are they from? They are Yorubas. 

I can tell you that the five 

Itsekiri aborigine villages that 

have now grown into what is 

Itsekiri were all Yorubas. As 

at when Ginuwa came, he 

passed through some Urhobo 

lands and went through some 

Ijaw lands before he came in 

contact with the now Itsekiri 

people. 

The question now is why 

was it possible for Ginuwa to 

annex only the Yoruba speaking 

villages? Why did he not 

add the Ijaws and the 

Urhobos? The answer is simple, 

it is because the five heads 

of these villages were probably 

in touch. They knew themselves. 

He came in from Benin. 

Our relationship with Benin 

is quite different. The 

Ginuwa 1 was a Benin man. 

He left to found his kingdom. 

But the five villages were inexistent 

before he came. It is 

not enough to say you are disqualified. 

Those who disqualified 

him had a shallow 

knowledge of the situation. 

Chief Ayiri has said the demise 

of the monarch had not 

been announced, that it is his 

responsibility to do it as Ologbotsere. 

He also reportedly 

said in some reports that he 

would brief Mr President on 

the traditions. I do not encourage 

him to do so. I will plead 

with him to tread carefully. He 

should not take the issues to a 

ridiculous extent. 

The President has seen an 

announcement that has been 

made. We have never had two 

announcements on the demise 

of an Olu, it has to be 

one. He should calm down. We 

will reconcile, I am in a reconciliatory 

mood. 

Yesterday, we inadvertently used the name of the Oludesignate, 

Prince Utieyi-noritsetsola Emiko under a picture 

of Chief Ayiri Emami on Page 22 of our Thursday, April 8, 

2021, publication. The mix-up is regretted. 

Chief Ayiri Emami 

Daniel Reyenieju 

Olu-designate, Tsola Emiko

Reign of terror in Niger as bandits sack 

more communities 

•100 households displaced 

•Paid N180 million as ransom to bandits 

•Aggrieved community youths demand clearance of Allawa Games Reserves 

fingered as bandits’ ‘hideout’ 

•Insist on return of withdrawn soldiers and policemen in Bassa, Allawa 

•Task Force members swapped, not withdrawn —Niger SSG 

By Wole Mosadomi, Minna 

BASSA and Allawa 

communities in Shiroro Local 

Government Area of Niger State 

have not known peace since bandits 

recently unleashed mayhem and a 

reign of terror there, leaving the 

people under the grip of fear. Many 

were attacked, houses burnt and 

others taken away by the bandits 

following the withdrawal of the 

military joint task force that had been 

providing security in that axis of the 

state. 

The withdrawal, Arewa Voice, 

learnt, followed the killing of six 

soldiers and a policeman attached 

to the withdrawn task force a few 

weeks back. But angered by the 

mayhem unleashed on the areas, 

youth groups have vowed to take up 

actions against bandits and their 

sponsors to end the incessant attacks. 

The irate youths drawn from eight 

communities in Allawa and Lakpma 

in Shiroro Local Government Area 

of Niger State have identified the 

Allawa Games Reserve located in the 

area as the abode of bandits 

terrorising the various communities 

in the local government area. For 

this reason, the youths want the 

Allawa Games Reserves cleared 

immediately to expose the hoodlums 

presently hiding there. 

The games reserve which belongs 

to the state government, was 

abandoned years back and is now a 

thick forest where criminals hatch 

and execute their attacks and later 

return to as their hideout. The youths 

also urged the Federal Government 

to return members of the joint task 

force withdrawn from the area after 

the killing of six soldiers and a 

policeman in Allawa. 

Three days after men of the Joint 

Security Task Force left their camps 

at Allawa and Bassa towns, armed 

gunmen invaded the communities 

and sacked the villagers from their 

abode. 

The aggrieved villagers under the 

aegis of Lakpma Youth Assembly 

while addressing journalists in 

Minna, the Niger State capital, 

•Lakpma Youth Assembly at the press conference 

lamented that the armed 

bandits had already taken 

over their local 

government after sacking 

no fewer than 100 

communities leaving the 

residents homeless. The 

president of the youths, 

Jibrin Allawa, said the 

bandits had turned the 

Allawa Games Reserve to 

their hideout where they 

hatch and execute their 

nefarious activities on the 

communities. 

"The Lakpma axis of 

Shiroro LGA has suffered 

persistent banditry which 

has culminated in loss of 

lives, rape of women, cattle 

rustling and destruction 

and capturing of over 100 

communities. Without 

prejudice to the above, 

government appears 

incapacitated or unwilling 

to do the needful as recent 

events suggest government 

has ceded Allawa, Bassa and indeed 

the entire Lakpma axis to bandits 

and terrorists." 

According to him, banditry, which 

started in 2015 as mere cattle 

rustling, has now metamorphosed 

into full blown war with many lives 

and property worth millions of naira 

lost. Allawa said: "Between 2015 

and 2017 when the banditry started 

gradually, we have lost no fewer than 

120 of our people to the insurgency. 

Between 2017 and now, we have lost 

count as we cannot reel out the exact 

number of names and the exact 

number of deaths recorded as they 

are now running into thousands. 

Similarly, we have paid nothing less 

than N180 million as ransom to the 

bandits within the three years and we 

have now lost count on the exact 

amount paid to them." 

He said that from all indications, 

governments at all levels seem 

incapacitated as they can no longer 

provide adequate security for their 

people, adding that with the 

development, they might be forced 

to take a decision in their interest. 

“We shall mobilise our displaced and 

hopeless kinsmen to occupy and take 

shelter in government facilities within 

AMAC spars with FCTA over revenue collection 

•Chairman, Candido cries out over functions usurpation 

By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau area. AMAC Chairman, Mr. 

Chief 

Abdullahi Candido, believes the 

A 

council is entitled to the collection 

BUJA Municipal Area 

and use of tenement rates in the 

Council, AMAC, is upset 

municipal area with huge revenue 

with the Federal Capital Territory 

potential of rich and powerful 

Administration, FCTA, over its 

people, which forms the nucleus of 

meddlesomeness into the 

the FCT. 

collection of tenement rates in the 

But Candido is furious that this 

function has been hijacked 

by the FCTC despite many 

court rulings ceding the 

collection of tenement 

rates to AMAC. Addressing 

journalists in Abuja, the 

Chairman of AMAC, 

Abdullahi Candido, 

lamented that the attempt 

by the FCTA to dabble into 

the collection of that 

revenue could hamper the 

council’s effort to provide 

critically needed services 

for residents, especially 

those in the communities. 

His words: “The revenue 

base is very fertile but 

conflicts have not allowed 

us to harness the vast 


FG reiterates plan to end 

unemployment, poverty 

By Marie-Therese Nanlong, Jos 

MINISTER of Industry, Trade 

and Investment, Otunba 

Niyi Adebayo, has reiterated the 

commitment of the Federal 

Government to lift the country out 

of poverty as he said 

everything was being done to 

•Displaced residents fleeing their communities after attacks by bandits in Niger State 

Minna if our plight is not addressed 

in earnest. Until our plights are 

addressed, we will boycott all civic 

responsibilities to the state. The 

Lakpma axis of Shiroro LGA has 

suffered persistent banditry, which 

has culminated in loss of lives, rape 

of women, cattle rustling and 

destruction and capturing of over 

100 communities. Without 

prejudice to the above, government 

appears incapacitated or unwilling 

to do the needful as recent events 

suggest that it has ceded Allawa, 

Bassa and indeed the entire Lakpma 

Axis to bandits and terrorists. For 

opportunities. The conflicts have 

made it difficult for us to realise 

the great revenue potentials within 

the AMAC area of jurisdiction. 

“We are supposed to be a big 

council but the conflicts with the 

FCTA have been holding us down. 

I decided not to keep quiet because 

keeping quiet will not help. There 

have been conflicts of roles in 

tenement rates collection. We have 

been in court with FCTA but each 

time, judgement is given in our 

favour because the Constitution is 

very clear on this. We have gone 

from the lower courts to Appeal 

Court and yet we have always won. 

"The question is: 'Why are you 

interested in what does not belong 

to you?' These are the issues that 

continue to create tension between 

AMAC and FCTA. There wouldn’t 

be conflicts if you don’t try to 

muzzle AMAC. AMAC was created 

by law. I recognise FCTA as our 

supervisory ministry and we want 

a win-win structure in relating with 

the FCTA but they should take what 

belongs to them and leave us with 

end unemployment 

through Economic Recovery and 

Growth Plan, ERGP, and the 

Economic Sustainability Plan. 

He commended the Industrial 

Training Fund, ITF, for not relenting 

in efforts to effectively discharge its 

mandate as the Fund continues 

to equip youths with requisite skills 

and trainings that can take the 

country out of poverty. 

Speaking, yesterday, at the 2020 

Industrial Training Fund, ITF Merit 

awards ceremony at the Fund’s 

corporate headquarters, Otunba 

Adebayo said that ITF has been in 

the forefront as it has become a 

dependable ally of the Federal 

Government through the 

implementation of several skills 

intervention programmes that have 

trained over 500,000 since the 

Director-General, Sir Joseph N. Ari, 

assumed office in 2016. 

Continues on page 22 

purpose of clarity, banditry around 

that axis began in 2015 in Allawa 

and this has festered and consumed 

the entire political axis with no 

succour in sight. The consequences 

have been desertion of ancestral 

homes, destruction of economic 

activities, hunger, diseases and other 

humanitarian crises. Our people 

have become destitutes with 

hopelessness staring us in the face. 

"It is incomprehensible that 

criminals have become landlords in 

a sovereign state with armed forces. 

Terrorists and bandits control our 

Continues on page 22 

ours.” 

Candido also explained that 

AMAC had to collect tenement rate 

from residents in the city in order 

to provide infrastructure for rural 

communities in the council. 

According to him: “Tenement rate 

issue is a two-way thing. You collect 

from well-to-do residents and use 

the resources to offer service to the 

less-privileged communities. This 

is important because 99 per cent 

of the Federation Account 

Allocations go to salaries. What is 

left is too meagre to make any 

impact in terms of infrastructure. 

Therefore, the council has to 

source funds from Internally- 

Generated Revenue to provide the 

needed developmental projects in 

the communities. 

“AMAC has 12 wards and what 

we do is to go through the wards 

every year to provide different 

projects such as roads, water, 

schools and electricity based on 

the prioritised needs of each 

ward.” 

The trouble with ‘AMAC 

Continues on page 22


Labour suspends planned strike, 

protest in Kano, agree on terms 

By Abdulmumin Murtala, Kano 

FOLLOWING an earlier 

announced three-day strike 

scheduled to commence on 

Thursday, April 8, 2021, by workers 

in Kano, protesting the reversion to 

the former minimum wage of 

N18,000 from the new minimum 

wage of N30,600, the Kano council 

of the Nigeria Labour Congress, 

NLC, has announced the suspension 

of the industrial action after reaching 

some agreements with the 

government. Organised Labour 

also announced the suspension of a 

planned peaceful protest scheduled 

for Monday, April 12, 2021. This 

was announced in a statement 

issued to newsmen and signed by 

the National Deputy President, 

NLC, Najeem Yasin, after a meeting 

with the state government that ended 

late in the night on Wednesday. 

“Following the agreements/ 

resolutions reached between the 

Kano State government and 

organised Labour today 

Wednesday, April 8, 2021 on 

payment of March 2021 salaries, 

the proposed three days warning 

strike scheduled to commence from 

12:01am on Thursday, April 8, 2021 

is hereby suspended and the 

proposed peaceful protest peaceful 

protest scheduled for Monday, April 

12, is equally suspended,” the NLC 

AMAC spars with FCTA over revenue collection 

Continues from page 21 

Marshals’ 

Responding to complaints of 

alleged high-handedness by 

AMAC Marshals, the council 

chairman admitted that some of 

the operatives must have overstepped 

their bounds. Mr. 

Candido said that he has 

personally received several 

complaints against some of the 

operatives over intimidation of 

road users. 

The chairman assured that steps 

were being taken to ensure that 

operatives of the organisation did 

not act outside their mandate, 

which he said was originally to 

provide intelligence for regular 

security agencies, by acting within 

the ambits of the law setting it up. 

According to him: “This is a type 

of community policing 

established for security services. 

It is to complement the efforts of 

the conventional security outfits 

by engaging in intelligence 

gathering. This outfit has helped 

in providing employment for the 

teeming unemployed youths in the 

council. It was also conceived to 

boost internally generated 

AREWA VOICE TEAM 

Editor: Soni Daniel 

Correspondents: 

Wole Mosadomi, Minna 

Demola Akinyemi, Ilorin 

Bashir Bello, Kano 

Aliyu Dangida, Dutse 

Umar Yusuf, Yola 

Ibrahim HassnWuyo, Kaduna 

Peter Duru, Makurdi 

Marie-Therese Nanlong, Jos 

Abdul Murtala, Kano 

Femi Bolaji, Jalingo 

David Odama, Lafia 

Charly Agwam, Bauchi 

Boluwaji Obahopo, Lokoja 

announced. 

Organised Labour further 

explained that the meeting was at 

the instance of the Kano State 

governor, Abdullahi Ganduje in 

person, with representative of the 

National NLC president, Comrade 

Ayuba Wabba, who was represented 

by the National Deputy President 

NLC Najeem Yasin, Biobelemoye 

Joy Josia, National Chairman 

JOHESU and president MHWUN, 

Benson Ukpa, Head of Information 

Unit NLC Headquarters and the 

representatives of the organised 

labour in Kano. 

During the meeting with the Kano 

State governor, they agreed on seven 

terms, including government 

reiterating its position to respect the 

agreement to abide by the N30,600 

minimum wage in the state, among 

others. This is contained in a 

separate signed document by the 

representatives of Labour that 

included Kabiru Ado Mijibur, 

chairman of the NLC in Kano, as 

well as the state chairmen of TUC, 

JNC, JCF, JAC, and the Ag Sec NLC 

and those representing Kano State 

that included Binta Lawan Ahmad, 

Head of Service, Shehu Na’Allah 

Kura, Commissioner Finance, 

Murtala Sule Garo, Commissioner 

Local Governments and 

Muhammad 

Garba, 

Commissioner of Information. 

revenue of the council. It has been 

licensed to operate.” 

Candido disclosed that he has 

taken local council 

administration to a level beyond 

only providing rural roads, 

boreholes, schools and rural 

electrification to serious capital 

investment by establishing the 

AMAC Investment and Property 

Development Company, IPDC. 

He said that IPDC was 

established as a company by his 

administration so as to diversify 

the economic base of the council, 


territory and decide what goes or 

stays and it is that pathetic. As fallout 

to the withdrawal of Joint Security 

Task Force, bandits have had the 

effrontery of invading Allawa and 

Gyaramiya on a daily basis and 

ransacking the entire community. 

"They have been on a looting spree 

as each day passes, to the extent of 

bragging that they are in-charge of 

Allawa. Our communities are now 

porous and vulnerable. Bandits 

dictate the norm and call the shot. 

Our people are stranded and 

hopeless, as the looming 

humanitarian crisis will be 

devastating considering the number 

of people scampering to safer 

grounds," Allawa added. 

The affected communities, are 

therefore, calling on appropriate 

authorities to rescind the decision 

of withdrawing the Joint Security 

Task Force from Allawa and Bassa 

and to urgently mobilise resources 

and personnel back to Allawa and 

Bassa. According to them: "We want 

the establishment and 

reinforcement of the joint security 

task force in Kushaka, Kurebe, 

Manta, Galkogo and Kwaki. 

Beyond stationing them, 

government should adopt radical 

approaches aimed at taking the war 

Hope rises for Benue farmers as first cassava-based 

ethanol plant comes on stream 

By Peter Duru, Makurdi 

CASSAVA farmers in 

Benue State are in 

high spirits following the 

establishment of an 

ethanol processing plant in 

the state that would use 

cassava as its major raw 

material for operations. 

The multi-million naira 

plant, which is situated on 

a 25.4 hectares piece of 

land at Tse Moon 

community on the 

outskirts of Makurdi, is 

projected to provide direct 

and indirect jobs for no 

fewer than 2,500 

unemployed youths in the 

state and would also 

impact the state’s economy 

positively by adding to its 

Gross Domestic Product, •Benue State governor, Ortom, at the ethanol processing factory site 

GDP. The plant is being 

built by a firm known as Pure 

Biotech Company, whose official, 

Mr. Stephen Numbeve, says will 

require at least 500 metric tonnes 

of fresh cassava and 300 metric 

tonnes of dry cassava in its 

production. 

“This is also going to lift about 

2,500 youths off the streets and 

impact millions of lives in the state,” 

Numbeve said as he conducted the 

state governor, Samuel Ortom, 

round the plant site. 

Numbeve who made the 

disclosure when Governor Ortom 

made a surprise visit to the plant 

site acknowledged that the project 

was wholly a private initiative by 

Chinese investors. He apologised 

for failure of the management staff 

generate more revenue and 

establish partnership with 

corporate organisations in order 

to venture into lucrative 

investment interests. 

The company, according to 

him, has been licensed and has 

begun doing businesses, having 

invested over N2 billion in the 

development of a model market 

in Orozo and another one in Kuje, 

working with partners. Other 

similar projects, the chairman 

said, would to follow. 

to the enclaves of criminals." 

At the time of writing, thousands 

of those displaced from the affected 

villages have fled to take refuge in 

Pandogari town, thereby exposing 

them to serious health challenges, 

hunger and more insecurity as the 

entire area is porous. 

Reacting to the development, 

Secretary to the state government, 

Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Matane, 

said that members of the Joint Task 

Force were not removed, but only 

swapped from their duty post with 

another. In a telephone chat with 

Arewa Voice, the SSG said: "The 

of the firm to pay the governor a 

courtesy visit to formally intimate 

him of their presence in the state, 

attributing it to the outbreak of the 

second wave of COVID-19 which 

made it impossible for the team to 

travel out of China. 

He, however, assured that the all 

conditions needed for the takeoff of 

the plant would have been met 

before the end of this month to enable 

the plant, whose construction started 

in January 2021, to be rounded off. 

An excited Governor Ortom, who 

was amazed by what he saw and the 

benefits the state stands to derive 

from the presence of the plant, 

commended the investors for 

choosing to do business in Benue. 

He said he had to visit the site 

because there were many stories 

about what was going on in the 

community and ownership of the 

firm, adding: "Some even alleged 

that I own this place. But I had to 

come here to find out what is actually 

happening. I have no hand and no 

knowledge of this project until 

yesterday when my attention was 

drawn to it. But I cannot throw away 

a baby and the bath water because 

of your failure to intimate the 

government of what you are doing. 

But you must immediately erect a 

signpost outside the factory to inform 

the people about your activities 

because this is a laudable project that 

would benefit the government and 

Reign of terror in Niger as bandits sack more communities 


He said: "It is for this reason and 

in appreciation of its contributions 

to national growth, that the Council 

for the Development of the Micro, 

Small, Medium Enterprises, 

MSMEs, headed by Vice President, 

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, rewarded the 

ITF with the prestigious award of 

excellence as Outstanding MSMEs 

Clinic Star Partner and the award 

for outstanding contribution to the 

development of the Micro, Small 

and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria 

respectively. 

“It was also for contributions that 

it was made a member of the 

security agents were not withdrawn 

from their duty posts in Allawa and 

Lakpma, but were only swapped 

from their former duty posts to 

another. 

"The security from Pandogari axis 

who had been there for months were 

only moved to Allawa and other areas 

which is a normal routine because 

their stay is not supposed to be a 

permanent official duty," the SSG 

explained. He called on the people 

of the area to be patient and not lose 

hope in the security as government 

was more concerned on their safety. 

FG reiterates plan to end unemployment 

MSMEs Council, which is headed 

by the vice president and member of 

the MSMEs Survival Fund under 

the Nigerian Economic 

Sustainability Plan. It is equally 

noteworthy that the ITF has been 

mentioned and identified by the 

Presidency as the foremost agency 

of government at the forefront of 

Federal Government's job and 

wealth creation policy. The Fund 

was among the few agencies 

requested by the Federal 

Government to forward submissions 

on the best approach to lifting 100 

million Nigerians out of poverty.” 

people of Benue State immensely.” 

Ortom charged the host 

community to ensure the security of 

the facility even as he directed 

security agencies to provide 

surveillance and patrols in the area. 

He also urged more private 

investors within and outside the 

country to explore investment 

opportunities in the state assuring 

that his government would always 

provide the enabling environment 

for businesses to thrive. 

Speaking on the benefit of the 

plant to farmers, a cassava farmer 

in Tse Moon, Mr. Ikpa Terkimbi, 

said over the years cassava farmers 

in the state suffered losses due to lack 

of readily available market to buy 

off the massive yields from the state 

unlike what rice farmers enjoyed 

yearly, adding that with the coming 

of the plant "our own time has finally 

come and before the end of the year 

we will also be smiling to the banks 

like rice farmers.” 

On his part, a truck driver at the 

Wurukum Motor-Park, Mr. James 

Ape, said the coming of the plant 

meant a boost in the daily income 

of truck drivers in parts of the state. 

He said: “This is what we have been 

praying for in the state. So we 

commend those that brought the 

project as well as government of 

Benue State for allowing them to 

come into the state because at the 

end of the day this project will put 

food on the table of farmers, workers 

in the plant, drivers and several 

families who will benefit from that 

plant, including the host 

community. It is our game changer 

because millions of Benue people 

will one way or the other reap the 

benefit of having to produce ethanol 

in our state.” 

Also speaking on the development, 

the State Chairman of All Farmers 

Association of Nigeria, AFAN, 

Comrade Saaku Aondongu, 

described cassava as a commodity 

that is produced by almost every 

household in Benue because it is 

processed into a lot of food stuff that 

are consumed by Nigerians. 

He said: “We produce cassava 

massively but our challenge has 

always been a ready market. Most 

times we suffer glut because we 

produce excessively and when there 

are no ready market to buy off our 

produce we are left to sell at give 

away prices. In fact, those that were 

engaged by value chain 

programmes hardly have markets 

for the product unlike what we have 

going for rice. But with the coming 

of an ethanol plant in Benue State 

our fortune will change. I can bet 

you that even rice farmers will be 

eager to join the cassava farmers 

community because cassava 

farmers will hit gold mine with the 

coming of the plant."

Drug Abuse: Northern govs' wives pledge 

support for Taraba rehabilitation centre 

•As Gov Ishaku urges colleagues to support wives 

By Femi Bolaji 

J 

A L I N G O - 

Wives of governors in 

the 19 Northern states have 

pledged their support to the 

newly commissioned 

rehabilitation centre for drug 

addicts in Taraba State to 

ensure it remains functional. 

Chairperson of the forum 

and wife to the governor of 

Niger State, Dr. Aminat Bello, 

gave the assurance in Jalingo, 

the state capital when she led 

her members to the state for 

their quarterly meeting. 

The rehabilitation centre 

which was facilitated by the 

First Lady of Taraba State, 

Anna Ishaku, was 

commissioned by the state 

governor, Darius Ishaku . 

According to Bello: “As our 

contribution, our forum 

donates something that 

would be needed in the newly 

built or renovated 

rehabilitation centre in every 

state. In Niger, we donated a 

computer skill acquisition 

centre, in Kogi and Sokoto 

states it was also a skill 

acquisition and recreation 

centre. 

“As for Taraba, Her 

Excellency has the choice of 

choosing what she wants to do 

with our contribution but we 

are hoping it would be a skill 

acquisition centre because 

that is one of the best ways of 

rehabilitating the people who 

are going to use the centre.” 

On his part, Governor 

Ishaku charged his colleagues 

across the 19 Northern states 

to support the initiative of 

By Boluwaji Obahopo, Lokoja 

THE Federal University, 

Lokoja, FUL, has approved 

the appointment of Prof. Mike 

Ogirima, a Professor of 

Orthopaedic Surgery from the 

Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, 

Zaria, to kick-start the process 

for the take off of its School of 

Medicine. Vice Chancellor of 

the university, Prof. Olatunde 

Akinwumi revealed this when the 

management team of the 

Federal Medical Centre, FMC, 

Lokoja came on a visit. 

The FMC Medical Director, 

Dr. Olatunde Alabi had stated 

the readiness of the health 

institution to partner with the 

varsity, noting: “The Federal 

Medical Centre, Lokoja, is 

willing to support the vicechancellor 

to succeed in his lofty 

plans for the university and the 

State, especially in his bid to start 

Medical School in the 10-year 

old university.” 

The vice-chancellor, while 

responding, thanked the 

their wives aimed at curbing 

the menace of drug abuse in 

the region. 

He maintained that drug 

abuse in the region was 

alarming and requires every 

hand to be on deck to stamp 

out its spread. 

traditional rulers in the area 

would, however, continue to 

educate the public on the dangers 

of open defecation. 

The District Head of Ganjuwa, 

Ahmed Baba Gidado, said 

traditional and religious leaders 

of the community have already 

been sensitised on the danger of 

indiscriminate defecation and the 

health hazards associated with it, 

promising that no human faeces 

would be found in the area. 

Similarly, the Chairman of Toro 

Local Government Area, Adamu 

Danyaro Geji, said Toro 

Community Radio and the 

information unit of the council 

would partner with religious and 

community leaders in ensuring 

that contents of the enacted by-law 

are disseminated to enforce 

compliance. 

Although some residents of Toro 

and Ganjuwa local government 

areas like Ahmed Usman, a 

volunteer healthcare worker, who 

spoke with Arewa Voice, have 

welcomed the open defecation 

bye-law they, however, noted that 

compliance with the law would be 

difficult because of the seeming 

urgency in compliance. 

Ahmed Usman, a volunteer 

healthcare worker in Ganjuwa 

local government area told Arewa 

Voice that people would need 

money and time to build pit 

latrines or modern water closet 

toilets in their houses, noting that 

more time should be given to 

allow residents gather enough 

money to construct toilets in their 

homes. 

"It (open defecation by-law) is a 

welcome development. The only 

challenge here is that there is not 

enough time to allow people save 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021—23 

Inside Bauchi community where open defecation attracts 2-month jail term, 

other penalties 

By Charly Agwam, Bauchi 

THE campaign against open 

defecation has taken a new 

dimension in two Bauchi local 

government areas: Ganjuwa and 

Toro local councils, which have 

formally enacted by-laws making 

it an offence for any of the residents 

to defecate in any open space. 

Under the law, which came into 

effect this week, any person who 

defecates openly would be jailed 

for two months or pay a fine of 

N10, 000. The law also imposes a 

N20, 000 fine or three months 

imprisonment for any person or 

group of persons that constructs a 

toilet other than pit latrine or 

water closet. 

Signing the by-law at the palace 

of the District Head of Ganjuwa, 

the Chairman of Ganjuwa Local 

Government, Baba Gidado, said 

that health personnel and 

Lokoja varsity to commence medical school 

•Plans to absorbs FMC Lokoja as teaching hospital 

medical director and his team 

for the visit, stating that the 

Federal University, Lokoja, was 

poised to commence the School 

of Medicine starting with a Pre- 

Clinical Science School in the 

Adankolo Campus of the 

university. 

“We have approved the 

appointment of a Professor of 

Orthopaedic Surgery from the 

prestigious Ahmadu Bello 

University, ABU, Zaria, 

Professor Mike Ogirima, to 

come and start the spade work 

towards the take-off of the 

school. Also, the preliminary 

consultation with the Federal 

Ministry of Education had 

commenced in earnest.” 

Reiterating the urgent need for 

a School of Medicine in the 

University which had received 

wide commendations, the VC 

stated that Kogi State tops states 

in the Northern part of Nigeria 

who have her citizens seeking 

admission and placements to 

study Medicine or seeking 

Celebrations galore as first ever health centre 

births in Kogi community 

By Boluwaji Obahopo, Lokoja 

ITAKEDE-Ide, a remote 

community in Mopamuro 

Local Government Area of Kogi 

State has many things in abundance 

except a health facility to deal with 

its medical challenges. With a 

blessed and fertile land, the hardworking 

natives have food in surplus 

but whenever anyone falls sick, there 

is always a serious concern on how 

to deal with such without a 

functional health centre. Thus, to an 

average family, falling sick comes 

with great worries, as accessing 

health facilities is a problem. 

Apart from a mission clinic, the 

only government dispensary in the 

community exists only in name. To 

make matters worse, the access road 

linking the community to Mopa, the 

council headquarters is in bad 

shape. During the rainy season, the 

community always shuns the route 

and turns to Aghara - Iluke Road, 

which is in another local 

government area of the state. 

This explains why the residents 

could not hold back their joy when 

the Kogi State Commissioner for 

Information and Communication, 

Mr. Kingsley Fanwo, built and 

donated a health centre for the 

community; a development that has 

given them a glimpse of hope for 

their health challenges. 

Residents of Itakede-Ide which is 

about 20 kilometres to the LGA 

headquarters, have for years lived 

at the mercy of God whenever 

anyone fell ill. The village which is 

located in the interior of the council 

•Chief of Staff to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Jamiu Asuku, taking a routine medical checkup 

at the health centre shortly after the commissioning 

spaces for internships and 

postgraduate Medical trainings 

in other parts of the country. 

In the delegation of the 

Medical Director of Federal 

Medical Centre were the Head 

of Clinical Services, Dr. Benard 

Ododo, the Director of 

Administration, Elder SBD 

Famolu, Head of Finance and 

Accounts/Procurement, Alh. 

Jatto Shaib, and the Head of 

Public Relations, Mallam A 

Abdulahi. 

Similarly, with the Vice- 

Chancellor to receive the 

delegation were the Deputy Vice- 

Chancellor, Professor 

Mohammed Suleiman Audu, the 

Registrar, Mallam Usman 

Suleman Obansa, the Acting 

Librarian, Dr. Lanre Mbashir, 

the Acting Head of Health 

Services, Dr. Magnus 

Chinemerem Ogaraku, and the 

Deputy Registrar, Human 

Resources, Mr. Benjamin 

Mshebwala 

area, suffered years of neglect in health 

facilities despite producing sons and 

daughters who are doing well in their 

private endeavours and have held key 

political positions in time past. At the 

unveiling of the facility, the community 

trooped out in exhilaration to witness 

the new hospital that promises to 

change the health status of the people. 

The Primary Health Centre, a 

brainchild of Commissioner for 

Information and Communication, 

Kingsley Fanwo, a native of the area, 

is built in honour of his late mother’s 

foundation, Titilayo Fanwo 

Foundation. The primary health 

facility has a waiting room, 

consulting room, examination 

room, male and female wards with 

capacity for three beds each. The 

centre also boasts of a weighing 

scale, cylinder, drip stands, phototherapy 

machine, sterilising drum, 

thermometers, nebulizer and other 

medical equipment. 

A representative of the 

community youth, Mr. Tunji 

Dambola, eulogised the 

Information Commissioner for 

donating the health centre, 

describing his contributions to the 

community as immense. 

Explaining his choice of building 

the Primary Health Centre, Fanwo, 

who had earlier graded the 

community road, said he was 

moved by the health challenges of 

the community, hence the premium 

he placed for the quick completion 

of the PHC. 

An elated Fanwo said he was 

moved to establish the centre to 

alleviate the pain of members of the 

community who often had to 

endure long journeys to access 

medical treatment. 

up money to construct these 

facilities. You know how difficult 

it is to get money now. Most of 

our people are peasant farmers 

and it is a known fact that there is 

no way some of them will source 

this money given the urgency of 

the by-law. 

Although it is true that the 

authorities have been speaking 

against the practice of open 

defecation for a very long time 

and people have been reluctant to 

comply, I want to appeal to the 

authorities for more time to allow 

people source the money for the 

construction of the toilets," 

Usman said. 

Speaking with Arewa Voice, a 

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, 

WASH, expert, David Ayodele, 

explained the benefits that come 

with open defecation free zones, 

saying that it also attracts 

international donor support for a 

community. "The signing of the bylaw 

brings lots of benefits to people 

of Ganjuwa and Toro local 

government areas. If there is 

compliance with the law, the water 

system will be safe for 

consumption because there won't 

be faecal substances that will be 

carried around by wind. And you 

know that our people have this 

culture of drying most of their food 

grains and flours in the open air 

which can be contaminated. When 

it rains, dry faecal matter is 

washed into our rivers and 

streams where some of our 

communities source their water. 

And, when children play around, 

like some that play with sand, they 

stand the risk of being 

contaminated with fecal matter 

because of open defecation.

24 —Vanguard 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, , 2021 

Shaban 27, 1442 A.H. 

Fragrance of Ramadan already in the air 

By Imam Murtadha Gusau 

Respected servants of Allah! 

In today’s sermon, I want to 

share with you the great sermon, 

which our beloved Prophet Muhammad 

(Peace be upon him) delivered 

on the last Friday of 

Sha’aban. The sermon of the Messenger 

of Allah (Peace be upon 

him) is concise; informative and 

educational. It provides instructional 

models to Muslims to be followed 

and to be practiced in their 

daily lives; especially during the 

month of Ramadan. Hopefully, it 

will develop in us a greater understanding 

behind the true meaning 

of Ramadan. 

Dear brothers and sisters! Imams 

Ibn Khuzaimah, Ibn Hibban, and 

al-Baihaqi reported on the authority 

of Salman al-Farisi (RA) that the 

Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon 

him) delivered a sermon on the last 

day of the month of Sha’aban, in 

which he (Peace be upon him) said: 

“O People! A great and blessed 

month has arrived for you with its 

mercies, blessings and forgiveness. 

Allah has decreed this month 

to be the best of all months. The 

days of this month are the best 

among the days and the nights are 

the best among the nights and its 

hours are the best among the 

hours. It is the month which invites 

you to be the guests of Allah 

and invites you to be one of those 

near to Him. Allah has honoured 

you in it. In every breath you take 

is a reward of Allah. Your sleep is 

worship. Your good deeds are accepted 

and your invocations are 

answered. Therefore, you must 

invoke your Lord in all earnestness 

with hearts free from sin and 

evil, and pray that Allah may help 

you to keep fast, and to recite the 

noble Qur’an. Indeed! Miserable is 

the one who is deprived of Allah’s 

forgiveness in this great month. 

While fasting, remember the hunger 

and thirst o- n the Day of Judgment. 

Give alms to the poor and 

needy. Pay respect to your elders, 

have sympathy for your youngsters 

and be kind towards your relatives. 

Guard your tongue against 

unworthy words, and your eyes 

from scenes that are not worth seeing 

and your ears from sounds that 

should not be heard. Be kind to 

orphans so that if your children 

may become orphans they will 

also be treated with kindness. Do 

repent to Allah for your sins and 

supplicate with raised hands at the 

times of prayer as these are the best 

times, during which Allah Almighty 

looks at His servants with 

mercy. Allah answers if they supplicate, 

responds if they call, grants 

if He is asked, and accepts if they 

plead. O people! You have made 

your conscience the servant of 

your desires. Make it free by invoking 

Allah for forgiveness. Your 

back may break from the heavy 

load of your sins, so prostrate yourself 

before Allah for long intervals, 

and make this load lighter. Understand 

fully that Allah has promised 

in His Honour and Majesty that, 

people who perform Salah (Prayer) 

and Sajdah (Prostration) will be 

guarded from Hellfire o- n the Day 

of Judgment. O people! If anyone 

amongst you arranges for iftar 

meal for any believer, Allah will 

reward him as if he had freed a 

slave, and Allah will forgive him 

While fasting has 

numerous virtues 

and benefits, the 

primary motivation 

of fasting should be 

solely to seek Allah’s 

pleasure and to attain 

Taqwa or Allahconsciousness 

so 

that we may be able 

to save ourselves 

from harm, and the 

greatest harm is to be 

unsuccessful in the 

hereafter 

ness during this month, Allah 

shall look at him with kindness 

o- n that Day. Anyone who 

treats his kinsmen well during 

this month, Allah will bestow 

His Mercy o- n him o- n that 

Day, while anyone who mistreats 

his kinsmen during this 

month, Allah will keep him away 

from His Mercy. Whoever offers 

the recommended prayers 

during this month, Allah will 

save him from Hell, and whoever 

observes his obligations 

during this month, his reward 

will be seventy times the reward 

during other months. Whoever 

repeatedly invokes Allah’s 

blessings o- n me, Allah will 

keep his scale of good deeds 

heavy, while the scales of others 

will be tending to lightness. 

O people! The gates of Paradise 

remain open during this month. 

Pray to your Lord that they may 

not be closed for you. The gates 

of Hell are closed, so pray to 

your Lord that they never open 

for you. Shaitan (Satan) has 

been chained; so ask your Lord 

not to let him have power over 

you. Ali Ibn Talib (RA) said: “I 

asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, 

what are the best deeds during 

this month’?” ‘He replied: ‘O 

Abu-Hasan, the best of deeds 

during this month is to be far 

from what Allah has forbidden’.” 

Respected brothers and sisters! 

Please, we should reflect 

upon this Prophetic sermon. 

With Ramadan offering such 

unique opportunity to earn Allah’s 

pleasure, what more can 

his sins. A companion asked: 

“But not all of us have the means 

to do so.” The Prophet (Peace 

be upon him) replied: “Keep 

yourself away from Hellfire 

though it may consist of half a 

date or even some water if you 

have nothing else. O people! 

Anyone who during this month 

cultivates good manners will 

walk over the Sirat (bridge to 

Paradise) o- n the day when feet 

will tend to slip. For anyone 

who during this month eases the 

workload of his servants, Allah 

will make easy his accounting, 

and for anyone who doesn’t 

hurt others during this month, 

Allah will safeguard him from 

His wrath o- n the Day of Judgment. 

Anyone who respects 

and treats an orphan with kindwe 

ask for and what could be said 

about us if we didn’t make use of 

this opportunity? It is strange 

but true that there are among 

Muslims, different groups of 

people who have different attitudes 

toward Ramadan. 

There are those who see Ramadan 

as a time of restrictions and 

prevention; a time of prohibitions 

from desires and lust. They 

do not comprehend the benefits 

of Ramadan. They fast with 

great difficulty and continue to 

engage in backbiting, slandering, 

lying and other sins. They 

see fasting in Ramadan as nothing 

more than an obstacle in the 

way of their desires. 

There are others who know 

nothing of Ramadan except that 

it is obligatory. Neither the days 

nor the nights are spent in worship; 

rather they might not even 

perform the five daily prayers. 

They awaken with Allah’s displeasure 

and sleep with Allah’s 

displeasure. 

Then there are those who restrict 

their worship and good 

deeds only to the month of Ramadan. 

They attend the 

Jumu’ah prayer, frequent the 

Mosque, and spend in charity. 

But when the month is over all 

of those good deeds come to end, 

until the next Ramadan. 

There are those who cannot 

wait for the arrival of Ramadan. 

Read further online: 

www.vanguardngr.com 

BARKA JUMAH 

Ramadan 2021: Time to purify your 

soul of worldly desires 

Ramadan can be very difficult. The ease that it brings in 

spite of the challenges and difficulties can be found through 

correct knowledge, correct intentions (seeking Allah’s pleasure), 

actions based on those two things. 

Almighty Allah said, “O you who have believed, decreed 

upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you 

that you may become righteous.” Surah al-Baqarah, 2: 183 

The Devil is going to be caged throughout the holy month 

of Ramadan. What better time to conquer your ego and purify 

your soul of worldly desires. 

May this Ramadan 2021 be the one to bring those whose 

hearts have strayed from the straight path, back into the 

peace and satisfaction of striving to worship Allah, Glorified 

and Exalted. Ameen. Jumuah Mubarak! 

—Dr. Bilal Philips 

Nikkah 

From left: Ahmed and Rukayah Olalere (new couple) 

and the groom's parent, Alhaji and Alhaja AbdulKareem 

Olalere after their Nikkah ceremony, 

held in Mushin, Lagos recently. 

Alhaja Jemeelah Opeyemi Alagbe (left); Imam Khadir Al Hassan Ewuoso (2nd 

left), Hadjia Ameenah Al hassan Ewuoso (right) during award ceremony organised 

by Omoshehu Islamic organisation, Iyana Iyesi, Ota, Ogun State.

Shaban 27, 1442 A.H. 

UNILAG G Muslim Alumni holds pre-Ramadan lecture 

•Okunnu, Bugaje, Utomi, Oladosu to discuss Nigeria’s unity 

THE divisive ethnic na 

tionalism threatening 

the existence of Nigeria will be 

one of the issues to be discussed 

at the forthcoming Pre- 

Ramadan Lecture organised 

by University of Lagos Muslim 

Alumni (UMA) on Sunday. 

The annual event will also 

touch on a number of issues 

slowing the nation’s bid to be 

at par with other developed 

countries. 

UMA in a statement by its 

National President, Shuaib 

Afolabi Salisu, said eminent 

personalities have been invited 

to chart a new course for 

Lagos Muslim community launches postgraduate 

scholarship scheme in tertiary 

institutions 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

THE Muslim community 

of Lagos State has unveiled 

plans to set up a post 

graduate scholarship scheme 

to Muslim students in higher 

educational institutions in the 

country. 

President of the Muslim 

community of Lagos State, 

Prof. Tajudeen Gbadamosi, 

who disclosed this at a meeting 

with Muslim leaders in 

Ikeja, said that the aim was to 

provide Muslims a wide range 

of knowledge skills and enterprise. 

He stated that the scheme 

became necessary because in 

the various departments of 

universities and polytechnics 

the ratio of Muslim academics 

to other faith based religious 

group range from 0 per cent 

to 10 per cent. 

According to him, “Muslims 

can not boast of 10 per cent 

among the rank of distinguished 

and lawyers.” 

Gbadamosi, explained that 

the plan is to award 50 students 

annually, with the ratio 

of ten under graduates and 40 

PhDs. 

He explained further that the 

award would be renewed at 

the end of the year provided 

that students submit an official 

The Wings School holds public lecture 

tomorrow 

ONE of the leading Mus 

lim schools in South 

West, The Wings Schools, Iwo, 

Osun State will hold a public 

lecture tomorrow, Saturday 

April 10. 

The theme of the lecture is 

“Bridging Gaps Between Generations 

and Keeping Conversation 

alive”. 

The event which will commence 

at 10am will hold at the 

school’s Central Mosque. 

the nation. 

Salisu said the 26th edition 

of the Pre-Ramadan Lecture 

themed “Though Tribe and 

Tongue May Differ: Interrogating 

Nigeria’s Nationhood,” 

will feature a former 

lawmaker, Dr Usman Bugaje, 

a Political Economist and 

Founder, Centre for Value in 

Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi 

and an erudite scholar cum 

Dean, Faculty of Arts, University 

of Ibadan, Prof. Afiz 

Oladosu, as guest speakers. 

The speakers, he said, 

were carefully selected to 

report of satisfactory performance. 

“The objective is to tackle 

the paucity of highly skilled 

manpower in the Muslim 

community and produced 

more PhD holders.” Gbadamosi 

said. 

In his remarks another Islamic 

Scholar, Imam Shakiru 

Ayinde Gafar, popularly 

known as ‘Mofesaye’’ called 

on Muslim organizations to 

support the scheme and ensure 

its success. 

He said that education is 

important to mankind and 

that human beings are 

placed above all other 

things created by God. 

Mofesaye advised those 

behind the programme to 

make sure that students 

from poor backgrounds 

benefit from the scheme. 

In his contribution, the 

Deputy National Missioner 

of Nawair-ur-deen Society 

of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdulmajeed, 

suggested that each 

Muslim organizations and 

Central Mosque across the 

state should contribute certain 

amount weekly towards 

the scheme. 

Sheikh Abdulmajeed, 

however, lauded the programme 

stating that seeking 

knowledge is a must for every 

human being in Islam. 

According to the Chief 

Imam of the School, Alhaji 

Imam Haroun Bilal Olurode, 

the chief lecturer is Dr. Sirajdeen 

al-Asrau Bilal while 

the Chief Imam of Islahudeen 

Society, Sheikh Mukadam 

Akinola and the Chief 

Imam of Islahudeen 

(Akewukawe) Imam Ishaq 

Mudathir Ajiboponle will be 

the Chief Moderators. The 

occasion will be chaired by 

Engr. Idris Olumoye Jabar. 

enrich the conversation and 

ensure broader perspectives. 

According to the UMA 

President, an elder-statesman 

and former Federal 

Commissioner for Works 

and Housing during the General 

Yakubu Gowon regime, 

Alhaji Lateef Olufemi Okunnu, 

SAN, will chair the event 

while UNILAG Vice Chancellor, 

Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, 

will be the Chief Host. 

“I have no doubt that with 

the array of resource persons, 

the outcome of the 

event will be a significant addition 

to the efforts to redirect 

the ship of our great 

Nation and address the myriad 

of challenges we currently 

experience,” Salisu said. 

"Vanguard, 

FRIDAY, APRIL 9, , 2021 —25 

UIMGA gives scholarships to 

indigent students 

THE University of Ibadan Muslim Graduates’ Associa 

tion (UIMGA) has doled out cash in scholarships to several 

indigent students. 

The 2021 annual scholarship award was held recently at the University 

of Ibadan Central Mosque with twenty beneficiaries going 

home with cash gift meant to settle their academic financial needs. 

More than half a million naira were distributed to the twenty selected 

indigent students. 

Speaking at the occasion, the National President of the association, 

Alhaji Imran Mojeed advised the beneficiaries to be more 

dedicated to their studies, stating that the token will go a long way 

to ease their financial needs towards their academic pursuit. 

He stated that although the association has a lot of projects competing 

for funds, but it places more premiums on financial assistance 

for indigent students. 

Emphasising the need for proper education, he advised Muslims in 

general to always prepare themselves, through education, for opportunities 

which may present themselves at any time. He encouraged 

the beneficiaries to always be active as members of the Muslim 

Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) for more opportunities. 

Delivering a paper at the occasion, Alhaja Arogundade Aminat, a 

Counseling Psychologist and the National Treasurer of the association, 

advised the students not to depart from the path of dignity 

and honour. 

Speaking on a wide range of issues such as good behaviour, spiritual 

life, giving back to the society and the need for showing gratitude, 

Alhaja Arogundade encouraged the beneficiaries and Muslims 

in general not to bring the image of Islam to disrepute anywhere 

they find themselves as religion is judged by the behaviours 

of its adherents. 

In own remarks, the Chairman of the Scholarship Committee, 

Alhaji Abdulahi Adelakun stated that the scheme remains a cardinal 

project of the association in spite of paucity of fund being experienced. 

He therefore passionately appealed to well-meaning individuals 

to partner with the association towards assisting indigent 

university students across the country, adding that interested donors 

can donate into the association’s bank account: Ecobank A/C 

No:1673000385. He expressed gratitude to donors including Dr. 

Wale Babalakin, Engr. Mutairu Adeniran, Alhaja Bolatito Aremu 

and Mr. Kazeem Giwa amongst others. 

From left: Wakilu Musulumi of Yorubaland, Edo and Delta, Imam Iskeel Lawal 

Sugar, Chief Imam of Egbaland Sheikh Al-Imam Sa’ad Bamgbola, Donor of the 

Mosque, Alhaji Ishaq Oluwalolope Kokumo and Olori Ratibi of Egba, Alhaji Dauda 

Afuwape during the laying foundation stone of Oluwalolope Central Mosque 

held at Alapako Bode Olude area, Abeokuta. BY WUMI AKINOLA 

Pupils of Al Falah Schools, Adamo, Ikorodu, Lagos State, having fun during 

an excursion to various insitutions and monuments in Ibadan, Oyo State yesterday.

26 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 

Continues from Page 5 

justice was allowed to reign 

and poverty stamped out, 

the workload on the military 

and the Police would yield 

little or no results. 

His words: “The security 

situation in Imo State, the 

security situation in Nigeria 

as a whole, the security 

situation in all nooks and 

crannies of our society is not 

palatable. We are passing 

through a very difficult 

moment in the history of our 

nation. 

“The recent attack on the 

Police headquarters and the 

Correctional Centre in Imo 

State, the unending 

herdsmen crises, the 

banditry, the unending 

Boko Haram, and 

kidnapping are all products 

of poverty and injustice and 

I think time has come for 

us, political leaders, to tell 

ourselves the truth and 

address this ugly situation 

and help our men and 

women of the armed forces 

and the police who are 

currently fighting the 

symptoms and not the 

disease of poverty and 

injustice. 

“What I will ask Imo State 

government to do is: the 

location of the prison and 

the Police headquarters is 

wrong. I had built the best 

prison or Correctional 

centre command, I built the 

best police command in the 

Federal Republic of 

Nigeria but they left them 

to waste; they are not being 

used. 

“If people were there, 

these people wouldn’t have 

had that kind of access. It 

has a large expanse of land, 

staff quarters, the capacity 

for inmates there is 3,200 as 

against where they are 

now, which has about 1,200 

and they squeeze 10 

inmates in a place. 

“My message to him is 

that he should face the 

challenge of leadership 

and consultation at this 

time. It is very important 

because if the governor 

consulted me and said how 

did you handle IPOB 

during your time that there 

was peace in Imo State, 

how did you handle the 

issue of kidnapping, how 

did you handle the issue of 

agitators? I would have told 

him. 

“During my time, we 

collected more than 100 AK- 

47 rifles from the youths 

who came for exchange 

willingly, just by talking to 

them. We must always 

Naira appreciates to 

N409.65/$ in I&E window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

The naira yesterday appreciated to N409.65 kobo 

per dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) 

window. 

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative 

exchange rate for the naira dropped by N1.35 kobo 

to N409.65 kobo per dollar from N411 per dollar 

on Wednesday, translating to 50 kobo appreciation 

for the naira. 

The volume of dollars (turnover) traded in the 

window yesterday rose by 691 percent to $93.69 

million from $11.85 million on Wednesday. 

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

Insecurity: Tension mounts in Imo, Abia, Rivers 

understand that these 

children are our children. 

“We are overloading the 

military and the police in 

trying to help the situation 

when we have not tackled 

the issues of injustices in 

this country and the issues 

of poverty. 

“As long as these continue 

in the form and shape it is 

going on, and as long as 

young men wake up in the 

morning and there is no job 

and poverty is ravaging the 

system, there is little or 

nothing the armed forces 

can do because it is a 

growing thing. The young 

men are coming out of 

schools, they are not getting 

jobs, we must address that.” 

‘DSS alerted 

Police, 

Uzodimma, one 

week before Imo 

attacks’ 

Meantime, Dennis 

Amachree, former assistant 

director of the Department 

of State Services, DSS, said 

yesterday that the agency 

informed the police and 

Governor Uzodinma of an 

impending attack on the 

police command and prison 

facility a week before the 


On Monday, gunmen 

attacked the federal prison 

and police command 

headquarters in Owerri 

and freed 1,844 inmates. 

Again on Tuesday, 

gunmen attacked another 

police station located in 

Ehime Mbano LGA in the 

state. 

Speaking when he 

featured on Sunrise Daily, 

a Channels Television 

programme, Amachree said 

there was “enough 

actionable intelligence” 

gathered by the DSS before 

Monday’s attacks but the 

police and the governor did 

not execute it. 

“You know in our 

lackadaisical way, when 

intelligence come they 

throw it by the side and then 

when something happens, 

everybody runs around.” 

Amachree said the police 

are the “actioning party” 

that should have taken 

steps on the security 

intelligence, adding that 

Mohammed Adamu, 

former Inspector-General of 

Police, did not get his facts 

right before alleging that 

the masterminds of the 

attacks were members of 

the proscribed Indigenous 

People of Biafra, IPOB. 

Amachree not 

speaking for DSS 

– Imo govt 

Countering the former 

DSS chief, Imo State 

Government said 

Amacheree was not 

speaking for the DSS. 

In a statement, the 

I n f o r m a t y i o n 

Commissioner, Declan 

Emelumba, said any official 

statement from DSS, should 

come from the current 

director of DSS and not from 

an individual speaking for 

himself. 

“The ex-director of DSS 

is certainly not in position 

to speak for DSS, he is not 

in service. If there is 

anybody who can make 

that statement it is the 

current director of DSS. We 

have not heard from DSS.” 

Asked if there was any 

such alert, he said: “As far 

as we are concerned, there 

is no such letter or alert. 

The man is speaking for 

himself and not DSS.” 

Imo monarch, 

chiefs kidnapped 

after attending 

traditional 

wedding 

There was palpable fear 

in Imo State on Wednesday 

night after gunmen 

kidnapped the traditional 

ruler of Umueze Nguru in 

Aboh Mbaise Local 


state, Eze Charles Iroegbu. 

The gunmen also 

kidnapped the cabinet 

chiefs of the kingdom who 

accompanied the monarch 

to a public function in the 

state. 

The respected monarch, 

who is owner and chief 

executive officer of All 

States Mass Transit, and his 

cabinet chiefs were 

kidnapped after attending 

a traditional wedding in 

Mbano. 

They were in three 

vehicles and were heading 

back to the kingdom when 

the gun-wielding men 

waylaid them and diverted 

their movement, Vanguard 

learned, yesterday. 

The development has 

caused panic in the 

community. 

“His Highness and his 

cabinet chiefs were on their 

way back from a traditional 

wedding ceremony in 

Mbano when they were 

kidnapped. This is 

unbelievable and there is 

fear and panic 

everywhere,” a community 

source said and expressed 

worry that the kidnappers 

had not established 

communication since they 

struck. 

Contacted, the police 

spokesperson in the state, 

Orlando Ikeokwu, said he 

could not confirm the 

abduction. 

Tension in Aba 

over shooting 

around police 

station 

As the waves of insecurity 

spread, there was tension 

in Aba, the commercial 

capital of Abia State, 

following reported sporadic 

shooting by police 

personnel around Azikiwe 

Road and Jubilee Road. 

Policemen barricaded all 

roads leading to the 

Correctional Centre and 

the Police Area Command 

in the city. 

Vanguard gathered that 

there was heavy shooting 

at the Aba Area Command 

and another at Bata 

junction. 

Residents of the 

adjoining roads to the two 

facilities have been barred 

from leaving their houses, 

while shop owners were 

forced to leave the area. 

Barricades guarded by 

the Police were observed at 

Okwu na Uka street, Pound 

and Hospital roads as well 

as the area near the Aba 

General Hospital. 

A police source told 

Vanguard that the 

barricades were not 

unusual, considering the 

recent attacks on police 

formations in the South- 

East zone. 

According to eyewitness 

account, trouble started 

around 8:am when a team 

of armed police men 

stormed the vicinity and 

started shooting into the air. 

It was not yet clear if there 

were any human casualties. 

An eyewitness, simply 

identified as Longinus, a 

tricycle operator, said he 

parked his keke ( tricycle) 

and was eating in a 

restaurant when a team of 

policemen stormed the area 

and started shooting. 

According to him, people 

scampered for safety amid 

the raging gunfire. 

He said that on his return 

to the scene after the 

shooting, he discovered 

that people’s vehicles, 

including his keke, had 

been destroyed by the 

police for yet to be 

explained reasons. 

The tricycle operator 

claimed that the invading 

police team also took away 

his keke to an unknown 

destination. 

His words: “We were here 

and suddenly a team of 

policemen came to this 

place and started shooting. 

People ran away for safety. 

I was eating at a nearby 

restaurant. 

“Everybody ran for safety 

as they threw teargas. We 

thought it was over, until 

they went and reinforced, 

came back and started 

destroying peoples 

vehicles. My keke was 

destroyed and they took it 

to their station.” 

He said the action of the 

police was unprovoked as 

residents around the area 

had no knowledge of what 

might have led to the act. 

Another version had it 

that police personnel went 

on rampage, smashing 

windscreens of vehicles 

and destroying people’s 

property claiming to be 

searching for members of 

the IPOB; and the 

personnel of Eastern 

Security Network, ESN. 

The incident happened 

shortly after a reported 

sporadic shooting around 

Aba Area Command. 

Police were said to have 

cordoned off all roads 

leading to the scene and 

subjected passersby to 

thorough security checks. 

Following the gunshots, 

traders and people around 

the vicinity scampered for 

safety, while shops around 

Hospital Road by CPS, and 

Jubilee Road were shut 

down in the ensuing 

confusion. 

Contacted, the Police 

Public Relations Officer, 

PPRO, Geoffrey Ogbonna, 

said a team of policemen 

went for arrest at Ama 

Ogbonna, Aba when the 

operatives came under 

attack. 

He said they later called 

for reinforcement before the 

situation was brought 

under control. 


“Meanwhile, necessary 

measures have been taken 

to protect the pupils and 

staff of the school with 

security sweeps ongoing, 

while the school is 

temporarily closed. 

“Governor Okezie 

Ikpeazu has directed 

security agencies to embark 

on proactive checks in 

other vulnerable locations 

out of abundance of caution. 

“While we are grateful to 

God that there is no harm 

to life or property, we urge 

citizens and residents to 

continue to maintain 

vigilance and report 

suspicious situations to 

security agents.” 

Three feared 

killed as cultists 

clash in Port 

Harcourt 

In Rivers, three people 

were feared dead at old Port 

Harcourt township area of 

Port Harcourt City Local 

Government Area of Rivers 

State as cultists clashed in 

in a supremacy battle 

over who controls the 

area. 

The development has 

thrown residents of 

Bende, Victoria and 

Bagham streets into 

palpable fear. 

A source, who 

witnessed the deadly 

clash, said it started 

around 8:00pm, adding 

that one Dike, and Biggy 

were among the people 

feared killed. 

The source said: 

“Yesterday, around 

8:00pm, we heard 

gunshots. When we 

came out later at Bagham 

Junction, we saw one 

person that was shot in 

the chest, dead. 

“I couldn’t identify him 

because it was dark. I 

also heard that one 

person called Biggy, was 

shot at Victoria Street and 

a business man called Dike 

was also shot. I don’t know 

if the business man died.” 

He lamented that cultists 

terrorising the area move 

uninterrupted with guns 

in search of their targets, 

and urged the security 

operatives to be proactive 

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018773962, 

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in their duties. 

The source said: “The 

truth is that these cultists 

come for their target. 

Some times, we see them 

pass with guns. Some 

time it’s stray bullet that 

pick some persons. Our 

concern is that security 

should be proactive. 

They pay attention more 

to other issues than 

human lives.” 

Confirming the 

development, the Public 

Relations Officer of the 

State Police Command, 

SP. Nnamdi Omoni, said 

the number of casualties 

could not be ascertained 

at press time. 

Omoni disclosed that 

shooting was following a 

cult war, adding that 

police had restored calm 

in the area. 

“I can confirm that 

there was cult clash 

yesterday at the town 

axis of Port Harcourt. 

Two rival cult groups 

engaged themselves in a 

senseless war of 

supremacy. 

“On getting the distress 

call, we mobilised and 

we chased them and we 

were able to recover one 

of their pistols. The 

manhunt for the cultists 

continues. 

“So far we have no case 

of reported casualty. The 

Commissioner of Police 

has declared war against 

the criminals.” 

Gunmen kidnap 

LG boss in 

Rivers 

In a related 

development, 

unidentified gunmen 

abducted the chairman of 

Okrika 

Local 

Government Area of 

Rivers State, Mr. 

Philemon Kingoli in the 

early hours of 

Wednesday along the 

Peter Odili Road in Port 

Harcourt City Local 


state. 

This came a few weeks 

after gunmen abducted 

the traditional ruler of 

Ikuru town, HRM King 

Aaron Miller, in Andoni 

Local Government Area 

of the State as well as a 

senior lecturer at the 

Department of 

Linguistics and 

Communications 

Studies, Dr. Jones 

Ayouwo. 

However, the duo have 

regained freedom, with a 

trending video from the 

monarch’s kidnappers 

calling on politicians 

and royal fathers to 

enthrone peace in 

Andoni. 

At press time, reason 

for abduction of the LG 

council chairman is yet to 

be known as the gunmen 

have not established 

contact with relatives of 

victim. 

Meanwhile, the State 

Police Public Relations 

Officer, SP Nnamdi 

Omoni, who confirmed 

the kidnap of Kingoli, 

said the command is 

making efforts to secure 

unconditional release of 

the LG boss


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former documents remain Valid. 

The general public should please 

take note 

OKIKIADE 


as Miss. Okikiade Oluwayemisi 

Jola-Ade, Now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. Fadoju 

Oluwayemisi Jola-Ade.. All 



take note. 

MURARO 


as Egbedi Efeoghene Muraro, Now 


as Egbedi Efe Michael. All former 

documents remain Valid. The 

general public should please take 

note. 

I Formerly known and address 

as. Ifijeh Faith Osaro. Now 

wish to be known and address 

as. Ovra Oghale Faith. All 


valid general public please take 

note. 

ITEDJERE 

AGBOMUSERIN 


Oluwafunke Cynthia 

Agbomuserin, now wish to be 

known as Oluwafunke 

Cynthia Onifonsae. All 



note. 

OSUALA NWOSU 

I, formerly known as Osuala 

Chinwendu Olachi, now wish to 

be known as Chimezie Chinwendu 

Olachi. All former documents 


note. 

EKWOWUSI 

I, formerly known as Miss Nneka 

Macilina Ekwowusi, now wish 

to be known as Mrs. Nneka 

Macilina Ineke. All former 



SOLOMON 

I formerly known called and 

addressed as EDEOBA 

SOLOMON IFESINACHI now 

wish to be known called and 

addressed as EDEOBA 

DANIEL IFESINACHI. All 


valid, Banks general public 

take note. 

UGWUANYI 

I formerly known as Miss 

Ugwuanyi Ifeyinwa Charity, now 

wish to be addressed as Mrs. 

Efidi Ifeyinwa Charity, all former 

documents remains valid, general 


AYADE 


as Mr. AYADE MATHIAS AKEH, 


addressed as Mr. AKEH 

MATHIAS UDIE. All former 



note. 

PEARL 


as Miss. Abiloye Pearl Sagay, 


addressed as Miss. Abiloye 

Mogbeyiteren Pearl Sagay. All 



take note. 

ABIODUN 

I, formerly called SULAIMON 

MORENIKEJI ABIODUN, 

now wish to be known as 

SULAIMON ABDULAZEEZ 

MORENIKEJI. All former 



note. 

TAMARAEBI 

EZEDOM 

OMOSASINUOLA 


as Adeniran Oluwatosin 

Omosasinuola, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Adeniran 

Oluwatosin Kalimat which are my 

correct names. All former 



FRANCIS 

I, formerly known as Chizoba 

Francis Eberechukwu, now wish 

to be known as Eberechukwu 

Chizoba. All former documents 


note. 

AMARAEGBU 

This is to confirm that my name 

appear as Ahaneku Franklin instead 

of Ahaneku Amaraegbu Franklin in 

some of my documents, now wish 

to be known as Ahaneku Amaraegbu 

Franklin. All former documents 


note. 

OSHOGIE 


Benedicta Oshogie Agumeile, 

now wish to be addressed as 

Mrs Benedicta Ken-Iyevhobu 

Agumeile, all former documents 

remains valid, general public take 

note. 

AGANMWONYI 


Isiuwa Aganmwonyi, now wish 

to be addressed as Mrs. Isiuwa 

Omigie, all former documents 

remains valid, general public take 

note. 

SULAIMON 

I,formerly known and addressed 

as Miss. SULAIMON Rukayat 

Olawunmi, Now wish to be 

known and addressed as Mrs 

NASIRU Rukayat Olawunmi. All 



take note 

OGUNJIMI 

I formerly known as Olaide 

Suliat OGUNJIMI, now wish 

to be known as Olaide Suliat 

OLAIBI. All former 



please. 

LAWURU 

I Formerly known and address as, 

Miss Lawuru Elma Toju now 

wish to be known and address as 

Mrs Oburoh Elma Toju. All former 



OSARO NGWU ADAMU 

I Formerly known and address 

as. Miss. Ngwu Ifeoma 

Augustina. Now wish to be 

known and address as. Mrs. 

Ifeoma Augustina Ngwu. All 


valid general public please take 

note. 


as MISS ITEDJERE 

OGHENEFEJIRO now wish to be 


AJAGBA OGHENEFEJIRO. All 


general public take note. 

That in my national identity card and 

my voter’s card I use the name 

IGANAGAN GODWIN 

TAMARAEBI, while in my BVN my 

name was written as IGANGAN 

GODWIN TAMAEBI , that I wish to 

correct my name as IGANGAN 

GODWIN TAMARAEBI. all former 


public, bank and all concern institute 

should take note. 

I Formerly known and address as. 

ADAMU MLUMUN ROS Now 

wish to be known and address as. 

HINDAN MLUMUN DEBORAH. 

All former documents remain valid 


EZEDOM OJEGUN 


as Miss Ojegun Eseoghene 

Mirabel, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. Otuonunyo 

Eseoghene Mirabel. All former 

documents remains valid. General 

public please take note.


CHANGE OF NAME 

JOHNSON 

I, formerly known and addressed as 

Miss Osariemen Johnson, now 

wish to be known and addressed as 

Mrs Osariemen Abraham Erere 

Irubor. Former documents remain 


EHIMWENMA 

FESTUS 


CHRISTABEL IYOBOSA 

EHIMWENMA, now wish to be 

known and addressed as MRS. 

CHRISTABEL INNOCENT 

OGBEIDE. Former documents remain 


BROWN 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Miss Mercy John 

Brown, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. Mercy 

Izuegbu. All former documents 

remain valid. General public 

please take note. 

ODINAKA 

This is to confirm that the names 

Eputum Kingsley Odinaka and 

Okechukwu Odinaka Prosper refer to 

one and the same person. I now wish 

to be known as Eputum Kingsley 

Odinaka. All former documents 

remain valid. General public please 

take note. 

SIMON 

I, formerly known as CHOO SIMON 

now wish to be known and 

addressed as CHOO SIMON 

TERHEMBA with my actual date of 

birth as 2nd February, 1994. All 

former documents remain valid. First 

Bank PLC and general public to take 

note 

KACHAN 

I, formerly known as Zakari 

Muhammad Kachan, now wish 

to be known and addressed as 

Zakari Aminu. All former 


General public please take 

note. 

KIZITO 

I, formerly known as JOHN 

COSMAS KIZITO, now wish 


JOHN COSMAS SALAWU. All 


valid. General public please 

take note. 

SAMUEL 

I, formerly known as VICTOR 

SAMUEL SAMUEL, now wish to 

be known and addressed as VICTOR 

AKAMSOKO KOMKA. All former 



ABUBAKAR 


ABUBAKAR UKPOGIRI 

ABUBAKAR, now wish to be 

known as ABUBAKAR 

UKPOGIRI IBRAHIM. All 



take note. 

ISHAYA 

I, formerly known as JACOB 

FRIDAY ISHAYA, now wish to be 

called and addressed as JACOB 

ISHAYA. DOB From 10/7/1990 to 

10/06/1996. All Former documents 

remain valid. FIRST BANK PLC 

Authority concern and the general 


SAMUEL 

I, SAMUEL MARIA NNENNA and 

SAMUEL NNENNA MARY refer to 

one and same person, now wish to be 

known and addressed as SAMUEL 

NNENNA MARY. All former 

documents remain valid.General 

public take note 

OSAYOMORE 


OSAYOMORE MACQUINS, now 


OSAYOMORE MACQUINS 

ASOWATA. Former documents 


note. 

PETER 


Peter Ada Augustina, now wish 

to be known as Mrs Ejeh Ada 

Augustina. All former 

documents remain valid. Any 

authority it may concern and 

the general public take note. 

ADUEYE 

I, formerly known as Miss Beauty 

Ogheneruemu Adueye, now wish to 

be known as Mrs. Beauty 

Ogheneruemu Emetua. All former 


public and any authority that may 

be concerned should please take 

note. 

CHINONSO 

This is to confirm that the names 

Chinonso Uju Faith and Ibehfrancis 

Faith Ijeoma refer to one and the same 

person. I now wish to be known as 

Chinonso Uju Faith. All former 



MOMOH 


OPALUWA MOMOH, now wish to 

be known and addressed as 

MONDAY OJONUGWA. All former 



AKAMO 

I, formerly known as AKAMO 

OMOWUNMI AJOKE, now wish to 

be known as AKINWANDE 

OMOWUNMI AJOKE . All former 


public and authority concerned 

please take note 

CLETUS 


CLETUS BLESSING, now 

wish to be known as GILBERT 

CLETUS BLESSING. All 



take note. 

OKAFOR 


Okafor Onyinye Blessing, now 


as Mrs Nwachukwu Onyinye 

Blessing. All former documents 



ELEGBEDE OT 


addressed as Elegbede 

Oluwadamilare Adio, Now wish 


Akinwale Damilare Agbolahan. 


valid, General public take note. 

JOHN 

I, formerly known as THERESA 

HAUWA JOHN, now wish to be 

called and addressed as THERESA 

HAUWA LUKA. All Former 

documents remain valid Any 

Authority concern and the General 

public to please take note 

OSITA 

I, formerly known as OSITA 

JOHN, now wish to be known 

as OSITA JOHN AMAECHI. 



take note. 

OKOROGWE 


MISS OKOROGWE HANNAH 

CHIDIMMA, now wish to be known 

and addressed as MRS ADEOYO 

HANNAH CHIDIMMA. Former 



NWAOGALANYA 


Miss Nwaogalanya Tolefe Gina, 


addressed as Mrs. Ovoke-Odiete 

Tolefe Gina. All former documents 


take note. 

IFEKA 


as Miss Ifeka Oluchukwu 

Mirian, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. Aluwele 

Ifeka Mirian. All former 



OBINKA 

I, formerly known as MISS OBINKA 

OGOCHUKWU REGINA, now 

Wish to be known as MRS DIKE - 

CHARLES OGOCHUKWU 

REGINA. All former documents 


take note 

ADEOYE 


ADEOYE OLAITAN RIDWAN, now 


ADEOYE RIDWANULLAHI 

OLAITAN.. All former documents 


take note. 

YUSUFU 

I, formerly known as YUSUFU 

MOMOH and 11th -10 -1997), now 

wish to be known as YUSUF 

MUSTEPHA and 12th -9 -2000. All 


General public and authority 

concerned please take note 

AMIRA 

I, formerly known as AMIRA 

OMAR SA’AD now wish to be 

known as HABIBA UMAR 

SA’AD. All former documents 


should take note. 

AGOGO 

I, formerly known as ILIYA 

AGOGO, now wish to be known 

and addressed as ELIAS 

MOSES. All former documents 



ONABAJO 


Onabajo Bunmi Teniola, now 

wish to be known as Mrs 

Adebowale Bunmi Teniola. All 


valid, General public take 

note. 

THOMAS 

My name was written on my (BVN) as 

IBIFURO TELEMA. I now wish to 

add THOMAS to my name. My full and 

correct name is IBIFURO TELEMA 

THOMAS. All documents bearing my 

former name remain valid general 

public should take note. 

SUNDAY 


SUNDAY MICHEAL. Now 

wish to be known as GUA 

MICHEAL. All documents 

bearing my former name 

remain valid. The general 


AKPOTOBORE 


MISS 

ROSEMARY 

AKPOTOBORE, now wish to be 


ROSEMARY AKPOTOBORE 

GODDEY ENDENAKEME. 

Former documents remain valid. 


OBELOGU 


Obelogu Nzubechukwu 

Precious, now wish to be 

known as Mrs. Ezeani 

Nzubechukwu Precious. All 



take note. 

EGEMASI 

I, formerly known as Egemasi 

Emmanuella Ijeoma, now wish 

to be known as Anyanwu 

Emmanuella Ijeoma. All 



take note. 

MONDAY 


MANGUT MONDAY, now wish to 

be known and addressed as JULSON 

MANGUT MONDAY. All former 



BALOGUN 

I, formerly known as BALOGUN 

ISAAC ADEBAYO & DOB 12/10/ 

1999, now wish to be known as 

BALOGUN ISAAC GOODNESS & 

DOB 12/10/2000. All former 



GIDADO 

I, formerly known as GIDADO 

MUSA, now wish to be known 

as MUSA ALHAJI GIDADO. 


valid. General public should 

take note 

JIMOH 

I, formerly known as Jimoh 

Mohamed Inoyape, now wish 

to be known Called and 

addressed as Inoyape Jimoh 

Umoru. All former documents 

remain valid. Public note 

INUWA 

I, formerly known as INUWA 

DANJUMA DAVIAD, now 


as INUWA DAVID OKWONU. 



take note. 

OLALEYE 


Olaleye Alaba Julianah, now 

wish to be known as Mrs Ajala 

Alaba Julianah. All former 



concerned please take note 

NNAMDI 


addressed as Nnamdi Alozie 

Aloysius, now wish to be 

known and addressed as 

Ikechukwu Anyansi 

Micheal.All former documents 


take note 

SAMUEL 

I, formerly known as IFIH 

SAMUEL, now wish to be 

known as IFIH SAMUEL 

EMEKA. All former 



note. 

ENAKIMONEY 


EHWEVWERHERE JAMES 

ENAKIMONI, now wish to be 


EWHEVWERHERE JAMES 

ENAKIMONEY. Former documents 


note. 

OLOREGBULEM 


Oloregbulem Ruth 

Chukwuemeka, now wish to be 

known as Mrs. Egwu-Ewere 

Ruth Chukwuemeka. All 



take note. 

ANOKA 


addressed as Stella Ogechi 

Anoka, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Stella Ochuko 

Mentie. All former documents 



MUSA 


addressed as MUSA 

VICTORIA, now wish to be 

known and addressed as NEJI 

VICTORIA. All former 



note. 

BAWA 

I, formerly known as Halima 

Bawa, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Halima 

Ibrahim, All former 



note. 

UDOH 

I, formerly known as UDOH 

MARGARET UDO, now wish to be 


NYIMONE-MICHAEL 

MARGARET U. All former 



MUHAMMED 


Muhammed Salamatu, now 


as Abubakar Salamatu. All 



take note. 

ABUBAKAR 

I, formerly known as ABUBAKAR 

USMAN, now wish to be known as 

ABU USMAN. MY date of birth is 

not 11 01 I984, but 04 01 2000. All 



CHEGWE 


Dilys Uruemu Chegwe is now 

addressed as Dilys Uruemu Alakpa. 

All former documents remain valid, 


concerned please take note. 

NJIDEKA 


as Njideka Ejiofor Eucharia, 


addressed as Njideka Ike 

Anyansi Eucharia.All former 



USMAN 

I, formerly known and addresed as 

USMAN MUSA MILIONIYA 

ALHAJI, now wish to be known and 

called as MUSA MILONIA USMAN. 

All documents bearing either of the 

names belongs to me and remain 

valid.General public please take 

note. 

ISAAC 


Enem Isaac Faith, now wish 


Mrs. Ogor Enem Faith. All 



take note. 

ONYEKA FESTUS 

I, formerly known as Onwughai 

Blessing Onyeka, now wish to 


Lucky Blessing. All former 



note. 

OMAMERHI 

I, formerly known as Mr. 

Ojigho Jonathan, now wish to 

be known and addressed as Mr. 

Ojigho Omamerhi Jonathan. 



take note. 

ENIYES 

My correct name is Otungba 

Eniebulouapagha Egbele, but it was 

wrongly written as Otungba Eniyes 

in some of my documents. Otungba 

Eniebulouapagha Egbele remains 

my correct name. All former 



CHIDIEBERE 

The correct arrangement of my is 

Felix Chidiebere. My surname 

being Felix. But it was wrongly 

written as Chidiebere Felix in some 

of my documents. Felix 

Chidiebere remains my correct 

name. All former documents 


take note. 

HILTER 

My correct name is Afamukoro 

Wisdom Hitler, but it was wrongly 

written as Afamukoro Wisdom 

Hilter in some of my documents. 

Afamukoro Wisdom Hitler 

remains my correct name. All 



SYLVANUS 

I, formerly known as Miss Dinipre 

Hannah Sylvanus, now wish to be 

known as Mrs. Dinipre Hannah 

Syvanus Etuele Joshua. All former 



OLUKU 


Obedience Oluku, now wish to 

be known as Mrs. Andrew 

Obedience. All former 



ESE 

I, formerly known as Osodi 

Ese, now wish to be known as 

Osodi 

Harrison 

Oghenechovwiere. All former 



note. 

TORTOR 


Edna Tortor, now wish to be 

known as Mrs. Edna Tortor 

Fregene. All former 



note. 

ALE 

I formerly know and addressed as 

ALE BUSAYO GRACE, now 


as ADETIBA BUSAYO GRACE. 


valid, general public please take 

note.

CHANGE OF NAME 

OGBOMO 


as Joy Efe Ogbomo, now wish 


Joy Efe Odiri. All documents 

remain the same. The general 


DANIEL 

I, formerly known and called 

Gubairo Barak Daniel, now wish 

to be known and called Gubairo 

Barak Ajiduku. All former 

documents remain valid. The 

authorities to whom it may concern 

and the general public to please take 

note. 

ONUGHA 

That I was formerly known, called 

and addressed as MISS. 

COMFORT OGECHI ONUGHA, 

that I now wish to be known, called 

and addressed as MRS. 

COMFORT OGECHI MAYOWA- 

ONI. That all documents bearing 

my former name remains valid, 

General Public please take note. 

FAVOUR 

I, formerly known and called 

MISS. AKPOTAIRE EJIRO 

FAVOUR , now wish to be known 

and called MRS. OKEBU EJIRO. 


valid. The authorities to whom it 

may concern and the general 

public to please take note. 

IGBONEKWU 


Miss Igbonekwu Maryann 

Chiamaka now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs Onyia 

Maryann Chiamaka. All former 



OKONKWO 

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS 

OKONKWO MARYANN 

NWAKAEGO, NOW WISH TO 

BE KNOWN AS MRS 

NWABUONA MARYANN 

NWAKAEGO. ALL FORMER 

DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. 

GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE 

TAKE NOTE. 

AKPOME 


as Miss Akpome Omenuwoma 

Evelyn now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs Itugbus 

Omenuwoma Evelyn. All 

documents bearing my former 

name remain valid. General public 

to Note. 

FALADE 

I formerly known as Falade Mary 

Temitope now wish to be known 

as Ajayi Mary Temitope. All 


valid.General public please take 

note. 

IDAHOSA 

I formerly known and addressed as 

IDAHOSA RICHY EDAFE now 


ONODJAYEKE RICHY EDAFE. 

All former documents remain valid, 

the Government of Germany and 


LAITOR 

I was formerly known, called and 

addressed as MISS. JOY 

ONYINYE LAITOR. Now wish to 

be known, called and addressed as 

MRS. JOY ONYINYE 

ONWUANISHA. All documents 

bearing my former name remain 


ASUAMRORE 

I was formerly known, called and 

addressed as Miss Asuamrore Tega 

Praise Now wish to be known, 

called and addressed as Mrs. Efebe 

Tega Praise. All documents bearing 

my former name remain valid. 



New Delta Science & Tech varsity to 

commence September —Okowa 

By Ochuko Akuopha 

O Ifeanyi ZORO—GOVERNOR 

Okowa of Delta has 

said that the new University of 

Science and Technology, Ozoro, 

would take off in September. 

Speaking at Ozoro on Wednesday 

during the grand finale of 

the Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, campaign rally for Saturday's 

House of Assembly by 

election in Isoko North constituency 

where over 100 APC 

members defected to the party, 

Okowa expressed satisfaction 

with the facilities currently in 

the institution. 

Announcing that a Project 

Management Committee had 

been inaugurated to ensure 

smooth take-off of the institution, 

he said "With the extent 

of the facilities they have, I am 

convinced that the place is 

ready to go fully as a University 

of Science and Technology. 

"There is no doubt that we 

have a few things that we will 

be needing in the future for the 

purpose of expansion but with 

what they have, we are all fully 

set for the initial take off." 

While promising to pressurize 

the contractor handling the 

Ozoro market project to return 

to site to ensure its early completion 

and commissioning, he 

assured that his administration 

would build an emergency 

ward in the Ozoro General 

Hospital to enhance health 

care service delivery in the 

area. 

Thanking the people of the 

constituency for their continued 

support for the PDP, 

Okowa said "you have made 

me proud and am very glad that 

the crowd at the various rallies 

has put fear in the hearts of 

the opposition." 

The state PDP chairman, 

:@vanguardnews 

Chief Kingsley Esiso who received 

the decampees into the 

party's fold, described APC as 

a party that was synonymous 

with insecurity and poverty. 

Expressing optimism that the 

PDP would have a smooth sail 

in the election, Esiso said the 

achievements of Governor 

Okowa "has made everyone in 

Isoko North to come to PDP." 

Member representing Isoko 

constituency at the National 

Assembly, Mr. Leo Ogor, Chief 

Ovouzorien Macaulay, Mr. Emmanuel 

Egbabor and other 

leaders of the party in the constituency 

said the party would 

win the election. 

Earlier in his remarks, the 

party Chairman in Isoko North 

Local Government Area, 

Prince Godwin Ogorugba said 

the people had agreed to deliver 

Mr. Jude Ogbimi, the party's 

candidate for the election. 

GSK, Lagos Health Ministry train health workers 

on IMCI 

LAGOS — GSK in 

collaboration with Lagos 

Ministry of Health conducted 

a 6-day training for health 

workers from Ikorodu Local 

Government Area (LGA) on Integrated 

Management of 

Childhood Illnesses(IMCI). 

The training is part of the capacity 

building process of the 

INSPIRING project of Save the 

Children International to build 

capacity of 210 health workers 

on effective management of 

common under-5 illnesses. The 

training has been scheduled to 

hold in batches to ensure 

smaller manageable groups, effective 

learning, coordination 

and observance of COVID-19 

prevention measures. 

The first batch of training 

took place between 15th – 20th 

March 2021 with clinical session 

in Lagos State University 

Teaching Hospital and Massey 

Street Children Hospital, Lagos. 

Twenty- six health workers 

comprising of 8 medical doc- 

OSOKA 

I,HELEN KELECHI CHIMEZIE- 

OSOKA formerly known and 

address as HELEN ROBERT- 

OGBOLU,now wish to be known 

and address as HELEN 

KELECHI CHIMEZIE-OSOKA, 

General public and TO WHOM 

IT MAY CONCERN to take note 

please 

ADISA 

That Adisa Ibraheem Jelili and 

Adisa Ibraheem Olawale is the 

same person, but now wish to 


Adisa Ibraheem Olawale. All 

former document remain valid, 

First Bank and general public 

should take note 

SPACE 

FOR 

SALE 

tors, 16 nurses and 2 community 

health workers selected 

from 13 primary healthcare 

centres in Ikorodu LGA were 

trained. Seasoned IMCI instructors 

which include Director, 

Family Health & Nutrition 

and Child Health Coordinator, 

Lagos State Ministry of Health 

facilitated the training. 

Health workers were trained 

on how to assess and classify 

sick children, identification and 

treatment of the children, management 

of sick infant. There 

were also sessions on counselling 

of mothers and how to follow 

up on patients. 

Tinubu Foundation donates relief 

materials to orphanages in Lagos, 

Ogun 

LAGOS—AS part of activi 

ties marking the 69th birthday 

of the National Leader of All 

Progressives Congress (APC), 

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a nongovernmental 

organization, Bola 

Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) Foundation, 

has donated relief materials 

to orphanage homes across 

Lagos and Ogun States. 

The relief materials handed 

over to SOS Children’s Village 

in Isolo, Little Saints Orphanage 

in Abule-Egba, Ijamido Motherless 

Home, Ota, Ogun state, and 

other orphanage homes include: 

bags of rice, cartons of noodles, 

and several cartons of beverages 

and toiletries, were donated 

to cushion their daily expenses. 

The donated materials, facilitated 

by the Speaker of Lagos 

House of Assembly, Mudashiru 

Obasa, were handed out by the 

BAT Director-General, Ahmed 

Omisore, who explained that the 

THE FEDERAL govern 

ment has issued a Provisional 

Licence to ANAN University, 

Kwall, to operate as a private institution 

in Nigeria. 

Chairman, Board of Trustees of 

the university, Prof. Muhammad 

Mainoma, said the varsity rode 

on the success of the operations 

of the Nigerian College of Ac- 

donation was to further demonstrate 

the love and kindness of 

Tinubu towards the less privileged 

in the country. 

Omisore, who was accompanied 

by the Foundation's Director 

of Media, Mobolaji Sanusi, 

said the donation of the food 

items to the orphanages was one 

of the segments of the donations 

to be made by the Foundation 

which, he said, would be in batches 

Ḣe promised that other needy 

people would be identified across 

the nation and their peculiar 

needs would be attended to by 

the Foundation to ease their 

burden. 

The director said: "This Foundation 

is committed to the welfare 

of the Nigerian citizens irrespective 

of tribes, religions, places 

of birth, or political affiliations. 

We are to identify those in urgent 

need and cater for them 

while we extend the welfare largesse 

to others in the society.‘‘ 

FG okays ANAN varsity, 19 others 

countancy. 

It has on its board, Prof. Suleiman 

Aruwa as Chairman of the 

Planning and Implementation 

Committee and the Director General 

of Nigerian College of Accountancy, 

Dr Kayode Fasua. 

The Federal Executive Council 

approved the university along 

other 20 institutions. 

Anambra: Reward faithful party, 

group charges Secondus-led NWC 

AHEAD of Anambra 

governorship poll billed for 

November 6, 2021, Prince Uche 

Secondus-led National Working 

Committee, NWC, of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, has been 

charged to reward faithful 

members of the party. 

The Anambra Concerned 

Citizens, which gave this charge 

in Abuja, noted that some 

members of the party contesting 

for the governorship election are 

there to see what they can take 

from the party. 

The Concerned Citizens in a 

statement by its Chairman, Paul 

Okeke, further noted that some 

members of the party, such as 

Chris Azubogu and others have 

been toiling for the party and 

refused to move even when there 

was crisis. 

The group said it would be 

unfair for some members, who 

have been jumping from one 

party to the others to have the 

same treatment with loyal 

members, who refused to move 

even at difficult times. 


Cape Verde: Why Africa 

should be worried over 

detained diplomat 

By Henry Ojelu 

On June 12, 2020, a 

Venezuelan diplomat, 

Mr Saab Moran was 

detained in Cape Verde by 

Interpol over allegations of 

money laundering. Saab is 

a Colombian national but 

has Venezuelan and Antiguan 

citizenship. He was on 

a mission to procure food, 

medical supplies and other 

goods for the care of Venezuelan 

Covid-19 pandemic 

but was arrested during a 

technical stopover in Cape 

Verde. This was notwithstanding 

the fact that there 

was no code red in Interpol 

system at the time. 

After Saab’s arbitrary arrest, 

Interpol issued an untimely 

arrest warrant on 

June 13 to justify the detention, 

without regard to the 

diplomatic immunity granted 

to an agent of a sovereign 

government under international 

law. Worried by 

the action of Interpol, Venezuela 

using diplomatic 

channels sought the release 

of Saab but to no avail. 

Late last year, human 

rights lawyer, Femi Falana, 

SAN, filed a suit before the 

ECOWAS court in Abuja, 

Nigeria challenging the arbitrary 

arrest and detention 

of the diplomat and argued 

that as a diplomat, Saab 

should have enjoyed diplomatic 

immunity and should 

not be subjected to imprisonment 

and legal proceedings 

by Cape Verde. 

Delivering judgment on 

the matter on March 15, 

2021, the ECOWAS court 

described Saab’s arrest and 

subsequent detention as illegal 

and ordered Cape Verde 

to release him while halting 

all processes of extradition 

to the United States. 

The court also directed the 

Cape Verdean government 

to pay him $200,000 as 

compensation for his 

illegal arrest and detention 

and ‘discontinue all proceedings 

and processes 

aimed at extraditing the 

Applicant to the USA’. 

In a sharp contrast to the 

ECOWAS court order, the 

Cabo Verde’s Supreme 

Court on March 18, 2021 

gave an order authorizing 

the extradition of Saab to 

the US. The court held that 

Cape Verde was not legally 

bound by the regional 

court’s decisions. 

From all indications, it is 

clear that Cape Verde is determined 

to go against all 

internationally recognized 

norms and treaties to extradite 

Saab to US. Saab maybe 

a Venezuelan diplomat 

but the greater implication 

of Cape Verde’s action is 

that any African diplomat 

can be arrested, detained 

and extradited to the West 

without regards to diplomatic 

norms. The impunity 

displayed by Cape Verde in 

undermining the age long 

immunity of diplomats of 

sovereign nations should 

also be source of worry for 

all Africa nations. It is pertinent 

to note that Cape Verde 

had earlier obeyed a ruling 

of ECOWAS court ordering 

the relocation of 

Saab from detention 

•Saab 

facility to house arrest 

Speaking recently with 

journalists on the grave implications 

of Cape Verde’s 

action, President of African 

Bar Association, Uwaifo 

Hannibal warned that 

unless the Cape Verdean 

authorities are immediately 

called to order and pursue 

the path of the Rule of 

Law and respect for the 

Vienna Convention, the 

ECOWAS region and the AU 

will soon be thrown into a 

crisis of monumental proportion 

which may turn the 

sub-region and the continent 

into a laughing stock with 

dire consequences for the 

diplomatic community. 

He said: “The illegal behaviour 

of the Cape Verde 

Government may not only 

bring ECOWAS and the AU 

into disrepute, but also open 

the way for big countries to 

violate the diplomatic status 

of our diplomats for 

flimsy excuses or political 

convenience. This 

unacceptable situation may 

also encourage other countries 

within ECOWAS and 

the AU to succumb to illegal 

pressures, violate ECOWAS 

Protocols and treaties and 

the Geneva Convention. 

“This in turn will lead to 

chaos and a total breakdown 

of our much-cherished 

cohesion as a sub-regional 

group. AFBA finds this situation 

embarrassing as defenders 

and custodians of 

the rule of law and due process 

in the ECOWAS Region 

and African Continent. 

“In defense of Africa’s 

much cherished non-aligned 

position the African Bar Association 

calls on the President 

of the African Union 

Commission to take 

immediate steps to ensure 

that the diplomatic privileges 

of African Diplomats are 

not put in jeopardy as Ambassador 

Saab am accredited 

Diplomat to the African 

Union is currently being detained 

in an African Country, 

Cape Verde.” 

Also expressing worries 

over the implications of Cape 

Verde’s position, Femi Falana 

said Cape Verde’s behavior 

is unacceptable and flies 

in the face of its international 

obligations as well as centuries-old 

international law 

governing the movement of 

diplomats and political 

agents. 

“If Cape Verde is allowed 

to continue down the path 

which it is currently travelling 

the consequences for the 

conduct of global diplomacy 

will be catastrophic.” 

He also highlighted some 

clauses why the Supplementary 

Protocol 2005 which authorises 

ECOWAS Court to 

hear human rights cases 

emanating from member 

states is binding on Cape 

Verde.

30 — FRIDAY Vanguard, APRIL 9, 2021 

This political science 

graduate is as good as 

Gold! 

Aminat Adeniyi, five time African Freestyle 

Women wrestling Champion in the 62 kg 

weight class, is in cloud Nine following 

her Tokyo Olympic qualification in the recently 

concluded Africa /Oceania Olympic Games 

qualifiers in Hammamet,Tunisia. “I feel great 

that I will be among the other Nigerians that 

will represent the country at the Olympics in 

Tokyo. I trained hard for it and to the glory of 

You just came back from Tunisia 

where you picked a ticket for the 

forthcoming Olympics in Tokyo, how 

do you feel about this? 

I feel great that I will be among other 

Nigerians that will represent the 

country at the Olympics in Tokyo. I 

trained hard for it and to the glory of 

God, I was able to scale through. I am 

very happy I was able to be among 

the number. 

You had a very tough battle in your 

weight class before you were able to 

pick the ticket, can you briefly tell us 

how you were able to scale through 

the hurdle? 

I will say that my opponent, Marwa 

Amri had been my arch rival. 

Sometimes, she had her way and at 

the other time I have had my way 

too. It was not an easy bout for both of 

us, but this time, I had the upper 

hand. Though I can say that she’s 

the record holder in that weight class, 

She has been the reigning champion 

in that weight category for a very long 

time and she came from the host 

country, Tunisia. My coming to that 

weight class, she knew that I have 

the kind of experience that she had. I 

initially suffered a setback and was 

able to pick a bronze which gave the 

passage to the Olympics. 

Nevertheless, the important thing is 

that I picked an Olympic ticket. 

Now that you are heading to Benin 

City for the National Sports Festival, 

don’t you think It’s going to be an 

easy competition for you, 

considering your level? 

You don’t have to look at it that way 

because every competition counts, 

You don’t belittle any competition. 

Every champion wants to stay on top 

and I am going there to give it my 

best. 

What extra thing (s) are you going 

to do in terms of preparation for the 

Olympics? 

When we get to Benin City, the 

president of the wrestling Federation 

will tell us how it’s going to be. 

The president hinted us the other 

day on his return from Tunisia that 

he was considering the service of a 

foreign coach. Do you think this is 

going to add any value to you 

people? 

I have not heard that. 

. . . But that’s what he told us . . . 

But if that be the case, I think I have 

the best coach ever in the person of 

coach Purify Akuh. He’s the best 

coach ever, in fact in the whole world. 

Even when you are feeling weak that 

you want to excuse yourself from 

training, he does not encourage 

complacency, he will fashion out a 

light training that will soothe you. 

Now the foreign coach that is coming 

how much does he know us the 

athletes? How will he cope? Does that 

coach know me well and what new 

technique is he bringing, does he 

know my feeling and mood? The 

person you have been working with 

for years is in a better position to 

understand your mood In fact, I don’t 

want to talk about this issue. But for 

me, I know I have the best coach in 

the world 

So far, only your friend Odunayo 

Adekuoroye was the first to qualify 

for the Tokyo ’20 Olympics. Did that 

in any way put you under any 

pressure? 

No, no, no! It did not in any way 

put me under any pressure nor any 

of my team members because we 

•Aminat Adeniyi, Wrestler, predicts 

Nigeria ‘ll win Gold at Tokyo Olympics 

God, I was able to scale through. It was not 

an easy bout for both of us, but this time, I 

had the upper hand” 

In this interview with Solomon Nwoke, 

the 2014 Glasgow, Scotland Commonwealth 

Championship gold medallist spoke about 

her determination to win gold medal in 

wrestling at the Tokyo Olympics this year. 

Excerpts: 

knew can also qualify. So it did not 

put us under any pressure. We were 

unable to attend the World 

Championship, but then you know 

that we can still qualify from the 

qualifying Championship in Tunisia 

Early this year, you had the Baraza 

Champion of Champions competition 

in Bayelsa State, would you say that 

has put you in good shape? 

Yes, you know since the 

Coronavirus saga we have not had 

competition like that. We were 

looking forward to competing in a 

bigger competition like that but for 

Covid-19 and other challenges. So 

Baraza was a kind of compensation 

for us, it heightened the competitive 

mood in us and raised our morale. 

The competition brought us 

together. Even though we competed 

amongst ourselves, it allowed us to 

test all that we had been training in 

the camp. You know there’s a 

difference between training and 

competition. In competition you 

don’t underrate anyone, even if you 

are the champion in your weight 

class. As a champion, everyone is 

looking forward to bringing you 

down, while you want to continue 

staying atop. Surprises can spring 

up from where you least expect and 

that’s the spirit of competition. 

However, competing among 

ourselves wasn’t that challenging 

because we already knew each 

other’s techniques. So there was no 

pressure, being that we are all 

friends and there wasn’t much at 

stake. But real competition like the 

one we are looking forward to will 

be a different ball game. However, 

Baraza brought us back to that realm 

of competition. 

Wrestling is believed to be men’s 

sport, what attracted you to it? 

What attracted me to wrestling was 

my upbringing. I grew up among 

boys who were of my age and the 

ones that were older than me. Being 

the only female child of the family 

then ( but now, I have other ones 

behind me) and I liked competing 

with them. So everything I was doing 

then, I saw myself as same-sex with 

them. Even when I was in secondary 

school one would always find me 

wherever there was a fight. I always 

supported where there’s trouble and 

being a leader of my group I could 

beat anybody. 

Before then, I was a handball 

player and was playing for my school. 

So one day, I said to myself that I 

needed to learn wrestling so that if 

anybody looked for my trouble I 

could beat the person up. 

As a handball player we also went 

to the gym to train. Other athletes 

also came to the gym and before this 

time someone had invited and 

introduced me to wrestling, but for 

the fear of my father, I couldn’t give 

it a deep thought. 

At the wrestling training, I saw 

some girls like me training and I said 

to myself that I could beat these girls. 

Of course, I like challenges coupled 

with my background coming from a 

family where there were so many 

children, everything was 

competition. I now told the coach 

handling their training that I could 

beat these girls and he said I should 

come in and try my strength. Initially, 

my plan was to learn to fight for selfdefence 

and that was how I started 

as a wrestler. During my training, I 

couldn’t score them and they too 

couldn’t score me either but the coach 

was impressed with me. That day he 

followed me home to 

seek my mom’s consent 

for me to start 

wrestling, but she said 

that she lacked the power 

to give her consent and that the 

coach should wait for my father to 

come. But the coach insisted that 

while waiting for my dad, that she 

should give her consent and she said 

okay I should go ahead. My father 

played football and wanted to play 

full-time soccer but his parents 

stopped him for fear of injury. So 

when the coach approached him, 

being a sports person he consented 

to the coach’s permission. From then 

on, I switched over to wrestling. 

You are a graduate of Political 

Science, how were you able to combine 

wrestling with your education ? 

It wasn’t easy at all because most 

times my exams clashed with when 

I am in a big-time competition. There 

was this time when Rivers State 

hosted the National Sports Festival 

in 2011 in Port Harcourt and towards 

the last day of my competition and I 

had exams the following day. it was 

a very difficult moment for me, so 

immediately after my competition, I 

wanted to board the next available 

night bus back to Akure to meet up 

with the exams, but my coach 

prevailed on me not to travel that 

night till the following morning to 

avoid any unforeseen mishap on the 

road. Then the following day I started 

the journey back to Ondo State and 

by the time I got to my school, my 

course-mates were already coming 

out of the exams hall and there was 

nothing I could do. Even as my Head 

of Department (HOD) was aware 

that I was a sports person he couldn’t 

do anything and I went to my 

lecturer, it was the same thing but 

he encouraged me to write the 

exams first the much I could because 

he was not going to award me marks 

at the expense of those who sat for 

the exams. He reasoned that would 

amount to injustice on their part. I 

was at 200 level then going to 300 

I believe if we 

can continue in 

this manner, 

there’s no way 

we cannot win 

gold medals at 

the Olympics, 

God willing 

level and that was a major course in 

my studies and eventually, I scored 

‘B’ in it. So sometimes when I think 

of combining sports with academics 

I feel it’s not ordinary. It was just 

God that I was able to scale through 

with my results without problems. I 

give God the glory and my close 

friends who always kept me abreast 

with calls when I was away. 

Whenever there was a test they called 

me to start coming to the school 

immediately for the test. I made it 

mandatory to be in school from 

Monday to Wednesday and from 

Wednesday evening till the 

weekend, I was in Akure to train. If 

there was any test in between, they 

would call me and from my school to 

Akure is about 45 minutes drive. I 

always made sure that my phone was 

fully charged so as not to miss any 

call from my friends in school. There 

were times I would travel up to three 

times a day on that road. In all, it was 

not easy combining sports with 

academics. But if I hadn’t taken the 

pains at that time, I don’t think I 

would have gotten any degree by now. 

What was the feeling like when you 

were first called to national camp? 

The feeling was nice and was like a 

dream come true because before that 

time I had been hearing good things 

from friends who were first called to 

camp, how they were treated and 

pampered with good food and some 

cash to go with. All these I used to 

hear from my friends when I was into 

handball and I kept thinking about 

when I will have the opportunity of 

enjoying those goodies in the 

national camp too. But I never knew 

that my time would come through 

wrestling. It is something every 

athlete looks forward to and must 

experience. When I started winning 

gold in wrestling at national 

competitions that I was called to 

national camp and I started enjoying 

those benefits. It was all fun at the 

camp, there you mix up with the 

senior ones you had been looking up 

to. The difference here is that the 

training becomes more intense than 

when you are outside the camp. In 

the National Camp, everything is 

regimented, you work with time. 

When it’s time for training, your 

room-mate must not get to the 

training ground or gym before you. 

You must observe all rules and 

regulations guiding the camp. It 

helped to shape my life on and off 

the camp. Learning the hard way 

helps to bring out the best in one and 

that way you can never forget what 

you learnt. 

Now can you tell us about your most 

memorable fight and at which 

competition? 

I can say that was in the 2015 All 

Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville. 

I never believed I could come up with 

the kind of performance I put up as a 

bronze medallist in my weight class. 

I knew it was not going to be an easy 

match and I needed it, by all means. 

It was just like a personal challenge 

for me competing in the 60kg weight 

class from my 58kg weight class. 

During the bout, I had to wrestle the 

Champion of that weight category 

and she leading me in the first and 

second rounds. Somehow, I got a 

deep cut in my mouth which required 

stitching because I was bleeding 

profusely. So, because of the injury, 

she started putting mure pressure on 

me but I refused to yield and 

eventually, I won the bout which 

earned me and my country a gold 

medal. That was my best fight ever. 

Looking back a bit, what would you 

say the sport has done for you? 

Wrestling as a sport has done a lot 

for me. Without wrestling, I don’t 

know where I would have been 

today. Honestly, before I 

graduated from school I had 

already gotten a job and 

that was the same year I 

got admission at 

Adekunle Ajasin 

University, 

Akungba 

Akoko, Ondo 

State. It was 

not as if I 

got my job 

with my 

certificate. 

I got 

employed 

through 

s p o r t 

(wrestling), 

so after God, 

this game gave 

me a job and has 

taken me to so 

many countries I would not have 

dreamt of going on my own. This 

sport has exposed me a lot. It has 

blessed me financially joined me to 

people that matter. I have dined with 

Kings and Queens all through this 

sport. All I can say is I thank God I 

joined this game because of all I have 

achieved. 

Still on Tokyo 2020, do you think 

Nigeria can win a gold medal or a 

medal of any colour at the Games? 

Talking about wrestling, I will say 

yes. Going by our training I can say 

yes, Nigeria can win a medal or even 

a gold medal. The person handling 

us, Hon Daniel Igali knows all it 

takes to win gold; he is an Olympic 

gold medallist himself. He has 

channelled all our thinking and reset 

our mode to winning the Olympic 

gold medal. Even when you’re 

sleeping you see yourself wrestling 

and setting your eyes on the gold 

medal. Your entire physiologocal 

and psychological states are all about 

that winning mentality. There are 

things you can fake or pretend about, 

but in this case it has become part of 

your life. That we are in camp right 

now is courtesy of him and he 

wrestles with us on the mat as well 

as dishing out all those winning 

techniques to us. I believe if we can 

continue in this manner, there’s no 

way we cannot win gold medals at 

the Olympics, God willing. 

. . .And your target at the 

tournament in Tunisia? 

That’s very obvious, my target is to 

win gold to qualify for the Olympics 

and I know that God will perfect that 

for me in Jesus Name. 

Nigerian women wrestlers seem to 

have taken the shine off the men. 

What would you attribute this to? 

I have not thought along that line 

because I only concern myself with 

our training. I don’t know much 

about their training. Maybe it’s 

because of our mindset to keep 

winning to get one or two things to 

make our lives better. Sometimes 

what you desire pushes you to extra 

mile. 

. . In terms of the number of athletes, 

the females are more than their male 

counterparts. Ten females against five 

males? 

I think this should be a result of 

the difference in weight categories. 

The Olympic weight classes for the 

men and women are different and 

some of the male wrestlers are in 

two different wrestling styles ‘ 

Freestyle and Greco-Roman. 

Where do you see wrestling in 

Nigeria in the next 10 years? 

Wrestling in the next 10 years will 

take over every other sport because 

right now we have more vibrant ones 

coming behind us, they are super 

talented and if they can continue like 

this, they will do much better than 

us because we are not going to be 

there on the wrestling mat in the 

next 10 years.

Osinbajo to declare Edo 2020 close 

Vice president Yemi 

Osinbajo, is expected back 

in Benin City to declare Edo 

2020 closed on April 14. 

On April 6 Prof. Osinbajo was 

denied the opportunity to open 

the Games, when his plane 

failed to land in Benin City due 

to adverse weather conditions. 

'He will be back to close the 

Festival next week. 

"His plane could not land, he 

had to return to Abuja on the 

opening day," said Edo deputy 

governor, Philip Shaibu. 

Okowa knocks 

Sports ministry, 

Edo over games 

closure threats 

Stories By Ben Efe 

elta State Sports Commission 

Dchairman, Tonobok Okowa has 

urged the sports ministry and the 

Edo State government to iron out 

their differences, to avoid a disruption 

to the 20th National Sports Festival. 

Okowa was reacting to threats by 

the Edo State government to shut 

down the NSF over delayed fulfilment 

the federal government's 

promise to provide funds for the 

Games. He said it would be a blow 

to sports if the games were stopped 

midway. 

"We are staying put in Benin City 

to complete the NSF... let Edo come 

and chase us out. 

"It is not acceptable to us that the 

festival should end abruptly. We 

States have spent a lot of money 

camping and coming to the games. 

"Edo State and FG must act 

quickly to avoid a sticky situation. 

This has never happened and we 

must not allow it to happen," Okowa 

said yesterday. 

•Osinbajo 

National Sports Festival continues in Benin 

he Ministry of Youth and Sports 

TDevelopment has clarified that 

the 20th National Sports Festival, 

Edo 2020, is going on as planned 

with competitions going on as 

scheduled. The Ministry and the 

Main Organising Committee 

(MOC) for the festival are unaware 

of any plans or threat by the Edo 

State Government to shut down the 

sports festival as there has been no 

official meeting or communication 

that relayed such information. 

The Honorable Minister, Permanent 

Secretary and Directors are on 

ground in Benin City where the Festival 

is holding, and it is expected 

that the Edo State Government 

would formally invite the Ministry 

•Okowa 

French Open postponed by 

one week 

Mike Tyson plans to face 

Lewis, Holyfield this year 

ike Tyson has outlined 

Mhis grand plan to 

fight three legends of the 

sport before walking away 

to enjoy his life. 

The legendary American 

heavyweight made his 

comeback in an exhibition 

draw against Roy Jones Jr 

last November in a bout that 

generated £58million in 

pay-per-view buys. 

And the 54-year-old has a 

taste for the sweet science 

again, revealing who he 

wants to step inside the ring 

for a meeting should any urgency 

exist around the National Sports 

Festival or communicate officially 

with the Main Organizing Committee 

(MOC) for the festival. The Ministry 

has no such communication. 

For the records, the Edo State government 

due to the cost implications 

of postponements occasioned by the 

COVID-19 pandemic requested financial 

assistance from the Federal 

government through the Ministry 

of Youth and Sports Development. 

The Ministry has since been at work 

to secure the financial assistance 

which it believes is being processed. 

The MYSD and EDSG are determined 

to deliver a successful National 

Sports Festival. 

with before he hangs his gloves 

up for good. 

'I want Holyfield and I want 

Lennox Lewis this year,' he revealed 

on his Hotboxin' 

Podcast.'I want both of them, I 

want to get them both this year. 

I also want to box an exhibition 

with Tyson Fury. 

'If I do that - even if I can get 

those two guys [Lewis and 

Holyfield], I'll say, "This is a 

wrap, I'm just gonna live life." 

'And that's just exhibitions. I'm 

gonna break all my professional 

true records with exhibitions.' 


Cycling: Edo, Bayelsa win 

Team Time Trials gold 

•Dare 

Athletics events begin amidst uncertainty 

The French Open has been postponed 

by a week in the hope that more spectators 

will be permitted to attend. 

The Grand Slam tournament at Roland 

Garros will now run from 30 May to 13 

June with qualifying the week before. 

France is in a third nationwide lockdown 

amid a surge in coronavirus cases, which 

president Emmanuel Macron previously 

said he expected to end in mid-May. 

The French Tennis Federation (FFT) said 

postponing was the "best solution". 

"I am delighted that the discussions 

with the public authorities, the governing 

bodies of international tennis, our 

partners and broadcasters, and the ongoing 

work with the WTA and ATP, have 

made it possible for us to postpone the 

2021 Roland Garros tournament by a 

week," FFT president Gilles Moretton 

said. 

"It will give the health situation more 

time to improve and should optimise our 

chances of welcoming spectators at 

Roland Garros, into our newly-transformed 

stadium that now covers more 

than 30 acres. 

"For the fans, the players and the atmosphere, 

the presence of 

spectators is vital for our tournament, 

the spring's most important 

international sporting 

event." 

Edo and Bayelsa states have 

shared the gold medals at 

stake in the Team Time Trials 

event of cycling at the ongoing 

National Sports Festival decided 

early Thursday on Irhirhi 

road in the outskirts of Benin 

City. 

The Edo women's quartet 

team led by Tombrapa Grikpa 

finished the 10km race in a time 

of 12mins, 02.14secs to win the 

gold medal. 

Their closest rival and sister 

state, Delta with Ese 

Ukpereseraye as the pivot settled 

for the silver when they returned 

a time of 12mins, 16.48secs. 

Oyo state quartet which had 

Joke Durogbade as lead rider 

finished in a time of 12mins, 

42.36secs to pick the bronze 

ahead of Plateau state. 

Track and field events of the 20th National Sports 

Festival begin today amidst growing concern 

about the continuation of the Games. 

Prospective medal hopefuls were seen warming up 

at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in the face of all 

the confusion. Apart from that, technical officials 

seem not to be ready for the competitions as they clamour 

for certain conditions to be met. 

"We expect that competition will be on as scheduled 

despite threats of closing by the NSF by Edo State. 

"The athletes are ready and we are looking forward 

to good performances," said Falilat Ogunkoya African 

women 400m record holder at 49.10seconds. 

She frowned at threats to close the Festival, stressing 

that political intrigues should not hinder sports 

development. 

The men's gold was won by 

Bayelsa state propelled by Caleb 

Kalizibe. They clocked 10mins, 

25.99secs ahead of Delta state 

which settled for Silver after returning 

in a time of 10mins, 

29.42secs. 

Edo finished third among 16 

participating stated to pick the 

bronze. They clocked 10mins, 

29.49secs. 

So far in the nine events decided 

after five days of competition, 

host Edo, defending champions 

Delta and Bayelsa have 

three gold medals each but Edo 

leads the pack having won more 

silver medals. 

Pillars, 

Aspira sign 

MoU 

•As Viva emerges 

official sponsor 

Former Nigeria Profes 

sional Football League 

champions, Kano Pillars FC, 

have signed an MoU with 

Aspira Nigeria, a Kano 

State-based private firm, till 

the end of the 2020/2021 season. 

This was disclosed by the 

club's Chairman, Alhaji 

Surajo Shaaibu Yahaya 

Jambul shortly after signing 

the agreement on Thursday 

evening in his office, adding 

that the MoU is part of the 

club's determination to bring 

private organisations to reduce 

dependence on the 

state government. 

Alhaji Jambul thanked 

Aspira's management for the 

partnership, saying they will 

not regret it, just as he expressed 

hope that others 

within and outside the state 

would follow suit. 

With the MoU, VIVA, the 

company's flagship brand 

and one of the leading detergents 

and multipurpose 

soap brand in Nigeria, will 

be the official sponsor of 

Kano Pillars FC for the season. 

Earlier, Chairman of 

ASPIRA Nigeria, Alhaji 

Ahmad Haruna Zago said 

they agreed to partner with 

Kano Pillars FC considering 

the significant of football in 

the society. 

Alhaji Haruna Zago 

commended the chairman of 

the club for making efforts to 

convince the company and 

agreed to the partnership. 

He described the Kano Pillars 

Chairman as a visionary 

leader. 

Along Alhaji Haruna Zago, 

Head of Marketing, 

Santhosh Kumar Nair, Aspira 

Nigeria Ltd., presented the 

Jerseys to the club. 

•Champions at different times. Tyson, Lewis and Holyfield

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

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11 Spooky (5) 

12 Eternal (9) 

17 Incite (3,2) 

19 Down payment (7) 

21 To that place (7) 

22 Depicted (5) 

23 Whole (6) 

24 Remove Separate (6) 

DOWN 

1 Brooms made of twigs (6) 

2 Confessed (5,2) 

3 Story or scene of happy innocence (5) 

5 High level ground (7) 

6 Subsequently (5) 

7 Place where food is kept (6) 

9 Give in, yield (9) 

13 Cattleman (7) 

14 Milan's famous opera house (2,5) 

15 Stinging plant (6) 

16 Horrible smell (6) 

18 Corn for grinding (5) 

20 Chaplain (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. 

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

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09042021- Insecurity: Tension mounts in Imo, Abia, Rivers

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