05052021 - Anguished parents protest at NASS, accuse FG of neglect

Politics, 

morals and 

law (2) 

Presidency warns over alleged 

plot to overthrow Buhari's govt 

Atiku calls for total war on terror, FG to cut personnel 

25 

asks FG to recall ex-soldiers 

9 costs, merge MDAs 

2021 BUDGET: 316 projects worth N39.5bn duplicated – BudgiT 

9 

8 

19 

VOL. 27: NO. 64328 WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021 

KIDNAPPED AFAKA 29, GREENFIELD 16 STUDENTS: 

Anguished parents protest at 

NASS, accuse FG of neglect 

5 

•One abducted Greenfield varsity student freed after parents paid N20m ransom•Parents of Afaka 

29 students protest plight of their children at NASS•Accuse FG, Kaduna govt of negligence •Parents 

look hopeless, depend on National Assembly — REPS•FG, KDSG working together to secure Kaduna 

varsity students’ freedom – LAI MOHAMMED•Allow more time for negotiation, don't kill them, 

NAPTAN pleads•If you've better solution than ransom, put it to work — SHEHU SANI 

Gunmen kill 3, injure 6 in Kaduna, Plateau villages 

UNION BANK’S AGM... 

6 

Union Bank’s Chief Financial Officer, Joe Mbulu; Head Retail Banking and 

Digital, Lola Cardoso, Chief Executive Officer, Emeka Okonkwo; Board Chair, 

Beatrice Hamza Bassey; Company Secretary, Somuyiwa Sonubi; Non-Executive 

Director, Paul Kokoricha and Non-Executive Director, Emeka Ogbechie at the 

Bank’s 52nd Annual General Meeting which held in Lagos, yesterday. 

Prosecuting kidnappers, bandits 

not FG’s job — LAI MOHAMMED 

Gov Sule to herders, Tiv farmers: 

Killings may overwhelm my 

administration, if … 

COLUMNISTS OCHEREOME 16 FASAN 17 DEAR BUNMI 29 

27 

11 

Mr & Mrs

2 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021 — 3


vanguardnews 

@vanguardnews 

@vanguardnews 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MAY 5 , 2021 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

From left, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; President Muhammadu Buhari; 

National Security Adviser, retired Maj.-Gen Babagana Monguno and Chief 

of Defence Staff, Gen Lucky Irabor during a security meeting at the 

Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday. PHOTO:NAN 

Anguished parents protest at 

NASS, accuse FG of neglect 

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor, 

Adesina Wahab, Levinus Nwabughiogu, 

Luminous Jannamike & Ibrahim Hassan 

ABUJA — One of 

the abducted 

students of 

Greenfield University in 

Kaduna State has been 

released by the abductors. 

The kidnappers had 

threatened yesterday to 

eliminate the remaining 17 

of the students in their 

custody should their 

parents fail to pay them 

N100 million ransom, in 

addition to 10 motorcycles. 

Although the police and 

government authorities are 

yet to confirm the 

development, mother of 

the student, Lauritta 

Attahiru confirmed the 

release of her son yesterday 

but failed to disclose 

whether ransom was paid 

before his release. 

A source close to the 

family, however, said N20 

million was paid for the 

student to be released. 

These developments 

came on a day parents of 

the remaining 29 students 

abducted from the Federal 

College of Forestry 

Mechanisation and those of 

Greenfield Varsity students 

stormed the National 

Assembly complex to 

protest the plight of their 

children in kidnappers’ 

den. 

But the House of 

Representatives said 

parents of the abducted 

students depended on the 

National Assembly to 

rescue their wards from 

captivity. 

This is even as the 

Minister of Information and 

Culture, Alhaji lai 

Mohammed, said 

yesterday that both the 

federal and Kaduna State 

governments were working 

assiduously to ensure the 

release of the remaining 

students of Greenfield 

University, who had been 

in the captivity of their 

abductors since last month. 

Also, Shehu Sani, former 

Kaduna senator, said 

yesterday that it is 

dangerous for the state 

government to do nothing 

about rescuing the 

abducted students of 

Greenfield University. 

Anguish, as 

abductors release 

1 Greenfield 

student, hold on 

to 16 

However, some of the 


varsity students also 

confirmed that the student 

was released on Saturday 

after his mother, wife of a 

retired Army officer from 

Plateau State negotiated 

and paid ransom to the 

bandits privately before 

they released her son. 

The parents had earlier 

said the bandits had been 

negotiating with them 

individually, asking each of 

them to pay as high as N20 

million, before they 

eventually demanded a 

bulk of N100 million and 

ten motorcycles on 

Monday, May 3. 

They appealed to the 

government and Nigerians 

to come to their aid, so their 

children could be rescued 

alive from the hands of their 

abductors. 

With the release of the 

student, the fate of the 

remaining 16 students 

hangs in the balance, even 

as the bandits threatened 

to kill them if their parents 

and government fail to pay 

the N100 million ransom 

and also provide ten new 

motorcycles. 

At press time yesterday, 

it couldn’t be ascertained if 

the bandits will carry out 

their threat. 

Parents of 29 

abducted Afaka 

students, 

Greenfield varsity 

protest at NASS 

Similarly, parents of the 

remaining 29 students 

abducted from the Federal 

College of Forestry 

Mechanisation and the 17 

undergraduates forcibly 

taken away from the 

Greenfield University, both 

in Kaduna State, 

yesterday stormed the 

National Assembly 

complex to protest the 

continued stay of their 

childen in the bandits’ den. 

They were joined in the 

protest by Publisher of 

Sahara Reporters, 

Omoyele Sowore, and 

rights’ activist, Deji 

Adeyanju. 

Members of the Students 

Union Governments, 

SUGs, of the schools also 

took part in the protest. 

Dressed in black, the 

demonstrators gathered at 

the Unity Fountain at 

about 9:15 am before 

marching through Shehu 

Shagari way to the National 

Assembly complex over 

what they described as the 

negligence of the Kaduna 

State and the Federal 

Government in securing 

the release of their children. 

The main entrance of the 

National Assembly was, 

however, manned by 

security agents who denied 

the protesters entrance. 

Chanting solidarity songs 

and displaying placards to 

express 

their 

disappointment with the 

manner government had 

handled the abduction of 

the students, the protesters 

also demanded for 

compensation from the 

Forestry Research Institute 

of Nigeria for all the 10 

Afaka students released so 

far by the bandits to take 

care of their needs and 

health challenges. 

Their placards bore 

inscription such as: ‘Safe 

education is our right’; 

‘#BringBackOurStudents’, 

‘Free Afaka 29, Free 

Greenfield 17!’, among 

others. 

‘Govt hasn’t done 

enough’ 

Speaking to journalists 

during the protest, one of 

the parents, Mr. Odibe, 

said: “We are here today 

because we feel 

abandoned and worried 

that after 55 days of the 

abduction of our children, 

the government has not 

done enough to rescue 

them. 

“As of today, there is no 

inkling of hope from any 

government quarters, 

suggesting any time for the 

release of our children. My 

son is the only one I have. 

I don’t have a husband, I’m 

a widow.” 

The frustrated parents 

also sought the 

intervention of the federal 

lawmakers to query the 

Minister of Environment, 

whose ministry oversees 

the affairs of the Forestry 

Research Institute of 

Nigeria, which in turn 

oversees the affairs of Afaka 

College where their 

children were abducted. 

In his speech, Adeyanju 

lamented the silence of the 

government over the 

ultimatum given by the 

bandits holding 17 students 

of the Greenfield varsity as 

captives. 

“The government has not 

said anything about the 

ultimatum given by the 

abductors of the Greenfield 

University students. Those 

students may be killed 

today (yesterday), if 

nothing is done to rescue 

Continues on Page 27 

By Yinka Latona 

On face-off between Presidency and Mbaka over state of the nation 

My question is: 

does Father 

Mbaka have to call for 

impeachment when he 

knows the role he 

played in bringing this 

calamity upon Nigeria? 

Rewinding the role he 

played will have a faster 

result than the process 

of impeachment. 

—Funmilola 

Adesegun, 

Businesswoman 

I 

could remember 

how this Catholic 

minister convinced the 

whole East to vote for 

Buhari. 

Does it mean God 

lied to him? Politicians 

will always use most 

religious leaders like 

tissue paper and later 

discard them into the 

waste bin. 

—Obasanya Abosede, 

Caterer 

In my opinion, Father 

Mbaka has not 

derailed from whatever 

he said in the past. He 

has been consistent. 

I could remember in 

one of his messages 

when he said he will 

also criticize Mr. 

President if he fails to do 

the right thing or if he is 

not doing well. 

—Damilola Harley, 

Corper 

Calling on President 

Muhammadu 

Buhari to either resign or 

be impeached because of 

the current challenges is 

ungodly. Father Mbaka 

should not, however, 

take his luck too far 

because there is a lot to 

tell the Vatican and the 

Pope about his person 

and his sources of 

inspiration. 

—Fasina Temitope, 

Evangelist 

I 

wonder if Father 

Mbaka no longer 

trusts in his faith 

anymore. Also, I 

believe Father 

Mbaka was just 

being unduly 

slandered; after all, 

he has the right to 

change his mind at 

anytime. 

—Adeola John, 

Student 

In my opinion, the 

cheap smears 

anyone throws at the 

Rev. Father cannot 

change the fact that he 

is speaking against 

injustice and killings in 

the land. 

It will be better for us 

to get the message and 

do away with politics. 

—Taiwo Isaac, 

Journalist

6 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021 

PROTEST: Parents of the 39 abducted students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka in Kaduna State protesting against nonrelease 

of their children by their abductors at the entrance of the National Assembly in Abuja, yesterday. Photos: Gbemiga Olamikan. 

Truck crushes 

2 DELSU final 

year students 

By Efe Onodjae 

TEARS flowed freely, yesterday, 

in the university town of Abraka 

as two final year students of the 

Department of Economics, Delta 

State University, DELSU, were 

crushed by a truck that fell on 

them. 

The two students met their 

untimely death at about noon at 

the Abraka roundabout. 

According to eyewitnesses, the 

driver of the truck of a popular 

cement company was trying to 

avoid hitting a motorcyclist when 

the cement he was conveying with 

the truck fell on the victims. 

The identities of the students were 

yet to be made public by the 

management of the institution at 

press time. 

The condition of the driver of the 

truck, which fell on its side, was 

also unknown at press time, as he 

and the motorcyclist were 

reportedly rushed to an 

undisclosed hospital. 

Gunmen kidnap 

journalist in 

Adamawa 

By Umar Yusuf 

Anursing mother and journalist, 

Mrs Amra Diska, was yesterday, 

abducted by gunmen that invaded 

her residence at Mbamba 

community in Yola South Local 

Government Area, Adamawa State 

capital. 

Diska, a News Editor with the 

Adamawa Broadcasting 

Corporation, ABC, it was gathered, 

just resumed work after her maternity 

leave. 

The kidnappers upon their arrival 

at her residence broke into the sitting 

room and gained access into the 

bedroom asking the whereabouts of 

her husband. 

In the absence of the husband, the 

gunmen kidnapped the wife leaving 

behind her six-month-old baby. 

Gunmen in recent times have been 

terrorising the people of Mbamba 

community and Sabon Pegi of 

Doctors Quarters areas in Yola town. 

A source observed that “it appears 

the gunmen came intending to 

kidnap the husband of the journalist 

but since they didn’t meet him, they 

decided to kidnap the nursing 

mother”. 

Confirming the incident, the imagemaker 

of Adamawa State police 

command, Sulaiman Nguroje, said, 

the journalist was abducted at her 

husband’s house at Mbamba 

between the hours of 1:00 am and 

2:00 am, yesterday. 

2 feared killed in Ondo community over 

chieftaincy title 

By Dayo Johnson 

AKURE—TWO persons were 

feared killed in lkare, Akoko 

North-East council area in Ondo State 

over the Okoja chieftaincy title in the 

community. 

Though soldiers have been deployed 

to the community following sporadic 

gunshots across the community, the 

Police said no death was recorded. 

Vanguard gathered that several 

houses and vehicles were torched during 

the crisis, which reportedly started 

•Soldiers deployed to forestall further killings, arson 

Monday. 

One of the deceased was reportedly 

shot dead at Okorun quarters while the 

other was killed at Okeruwa quarters. 

It would be recalled that the Olukare 

of Ikare, Oba Akadiri Saliu Momoh, 

had dethroned the occupier of the seat, 

Chief Idowu Ogunye, for alleged 

absenteeism, disloyalty and refusal to 

obey his directive. 

The monarch relieved the 

appointment of Chief Ogunye with 

effect from January 20, 2021 and 

cautioned him to stop parading himself 

as Olokoja of Okoja. 

But Chief Ogunye, thereafter, joined 

forces with a rival monarch in Ikare- 

Akoko, the late Owa Ale of Ikare, 

Samuel Adedoyin. 

He insisted that he remained the 

Olokoja and described his suspension 

and purported expulsion as illegal and 

strange to the tradition of Ikare Akoko. 

Reports had it that among the houses 

razed include that of the new Okoja, 

Sunday Bada, that of his father and 

another from the opposition camp. 

Addressing newsmen, the new Okoja, 

Mother, Pastor at loggerheads over 

missing daughter 

By Shina Abubakar 

OSOGBO—A mother, Bukola 

Ayeni, yesterday, urged 

concerned authorities to prevail on 

one Pastor Ola John to intensify 

effort in the search of her missing 

18-year-old daughter. 

According to the woman, her 

daughter, Rauf Mariam, has been 

missing for over a month while the 

pastor, with whom she lived since 

2019, is not showing enough 

concern. 

She added that the girl was 

allowed to live in the church 

because it is located at Arogunmase 

area of Oke-Baale, Osogbo, where 

they also live and as part of a 

condition to heal her of bedwetting. 

She said: “My daughter went to 

school, Baptist Girls Secondary 

School, on the said day, March 29, 

2021, till this moment I have neither 

seen nor heard from her. 

“She was living with Pastor John 

in the church since 2019 because 

she bed-wets as a teenager and a 

friend directed me to the pastor. 

After narrating her situation, he 

advised me to allow her to be 

sleeping in the church. We allowed 

her since it is within Arogunmase. 

“She only comes home to change 

her dress and eat before going to 

school. She spent most of her time 

at the church and the hair salon, 

where she is undergoing training. 

“Sometime this year, my husband 

said she should relocate to the 

house since she no longer bedwets, 

I told the pastor to allow her to come 

back home but he said she has to 

spend more time in the church. I 

recalled that on two occasions that 

she slept at home, she seems to be 

in trance at night and we allowed 

her to return to the church. 

“I want the entire world to come 

to my rescue, it is over a month now 

and the pastor seems not to care, I 

have not seen or hear from her.” 

However, Pastor John said he was 

Mariam: Missing. 

not aware of the girl’s whereabouts, 

adding that he had reported the 

matter to the police at Oke-Baale 

area of the state. 

He said: “I have been making 

frantic efforts to locate the girl. 

However, one of her friends 

confided in me that she intended 

to run to the Eastern part of the 

country to hawk herbs with the 

help of her boss at the hair salon. 

“I offered to help her while in 

trouble, I cannot just be staying 

back now that she is missing. I have 

also asked many people to be on 

the lookout while I keep probing 

whether her boss was truly 

involved in her running away from 

home.” 

Gunmen kill 3, injure 6 in Kaduna, 

Plateau villages 

By Marie-Therese 

Nanlong & Ibrahim 

HassanWuyo 

JOS—ALLEGED plan to cart away 

livestock belonging to one Dakup 

Ntiem went awry as the intruders 

abandoned the plan and rather shot 

and killed the livestock owner and 

injured his pregnant wife, Blessing. 

Since the incident, which occurred 

on midnight of April 28, 2021, Blessing, 

who has not been discharged after 

receiving treatment in a health facility, 

has been inconsolable as she ponders 

how she would raise her three kids and 

the baby she is carrying without her 

husband. 

Blessing, an orphan, got married to 

Dakup in 2011 and both have been 

working hard to raise their family until 

the tragedy. All she is demanding is for 

justice to be served as four suspects have 

so far been apprehended. 

A family member, who preferred 

anonymity, said the suspects surrounded 

the house, some were at the cowshed 

and one, who was by the deceased’s 

widow, demanded that he should come 

out. 

As Dakup Ntiem delayed in coming 

out, the intruder barged into his home 

in Pangkai, a hamlet under Lalin village 

in Mikang Local Government Area 

of Plateau State, dragged him out and 

shot him at close range while they hit 

the wife with clubs, knocking off her 

teeth and leaving her unconscious. 

The attackers fled from the scene 

believing both were dead but the timely 

response by relatives saved the wife as 

she was rushed to a clinic in Garkawa, 

a nearby village where she was revived, 

treated and discharged. 

As the late Dakup will be buried today, 

the state Police Command through the 

Police Public Relations Officer, ASP 

Gabriel Uba, has confirmed the arrest 

of some suspects, adding that an 

investigation has begun. 

Meanwhile, two persons were 

reportedly killed and six injured in 

separate attacks by bandits in Kaduna 

State Monday. 

Revealing this, yesterday, the state 

Commissioner of Home Affairs and 

Home Security, Samuel Aruwan, said 

the bandits that invaded Mazari, a 

community close to Buruku in Chikun 

Local Government Area, killed one 

Mariya Sale while three others were 

injured. 

In another reported attack in Doka 

village, Kajuru LGA, one Bitrus Luka 

was shot dead. 

Chief Sunday Bada, said: “We were 

holding our every nine days 

community’s meeting when some 

hoodlums came to disrupt it, which 

led to fracas. 

“I want to thank the security 

operatives for their uprightness in 

handling the situation. I call on wellmeaning 

indigenes of Okoja and Ikare 

to prevail on Baba Idowu Ogunye, the 

dethroned Olokoja, to stop bringing 

hoodlums and thugs to Okoja to allow 

peace to reign." 

Contacted, the other party alleged 

that the dethroned Okoja was attacked 

by thugs sponsored by the new Okoja. 

Chief Ogunye alleged that a meeting 

called by him was disrupted by the 

sponsored thugs. He accused those 

loyal to Chief Bada as the cause of the 

crisis in the town since Monday. 

Contacted, the state Police 

Command image-maker, Tee Leo 

Ikoro, said there was no death recorded 

as being rumoured. The spokesperson 

said he could not confirm the casualties 

recorded during the crisis. 

Accident claims 

6 lives on 

Sagamu-Benin 

expressway 

By James Ogunnaike 

ABEOKUTA —Six persons, 

yesterday, lost their lives while 

four others sustained injuries in an 

auto crash involving three vehicles 

around Ajede Ogbere in-between 

Ijebu Ode -Ore, on the Sagamu - 

Benin expressway. 

The Ogun State Sector 

Commander, Federal Road Safety 

Corps, FRSC, Mr Ahmed Umar, 

confirmed the incident to newsmen 

in Abeokuta, the Ogun State 

capital. 

The sector commander said the 

accident involved a Mazda bus with 

number plate, JJJ 862 XV; a Toyota 

Sienna with number plate, KRD 306 

BJ, and a Mercedes Benz, a luxury 

bus, with number plate, AGL 05 

XZ. 

He added that a total of 39 people 

were involved in the accident, 

comprising 25 male adults and 14 

female adults, six persons were 

recorded dead (five men and one 

woman). 

He said: “The suspected causes 

of the multiple crash were wrongful 

overtaking and excessive speed on 

the part of the luxury bus driver, 

which led to the loss of control. The 

luxury bus hit the incoming Sienna 

bus and the Mazda bus. 

“Immediately, the driver ran away 

because all the occupants in the 

Sienna vehicle lost their lives while 

those in the Mazda bus sustained 

injuries.“

Vanguard, , WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021 — 7 

:Vanguard :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 

Social Media Conversation 

FUNERAL—From left: Former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi; renowned writer, 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Dr. Ivara Eseghe, during the funeral of Adichie's 

mother, Grace Adichie, in Abba, Anambra State. 

Baba Ijesha to face sexual assault, 

defilement charges —Lagos AG 

By Henry Ojelu 

LAGOS—LAGOS 

State 

Government, yesterday, 

recommended five sexual assault 

and defilement charges against 

Nollywood actor, James 

Olanrewaju, popularly known as 

Baba Ijesha. 

A statement by the state's 

Attorney-General and 

Commissioner for Justice, 

Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, 

stated that after due consideration 

of the case file forwarded to the 

Directorate of Public Prosecutions, 

DPP, by the Police on April 30, 

2021, a prima facie case was 

established against Baba Ijesha. 

Onigbanjo stated that Baba 

Ijesha will be charged under the 

following provisions of the 

Criminal Law of Lagos State, 

2015: Section 135, Indecent 

Treatment of a Child, punishable 

by seven years imprisonment; 

Section 137, Defilement of a 

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: 664 wives, 89 husbands 

violated within 17 months —Lagos govt 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

LAGOS—LAGOS 


Government said, yesterday, 

that at least 664 wives and 89 

husbands in Lagos were violated 

over gender-based domestic 

violence cases within the past 17 

months in the state. 

The Commissioner for Women 

By Rotimi Ojomoyela 

A 

D O - E K I T I — 

INDICATIONS emerged, 

yesterday, that former Ekiti State 

governor, Ayodele Fayose, may 

have ditched a governorship aspirant on 

the platform of the People’s Democratic 

Party, PDP, Segun Oni, who is vying for 

the 2022 governorship position, in favour 

of the incumbent PDP state Chairman, 

Bisi Kolawole, as his preferred candidate 

for the impending election. 

Kolawole, a former House of Assembly 

member, who represented Efon 

constituency, was, on Tuesday, officially 

unveiled to Fayose’s supporters across 

the 177 wards, to prepare a solid ground 

for his emergence in the primary. 

With this development, it was clear 

Child, punishable by life 

imprisonment; Section 261, 

Sexual Assault by Penetration, 

punishable by life imprisonment; 

Section 262, Attempted Sexual 

Assault by Penetration, 

punishable by 14 years 

imprisonment, and Section 263, 

Sexual Assault, punishable by 

three years imprisonment. 

The statement reads: “It would 

be recalled that the Nigeria Police 

Force arrested Olanrewaiu James 

(also referred to as Baba Ijesha) 

on account of various sexual 

abuse allegations. On April 30, 

2021, the Police forwarded the 

case file of COP vs Olanrewaju 

James to the Directorate of Public 

Prosecutions, DPP, for legal 

advice. 

“After due consideration of the 

facts in the case file, the 

Directorate of Public Prosecutions 

issued legal advice on the 4th of 

May, 2021, which is to the effect 

that a prima facie case has been 

Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, 

WAPA, Cecilia Dada, stated this 

during ministerial press briefing 

commemorating the second year 

in office of the Babajide Sanwo- 

Olu administration, held at 

Alausa in Ikeja, Lagos. 

Dada stated this, while 

commenting on the ongoing 

sexual assault case against the 

Ekiti 2022: Fayose ditches Oni, 

backs Kolawole as gov candidate 

that Fayose has withdrawn his support 

from the aspiration of former 

governor Oni, whom he had earlier 

pledged to support. 

Oni recently returned to the PDP, after 

serving as the National Deputy 

Chairman, South, of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC. 

PDP bigwigs present at the unveiling 

of Kolawole as Fayose’s anointed 

candidate were a former House of 

Representatives member from Ogun 

State, Ladi Adebutu; former PDP South- 

West Zonal Chairman, Dr. Eddy Olafeso; 

Ogun State PDP Chairman, Sikirukahi 

Ogundele; former Ekiti Senatorial 

Candidate, Kayode Alufa, among others. 

Fayose described Kolawole as a bridgebuilder, 

who can usher in a better future 

for Ekiti and the party. 

disclosed against Mr. 

Oianrewaju James and 

recommended he be charged 

“Whilst the State would ensure 

that Mr. Olanrewaju James’ 

rights, as enshrined in the 

Constitution, are upheld, the 

Ministry of Justice would not 

relent in its efforts in ensuring that 

whoever sexually abuses any 

resident of Lagos State is speedily 

brought to book. 

“It is instructive to note that the 

Lagos State Ministry of Justice 

has been consistent in its efforts 

in protecting the vulnerable in our 

society and since the 

establishment of the Domestic and 

Sexual Violence Response Team 

in 2014, it has till date prosecuted 

over 800 cases of Sexual and 

Domestic offenses. 

The Attorney-General, hereby, 

assures Lagosians and indeed 

Nigerians that, in accordance with 

the DPP’s advise, charges would 

be filed accordingly.” 

popular Nollywood actor, 

Olarenwaju Omiyinka, popularly 

called Baba Ijesha, and similar 

cases in the state. 

She, however, said the case of 

Baba Ijesha is being handled by 

the relevant ministries in the state 

to ensure justice is delivered in 

the case. 

Dada said: “The issue of 

domestic violence cases in the 

state has been unfortunate. In 

2020, 46 husbands and 378 

housewives reported cases of 

abuse against them which the 

state government intervened. 

“While 286 women and 43 men 

reported cases of domestic 

violence between January and 

April 2021.” 

On the training programmes by 

the ministry, the commissioner 

stated that there had been 

positive feedback on all the 

programmes offered at its Skills 

Acquisition Centres, either Short- 

Term, Medium-term and Longterm 

empowerment initiatives on 

different skills, stressing that the 

graduate trainees from the 

government’s skills acquisition 

centres across the state are now 

contributing to the economic growth of 

the state, as employers of labour. 

...Is there food for the rest of us?! 

Borrowed money in Naira, paying in Dollars! 

The fashion designer and his model!


:Vanguard 

News 

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

FG to cut personnel costs, 

merge MDAs 

By Emma Ujah 

ABUJA — Worried by 

persistent low revenue, 

the federal government is to 

cut personnel cost and merge 

Ministries, Departments and 

Agencies, MDAs, where possible. 

The Minister of Finance, 

Budget and National Planning, 

Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, 

gave this indication at the ongoing 

‘National Policy Dialogue 

on Corruption and Cost 

of Governance in Nigeria’ 

held in Abuja, yesterday. The 

programme was organised 

by the Independent Corrupt 

Practice Commission, ICPC. 

According to her, the government 

will also remove 

some items from the budget, 

going forward, to reduce government 

expenditure. The 

minister, who noted that current 

government spending had 

become imperative, said: “We 

still see government expenditure 

increase to a terrain twice 

higher than our revenue. 

“We need to work together, 

all agencies of the government 

to cut down our cost. We 

need to cut down unnecessary 

expenditures, expenditures 

that we can do without. “Our 

budgets are filled year in year 

out with projects that we see 

over and over again and also 

projects that are not necessary. 

“Mr President has directed 

that the salaries committee 

that I chair, work together with 

the Head of Service and other 

members of the committee to 

review the government pay 

rolls in terms of stepping down 

on cost.” 

Mrs. Ahmed said that for 

agencies with the same mandate, 

the government would 

look at “how to merge the 

two.” The Steve Oronsaye 

Committee on restructuring 

of government MDAs had 

submitted its report for many 

years but the report has not 

been implemented due to lack 

of political will. In his remarks, 

the Chairman of the 

ICPC, Mr. Bolaji Owasanoye, 

identified the cost of governance 

as a major “driver of 

corruption in Nigeria.” 

He said that “payroll padding” 

and the “phenomenon 

of ghost workers” were clear 

cases of corruption and factor 

of high Personnel cost in 

MDAs. 

Don’t hoist unnecessary flag in Rivers, we aren’t part of 

you, Wike tells IPOB, others 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT-HARCOURT — 

The governor of Rivers 

State, Nyesom Wike, has 

warned secessionist groups 

not to hoist unnecessary flags 

in his state, noting that the 

state is not part of such struggles 

The governor also advised 

those riding on the hospitality 

of the state to move their secessionist 

agenda and activities 

elsewhere. 

Wike, who gave the warning 

in a statement by his Special 

Assistant on Media, Kelvin 

Ebiri, after traditional rulers, 

political and opinion leaders 

of Ekpeye nationality, paid a 

solidarity visit at Government 

House, Port Harcourt, yester- 

By Kingsley Omonobi 

ABUJA —The acting In 

spector General of Police, 

Usman Alkali Baba, has 

ordered the posting of Abutu 

Yaro as Imo State new police 

commissioner. 

CP Frank Mba, Force Public 

Relations Officer, in a statement 

yesterday, said: “The 

posting of the new CP is in furtherance 

of efforts by the Police 

leadership towards 

strengthening security, tackling 

violent crimes and enhancing 

optimal coordination 

of policing operations 

within the state. 

“CP Abutu Yaro, a fellow of 

the National Defence College 

and the immediate-past 

Commissioner of Police, 

Zamfara State Command, is 

an operationally-minded cop. 

“By this new development, 

Abutu Yaro takes over from 

CP Nasiru Mohammed who 

has been redeployed to Western 

Port Authority, Lagos. 

“In the same vein, Zamfara 

State Police Command now 

has a new Commissioner of 

Police. He is CP Hussaini 

day, said his administration 

would not leave any stone unturned 

in protecting the state 

and its people against those 

who think they could annex 

the state by dragging it into 

their separatist agenda. He 

said: “Rivers State does not 

belong to any other place. It is 

an autonomous State. Nobody 

in other State can come 

and tell us that we are with 

them. No! 

South East Security: IGP posts CP Abutu Yaro 

to Imo command, redeploys 5 others 

Rabiu. “Other Commissioners 

of Police affected by the new 

posting and redeployment are: 

CP John Amadi who has been 

posted from Western Port Authority, 

Lagos to Airport Police 

Command, Ikeja, Lagos. 

“CP Anderson Bankole who 

is now in charge of the Police 

Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), 

Ikoyi, Lagos; and CP Joe 

Nwachukwu Enwonwu, posted 

to the Department of Finance 

and Administration 

(DFA), Force Headquarters, 

Abuja as the Commissioner of 

Police, DFA. 

“So, I will not allow anybody 

to enter this state to tell 

us that we are part of them. 

We will do everything we can 

to protect the interest of our 

state. We are a friendly people. 

We will allow anybody to 

come here and do business. 

But nobody should go beyond 

doing business to hoist unnecessary 

flag here. We will not 

take it.” 

The governor advised Ekpeye 

people not to leave anything 

to chance anymore, but 

be vigilant to know what happens 

around and within their 

communities. 

Wike, who blamed failure 

of parents to inculcate moral 

values and discipline in their 

children for the prevailing social 

vices in the society, urged 

the leaders of Ekpeye nationality 

to collaborate with government 

to tackle the menace 

of kidnapping and other criminal 

activities in both Ahoada 

West and Ahoada East Local 

Government Areas. 

Azman Air resumes operation as NCAA lifts 

suspension 

By Godfrey Bivbere 

LAGOS — The Nigerian 

Civil Aviation Authority 

(NCAA), has lifted the ban on 

Azman Air Services Limited, 

following a satisfactory asafety 

audit and implementation 

of corrective action plan recommended 

by the regulatory 

body. 

This was disclosed in a statement 

on the official twitter 

handle of the company. 

The NCAA had suspended 

the operation of all the Boeing 

737 aircraft in the fleet of 

the airlines, pursuant to Section 

35 (2) of the Civil Aviation 

Act, 2006 and Part 1.3.3.3 

(A) of the Nigeria Civil Aviation 

Regulations (Nig.CARs). 

The airlines stated: “We are 

pleased to inform the general 

public that the suspension is 

hereby lifted. This was confirmed 

in a meeting held between 

the management of 

Azman Air and NCAA on 

May 1, 2021. 

“Our profound appreciation 

goes to the Director General 

of NCAA, Capt Musa Nuhu, 

for his tremendous support to 

ensuring we remain on the 

right track when it comes to 

safety. Azman Air management 

wishes to extend its deepest 

gratitude to the Minister 

of Aviation; Alhaji Hadi Sirika, 

industry stakeholders, 

eminent personalities and the 

press for their unwavering assistance 

towards this meritorious 

achievement. 

“The underlying purpose of 

this journey is safety and we 

can assure the general public 

that it is the beginning of a new 

experience as we remain committed 

to raising the standard 

when it comes to the safety of 

crew, equipment and passengers.” 

It would be recalled that the 

Director General of the 

NCAA, Captain Nuhu Musa, 

said the CAA’s responsibility 

and duty to guide and work 

with the operators and assist 

them to ensure they were in 

compliance with our regulations.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021 — 9 

:Vanguard News 


BRIEFING: From left: Mrs Oluyemi Kalesanwo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty 

Allevation, Mrs. Cecilia Bolaji Dada, Commissioner of Women Affairs and Poverty Allevation, briefing the 

press on activities of the Ministry and Mr. Sina Thorpe, Perm Sec, Ministry of Information and Strategy, during 

the Y2021 ministerial press briefing of the Ministry of Science and Technology to commemorate second year in 

Office of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration, at the Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, yesterday. 

Presidency warns over alleged plot 

to overthrow Buhari’s govt 

•Says it’s ready to ruffle unruly feathers 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A Presidency BUJA—THE 

yesterday 

warned that it will deal decisively 

with any group that does 

anything to undermine the 

democratically elected 

government and efforts to keep 

the country together, even if 

some unruly feathers would be 

ruffled in the process. 

In a statement issued by the 

Special Adviser to the President 

on Media and Publicity, Chief 

Femi Adesina, in Abuja, the 

Presidency alleged that some 

persons had planned to hold an 

illegal conference where vote of 

no confidence would be passed 

on President Muhammadu 

Buhari. 

It further said that some highly 

placed individuals in 

collaboration with some religious 

leaders and their foreign elements 

were working hard to undermine 

the sovereignty and corporate 

existence of the country. 

Reacting to the alert earlier 

raised by the Department of State 

Services, DSS, the 

Presidency said Nigerians 

opted for democratic rule, 

adding that the only accepted 

way to change a 


government should be 

through elections. 

The statement read: “The 

Department of State Services, 

DSS, on Sunday alerted on 

sinister moves by misguided 

elements to wreak havoc on the 

government, sovereignty and 

corporate existence of the 

country. 

“Championed by some 

disgruntled religious and past 

political leaders, the intention is 

to eventually throw the country 

into a tailspin, which would 

compel a forceful and 

undemocratic change of 

leadership. 

“Further unimpeachable 

Atiku calls for total war on terror, asks 

FG to recall ex-soldiers 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

FORMER Vice President, 

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has 

asked the Federal Government 

to recall and mobilise all former 

soldiers willing to join the fight 

against insurgency. 

In a series of tweets yesterday, 

Abubakar said the security 

situation in the country kept 

worsening and Nigerians living 

in fear. 

Atiku, who noted that no part 

of the country, including farms, 

markets, schools, homes, 

churches, mosques, was safe, 

said: “Terrorists are spreading 

their areas of operation beyond 

the Northeast, into far-flung 

areas as far as Niger State in the 

North-Central. That is merely 

hours from our Federal Capital.” 

“Now is the time for decisive 

leadership and I call on the 

Federal Government to consider 

recalling all ex-servicemen and 

women, who are willing to return 

to service, and take the fight to 

the insurgents until they are 

rolled back and defeated. 

“As a former vice-chairman of 

the National Security Council, I 

am aware that Nigeria has a 

sizeable population of military 

veterans, who are alive, and were 

trained locally and 

internationally, and it serves no 

purpose to allow these valuable 

national assets lie fallow when 

there is an existential threat to 

our nation. 

“Call them up immediately, 

mobilise them to the field. The 

time has come for us to put in all 

our efforts and stamp out this 

menace from our nation. 

“The men and women of 

Nigeria’s armed forces, whether 

serving or retired, who restored 

peace to Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra 

Leone and São Tomé and 

Príncipe can and should be used 

to do the same in their 

motherland.” 

He asked the Federal 

Government to look for an 

efficient way of sourcing for and 

delivering arms and ammunition 

to troops at the battlefront. 

“A situation where terrorists 

and criminals are better armed 

than our troops on the battlefront 

is intolerable. We need to 

urgently improve the conditions 

of service of the men and women 

of our armed forces. And not just 

the government,” he said. 

Speaking on the welfare of the 

armed forces, the former vice 

president advised that troops 

should be properly rewarded as 

this would boost their morale and 

encourage them to fight valiantly. 

He said: “The Federal 

Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, 

working in concert with primary 

mortgage institutions, ought to 

offer the men and women of our 

armed forces special 

concessionary mortgage loans so 

they can own homes. 

“The private sector should also 

be encouraged to offer 

discounted services to them in 

appreciation of their services. 

There is no sacrifice greater than 

to lay down your life for the 

motherland. 

“When our military is properly 

rewarded, they will fight more 

valiantly and gallantly. A nation 

that rewards courage is one that 

avoids outrage.” 

evidence shows that these 

disruptive elements are now 

recruiting the leadership of some 

ethnic groups and politicians 

round the country, with the 

intention of convening some sort 

of conference, where a vote of no 

confidence would be passed on 

the President, thus throwing the 

land into further turmoil. 

“The caterwauling, in recent 

times, by these elements, is to 

prepare the grounds adequately 

for their ignoble intentions, 

which are designed to cause 

further grief for the country. 

“The agent provocateurs hope 

to achieve through artifice and 

sleight of hands, what they failed 

to do through the ballot box in 

the 2019 elections. 

“Nigerians have opted for 

democratic rule, and the only 

accepted way to change a 


government is through elections, 

which hold at prescribed times in 

the country. Any other way is 

patently illegal, and even 

treasonable. Of course, such 

would attract the necessary 

consequences. 

“These discredited individuals 

and groups are also in cahoots 

with external forces to cause 

maximum damage in their own 

country. But the Presidency, 

already vested with 

mandate and authority by 

Nigerians till 2023, pledges 

to keep the country 

together, even if some 

unruly feathers would be 

ruffled in the process.” 

Insecurity: Service chiefs to appear before Senate 

tomorrow 

By Henry Umoru 

A chiefs BUJA—SERVICE 

and heads of 

security agencies will tomorrow 

appear before the Senate to brief 

it on efforts to address the spate 

of insecurity in the country. 

Disclosing this yesterday in 

Abuja, President of the Senate, 

Ahmad Lawan said the 

appearance by the service chiefs 

was in response to a resolution 

by the Senate last week Tuesday, 

wherein it was resolved that the 

service chiefs and other heads of 

security agencies be invited, 

following worsening insecurity 

across states of the federation. 

Lawan explained that the 

service chiefs were unable to 

respond promptly to the invitation 

which was to have been honoured 

yesterday but for security meeting 

that took place at the Presidential 

Villa yesterday, and scheduled to 

end today. 

He noted that in view of the 

development, the security chiefs 

would, therefore, appear before 

the chamber tomorrow. 

Those to appear before the 

Senate are the National Security 

Adviser, NSA, Major Gen 

Babagana Monguno (retd), Chief 

of Defence Staff, General Lucky 

Irabor, Chief of Army Staff; Lt- 

Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of 

Naval Staff; Vice Admiral Awwal 

Zubairu, and Chief of Air Staff, 

Air Marshal Isiaka Amoo. 

Also expected at the meeting 

are the National Security 

Adviser, the Minister of Defence, 

‘Night of Majesty’, a marvelous 

gift to mankind 

THE Night of Majesty or 

Laylatul-Qadr is one 

marvellous gift the Creator, Allah 

(SWT) has given to the Muslim 

Ummah to redeem and renew 

themselves every year of all 

iniquities, attract abundant 

blessings and, of course, change 

their destinies. 

It is the night when the whole 

multitude of angels and the spirit 

(Ruh) descend from heaven unto 

the earth, with tranquility and 

ready to take back our 

supplications, wishes and desires. 

It is the night of unsurpassed 

grandeur when the Qu’ran was 

revealed through angel Gabriel 

(Jubril) into the heart of Prophet 

Muhammad (SAW). It is a night 

of long-lasting blessings. It is a 

night in one whole Islamic year 

that influences or better still 

changes our destinies. 

Even the non-Muslims who 

recognise the power of the night, 

make proper use of the period in 

their own way. In fact, some non- 

Muslim organisations hold their 

power night programme during 

the period. The Muslims who 

know what Allah has given them, 

should make proper use of it, 

prepare for it and explore this rare 

Again, FG warns against attacks 

on firefighters, appliances 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

ABUJA—PEEVED by the 

growing wave of attacks on 

firefighters and firefighting 

appliances, the federal 

government has again warned 

Nigerians against such practices, 

urging them to instead appreciate 

the difficult environment in 

which the personnel operate. 

Controller-General of the 

Federal Fire Service FFS, Dr. 

Liman Alhaji Ibrahim, gave the 

warning in Abuja yesterday, 

while felicitating with all 

firefighters in Nigeria and around 

the world on this year’s 

International Firefighters’ Day 

IFFD. 

Liman, in the statement 

signed by Service Public 

Relations Officer, SF Ugo 

Huan, called on citizens to 

imbibe the attitude of 

appreciating and supporting 

firefighters for sacrifices they 

Gen. Bashir Magashi, the Director- 

General, National Intelligence 

Agency, NIA, Ahmed Rufa’i and 

acting Inspector General of Police, 

IGP, Usman Baba. 

Lawan said: “They were to come 

today at 11 am to brief the Senate 

on the security situation. Today 

the national security council is 

continuing its meeting that it 

started last week. Therefore the 

invited security heads will not be 

able to come for the briefing. 

“We are not sure if they will 

finish their meeting today. We 

assume it could spill to 

Wednesday too. 

“Just like it spilt from 

Thursday to Tuesday. So to 

be on the side of caution. We 

have now fixed the date for 

the briefing to be Thursday.'' 

“I want to appeal to all of us. 

opportunity. 

Those who know never joked 

with the night in the last 10 days 

of Ramadan. There are several 

Tahajuds (night prayers) going on 

every night in and around the 

cities during these last lap of the 

Ramadan fast. 

“Surely We revealed it (the 

Holy Qu’ran) on the Grand 

Night. And what will make you 

comprehend the grand night. The 

Grand Night is better than a 

thousand months. The angels 

and Gabriel descend in it by the 

permission of their Lord for every 

affair, Peace! It is till the break of 

the morning” Holy Quran (97:1- 

5) 

Ṫhe scholars have explained to 

us that Allah, in his infinite 

wisdom had planned the system 

of the universe in such a way 

that every person’s destiny could 

be changed on a yearly basis. 

Allah offered this gesture to 

mankind as a unique opportunity 

to influence his own future. This 

is done by staying awake all 

through the nights of the last ten 

days in prayers and 

supererogatory. The important 

thing at this period is never to 

miss any night till the end of 

Ramadan. We will continue on 

this tomorrow insha Allah. 

make in saving lives and property 

during emergencies. 

The Controller General, who 

expressed sadness at the attitude 

of some citizens who were fond of 

attacking firefighters at fire 

scenes, used the occasion of this 

year’s International Firefighters’ 

Day to call on them to desist from 

the constant attack on 

firefighters and destruction of fire 

trucks at fire scenes. 

According to him, this is 

encouraging to firefighters who 

risk their lives to save lives and 

property. 

Vanguard recalls that the 

International Firefighters’ Day, 

IFFD, is observed on May 4 

annually and was instituted after 

a proposal was emailed across the 

world on January 4, 1999, 

following the deaths of five 

firefighters in tragic 

circumstances in a bushfire in 

Australia. 

The unfortunate incident was 

what inspired JJ Edmondson to 

bring about an international 

holiday, called International 

Firefighters’ Day, to support the 

lives lost and dedicated fire 

fighters who risk their lives every 

day while saving lives and 

property. 

CG Liman specifically eulogized 

the fallen heroes who lost their 

lives in the line of duty, and prayed 

that God will continue to grant 

them eternal rest and give their 

loved ones, the fortitude to bear 

the loss. 

He said while they may have 

transited beyond, they remain 

alive in the hearts of those they 

sacrificed their lives for. 

The Controller General used 

the occasion of the IFFD to 

appreciate Nigerian firefighters at 

the federal, state and private 

sector levels as well as those 

serving and retired for all their 

sacrifices towards ensuring the 

safety of lives and property.


:Vanguard 

News 

Amotekun evicts another 137 

Northerners from Ondo forest 

By Dayo Johnson 

A 

K U R E — 

COMMANDER 

of the Ondo State security 

outfit, codenamed 

Amotekun, Adetunji 

Adeleye, said, yesterday, 

that the outfit evicted 

another 137 Northerners 

from the state's forest 

reserves. 

Those evicted were 

occupying the Elegbeka 

forest reserves along Ifon- 

Owo road. 

Speaking with newsmen 

in Akure, Adeleye said that 

their continued occupation 

of the forest reserve was a 

security threat to the state. 

He said: “We got an 

intelligence report that very 

many people bombarded 

(forests) at Elegbeka–Ifon 

Book launch: ‘How billboard ad 

turned my life around’ 

LAGOS—AUTHOR of 

'Starting Afresh', Dr. 

Patrick Oriyomi, has 

revealed how a billboard he 

sighted on the mainland in 

Lagos State became a 

game-changer and 

launched him into a new 

realm of realities. 

He explained at the 

launch of his book, 'Starting 

Afresh', that it took him 

about 14 months to complete 

the book. 

Speaking on his life 

experience and what 

Labour tackles Ekiti varsity 

over proscription of unions 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA—THE National 

Association of 

Academic Technologists, 

NAAT, yesterday, faulted 

the proscription of union 

activities by the 

management of the Ekiti 

State University, EKSU, 

Ado Ekiti, saying it may 

lead to an industrial crisis 

across the tertiary 

institutions in the country. 

The union insisted that the 

EKSU authority has no 

legal right to proscribe 

unions in the school, noting 

that the academic and nonacademic 

unions are not a 

department of the 

institution, which could be 

summarily shut down. 

The Governing Council of 

EKSU had, last week, 

ordered immediate closure 

of the school and the 

proscription of all the staff 

unions in the institution that 

made up the Joint Action 

Committee. 

But speaking to 

journalists in Abuja the 

NAAT President, Mr. Ibeji 

Nwokoma, said: “The 

National Association of 

Academic Technologists is 

a registered trade union 

and whatever action taken 

by the school authority is 

null and void. We would 

write to the management to 

declare a trade dispute 

which may lead to a 

national strike. Every 

area in the state. 

“We moved in and 

questioned majority of 

them and they said they 

were from the Northern part 

of the country. We asked for 

their mission, they were not 

able to give us a clear cut 

answer of what they were 

here for. 

“We brought some of them 

(to Akure) and their 

sponsors here to the 

headquarters (of Amotekun) for 

proper investigation. 

“We profiled them and we found 

out that they were conniving with 

some persons in Ose to be given 

space for settlement in the 

government’s forest reserve 

which makes them illegal 

occupants in the forests reserve. 

We are sending them back to 

where they claimed they came 

from.” 

turned out to be a major 

setback at that time, 

Oriyomi said: “I lost about 

25 rams in one day to a 

heatwave. 

“You can start afresh at 

any given time. I came 

across a billboard 

somewhere on the 

mainland of Lagos, a long 

time ago, and it changed 

the whole narrative for me. 

“This book is for 

everyone, particularly 

entrepreneurs and 

graduates without jobs.” 

Nigerian has the right to 

participate in union 

activities, so Ekiti State 

University is wrong to have 

proscribed the unions.” 

Nwokoma also 

condemned the rising 

insecurity in the country 

and the abduction and 

killing of students, stressing that 

only the decentralisation of the 

security architecture and 

restructuring of the country could 

address the issues. 

He said, “We are lending our 

voice to the creation of state police. 

The security architecture must be 

rejigged; over-centralisation of 

security has not done the country 

any good,” he submitted. 


INSECURITY: Nigeria drifting towards 

anarchy — Afe Babalola 

....Donates N50m to fund emergency confab 

....As ex-NBTE boss tasks host communities 

to secure schools 

By Rotimi 

Ojomoyela & Shina 

Abubakar 

A DO-EKITI— 

FOUNDER of the Afe 

Babalola University Ado- 

Ekiti, ABUAD, Afe 

Babalola, yesterday, 

lamented the growing 

insecurity bedeviling the 

country, just as he called for 

an urgent national summit, 

where issues relating to the 

peace and stability of the 

country would be 

extensively discussed. 

He said this at the 10th 

Afe Babalola Public Lecture, 

organised by the Ado-Ekiti 

branch of the Nigerian Bar 

Association, NBA, in 

ABUAD. 

Babalola said: “Nowhere 

is safe in the country at the 

moment and it is important 

that stakeholders must 

come together to find lasting 

solutions. I am appealing 

to our own revered Ooni of 

Ife, seated here today, to get 

in touch with all living 

former presidents of the 

country, religious leaders, 

traditional rulers, civil 

society groups and other 

stakeholders to have a 

summit of the leaders, 

which will be tilted: ‘Summit 

of Hope’. 

“The summit will discuss, 

suggest and take positive 

actions to prevent Nigeria 

from drifting into anarchy 

and another civil war. Ooni, 

you have the influence, the 

charisma, the strength to 

convene this summit soon. 

To show my seriousness, I 

hereby donate the sum of 

N50 million to kick start the 

funding of the summit and 

that is without prejudice to 

further donations in the 

future.” 

While he urged lawyers 

to speak against the present 

situation in the country, the 

ABUAD founder warned 

that they would be blamed 

if the situation gets out of 

hand and result in a civil 

war. 

Responding, 

Lagos Assembly suspends 3 LG chairmen for 

alleged misconduct 

By Ebunoluwa 

Sessou 

L AGOS—LAGOS 

State House of 

Assembly, yesterday, 

suspended three council 

chairmen over alleged 

misconduct on 

guidelines governing 

their activities within the 

council areas. 

The three suspended 

council chairmen are 

Messrs Ogidan Olaitan, 

(Lekki LCDA), Suleiman 

Jelili (Alimosho) and 

Tajudeen Ajide 

(Surulere). 

This development is 

coming barely a few 

SYNOD—From left: Guest Preacher, Rt. Revd. Simeon Onaleke, Bishop of Kwara Diocese; host 

Bishop, Rt. Revd. Bamidele Ibikunle of the Diocese of Remo; Bishop, Diocese of Oyo, Methodist 

Church Nigeria, Rt. Revd. Joseph Osifuwam, during the diocese of Remo's 30th Annual Synod 

Sunday thanksgiving service, at the Oko Circuit, Remo Diocese Methodist Church Nigeria. 

months to the conduct of 

local government 

elections in Lagos State. 

Their suspension was 

unanimously approved 

by the lawmakers at the 

plenary, shortly after the 

lawmaker representing 

Alimosho 1, Mr. Bisi 

Yusuff, raised a 

complaint against 

Olaitan, Chairman of 

Lekki LCDA. 

The House said it can 

no longer condone any 

unruly act by the three 

council chairmen. 

Yusuff said: “The 

council chairman has 

total disregard for those 

in his domain who voted 

the 

for him. His action, even 

as a lawyer, is an insult 

to true governance and 

respect for the 

authorities.” 

Supporting Yusuff, 

another lawmaker, Mr. 

Fatai Mojeed, who 

represents Ibeju-Lekki 1, 

alleged that Jelili and 

Ajide are currently 

u n d e r g o i n g 

investigations over gross 

misconduct. 

He, however, urged his 

colleagues to suspend 

the chairmen pending 

the outcome of the 

investigations and to 

serve as a deterrent to 

others. 

Speaking on the 

allegations leveled 

chairman of the event and 

Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye 

Ogunwusi commended 

Babalola for his untiring 

love and commitment to the 

progress of the country, 

saying as Co-Chairman of 

National Traditional 

Council of Nigeria he 

supported the idea of the 

summit to savage the 

nation. 

Oba Ogunwusi said: “I 

am elated to see what a 

single man, I mean just one 

man has been able to put 

in place here for the benefits 

of humanity. 

“Aare Afe Babalola could 

perfectly be referred to as 

one man of limitless 

determination, the best 

Nigerian father worldwide 

and a man to be so proud 

of. In my estimation, 

ABUAD, which he 

founded, is the best 

university in Nigeria today, 

and I have my facts. 

“You hardly can find any 

university whose founder is 

as dedicated and as 

committed as we have 

come to find in Baba Afe. 

against the council 

chairmen, Speaker of the 

House, Mr. Mudashiru 

Obasa, noted that the 

House had received 

petitions from many 

councilors in the state 

against the chairmen. 

Obasa said: “Total 

disregard for the local 

government guidelines is 

something that should not 

be tolerated. We cannot 

continue like this. We can’t 

be breeding monsters in our 

local government Areas.” 

The Speaker directed the 

Clerk of the House, Mr. 

Olalekan Onafeko to write 

to Governor Babajide 

Sanwo-Olu and others 

concerned about the 

decision of the House. 

He has made the institution 

to become a mirror for 

others to see, and a 

pacesetter to emulate.” 

Ex-NBTE boss 

tasks host 

communities to 

secure schools 

Meanwhile, former 

Executive Secretary, 

National Board for Technical 

Education, NBTE, Dr. 

Nuru Yakubu, yesterday, 

urged communities hosting 

schools to collaborate with 

authorities to tackle 

insecurity around schools’ 

environment. 

He also charged the 

Federal Government to 

initiate a roundtable 

discussion with all 

stakeholders to resolve the 

menace of insecurity, 

especially around tertiary 

institutions in the country. 

Yakubu said this when he 

led the Presidential 

Visitation Panel on Federal 

Polytechnic, Ede, to the 

palace of Timi of Ede, Oba 

Munirudeen Lawal, on a 

courtesy call in Ede. 

Yakubu said: “The 

security challenges facing 

the country is affecting 

every sector, but host 

communities of higher 

institutions must be more 

vigilant, take ownership 

and collaborate with the 

authority in providing 

security for the schools. 

The issue is not only 

affecting tertiary 

institutions, it has affected 

every sector of the country. 

The government needs to 

sit with all the major stakeholders 

to address this issue. 

“In tertiary institutions, the 

administration should sit with all 

the stakeholders -the students, 

academic staff and the community 

in particular to discuss it. The 

community where the institution 

is located must take ownership, 

they must identify with it and feel 

it.” 

In his response, the Ede 

monarch, Oba Lawal, lauded the 

panel for the visit, just as he 

promised to assist the committee 

in making its assignment an easy 

task.


By David Odama 

L GOVERNOR 

A F I A — 

Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State 

yesterday warned that his 

administration might be 

overwhelmed if the unwarranted 

killings and wanton 

destruction of property among 

others were not stopped by 

warring Fulani herders and Tiv 

farmers in the state. 

The governor who spoke 

while addressing the Tiv and 

Fulani communities of Rukubi 

and Agbashi in Doma Local 

Government Area of the state, 

lamented that the Fulani and 

Tiv crisis was causing the 

state financial, material and 

human resources. 

Governor Sule represented by 

the Deputy Governor, Dr 

Emmanuel Akabe, noted that 

other aspects of development 

were being hindered following 

incessant clashes which 

government was spending much 

to ensure that peace was 

maintained. 

While expressing sadness that 

the cordial relationship that 

existed between the Fulani 

herders and the Tiv farmers had 

gone sour resulting in several loss 

of lives and property, Governor 

Sule said he was in the 

community to find solution to end 

Burial 

MR Anthony Ebireri, 50, is 

dead. He died on January 21, 

2021. Service of songs holds 

May 6, 2021 at 1, Marfod 

Close, off Reclamation Road, 

Sapele, Delta State, while 

interment follows on Friday, 

May 7, 2021 in his father’s 

compound, 1, Marfod Close. 

He is survived by two 

children, widow, among 

other relatives. 

Late Anthony Ebireri. 


Gov Sule to herders, Tiv 

farmers: Killings may 

overwhelm my 

administration if…, 

the crisis between the Tiv 

farmers and Fulani herdsmen. 

According to Sule, 

government was not happy with 

the wanton destruction of lives 

and properties in the area and 

pleaded with the farmers and the 

herdsmen to give peace a chance 

as there could be no 

development in an atmosphere 

of rancour. 

He said “Government will not 

leave any stone unturned to 

ensure that all the displaced 

people return home to 

continue their normal lives. 

I am calling on the factions 

to come in terms with one 

another for peace and 

harmony and for 

development to thrive.” 

While lamenting the situation, 

the Deputy Governor said 

government was disturbed by the 

wanton destruction that 

accompanied the recent clashes 

between the two ethnic groups 

which cost the state a lot in terms 

of financial, material and human 

resources. 

Representatives of the Fulani 

herdsmen and Tiv farmers, 

acknowledged that the crisis was 

an extension of the farmerherder 

hostilities in Benue State, 

and called for collaboration 

between the Nasarawa and 

Benue State governments to 

bring lasting solution. 

Okonjo-Iweala, Amina 

Mohammed, KSA for NACCIMA, 

Nigeria at 60 Excellence Awards 

NIGERIAN Association of 

Chambers of Commerce, 

Industry, Mines and Agriculture 

(NACCIMA) has concluded 

plans 

to 

commemorate its 60th 

anniversary and that of Nigeria 

by honouring deserving 

Nigerians and institutions. 

A statement released by the 

planning committee of the event 

in Abuja quoted the President of 

NACCIMA, Hajiya Saratu Iya 

Aliyu as saying: ''This event is 

being held at a time our country 

is facing various challenges. We 

hope with the great 

accomplishments by the 

awardees, this event will inspire 

and encourage all Nigerians to 

regain their confidence and 

return to the culture of 

excellence in every aspect of our 

work, recommit to national 

development and nation 

building.'' 

The categories of award cut 

across the private and public 

sectors and outstanding 

services in the Chamber 

movement in Nigeria. 

Among those to be honoured 

are Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, 

Director-General of the World 

Trade Organization (WTO); Dr. 

Akinwumi Adesina, President of 

the African Development Bank 

(ADB); Mrs. Amina Mohammed, 

Deputy Secretary-General of the 

United Nations; Olugbenga 

Agboola, CEO and co-founder 

of Flutterwave; Chief Sunday 

Adeniyi Adegeye popularly 

known as King Sunny Ade, 

among others. 

The awards ceremony will hold 

at the International Conference 

Centre, Abuja on Tuesday, May 

25, 2021 by 2pm under the 

chairmanship of Otunba Adeniyi 

Adebayo, the Minister of 

Industry, Trade and Investment. 

Prominent among special 

guests expected at the event 

include the Grand Patron of 

NACCIMA and Nigerian 

President, Muhammadu Buhari 

and Boss Mustapha, Secretary 

to the Government of the 

Federation (SGF). 

The event will be streamed 

live across multiple platforms 

online (Zoom, Facebook, 

Instagram or Twitter.) 


By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni & Chioma 

Obinna 

Over three fifths (61 

percent) of travelers who 

arrived in Lagos State in April 

2021 have been untraceable till 

date in the curtailment efforts 

against the COVID-19 pandemic 

in the State. 

The Lagos State Commissioner 

for Health, Professor Akin 

Abayomi, who disclosed this 

yesterday, also said a total of 58, 

222 persons have so far tested 

positive to COVID-19 in the 

State since the onset of the 

pandemic in the country. 

Abayomi, who spoke during the 

2021 ministerial press briefing to 

commemorate the second year in 

office of Governor Babajide 

Sanwo-Olu-led administration, 

said 66 percent of the travelers 

had Lagos as their final 

destination, while 28 percent 

filled no address in Nigeria or filled 

a foreigh address. 

"Of the 123 passengers of 

interest tracked between April 13 

and 27, 110 (89 per cent) were 

called by EKOTELEMED with 

only 39 per cent reached and 

tracked; 66 per cent had Lagos as 

their final destination while 

about 28 per cent filled in no 

address in Nigeria or filled in a 

foreign address. 

”The other 61 per cent were 

untraceable till date in the 

curtailment efforts against 

COVID-19 in the state,” he 

noted. 

Abayomi, who stated that the 

second wave of the COVID-19 

infections which spread more 

rapidly across Lagos State than 

the first wave, would have 

wreaked havoc in the country, 

explained that the response 

strategy put in place by the State 

government efficiently curtailed 

the pandemic and limited 

fatalities. 

58,222 test positive to 

COVID-19 

On the total number of 

COVID-19 positive cases 

recorded, Abayomi said out of 

460,647 samples tested,58,222 

were positive. 

"In public laboratories, 168,312, 

samples processed representing 

37 per cent, while private 

laboratories reorded 292,335 

processed samples representing 

63 per cent of positive cases." 

He said about 260,000 persons 

DEBATE: From left; 

The Chairman, 

Kaduna North 

Citizens Forum, Dr. 

Mohammed Ali, Prof 

Umar Halirau and 

the Forum Secretary, 

Dr. Abdul Usman 

during the Forum's 

Local Government 

Chairmanship poll 

debate in Kaduna 

yesterday. 

COVID-19: 61% inbound travelers to Lagos 

untraceable in April — Abayomi 

•As 58,222 test positive; LASG maps out strategy against third wave infections 

vaccinated against COVID-19 

represents just one per cent of 

the population. 

Abayomi said the effectiveness 

of the State’s response strategy 

saved the country from negative 

impacts associated with the 

second wave as seen in other 

countries. 

He added that EKO 

TELEMED - a tech-driven 

platform through which the state 

government managed the spread 

of the virus - yielded efficient 

results in breaking the cycle of 

community infection. 

Further, he said there was an 

ongoing effort to prevent the third 

wave of the pandemic, noting that 

Lagos had started the 

deployment of the EKO 

TELEMED in the 

management of in-bound 

international travellers from 

Why I reported State House journalist to Police 

— ORTOM 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

M 

A K U R D I — 

GOVERNOR 

Samuel Ortom of Benue State, 

yesterday gave reasons he 

reported Benue-born State 

House Correspondent of the 

Peoples’ Daily newspaper, Mr. 

Sunday Odeh to the police to 

seek clarification on the 

allegations the journalist leveled 

against him and his government. 

The governor, who made the 

clarification in Makurdi said it 

was his fundamental right and 

not intended to muzzle the press. 

Ortom said: “We appreciate the 

freedom of the press but we must 

respect decorum. We appreciate 

constructive criticism and 

superior arguments over my 

policies and programmes. An 

incident occurred last week 

where I reported one of our own, 

Odeh to the police. I need to 

mention it today more so that we 

are talking about press freedom 

week. 

“For me, the press should be 

allowed to operate just like the 

arms of government. They should 

also have their freedom but it 

should not be at the detriment of 

the rule of law. I am somebody 

who respects the rule of law. I am 

in a democratically elected 

government where there is 

freedom of expression and 

association but it must be within 

the rule of law. Anything outside 

high burdened countries. 

The tech-driven platform, he 

said, would be used to monitor 

movement and treat infected 

travelers. 

3rd wave of infections 

warning 

Warning that Nigeria stood the 

risk of experiencing a third wave 

having vaccinated only less than 

one per cent of it's population, he 

noted that health facilities in 

Lagos State have been placed on 

red alert to pick up early trends 

that may suggest a third wave of 

COVID-19. 

"Currently, countries like India, 

Brazil, Argentina, Iraq, Qatar, 

Peru and Uruguay are being 

ravaged by a third or fourth 

wave following a less active 

second or third wave. 

“The latest wave in India has 

that is not the right thing to do. 

“It was not my intention but it 

is my own way as the father of 

the state to correct anything that 

is wrong. There is no way a crisis 

that had existed even before I 

became governor can be caused 

by me; moreover I have taken all 

proactive steps to ensure peace 

in that place. 

“And then you go out to say 

that I am responsible for the crisis 

in that place, and that all the 

Igede speaking people in my 

government should resign 

because I and my government 

are irresponsible. 

“There is nowhere in the 

records that we were irresponsible 

CHAIRMAN 

of 

Miyetti Allah Cattle 

Breeders Association of Nigeria, 

MACBAN, Wakili Damina, in 

Kogi State, has been abducted 

by gunmen. 

Kogi State MACBAN Secretary, 

Adamu Abubakar, said Damina 

was abducted on April 30 by some 

armed men dressed in army 

uniform. 

He said the abductors, 

numbering about eight, came in 

a white bus at about 12 noon to 

“forcefully” take away the 

chairman from his house in 

Chikara village, Kogi LGA. 

Abubakar said he was informed 

been proven to be as a result of 

new mutant strains that have 

resulted in a dramatic increase in 

sickness and death for two weeks 

running. While we commiserate 

with these countries, it is 

important that we protect our 

environment and residents, " he 

stated. 

Abayomi, said the government 

had embarked on a total overhaul 

of infrastructure across all levels 

of its healthcare delivery system, 

saying that the roadmap for the 

upgrade of infrastructure in the 

State-owned health facilities 

began last year, following the 

approval of the plan by the 

executive council. 

“We have renovated and 

remodeled the Mainland 

Hospital in Yaba with future 

plans of making it an Institute of 

Research for Infectious Disease.” 

in carrying out our programmes 

and policies. So, all that I wanted 

was clarification. I do not know 

who Odeh is; even if I see him I 

will not know him or recognize 

him. So I have nothing personal 

against him. 

“But he claimed that I am 

responsible for the Bonta and 

Ukpete crisis in Konshisha and 

Oju Local Government Areas, 

LGAs. So I wanted him to make 

clarification. Everyone could see 

that I did not do any other 

thing other than to report him 

to the police. I was told that 

he was arrested, his 

statement taken and granted 

bail within 24 hours.'' 

Gunmen abduct Miyetti Allah 

leader in Kogi 

of the incident by the younger 

brother of Damina. 

The secretary said he 

immediately called the phone 

number of Damina but it rang 

out. He added that the number 

was switched off when he 

repeated the call. 

“Since then, his lines are not 

reachable and all efforts to know 

his whereabouts proved 

abortive,” he said. 

Abubakar said he immediately 

notified the State Commissioner 

of Police and the state 

government of the development. 

He said a search party raised 

by MACBAN had visited other 

places, including abattoirs in and 

around Abuja to no avail.




VISIT: Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State (middle); his deputy, Senator Lawrence 

Ewhrudjakpo (3rd left); new Flag Officer Commanding, Central Naval Command, Rear 

Admiral Obi Egbuchulam (3rd right), and other officers during a courtesy visit to Government 

House, Yenagoa, yesterday. 

Iniubong Umoren: Reps mandate IGP to take 

over investigation, prosecution of suspects 

•Family seeks speedy trial of suspects 

•Council boss faults police statement on suspect’s confession 

•Youths vandalise suspect’s family house 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu, 

Harris Emanuel & 

Chioma Onuegbu 

THE House of 

Representatives, 

yesterday, mandated the 

acting Inspector General of 

Police, Alkali Baba Usman, to 

immediately commission 

and take over the 

investigation and prosecution 

of the suspects, who killed 

Miss Iniubong Umoren in 

Akwa Ibom State. 

Umoren, 26, was murdered 

in cold blood, weekend, in 

the course of a purported job 

interview in the state. 

Meanwhile, the family of 

late Miss Iniubong Umoren, 

has appealed to Akwa Ibom 

government to ensure that the 

perpetrators of the dastardly 

act were made to face the long 

arms of the law. 

In another development, 

Chairman of Uruan Local 

Government Area, Akwa 

Ibom State, Mr Iniobong 

Ekpenyong, has faulted the 

statement by the police that 

Uduak Akpan, who 

allegedly abducted, raped 

and killed late Iniubong 

Umoren, confessed to him 

that he committed the crime 

before escaping to Calabar, 

Cross River State. 

The House in a motion 

under matters of urgent public 

importance moved by 

Unyime Idem representing 

Ukanafun/Oruk Anam 

federal constituency of Akwa 

Ibom State prayed the IGP to 

ensure the protection of 

Umoren’s family members 

from harassment, 

intimidation and harm. 

Idem noted: “The late 

Iniubong received a phone 

call from the assailant, who 

pretentiously called her and 

invited her to a false 

interview of an advertised 

job. 

“Umoren was later found 

dead by the officers of the 

Nigeria Police Force after an 

official report and with the 

help of a wide reportage of 

her disappearance and 

information of the false 

interview on social media 

platforms. Her body was 

further exhumed where it 

was buried in a shallow grave 

by her assailant.” 

He said that the assailant 

upon his arrest by the police 

and subsequent voluntary 

confession boasted that he 

was well connected and will 

be released from the police 

custody scot-free in a matter 

of days. 

Adopting the motion, the 

House mandated the House 

Committee on Women Affairs 

and Social Development to 

follow up with the 

investigation and prosecution 

and ensure compliance. 

Family seeks speedy 

dispensation of 

justice 

Meanwhile, the deceased’s 

elder brother, Ukeme 

Umoren, who spoke when 

Governor Udom Emmanuel 

of Akwa Ibom paid an 

unscheduled visit to the 

family at Ndot village in Oruk 

Anam LGA of the state to 

commiserate with them, 

appealed to the governor to 

ensure that perpetrators of 

the heinous crime were 

brought to book as this will 

be the only succour to the 

family. 

While welcoming the 

Secretary to the State 

Government, SSG, Dr 

Emmanuel Ekuwem, who 

represented the governor, he 

lamented that they lost their 

parents while in secondary 

schools and had to struggle 

on their own to get western 

education up to university 

level, explaining that the late 

Iniubong was waiting for her 

call up letter to proceed for 

national youth service when 

her life was snuffed out. 

He said: “It is so pathetic to 

us and we are heartbroken, 

that our younger sister 

struggled so much to get 

education to university level 

to ensure she got better 

tomorrow. 

“All we want is justice for 

our sister. Whoever is 

involved in this atrocity 

should be brought to book. I 

know the young man could 

not have done this alone.” 

Council boss faults 

police statement on 

suspect’s confession 

In another development, 

chairman of Uruan council in 

Akwa Ibom State, Mr 

Ekpenyong in a statement on 

Monday evening, denied 

having physical contact with 

the suspect before his arrest 

by the Divisional Police 

Officer, DPO, of Uruan. 

He said: “In the press 

statement, which centres on 

the kidnap, rape and brutal 

murder of one Miss Iniubong 

Umoren, the police said: 'The 

suspect confessed to have 

told his council chairman of 

his atrocity before escaping 

to Calabar and was never at 

any time handed over to the 

Police by anyone'. 

“I do not also intend to score 

any political point or join 

issues with anyone on the 

already sufficiently 

depressing, distressing and 

disheartening situation at 

hand but hereby state as 

follows: 

“I first came to the knowledge 

of what turned out to be very 

disturbing development on April 

29, 2021, when I received a call 

from one of my kinsmen stating 

that an elderly man in my 

community was arrested and 

detained by the Police on account 

of a crime allegedly committed 

by the man’s son, who was 

reportedly wanted by the Police. 

“As the Chief Security Officer 

of Uruan council, I immediately 

swung into action for purpose of 

facilitating the arrest of the 

suspect and graciously, the effort 

paid off as the suspect, who had 

earlier hinted that he was at a 

location in Oron LGA was 

arrested by the DPO of Uruan 

following trails facilitated by me 

and other machinery put in 

place by the Police. 

“For the records, it is not true 

that the suspect confessed to me 

of his committing the crime 

before escaping to Calabar." 

Youths demand 

suspension of council 

chair 

Meanwhile, youths from the 

area had in a statement presented 

to the governor during his 

condolence visit to the bereaved 

family on Monday demanded 

that the Police should invite the 

council chairman for 

questioning, given the confession 

of the suspect, Akpan. 

In a statement, the youths who 

commended Governor 

Emmanuel for his concern and 

prompt attention accorded 

Umoren’s murder, demanded 

that the Chairman be suspended 

pending investigation into the 

murder case. 

The statement said: “We, 

hereby demand that the 

chairman of Uruan be invited 

by the Nigeria Police Force for 

questioning to absolve himself 

from the allegation. 

“We also demand the Speaker 

of Akwa Ibom State House of 

Assembly, Aniekan Bassey, to 

urgently summon the members 

for an emergency sitting, at any 

venue of their convenience, and 

invite the Chairman of Uruan 

council to also be made to answer 

questions on his involvement in 

the killing of Miss Iniubong 

Umoren. 

“We demand that the state 

government should assist the 

bereaved family in taking care 

of the financial expenses at the 

University of Uyo Teaching 

Hospital, UUTH, Uyo in respect 

of the mortuary and other 

pathological investigations as the 

family is not financially buoyant 

to handle the expenditure at this 

moment of grief.” 

Youths vandalise 

suspect’s family 

house 

Meanwhile, angry youths 

of Nung Ikono Obio in 

Uruan LGA of Akwa Ibom 

State, yesterday, stormed 

and vandalised the family 

house of Uduak Akpan, the 

suspect. 

It was gathered that apart 

from destroying the 

building, the youths carted 

away property and took the 

father of the suspect to the 

police. 

A source, who spoke on 

the condition of anonymity, 

said: “They broke the 

louvres and the glass doors 

with pebbles and sticks and 

carted away everything 

inside the building.” 

The youths president, 

identified as Sunday Essien, 

said: “There is nothing 

happening apart from the 

one you have already 

heard. It’s not good for the 

boy to kill his fellow human 

being. We don’t know that 

is what he has been doing. 

That is what we heard that 

he has been doing. That is 

the reason we took the 

action." 

£4.5m loot: Bank documentation 

shouldn’t take 12 years, Oghara 

Union tells AGF, British govt 

THE Oghara Development 

Union, ODU, Lagos branch 

has asked the Attorney-General 

of the Federation, Abubakar 

Malami, to tell Nigerians the 

truth about the delay in 

repatriating the proceeds of 

assets confiscated from the three 

ladies in the former Delta State 

governor’s trial. 

In a statement, yesterday, the 

union said: “The AGF’s claim of 

bank documentation is 

scandalous and far from reality. 

The AGF had said that 

'Documentations with the banks 

in different countries (caused the 

delay and often) take longer than 

anticipated. We anticipated two 

weeks but we are not in control 

of the banks.” 

The union said: “This is 

laughable. It is also noteworthy 

that the minister gave no idea of 

when the monies would be 

returned to Nigeria and Delta 

State. The British authorities are 

obviously up to some game 

here.” 

The statement by Sunday 

Agbofodoh, General Secretary, 

said: “We say this because we 

know for a fact that the monies 

in question have been in the 

custody of the British 

Government since 2010, a clear 

11 years plus ago. Also, it is 

instructive that Nigeria and 

Britain had long ago signed an 

MoU on the repatriation of the 

proceeds. Both parties have 

continuously celebrated this 

victory in the media. 

“We know for a fact that our 

beloved son, the former state 

governor, is a victim of political 

persecution concealed as an anticorruption 

fight, and we are 

happy that Nigerians are now 

knowing the truth of the wicked 

lies that deluged, swamped and 

overwhelmed him. He has served 

out his prison sentence and since 

returned to Nigeria and his 

native Oghara community. We 

are, however, concerned that facts 

are still being twisted for 

propaganda purposes only to 

keep the issue in the media in 

perpetuity.” 

By Festus Ahon 

A SABA—National 

Directorate of 

Employment, NDE, has 

said that the Advanced 

National Open 

Apprenticeship scheme, A- 

NOAS, was designed to 

bridge the skills gap and 

equip its graduates with a 

high level of competence. 

Acting Director-General of 

NDE, Mr Abubakar Fikpo, 

stated this in Asaba during 

the opening ceremony and 

the orientation/training 

exercise for the newly 

recruited trainees of the A- 

NOAS of the Vocational 

Skills Development, VSD, 

Department of the 

directorate. 

Saying that the training 

would enable the 

graduates to compete 

favourably in the labour 

market and empower 

youths through the activities 

of NDE, Fikpo urged them 

to be serious with the 

training. 

He reiterated that the A- 

NOAS was designed for the 

The union said the people of 

Oghara want a fast resolution of 

the civil confiscation and 

repatriation process. 

It decried the delay tactics on 

the part of the British 

Government, adding: “It is 

incomprehensible that in this day 

and age, it would take years for 

banks in two different countries 

to wire funds from one to the 

other.” 

ODU added that neither the 

AGF nor Britain has addressed 

the question of the shortfall 

between the real amounts 

confiscated and what Britain said 

it would return to Nigeria. 

“We are in full knowledge of 

the actual confiscated amount 

from the three women and it is 

£6, 838, 851.68. Of this amount, 

£629, 417.63 came from the sale 

of the property belonging to 

Ibori’s sister, while £2,649,959.45 

and £3,559,474. 60 came from 

the other two ladies. The amount 

is not the £4.2 million as Britain 

and Malami claimed, and it was 

fully paid in 2010. 

“ODU expresses surprise at the 

statement by the Office of the 

Attorney-General of the 

Federation that the money had 

not been returned to Nigeria, and 

may not be returned anytime 

soon. 

“The Attorney-General, 

Abubakar Malami, said in a 

statement on May 3, 2021, a 

public holiday, by his Special 

Assistant on Media and Public 

Relations, Umar Gwandu, that 

bank documentation has 

delayed the transfer of the £4.2 

million. 

“Nigerians should find out why 

Britain wants to return £4.2 

million only instead of 

£6,838,851.68 and to ask for full 

disclosure on the sort of bank 

documentation that would 

require years to finish. 

“Nigerians should ask for the 

interest that accrued on the 

money since 2010. It is only when 

such answers are in that it would 

be clear that the UK authorities 

are warehousing proceed of 

crime for political profit.” 

A-NOAS designed to bridge 

skills gap — NDE 

training of unemployed 

youths through the activities 

of NDE and other federal 

agencies that have the 

constitutional responsibility 

of empowering youths and 

creating jobs. 

Acting State Coordinator, 

NDE in Delta State, Mr 

Sylvanus Onyeogo said: 

“NDE is tracking and 

intervening directly in 

employment counselling, 

skills acquisition and 

entrepreneurship 

development training, 

provision of transient jobs, 

and enterprise creation for 

trained beneficiaries.” 

Meanwhile, the Federal 

Government has vowed to 

reduce the unemployment 

rate in Nigeria through 

agriculture. 

Fikpo at the orientation/ 

training exercise said the 

SADTS was a new initiative 

in the Agricultural Training 

Scheme of NDE that seeks 

to provide more profitable 

farm income activities, 

promote environmental 

stewardship and enhance 

the quality of life for farm 

families and communities.


Insecurity: MASSOB frowns at invitation to peace meeting 

by Ohanaeze 

By Anayo Okoli, 

Chidi Nkwopara, 

Peter Okutu, 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu 

& Steve Oko 

ABAKALIKI—The Move 

ment for the Actualization 

of the Sovereign State of Biafra, 

MASSOB, has frowned 

at public invitation extended 

to it by the leaderdhip of Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo, saying it is unacceptable 

to be invited publicly 

for internal Igbo security 

affairs. 

This came as the leadership 

of Biafra Independence 

Movement, BIM, has described 

those perpetrating 

violence in the South East, as 

"anti-Igbo elements". 

This is even as the Ebonyi 

State Government, yesterday, 

directed the closure of all illegal 

and private motor parks 

not expressly approved by the 

Ministry of Capital City Development, 

in its bid to checkmate 

the movement of arms 

and ammunition and general 

insecurity within the Abakaliki 

metropolis. 

In a related development, 

Former Speaker, ECOWAS 

Parliament, Senator Mao 

Ohuabunwa has queried the 

reasonability of the security 

agencies hunting for suspected 

members of the Eastern Security 

Network, ESN, in the 

South East while bandits and 

terrorists are sacking communities 

in the North and taking 

over their ancestral land 

almost unchallenged. 

The Biafra agitating group, 

MASSOB, in its admonition 

to Ohanaeze, urged the apex 

Igbo group to be diplomatic 

in its approaches on issues of 

Igbo interests. 

The group in a short statement 

signed by its leader, 

Comrade Uchenna Madu 

said: "It is unnacceptable to 

MASSOB to be invited publicly 

for an Igbo internal security 

affair. 

"Ohanaeze Ndigbo should 

be sensitive and diplomatic 

in its approaches concerning 

issues that matter so much on 

Igbo interests in Nigeria. 

"They should avoid the situation 

where Abuja political 

cabals hijack any meaningful 

venture or steps that will 

redeem Ndigbo from subjective 

slavery in Nigeria. 

"MASSOB as a stakeholder 

in Igbo project will always 

align with relevant and Igbo 

organizations and individuals 

in protecting and securing the 

future of our people. 

"The security of the lives 

and properties of Ndigbo is 

paramount now. Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo should not play politics 

with our future". 

Perpetrators of 

violence in S'East 

are anti-Igbo 

—BIM 

Biafra Independence Movement, 

BIM, condemned in 

strong terms, what it alleged 

as "the attack on its leader and 

founder of the organization, 

Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, by 

Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous 

People of Biafra's Eastern 

Security Network, ESN. 

The group's position was 

made public yesterday, 

through a press statement, 



•Perpetrators of violence in S'East are anti-Igbo —BIM •Ebonyi closes illegal, 

private motor parks •Nigeria cruising on highway to abyss —Ohuabunwa •British 

arrangement no longer working for Nigeria —Bishop Amah •Buhari should 

take drastic actions —Obi 

INAUGURATION: Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State (2nd left), with Speaker of the 

state House of Assembly, Edward Ubosi (left); Chairman, Nkanu West Local Government 

Area, Nwabueze Nnamani (right), and Chairman, Easton Hill Continental Hotel, Mike 

Onu, during the inauguration of the business outfit, in Independence Layout, Enugu. 

signed by it's Director of Information, 

Elder Chris Mocha 

and made available to 

Vanguard in Owerri. 

Mocha said: "We must 

warn the perpetrators of violence 

in the South East to 

have a rethink. The perpetrators 

of the violence are anti- 

Igbo elements. 

"Taking up arms and killing 

people, as well as burning 

military and police formations 

will not lead them 

anywhere but will rather endanger 

the lives of our Igbo 

youths." 

BIM's Director of Information 

was also of the opinion 

that "the latest attack on the 

originator of the Igbo resistant 

movement has clearly 

justified the organization's 

earlier position that the proscribed 

leader of IPOB, Mr. 

Nnamdi Kanu was not genuinely 

and firmly fighting for 

the actualization of Biafra. 

The tendency of Nnamdi 

Kanu in sending members 

of Eastern Security Network 

to attack and kill Chief Uwazuruike 

in his Owerri residence 

was to provoke BIMmembers 

to resort to arms 

struggle. This will ultimately 

fail as it has already failed. 

"BIM is non-violent and 

will remain so in the pursuit 

of our legitimate goal. Nobody 

can coerce us into 

changing our mantra and 

peaceful approach and disposition 

to realizing our 

goal." 

Ebonyi closes 

illegal, private 

motor parks 

In a joint press statement 

signed by Chief Onyekachi 

Nwebonyi, Commissioner 

for Capital City Development 

and Chief Anthony Oko 

Ewa, Chairman, National 

Union of Road Transport 

Workers, NURTW, Ebonyi 

State Council, the duo explained 

that undercover security 

and precautionary measures 

were being put in place 

to avert further security 

breaches in the state. 

According to them: "In view 

of the rising insecurity in the 

country, the Ministry of Capital 

City Development, Ebonyi 

State, has directed that all loading 

and offloading of vehicles 

within the state capital should 

only take place in approved 

public and private motor 

parks. 

''This is in a bid to check 

movement of arms and ammunition, 

as well as criminal 

elements in and out of the state, 

as undercover security and 

precautionary measures are 

being put in place to avert further 

security breaches in the 

state. To this end, all illegal 

and private motor parks not 

expressly approved by the 

Ministry of Capital City Development 

are hereby closed. 

"Motorists and travelers are 

therefore advised to adhere 

strictly to this directive as anyone 

found contravening the 

order will be treated as a security 

threat and will be prosecuted 

accordingly. Passengers 

boarding commercial vehicles 

or alighting from such 

vehicles at unauthorized places, 

that is, any place other than 

the approved public and private 

parks, will be arrested 

alongside the drivers. 

"Also, parking of vehicles 

along Afikpo Road, Ogoja 

Road, Waterworks Road, 

Nkaliki Road and Enugu - 

Abakaliki - Ogoja Expressway 

are hereby banned. Any vehicle 

parked along the aforementioned 

roads, whether serviceable 

or unserviceable will 

be confiscated by the Ministry 

of Capital City Development 

and the owners prosecuted accordingly. 

"It is important to note that 

parking of heavy duty vehicles 

along the streets in the capital 

city is highly prohibited. 

No truck, lorry, or any form 

of articulated vehicle is expected 

to park along the 

streets for whatever reason. 

Any such vehicle found along 

the road or street will be confiscated 

and the owner or driver 

prosecuted. Government 

has designated parks for all 

forms of commercial and industrial 

vehicles in the state. 

"Tippers and heavy duty vehicles 

have their park at Ochudo 

Centenary City, opposite 

Margaret Umahi International 

Market, Abakaliki. 

There is also a mega park beside 

Akanu Ibiam Flyover 

(Spera In Deo), Abakaliki. 

The ministry in collaboration 

with the National Union of 

Road Transport Workers 

(NURTW) is working out 

modalities to ensure maximum 

security in the parks." 

Nigeria cruising 

on highway to 

abyss 

—Ohuabunwa 

Senator Ohuabunwa who 

spoke on the heels of media 

reports and confirmations by 

some Northern governors 

that terrorists have now taken 

over many communities in 

the region seizing people's 

wives, said "Nigeria is cruising 

on a highway to abyss." 

He said that hunting for suspected 

personnel of ESN who 

are resisting the invasion of 

Eastern communities by bandits 

and killer herdsmen while 

bandits on killing spree occupy 

territories raises some 

curious questions. 

The former Leader of the 

House of Representatives 

warned that the current security 

situation in the country if 

not properly handled could 

plunge Nigeria into civil unrest. 

Senator Ohuabunwa who 

strongly condemned attacks 

against security formations in 

the zone, however, said that 

indiscriminate arrests of suspected 

sponsors of unknown 

gunmen "without proper investigation 

could make innocent 

citizens suffer for what 

they don't know". 

He challenged members of 

the National Assembly to rise 

to their constitutional responsibility 

of oversight functions 

and call the security agencies 

to order. 

British arrangement 

no longer working 

for Nigeria 

—Bishop Amah 

Similarly, the Bishop, Diocese 

of Ogbaru, Anglican 

Communion, Rt. Rev. Prosper 

Amah, has lent his voice to 

the situation, saying that with 

the recent developments and 

insecurity ravaging the country, 

the time is now for restructuring 

to take place because 

the British arrangement is 

no more working for Nigeria. 

Bishop Amah said: "Looking 

at the indices around Nigeria, 

British amalgamation 

of I914 is a mixture of oil 

and water which can never 

blend and is not working for 

Nigeria. Only restructuring 

will save the country, give the 

country the peace it wants now. 

Speaking with newsmen 

yesterday in the Bishop's 

Court Atani, Ogbaru Local 

Government Area, Bishop 

Amah, said: "You will discover 

that some of the countries 

the British colonized have restructured 

and wriggled out 

of that British arrangement. 

Nigeria should also embrace 

restructuring because British 

arrangement is no more working 

for us. We need to restructure 

now. 

"As long as we continue to 

ignore restructuring which 

will require Constitutional 

amendment, terrible days are 

ahead of us and Nigeria will 

continue to beat about the 

bush and the crisis in the country 

will persist. 

"The time is now for restructuring 

in Nigeria, even 

though some of our politicians, 

I call them regular politicians, 

may not like it and 

will kick against it. It is obvious 

it will not favour those 

politicians but Nigerians 

should not look at whether it 

will favour them or not because 

they will not be there 

for ever. We must ignore them 

because what Nigeria needs 

now is restructuring to move 

forward." 

Buhari should take 

drastic actions 

—Obi 

Meantime, the Vice Presidential 

candidate of the PDP 

in the last election, Mr. Peter 

Obi has bemoaned the current 

situation in the country, 

describing the ravaging nationwide 

insecurity as a stepping 

stone to anarchy. Obi 

said this yesterday in a press 

release made available to the 

press. 

Describing the situation in 

the country as the practical 

manifestation of cumulative 

years of leadership failure, 

Obi said it was actually what 

he had hoped the country and 

her leaders would have averted 

by his continued reference 

to an abused society rising 

up in future by way of revenge 

without realising the 

future was now. 

After critical analysis of the 

trajectory the country has 

been moving, especially recently, 

Obi isolated persistent 

corruption and total absence 

of merit as the major problems 

affecting Nigeria. 

“Since independence, corruption 

has remained the leitmotif 

of leadership failure in 

Nigeria. Painfully, at a time 

Nigeria ought to have moved 

on with other countries, we are 

still fixated on power supply, 

functional healthcare delivery 

and other basic things that 

ought not to be bothering us 

today. We are also saddled 

with the case of gross imbalance 

in national appointments 

as if others are mere 

spectators in Nigeria. Added 

to this is lack of future for our 

children,” he said, while calling 

on Nigerians to show genuine 

interest in the election of 

a leader with the will and the 

capacity to lead the country. 

Obi who said that what 

happened in the country in 

few months time was dependent 

on state craft, advised 

the president to immediately 

begin the process of healing 

among Nigerians by 

talking to them and by taking 

courageous actions 

aimed at reassuring all the 

regions that they are still 

part of the country. 

In Obi’s words: “Mr. President 

can do this convincingly 

by immediately seeking 

real balance in his appointments 

and by taking immediate 

actions against those 

that have become notorious 

in killing and maiming fellow 

Nigerians.” 

Obi concluded by calling on 

different warring factions to 

lay down their arms and give 

peace a chance. 

“Nigeria belongs to all of 

us. We cannot build by destroying, 

especially on matters 

that can still be solved 

through dialogue. Let Nigerians 

dialogue among themselves 

now” , Obi submitted.


INSECURITY: Beyond the 

lamentation of the National 

Assembly 

By SOLA EBISENI 

FORMER Deputy President 

of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, 

aptly captured the mood 

of the nation with his verdict of 

loss of legitimacy on the Buhari 

Government. Contributing to a 

debate on a motion by Senator 

Musa Sanni on the security situation 

in Niger State and the 

nation generally, Ekweremadu 

submitted, and rightly too, that: 

“Any government that finds it impossible 

securing the lives of the 

people has lost legitimacy. We 

have made beautiful suggestions 

and have had retreats on insecurity. 

Unfortunately, the recommendations 

haven’t been implemented. 

We need to do something 

about this and very fast 

too. If we need to shutdown Niger 

State or the Senate in order 

to find solutions, let us do that.” 

Senator Musa was only stating, 

in greater details, the earlier 

alert by Governor Sanni Bello 

that Boko Haram had taken over 

50 communities in the State 

which is just about two hours to 

Abuja, the seat of power. The 

senator lamented that terrorists 

have mounted their flags in the 

area, killed several people, kidnapped 

women, forcefully took 

wives from their husbands and 

the people of about 50 communities 

wallowing helplessly under 

the sovereign authorities of 

Boko Haram terrorists who have 

also sacked and taken over three 

military camps in the area. 

The pathetic story of Niger 

State is not different from the experience 

of Nigerians in many 

parts of the country, perhaps 

even a child’s play compared with 

the situation in the North Eastern 

zone, which is virtually under 

terrorists control, except the 

state capitals. In their various 

contributions, there was nothing 

the senators said or could 

have said that was new to Nigerians, 

not even the tears dimension 

to theatrical debates 

now seemingly perfected by Kogi 

West senators. It is also not new 

and neither were Nigerians surprised 

that after the grandiloquent 

speeches, the resolution 

was the usual visit of the principal 

officers to the President to 

ask and get expected answers 

to usual questions. 

Nigerians undoubtedly had 

reasonable causes for their 

choice of retired Major General 

Muhammadu Buhari in the 

2015 elections, confident thereby 

of the instant end to the irritant 

Boko Haram terrorists activities 

in the North Eastern corner 

of the country where he was 

once amilitary governor. Nigerians 

were reminded of how Buhari 

was not only a veteran of 

wars, including the Nigerian civil 

war; how as the General Officer 

Commanding the 3rd Infantry 

Division 1981 to 1983, General 

Buhari had not only dealt with 

the Maitasine religious uprising 

which started on a scale higher 

than the Boko Haram and how 

Buhari furiously quelled the insurgency 

and pushed into the 

territory of Chad before President 

Shehu Shagari had to call him 

•President Buhari 

to order. The majority of Nigerian 

voters who were either infants 

or not born when such incidents 

occurred, were told of how 

the no-nonsense Buhari as Military 

Head of State had zero tolerance 

for corruption. 

Unfortunately, not only has 

Boko Haram festered intractably 

under Buhari, terrorist herdsmen, 

bandits and kidnappers 

have brought the nation to its 

knees. Farmers have lost their 

farms and ancestral means of 

The possibility of 

dissolubility of the 

federation now stares 

everyone in the face that 

the President has no 

choice than to seek 

external assistance, with 

the gallant Nigerian 

military fighting needless 

wars which have 

virtually rendered it 

weary and prostrate 

•Senate-Presiden, 

Ahmed Lawan 

livelihoods to armed land seekers 

in the name herdsmen; wives 

and daughters raped before their 

husbands, fathers and brothers; 

the people could no longer travel 

even within their states for fear 

of being kidnapped either for 

death or ransom or both. Boko 

Haram and its allied terrorist 

groups have achieved their objectives 

of making Western education 

a taboo as parents and educational 

institutions, particularly 

in the North, are better advised 

to close schools of all categories 

to save the students and 

their instructors from mass kidnapping 

and death. Governance 

has collapsed at the centre 

leaving only the confused, 

vexed and irritating voice of Garba 

Shehu, the Special Assistant 

to the President on Media. 

Rather than listen to voices of 

reason all over the country, for 

the restructuring of the country 

in line with the agreed true federalism 

principles of its founding 

fathers, Buhari and his officials 

would prefer to delude themselves 

that the unity of the federation 

is non- negotiable and 

not dissoluble in its corporate existence. 

The possibility of dissolubility 

of the federation now 

stares everyone in the face that 

the President has no choice than 

to seek external assistance, with 

the gallant Nigerian military 

fighting needless wars which 

have virtually rendered it weary 

and prostrate. The reality of the 

grave situation we are in today 

is aptly demonstrated in governors 

now openly calling for the 

intervention of mercenaries in 

our multiple and asymmetric 

warfare. 

Not even during the Nigerian 

civil war, was its corporate existence 

as threatened as it is presently. 

Even at its infancy, in 1967, 

Nigeria was able to weather the 

storm of its civil war without recourse 

to external assistance. 

We have heard it said several 

times that no nation survives two 

civil wars, a statement meant to 

caution Nigerians from allowing 

the country to slide into another 

civil war. The situation the country 

is may be such that not a single 

shot may be fired to dismember 

the federation, but that is a 

matter for another day. 

The legislature occupies the 

most unique and pride of place. 

It is the voice and force of the 

people. It is the symbol of democracy, 

thus its dissolution is the 

prime target of any illegal take 

over of government. It is the only 

arm wherein all the actors must 

parade the people’s franchise. It 

is primus inter pares, the first estate 

of the realm. At critical times 

in the life of a nation, the parliament 

is looked up to and expected 

to demonstrate needed courage 

to safeguard democracy and 

the polity. 

The National Assembly had 

every opportunity to rise to the 

occasion to save this country 

and steer it away from the path 

of disintegration. It did in 2010 

by invoking the Doctrine of Necessity 

to invest the then Vice 

President, Goodluck Jonathan, 

with full Presidential powers in 

the long absence of President 

Umar Yaradua who had refused 

to transmit powers to his Deputy 

in accordance with the provisions 

of the Constitution. 

The Buhari administration was 

ushered in with agitation for the 

restructuring of the country. 

Government had the reports of 

the 2014 National Conference 

which had earlier been submitted 

to the National Assembly by 

the Jonathan administration. 

The ruling APC also set up the 

El-Rufai True Federalism Committee 

which report on restructuring 

was virtually a copy of the 

INSECURITY: Beyond the lamentation of the National 

Assembly 

confab resolutions. The prevailing 

herders/farmers clash was 

then only assuming a terrorist 

dimension, gaining ascendancy 

in territorial conquest under Buhari 

whose government’s body 

language was perceived as testifying 

condonation, if not outright 

complicity. The refusal to heed 

the calls for restructuring have 

watered the seed of ethnic selfdetermination. 

India, a federation and former 

British colony like Nigeria,was 

faced with nationality question 

shortly after its Independence in 

1947. By 1953,Prime Minister 

Jawaharlal Nehruappointed the 

Fazal Ali Commission for the 

creation of states on linguistic 

lines which report in 1955 recommended 

the reorganisation of 

India’s states and enacted by 

parliament. In the Republic of Benin, 

Nigeria’s small western 

neighbour, in 1990, under the 

elected government of President 

Mathew Kerekou, commissioned 

a National Conference. The desperate 

state of the nation was 

such that the Conference declared 

itself sovereign, suspended 

the vexed constitution, shut 

the Parliament like Ekwere 

Madu seems to be suggesting 

now. The recommendations 

birthed a new constitution of the 

people which has since endured. 

History will not be kind to the 

present Assembly if it continues 

to be onlooker and pretend to be 

helpless in the face of legislative 

capacity to provide leadership 

and redemption. Those who 

made restructuring impossible 

now have possible disintegration 

to contend with. Restructuring 

is fast losing its attraction; re-negotiation 

of the terms of Nigeria’s 

corporate existence may be 

the middle way out between restructuring 

and disintegration. 

Call it a choice between the 

northern 1953 Araba agenda and 

Ojukwu’s Aburiof 1967.



Cancel the Super Tucano deal now! 

ON August 3, 2017, the United 

States Department of State confirmed 

the approval of the sale of 12 

pieces of A-29 Super Tucano attack 

aircraft to Nigeria worth $593m. This 

was sequel to a phone call between 

former US President, Donald Trump 

and his Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu 

Buhari. 

We were supposed to pay for the 

warplanes immediately, while the 

delivery would be two (or was it 

three) years later. I am not aware 

that the delivery has taken place. 

There is no way that such a massive 

delivery would transpire without a 

massive media hoopla. What it also 

means is that the delivery could be 

imminent, more so as Nigeria is now 

delicately poised at the brink of implosion 

from multiple security 

threats. 

When this deal was signed, wellmeaning 

Nigerians (including myself) 

were happy and angry at the 

same time. We were happy that such 

a high calibre fleet of military machines 

was coming – at last! – from 

America to us. The government of 

former President Barack Obama, the 

chief international sponsor of Buhari’s 

ascent to power, had refused 

to sell arms to the President Goodluck 

Jonathan regime. They even 

exposed an attempt to buy from the 

black-market allegedly using Pastor 

Ayo Oritsejafor’s private jet to smuggle 

the forex. 

But we were angry because it was 

going to take a whole two to three 

years to deliver! We were livid with 

patriotic anger at having to spend 

such a huge amount under a recession 

on equipment that had to wait 

for so long, while the defeated Islamic 

terror networks of the Middle 

East were nesting down in our North 

East frontier as Boko Haram allies. 

Since that time, we have watched 

with dismay Boko Haram morphing 

into a monster of Brobdingnagian 

proportions. Government had unilaterally 

taken $1 billion from our 

Excess Crude Account in August 

2018 to fight security. Some weapons 

were bought, but before we knew 

it, we started seeing them (especially 

armoured vehicles) in the possession 

of Boko Haram. Boko Haram 

has landed in Niger State and is rapidly 

advancing towards Abuja. They 

are now also in Borno, Adamawa, 

Yobe and Bauchi. The cattle rustling 

and kidnapping in the North West 

Obstacles to malaria control in Nigeria 

BY OGBONNAYA AKOMA 

ON Sunday April 25, 

2021, Nigeria joined 

other countries of the world to 

commemorate this year’s 

World Malaria Day, with the 

theme: ‘Zero Malaria - Draw 

the Line Against Malaria.’ 

During the commemorative 

activities that were carried out 

in some places in the country, 

entreaties were made by individuals 

and organisations on 

how to end malaria scourge in 

the country, just as some governmental 

pronouncements 

were made on ways to achieve 

the task in the country, with 

the chief health officer of the 

country in particular reportedly 

saying that "defeating malaria 

will cost Nigeria N1.89 

trillion". 

In the past and before now, 

concerted efforts were made 

by the federal, state and local 

governments towards effective 

control of malaria disease with 

emphasis on the elimination of 

the infected female anopheles 

mosquitoes that were particularly 

responsible for its transmission 

and spread throughout 

the country. In that sphere, 

functional and well-equipped 

Malaria Control Units were 

established within the various 

health offices throughout the 

country where the various 

public health officials, particularly 

the environmental 

health officers, were posted to 

prosecute and execute the various 

duties aimed at preventing 

malaria in the country, as 

well as carry out all those concerns 

that would help check 

all those factors and deleterious 

effects that usually gave 

rise to the multiplication of 

mosquitoes in our midst. 

In the process, Nigerians 

were regularly health-educated 

by the public health officers 

on the best ways of controlling 

malaria among themselves 

and be malaria-free. 

That included proper observance 

of environmental cleanliness, 

ensuring that containers 

capable of storing water 

were sanitarily disposed of to 

stop mosquitoes from laying 

their eggs in such stagnant/ 

stored water. Other measures 

The best way to lessen 

the burden of malaria 

in Nigeria is undertaking 

preventive measures 

as obtained in the 

past and match them 

with the current curative 

services 

included making sure that all 

over-grown weeds were cut 

low, making sure that no water-bearing 

plants were allowed 

to grow in the urban and 

semi-urban areas where mosquitoes 

could lay their eggs 

and multiply, and further ensuring 

that periodic spraying 

of our physical environments 

with the necessary chemicals 

were carried out and which 

ensured the extermination of 

all mosquito larvae and adult 

insects within such environments. 

Particularly, the environmental 

health officers and allied 

public health officials 

made sure that members of the 

public were required to flyproof 

their living homes in 

keeping with the relevant sections 

of the Public Health Law 

with a view to denying mosquitoes 

entry into such living 

homes so that such mosquitoes 

did not inoculate into the 

blood stream of the occupiers, 

the particular plasmodium that 

gave humans malaria fever. In 

other words, everything was 

properly done towards preventing 

and ensuring that 

more Nigerians did not get 

malaria fever by the three tiers 

of government in the country 

then. In those good days, the 

various governments recruited 

and trained adequate number 

of public health officials 

who manned the various 

health offices nationwide. 

However, today, the situation 

has changed for worse. Today, 

there are many obstacles that 

militate against realising the 

control of malaria in the country. 

Yes, no effort is made today 

to check the steady multiplication 

of the mosquitoes 

that bring about the burden of 

malaria in the country. Malaria 

Control Units no longer exist 

anywhere in the country. To 

compound the situation, there 

is now the dearth of relevant 

public health officers nationwide 

to prosecute this onerous 

duty for Nigerians, just as the 

few ones that are available are 

not provided what they need 

have now become another front of 

terror which we are unable to contain. 

So, what did government do with 

our $1billion? The probable answer 

is that (as long suspected), there are 

jihadist sympathisers and enhancers 

within Nigeria’s current ruling 

establishment. What other answers 

could there be when, in addition to 

the aforementioned massive growth 

of the Boko Haram and bandit terrorism, 

the armed militias fighting 

to seize the lands and farms of indigenous 

Nigerians have set up 

camps in all 17 states of Southern 

Nigeria. 

Those defending their ancestral 

patrimonies from them are declared 

“terrorists”, proscribed and assaulted 

with Federal Government weapons 

that should have been turned on 

What we are now seeing 

is not what we were expecting 

when Nigerians 

gave power to Buhari; we 

expected him to eliminate 

Boko Haram, secure the 

country and give the economy 

the room to grow for 

the benefit of over 200 

million Nigerians 

these armed invaders. Imo and Akwa 

Ibom states have been bombed to kill 

people defending their ancestral 

heritage to make way for the invaders 

to subjugate the indigenous people. 

to discharge their professional 

duties to the people. 

Again, as the various activities 

aimed at preventing malaria 

disease have been discontinued 

by many of the health 

managers at the three tiers of 

government, all what many of 

these health managers do are 

geared towards the clinical 

treatment of malaria disease 

only; nothing is done to prevent 

it; hence, apart from not 

emphasising the stipulated 

public health practice of flyproofing 

all living homes with 

a view to warding off the marauding 

mosquitoes from people’s 

homes, what has been 

introduced are the so-called 

insecticide-treated bed nets 

that do nearly next to nothing 

in killing the mosquitoes we 

have been made to believe 

they do kill! At the other end, 

the users complain that the 

nets suffocate them, hence 

such people always discontinue 

their use as early as they 

choose. 

So, it may be a herculean task 

to control malaria in the country 

and eradicate the disease 

if we continue with what we 

do currently in this regard, 

even with the recent USAID 

financial donation to eight 

states in the country towards 

this. So, the first and most important 

step in malaria control 

service is to eliminate the vector- 

mosquito. This invariably 

means that the best way to 

lessen the burden of malaria 

in Nigeria is to go back to the 

basic services of undertaking 

preventive measures as what 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

What we are now seeing is not 

what we were expecting when Nigerians 

gave power to Buhari. We 

expected him to eliminate Boko 

Haram, secure the country and give 

the economy the room to grow for the 

benefit of over 200 million Nigerians. 

We expected him to fight corruption, 

recover stolen public funds 

and clean up the federal bureaucracy 

for maximum delivery of good 

governance. That was the change we 

craved. 

We sent Buhari to go and crush 

the Boko Haram jihadists and keep 

Nigerians safe. But what we are seeing 

is a double-headed monster. On 

the one hand, Al Qaeda, Islamic 

State and Taliban sympathisers like 

Isa Pantami have not only been given 

juicy federal appointments, the 

president has also come out unabashedly 

to defend him. Having 

failed to protect the indigenous people 

from the marauding pastoralist 

militias, we are afraid that supplying 

Nigeria with lethal American 

high-tech weapons will threaten the 

existence of indigenous Nigerian 

populations. 

I make bold to remind the American 

government that its Leahy Law 

strictly forbids it to sell American 

weapons to any foreign country 

which could use it to violate human 

rights. It was this same law that was 

spuriously invoked by the Obama 

administration against the regime of 

Goodluck Jonathan who sought to 

solve the Boko Haram threat to Nigeria’s 

territorial integrity. The Law 

is now more relevant than at any other 

time because innocent populations 

are being targeted for elimination, 

deprivation of their lands. 

obtained in the past and match 

them with the current curative 

services. Already, the World 

Health Organisation has clearly 

indicated that every malaria 

case is preventable, and 

that every malaria death is 

unacceptable anywhere. Nigerian 

health managers and 

officers must accept to think in 

this direction. Emphasis must 

be laid on keeping our surroundings 

clean always, just 

as all overgrown weeds must 

be cut low always and those 

who fail to do so punished as 

stipulated by the Public Health 

Law. Malaria Control Units 

must be brought back in our 

health offices nationwide. Nigerians 

should not wait until 

their government raises billions 

of naira before they 

achieve zero-malaria goal as 

they have in mind. Clinical 

treatment of malaria only will 

never lead us into reducing 

the current high level of disease-burden 

malaria fever has 

heaped on us individually and 

collectively in the country. Nigerians 

must learn to prevent 

malaria that is a preventable 

and filth-borne disease 

through their own actions and 

deeds by making sure that the 

breeding foci of mosquitoes 

are reduced in our midst and 

by fly-proofing their living 

homes, apart from making 

sure that mosquitoes do not 

bite them when they go to 

their farms through properly 

covering their bodies. 

*Akoma, a public affairs 

commentator, wrote from 

Arochukwu, Abia State 

C 

M 

Y 

K

A way out of Nigeria’s governance 

challenge 

EVERY critical commentary in the con 

text of a column should necessarily 

bear within it suggestions to identified 

problems, especially as they pertain to issues 

of governance. A critique that fails to 

adhere to this basic principle of constructive 

observation begs another name. But 

for some people, including, it’s now clear, 

supporters of the present All Progressives 

Congress, APC-led government, particularly 

the in-house, navel-gazing inner circle 

that self-identifies as ‘’the presidency”, 

a critique is worth less than a mere puff of 

air if it is not a gushy, adulatory drivel that 

celebrates every action of this government 

or their principal, President Muhammadu 

Buhari. While there is much more to be 

gained from honest critics than fawning 

sycophants, the presidency has no truck 

with anyone that does not roll out the drum 

to celebrate their sense of inconsequential 

emptiness. 

As I observed here last week, the presidency 

has an answer to every question, 

no matter how mundane or illogical that 

answer turns out to be. The presidency 

admits no wrong, takes no responsibility 

for any action but heaps all the problem 

on perceived enemies and opponents of 

President Buhari, the government he 

heads and the policies they pursue. Everyone 

and everything can be held liable 

for the failures of this government except 

the government itself. The wisdom that 

comes from a dispassionate consideration 

of opposition position is lost on Abuja and 

its supporters owing to their bunker mentality 

that sees every corrective statement 

as an assassin’s bullet. 

The Nigerian presidency is steeped in 

duplicity, purveys propaganda in place of 

information and lies as substitute for knowledge. 

It is, however, its singular failure to 

be honest and accept basic truth at face 

value that has led to the credibility problem 

that makes it difficult if not impossible 

for more and more Nigerians to offer their 

trust or faith in return for its words. This 

refusal by Nigerians, including members 

of the ruling APC, to trust the presidency 

as the face of the Buhari administration is 

the major undoing of the administration. 

Why else would an APC-led Senate claim 

the present government has lost its legitimacy 

over its failure to take charge of Nigeria’s 

security challenges,or a senate 

member of the APC, Smart Adeyemi, openly 

lament and wail in tears of despondency 

at the level of insecurity in Nigeria, had 

assurances of safety from the presidency 

and the armed forces been satisfactory? 

The words of the presidency are worth 

less than the fart of a flatulent belly. They 

are duplicitous, counter-intuitive and basically 

spoken to mislead the unwary. It is 

the reason why the entire country is increasingly 

being overrun today by outlaw 

elements and riven by a rhetoric of war by 

non-state actors who cannot see a future 

in the present arrangement of things even 

when the country is supposedly not at war. 

The lying presidency and its surrogates 

that have usurped or been ceded the powers 

of an elected president has overreached 

itself deceiving the people who 

cannot now see the real danger that their 

centrifugal agitations and calls pose to the 

continued existence of this country whose 

capacity for survival, equity and equal 

treatment of its different components they 

have lost all hopes in. 

Nigeria tethers on the edge and requires 

the support of all true patriots to pull it 

back from being toppled over. This is about 

the country and not the ruling party. It is 

about Nigerians not Buhari, Abubakar 

Malami, Garba Shehu, Femi Adesina and 

their caravan of power profiteers. Just as 

a new-born does not die in the hands of a 

midwife, Nigeria will die neither in our 

hands nor in our time. The ruling cabal 

may fall off and their unreliable words fade 

away. But the spirit of Nigeria will rise 

and the dreams of the founders of this 

Nigeria tethers on the edge 

and requires the support of all 

true patriots to pull it back from 

being toppled over; this is about 

the country and not the ruling 

party 

immensely blessed country, that Nigeria 

is the hope of the Black world, will be realised 

in our time. 

For these dreams to come alive, the country 

must first of all overcome the challenges 

facing her. This will happen as far as 

the present times are concerned once the 

present government in Abuja learns to 

accept the truth and speak it for what it is 

without the slightest attempt at sanitising 

it. It is not such a simplistic proposition as 

it might appear. If only this government 

had been truthful on issues of insecurity, 

for example, Nigerians would have seen 

a sea change in the fight against insurgents 

and so-called bandits across the 

Northern region, namely, from the Northeast, 

North-central to the North-west. A 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021—17 

few examples will do of how this government’s 

failure to be upfront and truthful 

has served Nigerians badly. 

There is no doubt that Boko Haram has 

again risen, and not necessarily because 

of the recent death of Idris Deby of Chad. 

For years observers have pointed to the 

growing profile of the murderous group. 

But the Nigerian government continued 

to deny the obvious, claiming “technical” 

victory over the group. At other times, Abuja 

claimed it had “downgraded” Boko 

Haram’s ability to fight even when Boko 

Haram overran military formations and took 

over major towns in the North-east. Now 

the group has hoisted its flag in Geidam, 

and stamped its foot firmly in parts of Borno 

and Yobe states, the presidency is lost for 

excuses. Boko Haram has even moved to 

the North-central state of Niger, which puts 

it within a fighting distance of Abuja, the 

seat of the Nigerian government. 

As for the connection between the “bandits” 

of the North and Boko Haram, the 

fact that they are one and the same, nobody 

can now deny. There is a Boko Haram 

base in Niger State. Indeed, the career 

profile of Auwalu Daudawa, the mastermind 

of the Kankara school boys kidnapping, 

his transformation from an armed 

robber, cattle rustler to gunrunner and his 

return to the forest after amnesty and eventual 

murder at the hands of rivals, brings 

out the connection in bold relief. Abdulwakil 

was a gun runner who sold weapons 

taken by Boko Haram from the military 

in the North-east to terrorists, who 

Abuja and Northern state governors insist 

on calling bandits,in the North-west. The 

refusal to take the “bandits” for the terrorists 

they are even while less dangerous 

groups elsewhere in the country are brutally 

treated left many with a sense of injustice. 

What of the question of petrol subsidy 

which Abuja calls any name but subsidy? 

Today it may be “subsidy” while tomorrow 

it is “under recovery” or “the difference 

between landing cost and depot price”. All 

of this tongue-in-cheek naming game, simply 

because Abuja chooses to be dishonest, 

is the reason government has lost credibility 

among Nigerians who cannot see 

the danger the current drum beats of war 

means for national cohesion. 

08055069060 (SMS Only) 

OlusegunOgunsanya: A telecoms 

luminary gets a big continental call 

GOOD news is almost a rarity 

in the land; so, when it 

comes, we almost have to stand on 

the rooftop to celebrate it with big 

megaphones in our hands. The other 

day we celebrated Dr. Ngozi- 

Okonjo-Iweala for clinching the top 

job as the Director General of the 

World Trade Organisation, WTO, the 

first woman ever. From that seat, she 

will preside over global trade and 

trade relations. Some chunk of good 

news. But that looks like decades 

ago taking into consideration the 

grinding life Nigerians have to endure 

each passing day. 

Last week there was significant 

development in the telecommunications 

industry. Airtel Africa picked 

Mr. Olusegun Ogunsanya as the 

new Managing Director and Chief 

Executive Officer, to step into the 

shoes of Raghunath Mandava who 

is going into retirement on September 

30, 2021. Ogunsanya, who is 

currently the Chief Executive Officer 

of Airtel Nigeria, will have to 

move to the company’s headquarters 

in Nairobi, Kenya, to oversee 

the African market spanning 14 

countries. The announcement has 

been made early, company sources 

disclosed, in order to ensure smooth 

transition of responsibilities; first at 

Airtel Nigeria, and then, Airtel Africa. 

That is the way of the private sector. 

Nobody waits for months to take 

vital decisions. Nobody waits for the 

stirring of a receding dodo for vital 

decisions to be made. 

But that piece of good news was 

almost buried in the debris of the 

daily carnage going on in various 

parts of the country. Deaths and 

mass abduction and kidnapping for 

ransom from schools and higher 

institutions; some restless bandits 

and terrorists, once declared as technically 

defeated, are hoisting their 

flags in territories not far away from 

the Federal Capital Territory, and our 

threats are for the people who are 

supposedly causing divisions in the 

land and threatening the authorities, 

instead of focusing on the real 

terrorists, the real rebels who mean 

business and are demonstrating 

their capacity by destroying whole 

villages and creating refugees 

across the land. 

The appointment of Ogunsanya, 

once again, demonstrates how much 

capacity we have in the land and 

how such capacities are overwhelmed 

by the underwhelming 

leadership abilities in our nation. 

Leadership failure sometimes puts 

a big lid on the capacity of Nigerians 

to demonstrate their knowledge, 

as something about the country precedes 

them in a world which would 

always question why such availability 

of knowledge is not used to fix 

their country. 

This writer is particularly excited 

that Ogunsanya is the one enjoying 

this seeming predilection because 

of the story of Airtel that I know, 

a story which is very much in the 

public domain but whose import 

may be lost on some of us. He took 

over a company that was nearly 

The appointment of 

Ogunsanya, once again, 

demonstrates how much 

capacity we have in the 

land and how such capacities 

are overwhelmed by 

the underwhelming leadership 

abilities in our nation 

written off for dead, with corporate 

morticians hovering round the place 

of burial. 

Without trying to belabour the 

various transmutation of Airtel, let 

me prod your memory a little bit. 

Airtel started out as Econet Wireless. 

Airtel was Vodacom. Airtel was 

Vmobile. Airtel was Celtel. Airtel 

was Zain. And then the name Airtel. 

Without implicit mischief, Airtel 

was really the industry rolling stone 

that gathered no moss before the 

coming of Ogunsanya. The Airtel 

story was really very bad, its corporate 

existence was perennially 

threatened and some of its workers 

carried long faces as the company 

struggled for survival. Some voted 

with their legs. 

The management took desperate 

measures, looking for results that 

came sparingly. In one of those 

days, the management decided to 

appoint a team of Regional Managers 

(or was that the right nomenclature) 

who would enjoy the latitude 

of developing their markets in 

their region of assignment. The new 

marketing director arranged to take 

the team for a bonding programme 

in the holiday resort of Victoria Falls, 

Livingstone, Zimbabwe. This writer 

was the only journalist in attendance. 

They only wanted to intimate 

me with their marketing plans at the 

venue of the programme. The team 

was a beauty to behold. You could 

feel the ambition of some young 

people who were being fired up to 

bring down the stars from the heavens. 

One thing. I refused to fly with 

them in their small plane but instead 

chose to make the journey by road 

from Lusaka, about eight hours return 

journey on a narrow road. 

Like a fire fighter, Ogunsanya 

came into Airtel at the height of a 

raging inferno to perform some 

magic. The other intriguing thing 

to note is that the electronics engineer 

and chartered accountant had 

never been into telecommunications. 

He was more into soft drinks 

and bottling business with Coca 

Cola, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya 

as the CEO and had also been into 

retail banking with Ecobank. But his 

is the kind of story that makes magic 

happen. Called upon in 1993 to 

save IBM from predictable demise, 

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. told those headhunting 

him that he was not into 

computers but packaging, having 

worked at top levels in RJR Nabisco, 

Inc., and American Express 

Company. The book, Who Says Elephants 

Can’t Dance, tells the story 

of how this purveyor of packaging 

enterprises turned IBM around 

by literally waving a magic wand. 

He is the outsider who came to do 

the computer business good. Just 

like Ogunsanya, from vending soft 

drinks to becoming a telecommunications 

management luminary. 

Airtel Chairman, Sunil Bharti 

Mittal, enumerated the qualities 

that established Ogunsanya for the 

pick. “We are delighted to appoint 

Segun Ogunsanya as the Group’s 

next Chief Executive Officer. He has 

displayed significant drive and energy 

in turning around the Nigeria 

business by focusing on network 

modernisation, distribution, and operational 

efficiency. It is this commitment, 

together with his industry 

experience, strategic vision, constant 

customer focus and proven record 

of delivery that will enable him to 

continue to deliver our strategic objectives 

and to lead the Group in 

the next stages of its development.” 

This, in figures, is what Mittal is 

talking about. From 2012 when he 

joined the company, Ogunsanya 

made a steady business of Airtel 

operations in Nigeria and dressed 

it up for stout competition. A company 

wriggling out of the throes of 

death at the time, quickly nestled 

between the second and third positions 

in the ladder of competition in 

the telecommunications industry. At 

the moment market stronghold is 

between Airtel, MTN and Globacom 

with Airtel ramming up a respectable 

figure of 51, 433, 333 subscribers 

which is 26.28 per cent of 

the market, according to the data 

from the Nigerian Communications 

Commission, NCC. 

This, from all indications, is a respectable 

pile of achievements and 

Ogunsanya should feel satiated that 

he has done Nigeria proud. We 

wish him well in his elevated assignment.


With every emphasis at our disposal, 

we call on President Muhammadu 

Buhari to continue to ignore 

the unpatriotic calls for a state of 

emergency over our current security 

threats. It will never solve the problem. 

Rather, it might lead to unforeseeable 

circumstances which could 

bode ill for the corporate existence of 

Nigeria. 

has to be suspended, and that is a 

On several occasions in recent coup, even if Buhari remains in power. 

It is unacceptable. 

months, many members of the Senate 

and House of Representatives We urge those making these calls 

have issued the call for President Buhari 

to use emergency rule as a mag- 

such could portend. Nigeria will jump 

to pause and ponder the dangers that 

ic wand to end our security threats. from the fry pan into the fire. We may 

Over the weekend, a respected Senior castigate the National Assembly as we 

Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Chief Robert 

Clarke, on Channels Television, is still hampering a lot of Executive 

want, but as a constitutional body, it 

actually solicited for the dissolution impunities that could easily be 

of the parliament, the replacement of achieved through decrees. These include 

the imposition of Ruga, the con- 

36 governors with military administrators 

and the creation of six states fiscation of the nation’s waters resources 

by the Federal Government, 

based on the geopolitical zones 

through emergency rule. 

its direct control of the social media 

To do these, the 1999 Constitution 

We reject emergency rule 

and the use of the armed forces to 

pursue other agenda inimical to the 

general wellbeing of ALL Nigerians. 

No matter how poor the 1999 Constitution 

is, it has buffers against untrammelled 

executive impunity. The 

media, civil society groups, social 

media influencers and informed opinion 

leaders who will be directly targeted, 

must raise their voices against 

these ill-conceived calls. 

The only person now standing between 

these calls and their adoption 

is President Buhari himself. We commend 

him for this. Buhari had also 

firmly rejected the calls for him to 

change the Constitution and extend 

his tenure. We urge him to remain 

committed to his constitutional oath, 

complete his tenure and give way to 

others to contribute to nation-building. 

We are convinced that the solution 

to our problems is not emergency 

rule. The solution is in the root causes 

of the problems. Boko Haram cannot 

continue without support from the 

people and elements in the country’s 

leadership. The bandits were brought 

in by some evil politicians who now 

occupy high positions in our society. 

The armed herdsmen are being aided 

and abetted by the high and 

mighty. The Federal Government 

should muster the willpower to deal 

with these. Extreme nepotism must 

also end. 

A national state of emergency might 

lead to the emergence of ethnic warlords. 

It will also sweep away our constitutional 

liberties. 

The sociology of pantamism 

BY OLUDAYO TADE 

WHEN Seun Onigbinde, co-founder of 

BudgIT, a group committed to transparency 

and fiscal accountability was appointed in 

2019 as the technical adviser to the Minister of 

State in the Ministry of Budget and National 

Planning little did he know that his consideration 

would be short-lived. His sin, according to 

the Buhari Media Organisation, BMO, was that 

Onigbinde had criticised the government of President 

Muhammadu Buhari, PMB, severally and 

cannot ‘benefit’ an appointment from the same 

government. Following campaign mounted 

online and offline, Onigbinde was muscled to 

reject the appointment. The story is not different 

for the highly cerebral and celebrated columnist, 

Dr Festus Adedayo, who had applied to become 

the media adviser to the Senate President 

Ahmed Lawan. Not long after the news of his 

appointment broke #sackfestusadedayo campaign 

started because he was accused of being 

too critical of the PMB government. Consequently, 

Dr Adedayo’s appointment was terminated 

within 48-hours. While the expertise of the duo 

was not in doubt, their civic contributions were 

labelled ‘sins’ and they were denied opportunity 

to elevate governance with their brain power. 

Welcome to Nigeria, the land of Pantamism. 

Pantamism which recently gained popularity is 

the belief that utterances (and decisions) made 

in the past is amenable to change and individuals 

should not be denied privileges and opportunities 

based on that, especially when they advanced 

in age, position and understanding. This 

belief recognises the possibility of a shift from 

previous convictions, just like political prostitutes 

do when they decamp into the party they 

had hounded. In post-colonial Nigeria, Pantamism 

is practised by the governors and the 

governed. It is exhibited by electorates and it is 

not absent in erotic relationships. It may be deployed 

for friends of the state to benefit from. It 

may also be extended to anyone who shares similar 

beliefs with benefitting individuals. There is 

no other better time to enjoy the richness of studying 

Sociology at Ibadan than now. As the scientific 

study of human society and the contours 

conditioning social relationships, I am trained 

to unpack the complex processes involved in human 

social relationships and how shared beliefs 

make birds of a feather flock together in our 

unfolding ‘You Chop, I Chop’ democracy. 

Isa Pantami is the incumbent Minister of Communications 

and Digital Economy. He has been 

facing attacks over historical affinity with and 

alliance in thoughts with violent extremist groups. 

The #PantamiMustGo movement hit twitter to 

influence the sack or resignation of Pantami from 

office. They hold the view that since the exhumation 

of this historical data, it is dangerous retaining 

the Minister when he currently superintends 

There are many pantamists in 

public and private sectors, churches 

and mosques, educational 

institutions, not to talk of their 

multitude in political institution 

over the national identity data scheme. Methinks 

someone who had presided over the National 

Technology Development Agency, NITDA, is an 

insider and has enough information to do any 

damage if he wants to toe that line. The presidency 

took the ìgbà àìimò (period of insufficient 

knowledge/exuberance) approach to stand behind 

the Minister. Presidential spokesperson, 

Garba Shehu stated that: “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”. Presidency’s 

defence was built on Pantami’s ‘born again’ stance 

to the issue. He said his past comments were 

based on “understanding of religious issues at 

the time” and that this has changed “based on 

new evidence and maturity”. How are Nigerians 

different from the posture of Garba Shehu 

and to what extent have they shifted from their 

previously held beliefs? 

OPINION 

Without recourse to our recent history, we 

would not understand that the sociology of pantamism 

is linked to the parable of amukun. 

Amukun erù é wó, ó ní òkè lén wò, e ò wo ìsàlè 

(Amukun your load is slant, he said the reason is 

with my leg not with the load), is a Yoruba maxim 

which counsels us to trace the root of a problem 

in order to be able to address it. Amukun symbolises 

a physically-challenged person who has 

one of his legs shorter than the other. Owing to 

leg inequality, any load he carries on his head 

slants. Analysing contemporary pantamism 

embraced by the presidency (even though they 

did not extend the principle to others) will be 

incomplete without examining the pantamism 

displayed by Nigerians. After serially rejecting 

the then candidate of the Congress for Progressive 

Change, CPC, three times (2003, 2007 and 

2011) on account of alleged clannish mentality, 

holding extremist views and plans to Islamise 

Nigeria, Nigerians would later jettison these notions 

and voted for his emergence in 2015. This 

was after former Lagos Governor Bola Ahmed 

Tinubu’s group repackaged their former foe and 

clothed him in messiah regalia. He was framed 

as the one who has the magic wand to turn the 

fortunes of Nigeria around. Candidate Muhammadu 

Buhari was also in Chattam House to 

state that he was a ‘converted democrat’. The 

harmonisation of opposites birthed the All Progressive 

Congress and culminated in the defeat 

of the sitting President, Goodluck Jonathan, in 

2015. Despite seeing that nothing is different from 

their pre-2015 beliefs in relation to the actions 

being taken by the President, 15.1million Nigerians 

returned the President to take his ‘good 

works’ to next level in 2019. The rival, Atiku 

Abubakar of the PDP polled 11.2million. Note 

that the 2019 presidential election was contested 

by 73 candidates but Nigerians pantamised PMB 

for a second term over others. After taking oath, 

PMB promised us that we shall see the difference. 

Undoubtedly, the difference is now CLEAR- 

ER. 

What is implied from above is that the amukun 

are Nigerians who embraced pantamism in 2014 

and the consequences of their action is what we 

are grappling with in Nigeria today. Pantamism 

is a belief expressed across sectors in Nigeria. 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

Amnesty is granted to terrorists (some are even 

sent abroad to school), governors grant pardon 

to incarcerated criminals who they claim have 

shown remorse. We ask wives to forgive and forget 

husbands who cheated and vice versa. The 

holy books make provision for confession and 

repentance. A former deadly robber is now born 

again and doing prison evangelism. Many past 

rapists, armed robbers, ritualists have become 

converted and are now Pastors and Imams somewhere 

in the country. Indeed, such people are 

invited to give testimony during revivals to win 

more souls. Thus, there are many pantamists in 

public and private sectors, churches and 

mosques, educational institutions, not to talk of 

their multitude in political institution. Even in 

love affair, we ask our partner about their past 

but most of the time, we are told that everyone 

had past no matter how terrible; the gate of positive 

change is never shut as the constant thing in 

life. Those who had terrible marriages that ended 

in divorce initially took their decisions based 

on convictions at the time. That is why you can 

hear a sentence like: “this is not the man(woman) 

that I married”. The thinking of a poor man 

changes once he becomes rich. He may not even 

want to see poor people at his doorstep. Our 

thoughts evolve and are conditioned by our position 

in the social world. 

Going forward, I do not think removal or resignation 

helps in this matter. The President has 

consistently stuck to his preference no matter the 

dust raised—does the appointment of the headship 

of the security system in the country tell any 

story? There are more pressing problems—poverty, 

unemployment, unmanned borders, free flow 

of bandits and kidnappers, inflation and Boko- 

Haram reclaiming territories, among others. 

Just like Pantami claimed to have renounced 

earlier position, Nigerians can also, based on 

evidence available now, revisit the position taken 

in 2015 polls or stick to it. They can decide to 

fool themselves and face the consequences of 

their intended action in succeeding years…until 

then, the load on amukun’s head will remain 

slant until the source of the problem is addressed. 

Dr Tade, a sociologist, wrote via 

dotad2003@yahoo.com

2021 BUDGET: 316 projects worth N39.5bn 

duplicated — BudgIT 

By Yinka Kolawole 

ECONOMY 

THE 2021 national budget 

has been found to contain 

over 316 duplicated capital 

projects worth N39.5 billion, according 

to investigations by BudgIT, 

a public finance transparency advocacy 

firm. 

A report of analysis of the 2021 

budget made available to Vanguard 

noted that the duplication of 

projects is just one among other 

loopholes for corruption in the budget, 

adding that there were no audit 

records of N10.02 trillion received 

by the security sector between 2015 

and 2021. 

The report stated: “Our investigations 

into the 2021 budget revealed 

at least 316 duplicated capital 

projects worth N39.5 billion, with 

115 of those duplicate projects occurring 

in the Ministry of Health. 

This is very disturbing especially 

considering the health infrastructure 

deficit and the raging COVID- 

19 pandemic affecting Nigeria. 

“BudgIT also found zero audit 

records of the N10.02 trillion received 

by the security sector between 

2015 and 2021. 

“Even worse, agencies now receive 

allocations for capital projects they 

cannot execute. For example, the 

National Agriculture Seed Council 

has an allocation for N400million 

to construct solar street lights across 

all six geopolitical zones, while the 

Federal College of Forestry in 

Ibadan in Oyo State got N50million 

for the construction of street lights in 

Edo State. These are aberrations that 

need to be corrected,” the report 


BudgIT also noted that various 

*No audit records of N10trn for security sector 

non-securities related government 

agencies now request and receive 

allocations for “Security Votes”, an 

opaque feature of the Nigerian security 

ecosystem devoid of accountability. 

“In the 2021 budget, a total 

of 117 federal agencies received allocations 

for “Security Votes” worth 

N24.3 billion, despite many of these 

agencies already having allocations 

for “Security Charges” to cover each 

agency’s security needs.” 

Commenting on the report, 

Gabriel Okeowo, CEO, BudgIT, en- 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 2021 —19 

joined the federal government to urgently 

block all loopholes in the budget 

creation and implementation 

process, some of which are highlighted 

in the recently released publication. 

“Nigeria is already haunted 

by a staggering N3.31trillion debt 

servicing burden which will wipe out 

nearly 41.63% of the projected 

N7.99trillion 2021 revenue. The federal 

government can maximise the 

little public funds left by blocking 

the leakages BudgIT has identified”, 

Okeowo added. 

Transcorp pushes investment in power sector, others 

ENERGY 

By Prince Okafor 

DIVERSIFIED conglomerate, 

Transnational Corporation of 

Nigeria Plc, Transcorp, has stepped 

up its presence in the nation’s power 

and petroleum sectors. 

Speaking at the 15th Annual General 

Meeting (AGM) in Abuja, the 

shareholders, while commending the 

company for declaring dividends despite 

the negative impact of the 

Covid-19 pandemic, noted the significant 

advances in the Group’s integrated 

energy strategy, with the acquisition 

of Afam Power Plant Plc 

and Afam III Fast Power Limited. 

The Chairman of Transcorp, Mr 

Tony Elumelu, thanked the shareholders 

for their continued support 

and promised that the Group will 

continue to execute its expansion, in 

line with its mission of “Improving 

Lives and Transforming Nigeria”. 

He stated: “It was a difficult year, 

but we adapted, proved resilience 

and continued to invest – delivering 

the $300million Afam acquisitions 

in the middle of the pandemic, illustrated 

our unwavering commitment 

to the Group’s success. 

“Our team added value across our 

portfolio. In the power sector, the 

Group completed the acquisition of 

Afam Power Plc and Afam III Fast 

Power, taking installed capacity to 

nearly 2,000MW. This acquisition 

demonstrated the Group’s long-term 

strategy to create value and deliver 

robust power supply across Africa. 

In oil & gas, the Group is driving 

forward investment in OPL 281 and 

participated in the acquisition of 

OML17. In hospitality, a new digital 

platform, Aura by Transcorp Hotels, 

which is set to redefine hospitality 

standards, was launched.” 

Owen Omogiafo, the Chief Executive 

of Transcorp, said: “Moving into 

the future, we shall continue to expand, 

invest, and build the brand of 

the company sustainably as we believe 

that there is a lot of value 

trapped within Transcorp that needs 

to be unleashed and recognized by 

the market”. 

Heritage 

Bank’s April 

draw produce 

millionaire 

MONEY MARKET 

HERITAGE Bank has fulfilled 

its promises to support the Nigerian 

Creative Industry, as millionaires 

emerged from the YNSPYRE 

product in collaboration with the 

Cream Platform. The YNSPYRE account 

holders who subscribed to the 

platform won over N12million during 

the second monthly raffle draw 

conducted last weekend. 

The Heritage Bank’s YNSPYRE 

event commenced on a great note 

when D’banj and CREAM Platform 

introduced the CREAM Merit winners 

for March, BERRI, a music artiste who 

carted away sum of N10million in 

form of promotional, while Clara 

Aden, a visual artist received 

N1million in financial support and 

Hanzy, a music artiste got over 

N1million Naira in form of 

mentorship support as well as Merchandise 

support from partner company 

- Boomplay. 

Meanwhile, the April Raffle Draw 

produced 10 lucky winners of 

N50,000.00 each while cheques of 

N200,000 each were also presented 

to 5 Winners from the March 2021 

Draw. 

Speaking during the draw, Divisional 

Head, Corporate Communications, 

Heritage Bank, Fela Ibidapo 

stated that as a financial institution 

committed to delivering distinctive 

financial services to create, preserve 

and transfer wealth, Heritage Bank 

will continue to leverage its supports 

to the growth and development of 

the creative and entertainment sector.



C 

M 

Y 

K 


Ransomware: Recovery cost reaches $2 Million yearly-Sophos 

By Juliet Umeh 

Findings by a global nextgeneration 

cybersecurity, 

f i r m 

Sophos, has revealed that 

the average total cost of recovery 

from a ransomware attack has 

more than doubled in a year, 

increasing from $761,106 in 

2020 to $1.85 million in 2021. 

According to the company, the 

average ransom paid is 

$170,404. The global findings 

also show that only 8% of 

organisations managed to get 

back all of their data after 

paying a ransom, with 29% 

getting back no more than half 

of their data. 

The survey polled 5,400 IT 

decision makers in mid-sized 

organisations in 30 countries 

across Europe, the Americas, 

Asia-Pacific and Central Asia, 

the Middle East, and Africa. 

While the number of 

organisations that experienced a 

ransomware attack fell from 51% 

of respondents surveyed in 2020 

to 37% in 2021, and fewer 

organizations suffered data 

encryption as the result of a 

significant attack (54% in 2021 

compared to 73% in 2020), the 

new survey results reveal 

worrying upward trends, 

particularly in terms of the 

impact of a ransomware attack. 

Principal Research Scientist at 

Sophos, Chester Wisniewski, 

said: “The apparent decline in 

the number of organisations 

being hit by ransomware is good 

news, but it is tempered by the 

fact that this is likely to reflect, 

at least in part, changes in 

attacker behaviours. 

“We’ve seen attackers move 

from larger scale, generic, 

automated attacks to more 

targeted attacks that include 

human hands-on-keyboard 

hacking. While the overall 

number of attacks is lower as a 

result, our experience shows 

that the potential for damage 

from these more advanced and 

complex targeted attacks is 

much higher. Such attacks are 

also harder to recover from, 

and we see this reflected in the 

survey in the doubling of 

overall remediation costs.” 

Tech-Start-ups: Why new entrepreneurs fail 

to get early funding 

By Prince Osuagwu, 

Hi-Tech Editor 

In recent years, more investors 

and firms are harkening on 

to money as a major source 

of early funding for their 

budding enterprises. However, 

investment expert, Adedeji 

Olowe has a different thinking. 

For him most often, even with 

money, many budding 

businesses still don’t get to the 

finishing line because money is 

not the single most important 

thing companies need. 

He challenges entrepreneurs 

to accept the reality they need 

other kinds of support to build 

high-growth ventures even at the 

early stages. They must be ready 

to roll up their sleeves and help 

portfolio companies execute, 

and create venture builders 

especially at the early stages. 

A venture builder, sometimes 

called an incubator, a startup 

studio, or venture studio, is an 

organisation that develops new 

companies or startup ideas and 

dedicates resources and teams 

to nurture the product until 

maturity. 

Venture builders develop 

companies at the early stages, 

potentially valuable companies 

without the high valuation that 

blocks investors from joining 

their rounds. The role of the 

venture builder is to spot 

enterprising startups and ideas, 

validate them and then market 

them to investors looking to 

enter specific markets or 

industries. 

They take different forms. But 

two models stand out, with the 

major difference between them 

being the origin of the idea. 

In the first model, venture 

builders are out chasing 

innovative startups for 

investments. The goal is to tap 

into a wide variety of ideas from 

entrepreneurs, pick winners, and 

help them grow their businesses 

leveraging the builder’s in-house 

resources. This model overlaps 

with traditional VC investing, 

but the difference is the 

investor’s level of involvement. 

However, the second model is 

slightly more popular. Here the 

venture builder conceives the 

idea for a startup or a bunch of 

ideas in-house and then 

assembles a team to execute 

these ideas while supporting 

them with much-needed 

resources, expertise, 

infrastructure and network. 

One familiar venture builder 

is Rocket Internet, which has 

incubated many startups, 

including publicly traded food 

delivery company, HelloFresh 

and Jumia Group, the Pan- 

African retailer and its basket of 

marketplace services. Other 

notable venture builders include 

Founders Factory, a startup 

studio that has built over 35 

companies from scratch and 

GreenTec. There are also famous 

examples of corporate 

organisations deploying the 

venture builder model. One 

organisation is Opera which 

housed OPay for a few months 

in 2018. Alphabet, the parent 

company of 

search 

engine, 

Google has 

a l s o 

deployed 

significant 

resources 

o n 

moonshot 

projects, 

including 

Waymo, the 

driverless car startup. 

But the venture builder 

approach isn’t without its 

drawbacks, and it does receive a 

fair amount of criticism. For one 

thing, they seem expensive and 

may not necessarily be the best 

use of financial and human 

resources for venture firms— 

many of which tend to have lean 

teams focused on deal-making 

and due diligence. 

However, Olowe said: “A good 

way to get around this criticism 

is to limit the number of startups 

entering their portfolio. Unlike 

accelerator programs and VCs 

that tend to back dozens or even 

hundreds of startups each year, 

By Prince Osuagwu 

earch engine giant, Google is 

Ssupporting African tech start-up 

ecosystem with empowerment 

capacity and developer 

scholarships. This is as it opened up 

applications for its 6th Class of the 

Google for Startups Accelerator 

programme recently. 

The programme is accompanied 

with the launch of new developer 

scholarships in partnership with 

Pluralsight and Andela. 

At a virtual event to introduce the 

initiatives, Google hosted key 

industry players, policy leads, startup 

executives and investors in a bid 

to help drive the growth of Africa’s 

tech ecosystem. 

The event provided a platform for 

them to review opportunities 

unfolding throughout the internet 

economy, paying special attention 

to the support of developers and 

startups in the region. 

Google said: “Applications for the 

6th Cohort of Google for Startups 

Accelerator programme, a threemonth 

programme that is slated to 

start on June 21, 2021, will be open 

until May 14. 

The online programme, which 

includes three intensive virtual 

training bootcamps, mentorship 

and Google product support, is open 

to applications from 17 countries 

across Africa, including Egypt, 

Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, 

Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, 

Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 

For Google’s new developer 

scholarships, Android, Web and 

Google Cloud scholarships are 

being offered to beginner and 

intermediate developers resident in 

Africa. 

A total of 40,000 scholarships will 

be offered to developers, spread 

across Mobile and Cloud 

development tracks. The top 1,000 

students at the end of the training 

will earn a full scholarship to certify 

venture builders are most 

optimal if they support a few 

companies annually. Three to 

five is fair enough to ensure the 

builder provides the best value 

with the resources they render. 

“The venture builder model 

certainly offers merits for 

early-stage innovation. One 

notable rationale is they test and 

validate ideas quickly in-house. 

After all, according to CB 

Insights, 42 percent of startups 

fail when due to a lack of 

product-market-fit. Venture 

builders engage in few core 

activities: business ideation, 

building teams, capital 

allocation and team operations. 

Google supports African start-ups 

with developer scholarship 

on Android or Cloud development. 

Head of Google for Startups 

Accelerator Africa, Onajite 

Emerhor, said: “Last year, due to the 

COVID-19 pandemic, the first 

virtual class of Google for Start-ups 

Accelerator Africa was launched. It 

was the first all-online iteration of 

Google’s accelerator program for 

Africa, and saw 20 startups from 

seven countries undergo a 12-week 

virtual journey to redefine their 

offering, while receiving mentoring 

and attending workshops. This year, 

with the 6th cohort, we want to 

continue to play our part by 

supporting developers and start-ups 

within the Africa tech ecosystem, 

ensuring they get all the access and 

support necessary to see them 

continue to grow.” 

LG makes Rita Dominic brand ambassador 


G Electronics has signed 

LNollywood Diva, Rita Dominic 

as Brand Ambassador in Nigeria for 

all its home appliances. 

The device maker said her choice 

was due to her inspiring adventures 

and expeditions in the Nollywood 

industry. 

Signing the contract in Lagos, 

Dominic said LG home appliances 

such as InstaView Refrigerator, 

Vivace WM, Gas cooker and 

NeoChef Microwave appeal to her 

because they are products that 

augment smart living. 

She said: “The brand's state-ofthe-art 

living solutions seamlessly 

combine the newest technologies 

and superior design to achieve the 

ultimate in performance, not willing 

to settle for second-best particularly 

at a time like this when majority of 

the people all over the world work 

from home” 

Managing Director, LG West 

Africa, Mr. Dong Youn Kim, said 

24 Unity schools qualify for National 

Robotics Championship 


wenty-four teams drawn from 

Tthe Federal Unity Colleges 

have qualified for the First Lego 

League, National Robotics 

Championship Competition 

2021. 

The teams were selected after 

highly competitive Zonal 

Championships held in Lagos 

and Kano. 

The seventh edition of the 

Championship which is 

organised annually by Coderina 

Education and Technology 

Foundation was carried out in 

collaboration with the Federal 

Ministry of Education and the 

Principals of 104 Federal Unity 

Colleges in Nigeria with supports 

from SAP, FIRST; National 

Information Technology 

Development Agency, NITDA; 

Ford and DOW. 

Coderina is an independent 

non-profit organisation ed-tech 

that works to promote ICT 

development, youth innovation 

Rita Dominic's popularity, her poise 

and brand identity, resonates the LG 

home appliances brands. 

Kim said: “We are very optimistic 

that Rita Dominic will represent our 

brand well because of her 

antecedent within her choice of 

career. She has lived an enviable and 

exemplary lifestyle that stand her 

out amongst the pack. She 

represents our brand value in terms 

of sophistication, flexibility, style and 

innovation” 

“LG is deeply committed to its 

customers’ desire for beautiful 

products and will continue to pursue 

innovative design that delivers new 

value and exceptional user 

experiences,” he said. 

Also, Managing Director, Fouani 

Nigeria Limited, Mr. Mohamed 

Fouani said LG has continued to 

establish a strong foothold in the 

electronics market with impressive 

sales and their choice of who 

represents the brand across board 

has been in no doubt the best within 

the space. We are very positive that 

and entrepreneurship in Africa. 

The Director, Technology & 

Science Education, Federal 

Ministry of Education, Nigeria, 

Mrs. Elizabeth Adedigba, said 

that the objective is to expose the 

children to 21st Century 

technology and skills. 

She said: “The Ministry is 

aware of the fact that the world 

does not wait for anybody and 

artificial intelligence is gaining 

ground across sectors. The 

Federal Unity Colleges; being 

model schools, we have to start 

with the children to acquire the 

skills and boost their creative 

insights, innovation and team 

work progression. We are 

equipping them for the 

challenges of the future and the 

workplace of the future; we can’t 

afford to leave our students 

untutored along this line 

because we want them to be 

globally competitive, 

entrepreneurs. We want jobs to 

look for them; the reverse 

shouldn’t be the case. 

New mobile APP for instant cryptocurrency 

exchange debuts in Lagos 

A 


new mobile app that allows 

instant exchange of crypto 

currency with the naira and other 

currencies in the globe has debuted 

in Lagos, courtesy of Tradefada 

Nigeria Limited. This, according to 

Managing Director and Chief 

Executive Officer of the Company, 

Mr. Seun Dania will bring the 

needed change and confidence to 

enable individuals to build up their 

cryptocurrency portfolio. 

Dania added that the new app will 

also ensure “easy crypto-to-crypto 

trades on the spot on over one 

hundred trading pairs including 

Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, 

Dogecoin, Chainlink, Polkadot, 

Unobtanium, Litecoin, Cardano, 

DASH, AAVE, Maker and so much 

more.” 

He disclosed that the company 

has partnered with a third party 

service provider, Moon Pay, to enable 

foreign users buy cryptocurrency 

with other currencies such as the 

United States Dollar, the United 

Kingdom Pound Sterling, 

Australian Dollar, Swiss Franc, 

Russian Ruble, Japanese Yen, etc. 

“This is possible with the use of 

credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, 

Samsung, and lots more. It is 

trading made possible at your 

convenience on Apple and Play 

Store, from the different parts of the 

globe, due to the globalisation of 

the world, which has been made 

feasible through up-to-the-minute 

technology. 

“With the proliferation of 

smartphones and high internet 

penetration in the country, 

TradeFada, will make transactions 

and exchange of the cryptocurrency 

plausible across the country and 

beyond, with the desired 

convenience. 

*From left: LG Home Appliances’ 

Brand Ambassador; Nollywood 

Actress, Ms Rita Dominic, and 

Managing Director, LG Electronics 

West Africa Operations, Mr. Dong 

Youn Kim at the official brand 

ambassadorship signing ceremony 

held in Victoria Island, Lagos, 

Nigeria. 

Rita will do justice to all brands to 

be represented because of her 

proven track record in the 

Nollywood industry and beyond.




Politics, morals and law (2) 

"There is a wide disconnect 

between morality and politics 

in Nigerian politics.” 

ACCORDING to the so 

cial contract theory, every 

government has an obligation 

to the governed. In his famous 

book, The Social Contract, Rousseau 

propounded that in the 

state of nature, humans were 

unwarlike and somewhat undeveloped 

in their reasoning 

powers and sense of morality 

and responsibility. When, 

however, people agreed for mutual 

protection to surrender individual 

freedom of action and 

establish laws and government, 

they then acquired a sense of 

moral and civic obligation. In 

order to retain its essentially 

moral character, government 

must thus rest on the consent of 

the governed, the volontégénérale 

(“general will”). 

Therefore, it is generally 

agreed that the individual has 

expressly or tacitly given up his 

freedom to the government in 

return for the protection of that 

government. As a result, the individuals 

or citizens are expected 

to live harmoniously and in 

accordance with the laws of the 

land while the government provides 

security of life and property. 

This theory pervades all 

modern societies with varying 

degrees of success. 

The Social Contract and Political 

Elections 

A major way in which this 

contract is continually renewed 

is through elections in which 

politicians seek the votes of the 

electorate with the promise of 

improvements in the standard 

of life. In Nigeria, political parties 

serve as a platform upon 

which the relationship between 

the ordinary citizens and the 

government is nurtured. However, 

as against the basic tenets 

of the social contract theory, 

elected government officials in 

Nigeria have, for several years, 

failed to show any appreciation 

for the fact that in exchange for 

their votes, the people require 

the service of the government. 

What is often of paramount importance 

to most politicians in 

Nigeria is how they will attain 

political office without any adequate 

thought as to how they 

will perform the duties of that 

office. As I have often stated, this 

attitude shows that Lord Lugard 

was right when he posited that 

the African loves power without 

any commensurate attention 

to the responsibilities that 

comes with it. 

Morality in the face of Nigerian 

Political Defections 

The dearth of morality in the 

Nigerian political space has engendered 

countless incidences 

of defections and cross-carpeting 

which have now become 

synonymous with politicians. 

Defection amongst politicians 

is hardly a function of ideological 

differences, but primarily 

as a means towards securing 

political advantage. Therefore, 

a politician who is unable to 

obtain the ticket of his party for 

a particular election will immediately 

defect to another opposing 

party even if he had already 

been elected to public office on 

the platform of his original party. 

In such situations it would 

even not matter if the manifesto 

of his new party is diametrically 

opposed to that of his 

former party. However, I find it 

rather strange that a political 

office holder who has attained 

public office through the votes 

of the electorate on the strength 

of the manifesto of his party will 

defect to another party with a 

totally different manifesto and 

yet carry on as if there is nothing 

dishonourable about his 

conduct. There is a wide disconnect 

between morality and 

politics in Nigerian politics. 

The sad reality is that what 

obtains in Nigeria’s political 

landscape is better described as 

vulture politics and more aptly, 

as political prostitution being 

bereft of morality and decorum. 

A Nigerian writer, Olukotun, 

once noted that the spate of 

defections by some Nigerian 

politicians from one party to 

another is a shameful phenomenon 

that graphically retells the 

odious rat race, ideological vacuity, 

and mundane craving that 

typify Nigerian political life. 

As earlier noted, the Nigerian 

political space is riddled 

with unbridled, indiscriminate 

political defections. There is 

hardly an election year that 

does not feature widespread political 

exodus and with the current 

trend of cross-carpeting 

being enacted in the Nigerian 

Elected officials 

in Nigeria have, 

for several years, 

failed to show 

any appreciation 

for the fact that 

in exchange for 

their votes, the 

people require 

the service of the 

government 

political landscape, fundamental 

principles, scruples and ideology 

have all been jettisoned 

for greed, self-interest, and opportunism. 

Usually, a political 

defector in Nigeria does so, not 

as a reflection of any ideological 

leaning, but because he/she 

feels discontent with the former 

political party to which he/she 

belongs. This poses the question 

of morality, particularly when 

viewed from the standpoint that 

defections in Nigerian politics 

are primarily as a result of personality 

clash, power tussles, divergent 

views on the operations 

of a political party‘s philosophy, 

crisis or division within a given 

party, disagreement on party‘s 

position on an issue, and the realization 

of personal political 

ambition. Notwithstanding, I 

believe that honour should play 

an important role in any human 

endeavour and particularly 

in politics. In the case of AG 

Federation v. Abubakar (2007) 

10 NWLR (Pt. 1041) 1 which I 

was privileged to handle, the 

Supreme Court of Nigeria 

adopted a similar position 

when in respect of the defection 

of the then Vice President, Alhaji 

Atiku Abubakar to another 

political party other than the 

one on whose platform he had 

been elected into office it stated 

as follows: 

“The action cannot be justified 

by the fact that he had been 

suspended or expelled from 

the ruling political party under 

which he was jointly elected 

with the President or that he 

was exercising his fundamental 

right of association guaranteed 

by the Constitution. 

What is required of him is to 

first resign and even after resigning 

from that office he 

would be precluded from dissociating 

himself from the collective 

responsibility for decisions 

taken by the Cabinet 

while he was in office.” 

Contrary to the above, what 

has been experienced is an upsurge 

in defections all with a 

view to securing tickets to contest 

elections. In some instances, 

politicians have defected 

from their political parties to 

another party only to leave that 

other party for yet other parties 

before eventually returning 

‘home’ to their original political 

party. Not too long ago, the 

Edo State Governor, Godwin 

Obaseki, decamped to the Peoples 

Democratic Party, having 

been unable to secure the gubernatorial 

ticket for his re-election 

on the platform of the All 

Progressives Congress. Likewise, 

a former Ondo State Deputy 

Governor, Agboola Ajayi, 

elected on the platform of the 

APC, defected to the PDP to attempt 

to seek gubernatorial 

ticket. When he could not secure 

the ticket, he again defected 

to Zenith Labour Party where 

he eventually secured the gubernatorial 

ticket for the Ondo 

State elections, which he lost. 

Contrary to the Nigerian situation, 

politics in foreign 

climes seems to embrace morality. 

A few years back, a prominent 

public figure in France, 

Dominic Strauss-Kahn who 

was also the Managing Director 

of the International Monetary 

Fund, IMF, was accused of 

rape by a maid in a hotel in the 

United States of America. Despite 

his claim of innocence, 

this accusation was enough to 

cost him any chance of being 

elected to the office of President 

of France, a position to which 

prior to the said accusation he 

was a leading candidate. More 

importantly, he did not even 

bother to offer himself up for 

election. In Nigeria, I am certain 

that he would have still proceeded 

to contest the election 

as, after all, morality is of little 

or no importance here. A further 

example is offered by the 

2011 resignation of the then 

Prime Minister of Japan. In 

2011, Naoto Kan announced 

his resignation following public 

outcry that he had failed to 

show leadership after the devastating 

earthquake of March 

11, 2011 and the ensuing nuclear 

crisis. In an address to the 

nation, Mr. Kan stated as follows: 

“Under the severe circumstances 

I feel I’ve done everything 

that I had to do. Now I would 

like to see you choose someone 

respectable as a new Prime Minister.” 

In further statements, Mr. Kan 

apologised to the nation for the 

fact that the natural disasters 

had occurred during his tenure 

as Prime Minister. I doubt if Nigerian 

politicians will ever 

show the same kind of honour 

displayed by Mr. Kan. 

To be concluded…


VOL. 2 NO. 69 

30 years after promise, Anambra finally 

other interest groups, 

gets an airport 

•Inaugural flight at Anambra International Airport, Umueri in Anambra East Local 

Government Area, Friday. 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

After 30 years of the 

first attempt to 

build an airport in 

Anambra State at Oba in 

the present Idemili 

South Local Government 

Area failed, the airport, 

an international airport, 

finally came on stream 

on April 30, 2021, but 

this time, at Umueri in 

Anambra East Local 

Government Area. In 

fact, there were 

unconfirmed stories that 

wealthy Anambra 

people, who were 

enjoying the boom of 

inter- state land 

transport business, were 

sabotaging efforts of 

s u c c e s s i v e 

administrations to build 

an airport in the state as 

that, they erroneously 

believed, would crumble 

their business. However, 

the successful 

implementation of the 

project by Governor 

Willie Obiano 15 months 

after construction began, 

has shown that what was 

lacking in the past was 

the political will to 

execute the project. 

THE TEAM 

SUPERVISING EDITOR: 

Chioma Gabriel, Lagos 

(08052201257) 

EDITOR 

Anayo Okoli, Enugu 

08034046839 

Vincent Ujumadu, Awka 

Chidi Nkwopara, Owerri 

Peter Okutu, Abakaliki 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu, Nnewi 

Nwabueze Okonkwo, 

Onitsha 

Chinedu Adonu, Enugu 

Ugochukwu Alaribe, Aba 

Dennis Agbo, Enugu 

Chinonso Alozie, Owerri 

Eric Ugbor, Aba 

Ikechukwu Odu, Nsukka 

Steve Oko, Aba 

This is not to say that 

the airport project came 

without hiccups. When 

in March 2015, 

Governor Willie Obiano 

approved N5 billion for 

the development of a 

new four-lane approach 

road to the proposed 

Umueri Cargo Airport, 

Anambra people were 

informed that the state 

was not going to commit 

any money into the 

project as international 

developers would be 

responsible for 

financing it. Two years 

passed and when there 

were no signs of the 

take-off of the 

construction, stories 

began to make the 

rounds that the said 

international partner 

was trying to rip the 

state off and so, 

Governor Obiano 

decided to build it with 

state resources. His 

political opponents were 

already jubilating that 

Umueri Airport was a 

failed project. 

Determined not to fail, 

Obiano, in April 2017, 

launched the Umueri 

Cargo Airport project 

and added that the 

‘Airport City Project’ 

would be developed 

on a 1,500-acre site. 

Work commenced 

shortly after. 

According to him, 

features of the 

airport include two 

runways, aviation 

fuel facility, aircraft 

maintenance 

facility, airport hotel, 

business park, as 

well as international 

convention centre, 

all expected to 

generate 1200 direct 

and 3600 indirect 

jobs. 

Apparently due to 

disappointment 

from the initial 

partners, the state 

government in 

September 2019, 

allocated N6 billion for 

the construction of the 

Cargo Airport as part 

of the state’s 2020 

budget. To say that the 

multimillion dollar 

project came easy would 

be an understatement as 

there were initial 

hiccups, including 

distractions from the 

host community, which 

tried to muscle the state 

government into making 

additional concessions 

even after adequate 

compensation for the 

acquired land for the 

project was paid. 

The airport has a fourstorey 

terminal building 

with shops, a ten-floor 

control tower and a car 

pack that can 

accommodate 750 

vehicles. It has 3.7 

kilometers runway and it 

is bigger than any other 

runway in the country. 

The Chief Executive 

Officer of Air Peace 

Airlines, Chief Allen 

Onyema, whose two 

aircraft were the first to 

land at the new airport 

was the first passenger 

to land. 

Signs that the 

realisation of the new 

airport project emerged 

when the Director- 

General of Nigeria Civil 

Aviation Authority, 

NCAA, Captain Nuhu 

Musa led aviation 

officials to inspect the 

site of the airport and 

after going round, 

commended the 

Anambra State 

Government for 

complying with the 

regulatory standards of 

airport construction. 

They were followed by 

the National Assembly 

Committee on Aviation 

who also expressed 

delight in the project. 

As the work went on, 

including Anambra 

people in Diaspora, 

pilots, leadership of 

Ohaneze Ndigbo, 

media executives and 

most importantly, 

businessmen who are 

looking forward to using 

the airport which lies 

about 25 minutes drive 

from the commercial city 

of Onitsha and Awka, 

the state capital. 

Already, most of the 

adjoining land in 

communities around the 

airport have been 

bought by estate 

developers and trust the 

people, the value of 

property in the area has 

increased tremendously 

in the past one year. 

Friday, 30th of April, 

2021 would, therefore, 

forever remain a 

memorable day in the 

history of Anambra State 

as it was the day aircraft 

landed at the new 

Anambra International 

Cargo and Passenger 

Airport. Three aircraft, 

two belonging to Air 

Peace Airlines owned by 

an indigene of Anambra 

State, Chief Allen 

Onyema and a private 

jet, landed at the airport 

with Governor Obiano 

and who- is-who in the 

state on hand to witness 

the epoch-making 

event. Expectedly, the 

airport will be 

commissioned by the 

end of 2021 with 

facilities to handle 

domestic and 

international services. 

The 


Commissioner of 

Works, Mr. Marcel 

Ifediofor described it as 

a dream come true. He 

said: “We have been 

working day and night, 

non-stop, looking forward 

to a day like this. 

This is the final test. 

This has shown that we 

did very good 

engineering work. We 

passed excellently 

because a very big 

aircraft landed at the 

airport. It is a credit to 

all of us, but the major 

credit goes to Governor 

Willie Obiano for his 

support, both morally 

and financially to make 

sure we got to this 

stage.” 

According to him: 

“Nine contractors and 

service providers are 

working at the airport. 

We worked for 15 

months without 

injuries. More than 500 

machines and more 

than 50 trucks, and not 

a single accident was 

recorded. It is 

wonderful because 

safety is number one. 

Any contractor that 

takes safety seriously is 

a good contractor. 

“We have the best 

road network and now 

we are building the best 

airport in sub-Saharan 

Africa. In a few months’ 

time, by God’s grace, 

we are going to 

commission this 

airport. Anambra 

people are the most 

travelled people in 

Nigeria. Basically, we 

are traders, buying and 

selling, and involved in 

importation and 

exportation. 

“This is really a 

dream come true 

because instead of 

going elsewhere to 

clear goods, we now 

have the facilities in our 

backyard.

Continues from Page 5 

Naira down to N411/$ in I&E 

window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

THE Naira yesterday depreciated to N411 per 

dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) 

window. 

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative 

exchange rate for the window rose to N411 per dollar 

from N410 per dollar last week Friday, translating to 

N1 depreciation of the Naira. 

The volume of dollars traded (turnover) in the window 

fell by 25 per cent to $42.59 million from $56.81 million 

last week Friday. 

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021— 27 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

Anguished parents protest at NASS, accuse FG of neglect 

them. They have killed five 

of them already. 

“Today (yesterday) is the 

deadline given by the 

kidnappers of the students. 

The government knows 

exactly where the 

kidnapped students are 

held. If they don’t know, 

they should ask Sheikh 

Gumi. What is stopping 

them from rescuing them?” 

the rights’ activist queried. 

On his part, Sowore 

expressed disappointment 

with the overall handling 

of security by the 

government. 

FG, Kaduna govt 

working on it — 

Lai Mohammed 

But the Minister of 

Information and Culture, 

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, 

assured that both the 

federal and Kaduna State 

governments were working 

together to ensure the 

release of the remaining 

students of the Greenfield 

University, who had been 

in the captivity of their 

abductors since last month. 

The minister gave the 

assurance, while 

addressing a press 

conference at the National 

Press Centre in Abuja. 

‘Parents depend 

on NASS for 

rescue’ 

On its part, the House of 

Representatives said 


students depend on the 

National Assembly to 

rescue their wards from 

captivity. 

The House made the 

declaration on a day the 

parents and the 

institution’s Students 

Union Government, SUG, 

stormed the assembly 

complex in protest against 

the continued 

disappearance of their 

children. 

Speaker of the House, 

Femi Gbajabiamila, had 

upon the news of their 

arrival to the gate, directed 

all the chairmen of security 

related committees, 

including Defence, Army, 

Navy and Air Force, to 

meet with the parents. 

On return to the chamber 

one hour later, the 

chairman, House 

Committee on Defence, 

Babajimi Benson, on behalf 

of his colleagues, told his 

colleagues that the parents 

pleaded with the House to 

intervene in the matter. 

Benson said the 

protesters had left the main 

gate of the National 

Assembly back to the unity 

fountain when they got 

there, leaving them to 

follow suit, adding that the 

parents looked oppressed, 

suppressed and dejected. 

“They feel they’ve been 

abandoned and have not 

eaten since two days. They 

don’t have any hope. The 

only hope they have is on 

the parliament. They sent 

us back to you to plead with 

you that their plight on their 

missing kids be addressed. 

They also requested that 

we speak on behalf of the 

kids that were kidnapped 

at Greenfield University,” 

he said. 

Ruling on the matter, 

Gbajabiamila, who 

expressed sadness over 

the development, referred 

the matter to the newly-set 

up ad hoc committee on 

security to proffer solutions. 

‘Don’t kill our 

children, 

NAPTAN pleads 

with abductors’ 

Pleading on behalf of 


students yesterday, the 

National Parents & Teachers 

Association of Nigeria, 

NAPTAN, appealed to the 

bandits to allow more time 

for negotiation that will lead 

to the peaceful resolution of 

the issue. 

National President of 

NAPTAN, Alhaji Haruna 

Danjuma, who spoke in an 

interview with Vanguard, 

also pleaded with the 

bandits not to allow the 

face-off between them and 

Kaduna State Government 

push them into taking 

irrational action. 

Danjuma also called on 

the bandits to fear God and 

not kill the innocent 

students. 

He spoke in reaction to 

the threat by the bandits 

that unless a ransom of 

N100 million was paid by 

today (yesterday) the 

remaining 17 students in 

their custody would be 

killed. 

He said: “For me, I think 

the government should 

have a rethink about their 

decision not to dialogue or 

negotiate with the bandits. 

My position is based on the 

fact that entering into 

dialogue with them may not 

necessarily mean that 

government must have to 

pay them money. It could 

be an avenue to know their 

grouse and why they have 

such grouse with 

whosoever or whatsoever 

they have such. 

“Assuming that the 

bandits even want to be 

paid some money, if 

government is not 

interested in paying any 

money, let the government 

allow the parents to raise 

the money and pay. I heard 

that the parents had raised 

and paid the bandits over 

N50 million, though I was 

not privy to that. 

“The government cannot 

just stay aloof and not do 

anything. Are the children 

of government officials 

among the innocent 

students being 

traumatised? The answer 

may be probably no. I plead 

with the bandits on behalf 

of all Nigerian parents to 

spare the lives of these 

children. They should not 

allow their faceoff with the 

government push them to 

do evil. None of the 

children of the governor is 

among the victims. 

“The bandits should also 

fear God and spare these 

children. The shedding of 

innocent blood should stop. 

We cannot continue this 

way. We are not only killing 

education in the country, 

we are hurting and putting 

the future of Nigeria in 

jeopardy.” 

It’s dangerous for 

KDSG to do 

nothing — Shehu 

Sani 

Reacting yesterday, 

former Kaduna State 

senator, Shehu Sani, said 

it was dangerous for the 

state government to do 

nothing about rescuing the 

abducted students of 

Greenfield University. 

Since the kidnap of the 

students, Kaduna State 

Government had 

maintained that it would 

neither negotiate with nor 

pay ransom to bandits. 

But reacting in a 

statement, Sani said the 

threats of the bandits must 

not be taken lightly, asking 

the state government why 

it had not rescued the 

students if it was not going 

to consider the alternative 

option of paying the 

ransom. 

He said: “If the payment 

of ransom is not the 

solution, why are our 

security forces still unable 

to detect the whereabouts 

of the students and free 

them for this long. Doing 

nothing is dangerous. 

“When you have a 

helpless people and a 

helpless government, then 

the nation is hopeless. Our 

tears will be needless for a 

tragedy we could have 

avoided. 

“We must not wait for 

bandits to throw the corpses 

of our 17 children on our 

doorsteps. We cannot claim 

to be fasting in a Holy 

month and helplessly 

watch the slaughter of our 

children. 

“If the government has a 

better solution to freeing the 

kidnapped students other 

than the one embarked 

upon by the parents of the 

students, let it be put to work 

immediately. 

“Kidnappers are holding 

the balls of the government 

and the groins of our 

country, getting out of it, by 

all means, is what matters. 

“The clock ticks for the 

lives of the students and for 

the honor of the 

government. If we fail to 

provide for the new 

generation, we must not fail 

to protect them.” 

Prosecuting kidnappers, bandits not FG’s job —LAI MOHAMMED 

•Says security services trailing those plotting to destabilise 

Nigeria, chides PDP on insecurity •South South govs, PANDEF 

blast FG 

By Soni Daniel, 

Northern Region 

Editor, Festus Ahon & 

Davies Iheamnachor 

ABUJA — Minister of 

Information and 

Culture, Alhaji Lai 

Mohammed, said 

yesterday that prosecution 

of kidnappers and bandits 

was not federal 

government’s 

responsibility but that of 

states. 

Mohammed, who stated 

this at a briefing in Abuja, 

was reacting to claims by 

the Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, that the 

government was not doing 

enough to stem the tide of 

terrorism, banditry and 

kidnapping across the 

country. 

He said: “The PDP 

accused this Federal 

Government of not 

engaging and of running 

a government of exclusion, 

forgetting, conveniently, 

that this government has 

consistently engaged 

Nigerians on topical 

national issues, including 

security, the fight against 

corruption, terrorism, 

infrastructure and farmerherder 

conflict. 

“The town hall meeting 

series, which we launched 

in 2016, has so far been 

held 18 times across 

Nigeria. It’s always a noholds-barred 

opportunity 

for the government to 

engage with critical 

stakeholders, briefing them 

on government policies 

and programmes and 

getting their feed backs, 

thus ensuring inclusion and 

deepening of democracy. 

“The latest of such town 

hall meetings was the one 

in Kaduna. I will go ahead 

and read the 10-point 

recommendations from that 

Town Hall Meeting, and 

you can then judge for 

yourself who is ahead of the 

other. 

“Now, we have gone a 

step further. We have taken 

those resolutions to the 

National Economic 

Council, NEC, chaired by 

the Vice President, and 

which also includes all the 

state governors. 

“As a prelude to 

adopting 

the 

recommendations, the 

NEC has directed all state 

governors to organize 

state-wide consultation on 

them, and then revert to the 

council in its next meeting. 

“You can now see that the 

PDP was more interested in 

playing politics with 

national challenges than 

helping to find solutions to 

them. They presented as 

original thinking some of 

the same resolutions that we 

are already working to 

implement, without a single 

reference to those same 

recommendations that 

emanated from our town 

hall meeting of April 8, 

2021. 

“They disparaged the 

President and the Federal 

Government, engaged in 

name calling and fingerpointing, 

gloated about the 

security challenges facing 

the nation, lied about how 

they resolved security 

challenges under their 

watch and then went ahead 

to say, at their hysterical 

press conference, that they 

have not come to play 

politics. Who is fooling who 

here? 

“The PDP alleged that 

kidnappers and bandits are 

not being brought to justice. 

This is apparently aimed at 

the Federal Government. It 

is shocking that a party that 

ruled this nation for all of 

16 years does not know that 

kidnapping and banditry 

are not federal offences. 

"The PDP should, 

therefore, call out the states, 

including those being 

controlled by it to ensure a 

rigorous prosecution of 

arrested kidnappers and 

bandits. 

“Meanwhile, PDP 

conveniently forgot that as 

far as terrorism, a federal 

offence, is concerned, this 

Federal Government has 

successfully prosecuted 

thousands of Boko Haram 

members in Kainji, as part 

of a continuing exercise. 

We are now seeking the 

cooperation of the judiciary 

to continue with the trial of 

arrested terrorists.’’ 

FG wrong on this — Gov 

Okowa 

But reacting to the 

minister’s statement, 

chairman of South-South 

Governors Forum and 

governor of Delta State, 

Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, 

who spoke through the 

State Commissioner for 

Information, Mr Charles 

Aniagwu, said: “We 

understand that terrorism is 

not a small crime; it’s a crime 

against the nation not even 

the particular state where 

it happens. So we want to 

believe that may be the 

man is being misquoted. 

“The Federal 

Government cannot say 

they are not in a position to 

do so. What is most 

important, even beyond the 

prosecution, is to prevent 

because prosecution is 

when it has happened. 

What we are saying is that 

as a government, what do 

we do to ensure that there 

is no terrorism, banditry, 

kidnapping and all that in 

our country? 

“For us, that is much more 

important than the issue of 

who prosecutes who. If we 

are able to bring back our 

country to the path of peace 

like it used to in the 80s and 

90s; it will be better for all 

of us, both those at the 

federal and the state 

levels. 

“So, we all must be put 

hands together to ensure 

that terrorism, banditry and 

kidnapping are wiped out 

of our country. 

“For those of us who are 

at the state level, we have 

a responsibility when there 

is information to give to 

Intelligence if it is available 

to us but we do know that 

the security of the nation at 

that level is highly much 

more with the central 

government.” 

FG’s position 

unacceptable — PANDEF 

Also reacting, the Pan 

Niger Delta Forum, 

PANDEF, lambasted the 

minister over his statement, 

saying it was the 

responsibility of the federal 

government to provide 

security for Nigerians. 

National Publicity 

Secretary of PANDEF, Ken 

Robinson, said in Port 

Harcourt that the statement 

is unacceptable and a mark 

of irresponsibility . 

Robinson said: “It is an 

irresponsible statement 

from the minister. The 

federal government is the 

federal government of 

Nigeria, so it is wrong to 

say that it is not their 

responsibility to prosecute 

criminal elements. 

“Even the constitution 

explicitly says that it is the 

responsibility of the 

government. We can’t be 

talking about bandits when 

internal security is under 

the Federal Government. 

“State governments do 

not control the police or the 

Army. So it is irresponsible for 

a minister to make such 

statement in the face of what 

is going on in the country."

28— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021 

HAMZA 

I formerly known and addressed 

as ALMUSTAPHA HAMZA, 

now wish to be known and 

addressed as MUSTAPHA 

ABDULLAHI. All former 

documents remain valid. 

Concerned authorities and the 

general public should please take 

note. 

FARUQ FESTUS 

I, formerly known as Muhammed 

Umar, now wish to be known and 

addressed as Umar Faruq 

Muhammed. My correct date of 

birth is 25/01/1999. All former 

documents remain valid. General 

public please take note. 

RUTH 

I, formerly known and addressed 

as Miss Jewoola Oluwaseyi Ruth, 


addressed as Mrs Seriki-Jewoola 

Oluwaseyi Ruth. All former 


public take note. 

LAWAL 

I formerly known and addressed as 

ABDULKAREEM KHADIJAT, 


addressed as ABDULKAREEM 

LAWAL KHADIJAT. All former 




note. 

EDESIRI 

I, formerly known as Daniel 

Edesiri Okoroh, now wish to 

be known and addressed as 

Akpobome Daniel. All former 

documents remained valid. 

Access Bank and general 


RANSON 

I formerly known as Ranson 

Chima Godwin Now wish to be 

known, Called and addressed as 

Godwin Chima. Former 


Public note 

JEN 

I, formerly known as SILAS 

USMAN JEN, now wish to be 

known and addressed as SILAS 

USMAN LOTO New Date of 

birth: 31/12/1957 Old 

Date of birth: 31/12/1958. All 

former documents remained 

valid. General public take note. 

SAMSON 


as CALEB SAMSON KEFAS, 


addressed as CALEB KEFAS Date 

of birth: 21/01/2002. Former 



EB 


ABUBAKAR YAKUBU, now 

wish to be known and addressed 

as ABUBAKAR YAKUBU 

ABUBAKAR. All former 




note. 

NWEHIBE 


NWEHIBE IZICHUKWU 

NWANGBO, now wish to be 

known and addressed as NWELIBE 

IZUCHUKWU EMMANUEL. 

MY CORRECT DATE OF 

BIRTH IS 15th Day Of. APRIL. 

1999.All former documents remain 

valid. General public to take note 

ALHAJI 

I Formerly known and called 

NDATSU ALHAJI MOHAMMED 


addressed as MOHAMMED 

ALHAJI NDATSU.All former 

documents remain valid,Relevant 

authority and the general public take 

note. 

CHANGE OF NAME 

ESTHER 

I, formerly known as Esther 

Olarewaju Oluwabunmi, now 

wish to be known as Aishat 

Abduazeez Oluwabunmi. All 

former documents remain valid. 

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I, formerly known as Titilayo 

Aluko, now wish to be known and 

addressed as Titilayo 

Oshunbanwo. All former documents 

remain valid. General public please 

take note. 

DUKOR 

I, formerly known as MISS 

DUKOR VERA OLUEBUBE, now 

wish to be known as Mrs 

ANOLIEFO VERA OLUEBUBE. 

All former documents remain valid. 


UGWU 

I, formerly known as Miss 

Chioma Celestina Ugwu now 

wish to be known and addressed 

as Mrs Chioma Celestina Eze. 

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remained valid. General public 

take note. 

ADEWALE 


as KAROUNWI BABATUNDE 

SEGUN Now wish to be called, 

addressed and known as 

KAROUNWI BABATUNDE 

SEGUN ADEWALE. All former 

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please take note 

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I, formerly known as Onuh 

Alimo, now wish to be known 

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OKEKE 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Mr. Okeke Isreal 

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addressed as PETER 

PATIENCE , now wish to be 

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as Omadachi Abiche Now wish to 


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actual date of birth of First January, 

2001. All former documents 

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authority and general public to take 

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JOSEPH 


addressed as Joseph Glory 

Glory , now wish to be known 

and addressed Shefu Ruth 

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take note. 

CHARLES 


ASUQUO CHARLES MONDAY 

and ASUQUO NSIDIBE 

MONDAY Now wish to be known 

and addressed as ASUQUO 

NSIDIBE MONDAY. All former 


public and authority concerned 

please take note 

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I, Formerly known as BELLO 

DANGANA now wish to be 

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I, formerly known as OGALA 

THANKGOD UGBEDEOJO, 


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I formerly known as Iloka Mary Now 

wish to be known, Called and 

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SARAH UMOELI, now wish to 


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Now wish to be known and 

addressed as Mrs Emumeakpor 

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I, formerly known as NWEKE 

DIVINE KELECHI. Now wish to 

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I, formerly known and addressed as 

MISS ANURIKA UDOCHUKWU 

IBEZIM now wish to be known 

and addressed as MRS IBEZIM- 

ANYANWU ANURIKA 

UDOCHUKWU. Former 



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Asomugha Kosisochukwu SILAS 

Now wish to be known and 

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addressed as Aishat Abdul, 


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I, formerly known as MAC - 

EFFIONG ASABO . Now wish to 

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OMOMEDA 


Miss WINIFRED OMOMEDA 

DAUDU, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs WINIFRED 

DAUDU BELLO. All former 




note. 

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I was formerly known as USMAN 

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and addressed as MUSA SHEHU. 

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I, formerly known as Precious 

Adukuw Gabriel, now wish to be 

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I, formerly known as 

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I FORMERLY KNOWN AS 

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GWENDOLYN, NOW WISH TO 

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as Eshare Oghare. DOB 28/9/ 

1989. Former documents 

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I, formerly known and addressed as 

ONYEJE OLUOMACHI 

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USMAN TAKAI ABDULLAHI, 


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and addressed as Oluga Onah David 

with my actual date of birth as 01- 

01-1961.All former documents 

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as Ezeme Gloria Nkeiruka, now 

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GRACE 

I GRACE BIYE KOGI- 

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Politicising security 

dangerous, says Gov Diri 

Y ENAGOA—BAYELSA 

State Governor, Senator 

Douye Diri, has cautioned 

against the politicisation of 

security issues, saying it is 

inimical to the corporate 

existence of any country. 

Senator Diri stated this on 

Tuesday when he received 

the new Flag Officer 

Commanding, Central 

Naval Command, Rear 

Admiral Obi Egbuchulam 

and other senior officers of 

the Nigerian Navy in 

Government House, 

Yenagoa. 

The governor in a press 

release issued by his Chief 

Press Secretary, Mr Daniel 

Alabrah, emphasised that 

criminals should be treated 

as such in order to achieve 

peace, stability and 

development in the country. 

He said: "What we are 

witnessing in the country 

today is part of the overpoliticisation 

of security and 

other issues over the years. 

We are all feeling the heat. It 

did not start with the present 

administration. 

"For us in Bayelsa, a 

criminal remains a criminal 

regardless of his political 

party. No matter the political 

colouration, we have all 

agreed to fight crime in this 

state." 

Describing Bayelsa as one 

of the most peaceful in the 

country, Senator Diri 

acknowledged that the 

existing peace in the state 

was as a result of the 

collaboration of the people, 

the state government and all 

security agencies in fighting 

crime and criminality. 

"Our people are fast 

moving away from militancy 

to meaningful engagement 

and that is why the state is 

peaceful. That does not mean 

there are no vestiges of crime. 

There is no society where 

security is perfect." 

The governor urged the 

Nigerian Navy to take 

advantage of the resources 

that abound in Bayelsa as a 

maritime state located close 

to the Atlantic Ocean. 

In his remarks, the new 

Flag Officer Commanding, 

Central Naval Command, 

Rear Admiral Obi 

Egbuchulam, expressed 

gratitude to Senator Diri for 

the tremendous support to the 

command and other security 

agencies to function 

effectively in the state. 

Rear Admiral Egbuchulam 

particularly thanked the state 

government for the donation 

of land to enable the 

command build its 

permanent operational base, 

NNS Soroh, and other 

infrastructure in the state. 

The FOC was Director, 

Communication and 

Information, Abuja, before his 

new posting. 

DeIta to partner Army 

Logistics College on study tour 

A SABA—OFFICERS 

and participants at the 

Nigerian Army College of 

Logistics, Lagos, have been 

assured of Delta State 

Government's commitment 

to partner with them to 

ensure that their study tour 

of the State achieved it's 

desired results. 

The Secretary to the Delta 

State Government, SSG, Mr 

Chiedu Ebie gave the 

assurance when the officers 

and participants at the 

college visited him in his 

office in Asaba. 

"The theme of the study 

tour - Strengthening 

Logistics Support for Military 

Operation through Synergy 

between the Civil and 

Military Sectors of the 

Nigerian Society is quite 

appropriate considering the 

fact that the world and 

Nigeria in particular is 

facing security challenges 

which range from terrorism, 

herders/farmers clashes, 

UAC Foods unveils new Gala spicy 

classic variants 

LAGOS—UAC Foods 

Limited, makers of Gala, 

has announced the launch of 

two new variants of its wellloved 

beef sausage roll - 

Gala Spicy and Gala 

Classic. The new product 

variants, which come in a 

bigger 100gram size, have 

been carefully formulated to 

enrich the Nigerian 

snacking experience, on the 

go 

Ṫhe new variants are 

crafted to deliver more value, 

the new Gala Spicy and 

Gala Classic variants come 

in a bigger size, offering 

more spice and beef filling 

at N100 only. 

For existing and new beef 

roll fans, the all-time 

Nigerian favourite snack 

launches its Gala Spicy and 

Classic variants at N100. 

The Gala Spicy sausage roll 

banditry, kidnapping and 

secessionist agitations" he 


He equally stated that the 

thoughtfulness of the College 

in coming up with the research 

theme was a clear indication of 

their desire to explore domestic 

environment for the 

advancement of military 

operations including hardware 

support and related items. 

Earlier, the Commandant and 

leader of the team, Major 

General MO Enendo said they 

were in the State to study how 

they could strengthen Logistic 

Support for their military 

operations which will help 

them tap into the 

resourcefulness of 

different sectors of the 

Nigerian Society. 

Major General Enendo 

explained that logistics is a 

cardinal aspect of military job 

because it presents the 

interface for interaction 

between the Civil society and 

the military in the execution of 

war. 

is enhanced with extra flavour 

and spice (pepper) to match 

Nigerians’ love for delicious 

spicy food and snacks. The 

Gala Classic is a remake of the 

old Gala classic sausage roll, 

offering more in beef filling, 

taste and size, and giving 

consumers more value at a 

great price. 

The Managing Director of 

UAC Foods Limited, Dele Ajayi 

commenting on the product 

launch, said: “UAC Foods 

Limited has been a partner to 

the Nigerian diet for over fifty 

years, offering nutritional 

products that enrich the 

Nigerian lifestyle. The launch 

of our Gala Classic and Gala 

Spicy variants is no different. 

Our commitment is to deliver 

great value at a great price to 

our consumers. I am certain 

that our consumers will enjoy 

the tasty experience of the new 

Gala Spicy and Gala Classic.”

He’s in denial about our 

relationship 

Dear Bunmi, 

I’ve been having an affair 

with one of my husband’s 

good friends for the past six 

months and I think I’m in love 

with him. He’s also married 

and we’re good family friends. 

I’m really confused about the 

relationship as he carries on 

as if nothing is between us 

when we’re with other people, 

yet he shows a lot of passion 

in the bedroom. 

In fairness to him, it all 

started out as a bit of fun and 

I’m sure that’s the way he still 

Turned down by a single mom 

Dear Bunmi, 

There is this single mother 

of two around where I live and 

we get on well together. Her 

children are under 10. 

When I eventual summoned 

the courage to ask her out, she 

turned me down. 

When I asked if she fancied 

me, she said she did but that 

things are not as easy as they 

seemed. What should I do? 

John, by e-mail 

Dear John, 

Getting mixed messages 

from someone you like could 

be really tricky. But, however 

much you want someone, if 

there is no real spark forget 

it; though the fact you get on 

well with her means there is 

some hope. 

So, explore the problem: 

what’s making the 

I love my ex better than my wife 

Dear Bunmi, 

I got married two years ago 

when I hadn’t completely 

fallen out of love with my exgirlfriend. 

I met my wife on 

the rebound, after my ex left 

sees it. I daren’t tell him the 

way I feel in case he ends the 

affair. I also don’t want to 

seem pushy, as he’s made no 

promises. I know he’s 

sexually attracted to me. But 

is that all? 

Kuburat, by e-mail 

Dear Kuburat, 

Whether your lover feels 

love for you is not the point. 

Couples everywhere quietly 

fool around with each other’s 

closest friends. Apart from 

that, these extramarital games 

Explore the 

problem: what’s 

making the 

relationship 'not 

easy?' Ask her what 

she needs from you. 

Put the ball in her 

court, saying: “If 

you ever feel 

differently, please 

tell me.” This gives 

her room to change 

her mind. If you 

have worked your 

way through all 

these and you are 

still getting a ‘no’, 

then it is time to 

call it quits. 

me for another man. But the 

relationship didn’t work out, 

and she’s started e-mailing 

me. My wife is kind, gentle 

and good company but I now 

realize that my ex is the love 

Childbirth’s left my boobs saggy 

Dear Bunmi, 

I am 28 and just had my first 

child. To my horror, I 

discovered my boobs have 

sagged since I gave birth. 

My husband has even 

noticed this and I'm desperate 

to get them back in shape. Is 

there anything I can do, or 

should I consider plastic 

surgery? Franka, 

by e-mail. 

Dear Franka, 

Breasts are fat and milk 

producing gland tissues. 

They are held up by ligaments 

that stretch as your breasts 

grow during pregnancy. They 

rarely return to their previous 

size afterwards. Exercise, 

such as swimming, can help. 

You will do well to invest in 

some confidence-boosting 

bras. Plastic surgery is a bit 

drastic and very expensive. 

Also, there is no guarantee 

that, in a few year, you might 

not need another. 

usually have little emotional 

value and do not provide 

romance let alone a happy 

new beginning. 

The consequences of being 

found out are often immensely 

painful for everyone involved. 

There’s no doubt you have 

feelings for this adulterer - 

there’s always a feeling of lust 

between attractive partners 

when they have sex - it is 

elementary chemistry. Your 

husband's friend is obviously 

using you for sex and he’s 

quite happy with the way 

things are. Put an end to this 

‘party’ as soon as you can, 

before you’re left with burnt 

fingers. 

relationship 'not easy', as she 

alleged? Would she be able to 

take things further if certain 

things were resolved? Ask 

what her difficulties are, then 

be prepared to change. 

If there are some things you 

can do to improve your 

chances, then ask her what 

she needs from you - is it to 

see that you will get on well 

with her children? Give her 

some space too. Occasionally, 

someone says no because the 

timing isn’t right but they will 

be glad to be asked later. 

Put the ball in her court, 

saying: “If you ever feel 

differently, please tell me.” 

This gives her room to change 

her mind. If you have worked 

your way through all these 

and you are still getting a 

‘no’, then it is time to call it 

off. 

of my life. My marriage is 

currently childless. What 

should I do? 

Smart, by e-mail 

Dear Smart, 

Before you do anything rash 

like throwing away your 

marriage, stop and think about 

your real feelings for your ex. 

It’s easy to look back at a past 

relationship with rose-tinted 

glasses, but she was the one 

who chose to break the 

wedding vows and must have 

had her reasons, which may 

well still exist. 

I would try to make your 

marriage work if I were you. 

Don’t rush back to your ex 

without being sure she’s not 

also settling for you on the 

rebound. What happens if 

what she considers a better 

option shows up - again? 

VANGU 

ANGUARD, ARD, WEDNESDAY, , MAY 5, 2021 — 29 

My parents ‘noise’ keeps me 

awake! 

DearBunmi, 

I am in my early 20s and live 

at home with my parents. My 

bedroom is next to theirs and 

I am kept awake some nights 

by the horrible sounds they 

make when they are having 

sex. I know things like that are 

normal but I feel so 

embarrassed when I see them 

the next day. 

Nobody is against their 

having sex at their age, but 

shouldn’t they tone it down 

when there are children in the 

house? 

Nonye, by e-mail 

Dear Nonye, 

Marriage hasn’t stopped his 

flirting 

DearBunmi, 

My husband gets a load of 

kicks from flirting with other 

women. For the eight years 

we’ve been married, I’ve 

watched him chat-up women 

and I've had countless nights 

anxiously waiting for him to 

come home from his nightcrawling. 

Now after his last 

affair, where his latest 

girlfriend insulted me to my 

face in his presence, I’ve 

decided I can no longer live 

with him. 

When I told him I wanted 

to quit the marriage, he said 

that suited him fine, as he 

was thinking of going abroad 

to work. This would mean 

our two children might not 

even see him. It’s hell being 

with a man who can’t stay 

faithful, but if I end our 

marriage, my children will 

lose their father. What should 

I do? 

BiIikis, bye-mail 

Dear Bilikis, 

Being married to a 

casanova can be a 

nightmare. Flirting might be 

harmless but it led him to 

having affairs, while 

controlling you and does 

what he likes. Now that 

you’ve found the strength to 

fight back, he’s making you 

feel guilty for the hurt your 

children may feel at the 

separation. 

As a mother, you naturally 

want them to have contact 

with their father, but you 

can’t make your husband a 

responsible father. He has 

shown little respect for you 

and your marriage. 

You deserve better, and if 

he’s unwilling to change, 

then you are right to end the 

relationship. While your 

When next this happens 

and you run into your smugly 

glowing parents over 

breakfast, face your mom and 

tell her “wow. That must have 

been a really terrible dream I 

heard last night. 

"I heard you screaming as 

if you were being harassed by 

armed robbers and I was 

really scared, especially 

when you started panting. I 

almost rushed into your room, 

but I knew dad too must have 

heard the commotion!" 

I assume an expression of 

innocent round-eyed horror 

as you say this, and watch as 

they develop exactly the 

same look. Your nights should 

be a lot more peaceful from 

then on! 

Being married to 

a casanova can be 

a nightmare. He 

has shown little 

respect for you 

and your 

marriage. You 

deserve better, 

and if he’s 

unwilling to 

change, then you 

are right to end 

the relationship. 

Let him know that 

going away would 

be his choice; and 

he would have to 

justify this to his 

children in the 

years to come. 

Unless your 

husband shows 

real desire to 

change, you owe 

it to yourself to 

build a happier 

life for you and 

your children. 

children need a father they 

also deserve a happy mom. 

Perhaps your threat to end 

the marriage has made him 

invent his job abroad, so 

you’ll change your mind. 

Let him know that going 

away would be his choice; 

and he will have to justify 

this to his children in the 

years to come. As much as 

plausible, I always try to 

advise couples to stay 

together, but unless your 

husband shows real desire to 

change, you owe it to 

yourself to build a happier 

life for you and your 

children. 

Share your problems and release 

your burden. Write now to 

Dear Bunmi, 

Vanguard Newspapers, 

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

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk


2022 World Cup Qualifiers: 

CAF approves seven stadiums 

for Nigeria’s home games 

CAF and FIFA have ap 

proved seven stadiums in 

Nigeria to host the Super Eagles 

2022 World Cup Qualifiers 

home games. 

The stadiums are Nnamdi 

Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu, 

National Stadium Abuja, 

Adokie Amiesimaka International 

stadium in Port 

Harcourt. 

Others include the Stephen 

Keshi Stadium in Asaba, 

Teslim Balogun Stadium in 

Lagos, Samuel Ogbemudia 

Stadium, Benin and Akwa 

Ibom International Stadium, 

Uyo. 

It remains to be seen which 

of these stadiums will host 

Pinnick invites 

Argentina, 

Romania to Aisha 

Buhari invitational 

tourney 

•Pinnick 

World football power, Argen 

tina, and Romania are 

likely to participate in the Aisha 

Buhari Women Football tournament 

following discussions between 

the organisers and both 

countries. 

The Aisha Buhari Invitational 

Tournament is scheduled to hold 

in Lagos in September with 

Ghana, Cameroun, Mali, South 

Africa, Morocco and Nigeria already 

confirmed for the competition. 

Yesterday, Nigeria Football 

Federation (NFF) President, 

Amaju Pinnick, revealed that 

talks were on with Argentine and 

Romanian officials on the possibility 

of both countries featuring 

in the competition, which is one 

of the programmes the FIFA 

Council member plans to deploy 

in his bid to make Lagos Africa’s 

number one football city. 

The NFF president said the inclusion 

of Argentina and Romania 

would expand the scope of 

the tournament, which is Nigeria’s 

direct gain from his recent 

election into the FIFA Council. 

Pinnick recently met with Argentina’s 

ambassador to Nigeria, 

Alejandro Herrero, where they 

looked at ways of strengthening 

footballing ties between Nigeria 

and the South American country. 

Pinnick said the Aisha Buhari 

tournament is in line with his mission 

to build a sustainable football 

culture for Nigeria, which 

would lead to a robust soccer industry 

that could contribute significantly 

to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic 

Product (GDP). 

He said, “Argentina and Nigeria 

have a cordial football rivalry, 

which has seen both countries in 

many international contests in recent 

times.” 

•Akwa Ibom Int'l Stadium 

the three home games, but the 

Akwa Ibom international stadium 

in Uyo is the favourite. 

The stadium has hosted majority 

of Super Eagles games 

since 2015, including all of 

the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. 

However, the 

T e s l i m 

Balogun and 

S a m u e l 

Ogbemudia 

stadium are 

also options, 

with both stadiums 

hosting 

Nigeria’s 

last two 

games in the 

2021 Africa Cup of Nations 

qualifiers. 

The Super Eagles open their 

2022 World Cup qualifying 

campaign with a home clash 

against Liberia on June 5 before 

travelling to Cape Verde 

six days later. 

Adepoju to Rohr: Select only in-form 

strikers for Super Eagles W/Cup 

qualifiers 

Former Real Sociedad star Mutiu 

Adepoju has advised Super Eagles 

coach Gernot Rohr to focus on strikers 

that would help him achieve his 

target at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations 

and 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. 

This season has been a remarkable 

one for Nigerian 

strikers in Europe, 

with the likes of Simy 

Nwankwo, Kelechi 

Iheancho, Paul Onuachu, 

Terem Moffi and Sadiq 

Umar all starring for their 

clubs. 

Although Osimhen, 

Iheanacho, and Onuachu 

played a key role in helping 

the team qualify for next 

year’s Africa Cup of Nations 

in Cameroon, the others will 

be hoping to break through 

into the team when the World 

Cup qualifiers commence in 

ROMELU LUKAKU has re 

vealed he has been plotting 

with Real Madrid duo Eden 

Hazard and Thibaut Courtois on 

how to beat Chelsea - despite the 

Blues wanting him back. 

The Belgian striker, who was at 

Stamford Bridge from 

2011 until 2014, is celebrating 

helping Inter 

Milan win Serie A. 

Now the 27-year-old 

has admitted he has 

been speaking with 

his compatriots 

ahead of Madrid's 

Champions 

League 

semi-final second 

leg at 

Stamford 

Bridge. 

•Hazard 

Both Hazard 

and Courtois 

are set to feature 

for the LaLiga giants 

with the clash 

finely poised after last 

week’s 1-1 draw in 

the Spanish capital. 

And Lukaku is 

showing no loyalty 

towards his 

former club - 

•Osimhen 

Mourinho returns as 

new Roma manager 

ose Mourinho has been ap 

Jpointed as the new manager of 

Serie A side Roma. 

Mourinho was sacked by 

Tottenham last month after a disappointing 

season. 

But he will now replace Paulo 

Fonseca when he steps down from 

the Italian club at the end of the 

season. 

“When José became available, we 

immediately jumped 

at the chance to 

speak with one of 

the greatest managers 

of all time,” 

said Tiago Pinto, 

Roma’s General 

Manager. 

“ W e 

were 

•Special One 

June. 

It leaves Rohr with a decision to make ahead of 

the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, starting next 

month. 

However, in an interview with Soccernet.ng, 

Adepoju stated that the crop of exciting strikers 

in the national team should be good music to 

Rohr’s ears but urged the German tactician to 

select strikers that can help deliver the goals for 

the team. 

“I am really proud of the calibre of strikers 

in the Super Eagles, and I know Gernot Rohr 

will be poised for choice ahead of the 2022 

World Cup qualifiers and 2022 AFCON 

proper. 

“To be frank with you, it will be difficult 

for any coach to pick from the following 

strikers such as Osimhen, Onuachu, 

Iheanacho, Moffi, Simy, and Sadiq because 

they are good goal scorers in 

their different clubs in Europe.” 

The three-time open their 2022 

World Cup qualifying campaign 

next month 

with a home 

clash against 

Liberia. 

Lukaku wants Chelsea to lose to Real Madrid 

•Plots with Hazard, Courtois against ex-club 

even though Thomas Tuchel has 

been linked with a summer 

swoop for him. 

Lukaku 

said: “I 

have 

spoke 

with 

•Courtois 

•Lukaku 

Courtois and I will speak with 

Eden tomorrow. 

“I know what Eden wants to do 

I hope that he will win the UCL 

and LaLiga and be 100 per cent 

ready for the Euros.” 

Lukaku and his national teammates 

will be gunning for European 

Championship glory this 

summer. 

And he insists his desire for 

Madrid to win does not 

stem from any dislike towards 

Chelsea. 

He simply claims that 

it will help Belgian’s 

quest for success over 

the coming months. 

Lukaku added: “Eden 

Hazard is a 100 per cent 

formidable player, he is a 

player different from the 

rest. 

“We will need him at the 

Euros – I hope as 

many Belgian players 

as possible will 

win trophies this 

season because 

you are taking 

some experience 

and you 

become a killer 

•Tuchel 

by earning titles.” 

blown away by José’s desire to win 

and his passion for the game: no 

matter how many trophies he has 

won, his primary focus is always 

on the next one. He possesses the 

knowledge, experience and leadership 

to compete at all levels. 

“We know that in order to build a 

successful sporting project it takes 

time, patience and the right people 

in the right positions. We are 

s u - premely confident that 

José will be the perfect 

coach for our project, 

for both our immediate 

and long-term future. 

“Together with the 

vision and ambition 

of Dan and Ryan 

Friedkin, we will 

build the foundations 

of a new AS 

Roma.” 

The former Chelsea, 

Manchester 

United, Real Madrid, 

Porto and Inter 

Milan manager also 

claimed he had found 

the perfect project for a 

quick return to the game. 

Chelsea, Liverpool 

battle with Man 

Utd for Sancho's 

signature 

helsea and Liverpool are in the 

Crace with Manchester United 

to sign Jadon Sancho this summer, 

according to reports in Germany. 

Sancho was United’s top target 

last summer but Ole Gunnar 

Solskjaer’s side were unable to 

reach an agreement with Dortmund, 

who were demanding in 

excess of £100 million for the England 

international. 

Dortmund are again willing to sell 

Sancho this summer, however, Bild 

claim that the Bundesliga club have 

now set a •100m (£86.7m) asking 

price. 

The report also claims that United 

face increased competition for 

Sancho as both Chelsea and Liverpool 

are also interested in a deal 

at the end of the season. 

Speaking at the weekend, Dortmund’s 

sporting director Michael 

Zorc has revealed that the club 

have a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ 

with Sancho which allows him to 

leave this summer. 

Chelsea v Real Madrid 

Tuchel warns Blues 

not to lose heads if 

Ramos starts 

•We can win 

T 

homas Tuchel has insisted Chel 

sea will go for the jugular against 

Real Madrid tonight, despite having 

a vital away goal in their Champions 

League semi-final. 

Christian Pulisic's first-half strike in 

Madrid last week has the Blues in 

pole position and a home win or 

goalless draw will guarantee their 

progress to the final. 

'For me the challenge is to forget 

the result in two-legged games and 

go on and start new at 0-0,' the 

German said. 

'We will clear prepare to win the 

match, nothing else. I don't know 

any other way to prepare other than 

to encourage my team to go out and 

try to win it. 

'If we are at our best then it's a nonbrainer 

that we go for the win. We 

want to win games, this club is about 

winning. 

'This game and competition is 

about winning. We are in the semifinal 

second leg. 

'The first result is not as important 

as everybody thinks. 

There is zero importance 

for me in the 

preparation of this 

match. 

•Ramos


Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER 

ACROSS 

1 Ripped (4) 

3 Musical note (8) 

9 Comments (7) 

10 City of N Italy (5) 

11 Depicted (5) 

12 Fall asleep (3,3) 

14 Evil (6) 

16 One who attends to horses (6) 

19 To this place (6) 

21 Baffle (5) 

24 Not seriously (2,3) 

25 Grapple (7) 

26 Opposite (8) 

27 Optical glass (4) 

DOWN 

1 Reject (4,4) 

2 Dance of Cuban origin (5) 

4 Ascending (6) 

5 Faint-hearted (5) 

6 Rendering assistance (7) 

7 Canvas shelter (4) 

8 Hypnotic state (6) 

13 Three offspring born at the same time (8) 

15 Sheer fabric of silk or rayon (7) 

17 Method (6) 

18 Five-shilling coins (6) 

20 Therefore (5) 

22 Loosen (5) 

23 Blush-white metal (4) 

How to Play Sudoku 

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

two of the same number). 

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

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

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

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

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

multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination. 

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

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

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

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

05052021 - Anguished parents protest at NASS, accuse FG of neglect

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