23042021 - Insecurity: Our nation is bleeding now — DEFENCE MINISTER

OLU OF WARRI STOOL: 

Okowa sues for 

Bodo Bonny 

Bridge: FG 

grants NLNG 

N20bn tax 

No money was printed to shore 

up March allocation — NEC 8 

peace, urges 10 

aggrieved persons 

Financial autonomy: Why we won’t 

3 

to sheathe swords waiver suspend strike, JUSUN tells CJN 

Manufacturing leads $8.41bn investment announcements in Q1’21 

8 

19 

VOL. 27: NO. 64320 FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021 

Insecurity: Our nation is 5 

bleeding now — DEFENCE MINISTER 

•Says death of Chadian leader has security implications, FG beefing security in border 

areas•Govt compiling report on political, religious, ethnic ‘opponents’•Confirms arrest of Boko 

Haram sponsors in Kano•Bandits attack Kaduna hospital, kidnap 2 nurses•We have epidemic 

of kidnappings and abductions — NMA PRESIDENT •Traditional ruler, 5 others killed in Benue 

NNPC, SEEPCO SIGN GAS DEAL.. 

Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari (R) and 

Chairman of Energy and Exploration Production Limited (SEEPCO), Mr Tony Chukwueke, signed a Gas Development 

Agreement (GDA), as partners in the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 143, at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, yesterday. 

Those attacking Police formations, killing 

7 

policemen may soon turn on people — S’EAST GOVS 

Buhari’s 

govt 

stands 

behind 

Pantami 

8 

– Presidency 

•DSS 

disowns 

Amachree, 

says his 

views were 

personal 3 

Mr & Mrs 

Reps probe harvest, export of 7,200 3 Gbaja, Sanwo-Olu, Adebanjo, 

male organs, other human parts to China others eulogise Yinka 

4 

Odumakin 

•SEE 

INSIDE 

DONU 16 LAKEMFA 17 AZU 24

2— Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021 

NSCDC official 

killed in 

crossfire with 

suspected 

kidnappers in 

Edo 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

ATTEMPT to kidnap 

the Bursar of the 

University of Benin, Dr Victor 

Imagbe, was foiled by an 

official of Nigerian Security 

and Civil Defence Corps, 

NSCDC, attached to his 

residence, who incidentally, 

lost his life. 

The death of the officer, Alex 

Osawa, during a crossfire 

with suspected kidnappers in 

Benin was announced, 

yesterday, by the NSCDC 

spokesperson, Ogbebor 

Efosa. 

According to Ogbebor in a 

statement, “An officer of the 

NSCDC has been killed in a 

crossfire with hoodlums, who 

stormed the residence of Dr 

Victor Imagbe, the Bursar of 

the University of Benin. 

“At about 03:45 hours 

Thursday morning, the 

hoodlums gained access into 

the bursar’s compound at 

Ogheghe community, near 

Benin. On sighting the 

personnel of the NSCDC 

they opened fire, during the 

crossfire, our personnel, Mr 

Alex Osawa, was gunned 

down. 

“However, one of the fleeing 

hoodlums sustained bullets 

wound during the crossfire. 

“More officers from the 

NSCDC and police 

operatives were re-mobilised 

to the scene, while the corpse 

of the officer has been 

evacuated to the morgue for 

autopsy. 

“Manhunt for the fleeing 

hoodlums has been initiated 

to arrest them.” 

How I sold my 3-year-old son for N300,000 

—Suspect 

By Dayo Johnson 

AKURE—A 30-year-old woman, 

Titilayo Kudaisi, who confessed 

to having made over a million naira 

from selling two babies, said she was 

lured into the business of stealing 

toddlers by her boyfriend, Seye 

Akinsete. 

Speaking during the parade of 27 

suspected criminals by the Ondo 

State police command in Akure, 

yesterday, Titilayo said she regretted 

her actions. 

She revealed that she sold her first 

child, whose father died two years 

ago, for N300,000 based on the 

prompting of her boyfriend she met 

in Sango Ota, Ogun State, about 

four months ago. 

According to her, “I was cajoled 

by Seyi to sell off my three-year-old 

only son for N300,000 in Imo State. 

l was invited to Ondo by Seyi, who 

informed me about another business 

in Ilorin where we stole this baby. 

“We went into the house when 

the mother went out and we stole 

the baby and moved down to Akure, 

where we were planning to travel 

to Imo to sell the baby before the 

police arrested us. 

“This is the first child I stole. We 

went to steal the child from his 

parents’ house in Ilorin, Kwara 

•Says she was lured into child-stealing by her boyfriend 

•We’ve made over N1m selling two babies 

Titilayo and her boyfriend, Seye, as paraded by police in 

Akure, yesterday. 

State. It’s my boyfriend, who is 

aware of the movement of the boy’s 

mother. After surveying the 

environment, we then moved in 

and stole the toddler. 

“I met my boyfriend, who lured 

me into the business in Lagos, 

where I was living. It was later that 

he invited me to Ilorin, and I went 

to meet him with my only child, who 

is three years old. The father of my 

child is late. 

“After arriving Ilorin, he convinced 

me that we should sell my baby, a 

boy, which I disagreed with. But after 

much persuasion, I agree that we 

Housewife hacks husband’s new wife to 

death with hoe 


AKURE—A housewife, Nanko 

Emmanuel, who allegedly 

killed her husband’s new wife, 

Napre Emmanuel, with a hoe in a 

fight at Sunshine Garden Estate, 

Oda, Akure, was yesterday 

paraded by the Ondo State Police 

Command in Akure. 

Speaking during the parade of 

some suspects arrested for various 

offences in the state, the state Police 

Commissioner, Bolaji Salami, said 

Nanko, out of jealousy, first used 

15-year-old JSS1 student 

electrocuted in Makurdi 

By Peter Duru 

MAKURDI—A 15-year-old 

student of Benue State 

University Technical College, 

Emmanuel Ameh, was electrocuted in 

Achussa community of Makurdi, the 

Benue State capital. 

The JSS1 student reportedly met his 

untimely death owing to the alleged 

negligence of the staff of Jos Electricity 

Distribution Company, JED, in 

Makurdi. 

Narrating the incident to newsmen 

yesterday, an uncle to the diseased, Mr 

Samuel Olokpo, said the victim, who 

until his death, lived with his 

grandmother, Mrs Veronica Odoh, at 

Baver Dzeremo Street, was killed while 

rolling up service cables carelessly 

dropped by officials of JED, who visited 

the neighbourhood to disconnect 

debtors. 

According to Olokpo, “Monday 

morning, when everybody had gone to 

work and school, JED staff went to do 

their round of disconnection of 

customers, who were indebted to the 

company. 

“In the afternoon, some of our 

neighbours’ kids were playing around 

the pole and one of them made contact 

with the wire, his name is Emeka, a 

little boy of about five years, and was 

shocked. He ran to Emmanuel, who 

just returned from school to complain, 

being the most senior at home. 

“Emmanuel went to roll up the wires 

from the ground because when they did 

the disconnection they left all the wires 

on the ground. He made contact with 

the wires and he was electrocuted. 

“A neighbour, Jonathan Agi, saw what 

was happening and rushed to the scene, 

used a dry stick to push him away. The 

other persons came too and they were 

able to intervene. They cut off the wire 

that had power. 

“He was rushed to the nearby Ushaka 

Clinic and Bishop Murray Hospital, 

all in Makurdi, where he was 

pronounced dead. 

“The Police came and conveyed his 

body to Benue State University Teaching 

Hospital mortuary where it was 

deposited,” he said. 

Olokpo also disclosed that top 

engineers from the JED office in 

Makurdi visited on Wednesday to 

condole with the family over the 

incident. 

Efforts to get the Regional Manager 

of the JED office in Makurdi, Mr 

Olaniyi Oluwole, failed as his staff, who 

refused to disclose his identity at the 

Makurdi regional office, said his boss 

was not disposed to speaking to 

newsmen on the incident. 

Nanko Happiness, the 

suspect. 

Why I killed my madam 

— Househelp 


a wooden object to hit her co-wife 

on the head and also used “a hoe 

to cut her head and her body, which 

resulted to her death. 

“The suspect was arrested and 

is currently in Police custody while 

the corpse was deposited at the 

General Hospital mortuary, Akure. 

According to Salami, 12 of the 

suspects paraded were 

apprehended for kidnapping 

cases, three for murder issues, six 

for armed robbery and four cases 

of assault on policemen. 

All the suspects, he said, would 

be charged to court immediately 

judicial workers suspend their 

ongoing nationwide strike. 

The suspects. 

AKURE—A houseboy, 

Emmanuel Akpan, has 

said he murdered his boss, 

Mrs Febisola Adedayo, because 

his friend, Goodness 

Ekpe, informed him that 

she kept a huge sum of 

money in the house. 

The suspect hacked his 

boss to death with a cutlass 

while she was sleeping at 

her house located at lfokanbale 

Street, Ondo town, Ondo State. 

Vanguard gathered that the 

deceased was a food canteen 

operator in Ondo town before 

her untimely death. 

Akpan and Goodness were later 

apprehended at a village in 

Ogun State where police detectives 

trailed them to after committing 

the dastardly act. 

Unfortunately for the suspects, 

only N3,500 was found in the 

apartment of the deceased after 

she was murdered in cold blood. 

Akpan, who was paraded by the 

Ondo State police command in 

Akure, told newsmen that “it was 

the devil that pushed me to kill 

my madam. l received information 

from my town’s boy, Goodness, 

that my madam has been 

keeping a lot of money in the 

house. He told me to kill her so 

that we can steal the money and 

run away." 

Akpan, who said he had 

worked with the deceased for 

three years before he killed her, 

regretted that after killing the victim, 

he did not find any huge 

money in the house. 

But Goodness denied asking 

Akpan to kill his madam. 

The state police commissioner, 

Bolaji Salami, said aside the cash 

of N3,500 taken away by the suspects, 

two telephones, jewelry 

and a generator set were also stolen 

from the house of the deceased. 

should sell the baby. We later sold 

my child to someone in Imo State 

for N300,000 but I could not get my 

child back despite his assurance. 

"It was after we sold my child that 

we went to steal the baby with me 

in Ilorin. After stealing the baby, we 

travelled to Ondo town in Ondo 

State and I advised him that we 

should return the baby because I 

was scared of the entire scenario." 

The boyfriend, Akinsete, said: “I 

started this work in 2019. A friend 

of mine, John Emeka, introduced 

me to the job after he helped me to 

sell the child of a girl I knew for 

N500,000 

“In total, I’ve been able to steal 

three babies since I started the 

business. We used to sell them to 

our buyers in Imo State. The guy 

that used to buy the babies from us 

told us that he works with an 

orphanage.” 

The 33-year-old father of three 

confessed to convincing his 

girlfriend, Titilayo, to sell her baby 

boy from her first marriage and said 

the proceeds had been deposited 

in the lady’s account. 

He confessed that each baby was 

sold for between N300,000 and 

N800,000 according to the needs 

of the middlemen. 

Popular 

Nollywood actor 

arrested for 

allegedly 

defiling minor 

The suspect.. 

By Esther Onyegbula 

A 

48-year old popular Nollywood 

actor, Olarenwaju James aka 

Baba Ijesha, has been arrested by 

operatives of the Lagos State Police 

Command for defiling a minor. 

It was gathered that a case of 

defilement was reported, Monday, 

against him by one Princess 

Adekola Adekanya at Sabo Police 

Station before the case was 

transferred to the Gender Unit of 

the State CID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos 

for proper investigation. 

It was also gathered that the 

suspect confessed to the crime and 

was also captured by a CCTV 

camera in the house of the 

complainant. 

A police source revealed that from 

preliminary findings, the suspect 

started assaulting the 14-year-old 

victim sexually since she was seven 

years old. 

The Commissioner of Police, 

Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, 

has ordered for proper investigation 

as he promised to do justice in the 

matter.

3 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021 

:Vanguard News 

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

AGM: From left; Wole Oshin, Managing Director; Omobola Johnson, Chairman, and Adeyinka Jafojo, Company 

Secretary, all of Custodian Investment Plc during the company’s 26th annual general meeting in Lagos, yesterday. 

CAN warns against linking Yakowa’s 

death with Pantami 

By Ibrahim Hassan 

K 

A D U N A — 

KADUNA State 

chapter of Christian 

Association of Nigeria, CAN, 

has warned that linking the 

Minister of Communication 

and Digital Economy, Dr Isa 

Ibrahim Pantami with the 

death of former governor of 

the state, Sir Patrick Ibrahim 

Yakowa, may have a possible 

adverse impact on peace and 

national security. 

Chairman of the chapter, Rev. 

John Joseph Hayab, who was 

former Special Adviser on 

Religious Affairs to the late 

governor, said in a statement 

yesterday that as someone very 

close to the late Yakowa, he is 

calling on all Nigerians to ignore 

the insinuations linking Pantami 

with Sir Yakowa’s death in order 

not to endanger national peace. 

He said: “I call on security 

agencies to step in and tame the 

circulation of such dangerous 

documents. We cannot afford to 

stoke fire when we should be 

pouring more water. 

‘’Those who feel they have 

information to help the security 

agencies investigate whatever 

crimes against groups or 

individuals should do so within 

the provided window, without 

exacerbating the tension of 

formulating tales in the public 

space. 

“I have followed the unfolding 

saga and grievous revelations 

against the Minister of 

Communication and Digital 

Economy, Dr Isa Ibrahim 

Pantami. However, I am alarmed 

by the dangerous turn of events, 

especially the issue linked with 

PANTAMI: DSS disowns Amachree, 

says his views personal 

By Soni Daniel 

ABUJA—AS 

many 

individuals and groups 

insist on the resignation of the 

Minister of Communications and 

Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, 

over his pro-Taliban links, the 

Department of State Services, 

DSS, has disowned the view 

expressed by its former Director, 

Deniss Amachree on the 

intelligence the secret police 

reportedly handed to the 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

administration. 

Amachree, a former Assistant 

Director with the DSS, had 

claimed that the secret police 

informed the Federal 

Government and the National 

Assembly of the past radical 

pro-Taliban views of Pantami 

before his confirmation as 

minister in 2019. 

Amachree also said the 

minister should resign as it was 

difficult to de-radicalise someone 

of his kind. 

He said DSS had information 

on all individuals of interest, 

adding that the minister’s past 

extremist views were 

communicated to the Federal 

Government and the legislature. 

“There is no information that 

escapes the DSS. We have all 

of it, all. When I was working 

there, we keep a catalogue of 

anybody of interest that 

comes up to limelight in this 

country. 

“During the vetting process for 

anybody to be appointed a 

minister or commissioner or 

anything, your name is sent to 

the DSS for vetting. They check 

your background up to the extent 

of your grandmother. 

‘’They check your schools up 

to the extent of your primary 

school. And, of course, they keep 

a tab on you online and offline. 

We get a lot from open source 

intelligence and I can tell you 

that in Pantami’s case, we have 

it,’’ Amachree had said. 

But the DSS distanced itself 

from the views expressed by the 

former director yesterday, 

claiming that the views expressed 

by him were personal and did not 

represent those of the agency. 

Spokesman of DSS, Dr. Peter 

Afunanya, who issued the 

disclaimer, said: “The opinions 

expressed by Mr Dennis 

Amachree on sundry national 

security issues are his personal 

positions and do not in anyway 

represent the stand of the Service 

(the Department of State 

Services).” 

There had been growing 

pressures on Pantami to resign 

over his pro-Taliban views but 

the Federal Government is 

yet to react to the public 

outcry on the minister. 

Bodo Bonny Bridge: FG grants NLNG N20bn tax waiver 

By Emma Ujah 

A Federal BUJA—THE 

Government 

has granted Nigeria Liquefied 

Natural Gas, NLNG, company a 

N20 billion tax waiver for the 

construction of Bodo Bonny 

Bridge in Rivers State. 

Executive Chairman of the 

Federal Inland Revenue Service, 

FIRS, Mr. Muhammad Nami, 

who was represented by 

Coordinating Director, Tax 

Operations Group, Mr. Femi 

Oluwaniyi, presented the Road 

Infrastructure Credit Certificate, 

RICC to LNG in Abuja, yesterday. 

The N20 billion Credit 

Certificate is NLNG’s third waiver 

in the last three years, with a total 

of N46 billion. 

RICC is one of the strategies 

for mobilizing private sector 

financing for critical 

infrastructure, for which 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

signed Executive Order Seven 

(07) in 2020 

The Executive Order 

authorizes companies to spend 

their funds in the provision of 

critical infrastructure like roads 

and receive tax waivers 

equivalent of their investments. 

The Bodo Bonny Bridge and 

roads across Okpobo channels in 

Rivers State were constructed by 

Julius Berger at a cost of ¦ 120.681 

billion. 

Mr. Nami commended the 

NLNG for paying its 2020 tax 

obligations valued at ¦ 130 billion, 

three months ahead of time. 

Receiving the tax credit 

certificate on behalf of NLNG, Mr. 

Bayo Denrele, said NLNG 

provided 50 percent part funding 

for Bodo Bonny Bridge project, 

with the Federal Ministry of 

Works taking up the other half. 

the release of some documents 

with doubtful authenticity linking 

the embattled minister and the 

Muslim community with the 

death of His Excellency, Sir 

Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa. 

“The church and Yakowa’s 

family consider the allegation 

very serious with a possible 

adverse impact on peace and 

national security. Consequently, 

they express strong reservations 

and concerns about statements 

like the ones associated in the 

past by Pantami as circulated in 

audios and videos released on 

social media.” 

He said society’s discomforts 

and disagreements should, 

however, not be enough reasons 

to approve the circulation of 

phony and injurious statements 

against any perceived foe. 

“ However, we consider that the 

“communique could be doctored. 

We are aware that in this age of 

technological advancements, we 

have to take any allegations with 

a pinch of salt until we are 

confident of the authenticity of 

the source. 

“Sensitive documents like the 

ones purported to be from the JNI 

meeting in Bauchi should be 

subjected to thorough security 

investigation and trials, not tools 

for social media warfare. 

‘’The danger of making this a 

media issue, instead of a legal and 

security issue that it ought to be, 

is that we stand to lose the most 

important point, that of bringing 

to justice persons accused to have 

wronged the law. 

“To be sure, when Sir, Yakowa 

died in an air crash, there was no 

inquiry to determine the cause 

of his death, aside from the 

immediate and likely technical 

fault leading to the helicopter 

crash. 

‘’We, the Christian community 

and, indeed, his immediate family, 

acknowledged the tragedy, 

submitting to the will of God 

Almighty. For that purpose, there 

is no point, now or later, to open 

up what will not bring back our 

leader and father but rather open 

up old wounds in a very 

controversial manner. 

“Therefore, those with an axe 

to grind with Pantami should do 

so within their limits. As a church 

leader, I chose to speak because 

of my deep belief that justice is 

natural and we shall live to 

account before our Lord. 

‘’Besides, if we support 

unverified allegations against 

someone today because we 

loathe the person, the monster 

could be deployed against us or 

someone we cherish tomorrow.’’ 

Bring light, hope into the lives 

of people 

FASTING for a 

couple of days might be all 

it takes to understand the 

suffering of those who go without 

food in their own way of life. 

Understanding the plight of the 

poor is one part of what Ramadan 

is ordained to achieve. We are 

therefore reminded severally 

both in the Qur’an and hadiths 

that giving food to fasting Muslim 

is a great deed in the month. In 

fact, feeding of 60 people is 

regarded as equivalent to a day 

fasting. (Remember the penalty 

for breaking fast?) That is to tell 

us how much Allah values putting 

food at the table of the poor. 

Ibn Abaas said, “The Prophet 

(peace be upon him) was the 

most charitable amongst the 

people, and he used to be more 

so in the month of Ramadan 

when Jibreel used to meet him 

on every night of Ramadan till 

the end of the month.” (Al- 

Bukhari) The Prophet (peace be 

upon him) said, “He who gives 

food for a fasting person to break 

his fast, he will receive the same 

reward as him, without anything 

being reduced from the fasting 

person’s reward.” (At-Tirmidhi) 

The Prophet was exceptionally 

charitable in all the Ramadan he 

observed. He was the most 

generous of people at all times. 

He never hesitated to give away 

whatever he had, trusting always 

that God will give him more for 

his charity. In Ramadan, however, 

he was exceedingly charitable, 

with no limits to his generosity. 

How much better it would be if 

we could let others see the sweet 

and beautiful message of Islam 

by the way of giving. We should 

not allow this special month to 

go without a good account of what 

we have added in somebody’s 

life. We need to be asking 

ourselves all the time especially 

how we are going to benefit 

maximally from the holy month. 

What are we going to do to make 

the most of Ramadan? 

Surely, it is a profitable venture 

in which there is no risk, but fat 

rewards. There are rewards in this 

life and the hereafter for giving in 

charity at any moment. In this 

world you are also reward by the 

personal satisfaction you will feel, 

and the feeling of the receivers of 

your charity towards you and 

towards their fellow humans in 

general. It is the month of charity, 

and a month in which a believer’s 

sustenance is increased. Whoever 

gives food to a fasting person to 

break his fast, shall have his sins 

forgiven, and he will be saved 

from the Fire of Hell, and he shall 

have the same reward as the 

fasting person, without his 

reward being diminished at all.” 

Reps probe illicit harvest, 

export of 7,200 male organs, 

other human parts to China 

•Say perpetrators generate $1.2bn 

profit annually 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu 

A BUJA—PIQUED 

by reports of a seized cargo 

ship that sailed from Nigeria with 

7,200 refrigerated male organs 

found in 36 boxes labelled as 

plantain at Shanghai port, known 

as Red Market in China, the 

House of Representatives 

yesterday resolved to probe the 

circumstances of the 

development. 

Noting that the Chinese 

General Administration of 

Customs had alerted that an 

increasingly large number of 

armed groups in Africa use organs 

harvested in unsanitary 

conditions to finance their 

nefarious activities, the House 

underscored a need to curb the 

menace. 

The resolution followed the 

consideration of a motion, titled 

“Need to Investigate the Illicit 

Trade in Human Organs”, comoved 

by Rimamnde Shawulu 

Kwewum from Taraba State and 

Olajide Olatubosun from Oyo 

State at yesterday’s plenary. 

The House stated that the 

perpetrators of the illicit trade 

generate between $600 million 

and $1.2 billion dollars profit 

annually, adding that the poor 

security situations encouraged 

them to use the third world 

countries as their major suppliers. 

Presenting the motion, 

Kwewum said: “About two weeks 

ago, acting on the information 

provided by an anonymous 

source, Chinese authorities 

seized a cargo ship that sailed from 

Nigeria with 7,200 refrigerated 

penises which were found in 36 

boxes labelled as plantain on the 

ship that harboured at the 

Shanghai port, called Red 

Market. 

“The Chinese General 

Administration of Customs had 

alerted that an increasingly large 

number of armed groups in Africa 

use organs which are harvested 

in unsanitary conditions to 

finance their nefarious activities. 

“The media was awash a few 

years ago with horrifying stories 

of the harvest of organs of 

Nigerians and other Africans 

stranded in Libya for sale in 

Europe, the Middle East, America 

and China. 

“The increasing cases of missing 

persons, ritual killings and 

trafficking of persons out of the 

country may be linked to the Red 

Market which can be attributed 

to the trafficking of young men 

and women who end up being 

victims of organ harvesting. 

“The increased banditry, 

kidnappings and spiraling 

violence in several parts of the 

country today make those parts 

of the country vulnerable and 

provide safe havens and ready 

supply channels for the illicit 

activities. 

“Harvest of organs can only be 

done by medical surgeons with 

the aid of rogue public officials. 

''Perpetrators of the illicit trade 

generate between $600 million 

and $1.2 billion dollars profit 

annually and have been 

encouraged by poor security 

situations to use the third world 

as the major suppliers.”


:Vanguard 

News 

We’re targeting $10bn 

revenue from agric in 5yrs 

—Sanwo-Olu 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

L AGOS—GOVERNOR 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu of 

Lagos State, yesterday, 

projected that the total 

investments in the 

agricultural sector would 

run into $10 billion in the 

next five years. 

Sanwo-Olu said this at 

the launch of the state 

government’s 5-year 

Agricultural and Food 

Systems Roadmap, in 

Lagos. 

The governor said that most of 

the investments would be private 

sector-driven, while the 

government would act as the 

catalyst and enabler. 

His words: "Our strategies for 

sustainable Agricultural 

Development shall focus on three 

pillars. Firstly, we will grow the 

upstream sector through 

interventions by leveraging 

Ogun gov 

showers 

house, cash 

gifts on 

academic 

laureates 

A GOVERNOR BEOKUTA— 

Dapo 

Abiodun of Ogun State, 

yesterday, splashed a twobedroom 

bungalow and a 

sum of N2 million on 

Oladimeji Sotunde, an 

indigene of the state, who 

emerged as the 'Overall 

Best Graduating Student' of 

Lagos State University, Ojo, 

Lagos. 

Abiodun equally 

announced that his 

administration would set up 

an Education Endowment 

Fund with seed money of 

N5 million, in honour of Faith 

Odunsi, a student of the 

Ambassadors College, Ota, who 

emerged winner in the Global 

Open Mathematics Tournament. 

Funeral rites for 

Uku tomorrow 

A 

community leader in 

Nimo, Njikoka Local 

Government Area of Anambra 

State, who died after a brief illness, 

Pa Emmanuel Nweke Uku, will 

be buried tomorrow. He was aged 

95. 

According to burial programme, 

Christian wake will be held today, 

in his honour, with a requim mass 

tomorrow, which will immediately 

be followed by interment. 

Pa Uku is survived by children 

and grandchildren. 

• Late Pa Uku 

technologies that are capable of 

lowering the cost of production of 

value chains such as fisheries, 

poultry, piggery, rice, vegetables 

and coconut, with support from 

donor agencies. 

“We will also focus on growing 

the midstream and downstream 

sectors that are value additions, 

involving processing, handling, 

storage, cold chain, packaging, 

utilization and commercialization, 

which are all important 

agricultural value chains by 

leveraging on the huge market, 

with support from donor agencies. 

“Lastly, we will improve on 

private sector participation by 

developing and initiating policies 

that will encourage more private 

investments in agriculture. This 

will include linking the private 

sector with business-friendly 

credits." 


From left: Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, Deputy Governor of Lagos State; Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu; 

Ms. Abisola Olusanya, Commissioner for Agriculture, and Babatunde Balogun, Chairman, All 

Progressives Congress, Lagos State, during the launch of Lagos State Agricultural and Food 

Systems Roadmap (2021-2025), at Lagos Continental Hotel, Victoria Island, yesterday. Photo: Bunmi 

Azeez. 

Police, Amotekun mum, as gunmen kidnap 18 

passengers in Ibarapa 

By Adeola Badru & 

Shina Abubakar 

I BADAN—SECURITY 

situation in the Ibarapa 

area of Oyo State 

heightened, yesterday, 

following the hijack of an 

18-seater bus along 

Igboora-Eruwa road by 

gunmen, who abduted all 

passengers in the 

commercial bus. 

Confirming the 

abduction, an indigine of 

the area, Oladiran 

O l a d o k u n 

told Vanguard that an 

18-seater bus, coming from 

Abeokuta and transporting 

passengers along Igboora- 

Eruwa road, was ambushed 

by the gunmen. 

Vanguard further 

gathered from a family 

source of one of the victims 

that the gunmen demanded 

the sum of N10 million as a 

ransom for each of the 

victims. 

The source said: “Yes, the 

18 people were kidnapped 

this morning (Thursday), 

while seven were also 

kidnapped yesterday 

(Wednesday).” 

Omu for burial 

today 

MRS Veronica B. Omu, 

who died on February 19, 

2021, will be buried today at Chief 

Godwin compound, Idumu- 

Odegwe Quarters, Umuolo 

village in Aniocha North LGA, 

Delta State. 

Thanksgiving service follows on 

Sunday. 

• Late Mrs. Omu 

Another source, who 

spoke to Vanguard, noted 

that kidnappers have 

continued to have their 

ways despite heavy security 

presence in the zone. 

He confirmed that seven 

people were also 

kidnapped around 5 pm on 

Wednesday. 

He said: “The rate of 

kidnappings in Ibarapa in 

the last few weeks has 

become worrisome. 

Yesterday (Wednesday) at 

5.00 pm, seven persons, 

who were on their way to 

Eruwa had their vehicle 

stopped on the bridge and 

were whisked away into 

the kidnappers’ vehicle. 

This has taken a new 

dimension. I am greatly 

disturbed. 

“The police are back on the road 

extorting money from drivers. 

With their presence, nothing has 

Gbaja, Sanwo-Olu, Adebanjo, others eulogise 

Odumakin 

By Olayinka Ajayi 

L AGOS—NOTABLE 

Nigerians, including 

Speaker of the House of 

Representatives, Mr. Femi 

Gbajabiamila; Governor 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu; 

former Ondo State 

governor Dr. Olusegun 

Mimiko; Afenifere leader, 

Pa Ayo Adebanjo; Aare 

Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, 

Iba Gani Adams; former 

Anambra State governor, 

Mr. Peter Obi; former Ogun 

State governor, Senator 

Ibikunle Amosun; former 

President-General of 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mr. 

John Nwodo, yesterday, 

paid glowing tributes to late 

Afenifere spokesperson, Mr. 

Yinka Odumakin, describing him 

as a committed Nigerian, who 

struggled for justice. 

They spoke on the day of 

Tributes and Service of Songs for 

the late Odumakin, held at the 

Police College in Ikeja, Lagos. 

changed. Should we say their 

presence has brought the 

resurgence of kidnappings in the 

region? 

“Two weeks ago, two students 

were kidnapped. The parents paid 

N1.2 million before their release. 

The commercial vehicle 

conveying the students was 

stopped midway.” 

Police, 

Amotekun keep 

mum 

As at press time, efforts to get 

reactions from the Oyo State 

Police Public Relations Officer, 

PPRO, DSP Adewale Osifeso, 

proved abortive as calls made and 

messages sent to his phone line 

were not responded to. 

When contacted, the 

Amotekun Commander in Oyo 

State, Col. Olayinka Olayanju 

(retd) , said: “We are not 

Odumakin’s 

quality is rare 

—Adebanjo 

Afenifere leader, Pa Adebanjo, 

who urged Nigerians to emulate 

Odumakin’s lifestyle, described 

him as a selfless and committed 

person, who struggled for justice. 

Adebanjo said: “As a human, it 

is difficult to replace Yinka but I 

pray God replaces him for Nigeria. 

He was not a fake activist, but a 

true activist who believed in a 

good cause and true democracy. 

“We are not gathered to mourn 

his age but to celebrate what 

Yinka stood for.” 

He also restated the call for the 

restructuring of the country. 

He said: “Those of us talking of 

restructuring truly want Nigeria 

to stay and be united. The 

suffering is much and if Nigeria is 

not restructured, we will continue 

to have more of Sunday Igboho 

and Nnamdi Kanu, 

“The Fulani don’t understand 

what restructuring is. They think 

to restructure Nigeria is to divide 

Nigeria. Buhari is not the one to 

come to teach me on united 

Nigeria when I have been 

preaching it when he was in 

• Police, hunters rescue female 

student in Osun 

authorised to speak on such 

issues, we are not the Police. You 

can get reaction from the Police, 

anything they (Police) say is 

authentic. This is Amotekun and 

not the Police.” 

Police, hunters 

rescue female 

student in Osun 

Meanwhile, the Osun Police 

Command, in collaboration with 

local hunters, on Tuesday, rescued 

a female student of the Osun 

State College of Health 

Technology Ilesa, Rukayat 

Bayonle. 

In a statement by the 

command’s spokesperson, Yemisi 

Opalola, the Police disclosed that 

the student was abducted by five 

armed persons at her hostel 

located at Olomilagbala area of 

Ilesa. 

The statement reads: “The 

primary school. In the Northeast 

where there is Boko Haram now, 

I spent one year when Pa Obafemi 

Awolowo sent me to campaign in 

1979 for the Unity Party of Nigeria, 

UPN. If I don’t believe in one 

Nigeria, why would I go there?” 

I admired 

Odumakin 

— Gbajabiamila 

In his tribute, Speaker of the 

House of Representatives, Mr. 

Gbajabiamila said: “I never knew 

Yinka at close range, but my 

knowledge of him from a distance 

was that of admiration. He was a 

man who has been through the 

vicissitudes and came out 

unscathed. It was not about 

school or circumstances of life, but 

his service.” 

Yinka was 

detribalised 

—Sanwo-Olu 

Also speaking at the event, 

Governor Sanwo-Olu described 

the late Afenifere spokesperson 

as a detribalized Nigerian, who 

wanted the best for the country. 

Sanwo-Olu said: “He wanted 

Osun Police Command rescued 

the female student of Osun State 

College of Health Technology, 

Ilesa, one Rukayat Bayonle, who 

was abducted on 20th April 2021 

at about 02:30 hours at 

Olomilagbala Area, Ilesa. 

“Upon receiving the distress 

call that the victim was abducted, 

the Commissioner of Police, CP 

Olawale Olokode, psc, drafted a 

combined team of police Tactical 

Unit, JTF and other security 

outfits on a rescue mission of the 

abducted girl. The abductors, 

numbering about five, invaded 

the quarters of the student and 

took her into the bush. 

“The security operatives 

followed the criminals into the 

bush and pursue them vigorously 

and at about 05:25 am of the same 

day, 20th April 2021, within the 

space of 3 hours, Police and local 

security men rescued her 

unhurt.” 

the best for Nigeria, for the 

Yoruba nation, and he was 

completely detribalised. Until the 

very end, he kept going on, 

working hard for a Nigeria that 

will reflect true modern federalism. 

He was a fighter who fell in his 

prime. We will continue to hold to 

the legacy in which he believed 

in.” 

He fought 

oppression 

—Nwodo 

On his part, former Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo president, Chief Nwodo 

said: “When you live in a country 

where your children are living 

below standard and you keep 

quiet, you are not Yinka, when 

you are afraid to speak about 

oppression, you are not Yinka, 

when you live in a country where 

an election is rigged without 

speaking, you are not Yinka. Each 

of us should take upon a touch of 

what Yinka stood for.” 

Also, a human rights lawyer, 

Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, in his 

tribute went down memory lane 

where he met the late Yinka in 

1986 when he was expelled from 

the University.

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa (middle), flanked by the Iyasere of Warri Kingdom, Chief Johnson 

Atserunleghe (left), Chief Gabriel Awala (right) and others when members of the Olu of 

Warri Advisory Council visited the Governor yesterday at the Government House, Asaba. 

Insecurity: Our nation is bleeding 

now — DEFENCE MINISTER 

By Chioma Obinna, Peter Duru, Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru & Ibrahim Hassan 

ABUJA — Minister 

of Defence, 

Major-Gen. 

Bashir Magashi, retd, 

said yesterday Nigeria is 

currently bleeding., 

following the state of 

insecurity in the country. 

This came on a day 

bandits attacked the 

General Hospital in 

Kajuru Local Government 

Area of Kaduna State, 

abducting two nurses on 

duty, barely 24 hours after 

bandits invaded 

Greenfield University in 

same Kaduna, killing a 

staff and and abducting 23 

students. 

This is even as a 

traditional ruler and five 

others were killed in three 

separate attacks on Benue 

communities by 

suspected herdsmen at 

Tse-Zoola village, Agan 

Makurdi Local 

Government Area, LGA, 

Odugbeho in Agatu LGA 

and Mbayer-Yandev in 

Guma LGA, all in Benue 

State. 

Addressing State House 

correspondents at the 

presidential ministerial 

briefing organized by the 

Presidential 

Communication Team at 

the Presidential Villa, 

Abuja, the minister also 

said government is 

compiling 

a 

comprehensive list of 

identified enemies of the 

country, although he 

refused to make 

clarifications on those on 

the list. 

He said while incidents 

of domestic terrorism had 

reduced due to measures 

put in place by 

government, other 

problems arising from 

intolerance had 

heightened. 

He cited the emergence 

of herders/farmers 

clashes, the Indigenous 

People of Biafra, IPOB 

issues, banditry, among 

others, who he said see 

violence as a legitimate 

alternative. 

He also confirmed that 

some individuals who 

fund Boko Haram had 

been arrested, 

particularly in Kano state, 

adding that some of them 

had contacted him for his 

intervention but he 

turned down their 

request, insisting that due 

process had to be 

followed. 

Magashi said the 

military will not be 

deterred but will focus on 

eliminating all perceived 

threats and expressed the 

hope that this objective 

could be achieved with 

the deployment of new 

military assets that would 

soon arrive. 

Our nation 

bleeding now 

— Magashi 

With all the myriad of 

problems facing the 

country, the Defence 

minister said: “Make no 

mistake about it, our 

nation is bleeding now. It 

is bleeding because of the 

self-interest and other 

primordial considerations 

underlying decisions, 

which quite a number of 

our elite; political, ethnic 

and religious, make so. 

“Such elites are quick to 

attribute blames to groups 

other than theirs. The 

whole idea is to exploit the 

social division for their 

political gains and it is 

because of this 

divisiveness that Nigeria 

lacks a national 

consensus or common 

comprehensive 

understanding and the 

interpretation of what 

national security is. 

“Example is Boko 

Haram, farmers/herders 

clashes, IPOB and other 

political associations that 

are coming up with 

different mandates and 

concerns. All these can 

encourage groups to seek 

violence as a legitimate 

alternative. 

“From here emerges a 

narrow vision of national 

identity and vision which 

threatens our country’s 

prospects of social 

cohesion and stability. 

“This is why we are 

seeing the rise of self-help 

syndrome, often endorsed 

by states and local elites 

seeking violence as a 

legitimate alternative. 

“The rise in vigilantism 

and identity-based militia, 

who claim to be working 

for the political and 

ethno-religious 

emancipation of their 

people, a.k.a resource 

control, secession and 

regional selfdetermination, 

define the 

potent threats to national 

security in our country. 

“I would have loved to 

make a few comments 

because I will soon be 

addressing a press 

conference by three 

ministers; Minister of 

Police Affairs, Internal 

Affairs and myself. 

“We have made a 

comprehensive brief as far 

as the security of this 

country is concerned and 

the methods we want to 

use in ensuring that we 

strategically and tactically 

get rid of all enemies of 

this country, be it religious 

enemies, ethnic enemies 

and all the political 

enemies of this country. 

‘We’ve taken 

position on 

insecurity’ 

“We have made a 

comprehensive report or 

research on that and we 

have taken our position, 

which I don’t want to 

preempt here, but 

certainly we are coming 

back with that. 

“What is important is 

that we are just trying to 

inform you of our 

impression and our 

Continues on Page 28 

By Yinka Latona 

On UK's asylum offer to ‘persecuted' IPOB, MASSOB members 

Ithink the action of the 

UK is governed by law. 

It has the power to 

provide protection to 

those who need it and not 

just doing it because of 

any selfish reason but in 

accordance with 

international obligations 

under the Refugee 

Convention and 

European Convention on 

Human Rights. 

—Shokoya John, 

H.I.M Consultant 

This gesture by the UK 

Government, I think, 

will help to end the 

reckless and sponsored 

violence against Biafra 

agitators. It will make the 

Nigerian government to 

deploy peaceful 

mechanisms to ensure 

that the remote causes of 

these agitations are 

properly addressed. 

—Oluwashola Thompson- 

John, Teacher 

My sincere advice to 

Nigerian government 

is to carry out their 

constitutional duties of 

protecting the lives and 

property of citizens without 

prejudice or sentiment. 

Security is worsening and it 

calls for serious concern. 

Government should do 

more; spend the people’s 

money on them. Securing 

lives and property is the sole 

responsibility of 

government. 

—Nikkie Abdulazeez, 

Entrepreneur 

The UK Govt's plan to 

grant asylum to 

'persecuted' IPOB and 

MASSOB members will not 

resolve the issue. If we 

continue granting asylum to 

any one who is persecuted, 

things like this will continue 

to happen and there would 

be no end to it. So that is not 

the way forward. I suggest 

they mediate between the 

two parties and find a 

lasting solution to the crisis. 

—Oluseyi Samuel, 

Engineer 

The UK should tread 

softly. To me, they 

shouldn’t have gone to the 

point of announcing it would 

grant asylum to enemies of the 

State who seek to destabilise 

Nigeria. By this, they are giving 

overt moral backing to 

dissidents and they will be 

emboldened to attack the State 

and innocent people. I would 

have expected the UK to be on 

the side of Aso Rock. It’s an 

unfortunate development. 

—Segun Obisanya, 

Journalist 

Granting asylum to 

IPOB/MASSOB in 

my opinion is a good thing. 

I pray it becomes reality so 

that our dream of breaking 

away will be realised. A 

country that wants to be 

indissoluble will not be 

treating her citizens like this. 

What have one benefited 

from government in one’s 

life aside from N19, 800 

monthly stipend during the 

one year compulsory 

service? 

—Enang God’swil, 

Writer

6 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021




Those attacking police formations, killing policemen 

may soon turn on people — S-East govs 

•Ask DSS to invite Nigerians making unsubstantiated claims on social media 

•Stop mass arrest of Igbo youths, Ohanaeze warns Nigerian army 

•Stop dining, wining and paying ransom to terrorists and bandits, IPOB 

replies Presidency 

By Anayo Okoli & 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu 

SOUTH EAST governors 

yesterday, expressed 

fears over the spate of killing 

of policemen and razing of 

police formations in the 

region, saying those behind 

attacks may soon turn on the 

public. 

This came as Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo has raised alarm 

over massive arrests of Igbo 

youths by the Nigerian 

army and taken to 

unknown destinations. 

Similarly, the Indigenous 

People of Biafra, IPOB, 

yesterday, challenged the 

presidency to first destroy 

the bandits rampaging the 

North and the Middle Belt, 

stop dining and wining 

with terrorists, paying 

ransom to bandits, freeing 

terrorists but jailing 

u n a r m e d 

protesters, before 

crushing their alleged 

'animals' disturbing the 

peace of South East. 

Chairman of South East 

Governors' Forum and 

Governor of Ebonyi State, 

Dave Umahi, who spoke 

against the latest attack on 

a police station in Enugu 

on Wednesday and killing 

of two policemen, said it is 

now imperative for 

governors in the region to 

move fast against the trend 

before it escalates. 

Umahi, who raised the 

alarm in an interview on 

Channels Television 

breakfast programme, 

Sunrise Daily, insisted that 

those burning police 

stations and killing 

policemen were criminals 

who only hide under the 

guise of the Indigenous 

People of Biafra, IPOB, and 

its Eastern Security 

Network, ESN, to perpetrate 

crime. 

“It is a monster that we 

must not allow to arise in 

the South-East. When they 

finish with that (attacking 

police stations) they will 

start attacking stakeholders 

to kill them,” the governor 

said. 

Insisting that those 

burning police stations and 

killing policemen are 

criminals hiding under the 

guise of IPOB and ESN, 

Umahi said: ''The truth of 

what is happening is that 

there are bandits 

everywhere; there are 

cultists everywhere. 'What 

happens now in the South- 

East is that criminals who 

may not necessarily be 

members of IPOB and ESN, 

will go and commit crimes 

and they need a name. 

“So it’s safer for them to 

say they are members of 

ESN, and IPOB so that the 

persecution of IPOB and 

ESN by the federal 

government will cover them. 

“That is what is 

happening in the South- 

East because IPOB and ESN 

have a number of times 

come out to say they are not 

• Gov David Umahi, Chairman, 

S-East Gov's Forum 

into terrorism and violence, 

and the people burning 

police stations and killing 

are not their members. So, 

how do you reconcile the 

two? 

'"South-East governors 

need to rise against the ugly 

trend of attacks on security 

outfits, especially police 

stations in the region. 

“It is a monster that we 

must not allow to arise in the 

South-East. When they 

finish with that (attacking 

police stations) they will 

start attacking stakeholders 

to kill them,” Umahi said. 

Recall that over 50 

policemen have been killed 

and several police stations 

burnt in the South East since 

late last year, the most 

serious being the attack on 

Imo State police command 

headquarters and the 

prisons where 1,844 

prisoners escaped. 

Umahi also urged the 

Department of State 

Services, DSS, and the 

Nigeria Police Force to 

invite Nigerians making 

“unsubstantiated 

statements” on social media 

capable of heating the polity. 

He said: “The level of 

crimes in the country is as a 

result of unpatriotic acts of 

a lot of us. 

''We, leaders, we come out 

on television and then we 

speak, indict other regions, 

we speak against other 

regions, we pick on the 

leader of a country and then 

castigate the leader of a 

country. There is no 

patriotism at all. 

“The way to prevent this 

thing is that if you are making 

unsubstantiated statements 

in the social media, the police, 

the DSS, you should be 

invited to explain it and this is 

no politics because the country 

cannot fold our hands and 

allow people to plunge the 

country into another war and 

this is very important. 

“I was told that one of the 

world wars started with a 

family quarrel and so, if you 

are making a statement on 

social media calling it freedom 

of speech, you must come to 

the law to substantiate it. 

“What I have in the state 

now should have stopped but 

for the politicians who are 

making unguarded 

accusations and statements in 

the social media and then 

people outside the state will 

just cash on that and emotions 

will rise and the problem will 

continue.” 

Stop mass arrest 

of Igbo youths, 

Ohanaeze warns 

Nigerian army 

Ohanaeze said a mass 

arrest is going on in Ohaji 

and Oguta communities of 

Imo State by military 

personnel believed to be 

from 34 Artillery Brigade, 

Owerri. The arrested youths 

were alleged to be members 

of Eastern Security 

Network, ESN, according to 

the apex Igbo group. 

Ohanaeze wondered why 

the army were arresting 

Igbo youths who bear no 

arms and allow Fulani 

herdsmen move around with 

AK 47 riffles. 

They called on the Chief 

of Army Staff to 

immediately stop the mass 

arrests. 

The Prof. George Obiozor 

led Ohanaeze in a statement 

signed by its spokesman, 

Alex Ogbonnia said: "The 

attention of Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo Worldwide has been 

drawn to an ongoing 

massive arrests of Igbo 

youths by the Nigerian 

Army. The report indicates 

that “the military personnel, 

suspected to be led by the 34 

Artillery Brigade, Owerri, 

since Sunday have been 

arresting male residents and 

youths, particularly in 

Oguta and Ohaji 

communities and clamping 

them into vans and taken to 

unknown destinations . 

"The report adds that the 

army are “busy, carrying 

out raids, discreet searches 

and arrests of youths and 

residents who are suspected 

to be linked to the 

Indigenous People of Biafra 

and its security arm, the 

Eastern Security Network. 

"For the avoidance of 

doubt, Ohanaeze Ndigbo 

led by Ambassador Prof. 

George Obiozor is 

unequivocal about the use of 

fire arms by unauthorized 

• Usman Alkali Baba, Ag. IGP 

persons, bodies or groups. 

Democracy, all over the 

world vests the absolute 

authority for the legitimate 

use of force in government. 

We had admonished that the 

exclusive indulgence of AK 

47 to the Fulani herdsmen 

as canvassed by Governor 

Bala Mohammed is 

antithetical to the ethos of a 

decent society. 

"For the armed forces to 

arrest the Igbo youths 

without evidence of arms, 

means of violence or crime 

is cowardly, uncivilized and 

mostly unacceptable to 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo. It runs 

contrary to every sense of 

natural justice and rights of 

citizenship for the army to 

invade some Igbo 

communities in search of 

youths; most of whom are 

brilliant university 

graduates whose society has 

denied them employment 

and sense of belonging. 

This is adding salt to 

festering injury. 

"Ohanaeze Ndigbo does 

not just wax lyrical about 

Igbo youths of all categories 

or dispositions. 

"We condemn crime 

irrespective of the source. On 

the other hand, we stand on 

a firm wicket that it is 

ruthless to arrest any Igbo 

in the guise of membership 

of a terrorist organization 

unless there is sufficient 

evidence of crime or 

unlawful possession of fire 

arms. 

"We call on the Chief of 

Army Staff, Major General 

Ibrahim Attahiru to 

urgently stop the wave of 

arrests before it gives 

impetus to the proposal by 

the United Kingdom Visas 

and Immigration (UKVI) to 

offer asylum to persons who 

actively and openly support 

IPOB and likely to be at risk 

of arrest or detention, and 

ill-treatment which is likely 

to amount to persecution". 

Stop dining, 

wining with 

terrorists, bandits 

IPOB replies 

Presidency 

The Senior Special 

Assistant, Media and 

Publicity to President 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

Mallam Garba Shehu, had 

allegedly referred IPOB 

members as 'animals' 

disturbing the peace of 

South East that should be 

crushed. 

However IPOB in reply 

through a statement by its 

Media and Publicity 

Secretary, Emma Powerful, 

described Mallam Shehu's 

statement as irresponsible 

ranting, highly 

provocative and a 

derogatory statement, 

saying that the word 

'animal' should be used for 

them under whose watch 

bandits they allegedly 

created are destroying the 

country. 

IPOB alleged that the 

Presidency's threat to order 

military operation to crush 

'the 'animals' disturbing the 

peace in South East, 

coming from Mallam 

Shehu, has simply 

confirmed its alarm that 

the federal government is 

sponsoring the escalating 

insecurity in the South 

East, to provide an excuse 

for another military 

operation to kill more 

innocent Biafrans, but 

regretted that the political 

elite in the South East, for 

their selfish interests have 

failed to realise its alarms. 

IPOB in a statement 

entitled, "First destroy 

bandits you created 

rampaging the North 

before crushing "the 

animals" disturbing South 

East" said that Garba 

Shehu and his pay masters 

should have been ashamed 

for supervising a 

government and officials 

that dine and wine with 

terrorists and a 

government that pays 

ransom to bandits, frees 

terrorists but brutalises 

and kills law abiding 

freedom fighters and jails 

unarmed protesters. 

IPOB's statement read in 

part: "The attention of the 

Indigenous People of 

Biafra, IPOB, under the 

command and leadership 

of our great and 

indomitable leader, Mazi 

Nnamdi Kanu, has been 

drawn to the ranting, 

derogatory, irresponsible 

and highly provocative 

remarks by the Presidency, 

through Garba Shehu that 

the renewed agitation for 

self determination in the 

South East was because the 

federal government had 

refused to share money to 

those behind the agitation. 

"Shehu went further in his 

vituperations and 

threatened military action 

to crush those he referred 

to as "the animals" 

disturbing the peace of 

South East. 

"We therefore, challenge 

Shehu to mention those the 

federal government has 

been paying in the South 

East to drop the agitation for 

self determination. If he fails 

to disclose the identifies of 

the beneficiaries and 

evidence of such payments, 

we will take it to be one of the 

shameless lies which have 

become the trademark of the 

Muhamnadu Buhari-led and 

controlled Fulani oriented 

federal government of 

Nigeria." 

Timeline of 

attacks on 

Policemen, 

formations in 

S-East 

By Evelyn Usman 

January 8, 2021 : Attack 

on Onueke Police 

Station, in Ezza South Local 

Government Area (LGA) in 

Ebonyi State; three policemen 

killed, two sustained bullet 

wounds . 

* February 1 2020: Gunmen 

razed Omoba Police Divisional 

headquarters in Isiala -Ngwa 

South Local Government in 

Abia; killed a policeman, looted 

armoury. 

*February 4, 2021: A Police 

station at Isu, Onicha Local 

Government Area of Ebonyi 

State razed by hoodlums. 

* February 5, 2021: Umulogho 

Police Station in Obowo Local 

Government of Imo State 

attacked, two policemen killed. 

* February 23,2021 : Attack 

on World Bank Housing 

Estate Police Station, in Abayi 

Osisioma Local Government 

Area of Abia State, two 

policemen killed, station burnt. 

* February 24, 2021: 

Hoodlums killed policemen, 

burnt patrol vehicle at 

Ekwulobia area of Anambra 

State. 

* February 25,2021: Gunmen 

attacked a police station in Aboh 

Mbaise Local Government Area 

of Imo , killing a policewoman. 

* March 1, 2021: Iboko 

Divisional Police headquarters 

in Izzi, Ebonyi, razed by 

hoodlums. 

March 9,2021: Police station 

at Ihitte-Uboma Local 

Government Area of Abia State 

burnt by hoodlums. 

*March 18,2021: Hoodlums 

numbering 20 attacked Police 

patrol team in Neni, Anaocha 

Local Government Area of 

Anambra State, policeman 

killed. 

* March 19,2021: Gunmen 

attacked Ekwulobia Police State 

in Anambra State , killed a 

policeman. 

* March 20,2021: A Divisional 

Police Station in Umuelemai, 

Isiala Mbano Local Government 

Area of Imo State attacked. 

* March 22,2021: Bandits 

killed three policemen : 

Inspector Austin Ugwu, 

Inspector Longinus 

Ugochukwu and Constable 

Ama Ifeanyi, attached to Abiriba 

Police Division, in an ambush in 

Abiriba community, Ohafia 

Council Area of Abia State, 

carted away their rifles. 

* March 31, 2021: Three police 

officers attached to Mr Charles 

Soludo, killed during an attack 

in Isuofia, Aguata Local 

Government Area of Anambra 

State. 

*April 5,2021: Imo State Police 

Command headquarters, 

Owerri, Imo State attacked 

,armory looted ,vehicles burnt. 

*April 6,2021: Police Divisional 

headquarters, in Ehime Mbano 

Local Government Area of Imo 

State attacked, vehicles burnt. 

* April 6,2021: Attack on 

Ugbogbo Police station, Ebonyi 

State foiled, one of the assailants 

killed . 

*April 8,2021: Armed men 

invaded Mbieri Divisional 

Police Headquarters,Mbaitoli 

Local Government Area of Imo 

State, freed detained suspects. 

April 14,2021: Gunmen 

disguised as mourners killed 

three policemen attached to 

Safer Highway Patrol Team 

along Ogoja/Abakaliki Express 

road, Ebonyi State. 

April 19, 2021: Armed 

invaded Zone 13 Police 

Headquarters in Ukpo, 

Dunukfia Local Government 

Area of Anambra, killed three 

policemen 

April 21, 2021: Gunmen 

attacked Adani Police Station 

in Uzo-Ani Local Government 

Area of Enugu State, around 

2.30 am, shot two policemen 

dead, and set station ablaze.



No money was printed to shore 

up March allocation—NEC 

•Welcomes report of townhall meeting on 

national security •As govs affirm Nigeria’s unity 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

BUJA—THE National 

AEconomic Council, NEC, 

yesterday affirmed that there 

was no printing of N60 billion 

or any other amount 

whatsoever to shore up 

allocation for the month of 

March as insinuated recently 

by the governor of Edo State, 

Godwin Obaseki. 

NEC took the position after 

receiving presentations from 

the Minister of Finance, Budget 

and National Planning, Mrs. 

Zainab Ahmed, the Governor 

of Central Bank of Nigeria, 

CBN, Godwin Emefiele and 

the Nigerian Governors’ 

Forum, NGF. 

The virtual NEC was 

presided over by Vice President 

Yemi Osinbajo at the 

Presidential Villa, Abuja. 

A statement issued by the 

Senior Special Assistant to the 

President on Media and 

Publicity, Office of the Vice 

President, Laolu Akande, 

explained that the governors 

critically reviewed the alleged 

printing of N60 billion. 

Akande said the meeting was 

attended by many of the 

governors, the FCT Minister, 

Mohammed Bello, the Central 

Bank of Nigeria Governor, 

Godwin Emefiele, the Minister 

of Finance, Budget and 

National Planning, Mrs. 

Ahmed, the Minister of 

Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, the 

Minister of Information and 

Culture, Lai Mohammed, the 

Minister of Aviation, Hadi 

Sirika and that of the Water 

Resources, Suleiman Adamu. 

He said: ‘’The Council 

expressed satisfaction with 

clarifications made by the NGF 

represented by its Chairman, 

Governor Kayode Fayemi of 

Ekiti State, Finance Minister, 

Hajiya Zainab Ahmed and the 

Central Bank Governor, Mr 

Godwin Emefiele on the 

alleged printing of N60 billion 

by the Federal Government. 

“Both the Minister and the 

CBN Governor stated to the 

Council that the allegation of 

the printing of money to 

augment allocation was 

outrightly false. 

“The NGF also supported the 

conclusion and NEC affirmed 

same as the highest 

constitutional body tasked with 

economic affairs in the 

country.” 

On the resolution of security 

concerns in parts of the country, 

the Council unanimously 

affirmed the unity of Nigeria 

and said it would adopt the 

report of the national town hall 

meeting on National Unity and 

Security held recently in 

Kaduna. 

Buhari’s administration stands 

behind Pantami — Presidency 

THE Presidency may have 

ruled out the possibility of 

sacking the Minister of 

Communication and Digital 

Economy, Isa Pantami, over his 

past comments in support of 

terrorist groups like Taliban and 

Al-Qaeda. 

In a statement on Thursday, 

the Presidency said Pantami’s 

ordeal in the hands of those 

calling for his sack was not about 

his past utterances but about his 

current job as a minister. 

The Senior Special Assistant 

to the President on Media and 

Publicity, Garba Shehu, made 

the Presidency’s position know 

in a statement titled ‘Statement 

by the Presidency on recent 

campaign against the Minister 

of Communications and Digital 

Economy.” 

The Presidency aligned itself 

with the submission of the 

embattled minister that he was 

young when he made those 

statements and that his position 

had since changed. 

It said the minister would never 

repeat such statements since he 

had condemned them and 

apologised. 

The statement read, “Today, 

there is an unfortunate fashion 

in public discourse that makes 

leaders in politics, religion, and 

civil society liable in the present 

for every statement they have 

ever made in the past – no matter 

how long ago, and even after 

they have later rejected them. 

“This insidious phenomenon 

seeks to cancel the careers of 

others on the basis of a thing they 

have said, regardless of when 

they said it. 

“The Minister of 

Communications and Digital 

Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim 

Pantami is, currently, subject to 

a ‘cancel campaign’ instigated by 

those who seek his removal. 

“They do not really care what 

he may or may not have said 

some 20 years ago: that is merely 

the instrument they are using to 

attempt to ‘cancel’ him. But they 

will profit should he be stopped 

from making decisions that 

improve the lives of everyday 

Nigerians. 

“The Minister has, rightly, 

apologised for what he said in the 

early 2000s. The views were 

absolutely unacceptable then, 

and would be equally 

unacceptable today, were he to 

repeat them. But he will not 

repeat them – for he has publicly 

and permanently condemned his 

earlier utterances as wrong. 

“In the 2000s, the Minister was 

a man in his twenties; next year 

he will be 50. Time has passed, 

and people and their opinions – 

often rightly – change. 

“But all discerning Nigerians 

know this manufactured dispute 

is nothing to do with the 

Minister’s prior words, but solely 

concern his actions in the 

present. 

“The administration stands 

behind Minister Pantami and all 

Nigerian citizens to ensure they 

receive fair treatment, fair prices, 

and fair protection in ICT 

services.” 

Shehu said the Buhari regime 

was committed to improving the 

lives of all Nigerians – and that 

includes ensuring they are not 

over-charged or under-protected 

for those services on which 

modern life depends. 


Financial Autonomy: Why we won’t suspend 

strike, JUSUN tells CJN 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri, Henry 

Ojelu, Deola Badru 

& Shina Abubakar 

A BUJA—EXECUTIVES 

of the Judiciary Staff 

Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, have 

again, met with the Chief Justice 

of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Ibrahim 

Tanko Muhammad, to explain 

why they would not suspend the 

strike action they commenced 

on April 6 to demand for the 

implementation of financial 

autonomy for the Judiciary. 

A statement signed by media 

aide to the CJN, Mr. Ahuraka 

Isah, disclosed that the meeting 

held on Wednesday. 

Isah said the essence of the 

meeting was for JUSUN leaders 

to give feedback to the CJN on 

his recent demand on the union 

to call-off the ongoing strike that 

has paralysed judicial activities 

across the federation. 

According to the statement, 

among those that attended the 

meeting held at the CJN’s 

chambers, included the Chief 

Registrar of the Supreme Court, 

Hadjia Hadiza Uwani 

Mustapha. 

The CJN had at an earlier 

meeting he held with JUSUN 

leaders on April 6, urged the 

union to suspend the strike in 

view of its adverse effect on the 

justice system in the country. 

At the meeting, JUSUN 

officials, led by its Deputy 

National President, Emmanuel 

Abioye and Jimoh Musa Alonge 

(Treasurer), explained why the 

union found it difficult to heed 

the CJN’s demand to call off the 

strike. 

Abiyoye told the CJN that 

state governors must begin to 

demonstrate some level of 

seriousness by putting in place 

some measures precedent to the 


autonomy for the judiciary in 

their respective states. 

‘’Though there’s financial 

autonomy for the judiciary 

already in some states while 

some are assuring that they 

•Protest in Ibadan, Osun dep gov’s convoy blocked 

•As Lagos judiciary workers consider partial resumption 

would comply, but others have 

to take steps in readiness for 

compliance,” Abioye stated. 

Meanwhile, in his remarks, the 

CJN said it had become difficult 

to fault the idea of the strike since 

rights of the union and its 

members, which he said were 

clearly defined in the 

Constitution, were being denied, 

especially at state level. 

“I can’t fault your reasons for 

embarking on this protest 

because the union wants its 

rights restored in line with the 

provisions of the Constitution. 

“I commend you for following 

due process so far to protest 

against the injustice,” the CJN 

added. 

Meanwhile, protesting 

members of JUSUN, and the 

Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, 

in Osun and Oyo states, 

yesterday, blocked the convoy of 

Osun State Deputy Governor, 

Mr. Benedict Alabi. 

Similarly, the aggrieved 

workers staged the mother-ofall 

protests in Ibadan, Oyo 

State, to demand financial 

autonomy for the legislative and 

judicial arms of government. 

This came as JUSUN 

workers in Lagos State, 

considered a plan to partially call 

off the strike embarked on April 

6, 2021 to demand autonomy 

of the judiciary. 

Deputy gov’s convoy 

blocked 

Members of the two unions 

had commenced the peaceful 

protest at the State High Court, 

Oke-Fia and march to 

Customary Court through to 

Federal High Court opposite 

Osun State House of Assembly 

along Osogbo/Gbongan road. 

At about 11:20am, while 

members of the two unions were 

marching to the Osun State 

Government Secretariat, the 

convoy of the Deputy Governor 

ran into the protesters before the 

secretariat. 

Rather than give way to the 

NGX Group’s N49.1bn shares admitted to NASD 

via admission of security 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

NASD OTC has explained the 

model of entry of the recently 

demutualized Nigerian Stock 

Exchange, now Nigerian 

Exchange Group (NGX Group), 

for trading on its platform, saying 

the company was admitted 

through “admission of security”. 

The explanation by the NASD 

followed the admission of 1.96 

billion shares of NGX Group 

valued at N49.1 billion for 

trading on the OTC market at 

N25 per share. 

NGX Group was admitted 

with N35.14 billion total market 

capitalisation. Speaking at a 

virtual event organised by NASD, 

in collaboration with the Central 

Securities Clearing System Plc, 

CSCS, to address some of the 

concerns raised by market 

participants with regard to 

regulation, rules and structure of 

the OTC market and different 

means of entry to the OTC 

market, Ms Chinwe Ekeh, Head 

of Operations and IT at NASD, 

explained the two methods of 

entry into the OTC market as an 

issuer and listed them to include 

an admission of company. 

She said this was akin to a full 

listing and an admission of 

security where individual 

shareholders could indicate an 

interest to trade the shares. 

“NGX shares were introduced 

into the market under the latter 

arrangement by Icon 

Stockbrokers Limited which 

advised an opening price of N25 

per share,’’ she said. 

Ekeh explained further that the 

latter’s easy entry method 

allowed NASD to open a new 

code SDNGXGROUP within 48 

hours of the shares becoming 

available to shareholders. 

In his remarks, Bola Ajomale, 

CEO, NASD Plc, said NASD was 

providing an avenue for the 

new holding company to 

comply with the requirements 

of the rule on trading public 

unlisted securities. 

deputy governor’s convoy, the 

protesters insisted that the convoy 

moved behind them 

JUSUN Chairman in Osun 

State, Mr. Gbenga Eludire, said 

the union, in collaboration with 

NBA, was at the secretariat to 

deliver the message of its 

National Secretariat on the 

necessity to implement financial 

autonomy for the judicial arm 

of government. 

Eludire said: “We are here to 

convey the message of JUSUN’s 

National Secretariat on the 

need for the implementation of 

financial autonomy because it 

is the only way for Nigeria to 

progress. 

‘’The three arms ought to be 

independent and 

complementary but reverse is the 

case here and it is a pity that 

citizens had to be forcing state 

government, which is suppose 

to ordinarily defend the 

constitution, to enforce 

constitutional provision. 

“We are determined that until 

the government does the 

needful, we will not call off the 

strike action.” 

Also speaking on behalf of the 

lawyers, Chairman of the NBA 

Ife Branch, Mr. Tope Olajolo, 

stressed the need for governors 

in the country to respect rule of 

law and begin the 


autonomy already granted the 

judiciary. 

In his remarks, PASAN 

chairman, Comrade Adekunle 

Adeshina also presented the 

union’s demand in a letter to the 

deputy governor. 

JUSUN, PASAN’s 

protest rocks Ibadan 

Similarly, Judicial and 

parliamentary workers as well 

as members of the Nigerian Bar 

Association, NBA, yesterday 

staged the mother-of-all protest 

in Ibadan, the Oyo State 

capital, to demand financial 

autonomy for the legislative 

AGM: From left: Non- 

Executive Director, 

Mrs. Adeyinka 

Aroyewun; Company 

Secretary/Legal 

Director, Mr. Uaboi 

Agbebaku; Chairman, 

Chief Kola Jamodu; 

Finance Director, Mr. 

Rob Kleinjan and 

Corporate Affairs 

Director, Mrs. Sade 

Morgan, all of 

Nigerian Breweries 

Plc, NB Plc during the 

75th Annual General 

Meeting of the 

company held in 

Lagos. 

Photo: Akeem Salau. 

and judicial arms of 

government. 

The peaceful protest, which 

took place at the front of the Oyo 

State High Court Complex, 

Ibadan, was attended by 

parliamentary workers under 

the aegis of PASAN, judiciary 

workers under the auspices of 

JUSUN and NBA members. 

On his part, the state’s PASAN 

Chairman, Yemi Alade, 

lamented that the refusal to grant 

autonomy to the legislature is 

tantamount to enslavement. 

The Vice-Chairman of the 

NBA, Mrs. Delayo Ori-Ekun, 

stated that the association was 

in support of the strike, saying 

the legislative and 

parliamentary workers needed 

to have autonomy for the 

development of the nation’s 

democracy. 

Speaking, Aborisade urged 

the protesting workers to 

continue with the action until 

their demand is granted, saying 

the only weapon available to 

whip the State Governments into 

line, within constitutional 

provisions, is the strike action 

such as the JUSUN’s. 

Lagos judiciary workers 

consider 

partial 

resumption 

The Lagos Chapter of the 

Judiciary Staff Union of 

Nigeria, JUSUN, is currently 

considering a plan to partially 

call off the strike embarked on 

April 6, 2021 to demand 

autonomy of the judiciary. 

Vanguard findings revealed 

that JUSUN, Lagos chapter has 

concluded arrangement to write 

the national body of the 

association requesting 

permission to partially resume 

work. The reason behind the 

move according to multiple 

sources is hinged on the ground 

that Lagos State Judiciary has 

been enjoying greater level of 

financial autonomy compared 

to other states of the federation.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021 — 9




BRIEFING: From left: Mr Gerald Moore, Account Director, C&F Porter Novelli; Mr 

Kelechi Nwosu, Managing Director, TBWA Concept, and Tony Ajero, Lead Group Account 

Director, C&F Porter Novelli, at a press briefing on the NGX Group Plc demutualisation, in 

Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Akeem Salau. 

Olu of Warri stool: Okowa sues for peace, 

urges aggrieved persons to sheathe swords 

•Extols departed Olu, condoles with Itsekiri nation 

•Congratulates Olu-designate, Prince Tsola Emiko 

By Festus Ahon 

A SABA—Governor 

Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta 

State, yesterday, urged all 

aggrieved persons in the process 

of picking a new Olu of Warri to 

sheathe their swords to ensure 

that everything was done 

peacefully and in unity in the 

overall interest of Itsekiri people. 

Okowa, who stated this when 

he received members of Olu of 

Warri Advisory Council in 

Asaba, told the Olu Advisory 

Council led by the Iyatsere of 

Warri Kingdom, Chief Jonhson 

Atserungleghe, to do its best to 

unite everyone and ensure that 

there was peace in Warri 

Kingdom. 

He said: “I thank God that 

you have been able to decide on 

the interest of the people on the 

choice of a new monarch. 

“I pray to God to lead the 

Itsekiri nation through these 

trying times even as we work 

towards giving the departed 

king befitting burial rites and as 

we also look forward to the 

presentation of the new king. 

“Please, extend my 

congratulations to the new 

monarch and we assure him that 

our prayers are with him just as 

we pray that the Itsekiri nation 

will remain united. It is only 

when there is peace that we can 

have development not only in 

Warri but the entire Delta State.” 

Extols departed 

Olu, condoles with 

Itsekiri nation 

He said the departed Olu of 

Warri, HRM Ogiame Ikenwoli, 

was an epitome of peace, who 

built bridges across ethnic 

divides in the country. 

Okowa said: “I want to truly 

condole with the whole of 

Itsekiri nation on the passing of 

Ogiame Ikenwoli, the king who 

believed in peace. 

“He set out to visit other 

monarchs to establish 

partnership and friendship and 

these partnerships he built 

helped improve on the peace in 

the state and helped bring 

various kingdoms together. 

“We thank God for the life of 

his Royal Majesty, who has gone 

to the great beyond and I pray 

that the Itsekiri nation will 

continue to work for peace 

because he was an epitome of 

peace. 

“We appreciate his conduct as 

a royal father who was always 

with us at state functions along 

with his colleagues. He built 

bridges of friendship and played 

his role beyond the Itsekiri 

nation. 

“We were not expecting this 

but only God knows why it 

happened so early. On behalf of 

the government and people of 

Delta, I mourn with the Itsekiri 

nation on the passing of His 

Royal Majesty, Ogiame 

Ikenwoli, the Olu of Warri 

Kingdom.” 

Congratulates 

Olu-designate, 

Prince Tsola Emiko 

The governor also 

congratulated the Oludesignate, 

Prince Tsola Emiko, 

on his emergence and called on 

the Itsekiri people to give him 

their full support. 

Earlier, the delegation, which 

spoke through Chief Brown 

Mene, said its visit was to 

intimate the governor on the 

demise of the Warri monarch 

and the enthronement of a new 

one. 

Mene said: “Your Excellency, 

on April 5, 2021, we got to a point 

where as a people, we gathered 

together to proclaim that our 

revered Ogiame Ikenwoli had 

been called to join his ancestors. 

“And, because we know the 

king never dies, on that same 

day we proclaimed to the whole 

world that we have a new Oludesignate 

in the person of Prince 

Tsola Emiko. After the funeral 

rites of the departed king, we can 

then enthrone the new king.” 

The delegation also condoled 

with the governor on the demise 

of his father, Pa Arthur Okorie, 

who died in January. 

Highpoint of the visit was the 

presentation of a letter to the 

governor formally notifying him 

of the demise of the monarch. 

Oil spill: Lori-Ogbebor urges Okowa 

to avert another Itsekiri, Ijaw crisis 

By Gabriel 

Olawale 

RIGHTS activist, Chief 

Rita Lori-Ogbebor, has 

called on Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa of Delta State to avert 

another crisis between Ijaw 

and Itsekiri by calling those 

threatening to sack Itsekiri 

communities from their lands 

to order. 

She also warned that recent 

events in the area were 

reminiscent of the early days 

of the Ijaw/Itsekiri crisis also 

known as the Warri crisis. 

Briefing newsmen, 

yesterday, in Lagos, she said: 

“As I am writing, war is going 

on in Warri North. I want to 

assure everybody concerned 

that another war will not do 

anyone any good. I am now 

calling on Governor Okowa, 

whom I have always 

respected as a deep thinker 

going by his education, to 

look into this matter urgently 

and seriously. This is to avoid 

another war. 

“It is history repeating itself 

and we should not allow bad 

history to repeat itself when 

we know it is bad. Do we 

allow it to repeat itself? It was 

not long ago when we had 

the Ijaw/Itsekiri war, which 

we now call the Warri crisis. 

“That crisis was one which 

we never thought would 

happen in our land, because 

the Itsekiri and Ijaw have a 

lot in common, including 

marriages. But it happened. 

There were a lot of killings, 

destruction of homes, 

separation of families, 

divorces among couples 

among others. 

“It took the whole country, 

the president and governors 

to bring the war to an end. 

Both sides have never 

forgotten the war. The 

consequences of the war are 

still felt every day. I am a 

witness to the war. I was 

involved in ensuring the war 

ended. 

“All the old men in Ijawland 

remember the war. I am, 

therefore, sad and shocked 

to see a video on social media 

by an Ijaw group led by one 

Shedrack Ebikeme, beating 

the drum of war. 

“He threatened to bomb 

Chevron’s facilities and sack 

all Itsekiri from their homes. 

He threatened to stop boats 

from moving up and down 

the rivers in Itsekiriland. I was 

afraid and sad. It reminded 

me of the war between the 

Itsekiri and Ijaw. This is how 

it started gradually before 

snowballing into a huge crisis. 

“Most Ijaw elders said they 

didn’t know and didn’t 

support what the youths were 

doing. The more they denied 

the youths, the more they 

carried on until there was a 

full-blown war that took the 

whole nation to stop it. 

...We’ve done the needful in line with best enviromental 

practices —Heritage 

By Babatunde 

Jimoh 

HERITAGE 

Energy 

Operational Services 

Limited, HEOSL, operator of 

OML30, said it has done the 

needful and taken all necessary 

steps in line with best 

environmental practices to 

curtail the oil spill in Erhioke 

community. 

In a statement, yesterday, 

HEOSL also debunked the false 

allegation against it, noting that 

the publication by some persons 

in the community was done to 

mislead the public. 

It said: “On take-over of 

operatorship in 2017, the 

Kokori bund wall had integrity 

issues, which led hydrocarbon 

contained within the bund wall 

to leak into the environment. 

The affected communities 

brought it to the attention of both 

HEOSL and National Oil Spill 

Detection and Regulatory 

Agency, NOSDRA, on 

September 14, 2017. 

‘’ Consequently, NOSDRA 

carried out an onsite damage 

assessment on July 26, 2018, 

Printing of N60bn: Civil society 

coalition condemns Obaseki’s 

claim 

By Gabriel Ewepu 

ABUJA —Coalition of Civil 

Society Groups, CCSG, 

yesterday, condemned claim by 

Governor Godwin Obaseki of 

Edo State, over alleged printing 

of N60 billion by the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for 

March federal allocation to 

states. 

President of CCSG, Bassey 

Williams, and Secretary, 

CCSG, Abubakar Ibrahim, at 

a news briefing in Abuja, 

described the claim as being 

orchestrated by enemies of 

government just to whittle down 

the confidence Nigerians have 

in the Buhari-led 

administration. 

The group said: “We have 

watched with keen interest over 

time, and we won’t be doing 

justice to the entire nation if we 

don’t make effort to disabuse 

with all stakeholders in 

attendance. Following this visit, 

HEOSL assigned a dedicated 

engineering team to reconstruct 

the defective bund wall. 

"The construction of the new 

bund wall commenced on May 

8, 2019, and was handled by an 

indigenous engineering 

company from Erhioke 

community, one of the impacted 

communities. This construction 

project was completed in 

February 2020. However, while 

the construction was ongoing, 

HEOSL began negotiations 

with the impacted communities 

on monetary compensation for 

the loss suffered. 

the minds of our citizens on the 

falsehood being peddled 

around by some individuals for 

political gains and to distract 

the government. It is 

unfortunate and we condemn 

the political dimension the 

issue has taken. 

“The issues raised by 

Governor Obaseki and others, 

alleging that N60 billion was 

printed by CBN and the Federal 

Government to augment for the 

March 2021 FAAC allocation, 

is orchestrated by enemies of 

the government just to whittle 

down the confidence Nigerians 

have in the government and her 

effort to invigorate the 

economy. 

“After our due consultations 

and enquiries, our group 

discovered that the allegation 

was just falsehood capable of 

distorting progress recorded 

and as a campaign to smear 

the effort of a performing 

Governor of the CBN. 

EGCDF commissions N564m 

CNL -sponsored projects in 

Delta 

By Gab Ejuwa 

THE Egbema and 

Gbaramatu Communities 

Development Foundation, 

EGCDF, has commissioned 11 

Chevron Nigeria Limited 

sponsored infrastructural 

projects worth N564 million in 

Egbema and Gbaramatu 

kingdoms of Warri North and 

Warri South-West Local 

Government Areas of Delta 

State. 

The commissioned projects 

are 300 metres concrete road, 

staff quarters building, a three 

bedroom bungalow building, 

cottage hospital renovation and 

ancillary work, renovation of 

two concrete jetties and 

construction of waiting sheds 

and radio house, 400 metres 

concrete walkway, concrete jetty, 

250 metres concrete walkway, 

three-bedroom bungalow and 

water project. 

At the commissioning 

ceremony, Jude Ukori, 

Chairman of EGCDF, 

appreciated CNL for 

sponsorship of the projects. 

Esimaje Brikinn, General 

Manager, Policy, Government 

and Public Affairs, Chevron, 

represented by Sam Daibo, Area 

Manager Policy, Government 

and Public Affairs Field 

Operations expressed the 

company’s delight in partnering 

EGCDF for community 

development. 

N/Delta group lauds acting 

IGP’s appointment 

A 

Niger Delta group known 

as Movement for the 

Actualisation of the Dreams of 

Niger Deltans, MADND, has 

congratulated the newly 

appointed Inspector General of 

Police, Alkali Usman. 

In a congratulatory message 

by the group’s Chairman, Mr 

Josiah Oyakonghan, it 

described the appointment of 

the new IGP by President 

Muhammadu Buhari as well 

deserved and timely owing to 

the unabating security 

challenges bedeviling the 

nation. 

Oyakonghan said: “Since the 

beginning of the #EndSARS 

protest, we knew something was 

amiss somewhere. Allowing 

such a massive protest that took 

the police and other security 

agencies unaware shows there 

is a need for a drastic rejigging 

of the security architecture in the 

country. 

"So appointing Alkali Usman 

to be the Inspector General of 

Police is a welcome 

development because his wealth 

of experience is needed now that 

Nigeria needs credible men in 

the helms of affairs of the police 

force.” 

“HEOSL reached a full and 

final settlement compensation 

amount with the legal 

representatives of the affected 

communities for the loss 

suffered. On July 19, 2019, 

HEOSL made the agreed 

payment to the communities 

through their legal 

representative and this was 

acknowledged by the 

communities accordingly and 

a letter of the resolution written 

by them to NOSDRA. 

“In addition to this 

compensation payment and 

bund wall re-construction, a 

clean-up/remediation project 

was embarked upon."


:Vanguard :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 

Social Media Conversation 

GRIDLOCK: The usual traffic gridlock at Rainbow bus-stop, Apapa-Oshodi expressway, Mile 2, Lagos, 

yesterday. Photo: Kehinde Shonola. 

Gridlock: Sanwo-Olu, NPA look on as 

trucks take over Apapa 

By Kingsley Adegboye & 

Godfrey Bivbere 

LAGOS—THE end to the 

chaotic Apapa-Oshodi 

expressway gridlock may not be 

farfetched any longer, following 

the just awarded Section 2 of the 

ever busy dual carriageway to 

Dangote Construction Company 

Limited. 

The Section 2, which begins 

from Sunrise bus stop to Cele bus 

stop, was not awarded when 

sections 1 and 2 were awarded to 

Dangote for reconstruction in 

2019. 

The section had been under 

procurement, until it was awarded 

this week. 

Consequently, this section has 

remained the major cause of the 

gridlock being experienced on the 

expressway over the years, 

because of its dilapidated state, 

arising from many years of 

neglect by the Federal 

Government. 

Confirming the contract award 

to Vanguard, the Federal 

Controller of Works in Lagos State, 

Orile-Imo royal tussle: Ogbonis should tread path of 

peace —Concerned indigenes 

By James Ogunnaike 

ABEOKUTA—OGBONIS in 

Orile-Imo, in Obafemi/ 

Owode Local Government Area 

of Ogun State, have been urged 

to toe tread path of peace and 

infrastructural development of the 

community in their quest to have 

a traditional ruler in the 

community. 

In a statement by indigenes of 

the community, the Ogbonis 

were urged to embrace indigenes 

of the area for the growth and 

development of the community. 

In the statement, the 

community said: “Our attention 

has been drawn to the publication 

of April 15, 2021, regarding minor 

chieftaincy stool of Orile-Imo, 

which was unnecessarily 

orchestrated by the self styled 

Ogbonis, acting for and on behalf 

of themselves. 

“After the demise of the 

erstwhile Olu of Orile-Imo, Oba 

Kolawole Olubiyi, in July 2018, 

the Alake and the Paramount 

Ruler of Egbaland, acting under 

Mr. Olukayode Popoola, said: 

“Dangote has started mobilising 

to site, which means 

reconstruction works on the 

section will begin any moment 

from now.” 

On whether November 2021 

initial deadline is still feasible 

with the award of the section 2, 

Popoola said: “No. Because of the 

just awarded section 2, that date 

is no longer feasible. The new 

delivery date now is 10 months 

added to the initial handing over 

date.” 

Also speaking with Vanguard 

on the situation of the section, 

Team Lead, Bulk Truck 

Operations of Honeywell Flour 

Mills Plc, Israel Ogundiran, said 

with the first section from 

Liverpool to Sunrise almost 

completed, the award of the 

second section is a welcome 

development. 

Apapa-Oshodi on 

lockdown 

Meanwhile, the traffic on the 

Apapa-Oshodi Expressway 

and by virtue of him being the 

prescribed authority, set up a 

Regency Committee on August 

15, 2018. 

“The Regency Committee, 

comprising the Lisa Bara - Ogo 

Imo, Olori Aje Imo, Otun Ologun/ 

Olorogun Imo, Bakeye Imo, 

Agbogan Imo and Bada Imo - 

Secretary, were so appointed to 

oversee Orile-Imo Community 

and ensure industrial/communal 

peace in the area”. 

“No sooner that the Regency 

Committee commenced sittings, 

the authors of the write up in the 

Vanguard Newspaper of 15th 

April, 2021, rather than choosing 

the path of honour and dignity, 

embraced gangsterism. 

“They regularly on daily basis 

disrupted and physically attacked 

the Regency Committee 

members, inflicting bodily harm 

on them. This situation called for 

the intervention of the police who 

apprehended them and found 

them culpable. They were 

charged to court and the matter 

came under further investigation 

assumed a new dimension 

yesterday, as commuters and 

motorists had a hectic time 

navigating their destinations 

following total blockade of 

expressway and service lane by 

Apapa bound articulated trucks 

and tankers. 

Motorists spent several hours 

between Fatgbems Junction and 

Ottor-Wharf. 

Oshodi bound commuters and 

motorists were not spared the 

agony as commercial bus drivers, 

driving against traffic towards 

Mile 2, took over Fagbems 

portion of the road riddled with 

craters, thereby making difficult 

for Oshodi bound motorists to 

gain access. 

The craters on the expressway have 

caused truck drivers, commuters, 

motorists and cyclists to make use of the 

service lane which condition is not as 

deplorable as the expressway. 

This is why vehicular movement into 

Apapa is sluggish and takes hours to 

navigate the chaotic traffic. 

The condition of the road has 

worsened as motorists move more into 

Apapa. 

by the Ministry of Justice.” 

The indigenes also said: “It is 

important to state that Orile-Imo 

Chieftaincy Stool is under Minor 

Chiefs category of the Chiefs Law 

of Ogun State; that has neither 

Declaration nor Kingmakers. In 

effect, anything having to do with 

the filling of such vacancy is fully 

vested in the Prescribed 

Authority. 

“In this instance, the Alake and 

Paramount Ruler of Egbaland has 

the power to approve or 

disapprove and such decision is 

final. 

“We wish to re-state that there 

is neither Ruling Houses, 

declaration or king makers for 

Orile-Imo. In any case, no 

declaration can be made during 

an interregnum and most 

importantly, this is a Minor Chief 

Affair and the custodian of 

Authority is the Alake and 

Paramount Ruler of Egbaland 

who is forbidden in law and 

equity to delegate his Prescribed 

Authority to anyone”. 

“In conclusion, the ogbonis should 

stop speaking or acting from the premise 

of ignorance”, they said. 

....In a blaze of ‘glory'?! 

Shame...felled by a sting from a mother ‘bee', 

you don't deserve the girl! 

...That women are d....y?!

12 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021



LYING IN STATE, TRIBUTES & SERVICE OF SONGS 

IN HONOUR OF LATE YINKA ODUMAKIN 

Dignitaries all over the country paid their respects to the late Afenifere spokesman, Yinka Odumakin at the 

lying-in-state cum tributes and service of songs in his honour at Police College, Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday. 

PHOTOS: JOE AKINTOLA, PHOTO EDITOR, AKEEM SALAU, BUNMI AZEEZ & KEHINDE SHONOLA. 

From left: Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker, House of Representatives; Governor 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State; Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin (widow) and Pastor 

Ituah Ighodalo, Senior Pastor, Trinity Church. 

From left; Mr Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State; 

Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Afenifere leader and Senator Kofo Bucknor- 

Akerele, former Deputy Governor of Lagos State. 

Sarafa Tunji Ishola, Nigerian High 

Commissioner to the UK (left) and Senator 

Ibikunle Amosun, former governor of Ogun State. 

Chief John Nwodo, immediate past President 

General, Ohaneze Ndigbo (left) and Ademola 

Oyinlola, former Editor/ED, Tell magazine. 

Otunba Gani Adams, (left) and Dr Olusegun 

Mimiko, former Governor of Ondo State. 

From left; Dele Momodu, Publisher of Ovation magazine, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, former 

Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Femi Falana, SAN, Senator Tokunbo 

Afikuyomi and Kayode Komolafe, Deputy Managing Director, Thisday newspaper. 

Cross section of guests. 

Comrade Ayodele Adewale (left) and Mohammed 

Fawehinmi. Mr Jimi Agbaje and his wife. Mr Lanre Arogundade and Comrade Mma Odi.

TRIBUTE 

Odumakin: A fearless activist now rests 

By KAYODE FAYEMI 

WITH the demise of 

Yinka Odunmakin, Nigeria lost one 

of her most courageous and patriotic citizens, 

and the Yoruba nation lost an illustrious son. 

Yinka was one of the legends of the prodemocracy 

struggles, known for speaking truth 

to power and championing the cause of justice 

and fairness – he remained consistent through 

many decades of activism till his demise. 

Injustice in our society transcends the 

contradictions between where we should be as 

a country and the daily experiences of the 

average Nigerian and encompasses 

fundamental deficits in our political economy. 

Yinka’s belief in justice as a primary condition 

for ensuring peace inspired his participation 

in the struggle against military rule and 

towards the restoration of the annulled June 

12 presidential mandate. He was a fearless 

and dogged fighter, whose activism dates to 

our alma mater, the University of Ife (now 

Obafemi Awolowo University), where he served 

as the Public Relations Officer of the Students’ 

Union Government. 

For many of us who were involved in the 

historic pro-democracy movement that birthed 

Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, we all remember 

Yinka as the 

stormy petrel of 

the National 

Democratic 

Coalition, 

NADECO, who 

was never afraid 

to speak truth to 

power during the 

dark and 

dangerous days of 

•Kayode Fayemi authoritarian rule 

– and he paid dearly for it. Yinka was arrested, 

brutalised, and held in detention at the 

dreaded Alagbon alongside other prodemocracy 

activists for their anti- 

establishment confrontations. 

With the return of civilian rule in 1999, Yinka 

understood that we had only arrived at a 

milestone on a journey – the journey of 

democratising the Nigerian polity which is still 

in progress even to this day. He quickly located 

himself in the new order, choosing to position 

himself as a public critic and activist for a 

Nigeria that truly embraces democracy, 

fairness, equity and justice. For him, issues of 

injustice were bound up with deep-seated flaws 

in the structure of the Nigerian state with its 

over-centralisation and unitary governance 

which has seized the developmental initiative 

from Nigeria’s constituent communities and 

crippled them by rendering them dependent 

on federal hand-outs. 

He found the right channels and platforms 

to give expression to his agitations – a paradox 

of sorts continuing his fight for democracy and 

justice with a democratically elected 

government in place. But that was 

quintessential Yinka who never feared to go 

against conventional wisdom, choosing to 

continue the struggle from the margins even 

when he had the opportunity to get into public 

office. He went on to earn for himself the 

reputation of being one of the most irrepressible 

voices of conscience and reason, who spoke 

timely, boldly, and thoughtfully on important 

national issues. 

When I took to politics and public office, our 

relationship expectedly evolved from being 

close comrades at the barricades, to what 

would appears as adversaries on opposing 

sides. While we had chosen different means to 

advance our common objectives of a just and 

equitable Nigeria, Yinka and I were able to 

compartmentalise our relationship to ensure 

his acerbic positions sometimes directed at 

me personally, did not affect our relationship. 

I happily bore the brunt of his ‘attacks’ because 

I knew it came from a good place – a heart 

that loved Nigeria and the Yoruba nation. 

On one occasion in 2019, Yinka speaking 

•The late Yinka Odumakin 

on behalf of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural 

group, Afenifere, of which he was spokesman, 

berated me for my admonitions that 

proponents of restructuring in the South-West 

should interface with other zones to actualise 

their mission. Yinka accused me of mischief 

“in making such revisionism”. In his 

statement, he lambasted me saying: “We would 

ordinarily have ignored such an unkind cut if 

it had come from any ignorant fellow. 

"But His Excellency cannot be counted 

among the ignorant and could only have been 

mischievous in making such revisionism.” We 

fellowshipped together in Ekiti many times 

after that statement, including when he was a 

guest at a birthday reception held in my honour 

a few months after. 

Yinka devoted his days to the pursuit of the 

interest of the Yoruba people within the context 

of a united Nigeria practising true and 

functional federalism. Though he was also 

concerned about wider national 

developmental issues, he was more fanatical 

about matters that concerned the Yorubas. The 

clarity of his vision for Nigeria was infectious 

and he never wavered in his belief that regional 

autonomy was the solution to the perennial 


crisis of instability in Nigeria. Until his death, 

he was the national publicity secretary 

of Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-cultural 

group. Afenifere bequeathed to succeeding 

generations the tradition they equally 

inherited from their forebears – our 

characteristic tendency to work together as one 

in the pursuit of a common cause, regardless 

of our differing backgrounds. 

Yinka’s death leaves us with a formidable 

legacy. A legacy of speaking truth to power, a 

legacy of promoting fundamental human 

rights, a legacy of promoting a restructured, 

truly Federal Nigeria based on a peopledriven 

constitutional order and an electoral 

frame that places premium on the citizens, not 

the imposed opinions of a few. During our last 

encounter, when he visited me at my official 

residence in Ado Ekiti, he expressed 

admiration for our determination to keep 

fighting the cause of social justice and true 

federalism from the inside, as complementary 

to the efforts of people like him who stayed at 

the barricades. He argued why we should 

never contemplate giving the struggle up no 

matter how tortuous and long the journey 

might appear. 

Reflecting on the passing of this remarkable 

Nigerian, I am struck by the transience of 

earthly greatness. But we are consoled by the 

fact that he lived a good life. It is worth scanning 

the horizons today for their heirs. We must 

continue to invest in the next generation to 

emulate the pristine values of character, 

commitment and integrity promoted by the 

vanishing tribe of freedom fighters. 

We need to light more candles for a genuinely 

democratic, free and just Nigeria and carry 

the light forward into all the dark recesses in 

our land so that pantheons of the struggle like 

Yinka who are no longer with us, can truly rest 

in peace. 

Adieu Olayinka Odumakin, the journey 

continues. 

•Dr. Fayemi, CON, is the Governor of Ekiti 

State Nigeria and Chairman, Nigeria 

Governors Forum


•Nims Obunge...hopeful 

The Nigerian who wants 

to run London 

PASTOR Onimim (Nims) 

Obunge is a 

quintessential gentleman who 

proudly describes himself as 

a Kalabari from Rivers State. 

He also proudly describes 

himself as a Londoner, having 

been born 56 years ago in the 

capital city of the United 

Kingdom to a career diplomat 

and educator - Ambassador 

D.D. and Lady Emma Obunge. 

Because his father was later 

posted to Ireland, Sweden, 

Italy, Republic of Benin and 

Central African Republic, 

Obunge went to several 

foreign schools. But he also 

went to Federal Government 

Colleges (Warri and Port 

Harcourt) in Nigeria and 

studied political science and 

international relations at the 

University of Jos. 

Cosmopolitan 

mindset 

This combination of pan- 

African and European 

education turned him into a 

Naija Home Boy who also 

happens to be a citizen of the 

world. Long story short: 

Obunge – who has been based 

in London with his wife (who 

is from Edo State) and two 

children since 1987 - finds it 

easy to relate to people from 

different cultures and has 

decided to offer his 

cosmopolitan mindset to 

Londoners who want change. 

Obunge has thrown his hat 

into the mayoral contest ring 

– the election will take place 

on May 6. Because London is 

multicultural and liberal 

compared to the rest of the UK, 

ethnic minority votes are 

important and non-White 

candidates can do very well in 

London. The current mayor, 

Sadiq Khan, is an Asian 

Muslim. 

I voted for Khan in 2016 but 

I’m rooting for Nims this time 

around, not just because he is 

my friend and brother, but 

because I know that he is 

kind-hearted, passionately 

committed to social justice 

and intellectually capable of 

managing the complexities 

surrounding a great city that 

is inhabited by superstars as 

well as paupers. 

However, I’ve been very 

worried about Nims’s chances 

because he is running as an 

Independent; and when I met 

him a couple of days ago at 

his campaign headquarters in 

North London, the first 

question I asked was why he 

thought he could beat 

candidates who are not only 

being sponsored by rich and 

powerful mainstream political 

parties but potentially as 

attractive to Black and Brown 

voters as he is. 

Khan, a senior member of 

the British Labour Party, is 

going to run again, while 

Prime Minister Boris 

Johnson’s ruling 

Conservatives are fielding 

Shaun Bailey, an IT graduate 

who has Jamaican roots. Nims 

smiled and shrugged when I 

challenged him (somewhat 

testily!) for (suicidally, I felt at 

the time!) “choosing to be on 

your own.” 

He pointed out that he has 

been a deputy lieutenant for 

Her Majesty Queen 

Elizabeth’s Lord Lieutenant 

for Greater London. As the 

sovereign’s representative in 

his or her area, the Lord- 

Lieutenant remains nonpolitical 

and does not hold 

office in any political party. 

Usually a retired local notable, 

senior military officer, peer or 

business person is given the 

post as an honour. 

It is their foremost duty to 

uphold the dignity of the 

Crown. In so doing, they seek 

to promote a spirit of cooperation 

by supporting 

voluntary organisations and 

the wellbeing of their counties. 

The more I 

talked to him 

about his past 

achievements 

and mayoral 

manifesto, the 

more I believed 

that he can 

trounce his 

formidably 

well-funded 

rivals, despite 

having one 

hand tied 

behind his back 

Nims told me that the nonpartisan 

Deputy Lieutenant 

role had accustomed him to 

being politically objective and 

non-aligned. And you know 

what? 

The more I talked to him 

about his past achievements 

and mayoral manifesto, the 

more I believed that he can 

trounce his formidably wellfunded 

rivals, despite having 

one hand tied behind his back. 

Nims may not have big 

bucks or an efficiently-oiled 

party machinery behind him. 

But he has been an immensely 

•Obunge...touching lives of Londoners 

influential activist, community 

leader and spiritual guide to 

individuals from various racial 

backgrounds for over three 

decades. He has won several 

awards for battling gun and 

knife crime in London. 

He has supported 

entrepreneurship. He has 

chaired the London Criminal 

Justice Board Advisory Group 

and worked in Multi-Faith and 

Inter-Government agency 

settings to assist and advise 

communities that have to 

contend with huge socioeconomic 

fragilities. 

In 1993, Nims founded the 

Freedom’s Ark Ministry in 

North London and specialises 

in collaborating with Christian 

organisations to prayerfully 

seek solutions to the crisis of 

youth violence and other 

societal challenges in the 

London Borough of Haringey. 

He also launched the Peace 

Alliance to tackle local knife 

crime. Today, The Peace 

Alliance works nationally with 

key statutory agencies such as 

the Home Office and the 

Metropolitan Police. 

Most impressive of all his 

activities, perhaps, is his highrisk 

willingness to provide 

employment for ex-convicts. 

People who have been 

imprisoned for violent 

criminal offences have, thanks 

to mentoring from Nims, been 

able to turn their lives around. 

He speaks inspirationally in 

prisons, tries to understand 

what’s going on in the hearts 

and minds of prisoners and 

uses the information he gleans 

to persuade youngsters who 

are heading in the wrong 

direction to think again and 

embrace less self-destructive 

options. 

Meanwhile, four times a 

week, Nims and his partners 

- the Peace Alliance, the Felix 

Project and the Freedom Ark 

- launched the Community 

Food Hub as a direct response 

to hunger and food poverty in 

the community in which they 

operate. Their noble mantra is 

“no hunger, no waste”. And I 

was there when they were 

getting ready to provide food 

to local folks who need help. 

It was a very touching 

experience to watch Nims and 

his wonderful volunteers 

arranging a safety net for 

those in need. They feed 

between 50 and 100 families 

per week. 

Fingers firmly crossed that 

London elects this 

compassionate man as its 

mayor. If not, Nigeria could 

sure use his big heart, sharp 

mind and great ideas. 

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.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021—17 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

Idriss Deby: Warlord in Chad’s 

elusive peace 

THE last time I was in Chad 

was in 2014. In its capital, 

N'Djamena, I couldn’t resist the 

feeling that I was in a big rural 

village. Many of the side streets I 

went, were either un-tarred or in 

need of some repair and in some 

cases, water logged. 

Desperation was written on 

many faces as poverty played 

widely popular football marches 

on the streets. One day, one of my 

hosts came to pick me. Not far from 

the hotel gates, he pointed at what 

looked like a road tunnel and 

asked me if I knew what it was. He 

claimed it is a tunnel built by a 

Western power which can take its 

citizens, diplomats military 

directly to the airport in case of 

fighting in the streets of 

N'Djamena. 

The capital city also seemed like 

one big garrison. Shabbily dressed 

soldiers were a common sight. To 

be sure, many of them looked 

hungry. More tragically was the 

fact that many people I came 

across seemed resigned to fate as 

their ballots don’t count. 

Another tragedy was that a 

country whose population was 

almost equally shared by 

Christianity and Islam, was being 

projected as a society with a mono 

religion. 

One of my hosts was nostalgic 

about the strides some parts of the 

country were making before strife 

became prevalent. I got the feeling 

of a country held hostage by 

warlords and bandits who do not 

care for today or tomorrow. My 

visit coincided with the hurried 

return of Chadian troops fleeing 

from the neigbouring Central 

African Republic, CAR, where the 

Deby regime had played an 

unclear role. 

The CAR herder population 

which consisted about 10 per cent 

of the populace claimed it was 

marginalised and created a broad 

opposition rebel group called 

Seleka or Union. In 2012, Seleka 

raced to take over the country. 

Then CAR President Francois 

Bozize asked his brother President, 

Idriss Deby of Chad for help and 

the latter on December 18, 2012, 

sent 2,000 troops to check the rebel 

advance. 

However, it seemed both the 

Seleka rebels and Chadian troops 

avoided clashes. Even when the 

rebels took the town of Sibut 

which had Chadian troops, they 

did so without firing a shot. The 

Chadian troops had rather than 

fight, retreated to Damara, the last 

city standing between the rebels 

and the capital. 

After this, the regional Economic 

Community of Central African 

States, ECCAS, brought in a 

handful of peacekeepers from the 

two Congo Republics, Angola, 

Cameroun and Gabon. They were 

supported by some South African 

troops. But this force could not save 

Bangui which was seized on 

March 24, 2013. 

The Seleka rebels then unleashed 

terror on the populace, torturing, 

executing and raping them. In 

reaction, the population 

established self-defence forces 

which became known as the Anti- 

Balaka or the ‘Invisible’. They 

declared December 5, 2013 as "A 

Day That Will Define Central 

African Republic" and using some 

guns and machetes, went after the 

Seleka forces and their perceived 

supporters. 

To prevent further massacres, the 

Seleka government and forces 

were on January 27, 2014, 

escorted out of Bangui by Chadian 

President Deby is 

gone, leaving no legacy 

of development, 

peoples’ welfare, unity, 

security, respect for 

human rights or 

democracy 

peacekeepers. Then a seemingly 

bizarre incident happened on 

March 29, 2014. Chadian troops 

entered Bangui's PK12 district 

market and indiscriminately 

opened fire on unarmed civilians, 

killing 30 and injuring 300. The 

angry CAR populace rose to throw 

out the Chadian troops which was 

why they fled to N’Djamena. 

The reasons why the Deby troops 

intervened in the CAR remains 

unclear: was it altruistic, based on 

religious considerations, as 

dictated by Deby’s bosses in Paris 

or some private agenda. That is 

why those singing the praises of 

Deby for intervening against the 

Boko Haram terrorists and their 

allies in Mali, should pause to ask: 

what was his primary interest? 

Basically, Deby has been a tool 

of the French which had kept him 

in power for three decades. He had 

enlisted in the army in the 1970s 

and in 1978, joined the rebel 

forces of Hissen Habre when he 

returned from training in France. 

When Habre overthrew the 

Goukouni Oueddei, government in 

1982, he made Deby the 

Commander-in-Chief of the 

Chadian Armed Forces. Together, 

they carried out one of the bloodiest 

repression, even by the standards 

of violence-prone Chad. 

This included some 40,000 

politically motivated murders and 

200,000 cases of torture in the eight 

years. For his part in these crimes 

against humanity, Habre was 

sentenced to life in prison by an 

African Union-backed tribunal 

while Deby remained Chadian 

President receiving the same 

backing from the United States 

and France as Habre had received. 

France which has 5,000 soldiers 

in Chad, helped Deby beat back 

rebel forces which reached the 

capital in 2006, 2008 and 2019 

before the April 11, 2021 

incursions by the Front for Change 

and Concord in Chad, FACT, led 

by former child soldier, Mahamat 

Mahadi Ali. 

FACT had planned its invasion 

to coincide with the date of the 

elections. Deby had in 2005, 

removed the constitutional terms, 

and for this year’s elections, 

ensured victory by visiting violence 

on opposition candidates. 

In one of the most bizarre cases, 

at about 5.00am on February 28, 

2021, his forces attacked the 

house of opposition figure Yaya 

Dillo who had refused to backdown 

from challenging Deby at 

the polls. They killed Dillo’s mother 

and son and injured at least five 

other family members. 

With the coast clear, Deby 

reportedly visited the frontline to 

assess the invasion of the FACT 

forces. He was reported to have 

been shot by the advancing rebels. 

On Monday, April 18, the election 

‘results’ were out and the Chadian 

Field Marshall had won almost 80 

per-cent of the votes. 

The next morning he was 

pronounced dead. Rather than let 

the election results remain and 

allow his running mate to replace 

him, or allow the Speaker of 

Parliament to run an interim 

government as is constitutionally 

provided, the Deby group executed 

a coup, dissolved the executive and 

parliament, annulled the elections 

and imposed his son, Mahamat, 

who was seven years when Deby 

became President. The new coup 

leader from that age of seven, had 

become a general within 19 years. 

This was the type of 

‘monarchical’ succession 

witnessed in Togo in 2005 when 

President Gnassingbe Eyadema 

was replaced by his son, Faure, and 

in Gabon in 2009 when President 

Omar Bongo was replaced by his 

son, Ali Bongo Ondimba. 

Chad’s big neighbour, Nigeria, 

and its neo-colonial father, France 

saw nothing wrong in the Chadian 

coup. They merely said they do not 

want a power vacuum. This was 

how the contemporary military 

coups in Egypt, Zimbabawe, 

Sudan and Mali were 

rationalised. 

President Deby is gone, leaving 

no legacy of development, peoples’ 

welfare, unity, security, respect for 

human rights or democracy. Just 

one more warlord in Chad’s 

unending wars. 

Insecurity and 2023 presidential election: A leadership dilemma 

By SEGUN IGE 

SURELY, it’s about time we arose to 

the call of the compatriots. How can 

we obey this sacred call of those whose 

blood runs in our veins; those whose spirits 

become restless in the face of chaos and 

trauma; and those whose labour of love 

continues to bear witness against our 

manifold wrongdoings and 

misdemeanours? 

To be sure, the bond of love, peace, unity 

and justice is not a far-reaching one. 

Nigeria, the same yesterday, today and 

forever, is within our grips to govern, if it 

was for the people of old. 

We need to start appropriating the same 

prowess and power so as to reposition 

Nigeria to its once-given pedestal of peace 

and wellbeing. The call for peace, as you 

can see, is timely. Nigeria, not North, 

needs peace. Nigeria, not North, needs 

healing. And Nigeria, not North, needs to 

“have it together”, once again. 

The North, especially with its frequent 

firestorm of banditry and kidnapping, is 

merely a revelation that Nigeria, in 

general, is struggling, suffering, 

suffocating from a “let me have my cake 

and eat it” decision problem. Yes, the 

decision problem of leadership is what has 

been wreaking havoc, tormenting people, 

distressing the dimensions of the human 

reality. 

As of now, political aspirants and 

presidential wannabes are already, as it 

were, holding groundhog days and 

groundswells about such-and-such, about 

so-and-so. Technically, as we have it, little 

or no attention is paid to the mass 

abduction of schoolboys, schoolgirls and 

teachers. The frequency of this narrative 

hits the nail on the head once for all: That 

attention is no longer on insecurity, but 

on 2023 presidential election. 

I wonder what a country without the 

security of its future leaders would be. But 

I think, by the way, that the maxim of the 

youth being the leaders of tomorrow is 

just a delusion. It’s obvious from our 

leadership architecture and framework 

that the youth are not ‘experienced’ 

enough to be in the discourse of power. 

I even suspect 40-year-old Abdulrasheed 

Bawa’s appointment as EFCC Chair to be, 

you know, one of those political gimmicks 

– but this time, quite different, with the 

instrumentality of the backdrop of the 

#EndSARS protest. At least, to some 

extent, their request has been granted! To 

me, I feel it’s a way of appealing and 

appeasing – nay whitewashing – the 

psycho-trauma experiences the Nigerian 

youth have long been begrudging the 

political apparatchiks. 

Even more disturbing is the fact that 

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, 

was attacked by a group of armed men on 

his way from farm at Tyo Mu, along 

Makurdi-Gboko Road. His convoy was 

rocked down on March 20, 2021. 

He narrowly escaped the claws of 

supposedly herdsmen strangleholds; he 

claims to have been briefed by one 

intelligence agency of their internecine 

strife. 

The reaction of the Peoples Democratic 

Party was generally unbecoming. It 

behoves that of a country on the verge of 

partition, cessation, or sedition. It behoves 

that of a country suffering from 

institutional and ideological divisiveness. 

It behoves that of a country craving for 

escape in the hands of thirsty and hungry 

power-drunken demagogues. 

In short, the PDP says the monkey’s hand 

should be removed from the cauldron. 

Really, what has been the President’s 

pertinent decision in halting these acts of 

renegades, genocides, anarchies, pogroms 

and the like, characteristic of “there was 

a country?” I’ve never seen a decisive 

weapon of mass action actually deployed 

by the Federal Government. Hmm… little 

wonder #BringBackOurGirls co-convener 

Aisha Yesufu argues that what’s been 

responsible for the recurrent abduction of 

schoolboys and schoolgirls is the 

President’s “body language”. She takes 

this to mean, clearly, that Buhari’s nonverbal 

cues have been systematically 

Nigeria, not North, needs a 

psycho-trauma healing 

session, so that we can be 

cleansed and purged of all 

biases 

deviating and diametrically opposing his 

verbal clues. After all, in kinesics, a certain 

proportion of equilibrium and balancing 

ought to be met by the two tenets. 

Because the South West is not excluded, 

Nigeria, not North, needs a psychotrauma 

healing session so that we can be 

cleansed and purged of all biases; so that 

we can be free from the disturbances and 

distresses of unstable governance; and so 

that we can live a harmonious and 

accompanied life under the ambience and 

aura of bearing each other’s burdens, 

having each other’s backs on the days of 

trouble, and being open and transparent 

about the things we do for one’s self, or 

one another. The Wakili wake-up call is a 

crucial one. 

I protest that Nigeria should cease 

existing as a space for opportunism and 

adventurism of power. I was, in fact, 

psycho-emotionally traumatised by 

Governor Kayode Fayemi’s use of the word 

“opportunity”, come 2023. I could not but 

be caught in a trance where I saw how 

leaders opportunistically jump from one 

position of power to another. Just like that! 

Without any sense of vision and direction 

for the future of the country. 

Nigeria has become a space to have your 

own share of the cake, which is why the 

politically zealous – not with any mind of 

purpose of goodwill – are politically 

ambitious for the pursuit of power and 

popularity. 

Now, we are hearing that the All 

Progressives Congress wants to rule for 

32 years. Some are saying the South 

should produce the next president. And 

those we somewhat believe to have 

graduated from Lateef Jakande’s 

ideological school of thought are already 

staking their claims to leadership, of 

course. 

Well, Jakande’s visionary enterprise, for 

example, could be a leader-formation 

curriculum that, in reality, leadership is 

not about, especially in Nigeria, building 

a systemic source of income, or wealth, or 

even portmanteaurish portfolio. 

Leadership is hard work. Leadership is 

sacrifice. Leadership is leading-andfollowing, 

simultaneously, driven by 

vision, direction, purpose and passion to 

reform and transform a people, a country 

– generations! 

Is that what the country needs now? Is 

that what should be our eminent response 

to the call of the compatriots? Should the 

“gods” be blamed for the present state we 

are, or have found ourselves? Indeed, we 

need to submit ourselves, unreservedly, to 

“mother Idoto” for cleansing and 

purification in order to experience a 

lifetime peace and progress in our polity. 

•Ige, a freelance journalist, wrote via 

igesegunadebayo5@gmail.com


ON April 1, 2021, Governor Dapo 

Abiodun decorated Professor Wole 

Soyinka as the Super Marshall of 

Operation Amotekun, the Ogun State 

chapter of Western Nigeria Security 

Network. 

By accepting that investiture, the 

Nobel Laureate endorsed the growing 

need for civilians to acquire martial 

skills for self-defence. 

Coming at a time that the federal 

agencies constitutionally charged with 

the mandate to safeguard the lives and 

property of Nigerians have consistently 

failed to do their work, this should be 

a prompter for a wider programme of 

citizen self-defence to be considered. 

When we glibly talk about the need 

to change our security architecture, it 

should not be only seen in the 

appointment of new military, 

intelligence and police service chiefs to 

operate the same failed centralised 

structure. 

No one possesses the magic wand to 

convert a failed system into a successful 

Acquiring martial, other skills for 

, 

self-defence 

one. 

What is required is the shifting of 

more power to the people. There is no 

better way of achieving this than to let 

the citizenry play their natural role in 

their own defence. 

Apart from introducing light firearms 

and martial arts training in the National 

Youth Service Corps, NYSC, young 

Nigerians should also be encouraged 

to walk in and get the training for selfdefence. 

At the same time, they should 

also be taught the need to be socially 

responsible by refraining from the 

illegal or unlawful use of arms. 

We should not allow criminals and 

terrorists to enjoy overwhelming 

advantages over our law-abiding 

citizenry. 

We believe that a well-trained 

citizenry will be a valuable asset to the 

nation, especially now that terrorist 

networks from the West African subregion, 

Middle East and Asia have 

found willing tools among Nigerians 

in their cynical plots to destabilise the 

country. 

It is perhaps the prevention of the 

kind of security threats assailing us that 

inspired 28 countries of the world to 

demand compulsory military service 

for all their citizens. 

Some of those countries are Brazil, 

Belarus, Bermuda, Myanmar, Cyprus, 

Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Greece, 

Israel, South Korea, North Korea, 

Mexico, Morocco, Norway, 

Switzerland, Singapore, Russia, United 

Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Turkey, 

Tunisia, Thailand and Taiwan. 

Professor Soyinka pioneered the 

Road Safety Corps system in old Oyo 

State, after which the Babangida 

administration brought it to the federal 

level by establishing the FRSC in 1988. 

Let his symbolic acceptance of the 

Amotekun Super Marshall title open 

the door to a new era of citizen direct 

but controlled participation in ensuring 

their own safety. 

Nigerians should no longer be easy 

pickings for criminals, terrorists and 

ethnic expansionists. 

Lagos flood alert: Heeding the augurs 

By KAYODE OJEWALE 

FLOODING does not just suddenly 

happen, it is usually preceded by 

some occurrences hinting its imminent 

arrival. When the flow of rain water on 

its way to the drainage channels or river 

is impeded, then flooding occurs. 

Flooding is having too much water in 

the wrong place. 

The cause of flooding is mainly manmade 

because of our unclean 

environmental habits. With just few days 

of rains, some parts of Lagos are flooded. 

How will residents of these areas, 

especially flood-prone areas, fare when 

the peak of rainy season which usually 

comes with attendant flooding 

eventually arrives? The omens of 

flooding are here with us coupled with 

the warnings issued by appropriate 

authorities. Are we heeding the augurs? 

What’s the end gain if the rains, 

designed by the Cosmic Host, meant to 

bless us and water our plants, turn out 

to damage our crops, properties and 

even destroy lives due to our actions and 

inactions? Does it appear many have 

forgotten the losses, pains and agony 

that accompanied the ravaging heavy 

rains which caused disasters in different 

parts of the country in 2012, the year of 

flood fury? 

Of recent, it is observed that sometimes 

the rains no longer pre-inform or send 

any signal before its arrival through 

warnings like cloudy sky, windy 

atmosphere and dark clouds. Rather, it 

will just begin to rain suddenly without 

any pre-notification and it will pour 

heavily. That’s another indication that 

the rains this year would be in a different 

dimension. 

On April 14, 2021, the Lagos State 

Government predicted high intensity 

rainfall of 261 days this year, with an 

attendant flooding across the state. The 

state, therefore, directed its residents in 

coastal and low-lying wetland areas to 

move upland in order to avert avoidable 

loss of lives and properties. 

This was made known by the 

Commissioner for Environment and 

Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello, at a 

media briefing on 2021 Seasonal 

Climate Predictions and Socio-Economic 

implications for Lagos State, held at 

Alausa, Ikeja. In the words of Bello, 

“…Lagos State shall experience a rainy 

season of 238-261 days, while Maximum 

Annual Rainfall Amount is predicted to 

be 1747mm. 

“It is also expected that the increasing 

frequency of extreme weather events 

indicate that year 2021 will likely 

experience days with extremely high 

rainfall amounts which may result in 

flooding”, he further added. 

In downscaling the predictions of the 

flood alerts, the state government is, 

therefore, collaborating with the 

Nigerian Meteorological Agency, 

NiMET. In addition to what the 

Environment and Water Resources 

Commissioner said, the Special Adviser 

OPINION 

to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on 

Drainage Services, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, 

declared: “I…urge residents to support 

government to achieve flood-free Lagos 

and desist from dumping refuse in 

drainage channels or encroaching on 

Right-of-Ways of canals. Regrettably, 

several of the canals that have been 

recently cleaned up are again being 

littered by residents.” 

As a way of checkmating the looming 

flood, the state government plans to 

dredge about 221 collector drains, 32 

primary channels measuring about 72 

kilometres spread across all the local 

government areas of the state. Flood 

alerts and warnings are usually issued 

While government plays its 

role in providing social 

amenities and infrastructures 

for citizens, Lagos residents 

must also do their best to 

maintain them 

to sensitise residents and the authorities 

on the need to prepare. Ignoring these 

warnings or not heeding the flood alerts 

may come with deadly consequences. 

In order to be prepared for the 

predicted floods, agencies in charge of 

disaster management and emergencies 

should be ready to ensure safety of lives 

during the peak of the rainy season. 

A secure environment-friendly future 

is not built on the premises of mere luck 

with folding of arms; it is deliberately 

and conscientiously built by treating our 

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environment well. Most roads in the 

hinterlands do not have gutters to allow 

rainwater flow when there is heavy 

downpour. Makeshift water channels 

could be dug, even if not deep, to ease 

water flow in such areas. 

Drainage systems constructed in cities 

and towns should be deep and wide 

enough to allow the free flow of flood 

water. 

For rural dwellers, they should desist 

from the unhealthy habit of dumping 

refuse in drainage channels. This act is 

also prevalent in cities as they empty 

their waste bins into gutters and 

drainage channels thinking the dirt will 

flow with the rainwater whereas it comes 

back to harm the residents. 

While government plays its role in 

providing social amenities and 

infrastructures for citizens, Lagos 

residents must also do their best to 

maintain them. Let it also be added that 

as citizens await provision of public 

amenities by government, they are dutybound 

to provide themselves the needed 

facilities in the interim. 

We cannot prevent the rains from 

falling in its season, but we can prevent 

the rage of water. Nature’s fierceness 

occasioned by continuous furious 

downpour can be avoided if we take 

good care of our environment. In the 

overall interest of the safety of lives and 

properties, every resident must brace up 

and prepare for the rainy days, 

especially the peak period. 

•Ojewale is of the Public Affairs Unit of 

LASTMA

Manufacturing leads $8.41bn investment 

announcements in Q1’21 

By Yinka Kolawole 

ECONOMY 

The Nigerian Invest 

ment Promotion Commission 

(NIPC) has reported 

$8.41 billion new investment 

announcements 

in Nigeria in the first quarter 

of 2021 (Q1 2021), with 

the manufacturing sector attracting 

60 percent, reflecting 

the gradual return of investors’ 

confidence after the 

COVID-induced decline. 

The Q1 2021 investment 

profile was 75 percent more 

than the $4.81 billion reported 

in the same period 

in 2020 and 8.38 percent 

higher than the $7.76 

billion recorded in the previous 

quarter (Q42020). 

In its “report of investment 

announcements in Nigeria 

(January – March 2021)” 

just released, NIPC also 

noted that Balyesa and 

Delta States emerged top investment 

destinations during 

the period, followed by 

Akwa Ibom and Lagos 

States. 

The report stated: “Bayelsa 

State received the largest 

share of the announcements 

with $3.6 billion in mining 

and quarrying. Delta State 

recorded $2.94 billion worth 

of announcements in seaport 

construction and power 

transmission, Akwa Ibom 

State had $1.4 billion announced 

in mining and 

quarrying, and Lagos State 

with announcements totalling 

US$0.26 billion in finance, 

insurance, and 

manufacturing.” 

The report revealed that the 

leading four destinations accounted 

for 97 percent of the 

total investments announced as 

against 56 percent in the corresponding 

period in 2020. 

By sector, manufacturing received 

the largest investment 

accounting for 60 percent at 

$5.08 billion, followed by construction 

at $2.90 billion (34 percent), 

electricity at $0.26 billion 

(3 percent), agriculture $0.11 

billion (1 percent), and others 

at $0.07 billion (1 percent). 

Domestic investors accounted 

for 35 percent of the announcements 

at $2.95 billion. Other 

sources were Morocco $1.40 

billion, United Kingdom $0.24 

billion, and United States $0.08 

billion. 

In terms of volume, NIPC 

said Nigeria received 15 

projects across eight states compared 

to Q1 2020 with 19 

projects across 14 states including 

the Federal Capital Territory 

(FCT). 

The Commission, however, 

said that its report may not contain 

exhaustive information on 

*Balyesa, Delta top destinations 

VISIT – From left: Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, Nigerian Maritime Administration 

and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr. Victor Ochei; Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ 

Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello; Director-General, NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh; and Executive Director, 

Operations, NIMASA, Mr. Shehu Ahmed, during a working visit by Bello to the NIMASA headquarters in 

Lagos. 

all investment announcements 

in Nigeria during the period. 

NIPC also noted that investment 

announcements do not 

necessarily translate to actual 

investment inflow. For instance, 

out of a total investment 

announcements of $16.74 

billion reported in 2020, only 

$2.6 billion actual foreign direct 

investment (FDI) inflow 

Customs impounds explosives, 

N3.1bn contraband 

By Godfrey Bivbere & 

Providence Adeyinka 

The Federal Operations 

Unit (FOU), Zone A of 

the Nigeria Customs Service 

(NCS), yesterday, said it has 

impounded 42 drums of explosives 

in the form of calcium 

carbide and other contraband 

worth N3.1billion 

smuggled into Nigeria from 

Benin Republic. 

The Unit also impounded 

other contraband items worth 

N3.1billion, and raised Demand 

Notice (DN) worth 

N242million. 

Acting Customs Area Controller 

(CAC) of the Unit, 

Compt. Usman Yahaya, who 

disclosed this in Lagos, said 

that investigation is ongoing 

to know where the explosives 

are headed. 

He said the Unit also intercepted 

1,488 kegs (equivalent 

of 33,000 litres) of Petroleum 

Motor Spirit (PMS) set to be 

smuggled out of the country to 

neighbouring Benin Republic, 

noting that other seizures 

range from bags of rice, Indian 

hemp, textiles material, cartons 

of tramadol, second hand 

clothing among others. 

“We intercepted the 42 

drums of calcium carbide 

through intelligence gathering. 

The contrabands were in 

a truck and concealed with 

cassava tubers and flakes. 

They thought with the conceal- 

ment, they can evade our officers.” 

“The explosives were intercepted 

at Sango Ota axis 

and then, we know the items 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021 —19 

was recorded. 

“The gaps between announcements 

and actual investments 

demonstrate investment 

potential announcements and 

actual investment potential. 

“A more proactive all-of-government 

approach to investor 

support, across federal and state 

governments is required to convert 

more announcements to actual 

investments,” NIPC stated. 

NAICOM, Fire Service to enforce 

public building insurance 

By Rosemary Iwunze 

As the country con 

tinues to record incidences 

of building collapse 

and fire, the National 

Insurance Commission 

(NAICOM) and 

the Federal Fire Service 

have resolved to commence 

the enforcement 

of compulsory public 

building liability insurance 

across the country. 

This was part of the 

resolutions at the end of 

a meeting between both 

agencies at NAICOM 

Head office in Abuja yesterday. 

Section 65 of the Insurance 

Act 2003 requires 

the owner or occupier of 

every public building to 

be insured against liability 

for loss or damage to 

property or death or 

bodily injury caused by 

collapse, fire, earthquake, 

storm or flood. 

The Act defines a public 

building as one to 

which members of the 

are coming from Benin Republic 

through the unapproved 

routes. Calcium carbide is on 

the list of contrabands because 

it is dangerous to the nation if 

it get to the hands of bad elements.” 

public have access for educational, 

recreational, 

medical and commercial 

purposes. The penalty for 

non-compliance is a maximum 

fine of N100,000 or 

one-year imprisonment or 

both. 

Also, Section 64 of same 

Act, stipulates that for insurance 

of buildings under 

construction, every owner 

or contractor of any building 

under construction with 

more than two floors must 

take an insurance policy to 

cover liability against construction 

risks caused by his 

negligence or that of his servants, 

agents or consultants 

which may result in death, 

bodily injury or property 

damage to workers on site 

or members of the public. 

This insurance policy also 

covers liability for collapse 

of buildings under construction. 

Failure to comply 

with this provision is an offence 

punishable with a 

fine of N250,000 or three 

years imprisonment or 

both. 

Apapa traffic 

costs Nigeria 

N140bn weekly 

By Providence Adeyinka 

Experts in the Maritime 

industry have said that 

Nigeria could save the N140 

billion weekly economic losses 

and another $10 billion import/export 

products wasted annually 

if the stifling traffic is curtailed. 

Also, they recommended that 

the government should revive 

pipeline transportation; diversify 

transportation system; reclaim 

some lands; among others 

as some solutions to curbing 

traffic gridlock hampering 

business activities and crippling 

the economy. 

The experts said these during 

a two day Maritime Summit 

organized by Maritime 

Journalists Association of Nigeria, 

MAJAN with the theme: 

“Apapa Perennial Traffic 

Gridlock: Has It Defied All Solutions.” 

The experts who are maritime 

stakeholders included: 

Francis Omotosho, Registrar, 

National Association of Government 

Approved Freight 

Forwarders, NAGAFF Academy; 

Pius Okonu, Association 

of Nigeria Licensed Customs 

Agents, ANLCA; Former National 

President of the National 

Association of Government Approved 

Freight Forwarders, 

NAGAFF, Eugene Nweke; as 

well as President MAJAN, Mr. 

Ray Ugochukwu, among others. 

Specifically, Omotosho 

noted that the provision of adequate 

transport system infrastructure 

would further solve 

the problem of traffic congestion, 

while Ugochukwu said 

that real estate business in 

Apapa is almost at zero level 

with more than half of the buildings 

in the area unoccupied, 

while some thriving businesses 

have folded up or relocated because 

of traffic nightmare. 

He also said: “According to 

Organised Private Sector (OPS) 

stemming the stifling traffic 

would remove the estimated 

N140 billion weekly economic 

loss and another $10 billion 

products wasted annually. 

UPDC 

appoints MD 

The Board of Directors, 

UACN Property Development 

Company has announced 

the appointment of 

Mr. Odunayo Ojo as Managing 

Director. 

According to a statement 

released by the company, 

Ojo has over twenty years 

experience in the property 

development, assets management 

and housing industry, 

working in different property 

companies across three 

continents. He has at various 

times worked with 

Eagle Hills, Abu Dhabi, 

Ocean & Oil Holdings 

(Oando) and most recently, 

as the Chief Executive Officer, 

Alaro City, Lagos, Nigeria. 

He holds a Bachelor of 

Science degree in Real Estate 

from the University of 

Lagos, a Master of Business 

Administration (MBA) degree 

also from the University 

of Lagos’ Business 

School. 

*Odunayo Ojo

20—Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021 

Aftermath of deadly Boko Haram attacks: 

Shock, fear rule Adamawa communities 

•11 killed, 5000 displaced 

•SGF visits,expresses shock over attack 

•IDPs take refuge in primary school 

•Survivors narrate their near-death experiences 

By Umar Yusuf, Yola 

SURVIVORS of the latest 

Boko Haram attack in 

Kwapre village and adjoining 

communities of Hong Local 

Government Area of Adamawa 

State now live in shock and fear 

after the latest attack on them by 

Boko Haram terrorists. 

In the onslaught, no fewer than 

11 members of the community 

were killed, with 34 others yet to 

be found. About 5,000 others have 

been displaced from their homes 

by the attackers and are now 

forced to take refuge at Kwapre 

Central Primary School in the 

LGA. 

The attack has also elicited the 

sympathy of the Presidency, which 

immediately dispatched the 

Secretary to the Federal 

Government, Boss Mustapha, an 

indigene of the state, to the affected 

community to have an on-the-spot 

assessment of what happened. 

During the visit of the SGF, the 

Village Head of Kwapre, Mr. 

Simon Yakubu, revealed that the 

insurgents took the villagers by 

surprise as they mistook the 

sporadic gunshots as an internal 

skirmish among the communities. 

Yakubu said the terrorists took 

their time to ransack homes, stores 

and farms of all foods and 

provisions before shooting and 

burning down houses and 

whatever was inside them. 

Sporadic 

shooting 

He added: “The attackers did not 

start shooting or burning houses 

until after ransacking all the 

provision stores and food stuff 

depots. They even went further to 

start loading livestock into their 

waiting vehicles before they 

started sporadic shooting. 

It was the shooting that 

disorganised the entire village and 

its surroundings as people started 

running in all directions, and in 

the ensuing pandemonium a 

number of people were killed." 

The village head noted that the 

operation of the insurgents lasted 

for between 45 minutes and one 

hour before their escape, adding 

that the insurgents operated from 

house-to-house in search of what 

they wanted. He, however, called 

for more military presence in the 

area following its proximity to the 

Sambisa Forest, the base of the 

Boko Haram terrorists. 

A community member, Mr. 

Kefas Duniya, who claims to have 

lost four members of his family, told 

Arewa Voice that he was yet to 

come to terms with the calamity 

that befell him. According to him, 

he lost three boys aged 15, 18 and 

•Adamawa village ravaged by Boko Haram. INSET: Boko Haram insurgents 

20 and a girl aged 26 to the 

attackers. 

Kefas, who spoke in tears, said 

when the invaders started shooting 

sporadically everybody ran in 

different directions without 

fathers or mothers asking for the 

whereabouts of their children. 

By Wole Mosadomi, Minna 

AS bandits continue to attack 

and get away with their 

atrocities without serious challenge 

from security operatives, many 

farmers in Niger State have fled 

their farms and have vowed never 

to return until security is beefed up 

around them. 

To underscore their seriousness, 

many of them have already 

relocated from the farming 

communities to Minna, the state 

capital, to escape the brutality of 

criminals variously described as 

bandits, kidnappers, hoodlums, 

cattle rustlers and armed robbers. 

Things got to the worst in recent 

times when the criminals not only 

attacked and dispossessed the 

farmers of their possessions, but 

began to set their houses ablaze as 

a conquered people, leaving them 

with nothing to manage their lives 

with. 

The bandits have successfully 

“We ran to all directions: 

farmlands, nearby mountains and 

the stream by the side of the village, 

while the forest along the bank of 

the stream served as cover for many 

villagers,” Kefas revealed, adding 

that the fleeing villagers remained 

in their hideouts for hours before 

• vow to abandon farms until security improves 

•many relocate to Minna, state capital 

Bandits kill 83 in fresh 

Zamfara attacks 

•Governor Matawalle expresses sadness, describes 

incidents as unfortunate 

others, including women and 

children with various degrees of 

injuries. Reports on the attacks were 

given by displaced people, officials 

and residents of the affected 

communities. Most of the attacks, 

which appeared coordinated, 

happened on Wednesday in Gusau, 

Maradun and Bakura local 

government areas of the troubled 

North West state. 

The sole administrator of Bakura 

local government, Aminu Suleiman, 

told reporters that over 30 people 

were killed in attacks in Bakura and 

Maradun. He, however, said the 

deaths were recorded over days of 

Continues on page 23 

Insecurity: Food shortage looms as Niger farmers 

flee farms 

•Comrade Shuaibu Yusuf 

taken their atrocities to no fewer than 

18 of the 25 local government areas 

of the state and are unwilling to halt 

N 

O fewer than 83 persons are 

feared killed following attacks by 

suspected bandits on some villages 

in Zamfara State. It was gathered 

that the attacks left hundreds of 

returning home to count their 

losses. 

"Some of us came back late that 

might, while others remained till 

the following day. When we 

returned home to meet the remains 

of our buildings and other 

properties, four of my children 

•Bala Usman 

their infamy despite threats from 

security agencies. They seem to be 

more daring after being challenged 

were not found,” he lamented. 

The grieving father said that 

corpses of his children had not 

been found, fearing that they might 

be among the 34 taken away by 

the insurgents. 

by the security organisations, thereby 

sending fears into residents of the 

remaining local government areas. 

Farmers whose local government 

areas have not yet been visited by the 

hoodlums, now live in fear of 

possible attack by the daring bandits. 

As a result of the unrelenting 

onslaughts by bandits on farmers, 

many have since abandoned 

farming and harvesting of their 

mature crops, a development that is 

already forcing an increase in the 

prices of foodstuff. 

Many of the farmers interviewed 

by Arewa Voice said they would not 

risk their lives by going back to the 

farms except adequate security is 

assured. A yam farmer, Adamu Useni 

Allawa, who also cultivates maize 

and millet, lamented that although 

he was eager to return to his farm, he 

would only do so when there is 

improved security in the farms. 

He said: "I am eager to go back to 

my farm but my fear is this insecurity. 

It troubles my mind to go back 

because of insecurity. Any time it 

Continues on page 21

Appeal Court upturns High Court 

judgement on Ibaji State constituency 

By Boluwaji Obahopo, Lokoja 

THE Court of Appeal has 

upturned the judgement of 

the High court that quashed the 

victory of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, candidate for Ibaji 

state constituency re-run election 

in Kogi State. 

The lower court in its judgement 

also urged the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, 

INEC, to issue the PDP candidate, 

Joseph Enemola, certificate of 

return and for the House to swearhim 

in immediately. 

The Federal High Court in a 

judgement delivered in January in 

Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1 173/ 

2020; Joseph Enemona & Anor V. 

All Progressives Congress and 

four others invalidated the 

primary election conducted by the 

APC for the nomination of its 

candidate for the Ibaji State 

Constituency of Kogi State byelection. 

Continues from page 22 

pricks my heart to go back to the 

farm, I often have another 

premonition that going back there 

might be a journey of no return. I 

am not in any way preparing now 

because I don't have the confidence. 

I don't do any other work than 

farming but I cannot risk my life for 

farming as it is. 

"I have a bitter experience, which 

is still fresh in my memory. It is about 

my uncle and his friends who the 

bandits met in their farms and shot 

them to death instantly without any 

sympathy. Some of these bandits 

after attacking and killing our 

people even run away with their 

seedlings and we are left with 

virtually nothing to start fresh 

planting. We have relocated to 

Pandogari and have become 

refugees in a strange environment, 

doing nothing." 

Another farmer, Umaru Adamu 

Allawa, said his hope rested on 

government to provide more 

security to enable him and others 

go back to their various farms. 

Allawa said: "If the banditry 

situation continues like this, there is 

no hope for us to go back to the farm. 

Our yearly turnover is massive and 

even if we cannot feed the state or 

the entire nation, we can feed our 

zone that comprises eight wards in 

Shiroro Local government 

effectively." 

Bala Usman, a public servant who 

also is also a farmer, said: “With the 

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 

The high court ordered that the 

candidate with the second highest 

number of votes (PDP Joseph 

Elemona) in the October 31, 2020 

by-election be declared winner of 

the election. 

The electoral commission 

immediately complied and issued 

the Certificate of Return to the 

PDP candidate in the election, 

despite the pendency of the 

appeals lodged by APC candidate 

challenging the judgement of the 

Federal High Court. 

However, the Court of Appeal in 

a considered judgement delivered 

yesterday in Appeals No: CA/A/C 

V/ 1 28/2021 and CV/A/CV/1 29/ 

2021 set aside the judgement of 

the lower court upon which the 

Certificate of Return issued to the 

PDP Candidate in the by-election 

was predicated. 

The appellant court also ordered 

INEC to withdraw the Certificate 

of Return erroneously issued to the 

PDP Candidate and re-issue the 

present insecurity in my areacomprising 

Lakpma, Munyan and 

Rafi local government areas, the 

farmers are no longer able to go to 

their farms. The implication is that 

it will surely affect the economy of 

the areas concerned, the state and 

the country in general. That is why 

we call on government at all levels 

to intervene immediately in order 

to enable farmers go back to their 

farms. 

"Even if we are supplied the 

necessary farming inputs like 

fertilisers, seedlings, among others, 

it will be difficult to transport them 

to the affected areas because of these 

bandits. Also, we will find it difficult 

to start all over again because apart 

from killing our people, the bandits 

also steal and burn down our 

seedlings and we are now left with 

virtually nothing to take off again." 

Similarly, Comrade Shuaibu 

Yusuf, who is from Manta, one of 

the ravaged areas by bandits, said 

from the look of things, it will be 

very difficult for farmers in the 

troubled communities to farm this 

year. 

The Permanent Secretary in the 

state Ministry of Agriculture and 

Rural Development, Idris Usman 

Gbogan, however, assured the 

farmers that the Niger State 

government was aware of the 

security challenges and has taken 

steps to further protect lives and 

property of its people, especially 

those areas constantly raided by the 

bandits. 

Gbogan told Arewa Voice in an 

interview that the state government 

has procured farming inputs in 

preparation for the coming planting 

season. He said: "The step taken by 

the state government is to cushion 

the effect of transportation cost for 

the agro input companies as a way 

of reducing the cost of agricultural 

inputs. By the first week of next 

month, the state Governor, Alhaji 

Abubakar Sani Bello, will launch 

the 2021 farming season and, 

thereafter, all these agricultural 

inputs will be ferried to all parts of 

the state under tight security. 

"As at now, we have one extension 

worker to about 5000 farm families 

which is not acceptable because the 

ideal situation is to have one 

extension worker to between 800 

and 1000 farm families so in each 

of our stores presently across all the 

25 local government areas, we are 

going to position extension workers 

so that as the farmers come to buy 

their inputs, we have the extension 

workers who will educate them and 

give them necessary extension 

knowledge on the inputs they are 

buying from the stores. Gbogan said 

despite the insecurity and other 

challenges, there is still hope for 

bumper harvest in the state and this 

is why government is ensuring that 

they get the necessary inputs they 

need. 

The state Chairman of All 

Farmers Association of Nigeria, 

AFAN, Niger State Chapter, Alhaji 

Shehu Galadima, told Arewa Voice 

that banditry was a bad omen for 

the state and its people and should 

be tackled with immediate effect. 

“Last year, it was not easy for 

farmers because many of them 

could not conclude their farming 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021—21 

Bandits kill 83 in fresh Zamfara attacks 

Continued from page 20 

reprisal attacks between members 

of outlawed vigilante groups and 

bandits. 

In Magami district, residents 

yesterday said they had recovered 

53 corpses. They said the attackers 

moved from village to village, 

unleashing mayhem, unchallenged. 

There was tension in the area over 

fears that the gunmen would return 

to disrupt the burial of those killed. 

Residents said many of those killed 

were vigilantes 

who tried to 

defend their 

villages against 

the bandits. 

According to 

them, the 

assailants were 

armed with 

sophisticated 

weapons and 

raided the 

villages on 

motorbikes. 

They said most 

of the villages 

had earlier 

been deserted 

following 

incessant 

attacks, but that 

some villagers 

were returning 

for the farming 

season. The 

affected communities include 

Gobirawa, Gora, Rini and Madoti 

Dankule of Maradun and Bakura 

local government areas. 

In the Magami district of Gusau 

Local Government Area, the affected 

communities include Yar Doka, 

Kango, Ruwan Dawa, Madaba, 

Arzikin Da and Mairairai, the closest 

of which is seven kilometres from 

Gusau town. Residents said 

hostilities persist in the state due to 

the absence of security agents in the 

Plateau State Commissioner for Land, Survey and Town Planning, Mr. Yakubu Dati (L) 

addressing representatives of Nukwis community and officials of Nigeria FilmCorporation 

during their visit to the scene of the land dispute between Nigeria Film Corporation and 

Nukwis community of Izere Chiefdom in Jos North of Plateau State. Photo: NAN 

Aftermath of deadly Boko Haram attacks: Shock, fear rule Adamawa communities 

processes. Some of them who fled 

their ancestral homes because of the 

bandits cannot even go back to their 

homes to get their seedlings and 

other property in readiness for this 

planting season. Just about two days 

ago, in Kuchi Town in Sarkin Pawa 

Local Government Area of the state, 

the entire community was sacked 

and the people had to run for their 

lives. 

“Other places having similar 

problems are Shiroro, Mariga, 

Munyan and parts of Paikoro, Rijau, 

Mashegu local government areas, 

just to mention a few. They are all 

overwhelmed with this type of 

problem. 

"We are afraid that this year's 

farming is being seriously threatened 

and it is not going to be easy for our 

farmers in the state because of the 

security issues. If the lives and 

properties of people are not secured, 

nobody will be able to do anything,” 

the AFAN chairman pointed out. 

Planned LG delisting unacceptable 

counterproductive—NULGE 

By David Odama 

LAFIA—— THE Nigeria Union 

of Local Government 

Employee, NULGE, yesterday, 

described the planned delisting of 

the local government 

administration as unacceptable, 

unproductive and a handiwork of 

those who never meant well for the 

existence of Nigeria. 

Speaking while briefing 

journalists in Lafia, the Nasarawa 

State capital, NULGE National 

President, Comr. Akeem Ambodi 

Olotunji, said agitating for the 

scrapping local government 

administration would not only 

tantamount to anarchy but deprived 

the rural dwellers access to 

governnent programmes. 

NULGE president rejected the 

purported bill sponsored by Bomb 

Solomon, a House of 

Representative member from Rivers 

State which seeks to delist the local 

government system from 1999 

constitution. 

He said: “if the House member 

would call for the scraping of local 

government system from the nation's 

constitution, they should also scrap 

states as middle men as practiced in 

America and UK”. 

The national president who 

described the purported bill as antipeople’s 

bill, explained that since 

colonial era there was local 

government system called native 

authority with native law without 

hitches wondered why now plan be 

mitted to scrap the system. 

While lamenting that governors do 

not conduct local government 

election as stipulated in the 

constitution, but illegally appoint 

their cronies as caretaker committee 

to siphon local government funds, 

Akeem said governors were 

bastardising local government 

system by not allowing people to 

choose good people to represent 

them at the local area. 

most affected areas. They said this 

has encouraged extrajudicial 

killings and reprisal attacks 

between vigilante members and 

bandits. 

Reacting to the killings, the state 

government condemned the attacks 

in Maradun and Bakura, 

Commissioner for Information, 

Ibrahim Dosara, in a statement, said 

Governor Bello Matawalle was 

saddened by the unfortunate 

incidents. 

Labour, others 

express concerns 

over delay in 

ratifying ILO C190 

on gender violence 

By Loveth Jackson 

THE excitement of Nigeria’s 

ratification of the 

International Labour Organisation, 

ILO, Convention 190, despite the 

National Labour Advisory Council, 

NLAC, giving the Ministry of 

Labour and Employment a go 

ahead to hasten the process, is 

beginning to lead to disappointment 

following seemingly government’s 

inactivity . 

The delay in the ratification of the 

convention attracted concerns from 

workers and activists who expected 

that the Federal Government should 

by now have directed the Ministry 

of Justice to draft a proposal to the 

National Assembly. NLAC had at 

its March 2021 meeting in Owerri, 

resolved to ratify the Convention 

against gender based violence and 

harassment, GBVH, which is the 

first global standard that aimed at 

eliminating violence and 

harassment in the world of work. 

NLAC comprises the three social 

partners: Government, employers 

and organised labour as 

represented by the Nigeria Labour 

Congress, NLC, and the Trade 

Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, 

and employers of labour 

Following NLAC’ s approval, the 

Ministry of Labour and 

Employment is expected to convey 

verbal communication of approval 

for Nigeria to ratify ILO C190 to 

the Federal Executive Council, FEC, 

which will direct the Ministry of 

Justice to perfect the proposal in the 

form of a bill for onward 

transmission to the National 

Assembly for the eventual 

ratification process. 

President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, 

told journalists in Abuja that at the 

inauguration of NLAC in Owerri, 

the social partners agreed that the 

Minister of Labour and 

Employment should recommend to 

the Federal Executive Council, FEC, 

to speed up the convention.

22 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021 

Guide your Sahur, , don’t overeat 

Osinbajo, Sultan, Alaafin, Oyetola, Sanwo-Olu, 

others for MUSWEN book launch 

VICE President Prof Yemi 

Osinbajo, Sultan of Sokoto 

and President-General, Nigeria 

Supreme Council For Islamic Affairs 

(NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammad 

Sa’ad Abubakar, Lagos State Governor 

Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his 

Osun State counterpart, Mr 

Gboyega Oyetola and Alaafin of 

Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi will 

lead other eminent personalities 

to a book presentation organised 

by the Muslim Ummah of South 

West Nigeria (MUSWEN). 

The book, entitled: Islam in 

Yorubaland: History, Education 

& Culture, will be presented on 

Wednesday, April 28 at Radisson 

Hotel (formerly Protea) in Ikeja 

GRA, Lagos. 

A statement by Chairman Organising 

Committee, Alhaji Lere 

Alimi, said the book was sponsored 

by MUSWEN to keep the 

proper history of Islam in Yorubaland 

and to serve as reference 

point for generations unborn. 

Alhaji Alimi said Oba Adeyemi 

will lead traditional rulers to the 

event. 

According to him, Founder of 

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) as well 

Ramadan 11, 1442 A.H. 

THE Prophet (s.a.w) was 

reported by Anas to 

have said: “eat something for 

sahur even if it is a date. For 

there is in it barakah.” (Al- 

Bukhari and Muslim) Isn’t it 

great that Allah is rewarding 

us for eating? 

The kindness of Allah cannot 

be overemphasised when one 

ponders on the blessings in the 

act of eating sahur during Ramadan. 

For Almighty Allah 

(SWT), it is not enough blessings 

that HE provides us with 

food on our table, but HE further 

blesses anyone who 

wakes up in the first rays of 

dawn to eat the same food to 

commence fasting. This meal 

is given a distinctive namesahur, 

which is derived from 

the word sahar that denotes 

the part of night before dawn. 

The prophet taught his companions 

and by extension, 

every Muslims that they 

should begin their fasting by 

taking something. It does not 

necessarily have to be heavy 

meal, in fact, overeating negates 

the spirit of fasting. It is 

advised to wake in the predawn 

period to appropriately 

kick-start fasting by eating sahur 

among other things. Eat 

moderately even as you remember 

those who could not 

afford a meal for that purpose. 

If you have more than what 

you eat moderately, give another 

who is seeking for anything 

for sahur. You can go the 

extra mile by asking the closest 

Muslim around you. 

Some people have asked 

whether there is need to wake 

up for sahur if one has nothing 

to eat. What is however appropriate 

is to wake up, carry 

out other activities of the Ramadan 

night and when it is 

time for sahur, get some water 

to drink. In it, there is 

barakah. 

It should be noted that 

there is no sin in not waking 

up for sahur if it was done 

inadvertently. Again, the 

inability to take sahur does 

not vitiate fast. 

Another common argument 

now is the appropriate 

time for sahur. Dear 

brothers and sisters, sahur 

is not breakfast and should 

not be treated in like manners. 

While breakfast is the 

dawn meal, sahur is predawn 

meal. 

Much as we know that the 

night is free for eating and 

“Eat and drink 

until Ibn Umm 

Maktum makes 

his call to prayer. 

He does not 

make it until the 

break of dawn.” 

(Al-Bukhari) Ibn 

Umm Maktum 

was famous with 

the last call to 

prayer before 

Subhi. We could 

discern from the 

above injunctions 

that in this 

part of the 

world, the break 

of dawn starts 

some minutes 

past five. 

as Founder and Chairman of 

the FATE Foundation, AlhajI 

Fola Adeola will chair the 

event. 

National Missioner / Chief 

Imam, Ansar-Ud-Deen Society 

of Nigeria, Imam Abdur- 

Rahman Ahmad, will deliver a 

lecture while Provost, Fed College 

of Education Iwo, Prof. 

Rafiu Adebayo will review the 

book. 

Former Chief of Naval Staff, 

Vice Admiral Jubrila Ayinla 

will be the Chief Book Presenter 

Ȯther guests are Ogun State 

Deputy Governor Mrs Noimot 

Salako-Oyedele, her Lagos 

counterpart, Dr Obafemi Hamzat; 

MUSWEN President-General, 

Alhaji Rasaki Oladejo; Executive 

Secretary Prof. Muslih 

Yahya, Baba Adinni of Lagos 

Sheikh AbdulAfeez Abou, Chief 

Imam of Lagos, Sheikh Sulaimon 

Abou-Nolla; JAMB Registrar 

Prof Ishaq Oloyede; Mr 

Yusuf Ali (SAN) and Mr 

Ahmed Raji (SAN). The event 

will be broadcast live on MUS- 

WEN social handles. 

drinking, Allah has described 

the time for the end 

of sahur as indicated in 

Quran 2 vs. 187 “...eat and 

drink until the white thread 

of dawn appears to you distinct 

from its black thread.” 

The prophet also said; “Eat 

and drink until Ibn Umm 

Maktum makes his call to 

prayer. He does not make it 

until the break of dawn.” (Al- 

Bukhari) Ibn Umm Maktum 

was famous with the last call 

to prayer before Subhi. We 

could discern from the 

above injunctions that in this 

part of the world, the break 

of dawn starts some minutes 

past five. Be that as it may, 

ulamas have advised that sahur 

should be taken in this 

part of the globe between 

4:45 and 5:15am. Next time 

you are eating sahur, be 

rightly guided. 

BARKA JUMAH 

Learn to be more grateful 

Learn to be more grateful. Focus on what you 

have, your blessings, the people you love, the opportunities 

you’ve been given etc. The Almighty loves 

those who are grateful. He rewards them in unimaginable 

ways. You could be one of them. Make 

gratitude a way of life. Embody it! Ramadan Kareem! 

Jumuah Mubarak! —Mufti Menk 

From left: The Amir (President) of the Muslim Students’ Society 

of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit, Miftahudeen Thanni; a Juz 10 

winner of the Lagos Qur’an Competition, Abdussalaam Aliyy; and 

Chief Judge of the competition, AbdulGhaniy Anjorin at the 17th 

edition of the biennial Lagos Qur’an Competition held in honour 

of the late Dr AbdulLateef Adegbite recently in Lagos State. 

Sec. UNILAG Muslim Woman Association, Alhaja Bola Akindele; The Rector, 

Federal Polytechnic, Ayede, Oyo State, Dr. Taofeek Adekunle Abdul-Hameed; 

Prof. Laide Abass; Director General, Nigeria Institute of Medical Research, Prof. 

Babatunde Lawal Salako; Chairman University of Lagos Muslim Community 

(UMC), Prof. Lai Olurode and Chief Imam UNILAG Mosque, Dr. Ismail Musa during 

UMC 16th yearly Ramadan lecture in Lagos. 

Chairman/CEO, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan (2nd 

left) accompanied by Operations Commissioner Alhaji Abdullahi Magaji Hardawa, Ag. 

Secretary Alhaji Ahmad Maigari and SA Tech. Dr. Danbaba Haruna during a courtesy visit to 

Saudi Consul General H.E. Khalil Ali Ahmad in Kano, recently.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021 —23 

Yoruba Tennis Club Ramadan Lecture 

Winners s emerge in 17th 7th Lagos Qur'an Competition 

•12-yr-old, others shine as MSSNLagos honours Lateef 

Adegbite with Qur’an contest 

Use the month for soul cleansing for national growth, 

Imam AbdulGafar Mofesaye tells Muslims 

...As Yoruba Tennis Club holds Ramadan lecture 

IMAM Shakirudeen Ab 

dulGafar has urged Muslims 

to use the period of this 

blessed month to cleanse 

their souls and purge it of iniquities. 

Imam AbdulGafar popularly 

know as Mofesaye said that 

God desire that every soul feel 

the pang of hunger through 

fasting in order to attain piety. 

He stated this during a lecture 

he delivered at the Yoruba 

Tennis Club 2021 Ramadan 

lecture with a theme: 

“Fasting, a panacea for soul 

cleansing and raising righteous 

nation,” held at the Club 

House, Onikan, Lagos last 

Sunday. 

According to him: “The soul 

has the tendency to be recalcitrant 

and Allah enjoined 

that we fast to cleanse our 

souls in order to become 

righteous. Our salat, zakaat, 

Hajj and Fasting are some of 

the meanse of cleansing souls. 

Allah enjoined us to fast and 

told us how to do it from dawn 

to dusk.” 

Ramadan 11, 1442 A.H. 

Listing various kinds of 

souls, Imam AbdulGafar 

stated that apart from abstinence 

from food and 

drink during the day, fasting 

makes human beings 

become righteous, adding 

that there are more corrupted 

and hardened souls 

in the country which according 

to him gave rise to 

ritual killings, kidnappings, 

robbery among others. 

The Guest of honour, Hakeem 

Muri-Okunola, Head 

of Service, Lagos state said 

Ramadan has come as a 

special blessing to all including 

non-Muslims, urging 

all Muslims to imbibe 

the lessons and teaching of 

the month. 

Earlier, the chairman of 

the Club, Arc Taofeek Agbaje 

in his opening remark 

said righteousness is the 

basis for healthy and peaceful 

society. “A righteous 

member will keep the club 

in peace, and a righteous 

member will help to foster 

peace and development in 

WINNERS have emerged 

in the 17th edition of the 

biennial Lagos Qur’an Competition, 

popularly known as Recite- 

Lagos, organised by the Muslim 

Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos 

State Area Unit. 

The competition was held on 

Sunday in honour of the pioneer 

president of MSSN and the 

former Secretary-General of the 

Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic 

Affairs, the late Dr Abdul- 

Lateef Adegbite. 

During the event, which has the 

Sultan of Sokoto as the Spiritual 

Father of the occasion, 17 reciters 

emerged champions in various 

categories. 

Winners of the 20 Juz category 

are AbdulQuadri Atukale (Somolu 

Area Council) who emerged 

first; Umar Muhammad (Ikorodu), 

second; Bilal Abdurasheed 

(Iba), third. 

In the 20 Juz category (individual) 

for females, Abidah Tajudeen, 

emerged first while 

Mu’minah Bello came second. 

Abdussalaam Aliyy from Ifajo 

Ijaiye won the first position in the 

10 Juz category while Muhammad 

Taiwo from Alimosho came 

second and Somolu’s representative, 

Uwaymir Sherifdeen, 

emerged third. 

On her part, Rahmah Ismail 

from Bariga took the first position, 

followed by Lagos Mainland’s 

Hafsah Bello and Rumayzah 

Adegbindin from Alimosho, 

third. 

12-year-old Bashir Tukur from 

Ifelodun put up a sterling performance 

to come first in the 

keenly contested Juz three 

category. He defeated Haroon 

Abubakar from Otto Awori and 

Yusuf Saeed from Apapa who 

emerged second and third respectively. 

In the female category of Juz 

three, impressive Asmau Bello 

from Lagos Mainland took 

the first position while 2nd 

Hawau Isa, Agboyi Ketu, 

came second and IrodatuLlah 

Abideen, Iba, clinched third. 

Amir (president), Miftahudeen 

Thanni, said the theme of 

the competition, ‘Qur’an, the 

making of a great nation’, was 

chosen to emphasise that Nigeria’s 

challenges are summontable. 

“Islam is a complete religion 

that has solutions for all problems. 

Obviously, there is a 

need for divine intervention in 

the affairs of the country,” he 

added. 

Chairman of the occasion, 

Mr Tunde Folawiyo, commended 

the youths for memorising 

Qur’an. 

Delivering a lecture at the 

competition, a former member 

of the House of Representatives, 

Usman Bugaje, warned 

against the division of Nigeria. 

He explained that the people 

are calling for decentralisation 

because of perceived discrimination 

and poor sharing of resources. 

These challenges, the lawmaker 

said, could be addressed 

by following the 

dictates of Islam. 

He said, “Islam expects us to 

deal fairly with every human 

being. It is our character that 

gives us an edge, let us keep to 

the ethics of Islam. In Islam, 

you discriminate, look down 

on people. 

“Even if there are people who 

want to leave Nigeria, the Muslims 

have no reason to separate. 

We have more reasons to 

move closer. 

“There are a lot of things that 

are wrong in Nigeria - environmental 

issues and distribution 

of wealth. The idea of separation 

should not be for the Muslim. 

It is by coming together 

that we can be able to deliver 

on our mandate. 

“Even if there are problems, 

we should be able to settle our 

differences and move on.” 

Children of the honoree, 

Remi Folawiyo and Ladi Adegbite, 

commended the standard 

of the competition. 

“I have no doubt that my father 

will be happy that this kind 

of programme has continued 

in his absence. I am pleased 

that we can come together to 

hold this,”Remi Folawiyo added. 

Ladi Adegbite said, “Everybody 

is a winner. This shows 

that it is not only those with 

Arabic as their mother tongue 

can recite the Qur’an very well. 

I commend the MSSN Lagos 

chapter for a fantastic job.” 

the society. 

He urged Nigerians to 

support and pray for God’s 

guidance on leaders at different 

levels of governance, 

adding that it is only God 

that chooses leaders. 

From left: Hakeem Muri-Okunola, Head of Service, 

Lagos State, Guest of Honour; Arc. Olawunmi Taofeek 

Agbaje, Chairman, Yoruba Tennis Club and Chief 

Babajide Damazio,Vice, Chairman, Yoruba Tennis 

Club, during the Club's Ramadan lecture held the 

Greetings Hall of the Club House, Onikan, Lagos. 

From left: Wasiu Dele Matins, former Chairman, representative 

of Akh Lateef Okunnu, Chairman, BoT; 

Imam Shakirudeen AbdulGafar (Mofesaye), Guest 

Lecturer and Hakeem Muri-Okunola, Head of Service, 

Lagos State, Guest of Honour. 

Bro Babatunde Adele and Bro AbudulGafar Oladeji, 

Social Secretary, Yoruba Tennis Club 

Cross section of members of Yoruba Tennis Club and guests at the Ramadan lecture held at 

Greetings Hall, Yoruba Tennis Club House, Onikan Lagos recently.


First Jollof, now Twitter. What next? 

SOMETHING 

Nigeria’s 

Minister of Information and 

Culture, Lai Mohammed, said 

reminded me of British political 

journalist, Andrew Marr. 

Journalism, Marr wrote in his 

book, My Trade, is a chaotic form 

of earning, ragged at the edges and 

full of snakes and con artists. Last 

week, Mohammed, furious at 

Twitter’s decision to start its first 

Africa office in Ghana, decided it was 

time to level the ragged edges and 

crush the journalistic snakes and con 

artists in Nigeria by heaping on them 

the blame for Twitter’s decision. It 

was hard for him to swallow. 

He called out journalists for 

portraying the country poorly and 

reminded them that if they had not 

been such bad boys, making a 

mountain of the #EndSARS 

molehill, among other professional 

crimes, Twitter’s Africa office might 

be sitting in Lagos or Abuja today. In 

his former life as spokesperson of the 

opposition and member of the Action 

Congress of Nigeria, one of the legacy 

parties of the ruling All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Mohammed had 

journalists on his speed dial. In press 

statement after press statement, he 

pointed out the shortcomings of the 

government of the day and his views 

got generous play. 

He knew, for example, where all 

the dead bodies of President 

Goodluck Jonathan’s government 

were buried and was pleased to enlist 

journalists in exhuming them. Even 

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua 

before Jonathan did not escape 

Mohammed’s fierce criticisms and 

constant mockery. That was until his 

party got into government and the 

government appointed him to office 

and public office brought its own 

misery, as it unfailingly does. 

Ghana, again! 

The current storm over Twitter’s 

siting is not Mohammed’s first runin 

with controversy since his 

appointment. And somehow, Ghana 

never manages to escape the 

crosshairs. Four years ago, when the 

minister was answering questions on 

CNN on who makes tastier jollof 

rice, he answered Senegal, under the 

mistaken impression that he was 

being asked the origin of the African 

staple. Before he could get a grip on 

things the debate had assumed a 

subregional dimension, with sparks 

flying from Banjul to Accra and 

drawing in Nigeria’s Vice President, 

Yemi Osinbajo, and even Facebook’s 

Mark Zuckerberg. 

Last year, also, Mohammed took 

the battle to Ghana during a flareup 

over bilateral and consular issues. 

The bugle has sounded again. Of all 

the transgressions that Mohammed 

may justifiably accuse journalists of, 

responsibility for Jack Dorsey’s 

decision to locate Twitter’s first Africa 

office in Ghana instead of Nigeria is 

the unkindest cut: it treats the 

symptom rather than the disease. To 

be sure, journalists have caused quite 

a few miseries for the country. They 

were largely responsible for painting 

Jonathan as an incompetent leader 

who allowed a few influential 

members of his cabinet, especially 

the women, to twist him around their 

little fingers. They were responsible 

for giving the APC, then in opposition, 

a soft pass, equating effective, 

competent government with a 

change of party guards. 

Libido supply 

Journalists helped, in no small way, 

to bring President Muhammadu 

Buhari to power and a number of 

them have publicly regretted it. What 

the minister is obviously saying is 

that journalists having played a role 

in helping to install Buhari, are 

failing to govern for him. It’s the 

equivalent of the conjugal parable 

that the one who brings the mat and 

the partner must finish the job by 

supplying the libido. That’s the only 

logic that justifies blaming 

journalists’ portrayal of the country 

for the long list of businesses that 

have either passed us by or the scores 

that have simply packed up and 

relocated. And it’s a very long list, 

believe me. Before Twitter happened, 

Google, which has a regular office 

in Lagos, Nigeria, chose Accra for its 

very first Artificial Intelligence 

research lab in Africa. The reasons, 

according to a CNBC report, were 

“Ghana’s political stability and high 

educational standards.” 

If the minister would 

only patiently read it 

again, he might just see 

that the snakes and con 

artists he so desperately 

wants to destroy are also 

occasional martyrs of 

journalism 

Before that, Facebook set up its first 

African hub in Johannesburg, South 

Africa, in July 2015, when Buhari was 

still looking for Mohammed’s 

address and those of other persons 

to make his ministerial list. Other 

companies such as Berec Batteries, 

Exide Batteries, Tate and Lyle, 

Michelin, Fan Milk and Shoprite, 

to mention a few, have either 

relocated wholly or substantially at 

the different times and for reasons 

other than those given by 

Mohammed. According to the 

Manufacturers Association of 

Nigeria, 38 major textile companies 

closed down businesses in Nigeria 

between 1999 and 2009. 

In one of the more recent 

astonishing shut-downs, Procter & 

Gamble shut down its $300m plant 

in South West Ogun State, one year 

after the plant was opened in 2017, 

“due to high cost of importing raw 

materials and unfriendly 

government regulations”. Also, 

between 2009 and 2019, the oil 

majors - Shell, ExxonMobil, 

Chevron, ENI and Total, have sold 

about 45 percent of their onshore 

assets valued at about $10billion 

mostly to local interest groups in 

deals that have left a number of 

commercial banks dangerously 

exposed. Meanwhile, investors who 

still have appetite for oil and gas are 

looking at new, promising 

destinations on the continent, such 

as Angola, Namibia, Senegal, 

Mauritania, Mozambique, Algeria 

and Egypt. South Africa, on its part, 

is aggressively developing its shale 

gas. 

Grouse book 

No serious investor needs 

Mohammed’s grouse book because 

a good number of them have been 

operating in the country long 

enough. They know beyond anyone’s 

portrayal or window-dressing what 

the problems are firsthand: 

insecurity, poor infrastructure and 

poorly trained labour pool, policy 

flip-flops and an obese, corrupt 

bureaucracy. 

Mohammed insists, however, that 

but for the negative portrayal of the 

press and their #EndSARS cousins, 

we might be in a much better place 

today, even though Dorsey was clear 

that Twitter chose Ghana because 

of that country’s firm support for free 

speech, online freedom and open 

Internet. The minister can continue 

to hug his fantasy, but the facts show 

that the country needs to do a whole 

lot better to compete. Nigeria, 

Africa’s largest economy, is not 

among the continent’s top 20 

preferred destinations in World 

Bank’s 2020 report on the Ease of 

Doing Business. Kenya, which is 

Number 4 on the list, has one of the 

most chaotic and unforgiving 

journalism practices on the 

continent. Much the same can be 

said for South Africa, which is 

ranked sixth, and Ghana, our 

nemesis, which is ranked 17th. 

It may be hard for Mohammed to 

swallow, but to aid digestion, I would 

like to remind him of one of the great 

press statements he wrote in his 

collection, Witness to 

history, entitled, “Obama’s planned 

visit to Ghana: wake-up call for 

Nigeria”. In one of the most 

controversial US presidential visits 

to West Africa, former President 

Barack Obama had snubbed 

Nigeria and, instead, decided to visit 

Ghana. In a press statement issued 

on May 24, 2009, Mohammed, then 

the National Publicity Secretary of 

the opposition Action Congress, 

admonished President Yar’Adua’s 

government to regard Obama’s snub 

as a “wake-up call”. “The message 

should be clear to our leaders,” 

Mohammed said, “that it is not your 

population, the size of your territory, 

your endowment in mineral 

resources or your claim to being a 

giant that the world is interested in. 

It is good governance, purposeful 

leadership arising from free and fair 

elections, zero-tolerance for 

corruption and the continuous 

strengthening of democracy.” 

The point couldn’t be more 

eloquently made. In deciding to set 

up in Ghana and not in Nigeria, 

Twitter culled Mohammed’s own 

speech from his former life. If he 

would only patiently read it again, 

he might just see that the snakes and 

con artists he so desperately wants 

to destroy are also occasional 

martyrs of journalism. And in case 

Mohammed was not looking, only 

on Tuesday, April 20, Amazon 

announced plans to set up a 

R4billlion ($279.8m) headquarters 

in Cape Town, South Africa, an 

investment which, according to 

Businesstech, will create 5,239 direct 

and 19,000 indirect jobs. This is more 

than Buhari’s government’s 

microphone chewing has created in 

years. 

The real problem, Mr. Minister, is 

the man in the mirror. 

:Vanguard 

News 

ESAN—ARCHBISHOP 

of 

Church of God Mission 

International, Margaret Benson 

Idahosa, yesterday, donated a six 

blocks of classrooms to Olinlin 

Primary school, Uzea in Esan North 

East Local Government Area of Edo 

State in honour of her late husband, 

Archbishop Benson , who was once a 

pupil of the school. Olinlin Primary 

School, Uzea was built in 1947. 

Commissioning and handing over 

the blocks to the people of the 

community, the Archbishop, 

represented by Bishop Matthew 

Okpebholo, said the idea of 

immortalising him came when the 

church he left behind celebrated its 

50th years anniversary and they 

needed to do a background checks 

on the man called Benson Idahosa. 

Archbishop Margaret said while 

doing that, they thought about where 

he began his educational career and 

found out that it was in Olinlin 

Primary School, Uzea and so, 

:@vanguardnews 

World leaders arrive Ndjamena for 

Deby's burial 

N 

'DJAMENA—FOREIGN lead 

ers have started arriving for the 

funeral of slain President Idriss Deby 

as France backed the country's new 

military leaders in the face of threats 

from rebels to resume an offensive 

on the capital. 

The presidents of Guinea and Mali 

arrived in the capital N'Djamena, 

state television showed, despite warnings 

from the rebels that foreign leaders 

should not attend for security reasons. 

French President, Emmanuel 

Macron, was also due to travel to 

Chad overnight for the funeral on 

Friday. 

A military council, led by General 

Mahamat Idriss Deby, took power 

after his father, who had ruled for 30 

years and was a close ally of Western 

powers in the fight against Islamist 

militants, was killed in battle with 

the rebels on Monday. 

General Deby, 37, has said the army 

will hold democratic elections in 18 

months, but opposition leaders have 

condemned his takeover as a coup 

d'etat and an army general said 

many officers were opposed to the 

transition plan. 

The Libya-based rebels, who are 

not linked to the Islamists, said on 

Wednesday they would end a brief 

ceasefire at midnight and were about 

200-300 km (125-190 miles) from 

the capital. 

They could not be reached for comment 

on Thursday. A Chadian military 

source told Reuters that as of 

mid-day there was no rebel activity. 

France, Chad's former colonial 

ruler, defended the military takeover 

on Thursday, saying it was necessary 

for security amid "exceptional circumstances". 

French Foreign Minister Jean- 

Yves Le Drian said the military was 

justified in its actions as the speaker 

of parliament had declined to take 

charge. 

"Logically, it should be (speaker 

Haroun) Kabadi...but he refused because 

of the exceptional security reasons 

that were needed to ensure the 

stability of this country," Le Drian told 

France 2 television. 

Deby, although criticised by human 

rights groups for his repressive 

rule over three decades, was a lynchpin 

in France's security strategy in 

Africa. 

About 5,100 French troops are 

based across the region as part of 

international operations to fight Islamist 

militants and France has its 

main base in N'Djamena. 

DIVIDED RANKS? 

Dissent within the military has 

raised concerns about stability in 

Chad. 

"Kaka (Mahamat Deby) only has 

partial support of the army. He is 

young and, unlike his father, has never 

been a rebel," said Jerome Tubiana, 

an analyst specialising on Chad. 

"Within the army, there's indeed (at 

least) two groups." 

Deby, 68, was killed on Monday 

on the frontline against fighters of 

the Front for Change and Concord 

in Chad (FACT), a group formed by 

dissident army officers in 2016 

which says it is pro-democracy. 

The group warned foreign leaders 

invited to Deby's funeral on Friday 

not to attend for their security. 

Ten African presidents and prime 

ministers including Guinea's Alpha 

Conde, Mali's Bah Ndaw and Democratic 

Republic of Congo's Felix 

Tshisekedi were due to arrive yesterday 

for the funeral, the government 

said. 

Neighbouring Nigeria reinforced 

security along its border to avoid a 

potential influx of Chadians refugees, 

its defence minister said. Central 

African Republic's army said it 

was on maximum alert to prevent 

armed groups from crossing the border. 

Gridlock as commuters block Benin- 

Warri highway 


BENIN CITY—IT was difficult 

passing the bad portion of the 

Benin - Sapele - Warri near the 

bypass in Edo State, yesterday, as 

road users and residents of the area 

took over the bad portion of the road, 

protesting its seeming abandonment 

by both the federal and state 

governments. 

They said several petitions written 

to the state and federal governments 

had not been responded to positively. 

Speaking to newsmen, a resident 

of the area, who claimed he is the 

chairman of Sapele Road By-pass 

Axis, Daniel Omorogbe, said: "Some 

of our children can no longer go to 

school. Our cars are bad. We are 

finding it difficult to use this road, 

and this road connects Niger Delta 

and those coming from the Niger 

Delta axis to other parts of the country 

also pass through here. Trucks 

coming from the North to the Niger 

Delta also pass through here. 

"Three months ago, we wrote the 

Senate, House of Representatives, 

we wrote to the Ministry of Works, 

the state House of Assembly and 

even the governor of the state, still 

nothing has been done, so we are 

tired. We are going to stay here until 

the government listens to us. We are 

going to remain here till they answer. 

"They come here using labourers 

to work with head pans and 

wheelbarrows and once rain falls, 

the whole place will collapse and get 

flooded," he added. 

Archbishop Idahosa immortalises 

husband 

•Commisions 6 blocks of classrooms in 

Uzea community 

thought it wise to erect a block of six 

classrooms in his name on the same 

premises. 

Margaret said her late husband 

was a blessing to his generation and 

beyond having taken the gospel of 

Christ around the globe, adding that 

the children to make use of the 

facility would be proud to say in the 

nearest future that they attended the 

same primary school with the late 

Bishop Benson Idahosa. 

"We are going to clean the present 

write up and replace it with 

"Archbishop Benson Idahosa Legacy 

Project" as a pupil in this school, we 

are going to put it there so that 

whoever passing by can see Idahosa. 

Commending the donor, secretary 

to the palace of Uzea Kingdom, 

Chief Iseghohi Francis, said it was a 

welcome development, adding that 

other well meaning Nigerians should 

emulate the wife of the late bishop 

who has remembered where her late 

husband began his early education.


BLESSING 

GANIU 

RASHIDATU 

OKPANI 

I, formerly known as Ganiu I, formerly known as Ajibade 

Enitan Mojisola, now wish to Rashidatu, now wish to be 

be known as Adenekan Enitan known as Ajibade Racheal 

Mojisola. All former Omolayo. All former 

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General public please take General public please take 

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note. 

LOKOSU OB 

TOPE AJIBADE 

I, formerly known as Ojo Tayo I, formerly known as Ajibade 

Tope, now wish to be known Funmilayo, now wish to be 

known as Eromosele 

as Ojo Oluwatayo Johnson. All 

Funmilayo Precious. All 

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OGORDI 

NWUZU 

EDOSOMWAN 

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I, formerly known as Lokosu 

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I FORMERLY KNOWN AND I formerly known as Miss Nwuzu I, formerly known and 

ADDRESSED AS MISS OGORDI 

BRIDGET CHINELO NOW Ifeome Gertrude, now wish to be 

addressed as Miss Mercy 

Edosomwan, now wish to be 

WISH TO BE ADDRESSED AS known and addressed as Mrs. 

MRS KAWEKWUNE BRIDGET 

known and addressed as Mrs 

CHINELO. ALL FORMER Lucky Ifeome Gertrude. All former Mercy Soko. All former 

DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID, documents remain valid, general documents remain valid, 

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SUNNY ONUOHA ABASS 

I, formerly known as Bassey I formerly known as ESTHER I formerly known as Miss Abass 

Albert Sunny, now wish to be 

CHIDIMA ONUOHA, now wish Rukayat Peace now wish to be 

to be known and addressed as known and addressed as Mrs 

known as Sunday Albert Bassey. 

ESTHER CHIDIMA ADIELE. All Adahosa Peace. All former 

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ORIERO 

IWEGBUE 

OBIOMA 

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as MISS ORIERO ENAJEWE 

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OKPO 

I, formerly known as MISS. 

HELEN JULIET OKPO, now 

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ONWUEYI HELEN. That all 

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EKIYOR 

My name was wrongly captured 

on my BVN as EKIYOR IZON- 

ERE MILDRED, instead of 

EKIYOR IZON-EBI MILDRED. 

I now wish to be addressed by 

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OTURU 

I, formerly known as John 

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Christabel. All former 



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SAMUEL 

I Formerly known and addressed 

as MISS SAMUEL BLESSING, 

now wish to be known and 

addressed as MRS BLESSING 

OYIOZA OLASOJI ,All former 

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AMAH 

I formerly known and addressed as 

MISS AMAH OLUCHI 

PERPETUAL now wish to be 

known and addressed as MRS. 

NDUAGUBA OLUCHI 

PERPETUAL. All former 

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as IWEGBUE GIFT 

OBOH, now wish to be known and 

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OGUERI 

UDUEFE 

I, formerly known as Uzezi 

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AHUNNA 

EJEDIMU 

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Goodness Chioma, now wish to 

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GOODNESS CHIOMA. All 

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AREGBESOLA 

CHUKWUELOKE 

I, formerly known as Miss 

Chukwueloke Onyinye 

Blessing, now wish to be known 

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IGWENAGU 

EBHOHIMEN 

ADEPEJU 

I, formerly known as Afonja 

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NWOGU 

I, formerly known as Nwogu 

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Uchechi Barbara. All former 



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ILEKA OD 

I formerly known as Miss Ileka 

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ARINZE OD 

I formerly known as Miss 

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MARY 


as Miss Mary Kije 

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KEREN NWALI TOCHI 


CHIDERA KEREN 

NWANGUMA, now wish to be 

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GOODLUCK-OPUTA. That all 

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also known as Manu Onyekachikwu 

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I formerly known as MRS 

MBADIANYA MARTHA 

AHUNNA, now wish to be known 

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PUBLIC Authorities Concerned to 


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as Miss Ejedimu Eloho Precious 


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NKIRUKA JESSICA NWALI, now 

wish to be known as MRS. 

NKEIRUKA JESSICA CLINTON. 

That all documents bearing my 

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I, formerly known as Aregbesola 

Motunrayo Christiana, now wish 

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I formerly known as MISS 

IGWENAGU CHIMEZIE 

PROMISE, now wish to be known 

as MRS IFEKUDU CHIMEZIE 

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PUBLIC Authorities Concerned to 



as Miss Ebhohimen Susan now 

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That the name TOCHI UME GOKA 

and TOBECHI UME GOKA on my 

Bank Verification number and my 

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refers to one and the same person, 

now wish to be known as 

TOBECHI UME GOKA. All 

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OROBOSA 

OBINNA 

I formerly known as Miss Forstina 

Nneka Obinna now wish to be 

known and addressed as Mrs. 

Forstina Nneka Adedigba. All 


Nigeria Embassy, South Africa, 


AIREN-AKHOR NWOSU 

I FORMERLY KNOWN AND 

ADDRESSED AS OJO SUNDAY 

AIREN-AKHOR NOW WISH 

TO BE KNOWN AND AD- 

DRESS AS OJO SUNDAY 

INIOLUWA. ALL FORMER 

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PLEASE TAKE NOTE. 

OFUOKWU 

I formerly known as Loveth 

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MICHAEL 

This is to confirm that Innocent- 

Ikechukwu Chukwuebuka and 

Innocent-Ikechukwu Chukwuebuka 

Michael is one and the same person 

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ONWUZULUMBA 


as Miss Onwuzulumba Chidimma 

Perpetual now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs Iwenofu 

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ISAAC 

I, formerly known as Isaac 

Annet Anita, now wish to be 

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MONDAY 

I formerly known as Miss Monday 

Roselyn Ayoola now wish to be 

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Embassy, Home Office and the 


NZENERIAKU 

I, formerly known and addressed as 

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EFEKODO 

I, formerly known as ESE 

EFEKODO, now wish to be 

known as ERUEMREJOVWO 

ESE, all former documents 

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UDOKA 


a s M I S S 

NDIDI MERCY UDOKA, now 


as MRS. KELVIN-NDIDI 

MERCY UDOK. Former 


Public, to whom it may concern, 


IBE 

I, formerly known as Ukamaka 

Chinedu Ibe, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Ukamaka 

Chinedu Oseni. All former 



TIMO 

I, formerly known as Timo Beauty 

Emratimifagha, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Tiemo 

Beauty Emratimifagha. All former 



ETEME 

BAGOU 

ODON 

I, formerly known as Godwin 

I, formerly known as Bagou I, formerly known as Miss 

Maureen Eteme, now wish to 

Zikeyi, now wish to be known Odon Esther Ebi, now wish to 

be known as Okotete 

be known as Mrs. Sapere-Obi 

Orkemute Maureen. All 

as Okpeke Helen Zikeyi. All 

Esther Ebi. All former 

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IKPOTOKIN 

ANIMASAUN 

UMEOJIAKOR 

I, formerly known as Phina I, formerly known as I, formerly known Miss Akwugo 

Imiaefan Ikpotokin, now wish Animasaun Tolulope Grace, Cynthia Umeojiakor, now wish to 

to be known as Igbinobaro now wish to be known as 

be known as Mrs. Akwugo Cynthia 

Newton-Enyimba. All former 

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documents remain valid. The 

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ADJEBUNE ASEKOMHE OMONIGHO 

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as Agre Precious Orobosa now 


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OBUKENI 

I, Formerly known as Miss Grace 

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Matthew-Oyovwikowhe. All 

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MISS OMONIGHO ONOME 

STELLA now wish to be known 

and addressed as MRS. DARAH 

ONOME STELLA. All former 



EZEDOM OJOH 


as Miss Ojoh Henrietta Ngozi 


addressed as Mrs Okoro Henrietta 

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AHMED 

This is to confirm that, Ramatu Ahmed 

Abubakar Ramatu Ohikwo Ahmadu and 

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MUSA FESTUS 

I, formerly known as Musa 

Musa Wanka, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Aliyu 

Musa Wanka. All former 



note. 

ODUGBO 


ODUGBO ENE CHRISTIANA, 


addressed as ODUGBO ENE. All 


General public and authority 

concerned please take note 

GODWIN 

I, formerly known as Godwin 

Lucky Ojochenemi, now wish 


Alfa Ojochenemi. All former 



ANIOBI 

I, formerly known as ANIOBI 

JULIET HAPPINESS, now wish to 

be known and addressed as ANIOBI 

JULIET ANURIKA. All former 



OBODOZIE 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Miss Clare 

Chinenye Obodozie, now wish 


Mrs Clare Chinenye Okeke. 


valid. General Public take note. 

ANOSIKE 


addressed as Anosike Obiajulu 

Clinton, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Anosike 

Obiajulu *Chikemka* Clinton. 



AHMAD 


addressed as Atabs Ahmad, now 


as Tanimu Ahmad Atabs. All 


valid. UBA PLC and general 

public take note 

MOHAMMED 


Mohammed Yashuwa Grema, now 

wish to be known and addressed as 

Yashuwa Mohammed Grema. With 

D.O.B= 10-08-1989, NOT 01-01- 

1989 . All former documents remain 


EMMANUEL 

WISDOM 


addressed as UZOMA 

WISDOM, now wish to be 


UZOMA UCHE UDOKA. All 


general public should please 

take note 

NYITAR 


NYITAR TERSEER GODSON, now 


AKUME TERSEER GODSON. All 



BANKOLE 


Miss Bankole Oluwatobi Racheal, 


addressed as Mrs Sanni Oluwatobi 

Racheal. All former documents remain 

valid. General Public and authority 

concerned please take note. 

EDEH 

I, formerly known as Edeh 

Elias Ibeabuchi, now wish to 

be known and addressed as Ede 

Elias Ibeabuchi. All former 



note. 

UKWU 

I, formerly known as MISS UKWU 

CHINYERE PRINCESS, now wish 

to be known and addressed as MRS. 

DONATUS CHINYERE 

PRINCESS. All former documents 

remain valid. NYSC and general 


OKOKO 


addressed as Rose Okoko, now 


as Okoko Rose Nwafor. All 


valid. First bank authority and 

general public to take note 

IGBAKO 


JULIANA QUEEN IGBAKO, 


addressed as JULIANA QUEEN 

EZEALA. All former documents 

remain valid. General Public take 

note. 

NWAJAGU 


Harrison Ezechukwu Nwajagu, now 


Harrison Geoffrey. All former 

documents remain valid. First Bank 

PLC, Schools, Private and Public 

Institutions and general public take 

note. 

YUSUF OT 


Rosemary Ameachi Yusuf & 

Rosemary Ameachi, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Rosemary 

Audu Yusuf. All former documents 

remain valid. General Public take 

note. 

CHANGE OF NAME 

ADEGOKE 


Titilade Abigeal Adegoke, now 


as Mrs Tilade Johnson- 

Owosuyi. All former 



note. 

JOHN 


addressed as James Shidonfakin 

John, now wish to be known 

and addressed as James 

Shidonfakin Waziri. All former 



note. 

LAWAL 

ABDULLAHI 

I, formerly known as Abdullahi 

Abdullahi, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Adamu 

Abdullahi. All former 


Zenith bank and general public 


FATONA 


Fatona Sofiat Omotolani, now 


as Mrs Ojuawo Sofiat 

Omotolani. All former 



OGAGA 


as Hillary Ogaga, now wish to 

be known and addressed as Agida 

Hillary Ogaga. All former 


Access bank authority and 

general public to take note. 

OKORO 


OKORO JOHN PAUL, now wish to 


AHAMEFUNA JOHN PAUL. And 

my date of birth is 04/04/1995. All 


General Public take note. 

CHIJIONWU 


addressed as Miss Chijionwu 

Onyinyechi Rita now wish to 

be known and addressed as Mrs. 

Chinedu Onyinyechi Rita. All 

Former documents remain 

valid. General public take note. 

OLUWAGBAYIKE AKUT YAKUBU 


OLUWAGBAYIKE JULIANAH, 


addressed as ADEYEYE 

JULIANAH OMOLOLA. All former 


Public take note. 


EMMANUEL ADAWA, now wish to 

be known and addressed as DOOGA 

EMMANUEL ADAWA. CORRECT 

DATE OF BIRTH, 15 01 1969, NOT 

15 10 1969. All former documents 


take note. 

I, formerly known as KARLYN S. 

AKUT, now wish to be called and 

addressed as KARLYN HOSEA 

AKUT. All Former documents remain 

valid. Any Authority concern and 

the General public to please take 

note 

IBOBO 


MISS AMIENGHEMHEN 

ANGELA, now wish to be known 

and addressed as MRS IBOBO 

ANGELA.All former documents 

remain valid. General public, Banks 

and all concerned authorities take 

note. 


Miss Lawal Rofiat Ifeoluwa, now 


Mrs Afolabi Rofiat Ifeoluwa. All 


General Public and authority 

concerned please take note. 

MUHAMMED 


addressed as IDRIS KAMILU 

MUHAMMED, now wish to 


DRISU KAMILU. All former 


General Public take note. 

I, formerly known as YAKUBU 

KINGSLEY, now wish to be called 

and addressed as JOHN KINGSLEY. 

My correct DOB is 13/February/ 

1994. All Former documents remain 

valid. UBA BANK PLC Authority 

concern and the General public to 


DIAMOND 


Diamond Festus Ogheneyerovwome, 

now wish to called and addressed as 

Prince Diamond Festus 

Ogheneyerovwome. All former 

documents remain valid. Public 


GLORY 

I, formerly known as Glory 

John, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Okeke Glory. 



take note. 

PRECIOUS 

I, formerly known as Erhire 

Oghenekevwe Precious, now 

wish to be known, called and 

addressed as Orio 

Oghenekevwe Precious. 

Former documents remain 

valid. General Public take note 

AKOH 

I, formerly known as Akoh 

Samuel, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Akor Samuel. 



take note. 

IKECHUKWU 

I, formerly known as IKECHUKWU 

UWAJIMGBA, now wish to be 

known and addressed as CHUKWU 

KENNETH UGOCHUKWU. All 



WILLIAM 

I, formerly known as William 

Oseidiegbeyen Akhainemen, 


addressed as William Ose 

Ehimen. All former documents 

remain valid. General public 


ANOSIKE 


addressed as Anosike 

Ogechikanma Chelsea, now 


as Anosike Ogechi Chelsea. All 



URIAH 

I, formerly known and addredsed as 

URIAH URIAH NTESAT, now wish 

to be known and addressed as CYRIL 

URIAH NTESAT. All former 


public should please take note. 

NWACHUKWU 


MISS NWACHUKWU JENNIFER 

NNEKA, now wish to be known and 

addressed as MRS ACHIONYE 

JENNIFER NNEKA. Former 



AKANJI OT 


OMOTOSHO KOLAWOLE 

AKANJI, now wish to be known 

and addressed as OMOTOSHO 

KOLAWOLE. All former documents 


take note. 

OGBE 


addressed as MARY OGBE 


addressed as MARY AKOR. 



take note. 

ANYANWU 


ANYANWU JACINTA UGOCHIKA, now 


ANYANWU JACINTA ONYINYECHI 

UGOCHIKA. All former documents 

remain valid. Zenith Bank, Fedelity Bank, 


AKINKUOTU 

I, formerly known as Akinkuotu 

Mercy Oluwafunmilola, now wish to 

be known and addressed as Omolewa 

Mercy Oluwafunmilola. All former 



ALPHA 

I, formerly known as FAVOUR 

GREAT ALPHA, now wish to be 

known and addressed as DUNKWU 

QUEEN GREAT PRAISEDGOD. 


FRIST BANK and general public 


IBE 


as IBE PERPETUA OZIOMA, now 


ODUONYE PERPETUA OZIOMA. 

All documents remain valid. Zenith 

bank, Union bank, Wema bank, 

immigration office, NYSC authority & 

General public please be aware. 

UMUJAKPORUE 

I, formerly known as MISS 

UMUJAKPORUE MARTHA 

NYERHOVWO, now wish to be 

known and addressed as MRS 

ONOTA MARTHA NYERHOVWO. 



NKU 

I, formerly known as NKU 

CALEB ONYEANUSI, now 


as ONYEANUSI CALEB 

IKOROKWUBE. All former 



AKPOWOWO 

I, formerly known as Akpowowo 

Nwakaego Edna, now wish to be 

known and addressed henceforth as 

Ojenuwa Nwakaego Edna All former 

documents remain valid. Banks, All 

Constituted Authorities and the 

General Public to please take note. 

OJIEH 

I, formerly known as Ojieh Francisca 

Angel, now wish to be known and 

addressed henceforth as Ukaiji 

Francisca Angel All former documents 

remain valid. Banks, All Constituted 

Authorities and the General Public 

to please take note 

MIKE 

I, formerly known as 

JOHNSON MIKE, now wish to 


JOHNSON UYI. All former 



AKPADAKA 

This is to notify that my name was 

wrongly written as AKPADEKA 

GRACE instead of my correct name 

as AKPADAKA OGHENERUESE 

GRACE. all former documents remain 

valid. General public take note. 

EDON 

This is to confirm that the name Edon 

Godswill Ajebitse, and Alex 

Godswill Edon refer to me. I now wish 

to add the name Alex to be known and 

addressed as Edon Alex Godswill 

Ajebitse. All former document remain 

valid. Bank, general public and all 

authorities concern please take note. 

ORJI UW 

I, formerly known and variously addressed 

as MISS OGBONNAYA JANET ORJI, 

and OGONNAYA OGBONNAYA ORJI, 

now wish to be known and addressed as 

MRS. CHIMEREMEZE JANET 

UCHECHI. All former documents remain 

valid. Banks and general public take note. 

ESOKPOR 


as Lucky Esosuakpor Esokpor 


addressed as Lucky Esosuakpor 

Ejukonemu. All former documents 

remain vaild. And any authority 

it may concern and the general 


OLUYELU FESTUS 

I, formerly known as Oluyelu 

Abosede Janet, now wish to be 

known as Ajiboye Abosede Janet. 


valid. Embassies, Immigration 

services, general public should 


UMEOJIAKOR 


Akwugo Cynthia Umeojiakor, 

now wish to be known as Mrs. 

Akwugo Cynthia Newton- 

Enyimba. All former documents 

remain valid, general public 

should please take note. 

KONA 

I, formerly known as MISS KONA 

URUEMUOHWO CAROLYN, 

now wish to be known as MRS 

BROWN URUEMUOHWO 

CAROLYN. All documents 

bearing my former name remains 

valid, General Public please take 

note. 

OLUKIRAN 

I formerly known as Olukiran 

Oluwaferanmi Ruth now wish to 

be known as Awolope 

Oluwaferanmi Ruth. All former 

documents remain valid.General 

public please take note 

UGWUNNA 


as Miss Eberechi Ann Ugwunna 


addressed as Mrs Eberechi Ann 

Ogba. All former documents 

remain valid. General public, 


BENSON 

I FORMERLY KNOWN AND 

ADDRESSED AS BENSON 

SATURDAY NOW WISH TO BE 

ADDRESSED AS BENSON 

SATURDAY IKPONMWOSA. 

ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS 

REMAIN VALID. CONCERNED 

AUTHORITIES AND THE 

GENERAL PUBLIC TO PLEASE 

TAKE NOTE. 

EGBAJI 


as Mr. Ikweng Jeremiah Egbaji, 

Now wish to be known and 

addressed as Mr. Otafu Jeremiah 

Ikweng. All former documents 

remain Valid. The general public 


IDOWU 


as Miss Idowu Olufunmilayo 

Beatrice, Now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. 

ADENUSI Olufunmilayo 

Beatrice.All former documents 



KALU 

I formerly known and addressed 

as Miss KALU 

NDIDIAMAKA NDUKWE Now 

want to be known and addressed 

as Mrs MADUBA AMAKA 

CHINONSO. All former 

documents remain Valid. The 

general public should please take 

note. 

MICHAEL 


as Michael Emmanuel Uchenna, 


addressed as Chukwuma 

Emmanuel Uchenna. All former 


public please take note.

IDISI 


as Miss Oghenenebrorhien Regina 

Idisi now wish to be known and 

addressed as Mrs 

Oghenenebrorhien Regina 

Wanogho. All former documents 

remain vaild. And any authority it 

may concern and the general public 

take note. 

MADUKA 

I, formerly known as Mrs. Maduka 

Stella Chizoba, now wish to be 

known as Mrs. Ikeobodozie Stella 

Chizoba. All former documents 

remain valid, general public should 


NMEREOLE 


as MISS NMEREOLE 

CHINYERE RITA now wishes to 

be known and addressed as MRS 

IREGBU CHINYERE RITA. All 

former documents remain valid, 

general public please take note. 

OKOYE 

I, formerly known as OKOYE 

VIVIAN IFUNANYACHUKWU 

now wish to be known as 

ETOLUE 

VIVIAN 

IFUNANYACHUKWU. All 

documents bearing my former name 

remains valid, General public, 

banks and concern authorities to 


AKINGBASOTE 

I formerly known as 

Akingbasote Olawunmi 

Deborah now wish to be known 

as Bada Olawunmi Deborah. 


valid.General public please take 

note 

NDEFOH 


addressed as Miss Ndefoh 

Vivian Chioma now wish to be 


Vivian Chioma Esegine. All 


valid. General public, please 

take note. 

OKOH 

I formerly known as Okoh christiana 

Adaone. Now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. SALAMI 

Alimotu Sadia. All former 



note. 

AUGUSTINE 


Mr. Ugbe NellyGodwin Augustine, 

Now wish to be known and 

addressed as Mr. Ugbe Godwin 

Unimke. All former documents 



EMELEH OT 


Miss Emeleh Happiness Chidinma 

Now want to be known and 

addressed as Mrs Nnaji Happiness 

Chidinma. All former documents 


should please take note 

NARTEY 


as Miss Nartey Mariana Korkor, 


addressed as Mrs. Godswill 

Mariana Korkor. All former 



EBEYE 


Ebeye Gladys Obionye, now wish 


Olayemi Gladys Obionye. All 



CHANGE OF NAME 

ORJI 

I, formerly known as AZUBIKE 

ORJI CHARLES now wish to be 

known and called ORJI 

CHARLES AZUBIKE. All former 


general public and to whom it may 

concern should please take note. 

KAREEM 

I, formerly known as Miss Kareem 

Oluwaseun Idowu, now wish to 

be known as Mrs. Udienu 

Oluwaseun Idowu. All former 


public should please take note. 

AWORAWO 

I formerly known as 

AWORAWO ALEX 

OGHENERO now wish to be 

known as AKPOWOWON 

ALEX OGHENERO. All former 



note. 

SAGAY 


as OWUMI ODIRI SAGAY now 


Mrs OWUMI ODIRI EZEH. All 



NDUKA 

I, formerly known, call and 

addressed as. NDUKA EDITH. But 

now wish to be known, call and 

address as. EDITH FABIAN 

SHEGBEYERI. all documents 

bearing former names remain 

valid.general public and relevant 

authorities concern please take note. 

OGBAN 

This is to confirm that my name 

was wrongly written as Afejuku 

Alfred Ogban instead of Afejuku 

Alfred Besidone, now wish to be 

known as Afejuku Alfred Besidone. 


General public, please take note. 

EKPERIGHA 


as Miss Bokizibe Binta Ekperigha, 


addressed as Mrs Bokizibe Binta 

Stanford. All former documents 



ARABAMBI 

I, formally known and addressed 

as miss ARABAMBI Kemi 

Olamide,Now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs OLUWOLE 

Kemi Olamide.All former 

documents remains valid.The 

general public should take note. 

NJOKU 


as Miss Pamela Chisom Njoku 

Now want to be known and 

addressed as Mrs Pamela Chisom 

Ani. All former documents remain 

Valid. The general public should 

please take note 

OSSAI 


Miss Ossai Precious Awele, now 


Mrs. Akporugo Sunday Precious 

Awele. All former documents remain 

valid. General public please take 

note. 

OTUMOR 


Otumor Marvelous Omamuzo, now 


Otumor Marvis Omamuzo. All 



IKUNI 

I Formerly known and address as 

IKUNI JULIET ONYEJIUWA 

Now wish to be known and address 

as. MRS UWERHIAVWE 

JULIET ONYEJIUWA. All former 



NNAJI 


KELVIN NNAJI,New now wish 

to be known and address as 

,NWASIOLO KELVIN 

ANYANWU . All former 



OLEH 

I Formerly known and address as:- 

Benedicta .O. Oleh, Now wish to 

be known and address as:- 

Benedicta Ogheneroborwe Udoh, 

All former documents remain valid 


UDOCHI 

I Formerly known and address 

as. Fidelis Udochi Ogbonna 

and Udochukwu Sunday 

Ogbonna. Now wish to be 

known and address as. Fidelis 

Udochi Ogbonna. 

LUKE 

I Formerly known and address as:- 

Miss. LUKE ADO 

EMENEMIEGHAN. Now wish to 

be known and address as:-Mrs, 

EMENEMIEGHAN MICHAEL 

ESIN. All former documents 

remain valid general public please 

take note. 

MENETIE 


HANNAH MENETIE Now wish 

to be known and address as 

HANNAH. IBUKUN. All former 



OZOR 

I Formerly known as OZOR 

EMMANUEL CHUKWUEMEKE, 

OZOR GOSPEL IKECHUKWU, 

OZOR SAMUEL OLUCHUKWU 

Now wish to be known as OBI 

EMMANUEL CHUKWUEMEKE, 

OBI GOSPEL IKECHUKWU,OBI 

SAMUEL OLUCHUKWU, All 

former documents remain valid 


MOSOGA 

I formerly known as Miss Blessing 

Edesiri Mosoga, now wish to be 


Blessing Edesiri Fayemi. All former 

documents remain valid, any 

authority it may concern and 

general public to take note 

OKONKWO 

This is to confirm that the names 

Okonkwo Victor Chukwunweike 

and Onwuemene Victor 

Chukwunweike refer to one and the 

same person. I now wish to be 

known and addressed as Okonkwo 

Victor Chukwunweike. All former 



TEJE 


addressed as Mr. Mike Khalil 

Teje, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Pastor Mike 

Greatness Urukpe Omoghene. 



take note. 

DENNIS 

This is to confirm that the 

names Sussana Ashinedu 

Dennis and Azubike Sussana 

Ashinedu refer to one and the 

same person. I now wish to be 


Azubike Sussana Ashinedu. All 


valid. UBA Plc and general 


UCHECHUKWU 

I, formerly known as Chiamaka 

Henrietta Uchechukwu now wish 

to be known as Chiamaka Henrietta 

Archimedes. All former documents 

remain valid. NYSC and general 


EJIOFOR 


as Ejiofor Valentina Ujunwa Now 

want to be known and addressed 

as Afolayan Valentina Ujunwa. All 

former documents remain Valid. 

The general public should please 

take note. 

HASSAN 

My name was erroneously written 

on my Account as Hassan 

Habibulahi Akanmu instead of 

Hassan *ABIBULAI* Akanmu, All 

former documents, Certificates 

remain valid, First Bank and 

General Public please take note. 


:Vanguard 

News 

:@vanguardnews 

We've no link with Biafra —IYC 


BENIN CITY—THE lead 

ership of Ijaw Youth Council, 

IYC, has condemned in 

strong terms allegation that 

they plot to hoist the flag of 

Biafra in Ijaw communities in 

Edo state, an allegation they 

said was a ploy to scuttle the 

Western Zone election of the 

IYC. 

Addressing a press conference 

in Benin City yesterday, 

Chairman Electoral Commission 

of IYC Western Zone, Napoleon 

Kenerekedi said 

though the election eventually 

held, it was wrong for individuals 

to make such allegation 

against a group like IYC 

which led to the deployment 

of high power security appa- 

ratus to the area. 

He said: “We were given the 

mandate by the national leadership 

of IYC to conduct this 

election in our Ijaw clans in 

Edo, Ondo and Delta states. By 

our timetable, our election in 

Edo was slated for April 21. 

Before the election there were 

series of issues from an aspirant 

that he is not comfortable 

with the venue that was unanimously 

selected. He petitioned 

the Committee to the 

state government and security 

agencies that we are to converge 

in Inikorogha community 

to form the Biafra Republic. 

“I want to say emphatically 

that Ijaw people have no connection 

with the Biafra Republic. 

We are Ijaw people and if 

there is any need for us to 

leave Nigeria; we have our 

own country that we will go to. 

We have no link with the 

Biafra Republic so we want to 

inform the security agencies 

and Edo state government that 

we are not part of anything 

Biafra, we are not linked with 

them. They should call those 

who wrote that petition to order 

and the petition should be 

investigated. We cannot continue 

to tolerate those who always 

want to pit Ijaw people 

against Edo people. 

Also an Ijaw leader, Donneby 

Ben while commending 

the security agencies who he 

said were professional after 

discovering that the allegation 

was false urged the authorities 

to investigate the allegation. 

Delta communities protest non-payment of GMoU 

project funds 

By Ochuko 

Akuopha 

OLEH—INDIGENES of 

oil bearing communities 

in cluster 5 of the Oil Mining 

Lease, OML 30, yesterday, barricaded 

the entrance of the Olomoro-Oleh 

flow station, protesting 

the alleged unwillingness 

of Heritage Energy Operational 

Service Limited, 

HEOSL, to pay the 2019 and 

2020 GMoU project funds to 

the communities. 

The protesters who were 

mainly women and youths 

from Oleh, Olomoro and 

Emede, Isoko South Local Government 

Area, Delta State, lamented 

the ill treatment of the 

communities by the company, 

saying they would not leave 

the flow station until their demands 

are met. 

Speaking during the protest, 

President General of Emede 

community, Dr. Benson Okah- 

Avae, said the company was 

withholding the money "on the 

pretext that there is a case in 

court which has been dismissed. 

"We need the funds for the 

development of our communities. 

Heritage is taking the communities 

for a ride and this is 

not done anywhere in the 

world." 

Chairman of the Cluster, 

Chief Obaro Ekokobe said: 

"Having struck out the matter 

from court, we wrote a letter 

and attached the judgement 

and sent to Heritage and they 

promised that they will facilitate 

the payment of the GMOU 

projects funds. 

"We wrote another letter of 

three days ultimatum to the 

company telling them the three 

communities are aggrieved. 

Resulting from the ultimatum, 

the Attorney General of Delta 

State invited both parties for a 

meeting and gave them another 

seven days ultimatum 

which they have disobeyed till 

Okowa inaugurates exco c'ttee 

of OML 150 consultative forum 

WARRI—THE Governor 

of Delta State, Senator 

Ifeanyi Okowa, Wednesday 

inaugurated the Executive 

Committee of the Oil 

Mining Lease, OML, 150 

Consultative Forum in 

Warri South Local 

Government Area of the 

State. 

The inaugurated 

executive members are 

nominees from the seven 

communities that 

constitute the OML 150. 

The Governor urged them 

to take their assigned 

duties with every needed 

effort to actualize the vision 

for setting up the forum. 

The governor who was 

represented by the state 

Commissioner for Oil and 

Gas, Prince Emmanuel 

Amgbaduba encouraged the 

executive members to do 

everything within the 

provision of their guideline 

for the mutual benefit of the 

now." 

On his part, President General 

of Olomoro community, 

Comrade Samuel Commander, 

said: "We met with the 

Manager of Heritage, he told 

us the problem is from Lagos. 

So we want people from Lagos 

to come down to Isoko to come 

and attend to us.‘‘ 

concerned parties. 

While congratulating 

them for being chosen to 

represent their various 

communities, he advised 

the Chairman and his team 

to manage the affairs of the 

forum within their given 

period. 

Earlier, the consultative 

forum chairman, Mr 

Monday Agbeyi thanked 

Governor Okowa for 

finding them fit for the job 

and assures that they will 

not relent in their duties 

while maintaining peace 

and orderliness within the 

communities. He further 

assured that the forum 

will work with the agenda 

and the guiding principles 

of the State Government. 

He promised to work 

peacefully with members 

of his executive to achieve 

the mandate of the state 

government.

28 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, 

APRIL 23, 2021 

Continues from Page 5 

Naira stable at N410/$ in 

I&E window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

Insecurity: Our nation is bleeding 

now — DEFENCE MINISTER 

concern as far as the 

security of this country is 

concerned. 

“The latest is the 

burning of our soldiers, 

brutal murder of about 11 

soldiers and one officer 

and the military is not 

taking kindly to that, let 

me just tell you this. I 

have been to Benue State 

Government, I have seen 

the governor and we have 

told him the blatant truth 

about the position of the 

military in this country. 

“Whoever touches the 

military has no regard for 

this country and this 

country is governed by 

the rule of law and we 

have accepted democracy 

as a solution to the liberty 

of individuals in this 

country. 

“We have been very firm, 

we have succeeded in 

reiterating to them what 

we actually want and we 

have got some answers 

that the weapons that 

were captured from the 

soldiers have been 

retrieved, at least we have 

nine of them out of 12 and 

the perpetrators have 

been captured and taken 

to the police for proper 

interrogation and 

subsequent prosecution.” 

On killing of 

bandits 

The Defence minister 

also commented on the 

killing all bandits as had 

been proposed by Kaduna 

State governor, Mallam 

Nasir el-Rufai. 

Asked whether he 

shared the same 

sentiment with the 

Kaduna governor on 

killing any bandits 

wherever they were 

sighted, he said: “I don’t 

share that opinion. With 

my little experience as a 

lawyer for 37 years, I think 

I know the rule of law. I 

know how decisions are 

taken. Everybody is 

innocent till he’s found 

guilty. 

“We’ll try to administer 

justice to all of them, but 

where we catch them with 

weapons, somebody 

trying to kill you, what do 

you do? Will you allow 

him to kill you before you 

make complaint? That 

area we will not 

compromise, anybody we 

pick using arms, we’ll 

deal with. 

“If he fires one round, 

we’ll fire artillery 

weapons, lethal, so it can 

destroy the whole radius, 

not only himself, even his 

farm should be 

exterminated.” 

Nigeria badly 

hit by Deby’s 

death 

The minister said the 

Federal Government is 

beefing up security in the 

country, especially the 

border areas because of 

the political crisis in Chad. 

He said: “When we 

heard of this unfortunate 

killing of the Chadian 

President, we knew 

problem was bound to be 

created among 

neighbouring countries 

and Nigeria will be most 

hit by his absence. If there 

is insecurity in Chad, 

there will be problem. 

“But thank God, a lot of 

military activities with the 

Chad, Niger, Cameroon, 

are in progress, so, in the 

name of Multi-National 

Joint Task Force, all these 

countries, including 

Chad, are contributing for 

the operation. 

“What we hope is that 

very soon, we will find a 

secure situation for the 

continuation of this thing. 

We are beefing up 

security in our borders to 

ensure that no bandit 

comes into Nigeria after 

the killing of Chad 

President. All we have 

prayed is that African 

countries will find a 

solution to the problem of 

Chad. 

“The problem of Chad is 

now going to be 

aggravated because we 

are not sure of the 

direction the country is 

going to face but I assure 

you that we are mindful 

of our borders, and we are 

mindful of the 

development, and 

politically, the 

government is putting its 

heads together to see how 

best it can restore the 

peace in that country. 

“So, security wise, we 

are beefing up all our 

borders to ensure that 

refugees do not flow into 

our country. Even for 

Nigerians (I am sure they 

will to come back), we 

must prepare and allow 

them to come in and 

refuse others to come 

because of the problems it 

THE Naira yesterday was stable at N410 per dollar 

in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window even as 

turnover rose by 171 percent. 

Data from FMDQ showed that the volume of dollars 

traded (turnover) in the window yesterday rose to 

$108.84 million from $40.13 million traded on Tuesday. 

will create. 

“On the issues of 

weapons and arms, Chad 

is the buffer stopping all 

these infiltration of 

weapons and the rest of 

it. 

“We also have to take 

care of that and prepare 

our minds to it. I think we 

are on top of the situation, 

all we are praying is that 

all African countries will 

find a solution to the 

problem of Chad, and get 

on moving as a 

democratic society as 

expected by international 

organisation the world 

over.” 

Bandits invade 

Kaduna 

hospital, abduct 

2 nurses 

Meanwhile, bandits 

yesterday invaded 

General Hospital, Idom, 

in Kajuru Local 

Government Area of 

Kaduna State, and 

abducted two nurses on 

duty. 

The attack came barely 

24 hours after bandits 

raided Greenfield 

University, a private 

institution, killing a staff 

and abducting 23 

students. 

Confirming the 

attack,Chairman of Kajuru 

Local Government Area, 

Cafra Casino, called on 

the people to remain calm, 

saying investigation had 

commenced into the 

incident. 

Dr. Shingyu 

Shamnom, Medical 

Director of the hospital, 

told journalists that the 

gunmen, wielding 

dangerous weapons, 

gained access to the 

hospital through the 

fence. 

According to him, the 

gunmen forcibly gained 

entry into the hospital, 

shot sporadically and 

whisked away two nurses 

on night duty who came 

out and identified 

themselves as medical 

workers . 

“We were in our homes 

until a call was put 

through to us that it was 

kidnappers who invaded 

the hospital, only to 

discover that two of the 

nurses on night duty had 

been taken away by the 

bandits. 

“The kidnappers went 

away with the phone of 

one of the staff who we 

thought was also 

kidnapped but he later 

returned,” he said. 

We have 

epidemic 

‘kidnapping and 

abduction’ 

— NMA 

Reacting to the attack on 

the hospital, the 

President, Nigeria 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

From left, Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen (2nd L); presenting 

a souvenir to one of the student of Government Girls' Secondary School, Dutse, 

during the minister's visit as part of the activities to commemorate the International 

Day for Girls in ICT in Abuja on Thursday (22/4/21). With them is the Director of 

Child Development, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Hajia Jumai Mohammed 

and another student. 

Medical Association, 

NMA, Prof Innocent Ujah, 

who said they were 

worried about the spate 

of kidnapping in the 

country, called for 

research to determine the 

factors responsible for the 

increase. 

“We have said this 

before, that we are all 

concerned, even if the 

victims were not nurses 

and are messengers on 

the road. We are all 

concerned. I am the 

president of medical 

doctors but we are worried 

because of the needless 

harm people are suffering 

as a result of kidnapping 

in the country. 

“It is not a good thing to 

abduct anybody. Apart 

from the anxiety which 

can lead to hypertension, 

it is also infringing on 

someone’s right. It is like 

one is in prison without an 

offence. 

“It is something we think 

should be prevented and 

stopped so that people 

don’t go through needless 

harm as a result of 

kidnapping and adoption. 

“It requires research to 

determine the major 

reasons people are being 

kidnapped or adopted. 

We have not seen any 

report so far, whatever we 

have is speculative. I 

think we should go into 

details of factors 

responsible for these 

kidnapping which has not 

been there before. What 

we have now is what we 

call epidemic kidnapping 

and abduction,” he said. 

Traditional 

ruler, 5 others 

killed in Benue 

Also yesterday, a 

traditional ruler and five 

others were reportedly 

killed in three separate 

attacks on Benue 

communities by suspected 

herdsmen at Tse-Zoola 

village, Agan, in Makurdi 

Local Government Area’ 

Odugbeho in Agatu LGA 

and Mbayer-Yandev in 

Guma LGA. 

Confirming the attack on 

Mbayer-Yandev, Guma 

LGA Chairman, Caleb Aba, 

said the incident occurred 

at about 8pm on 

Wednesday. 

“It happened at about 

8pm, though my attention 

was drawn to the incident 

at 9pm. Herdsmen 

invaded Mbayer-Yandev, 

Council Ward, killing two 

persons and injuring three 

others who have been 

moved to Benue State 

University Teaching 

Hospital, BSUTH, for 

treatment,” he said. 

Similarly, the councilor 

representing Odugbeho 

Ward and Deputy Leader, 

Agatu Legislative Council, 

Mr. Julius Abu, who 

confirmed the attack and 

murder of two persons in his 

constituency by armed 

herders, condemned the 

killing, saying it was 

unprovoked. 

The Deputy Leader said 

those killed by the 

marauding herdsmen were 

Joseph Babayo and Simon 

Idewu who were from 

Odugbeho and Ayila 

communities respectively. 

He said they were killed 

along Odugbeho road, and 

appealed for deployment of 

military personnel to the 

area to check the killings 

and mounting tension in 

area area . 

He also told Vanguard 

that residents were fleeing 

the area for fear of more 

invasion and attacks by the 

armed herdsmen. 

“We have appeal to our 

people to remain calm and 

avoid the temptation of 

taking the laws into their 

hands. We have confidence 

in the capability of the state 

government to tackle the 

challenge,” the lawmaker 

said. 

Meanwhile residents of 

Tse-Zoola village, Agan in 

Makurdi Local 

Government Area, LGA, of 

the state also lost their 

paramount ruler, Zaki 

Hyacinth Ajon, and a 

middle-aged man, 

Benjamin Anakula to the 

marauding herdsmen who 

invaded the area yesterday. 

Governor Samuel Ortom, 

who ran into the 

pandemonium in the 

community while on his 

way from an engagement 

outside Makurdi town, 

appealed for calm, assuring 

that government would do 

everything to ensure their 

safety. 

Narrating their ordeal to 

the governor, the oldest 

man in the community, 

Elder Aho Zoola, said: 

“The militia herdsmen, 

without any provocation, 

attacked our village 

around 2am when the 

people were deeply asleep, 

and killed Zaki Hyacinth 

Ajon and Benjamin 

Anakula.” 

The governor asked if 

they had engaged in cattle 

rustling in the past, Elder 

Aho said “we have never 

had any issues with 

herdsmen. Even when 

their herds graze on our 

crops, we watch helplessly 

because we do not want 

any problems but despite 

our disposition, they still 

came and killed our Zaki 

and our son.” 

Gov Ortom 

cancels 

birthday fanfare 

Following the killings, 

Governor Ortom has 

cancelled all fanfare slated 

by individuals and groups 

to mark his 60th birthday 

today in show of solidarity 

and concern for victims of 

the renewed herdsmen 

attacks on communities in 

the state in the last few day. 

A statement by Chief 

Press Secretary to the 

Governor, Terver Akase, 

issued yesterday in 

Makurdi, read: “Governor 

Samuel Ortom will be 60 

on April 23, 2021. 

Traditionally, drums would 

have been rolled out to 

celebrate the diamond age. 

But Governor Ortom has 

chosen to make it low key. 

“He (Governor) will meet 

with widows, orphans and 

people with disabilities 

tomorrow (today). On 

Saturday, the governor will 

visit IDP camps, and on 

Sunday go to church to 

thank God.’’



•Benzema 

Champions League semi-final: 

Real Madrid vs Chelsea might 

not go ahead --- Uefa’s Ceferin 

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has said 

there is a “small possibility” Chelsea’s 

Champions League semi-final against Real 

Madrid will not go ahead next week, as 

European football’s governing body 

decides whether to punish the clubs 

involved in the failed Super League 

breakaway. 

•Dirty Dozen 

Chelsea and 

Real Madrid 

were two of the 

12 clubs to sign 

up to the Super 

League, which 

collapsed on 

Tuesday after 

Chelsea withdrew 

from the 

Perez: European Super 

League is not dead 

R 

eal Madrid president Florentino 

Perez has affirmed that the European 

Super League is not "dead" 

despite the recent calamitous col- 

competition due to fierce public backlash, and are 

set to play each other in the semi-final first leg on 

Tuesday 27 April. 

Following the clubs’ formal announcement of the 

Super League on Sunday, Uefa executive committee 

member Jesper Moller said that the teams still 

involved in this season’s European competitions - 

Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Manchester 

United and Arsenal - were to be expelled at a 

Uefa executive committee meeting on Friday. 

Ceferin has since vowed to “rebuild the unity” of 

European football after the English clubs climbed 

down from the proposals, but it is unclear if there 

will be punishments for the teams involved. 

The Uefa president said this season’s Champions 

League and Europa League were set to go ahead 

due to television contracts, however, but admitted 

there is a chance Chelsea and Real Madrid’s semifinal 

does not go ahead as planned. 

“The key is that this season has already started, so 

broadcasters would come at us for damages if we 

don’t play the semi-finals,” Ceferin told Slovenian 

station 24UR. 

“So, there’s a relatively small possibility that 

this match isn’t played next week. But, things 

could be a little different in the future.” 

Ceferin, who labelled those at the heart of 

the Super League plans “liars and snakes” 

in an extraordinary press conference on 

Monday, but later welcomed the decision 

from the Premier League clubs to withdraw. 

lapse. 

Twelve founder members of the 

breakaway competition confirmed 

that they had signed up to the Super 

League on Sunday evening, but 

48 hours later, the Big Six Premier 

League clubs had announced their 

withdrawals from the tournament. 

Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and 

AC Milan followed suit the next day, 

but Perez has affirmed that the Super 

League is simply on "standby" 

despite condemnation from all corners 

of the game. 

Speaking to El Larguero, the 74- 

year-old said: "If anyone thinks the 

Super League is dead, are they 

wrong? Absolutely. 

"We're going to keep working and 

what everyone thinks is for the best 

will emerge. The project is on 

standby. The Super League still exists." 

Perez has also claimed that without 

a European Super League, it 

would be "impossible" to sign Kylian 

Mbappe or Erling Braut Haaland 

this summer. 

•Perez 

Chelsea, Terry, 

Czech salute 

Mikel @ 34 

Rummenigge to act as a 

mediator between the Dirty 

Dozen and rest of Europe 

ayern Munich chief Karl-Heinz 

BRummenigge has given his verdict 

on the plot to change European 

competition, saying that 'real football 

won' when the breakaway European 

Super League fell through. 

Twelve clubs, dubbed the Dirty 

Dozen, initially agreed to join a new 

controversial league, but the project 

was suspended after Arsenal, Chelsea, 

Manchester United, Manchester 

City, Liverpool and Tottenham 

withdrew two days later. 

The concept was met with widespread 

criticism from fans, players, 

managers and pundits and 

Rummenigge has revealed that he 

has been asked by UEFA president 

Aleksander Ceferin to help unite the 

football world again. 

'Bayern didn't win, nor 

Rummenigge, but real football. The 

one we are all in love with,' he told 

Tuttosport. 

'I'm known for being a man of dialogue 

and not of war. So the president 

of UEFA, Ceferin, asked me to 

give him a hand in order to solve 

the problems and start again after 

very difficult days for the world of 

football. 

'I would immediately bring back 

happiness, harmony and loyalty to 

the whole world of football. Unfortu- 

By John Egbokhan 

ootball youngster, Pascal Iheme, 

Fhas revealed he was ready to drop his engineering 

career to pursue his football dream with a professional 

club in Europe 

Iheme, a second year Civil Engineering 

undergraduate of Yaba College of Technology, said his 

romance with football started many years ago when he 

started playing football as a kid with his mates on the 

streets of Owerri, Imo State. 

Speaking in an interview with Sports Vanguard, the 

20 year-old supporting striker recalled how his passion 

for football grew in secondary school, where he 

captained his school team to win several competitions. 

According to Pascal Iheme, ''I attended Arah 

Secondary school in Owerri and I played well and later 

became the Games prefect. I won some trophies with 

my school. I was the captain of the team and it was fun 

playing as a supporting striker. I can also play as a 

striker or holding midfielder, depending on the formation 

and tactical plan of the coach. 

''When I was a kid, I enjoyed playing soccer and as I 

grew, my love for the game became stronger. Now, I 

enjoy the game so much that I can't divorce myself from 

it. I am presently studying Civil Engineering at Yaba 

nately, I don't have it, so we'll have 

to work. 

• Rummenigge 

•Cerefin 

I will dump my engineering career for 

football —Pascal Iheme 

College of Technology'', added Iheme. 

When asked if he was going to give up his engineering career 

to pursue his soccer career, Iheme said, ''yes because football is 

my first love and I am convinced I will succeed in it''. 

In order to stay active in football while studying engineering at 

Yaba College of Technology, Iheme trains regularly with Juventus 

Football Academy at the FIFA Legacy Pitch, National Stadium, 

Lagos. 

''I came to Lagos about two and half years ago when I got 

admission into Yaba College of Technology. Even through 

combining academic work and sports has been challenging, I have 

created time to keep my football dream alive by training with 

Juventus Football Academy. I also train at times in my school 

because I want to make something out of playing professional 

football'', said Iheme. 

The youngster is aware that the road to football stardom has 

rough edges but insisted he was ready to pay the sacrifice to turn 

his dream into reality like his role model, Portuguese and Juventus 

star, Cristiano Ronaldo. 

''Ronaldo means everything to me. He is a delight to watch. He 

is my role model. His fitness level is unbelievable. I see myself in 

him and I want to be like him'', said Iheme, who is also fond of 

retired Eagles forward, Odion Ighalo. 

''My father is a strong source of support to me and I thank him 

for helping me this far and my only message to him is that I 

would not fail him'', he said. 

nglish Premier League side 

EChelsea, their legendary players 

John Terry and Petr Cech have 

sent birthday greetings to John Obi 

Mikel, who celebrated his 34th 

birthday today, Thursday, April 22. 

Mikel proved to be a top signing 

for the Blues, who paid Manchester 

United and Lyn Oslo compensation 

to bring him to Stamford 

Bridge in 2006 after a bitter transfer 

dispute. 

The defensive midfielder was on 

the books of Chelsea for ten and a 

half seasons, totaling 372 appearances 

in all competitions and scoring 

six goals. 

The former Nigeria captain was 

part of the Chelsea squads that won 

a Champions League crown, the 

Europa League, two Premier 

League titles, two League Cups 

and four FA Cups. 

Writing on Instagram, Chelsea 

posted : "Have a great birthday, 

@Mikel_John_Obi! ?? #CFC 

#Chelsea". 

The post has been liked by 

113,287 Instagram users, including 

Mikel, and drew reactions from ex- 

Chelsea captain John Terry and 

former goalkeeper Petr Cech. 

Replying to the post, Cech said : 

"Happy 

birthday 

????@Mikel_John_Obi". 

Terry added : "Happy Birthday 

@mikel_john_obi Love ya geez ??". 

•Pascal Iheme

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021—31

Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER 

ACROSS 

1 Secret (4-4) 

6 Public transport vehicle (3) 

9 Brink (5) 

10 Acrobat (7) 

11 Nullified (7) 

13 Gloss (5) 

14 Aromatic spice (6) 

15 Tightly clinging shellfish (6) 

18 Travel by car (5) 

20 Mean, medium (7) 

21 soon (7) 

22 By oneself (5) 

23 The sun (3) 

24 Late afternoon church service (8) 

DOWN 

2 Vertical (7) 

3 Gardening tool (3) 

4 Messy (6) 

5 English county (9) 

6 Beautiful girl (5) 

7 Fortified (12) 

8 Formal wear (7,5) 

12 As a result (9) 

16 Group of soldiers (7) 

17 Hang loosely (6) 

19 Perfect (5) 

22 Dolt (3) 

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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23042021 - Insecurity: Our nation is bleeding now — DEFENCE MINISTER

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