17052021 - Insecurity: Military needs new weapons, training — IBB

Tijjaniyya 

sheikhs 

affirm 

Sanusi as 

leader in 

ACF worries over 

govt’s silence on 

helicopter 

distributing 

weapons to bandits 

in Niger 

Nigeria 9 

8 

Amaechi, 

Wike at war 

over insecurity 

in Rivers 12 

VOL. 27: NO. 64336 MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 

Inflation: Money supply rises 

22.5% 

to 

N38trn 

•Current account 

deposits rise 50% 

•Currency 

outside banks 

rises 23% 

•Analysts project 

18.84% inflation 

for April 

US frowns 

on 

religious 

intolerance, 

insecurity 

in Nigeria 

Insecurity: Military needs 

new weapons, training — IBB 

8 

1,603 

Nigerians 

killed 

within Q1 

of 2021 

—REPORT 

8 

•Says he advises FG but doesn’t make noise about it•IBB wasting his time 

advising Buhari —AFENIFERE •We’re behind IBB on this —ACF•No amount 

of weapons, without review of security infrastructure, can resolve insecurity — 

OHANAEZE •IBB’s call good but not new — CAN •Don’t ignore IBB — NEF 

Afaka students 

were never 

sexually molested 

by bandits 

— PARENTS 9 

COLUMNISTS 

Insecurity: Stop waiting for FG, 

convene National Unity Forum to 

save Nigeria, Atiku, tells govs 8 

Questioning of NPA operations led to my 

removal, ex-board member, Garba says 

OWEI 16 MAILAFIA 17 SOBOWALE 25 

8 

5 

Mr & Mrs

C 

M 

Y 

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021

C 

M 

Y 

Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 — 3


Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021—5 

POCKET CARTOON 

President Muhammadu Buhari departs Abuja for Paris, France ahead of 

African Finance Summit ,yesterday. 


new weapons, training —IBB 

•Says he gives advice to FG but doesn’t make noise about it 

•IBB wasting his time advising Buhari —AFENIFERE •We’re 

solidly behind IBB on this —ACF •No amount of weapons, without 

review of security infrastructure, will resolve insecurity — 

OHANAEZE •IBB’s call good, but... — CAN 

By Anayo Okoli, 

Regional Editor, 

South-East, Clifford 

Ndujihe, Luminous 

Jannamike, Ibrahim 

HassanWuyo & 

Davies Iheamnachor 

KADUNA — 

Former military 

President, 

Gen.Ibrahim Badamasi 

Babangida, IBB, has 

expressed concern over 

the state of insecurity in 

Nigeria, asking the 

Federal Government to 

urgently equip the 

military with modern arms 

and training to 

adequately confront the 

problem. 

Babangida also said he 

often advises government 

on the matter but was not 

making noise about it. 

While the Pan-Yoruba 

socio-political and 

cultural organisation, 

Afenifere, its counterpart 

in the north, Arewa 

Consultative Forum, ACF, 

and the Christian 

Association of Nigeria, 

CAN, concurred with the 

former military President, 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, 

however, disagreed, 

saying unless the country 

security’s architecture is 

restructured, no amount of 

arms will resolve the 

insecurity problem. 

Military needs 

modern 

weapons, 

training — IBB 

However, the former 

President, who spoke in 

an interview with BBC 

Hausa Service monitored 

in Kaduna yesterday, said 

it has become imperative 

for citizens to support 

government and soldiers 

in order to bring an end 

to the crisis but not 

without adequately 

equipping the military 

with modern weapons 

and training. 

Asked if he believed 

Nigerian soldiers needed 

modern weapons, he said: 

“Yes, they do. They also 

need to be trained on how 

to use the modern 

weapons, not to get 

weapons and just hand 

over to them. They should 

be trained.” 

On whether he has ever 

advised the Federal 

Government on ways to 

end insecurity,which has 

now crept into his state, 

Niger, Babangida said: “ 

We give advice as we 

can..but we don’t make 

noise about it. We don’t 

announce that this is what 

we say. 

“We should unite. We 

should support those in 

power; we are all working 

towards achieving the 

same goal. Between the 

leaders and citizens, we 

need peace and a 

harmonious relationship. 

“This problem of 

insecurity, every 

government had its 

experience... but if we 

unite...I remember how 

we fought the civil war for 

three years, the people 

supported the 

government, the 

government did its best, 

bought what was 

necessary. Those who 

fought were made to 

understand that this 

country is the best for 

them. 

“It’s not only in Nigeria, 

many countries 

encountered this kind of 

problem. Some had it for 

ten years but through 

concerted efforts, they are 

out of it. I believe we can 

get out of this problem. 

“Both citizens and those 

governing are trying, but 

we should know that it is 

not an easy task.” 

On whether politicians 

are playing the desired 

role to bring an end to 

insecurity, Babangida 

said there are many 

things that had to be put 

right, noting that “if they 

agree to sit down and 

think over, I believe 

success will be 

achieved.’’ 

On what to put right, he 

said it is important to rally 

round soldiers and other 

security agents, support 

them and let them know 

the citizens were are 

behind them. 

“Provide them with all 

they require and let them 

know this is their country, 

they’ve no other country 

better than this.” 

Not enough 

weapons 

— COAS 

It will be recalled that 

Chief of Army Staff, Lt. 

General Attahiru Ibrahim, 

had told the National 

Assembly that troops 

fighting insurgency in the 

North-East, banditry in 

the North-West and other 

parts of the country lack 

the requisite arms and 

ammunition to fight 

insecurity. 

He revealed this when 

he was summoned by the 

Senate Committee on 

Army to give account of 

the $1 billion approved by 

the National Economic 

Council, NEC for 

purchase of arms to fight 

insurgency. 

His revelation propelled 

the Senate to also summon 

the Minister of Finance, 

Budget and National 

Planning, Mrs Zainab 

Ahmed, for explanation. 

Appearing before the 

committee on Tuesday, 

May 4, Mrs Ahmed said 

the Federal Government 

had in 28 months, given 

the Army N1.08 trillion for 

purchase of arms and 

other equipment needed 

to prosecute the war 

against insecurity in the 

country. 

“The Ministry of 

Finance and National 

Planning and, indeed, the 

Presidency give priority to 

funding of the Armed 

Forces of Nigeria. Apart 

from the fact that we try 

our best effort to fund what 

is provided for in the 

budget by almost 100 

percent, there has been a 

lot of instances where the 

security services go to the 

President, get special 

approvals and we still 

provide funds. 

“So, perhaps what we 

are providing is not 

enough but the fact is we 

provide what is budgeted 

and we provide what is 

approved. 

“Maybe the thing to do 

in the meantime is to take 

stock of the real needs of 

the Nigerian Army. You 

have an opportunity in 

the supplementary 

budget that is coming in 

so we can address some 

of that,’’ the minister had 

told the Senate committee. 

Tucano fighter 

aircraft coming 

July 

Also, it will be recalled 

that the Presidency had in 

Continues on Page 36 

By Yinka Latona 

On Southern Governors' decision to ban open grazing 

The decision by the 

southern governors to 

ban open grazing is good. 

However, what is most 

pertinent is; what next 

beyond the ban? Do we just 

ban without conflict 

resolution? That would be 

the real issue going 

forward. On the appeal to 

PMB to address the nation, 

it’s okay. The masses 

should be responsible by 

speaking against the ills of 

society constructively and 

praying for divine 

intervention. 

—Fasina Temitope, 

Cleric 

It’s good that the 

governors have 

suddenly gotten their 

voices back, but I’m still 

wondering why a president 

is meant to be appealed to 

before he can perform his 

duties. Is it that he’s 

unaware of all the ongoing 

crises? I think it’s time 

states handled this matter 

individually, and deal with 

the insecurity as they see fit 

because waiting for the 

Presidency is akin to 

waiting for Godot. 

—Adora Blessing, 

Entrepreneur 

This is a very 

commendable 

development. It shows 

the governors have 

woken up from their 

slumber and committed 

to the unity and peaceful 

coexistence among 

Nigerians. The president 

should on his part, listen 

to them and play his part 

and then we can move 

from there before the 

whole situation gets 

worse. 

—Olaide Oyewole, 

Journalist 

I 

totally support the 

bold decision of the 

Southern governors to ban 

open grazing because it’s 

an obsolete tradition and 

PMB needs to address 

the nation over rising 

i n s e c u r i t y . 

Unemployment, injustice 

and oppression are the 

major causes of insecurity 

because the youths are 

angry and govt should try 

and engage them 

positively. 

—Epelle Goodnews, 

Engineer 

This resolution came 

late but better late than 

never! The ban is long 

overdue; it’s high time the 

herders and the 

stakeholders explored 

other options. 

Appealing to a leader to 

address the led for any 

reason 

shows 

incompetence on the part 

of that leader. Our dear 

nation needs its leadership 

to be proactive in dealing 

with our peculiarities, 

most especially insecurity. 

—Oyewole Samuel, 

Civil Engineer 

The decision by 

Southern governors is 

good. The constant clashes 

between herders and 

farmers have led to loss of 

lives and property. The 

call on PMB to address 

Nigerians is good, but 

direct communication 

between PMB and 

Nigerians has been too few 

and far between. If we are 

practising democracy, 

there must be better 

engagement between the 

govt and the governed. A 

broadcast alone might not 

be enough but it‘s a good 

start. 

—Femi Adelayo, 

Comm. Consultant

6— Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 

70-year-old 

suspected 

ritualist 

arrested in 

Ondo 

By Dayo Johnson 

AKURE—A 70-year-old 

grandfather, Pa Michael 

Omolayo, allegedly caught 

collecting human hair in 

large quantity at a barber’s 

shop at Oke-emesho in 

Akure metropolis, Ondo 

State, was saved from being 

lynched by irate youths. 

It was gathered that the 

septuagenarian works in 

conjunction with a woman 

and another accomplice 

identified as Desmond, who 

collect the human hair from 

barbers shops in the area. 

Vanguard also gathered 

that the two accomplices 

collect the human hair from 

the shops and thereafter 

hand them over to the 

alleged ritualist. 

Some residents of Okeemesho 

reportedly sighted 

the woman while she was 

gathering the human hair 

and raised the alarm. 

She reportedly confessed 

and led the youths to the 

home of the ritualist where 

some fetish objects were 

allegedly discovered. 

An attempt by the irate 

youths to set the house of the 

suspected ritualist on fire 

was prevented by the head 

of the community, Chief 

James Abiodun, who 

pleaded that the matter be 

reported to the traditional 

ruler, the Deji of Akure land, 

Oba, 

Aladelusi 

Aladetoyinbo. 

Abiodun told the youths 

that the issue was sensitive 

and could only be resolved 

through traditional means. 

The woman caught with 

the human hair reportedly 

confessed to the allegation 

at the Oba's palace. 

The Chief Press Secretary 

to the monarch, Michael 

Adeyeye, who confirmed the 

incident, said the monarch 

has ordered a thorough 

investigation into the matter. 

He equally confirmed that 

some fetish objects were 

recovered from the 

suspected ritualist's 

residence. 

The suspected ritualist, 

Pa Omolayo. 

Gunmen kill 3 officers, burn police station in 

Delta 

By Festus Ahon, Femi 

Bolaji & Chinonso 

Alozie 

UNKNOWN 

gunmen, 

yesterday, killed three police 

officers and set ablaze Nsukwa 

Police station in Aniocha South 

Local Government Area, Delta State. 

The gunmen, who attacked the 

Police Division at about 2 am, also 

left some police officers with bullet 

wounds. 

Residents of the area said they 

were woken up from sleep by the 

sound of sporadic gunshots in the 

peaceful community. 

A community source, who 

pleaded anonymity, said the 

gunmen laid siege to the station, 

lamenting that the community is 

now “leaving in fear, people are 

panicking over what happened last 

night. 

“They were four policemen on 

guard; they killed three police 

officers while others got injured. 

“Even police motorcycles at the 

premises were burnt. They 

destroyed vehicles and carted away 

their ammunition.” 

The state Commissioner of Police, 

Mr Ari Ali, who confirmed the 

attack, said the command lost three 

•10 die in Taraba weekend attacks 

•Another suspected attacker of Owerri prison nabbed 

officers, describing 

it as a black day for 

the command. 

10 killed 

after 

weekend 

attacks in 

Taraba 

Meanwhile, the 

Taraba State Police 

Command, 

yesterday, 

confirmed the 

death of 10 persons 

after weekend 

attack on some 

communities in 

Bali Local 

Government Area 

of the state. 

Spokesman of 

the Police Command, DSP David 

Misal, explained in a text message 

that relative peace had returned to 

the affected communities. 

He also said the state 

commissioner of police had 

deployed officers to the area. 

The text message read: “Good 

evening sorry for the late response 

I’m getting connected. 

Michael Osundu, the suspect. 

“Regarding the incident in Bali, 

the situation is now calm, records 

at our disposal indicated about 10 

lives lost. 

“The Commissioner of Police has 

deployed additional policemen to 

the area.” 

Another suspected 

attacker of Owerri 

prison nabbed 

Also, yesterday, the Imo State 

Police Command paraded one 

Michael Osundu, who is alleged 

to be among the “unknown 

gunmen” that attacked the Owerri 

Correctional Centre and the Police 

Headquarters. 

The Imo State Police Public 

Relations Officer, Orlando Ikeokwo, 

who disclosed the arrest of the 

suspect in Owerri, said Osundu 

claimed to be a police spy trained 

in Lagos. 

The police said: “Operatives of the 

command, while on surveillance 

and confidence-building patrol, 

arrested one Michael Osundu of 

Owerri but claimed to be based in 

London, United Kingdom. 

“He was arrested in connection 

with criminal activities in the state 

and he is reasonably suspected to 

be part of the hoodlums that 

attacked the Nigeria Correctional 

Services and the Police 

Headquarters on 5/04/21. 

“However, at the point of arrest, 

one English made pump action rifle 

and 26 live cartridges, a pair of police 

uniform with the rank of Deputy 

Superintendent of Police, DSP, 

which was hidden in his tinted 

Toyota Escalade vehicle, were 

recovered. Upon interrogation, he 

claimed to be a Police Spy trained 

at the Police Training School, Ikeja.” 

I’m not into organ harvesting, father of alleged killer of 

Iniubong cries out 

By Harris Emanuel 

THE father of the alleged 

killer of Iniubong Umoren, 

a job seeker in Akwa Ibom, 

Frank Akpan, has denied 

allegations that his family was 

into killing for organ 

harvesting. 

The 64-year-old retired civil 

servant, who refuted the claims 

during an interaction with 

newsmen, said he was only 

aware of the murder when the 

police invited him for 

interrogation. 

Sources told Vanguard that 

the remains of Iniubong were 

buried without the head, further 

fueling insinuations that she 

may have been killed for ritual 

purpose. 

According to reports, no fewer 

than 10 graves were uncovered 

at the compound where she was 

Frank Akpan. 

murdered and buried in 

swallow grave even as the place 

was strewn with children books, 

uniforms, and a corper’s boots. 

But Akpan said he was not 

around when the incident 

4 killed as herders invade Benue 

community 

By Peter Duru 

MAKURDI—Three youths 

were, weekend, 

reportedly killed by suspected 

herders in Yelwata community 

of Guma Local Government 

Area of Benue State, while 

another was killed during the 

protest against the killing of 

the three youths. 

The death of the youths, who 

were said to have been killed 

on their farms in the 

community bordering 

Nasarawa State, triggered 

mass protests by other youths 

of the area, who recovered 

their corpses from the farm 

and barricaded the busy 

Makurdi-Lafia road. 

It was gathered that efforts 

by security personnel to 

disperse the angry youths led 

to the death of another youth, 

who was hit by a stray bullet 

fired from a yet to be identified 

security personnel. 

Confirming 

the 

development, Chairman of 

Guma Local Government, Mr 

Caleb Abah, explained that 

three of the victims were killed 

on the farm by the armed 

herdsmen while a stray bullet 

killed another during the 

protest that trailed the armed 

herders’ invasion. 

According to the chairman, 

“unfortunately, in an attempt 

to disperse the angry youths, 

who were protesting the 

killing, there was a shot by the 

Late Iniubong Umoren. 

occurred, bemoaning that he 

never believed such a dastardly 

act could be committed by his 

son. 

“I am not happy about what 

my child did. I didn’t even 

believe this can happen to me 

security agencies and one of 

the protesters was hit and 

killed. 

“But as we speak, calm has 

been restored to the area and 

we are already making 

arrangements for the dead to 

be buried,” he said. 

The chairman also stated 

that the timely intervention of 

Governor Samuel Ortom, who 

mobilised some top 

government functionaries to 

the troubled area to calm 

frayed nerves, helped in 

checking an escalation of the 

crisis, especially after the 

death of one of the protesters. 

Efforts to reach the Police 

Public Relations Officer, DSP 

Catherine Anene, was 

unsuccessful. 

Uduak Akpan, the prim 

suspect. 

after I sent them to school, tried 

to bring them up,” he said. 

Asked if he believes justice 

would be done in the matter, 

he said: “Yea, justice can be 

done if the system so permits.” 

On the fact that his son 

admitted to taking advantage 

of six girls in the compound, 

he said: “I’m not aware of that. 

The reason is that we just 

relocated from Abuja. I have not 

been around for 30 years. We 

have been living outside. We 

just relocated because I have 

been retired. It is not even up 

to two years since we came 

back.” 

The prime suspect, 20-yearold 

Uduak Akpan, and a 300 

level student of Public 

Administration, Obong 

University, Obong Ntak, who 

admitted committing the 

heinous crime, said he was 

ready to die if that would serve 

the true course of justice. 

“I am not happy about what 

has happened. But the 

commissioner of police has 

assured Akwa Ibomites and the 

entire world that justice will 

take its course,” he said.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 — 7 

Invest in urgent, strategic action to 

tackle COVID-19, AU govts tasked 

. 

reduction 

By Sola Ogundipe 

THE report of a new survey 

conducted by the 

Partnership for Evidence- 

Based Response to COVID-19, 

PERC, has called on 

governments of countries of 

the African Union, AU, to 

commit to targeted public 

health measures for high-risk 

populations, increased 

surveillance in light of new 

variants, and scaled-up 

vaccine supply from the 

global community to control 

the pandemic in the continent. 

In its recommendations to 

governments of the AU and the 

global community, the report 

called for investment towards 

increasing the capacity to 

detect, test, sequence and trace 

cases and new COVID-19 

variants. 

Further, governments were 

charged to prioritise targeted, 

individual Public Health and 

Social Measures, PHSMs, to 

high-risk areas to maximise 

adherence for the long run and 

minimise secondary burdens; 

utilise an evidence-based 

approach to identify and offer 

relief to high-risk 

populations; and protect 

health care workers with use 

of adequate PPE, fair 

compensation, paid sick 

leave, and mental health care, 

among others. 

With the emergence of new 

COVID-19 variants and 

challenges in the supply and 

rollout of vaccines in Africa, 

the new PERC research 

indicates that burdens 

experienced by people in AU 

Member States remain grave. 

Among the key findings in 

the report, 53 percent of 

respondents supported 

measures restricting social 

gathering, such as limits on 

visiting places of worship, 

public gatherings and 

entertainment venues, 

compared to 65 percent in 

August 2020, while 54 percent 

As shortage of vaccine doses, new variants threaten pandemic response 

supported measures 

restricting movement, down 

from 64 percent in August. 

Given the delayed rollout of 

vaccines and the threat posed 

by new variants, all AU 

Member States are urged to 

scale up effective testing 

strategies to detect early 

indications of potential surges 

and sustain the strategic use 

of public health measures to 

prevent subsequent waves 

while ensuring social 

protection. 

The report concluded that 

clear, transparent 

communications from 

leaders and public health 

officials are vital in building 

trust and influencing people 

to follow any further 

measures, noting that 

respondents who expressed 

high satisfaction with the 

authorities were more likely 

to report adherence to public 

health measures than those 

who expressed dissatisfaction. 

From the report, limitations 

in testing capacity and 

surveillance—as well as 

uneven demand for testing— 

are masking the true severity 

of COVID-19 in Africa, 

fueling the dangerous myth 

that much of Africa is 

unscathed. 

The report noted that test 

Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC), Dr John 

Nkengasong. 

positivity rates were above 10 

percent across many 

countries during the second 

wave—substantially higher 

than the 5 percent maximum 

warning level suggested by 

the WHO and suggesting that 

many cases have gone 

undetected. 

In the veiw of Dr. John 

Nkengasong, Director of the 

Africa Centres for Disease 

Control and Prevention: "As 

case counts surge across the 

world, new variants emerge 

and vaccine rollout remains 

slow, it will be crucial for AU 

Member States to use 

evidence-based strategies to 

manage COVID-19. 

Dr. Richard Mihigo, 

Programme Coordinator, 

Immunisation and Vaccine 

Development, WHO 

Regional Office for Africa, 

stated: “Going forward, we 

must prioritise sustained and 

targeted campaigns which 

address the growing 

infodemic around vaccines 

while providing evidencebased 

information to dispel 

myths and build confidence 

in vaccines.” 

COVID-19 infections, deaths 

dropping after jabs — STUDY 

By Sola Ogundipe 

THE rate of SARS-CoV- 

2 infection (COVID-19) 

infections and deaths are 

dropping drastically after 

vaccinations, according to an 

Italian study. 

The analysis showed that 

the risk of hospitalisation, and 

death decreased 

progressively after the first 

two weeks following the 

initial vaccination. 

The rates fell by 80 percent 

five weeks after a first dose 

of Pfizer, Moderna or 

AstraZeneca vaccine, 

according to the Italian 

research. 

It is the first such study by 

a European Union country 

on the real-world impact of 

carried, carried out by the 

National Institute of Health 

in Italy and the Ministry of 

Health on 13.7 million 

people vaccinated 

nationwide. 

According to a report, the 

scientists started studying 

data from December 272020, 

until May 3, 2021. 

The analysis showed that 

the risk of SARS-CoV-2 

infection, hospitalisation, 

and death decreased 

progressively after the first 

two weeks following the 

initial vaccination. 

"As of 35 days after the first 

dose, there is an 80 percent 

COVID-19: Ensure equity in enforcement of restrictions, 

public health expert tasks FG 

By Chioma Obinna 

AS Nigerians continue to 

laud Federal government 

decision to ban flights from 

countries currently being 

ravaged by the 3rd wave of the 

coronavirus, a public health 

expert has called for equity in 

the enforcement of the 

restrictions. 

A renowned Medical 

Laboratory Scientist, Dr 

Casmier Ifeanyi who spoke to 

Vanguard, warned that what 

happened in the first and the 

second waves of the pandemic 

should not be allowed to 

repeat. 

“Of course it is anticipated 

that the high and mighty can 

also get past these protocols 

because the operatives may be 

intimidated or will take gifts, 

get compromised and turn a 

blind eye. 

“Also, previous experiences 

have shown that some persons 

were allowed to procure fake 

COVID-19 laboratory results 

to enable them to exit the 

country or come in. There 

should be equity in 

enforcement,” he explained. 

“I also would want to advise 

that laboratory testing services 

for those who come from these 

countries or adjourning 

countries with records of 

ravaging COVID-19 

pandemic should be made to 

go through the entire protocol 

of testing and quarantine time. 

“That way we will ensure that 

we wage the third wave from 

getting to ravage Nigerians.” 

Noting that the Nigerian 

health systems are frail, weak 

and largely non-existent, the 

government must do more 

about preventive health 

measures and intervention. 

He warned that the country 

would be ravaged should 

adequate care is not taken 

against the virus. 

“We will be so ravaged as a 

country should we slack in the 

preventive approach and the 

deadly strains driving to the 

third wave of the Covid-19 

pandemic gets into Nigeria. 

Take for instance if what's 

happening in India get to our 

country, I am sure nobody, no 

right-thinking person that is a 

human being would wish that 

it happens in his country as a 

result of carelessness.” 

He charged government 

officials saddled with the 

responsibility of enforcement 

of the restrictions to spare no 

resource at bringing the full 

weight of the law to bear on 

violators and non-complaint 

persons. 

He added; “The import of 

being proactive in curbing 

pandemics cannot be 

overstressed. In this wise, the 

presidential steering 

committee is right on time and 

proactive. They are prompt in 

their new prescriptions on 

COVID-19 restriction. The 

committee would need to 

overreach itself in the area of 

responsibility. 

“Response should entail in 

the light of the impact of the 

new restrictions on the 

economy ample incentives, 

and palliatives that will 

encourage compliance. If you 

are saying that rather than a 

full capacity for a sedan taxi 

“Countries are most 

effective controlling the 

pandemic when they consider 

what measures people will 

actually follow at this stage 

in the pandemic and take steps 

to inform, partner with, and 

support communities,” said 

Dr. Tom Frieden, President/ 

CEO of Resolve to Save Lives. 

“Analysis of PERC data can 

help governments predict 

adherence to preventive 

measures, craft effective 

communications and mount 

a stronger response to 

COVID-19.” 

that the cab driver should carry 

at most three passengers and 

maintain the same fare then 

he should be given some 

incentives to encourage him to 

comply. If the government is 

shutting bars, clubs and 

making restrictions for 

operators of restaurants, then 

they got to be considered for 

stuff like tax holiday. 

“Government must find a 

way to cushion the impact of 

this restriction as integral to 

the response. Government 

must also make available at a 

reduced cost or for free some 

of the non-pharmaceutical 

protocol consumables 

including face mask and 

alcohol-based hand sanitisers. 

“The Presidential Steering 

Committee will also need to 

ensure that public buildings 

make provisions for these 

consumables and that water 

is provided in these Public 

buildings provide water 

because it's regrettable that in 

most public buildings in 

Nigeria particularly those 

owned by the government, they 

do not have a steady water 

supply and as such, 

maintenance of basic hand 

hygiene will be very 

challenging.” 

He added that the Nigerian 

Centre for Disease Control, 

NCDC, has lived up to its 

mandate and bidding. 

“The leadership of the 

NCDC has been very 

exemplary. In fact, NCDC is 

an embodiment of the desired 

new Nigeria was systems and 

processes work at top-notch,” 

he added 

If all our MDA's particularly 

those under the Federal 

Ministry of Health work like 

the Nigerian Centre for 

Disease Control then our 

health system will be rated 

among the first 10 in the 

Bloomberg template. I will 

like to encourage Dr Chikwe 

Ihekwuazu and his 

management team to stay 

focused and committed more 

than ever before because their 

efforts are yielding indelible 

footprints in the Nigerian 

health sector. 

in infections, 90 

percent reduction in 

hospitalisations, and 95 

percent reduction in 

deaths," the ISS said, 

adding that the same 

pattern was seen in both 

men and women regardless 

of age. 

"This data confirms the 

effectiveness of the 

vaccination campaign and 

the need to achieve high 

coverage across the 

population quickly to end 

the emergency," ISS 

president Silvio Brusaferro 

said in the statement. 

Among the nearly 14 

million people included in 

the Italian study, 95 percent 

of those who had taken 

Pfizer and Moderna had 

completed the vaccine 

cycle, while none of those 

given AstraZeneca had 

received a second dose. 

Up until now, Italy has 

been following the makers' 

recommendations, giving a 

second dose of Pfizer three 

weeks after the first, a 

second dose of Moderna 

after a four week gap and a 

second dose of 

AstraZeneca after a 12 

week gap. 

Ealier, analysis by the 

Public Health England 

showed that individuals 

who receive a single dose 

of the AstraZeneca vaccine 

have approximately 80 

percent lower risk of death 

with COVID-19 compared 

with unvaccinated 

individuals. 

The report also shows 

protection against death from 

the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine 

rises from approximately 80 

percent after one dose to 97 

percent after 2 doses. 

New evidence continues to 

show vaccination is highly 

effective in protecting 

against death and 

hospitalisation from 

coronavirus (COVID-19).

8 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 

:Vanguard 

News 

I was removed for 

questioning NPA 

operations — Garba 

ABUJA — A former 

member of the Board 

of Nigerian Ports Authority, 

NPA, Senator Binta Masi 

Garba, has said how her questioning 

of the operations of the 

agency led to her removal. 

In a statement issued yesterday, 

Garba said: ‘’I was appointed 

into the board of the 

Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) 

sometime in March 2020. In 

January 2021, Sen. John Akpanudoedehe 

and I were removed 

from the board and our 

removal was clearly orchestrated 

by the leadership of 

NPA. 

‘’Before my removal, I was 

not comfortable with the way 

the board and authority were 

run. I consistently expressed 

my discomfort and displeasure 

with the way the MD was 

running the place and this, I 

have no iota of doubt in my 

mind made her to orchestrate 

my removal from the board. 

‘’Note, I was removed without 

the knowledge of the supervising 

ministry/Minister of 

Transportation, which was 

very uncommon. ‘’My observations 

and complaints with 

the suspended NPA MD were 

more with the financial statements 

of NPA and I worried 

that if she continued so, there 

would certainly be trouble and 

her sudden removal (suspension) 

would be inevitable. I 

noted discrepancies, I raised 

observations, I asked questions 

but I was completely ignored 

and disregarded. Answers 

were never provided, 

until my removal. 

‘’When the board came in, 

its first meeting was in June 

2020,with the aim of deliberating 

on the financial report. 

I made some observations on 

the report which, obviously, the 

MD, Hadiza Bala Usman, 

was not comfortable with. 

‘’At the time, the report covered 

2 years but I objected, 

pointing out that, under normal 

circumstances, procedurally 

and international norms,it 

should cover a minimum of 3 

years. It was after my objection 

that the MD grudgingly 

and resentfully provided the 

third year’s report. I wasn’t 

really comfortable. I observed 

more discrepancies with the 

financials and asked questions 

about them. 

‘’The MD was uncomfortable 

and even felt slighted by 

the objective comments and 

questions. Scrutinising the financial 

reports of the NPA is a 

very critical and very important 

aspect of my role and function 

as a member of its board, 

appointed by the President.I 

was not ready to abdicate that 

core responsibility. 

‘’For me, my board membership 

of NPA, like every other 

public office I have held, 

was a call to serve my country 

and I was prepared to give it 

my all. But the suspended MD 

felt offended by my observations 

and questions. Answers 

were not forthcoming and, 

when they did, were less than 

satisfactory. 

‘’Some members of the 

board felt I was the only one 

holding the financial report 

back. I had to meet with the 

Minister of Transportation 

and I told him I wasn’t comfortable 

with the way and 

manner the board was being 

handled and treated by the 

MD and that I wanted to resign." 

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

ACF worries over govt’s silence on helicopter 

distributing weapons to bandits in Niger 

...Says FG’s silence nothing short of conspiracy, betrayal of public trust 

....Raises alarm that young northerners migrating to S-East could be B-Haram 

mermbers 

By Ibrahim 

HassanWuyo 

ABUJA — Arewa Consultative 

Forum, ACF, has 

expressed worry over the 

alarming state of insecurity in 

the country, saying government’s 

silence in these circumstances 

was nothing short of 

conspiracy and betrayal of 

public trust. 

ACF’s National Publicity 

Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, 

ByGabriel Ewepu 

ABUJA — AN interna 

tional rights organization, 

Global Rights Nigeria, 

yesterday reported 1, 603 Nigerians 

were killed in the first 

quarter of 2021. 

The report, tagged ‘’Violent 

Incidents Report: January 

2021'’, attributed the killings 

to ‘mass atrocities’ across the 

country between January and 

March 2021. According to the 

report, there has been harvest 

of abductions, insecurity of security 

officers, ethnic/communal 

tensions, unending terrors, 

and others, which have 

worsened the insecurity across 

the country. 

The report also pointed out 

that banditry alone claimed 

906 lives, which made it the 

highest cause of killings in the 

country, followed by Boko 

Haram attacks, 207 lives, 

while kidnapping recorded 1, 

774 abductees within the period 

under review. The report 

read: “In the first quarter of 

2021, Nigeria continued to 

said in a statement yesterday 

that Nigerians needed to be 

assured by the government 

that their security was its primary 

concern. 

The statement read: “We 

issued a statement about a 

week ago calling for an open, 

immediate and transparent 

investigation into the wild and 

wide allegations that a helicopter 

was distributing weapons, 

foodstuffs and other daily 

needs of the bandits, particularly 

in Niger State. 

experience inordinately high 

incidents of armed violence 

across the country, with very 

high body counts. Our tracking 

shows that at least 1603 

persons lost their lives to mass 

atrocities across the country 

from January to March 2021. 

“In January, unbridled violence 

continued to be documented 

across all regions of 

Nigeria, with at least 373 

deaths linked to these incidents. 

Abductions nationwide, 

and pillage attacks in the 

North featured most prominently. 

In spite of the recent 

#EndSARS protests against 

extrajudicial brutality and 

killings, deaths related to this 

form of atrocity continued. 

For example, 5 members of 

the Road Transport Workers 

Union were extra-judicially 

killed, and several others brutalized 

by state security personnel 

in Kwara State. 

“In a public statement, the 

Commissioner of Police ordered 

a full-scale investigation 

into the crisis, however, 

till date, there have been no 

records of arrests or even identification 

of the perpetrators 

of this mayhem. 

“The pseudo-public security 

outfit – Amotekun has also 

been implicated in committing 

gross human rights violations 

and extrajudicial killings. 

On January 15, the Oyo 

State Police Command confirmed 

the killing of a 21-year- 

Nigeria 

By Victoria Ojeme 

ABUJA — The United 

States has frowned on 

continued religious intolerance 

and insecurity in Nigeria, 

according to 2020 International 

Religious Freedom 

Report of the State Department. 

The report, released weekend, 

also noted that the Nigerian 

constitution provided for 

states to establish courts based 

on sharia or customary (traditional) 

law in addition to 

common law civil courts, although 

civil courts have preeminence 

over all other courts. 

It noted that the constitution 

barred the federal and state 

governments from adopting a 

state religion, prohibits religious 

discrimination, and 

provides for individuals’ freedom 

to choose, practice, propagate, 

or change their religion. 

The report read: “Customary 

courts function in most of 

“Since our call, we have not 

received any reaction from the 

government or relevant security 

agencies, despite the fact 

our call received wide media 

publicity. We wish to remind 

the government and its security 

agencies that this is not a 

matter that can be swept under 

the carpet if we are serious 

about fighting insecurity 

in Nigeria. 

“Niger State, which is said 

to be to the area of operation 

of the helicopter, shares a 

Insecurity: 1, 603 Nigerians killed in Q1 of 

2021 — Report 

old man, Tosin Thomas, by an 

Amotekun officer.” 

The report also stated that, 

“Across the country, other 

forms of attacks recorded 

were consistent with previous 

months: pillage of communities 

in the North, targeted and 

random abductions, and 

communal clashes. 

“In particular, the North 

Central states, especially Kaduna 

and Niger states, pillage 

of rural districts, kidnappings, 

and killings by bandits remained 

a recurring decimal." 

US frowns on religious 

intolerance, insecurity in 

the 36 states. General insecurity 

throughout the country’s 

regions increased during the 

year: a terrorist insurgency in 

the North East; brazen kidnapping 

and armed robbery 

rings in the North West and 

southern regions; militant 

groups and criminal gangs in 

the South South region; and 

conflict between farmers and 

herders over access to land in 

the North Central region. 

‘’There were incidents of violence 

involving predominantly 

Muslim Fulani herders 

and settled farmers, predominantly 

Christian ), but 

also Muslim, in the North 

Central and North West regions. 

“The government continued 

ongoing security operations 

and launched additional operations 

that it stated were 

meant to stem insecurity created 

by armed criminal gangs 

and violent conflict over land 

and water resources that frequently 

involved rival ethnic 

groups.’’ 

boundary with the Federal 

Capital Territory, FCT, and 

has been invaded and terrorised 

and is on the verge of being 

overrun by bandits of late. 

“Our citizens need to be assured 

by the government that 

their security is its primary 

concern. 

Silence in these circumstances 

is nothing short of conspiracy 

and betrayal of public 

trust. 

“Also, we watched with dismay 

a few days ago a news 

item that 35 buses conveying 

485 Northern youths to the 

East in search of work. 

“Earlier, 120 such youths 

were delivered to the East in 

search of such ‘work’. There is 

wide suspicion and speculation 

that the young men on 

these wild goose chase for 

‘work’ are Boko Haram mercenaries. 

“We at the ACF are further 

alarmed at these developments 

and would want the 

government to carry out thorough 

investigations as keeping 

quiet will not help our perilous 

security circumstances.’’ 

Insecurity: Stop waiting for 

FG, convene National Unity 

Summit to save Nigeria, 

Atiku tells govs 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu 

ABUJA — Former Vice 

President Abubakar 

Atiku last night called on governors 

to stop waiting on federal 

government to make 

changes that may not happen 

anytime soon to solve the myriad 

of problems bedeviling the 

country. 

Instead, Atiku asked the 

governors to convene a National 

Unity Summit of all 

Nigerian governors to iron out 

the thorny issues affecting the 

destiny of the nation and figure 

out a way to resolve them. 

Atiku made the call in a per- 

sonal post, titled “Nigeria Is 

Drifting: We Must Stop Waiting 

For Godot”, made on his 

Facebook page. 

Atiku, who gave a definition 

of who a true Nigerian is, said 

the people, irrespective of their 

tribe and religion, must be 

committed to the indivisibility 

of the country. 

He called on men of goodwill, 

among whom are the 

governors, to jettison their party 

sentiments and work for the 

unity and progress of the country. 

Atiku, who was the vice 

president of Nigeria between 

1999 and 2007 and the Presidential 

candidate of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP in 

the 2019 general elections, 

expressed optimism in the triumph 

of Nigerians over the 

multifaceted challenges facing 

the country. 

The post read: “The major 

challenge facing Nigeria today 

is that we are drifting. We 

are not just drifting politically 

and economically. We are also 

drifting apart from each other. 

“I have often said that the 

difference between us is not 

North and South, but between 

good and bad. Therefore, those 

who are good should come 

together to show those who 

are bad that we are in the overwhelming 

majority. “I have 

repeatedly said that I am a 

Nigerian. Full stop. That is my 

identity. And now more than 

ever, we must ask ourselves this 

question: what does it mean 

to be a Nigerian? 

“A Nigerian is one who is 

committed to the idea of the 

indivisibility of Nigeria and 

who is invested in respecting, 

even if you disagree with, the 

differences that exist within 

this nation space, and respecting 

the right of others to coexist 

with you irrespective of religious, 

regional or ethnic differences.


:Vanguard News 


RECEPTION: From 

left—Sheikh Ahmed 

Mohammed Gumi, 

representative of 

Chief Olusegun 

Obasanjo, Chief 

Imam of Gbagura, 

Prof. Kamarudeen 

Balogun, Publisher, 

Desert Herald, Alhaji 

Tukur Mamu 

presenting a gift to 

Miss Fatima Ibrahim, 

during the reception 

held for the freed 

students of Federal 

College of Forestry 

Mechanization in 

Kaduna, yesterday. 

Photo: Olu Ajayi. 

Tijjaniyya Sheikhs affirm Sanusi as leader 

in Nigeria 

By Ibrahim 

HassanWuyo 

KADUNA—LEADERS of 

the Tijjaniyya Islamic sect 

from across the country and 

beyond weekend paid allegiance 

to the former Emir of 

Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, 

in his Kaduna home, affirming 

that he is now their 

leader in Nigeria. 

Speaking to hundreds of 

Tijjaniyya faithful who took 

turns to pray for Sanusi and 

recited melodious Arabic 

tunes to eulogize him, the representative 

of the leader of 

Tijjaniyya Worldwide, 

Sheikh AbdulAhad Nyass, 

said the unanimous decision 

to have the former emir as the 

leader in Nigeria was a blessing 

to all their followers not 

only in Nigeria but also Africa 

as a whole. 

Nyass, who paid glowing 

tribute to the former emir, said 

the leader of the Tijjaniyya 

worldwide, Sheikh Mahi 

Nyass, was proud of the 

former emir's achievements 

both in public life and as a 

monarch. 

While praying for peace and 

harmony in the country, he described 

the large gathering of 

their followers who had converged 

on Kaduna in honour 

of Sanusi ,as a testimony of 

how the former emir was still 

accepted and cherished by 

their adherents who had absolute 

confidence in his leadership 

qualities. 

Similarly, Shekh Mukhtar 

Adhama expressed believe 

that Sanusi as leader of the 

Tijjaniyya Islamic sect would 

encourage learning and deep 

scholarship among the 

followers.“According to 

him,"it is a thing of joy to see 

the entire Tijjaniyya scholars 

moved temporarily to Kaduna 

to felicitate and pay their 

allegiance to His Royal Highness, 

Alhaji Muhammadu 

Sanusi Lamido, our leader.'' 

In his remarks amid recitation 

of prayers and other 

Arabic hymns from the multitude, 

former emir Sanusi recalled 

that long before he ascended 

the throne in Kano, he 

had visited great Tijjaniyya 

sheikhs in Kaulaha, Senegal, 

who had prayed and rightly 

predicted he would become 

Emir of Kano. 

Sanusi also said he had visited 

Fez in Morocco where he 

had an encounter with an 

Arab Sheikh, Zubair, grandson 

of Sheikh Nyass, who 

greeted him and he took him 

to a Sheikh who prayed for 

him. 

'They also said I will be the 

next emir of Kano which has 

come to pass," Sanusi stated. 

He recalled that even the 

present leadership of the Tijjaniyya 

bestowed on him 80% 

of those who endorsed him, 

even when they were not 

known to him. 

While praying for the peace 

and tranquility in Nigeria, 

Sanusi admonished citizens to 

be patient and law abiding to 

the authorities. 

He said even though things 

might not be rosy, it was a 

matter of time for normalcy 

to return as the years progress. 

Afaka students were never sexually 

molested by bandits —Parents 

•Say one bandit even killed on mere mention of sexually 

molesting a student 

By Ibrahim 

HassanWuyo 

DISTURBED BY the news 

that freed Afaka students 

were sexually molested while 

in captivity, parents of the students 

have said that none of 

the 37 kidnapped (now freed) 

students was sexually or homosexually 

molested by the 

bandits. 

" In fact, by divine providence, 

according to the testimony 

of all the released students, 

one bandit lost his life 

on the mere mention of the 

desire to sexually molest a student," 

they said.“The parents 

in a statement issued by their 

Hi-Tech firm launches e-commerce directory, 

targets MSMEs 

A 

HIGH-TECH Compa 

ny, E.F Network Limited, 

has launched an e-commerce 

solutions directory aimed at 

providing robust platform for 

businesses to interact, as a way 

of boosting economic development, 

using Information Communications 

Technology, ICT, 

resources. 

The chairman and Chief 

Executive Officer of the company, 

Mr Gideon Egbuchulam, 

said in a statement weekend 

that the target of the e- 

commerce directory were artisans, 

low-income earners and 

players within the Micro Small 

and Medium Enterprises, 

MSMEs, sector. 

According to the Imo Stateborn 

industrialist, the company, 

in the last six months, has 

rolled out some innovative 

products to provide solutions 

to a plethora of societal challenges, 

including unemployment. 

He said: "First was efphonetaxi, 

licensed by the NCC to 

deploy internet nationwide 

and now this e-commerce directory 

(efcontact.com), which 

gives every registered business 

a mini-website to showcase all 

their products and services. 

"With efcontact.com, there 

is no need for MSMEs to 

waste money buying domain 

names in dollars, paying for a 

webmaster to construct their 

website and electronically 

advertise their products and 

services. It's actually targetted 

at low-income earners. 

"All the products and services 

of any registered business 

can be displayed on efcontact 

platform. A tiny company can 

look like a giant company 

using that efcontact. The platform 

is a new digital economy, 

a mini website for every 

business, whereby any business 

can post a summary of 

all of its products and services, 

address, phone, and email, 

or even prices. 

"We do not touch or collect 

any cash payments from sales 

and services or ship products 

or deliver any products, or take 

any percentage of users' profits. 

"Our business is drawing traffic 

to businesses and connecting 

people for a business handshake. 

Whatever happens between 

seller and buyer, service 

providers and clients or logistics, 

we are not involved. 

''We only care for registered 

users to reach each other to do 

business and draw traffic to 

businesses; because the success 

of any business is a game of 

numbers. One cannot compare 

a business receiving 100 customers 

daily to one receiving 

five.'' 

He noted that the new e-commerce 

directory had come to 

change the way Nigerians shop 

and find service providers, professional 

services, artisans, 

products, sellers and government 

contacts. 

chairman, Abdullahi Usman, 

called on Nigerians to disregard 

the story and continue to 

pray for the students as they 

continue with the rehabilitation 

of their children.“The statement 

read: "While we were 

basking in the joy of having reunited 

with our precious children, 

who were released unharmed 

after 56 gruesome days 

in captivity, our attention was 

drawn to a May 11, 2021, error-ridden 

online publications 

to the effect that an unidentified 

parent of one of the 27 students 

released on May 5, speaking 

on the condition of anonymity, 

had disclosed that the 

students, both male and female, 

were sexually, homosexually 

molested by the bandits 

while in captivity. 

''Other online media outlets 

also published the self-same 

report. On behalf of parents of 

the Forum of the 37 abducted 

students (now released), we wish 

to set the records straight and 

hope that this will end the circulation 

of the fabrication 

which the story is. 

''We state in unequivocal terms 

that none of the 37 kidnapped 

(now freed) Afaka students was 

sexually or homosexually molested 

by the bandits. In fact, by 

divine providence, according to 

the testimony of all the released 

students, one bandit lost his life 

on the mere mention of the desire 

to sexually molest a student. 

"To be sure, the students confessed 

that 'he didn't even actually 

attempt it; he was just saying 

it, and yet he was killed and 

we were asked to take his corpse 

and deposit it in a nearby bush 

because they said he was not 

worthy of a proper burial.' 

"As parents of the released 

students, our primary focus 

now is the rehabilitation of our 

treasures whom God has 

brought back to us alive and 

miraculously unharmed. 

''Distractions such as occasioned 

by this false report, purportedly 

a revelation by an 

anonymous parent, is unfortunate 

and irresponsible and 

should be retracted as it does 

nothing but aggravate the trauma 

we and our released children 

are working hard to overcome. 

"We wish to call on Nigerians 

who stood by us from the time 

our children were abducted to 

the date the last 27 were released, 

to disregard the story and 

continue to pray for us as we 

continue with the rehabilitation 

of our children, so they may get 

back to normal life again very 

soon.'' 

Revenue: Lottery commission 

to introduce central monitoring 

system —Gbajabiamila 

ABUJA—Determined to 

make lottery a major 

source of revenue for the country, 

the National Lottery Regulatory 

Commission is set to introduce 

a central monitoring 

system that would ensure that 

all earnings due to government 

on lottery are collected 

with precision. 

Director General of the 

commission, Mr. Lanre Gbajabiamila, 

who disclosed this 

in Abuja yesterday, said with 

the new system, all the loopholes 

and drains in the lottery 

business would be blocked so 

that the entire taxes and revenues 

payable to government 

would fully collected and remitted 

to government coffers. 

Gbajabiamila, in a statement 

issued in Abuja, explained 

that with all the measures 

being put in place by the 

commission, lottery would 

soon be contributing significantly 

to the federal treasury 

as it is being done in advanced 

countries like America, UK 

and Spain. 

Already, the Lottery Commission 

boss affirmed that 

both the management and 

staff members of the commission 

are being prepped with 

trainings and enhanced welfare 

package for the workers 

for effective take off of the novel 

system 

The Director General assured 

that in addition to the 

recently approved Peculiar Allowance 

for members of staff 

of the commission, the enhanced 

salary structure permitted 

for them since 2015 

would become implementable 

after the realization of the 

new monitoring system as the 

commission would then have 

sufficient funds to meet its obligations. 

Mr. Gbajabiamila also hinted 

that work has reached an 

advanced stage on the establishment 

of an indigenous 

National Game with all the 

benefits of higher revenues for 

State of the Nation: Okpe Union 

tasks FG on localised security 

structures 

By Juliet Umeh 

ASABA—WORRIED bY 

the incidences of kidnapping, 

robbery and ritual killings 

pervading different parts 

of Nigeria, Okpe Union in 

Delta State, weekend, called 

on the federal and state governments 

to put in place localised 

security structures to 

minimise it. 

The union raised the concern 

on the occasion of its 

Annual General Assembly 

and national elections in Lagos. 

Speaking on the occasion, 

the immediate past President-General 

of the union, 

Mr. Patrick Akpotor, said: 

"Nigerian state is undergoing 

serious security and economic 

challenges. The nation 

cannot afford to slide into 

chaos. "The Okpe Union, 

therefore, call on all levels of 

governments to provide for 

and support well-coordinated 

community vigilante." 

On the economy, he said: 

"Now is the time to look at 

opening up different areas in 

the southern parts of the country 

which have good seaports 

to decongest Lagos and ease 

the gridlock in the nation's 

commercial capital. 

the government, greater dividends 

for stakers and profound 

growth in the industry, generally. 

He stated that the commission 

under his leadership is totally 

committed to the goals of 

the administration of President 

Muhammadu Buhari on 

the diversification of Nigeria’s 

economy saying that: “we 

have remained tirelessly ingenious 

in engendering means 

of improving on revenue earnings 

for Nigeria and bettering 

lottery business in all ramifications”. 

In all these, the Director General, 

in the statement tagged 

‘Update on NLRC’ explained 

that the commission placed 

priority on improving the capacity 

and welfare of staff of 

the commission and that is 

why, he said his commission 

put on top of the table in all its 

activities and projections, the 

implementation of a more robust 

condition of service for 

staff. 

“We are always most concerned 

on improving the capacity 

and welfare of our staff 

in all our considerations and 

projections. We put the issues 

of welfare and capacity of 

welfare first. We are totally 

committed to implementing 

a more robust welfare 

scheme for them. 

“Training and further training 

of staff are also sacrosanct. 

For the agency to grow 

and meet the world standards, 

which is our ultimate 

target, our workers must 

grow simultaneously. 

“It is a thing of joy for me 

that the lottery industry that 

was more of a farce in Nigeria 

before I formally assumed 

office in 2017 is now better 

organized and thriving. In 

less than one year after I became 

the Chief Executive 

here, we started raking in billions 

of Naira for the government 

and it has continued to 

grow steadily since then. 

"One seaport that will help 

achieve this is the Sapele Natural 

Harbour which from colonial 

times is renowned for 

its advantages of being one 

of the few fresh water ports in 

Africa.'' 

Also, the newly elected President-General 

of the Union, 

Prof. Igho Natufe, while commending 

the past National 

Executive Council, NEC, for 

a job well done, said a new 

dawn had arrived, anchored 

on the provision of selfless 

leadership for the growth and 

development of Okpe Nation 

and Okpe Kingdom. 

He said: "The gender balance 

in the NEC demonstrates 

Okpe Union’s adherence 

to the concept of equity 

which we are going to champion 

in Okpeland. 

"Our immediate and foremost 

priority is to focus on 

Okpe reconciliation, unity 

and progress as we grapple with 

the challenges of youth and 

women empowerment in Okpeland.'' 

On major areas of focus for him, 

Natufe said: "In recognition of 

the value of education in the 

development of a society, we are 

launching a 'One Billon Naira 

Okpe Scholarship Trust Fund' for 

the education of Okpe nationals 

in post-secondary institutions, 

among others."


:Vanguard 

News 

Shina Peller a good rep of his 

constituency —Fayemi 

A DO-EKITI—EKITI 

State Governor, Mr 

Kayode Fayemi, has 

described Shina Peller, a 

member of the House of 

Representatives, 

representing Iseyin/ 

Itesiwaju/Kajola and 

Iwajowa Federal 

Constituency, as a good 

representative of his 

constituency and the 

country at large. 

He made this statement, 

weekend, at the National 

Security and Peace 

Symposium, organized to 

mark the 45th birthday of 

Peller at the International 

Conference Centre 

University of Ibadan. 

Fayemi noted that the 

lawmaker has done a lot to 

alleviate the lives of many 

in his constituency. 

According to Fayemi, 

“our country is currently 

facing challenges but these 

are not insurmountable 

challenges. These are 

challenges that we can 

overcome, countries that 

have been in far deeper 

problem have done so. 

“If we are single-minded, 

demonstrate sincerity of 

purpose, understand our 

problems for what they are 

and are committed towards 

transforming Nigeria for 

the better we would put 

behind us the current state 

of violence in the land. As 

long as we are tough on the 

cause of the challenges we 

would overcome. 

He further commended 

Seller’s contributions in his 

constituency towards 

eradicating poverty which 

he described as one of the 

causes of the challenges in 

the country, urging 

monarchs at the event to 

avail themselves towards 

assisting him. 

S-West women hail Bello for 

gender inclusiveness, set 

agenda for 2023 

L 

A 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni & Ebun 

Sessou 

G O S — 

PROMINENT 

women from the South West 

geo political zone of Nigeria 

have commended the Kogi 

State Governor, Yaya Bello, 

for implementing gender 

equality and inclusiveness 

policy in governance in the 

state. 

They, however, called on 

womenfolk to lead the 

campaign for adequate 

security, peace, unity and 

good governance across 

the country, as well as 

aspire to occupy political 

offices in 2023 general 

elections. 

The women spoke at the 

weekend, during the 

maiden edition of 

'Conference of the South 

West Women Arise For One 

Nigeria, SWWAFON', held 

in Ikeja, Lagos. 

President, Women in 

Africa, Mrs. Hafsat Abiola- 

Costello, in her speech, 

expressed the need for 

LG Poll: Ogun APC opts for consensus, 

direct, indirect primaries 

By James 

Ogunnaike 

A BEOKUTA—THE 

ruling All Progressives 

Congress, APC, in Ogun 

State, has declared its 

intention to adopt 

consensus, direct and 

indirect primaries to choose 

its chairmanship and 

councillorship candidates 

for the forthcoming local 

government elections in the 

state. 

The Publicity Secretary, State 

Caretaker Committee of the party, 

Tunde Oladunjoye, made this 

known in a chat with newsmen, 

shortly after the party’s 

stakeholders meeting, held at the 

weekend in Abeokuta, the state 

capital. 

The party’s spokesperson 

women to arise and take 

the bull by the horns, as 

the menfolk have failed the 

nation. 

Abiola-Costello, daughter 

of late business mogul, 

MKO Abiola, who spoke 

through virtual platform as 

guest speaker, told the 

womenfolk to shun and 

vehemently oppose every 

manipulation of the unity of 

the country, to prevent an 

outbreak of war, which will 

only be beneficial to selfish 

politicians and local and 

foreign arms dealers. 

She noted that war only 

destroys and does not 

build, saying that “women 

and children always record 

highest number of 

casualties in times of war.” 

Abiola-Costello, 

therefore, encouraged 

women and participants at 

the event to take up the 

mantle to revive the impacts 

of legendary women like 

Madam Tinubu, Mrs. 

Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, 

her mother, late Kudirat 

Abiola, among other 

women. 

explained that having agreed 

on consensus names with 

party leaders for positions in 

some local governments, it 

would then activate either the 

direct or indirect primaries for 

other local governments that 

couldn’t reach an agreement 

on a consensus candidate. 

Oladunjoye, while saying the 

stakeholders meeting was to 

ensure that none of the 

contestants in the LG elections 

spends money unnecessarily, also 

said the party had been able to 

come up with solutions to multiple 

candidates in some local 

governments. 

He added that the ruling party 

would ensure that the local 

government election is free and 

fair, noting that the party’s 

primaries wouldn’t be held in 

secret like it was done in the past. 


CONDOLENCE—From left: Son of the deceased/Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Policy 

and Monitoring, Ayodeji Olowoporoku; widow, Mrs. Mary Olowoporoku; Ekiti State Governor, Dr. 

Kayode Fayemi; Mrs. Toyin Olowoporoku-Ashoko, Miss Fisayo Olowoporoku, and Dr. Bolanle 

Olowoporoku-Ojetunde, during the governor’s condolence visit to the family of the late Dr. Bode 

Olowoporoku, former minister of Science and Technology, in Lagos, weekend. 

Igboho’s supporters, DSS clash at 

Ataoja’s palace 

By Shina Abubakar 

O 

S O G B O — 

OPERATIVES of 

the Department of State 

Service, DSS, and 

supporters of Adeyemo 

Sunday, popularly known 

as Igboho, weekend, 

clashed at the palace of 

Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba 

Jimoh Oyetunji. 

Igboho and his 

supporters were at the 

monarch’s palace for 

blessing, after participating 

in the Yoruba Nation 

awareness rally in the town 

at the weekend, while the 

DSS operatives were 

keeping vigilance to 

ensure hitch-free rally. 

However, while Igboho 

was inside the palace, some 

of his supporters attacked 

one of the DSS operatives, 

accusing him of being 

overzealous and harassing 

members of the Oodua 

Republic agitating groups. 

They attempted to lynch 

the hefty-looking officer, but 

for the intervention of other 

officers and elderly 

members of the group at the 

palace. 

Meanwhile, Dr Ademola 

Ekundayo, Director 

General, Kiriji Heritage 

Defenders, has applauded 

Oba Oyetunji and the 

teeming populace in 

Osogbo for joining the 

group to make the rally 

violence-free and a success. 

According to him, the 

movement has come to stay 

and is bound to achieve its 

objective irrespective of 

obstacles on its way. 

“We could not have 

S/GOVS’ CALL: National dialogue last 

chance to save Nigeria —Yoruba Ronu 

Appointment of Minor chiefs: Deji of Akure disagrees 

with Ondo govt 

By Dayo Johnson 

AKURE—A first class 

traditional ruler in 

Ondo state, the Deji of 

Akureland, Oba 

Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, 

has said that he remained 

the consenting and 

prescribed authority for the 

installation of minor chiefs 

in both Akure North and 

South council areas of the 

state. 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu 

YORUBA 

Ronu 

Leadership Forum, a 

socio-political group, has 

thrown its weight behind 

the recent call by the 

Southern Governors to the 

Federal Government to 

immediately convoke a 

national dialogue. 

The forum said that the 

dialogue was the country’s 

last chance to save itself 

from disintegration. 

It said that though the 

government would be 

funding the dialogue, its 

membership must be 

devoid of past and present 

political office holders. 

According to the group, 

it would be the call of the 

delegates drawn from the 

ethnic nationalities to put 

up a new constitution and 

spell out how the peoples 

of Nigeria shall live 

together. 

The position of the Forum 

was contained in a 

statement by its President, 

Akin Malaolu. 

The forum further said 

that the country was facing 

Oba Aladelusi was 

reacting to the controversial 

letter from the Ondo State 

Ministry of Local 

Government and 

Chieftaincy Affairs 

purportedly stopping him 

from appointing minor 

chiefs in Akure North local 

council. 

A statement by his Chief 

Press Secretary, Michael 

Adeyeye described the 

letter as being “malicious, 

achieved that without the 

cooperation of all 

stakeholders and security 

agencies. We will continue 

to appreciate this and we 

misleading and fabrication 

of falsehood to hoodwink 

his subjects as well as the 

general public.” 

The traditional ruler said 

the permanent secretary, 

Segun Odunsoya, who 

signed the letter, had little 

or no knowledge of an 

already existing judgment 

which had settled the 

case(s) upon which the 

letter was premised. 

“The letter was written 

barely a month after the 

resumption of the 

pray for long life in good 

health for us all, to reap the 

benefits of the Yoruba 

Nation when it shall come 

to fruition,” he said. 

• Wants Buhari to personally address Nigerians 

hard times and accused 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari of missing in the 

midst of the challenges. 

While alleging a fraud in 

information dissemination, 

the Forum urged the 

President to speak to 

Nigerians, saying that his 

spokesmen can’t be trusted 

to be speaking his mind. 

The statement read in 

partl “Nigeria, our country, 

as it is today is now on the 

road full of thorns. 

Expulsion and 

displacements of people 

and the possibility of war 

can be an harrowing 

experience hardly forgotten 

by those who may have 

experienced same in a 

country they grew up in, in 

a community they took as 

their homeland. We must 

confess that nothing seems 

to be moving or clearly seen 

to be changing anymore. 

“President Buhari is 

largely missing and it is 

difficult to trust those who 

are speaking for him if truly 

they are speaking his mind. 

The fraud in information 

dissemination is visibly in 

the open. It is therefore 

imperative for the President 

himself to show more 

interest in communicating 

one-on-one with Nigerians 

who he claims to be 

representing. 

“The recent meeting of 

the southern governors is 

needful and timely, more so 

when altercations of 

tongues rule the waves. 

Their call for true federalism 

and restructuring gladdens 

our hearts and their 

suggestions are not new but 

an added voice to what can 

help bring peace to our 

nation. 

“It is not out of place to 

clamour for justice, fairness 

and equity for all federating 

units in any nation. Uneven 

standards, terrorism from 

one section of our country 

and other social vices 

including corruption are 

prominent under President 

Buharis administration. 

“The call for National 

dialogue among others 

must not be delayed we 

repeat. This national 

dialogue is our last chance 

to save Nigeria as an indivisible 

nation in our own view.’’ 

permanent secretary who 

had little or no knowledge 

of an already existing 

judgment which had settled 

the case(s) upon which the 

letter was premised. 

“Upon the receipt of the 

letter, the Deji through his 

counsel replied the 

Ministry to inform her of an 

existing court judgment in 

respect of the matter. 

“It is imperative to state 

that the permanent secretary 

acted erroneously in the matter 

and it had since be settled."

Vanguard, , MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 — 11 

:Vanguard :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 

Social Media Conversation 

GRIDLOCK—The Oshodi-Apapa expressway gridlock...before the soldiers moved in. 

GRIDLOCK: Miscreants flee, as soldiers 

return to Oshodi-Apapa expressway 

By Kingsley Adeboye 

and Godfrey Bivbere 

LAGOS—HOODLUMS and 

transport union members, 

who have taken over control of 

traffic along Oshodi-Apapa 

expressway, have disappeared 

from the road, following the 

presence of soldiers to the axis, 

thereby easing traffic. 

This came after series of failed 

efforts to restore sanity by Federal 

agencies and Lagos State 

Government. 

Recall that the military 

authorities had earlier withdrawn 

their personnel, deployed to 

complement the effort of the now 

disbanded Presidential Task 

Team, headed by Vice-President 

Yemi Osinbajo, to clear Apapa 

ports access roads of gridlock. 

Recently, apparently 

overwhelmed by activities of 

miscreants and recalcitrant port 

operators, the Lagos Special 

Traffic Management and 

Enforcement Compliance Team, 

expressed willingness to resort to 

using the military personnel in 

order to complement the existing 

structure in ensuring compliance 

with the newly introduced 

Electronic–Call Up system in port 

operations, particularly, along 

Oshodi-Apapa Expressway. 

The mayhem, often caused by 

truckers, particularly tanker 

drivers who parked 

indiscriminately along the 

Oshodi- Apapa Expressway axis, 

has relatively disappeared as 

military men were seen at 

strategic points, controlling traffic, 

yesterday. 

Contrary to usual indiscriminate 

parking of trucks and attendant gridlock, 

the miscreants and union members were 

not seen yesterday, as military men were 

seen stationed around Mile-2, Otto-Wolf 

and UBA points, Kirikiri Road. It was 

observed that the men in military 

camouflage and some men of the Lagos 

State Traffic Management Authority, 

LASTMA, were seen controlling truckers 

in an orderly manner. 

The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and 

Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, Lagos 

State Zonal Council, had also expressed 

worry over the government’s continued 

deployment of military taskforce to control 

the Apapa gridlock. 

The Chairman of the council, Mr. Tayo 

Aboyeji, had accused the military 

taskforce of extorting the union’s 

members who came to load petroleum 

products and urged the government to 

wade into the matter. 

INSECURITY: Sanwo-Olu, cleric, call for vigilance, 

prayers for Nigeria 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

LAGOS—LAGOS State Governor, 

Mr. Bababjide Sanwo-Olu, his wife, 

Ibijoke, and Dr. Abdulhakeem Lawal, 

Chief Missioner, Ikhwanu Muslimun, 

have urged Nigerians to be vigilant and 

pray fervently for the country, amid rising 

insecurity challenges and agitations for 

secession. 

They made the remarks during the 

Year 2021 Eid-el-Fitr celebration, held at 

Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, to mark the 

end of Ramadan fasting. 

Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by 

Secretary to the state Government, Mrs. 

Folashade Jaji, said: “This event speaks 

to the uniqueness, oneness and 

inclusiveness in the state and, above all, 

SERAP writes Lawan, Gbajabiamila, seeks probe of missing 

N4.1bn NASS funds 


SOCIO-ECONOMIC Rights 

and Accountability Project, SERAP, 

has urged the Senate President, Dr. 

Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of House of 

Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, 

to probe fresh allegations of missing N4.1 

billion of public money budgeted for the 

National Assembly, as documented in 

the 2016 audited report by the Office of 

the Auditor-General of the Federation. 

The letter, dated May 15, 2021 and 

signed by SERAP's Deputy Director, 

Kolawole Oluwadare, stated that the 

allegations were not part of the disclosure 

by the Auditor-General in other audited 

love and reverence for God. 

“We have kept the partnership with 

religious bodies and have continued to 

improve in our relationship as we identify 

with those things that unite us as a 

people.” 

Besides, the Governor urged religious 

leaders to continue to preach religious 

tolerance among the congregations, 

adding: “for this has been our main stay 

in the development and peaceful coexistence 

of the citizenry of Lagos. “ 

Also, speaking wife of the governor, 

Mrs. Sanwo-Olu, urged parents and 

guardians to keep a close tab on activities 

of their children and wards, and as well 

be more security conscious in view of the 

recent developments in the country, 

saying that it was important for parents, 

reports that N4.4 billion of National 

Assembly money was missing, 

misappropriated, diverted or stolen. 

According to SERAP: “As part of its 

legislative and oversight functions, the 

National Assembly has a key role to play 

in the fight against corruption in the 

country. But little can be achieved by 

the legislative body in the anticorruption 

fight, if the leadership and 

members do not first confront the spectre 

of alleged corruption and 

mismanagement within their ranks.” 

SERAP also urged Lawan and 

Gbajabiamila to "identify the lawmakers 

and staff members suspected to be 

involved, and hand them over to 

appropriate anti-corruption agencies to 

face prosecution, if there is sufficient 

especially women to talk to their children 

and also intensify prayers for the 

peace and development of Nigeria. 

According to her, “At this point in time 

in Nigeria when everyone is talking about 

insecurity, it is very paramount that each 

and every one of us takes security very 

important. 

“Just a few days ago, I was with the 

Iyaloja General and I was telling her that 

as mothers, one of the things we could 

do is pray more (which I know we have 

been doing a lot) to support our men 

that are doing so much out there, and 

also be very vigilant and talk to the wards 

under us. 

“We all have to be vigilant and ‘say 

something when we see something.’ You 

are your first security. It starts with the 

individual and more than before, we must 

be thoroughly and extremely observant.” 

admissible evidence, and to ensure full 

recovery of any missing public funds.” 

The letter, read in part: “Ensuring the 

effective investigation of these fresh 

allegations, and full recovery of any 

missing public funds would strengthen 

the country’s accountability framework, 

and show that the National Assembly 

can discharge its constitutional 

responsibility of amplifying the voices of 

Nigerians. It will also show that the body 

is acting in the best interest of the people. 

“SERAP is concerned that allegations 

of corruption continue to undermine 

economic development, violate social 

justice, and destroy trust in economic, 

social, and political institutions. Nigerians 

bear the heavy economic and social costs 

of corruption." 

Go to law school first! 

Unspoken wishes!




PENGASSAN raises alarm over rising 

insecurity in S-South, S-East 

By Victor Ahiuma- 

Young 

PORT HARCOURT— 

Petroleum and Natural 

Gas Senior Staff Association 

of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, 

yesterday, raised the alarm 

over rising insecurity in 

South-South and South-East, 

warning that if the wave of 

insecurity is not checked, over 

$32.6 billion revenue 

accruable to the government 

would be at risked. 

Port Harcourt Zonal 

Chairman of PENGASSAN, 

Peter Onita, in a statement, 

called on the Federal 

Government and other 

stakeholders to find solutions 

to the security challenges in 

the zone to save the nation 

from the devastating effect of 

the crisis on socio-economic 

well-being of the country. 

According to him, “the 

zone, which harbours some 

major oil and gas producing 

states in the country such as 

Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo, Abia, 

Akwa Ibom, Cross River, 

Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi 

are seriously under one form 

of security threat or the other, 

which the association reckons 

is a hindrance to any 

meaningful development, 

especially with the 

commencement of the 

rehabilitation of the Port 

Harcourt Refinery valued at 

$1.5 billion. 

“The zone also accounts for 

a large chunk of Nigeria’s oil 

and gas sector representing 

about 85 per cent of 

government revenues. The 

total revenue flow to the 

federation, other tiers of 

government and subnational 

entities from all 

sources (including crude oil 

sales, taxes, royalties and 

other incomes) came to $32.6 

billion in 2018. 

“As the zone with the 

resources, we, therefore, warn 

that the current state of affairs 

in kidnapping for ransom, 

attacks on security agencies, 

especially the Nigeria Police 

and the rise of militia and 

ragtag armies, if allowed to 

persist, may have dire 

consequences and threats to 

food and economic security 

as well as the life of the 

citizens of not only the states 

under the Zone but to the 

entire nation. 

“Consequently, as the zone 

with the highest 

conglomerates and 

individual key players in the 

oil and gas sector, we 

demand that the states 

should be empowered with 

the necessary legislations that 

will enable them to take 

charge of security issues in 

their domain. 

“The era of centralised 

policing should be done away 

with locals and communities 

allowed to own and operate 

arms-carrying personnel to 

protect the huge investments 

in the oil and gas. 

“We also call on investors 

and management in the oil 

and gas to disregard the 

effects of COVID-19 

pandemic in the sector and 

safe guide the workers in the 

industry against COVID-19 

instigated redundancies, 

wage reduction and arbitrary 

dismissal. 

“Rather, encouragement 

should focus on opening new 

frontiers that will harness the 

abundant natural gas 

resources in the zone, the 

ninth-largest in terms of 

global gas reserves with over 

200 Tcf, as well as the 

establishment of modular 

refineries and training 

facilities for the youth in the 

oil-bearing communities as a 

way to fighting the rising 

wave of criminalities and other 

social vices.” 

ISAAC BORO DAY: From left, Esther Boro; Interim Administrator, 

Presidential Amnesty Programme, Col. Dixon Dikio (retd); Governor 

Douye Diri of Bayelsa State and his wife, Gloria, at the 2021 late 

Major Isaac Adaka Boro Day in Kaiama, yesterday. 

Amaechi, Wike at war over 

insecurity in Rivers 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT HARCOURT— 

Minister 

of 

Transportation, Mr Chibuike 

Amaechi, and Governor 

Nyesom Wike of the Rivers 

State, have disagreed over 

the security challenge in 

state. 

Amaechi, former governor 

of the state, while receiving 

some decampees from the 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, into All Progressives 

Congress, APC, said the 

curfew imposed in the state 

by Wike was a sign that his 

(Wine’s) administration has 

failed. 

The minister blamed the 

level of insecurity in the state 

on alleged high level of 

unemployment, saying he 

(Amaechi) led every 

operation to chase criminal 

elements out of the state 

Amaechi said the state was 

in danger, expressing regrets 

that Governor Wike was 

acquiring the whole property 

in the state without 

considering the safety and 

welfare of the people. 

Amaechi, however, 

enjoined members of APC to 

go home and mobilise new 

members into the party and 

avoid creating room for 

continued fighting in the 

party, 

But, Wike in a swift reaction 

said it was disingenuous for 

Amaechi to attribute 

insecurity in the state to 

unemployment. 

He asked: “Is 

unemployment fuelling 

insecurity in Kaduna, 

Plateau, Borno, Yobe, Ondo, 

Ebony, Imo, Niger states 

governed by the APC?” 

Wike in a statement by his 

Special Assistant on Media, 

Kelvin Ebiri, said: “Is he 

(Amaechi) trying to indict his 

boss, President Muhammad 

Buhari, who is the 

Commander-in-Chief, and 

who is constitutionally 

saddled with the 

responsibility to provide 

security for Nigerians? 

“It is a well known fact that 

Amaechi is the one who 

appoints every 

Commissioner of Police that 

has been posted to Rivers 

State since 2015. So, if there 

is any security failure, he is 

Diri, Okaba warn 

secessionists, expansionists 

to steer clear of Ijaw land 

GOVERNOR Douye 

Diri of Bayelsa State 

has said the Ijaw nation will 

never be intimidated by 

other ethnic nationalities 

with secessionist or 

expansionist agenda, 

stressing that the Ijaw 

nation has never been 

conquered and will never 

be conquered. 

The governor gave the 

warning at Ijaw House, 

Bayelsa State while 

presenting his goodwill 

message to the newly 

inaugurated National 

Executive Council, NEC, 

members of Ijaw National 

Congress, INC. 

Diri emphasized that the 

Ijaw occupied the longest 

parts of the coastline of 

Nigeria, adding that the 

Ijaw were the original 

occupants of the largest 

coastline of the country and 

the people are not for sale. 

He charged Prof. 

Benjamin Okaba, INC 

President to bring back the 

lost glory of the Ijaws, 

adding: “Ijaw nation is 

blessed with human and 

material resources. He 

(Okaba) should reverse the 

trends for the Ijaw to live 

in unity, equity and 

to be blamed.” 

On allegation that he was 

acquiring property in the 

state, the governor said it is 

better to acquire property in 

Nigeria than to do so in 

Ghana. 

He said Amaechi jubilating 

over the defection of his 

former Commissioner of 

Urban and Rural Planning, 

Reason Onya, who was 

indicted by a judicial 

commission of inquiry, was a 

pointer that he is politically 

irrelevant in Rivers State. 

fairness in the country.“ 

Okaba in his maiden 

address earlier said NEC 

of INC and the entire Ijaw 

nation know that the rivers, 

closeness to the ocean, the 

huge quantum of oil and gas 

exploited from the bowels of 

Ijaw land have made or 

tempted those with 

secessionist and 

expansionist agenda to 

want to forcefully 

appropriate Ijaw lands and 

territory. 

INC’s Publicity Secretary, 

Mr 

Ezonebi 

Oyakemeagbegha, who 

spoke to journalists, 

reiterated that the Ijaw voice 

that was silent for time will 

now be heard loud on issues 

bothering the Ijaw nation. 

Oyakemeagbegha 

assured that the current 

team of INC executives 

would work to actualise the 

dreams of the Ijaw nation, 

stressing that they are fully 

aware of the present 

situation of the nation is in a 

perilous time. 

He warn such characters 

with expansionist agenda 

that the Ijaw territory was 

never and will never be 

ceded or conquered. 

Etsako Central PDP suspends 

chairman, passes confidence 

vote on Oghiadomhe 

By Dapo 

Akinrefon 

THE crisis rocking the Edo 

State chapter of Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, has taken 

a twist as ward chairmen and 

their executives in Etsako 

Centra Local Government Area 

of the state have suspended the 

council chairman of the party, 

Mr Kassim Abdulkareem, and 

the secretary, Mr Sunday Kadiri. 

The ward executives also 

passed a vote of confidence on 

former Deputy Governor of the 

state and former Chief of Staff 

to former President GoodLuck 

Jonathan, Chief Mike 

Oghiadomhe, for his fatherly 

role in uniting the party. 

They said: “All the actions of 

Kassim Abdulkareem have 

been directed towards a power 

struggle. Either to keep power, 

increase power or a 

demonstration of power as 

party chairman. Instead of 

Edo community cries for 

help, alleges attacks from 

Ijaw neigbhours 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

BENIN CITY —THE 

people of Obazuwa 

Utugberu community of 

Obazuwa Dukedom in Ovia 

North East Local 

Government Area of Edo 

State have cried for help from 

the state government and the 

Oba of Benin, HRM Omo 

N’Oba N’Edo Uku 

Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II, to 

intervene in what they 

described as unholy and 

several deadly attacks by 

Ijaw people, who they 

described as settlers in Ikoro 

community. 

The community at a town 

hall meeting in Obazuwa 

Utugberu community, where 

they complained of being 

displaced from their ancestral 

homes and their farmland, 

accused the Ijaw of selling 

their fertile farmlands to land 

grabbers in the Dukedom 

without the proper approval 

of the Enogie, Odionwere 

and Elders of Obazuwa, who 

are the representatives of the 

Oba of Benin. 

The Odionwere of the 

community, octogenarian 

Roland Oyemuse said he 

has lived in the community 

since birth for the past 98 

years, adding: “The Ijaw that 

are now taking our land came 

to settle with us. We allowed 

them to be with us as brothers 

and sisters, but now they 

have turned against us by 

selling our farmlands without 

our knowledge." 

Also the Okaighele (youth 

leader) of the community, 

Sunday Ohenhen alleged 

that the Ijaw use arms to drive 

them from their farms. 

Brass women, others storm 

AGIP office, protest lack of 

amenities, jobs 

By Gab Ejuwa 

THOUSANDS of residents 

of Twon-Brass, 

headquarters of Brass Local 

Government Area of Bayelsa 

State, weekend, stormed the 

operational headquarters of 

Nigeria Agip Oil Company, 

NAOC, protesting against 

alleged marginalisation and 

neglect of the people by the 

multinational oil giant. 

The protesters, who were 

mainly women, supported by 

men and youths of the 

community, brandished leaves, 

carried placards emblazoned 

with different inscriptions and 

accused the oil company of 

failing to address the state of 

infrastructure in the community 

and unemployment. 

The protest, which started on 

Friday, saw them block the 

entrance to the operational base 

of the oil company and the 

protest is still on going. 

They were led by Mrs Sibia 

Nickson, who had vowed not to 

call off the protest until their 

bringing everyone together as a 

family, the only thing that 

matters to him is power.” 

The aggrieved ward 

chairmen, who signed a 

communique at the end of their 

emergency meeting, weekend, 

by Osikhena Emmanuel (Ward 

1), Joseph Aidelebe (Ward 2), 

Abu Francis (Ward 3), 

Tokbokho Duke (Ward 6), 

Segbosimhe Akubor (Ward 9) 

and Alhaji Dirisu (Ward 10), with 

all their executives, said: “We are 

here today as ward chairmen of 

Etsako Central council to 

suspend our party chairman for 

the following reasons: Antiparty 

activities, which are 

inimical to the progress of the 

party, holding of party meetings 

in private homes instead of party 

secretariat, planning and 

executing disunity and 

factionalism among members 

of the party, as well as holding 

party factional meetings in 

his private residence." 

demands were met. 

It was gathered that among 

the grievances of the protesters 

were that the activities of the oil 

company had caused oil spills 

affecting fishing and farming, 

their main sources of livelihood. 

It was learned that the 

residents were aggrieved that 

electricity supply to the 

community had, since 2015, 

been epileptic and all efforts to 

make NAOC remedy the 

situation had proved abortive. 

To prevent a breakdown of law 

and order, the member 

representing Brass Constituency 

1 in the Bayelsa State House of 

Assembly, Dr Daniel Charles, 

appealed for calm, urging the 

protesters to eschew violence 

and destruction of property as 

efforts were being made to 

make NAOC yield to the 

demands of the community. 

Efforts to speak with officials 

of Agip on the development met 

a stone wall as the company’s 

security men barricaded the 

road and prevented anybody 

from going beyond the 

barricade.




CAMPAIGN: From left, Financial Secretary, Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria, 

DIBAN, Mr. Umoren Akpan; Federal Competiton and Consumer Protection Commission 

representative, Kemi Oladipo; Chairman, Technical Committee, DIBAN, Mr. Mobolaji Alalade; 

Director of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration 

and Control, NAFDAC, Mr. Sheriff Olagunju; Director, Public Affairs, NAFDAC, Dr. Abubakar 

Jimoh, and Executive Secretary, DIBAN, Mr. John Ichue, during the flag off of the 4th phase of 

advocacy campaign against under age and irresponsible drinking, in Lagos. 

We’ll enforce open grazing ban in 

Abia —Ikpeazu 

By Festus Ahon & 

Steve Oko 

UMUAHIA—ABIA gover 

nor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has 

declared it imperative for the 

state to enforce a ban on open 

grazing of cattle. 

This came as Speakers of 

Southern States Legislature, 

weekend, threw their weight 

behind the southern governors 

resolutions, banning open grazing 

of cattle, call for national 

dialogue, restructuring of the 

country and respect for federal 

character. 

On Tuesday, governors of the 

southern region had resolved 

to ban open grazing and the 

movement of cattle by foot in 

the region. 

Abia governor expressed determination 

to effect the ban in 

Abia while addressing journalists 

during a zoom meeting, on 

Saturday. 

Ikpeazu said a bill was already 

in place to enforce the 

ban and to check the activities 

of criminal elements disguising 

as nomads. 

“We are now at the point of 

making sure that we enforce 

and implement it and even in 

doing that I must also share 

what I see as a challenge to the 

enforcement of that law,” Ikpeazu 

said. 

“The law is in place and we 

are taking steps to enforce it. It 

has become imperative that we 

enforce that law strictly because 

we just noticed that we 

have big-time trouble in our 

hands. 

“We have those that we refer 

to as criminal herdsmen; they 

are different from the ordinary 

herdsmen that we have been 

living with all these years. 

“We now have in our midst 

bandits that have infiltrated 

from the rest of West Africa and 

other parts of Africa and their 

assignment is to come here to 

rape, kill and kidnap people for 

money. It is now very imperative 

that we enforce that law.” 

Southern speakers 

support govs' ban 

on open grazing, 

restructuring, 

others 

The speakers in a statement, 

commended the Southern governors 

for coming together to 

speak with one voice, saying the 

resolutions of the Southern 

governors were pathways to resolving 

the problems facing the 

Insecurity: Nigeria needs another doctrine 

of necessity —Abaribe 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

AWKA—SENATE minor 

ity leader, Enyinnaya 

Abaribe has argued that the 

worrisome state of insecurity 

across the country has necessitated 

the application of another 

doctrine of necessity to 

save Nigeria. 

Speaking during the Bar 

Week of the Awka branch of 

the Nigeria Bar Association, 

Abaribe recalled that during 

a similar critical situation in 

2010, the then national assembly 

applied doctrine of necessity, 

which brought Goodluck 

Jonathan to office, adding 

that there is need for the 

national assembly to, at this 

critical juncture apply doctrine 

of necessity 11, because 

the country is at crossroad. 

He said: “Today, we are in a 

bigger problem, including the 

problem of Boko Haram, 

Banditry, which I believe is 

Boko Haram that graduated 

to banditry, Fulani herdsmen 

and the problem in the South 

East where people go about 

burning police stations. 

“So, I think the national assembly, 

the governors and well 

– meaning Nigerians should 

come together and apply a 

doctrine of necessity 11. Since 

we did one during Yar ‘Adua 

presidency, we can do a second 

one to help the country. 

“The nation seems to be on 

a meltdown. In the wake of 

•Says it’s now very imperative 

•Southern speakers support govs' ban on open 

grazing, restructuring, others 

country. 

The speakers, said: "We, the 

Speakers of State Legislatures 

in Southern Nigeria commend 

the governors of the southern 

states for their patriotism and 

firm belief in the unity of the 

country. 

"We salute the governors for 

their initiative and restate our 

support for the positions of the 

governors. We wish to state unequivocally 

that the issues canvassed 

in the communiqué are 

neither new nor strange, rather 

they require swift response from 

the federal government. 

"The country is currently undergoing 

very challenging 

times and requires bold and 

audacious measures to stop it 

from sliding into abyss. 

"We maintain that the positions 

of the governors as contained 

in the communiqué issued 

on the 11th of May, 2021 

in Asaba are sacrosanct and a 

guarantee for justice, fairness 

and equity in the country. 

"We adopt all the positions in 

the communique and reiterated 

the call for the ban on open 

grazing of cattle in the South. 

"We support the call for the 

restructuring of the country to 

enthrone true federalism and 

therefore the convocation of a 

national dialogue is inevitable. 

"This will afford stakeholders 

from all parts of the country to 

table their prejudices and together 

work out a sustainable 

relationship as one indivisible 

country. 

"We pledge to deploy our legislative 

powers to strengthen 

the positions canvassed by the 

governors. 

"We also urge the governors 

to send bills to the legislature 

unprecedented ravaging insecurity 

spreading from North 

East to North West to North 

Central to South West to South 

East and South - South, many 

of the things that hold us together 

as a nation continue to 

unravel and the APC –led government 

seems powerless to 

stop the slide. 

“It is very unfortunate that the 

present government and the 

inherent lawlessness have given 

impetus to the quagmire, 

leading Nigerians to question 

the system as presently constituted. 

“The country is in limbo and 

there is an obvious feeling of 

despondency. My fear is that it 

should not slide to a total state 

of anomie. There are agitations 

for restructuring and even the 

extreme demand for secession, 

all fueled by injustice and feeling 

of being left out, particularly 

here in the South East. 

“There is executive lawlessness 

where the executive acts or 

conducts affairs of state by fiatthat 

is without backing of the 

law. It also connotes a situation 

where the executive behaves in 

an unrestrained manner, thus 

blatantly disregarding the law 

in all of its actions and policies. 

“Lawlessness is the direct opposite 

of law and order. It means 

not guided by rule of law, anarchy, 

disorder, chaos, reign of 

terror and mob rule. It is a state 

in which there is widespread 

wrongdoing and disregard for 

rules and authority, it is a state 

where necessary to address 

some of the issues in the communique. 

"Finally, we thank His Excellency, 

Senator Dr. Ifeanyi 

Okowa, the Governor of Delta 

State for providing the platform 

for the meeting of the governors". 

The statement was signed by 

Sheriff F.O Oborevwori, Deputy 

National Chairman, Conference 

of Speakers of State Legislatures 

of Nigeria;Mr Aniekan 

Bassey, Vice Chairman 

South- South, Conference of 

Speakers of State Legislatures 

of Nigeria; Francis O.Nwifuru, 

Vice chairman South East, 

Conference of Speakers of State 

Legislatures of Nigeria and 

Olakunle Taiwo Oluomo, Vice 

Chairman South West, Conference 

of Speakers of State Legislatures 

of Nigeria. 

of anarchy and breakdown of 

law and order, a state of social 

disorder often resulting from a 

failure of governance. 

“By virtue of section 5 of the 

1999 constitution, the President 

who is also the Commander in 

Chief of the Armed Forces and 

head of the executive arm of 

government, is under oath to 

uphold the constitution. Ironically 

as we have seen in the 

present administration, a situation 

where the same President 

who is under oath to uphold 

the constitution will brazenly 

disregard the federal 

character principle established 

in section 14 (3) and (4) 

of the 1999 constitution, and 

more particularly the compulsory 

provisions of section 217 

(3) which mandates the President 

to observe the federal 

character principle in the appointment 

of Service Chiefs 

of the Armed Forces and 

heads of other security agencies, 

by totally excluding the 

South East of Nigeria since 

2015 when he came to power, 

is another good example of 

brazen display of executive 

lawlessness.” 

Chairman of Awka branch 

of NBA, Mr. Ekene Okonkwo 

commended the senator for 

updating lawyers with efforts 

of the national assembly to 

strengthen the country’s democracy. 

He assured that members of 

the NBA would support moves 

for constitutional amendment 

that would be acceptable to the 

majority of Nigerians. 

Ebonyi govt alleges plan by PDP 

to blackmail Umahi 

By Anayo Okoli 

ENUGU—EBONYI State 

Government has raised an 

alarm over alleged plan by 

the opposition People's Democratic 

Party, PDP, to embark 

on what it called campaign 

of blackmail against Governor 

David Umahi and his 

government. 

Ebonyi Government, 

through the Information 

Commissioner, Uchenna Orji, 

claimed that some PDP members 

have "resorted to dirtier 

intrigues in their desperate but 

regrettable move to run down 

the name of our dear governnor 

and the image of the state 

government". 

Orji alleged that the plan 

was for the party to falsely link 

the governor's name to alleged 

kidnap of a member of 

the party, one Amos Ogbonna. 

"We have it on good authority 

that millions of Naira have 

been voted to these conscienceless 

fellows to hatch and execute 

unprintable atrocities 

and to keep the social media 

and other media platforms 

busy with unthinkable fabrications 

against the state government, 

with a view to attacking 

the hard earned reputation 

of our dear governor 

and the testimonials of his 

great accomplishments", the 

commissioner alleged. 

Orji alleged that "from information 

available, it is obvious 

that the said Amos Ogbonna 

was last seen with some 

members of his party; we 

therefore demand that security 

agencies should hold them 

accountable on the whereabouts 

of their co-traveller as 

circumstantial evidence 

points compellingly on their 

complicity in their allegation. 

"The general public is invited 

therefore to note that this 

latest press release of PDP Ebonyi 

State Chapter on alleged 

kidnap of one Amos Ogbonna, 

authored by Barr. Silas 

Joseph Onu, is part of the 

grand design by his group of 

political howlers to cause tension 

in the state and incite public 

hatred on a government 

they hold in a very high esteem. 

"We therefore dissociate and 

distance ourselves as government 

from the thoughts and 

claims of these PDP officials, 

who for pecuniary and political 

reasons have covenanted 

with the opposition forces to 

unleash falsehood on the state 

government. 

"We warned that Ebonyi 

State Government has records 

of the antecedents and records 

of these harbingers of doom 

and shall do everything possible 

to protect the citizenry 

from being a prey to their ungodly 

plots. 

"We reaffirm our commitment 

to the core values of our 

administration and the prophetic 

proclamation that 

guides our actions. We leave 

our battles in the hands of God 

as we are sure that the enemies 

of our modest achievements 

shall be disappointed in the 

evil deeds of their agents", the 

commissioner said in a statement. 

Abia communities get electricity 

first time after 30yrs 

By Clifford Ndujihe 

THE PATRIARCH of the 

Nwodo family, Dr Joe Nwodo, 

will be buried on June 5. 

According to a burial programme 

announced by the family, the 

internment activities will begin 

with a night of tributes on Sunday 

May 30, 2021 at JD Leisure 

Center, Kashim Ibrahim Way, 

Maitama, Abuja 

Dr Nwodo died on March 10, 

in a London Hospital at the age 

of 77 years. 

A statement by Ike Abonyi, cochairman, 

the burial Publicity 

Sub Committee, said the night 

of tributes in Abuja is intended 

to bring top political, economic 

and professional associates of the 

Nwodo family to give a deserving 

farewell and honour to one 

of the country's outstanding professional, 

lawyer and politician. 

By Steve Oko 

UMUAHIA—IT was a 

torrent of joy weekend as 

the indigenes of three Abia 

communities, Usaka Ukwu 

Ndeokoro, Ndieke and Upa 

communities in Ikwuano Local 

Government Area celebrated 

electricity for the first 

time, 30 years after the creation 

of the state. 

Locals from the affected 

communities poured encomiums 

on the member representing 

Umuahia/ Ikwuano 

federal constituency at the 

House of Representatives, 

Hon. Sam Onuigbo, who attracted 

the project. 

They recounted how the 

lawmaker ended their decades 

of darkness and urged 

him to sustain his efforts towards 

alleviating the sufferings 

of the people. 

Speaking on behalf of the 

communities, Mazi Joe Irohibe, 

said that the constituency 

had suffered near neglect 

by the federal government 

and thanked Onuigbo for 

changing the narrative. 

His words: "We are applauding 

Onuigbo for attracting 

this project. This is the first 

time we have seen electricity 

light in our community since 

our existence. 

"We now feel we are in the 

map of the world through this 

project and it will help our 

young men who are artisans 

to return home and operate 

from home." 

Joe Nwodo's internment begins 

May 30, to be buried June 5 

He said: 'It is expected that 

political exploits of late Joe 

Nwodo in the still born third Republic 

in the defunct National 

Republican Convention, NRC, 

will be remembered by his associates 

who are expected to grace 

the great night. 

''In Enugu on June 1st, 2021 

there will also be another night 

of tributes at Chris Hall, Amodeo 

Event Centre, behind Elim Plaza, 

off Ebeano Tunnel. 

''And on Thursday June 3rd, 

there will be a valedictory Court 

session in his honour at the Justice 

I.A. Umezurike Auditorium, 

Enugu High Court. 

"Burial and funeral ceremonies 

will be in Ukehe on Saturday 

June 5, 2021 with a funeral mass 

at St Peter's Catholic Church, 

Ukehe and interment immediately 

after mass at Dr Joe Nwodo's 

Residence, Ukehe House.''




VISIT—From left: Acting Inspector General of Police, IGP, Baba Usman; former Governor 

of Bayelsa State, Senator Seriaki Dickson, and Deputy Inspector General of Police, Zanna 

Ibrahim, during a solidarity visit to the IGP by Dickson, at the Force Headquarters, Abuja. 

Sack: Total blackout hits Kaduna as 

Labour begins 5-day strike 

•Kaduna generates N50.7 bn IGR; doesn't need FAAC allocation to 

pay salaries—NLC •Falana group backs labour's action 

By Victor Ahiuma- 

Young 

KTY ADUNA—ELECTRICI 

workers yesterday disconnected 

power supply to 

Kaduna State, as Organised 

Labour begins a five- day strike 

over industrial dispute with the 

Kaduna State government. 

This came as Nigeria Union 

of Petroleum and Natural Gas 

Workers, NUPENG, ordered 

members of the Petroleum 

Tanker Drivers, PTD, branch, 

to stop all supplies of Petroleum 

products to the state, 

from 12 am. 

Vanguard gathered that 

members of the National 

Union of Electricity Employees, 

NUEE, in Kaduna, before 

the 12 am directive, yesterday 

threw the state into total darkness 

ahead of the commencement 

of the strike today. 

Other affiliates of Nigeria 

Labour Congress, NLC, including 

NUPENG that operate 

in the state had directed 

members to withdraw their 

services from 12 am today and 

ensure total shut down of the 

state. 

Among other unions that 

have withdrawn their services 

from the state include National 

Union of Railway Workers, 

NUR, National Union of Food 

Beverage and Tobacco Employees, 

NUFBTE, National 

Union of Chemical Footwear, 

Rubber Leather and Non-Metallic 

Products Employees, 

NUCFRLANMPE, and Amalgamated 

Union of Public Corporations, 

Civil Service Technical 

and Recreational Services 

Employees, AUPCTRE. 

The leaders of the National 

Union of Air Transport Employees, 

NUATE, National Association 

of Aircraft Pilots and 

Engineers, NAAPE, Association 

of Nigeria Aviation Professionals, 

ANAP, had Saturday 

directed members to suspend 

all flight operations to 

Kaduna State from 12 am today. 

While NUEE in a memo by 

its General Secretary, Joe 

Ajaero, to members in Kaduna 

dated May 11, directed 

them to cut off power supply 

to the state from 12 am today 

till the end of the action, NU- 

PENG in a directive by its General 

Secretary, Olawale Afolabi, 

dated May 11, asked its 

PTD branch to withdraw supplies 

of products from 12 am 

today till Friday. 

Recall that leaders of NLC 

and Trade Union Congress of 

Nigeria, TUC, had during the 

national May Day celebration 

at Eagle Square, Abuja, 

given hint of labour's plans to 

take on the Kaduna State government. 

They accused the government 

of sacking no fewer than 

21,770 primary school teachers, 

7,310 local government 

employees, 3,000 personnel in 

the state civil service and 

1,240 workers at the Kaduna 

State Primary Health Care 

Board in the last four years. 

According to NLC and 

TUC, among others, "we consider 

the recent mass sack and 

casualization of more than 60 

percent of the workforce in 

Kaduna State as the most brutal 

attack on workers and 

trade union rights in our nation's 

history. You would recall 

that between 2016 and this 

year, the Kaduna State Governor, 

Mr. Nasir el-Rufai 

sacked 21,770 primary school 

teachers, 7,310 local government 

employees, 3,000 personnel 

in the State Civil Service 

and 1,240 workers at the 

Kaduna State Primary 

Health Care Board. 

"While Mr. el-Rufai sacked 

workers with one hand, he increased 

the school fees in Kaduna 

State University by almost 

500 percent. This clearly 

shows a well mapped plan 

to make the children of the 

working class destitute. Is this 

how Mr. el-Rufai understands 

development? The serial pattern 

of anti-workers and antitrade 

union war of attrition by 

the Kaduna State Governor, 

Mr. Nasir el-Rufai is not lost 

on the Nigerian public. Indeed, 

the industrial sadism of 

Mr. el-Rufai has become legendary. 

It is even worse now. 

The current anti-workers disposition 

of the Kaduna State 

Governor is at the instance of 

Bretton Woods Institutions as 

part of the conditionalities for 

accessing loans from the 

neoliberal agencies. 

Faulting the state government's 

claim that it spent between 

84 percent and 96 percent 

of its Federation Account. 

Allocation Committee, FAAC, 

receipts for personnel cost, 

President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, 

said the government was 

economical with the truth, 

According to him "the revenue 

of Kaduna State is not dependent 

on FAAC allocation. In 

fact, the internal revenue in the 

2020 Budget was estimated at 

N10 billion less than receipts 

from the FAAC. However, the 

actual receipts for 2019 from 

internally generated revenue, 

IGR, alone were almost N45 

billion. Therefore, the budgetary 

figure of N43.7 billion was 

a conservative estimate as it 

was outperformed by over N2 

billion. The same practice of 

under-estimate was repeated in 

the 2021 budget. 

"In this instance, the estimated 

IGR of almost N50.7 billion 

was expected to be higher than 

estimated FAAC receipts of 

N50.1 billion. Again, the IGR 

receipts for 2020 were over N50 

billion as stated by the National 

Bureau of Statistics, NBS. 

Hence, the 2021 estimated IGR 

is conservative as it assumes the 

figure for 2020 would be static. 

Between 2020 and 2021 budgets, 

the VAT receipts due to 

Kaduna State were estimated 

at N18 billion and almost N20 

billion, respectively. 

"The expenditure profile of the 

state government for 2020 was 

estimated at N31.8 billion for 

personnel cost, that is, salary 

and wages, wages administration, 

and so on. This was later 

revised to N43.5 billion. For the 

2021 budget, the estimated personnel 

cost is 40.2 billion. 

The argument about Kaduna 

depending on FAAC to cover 

her personnel charges is incorrect. 

Indeed, it is necessary 

to repeat that the Kaduna does 

not need FAAC to meet her personnel 

costs. 

"From the brief analysis 

above, it is obvious that the reported 

IGR alone of over N50 

billion can cover all the personnel 

costs for the year. The IGR 

is collected by the workers of 

Kaduna State; they generate 

enough resources to cover all 

their wages and leave a healthy 

balance of over 10 billion to 

transfer to Capital Receipts." 

Meanwhile, Alliance on Surviving 

COVID-19 and Beyond, 

ASCAB, has thrown its weight 

behind the NLC's strike against 

Kaduna State, imploring its 

"affiliates and supporters to 

provide support for this essential 

strike. 

A statement by Mr. Femi 

Falana, on behalf of ASCAB, 

the group argued that "firm action 

is needed to reverse the 

massive attacks on jobs and 

poverty induced insecurity in 

Kaduna State." 

Among others, the statement 

recalled several disengagements 

of workers by the state 

government, "ASCAB supports 

the strike action to stop retrenchments. 

ASCAB believes 

that the strike action is necessary 

to force Governor El-Rufai 

to stop his policy of retrenchments 

and job losses. We welcome 

the work that the trade 

unions have undertaken to embark 

on the strike action. 

"We call on all trade unionists 

in Kaduna to ensure the success 

of the strike actions. AS- 

CAB calls on all our supporters, 

all trade unions and unionists 

across Nigeria to support 

the strike action in Kaduna 

State. We contend that halting 

job losses would be a major 

contribution to reducing insecurity 

across the state." 

No attempt to break away from 

NUP —FCSP Chairman 

Do more to ensure peace in Nigeria, IPMAN chieftain urges Buhari 

Christian leaders scared of 

COVID-19 vaccine 

—Gov Mohammed 

By Charly Agwam 

BBala AUCHI—GOVERNOR 

Mohammed has 

said Christian leaders in the 

state are scared of taking the 

AztraZenica COVID-19 vaccine. 

The governor who spoke 

before receiving the second 

dose of the Vaccine alongside 

his wife and other top 

government officials at the 

Bauchi State Government 

House, weekend, said the attitude 

of the Christian leaders 

could discourage their 

followers from taking the 

vaccine. 

According to him, "the statistics 

that was rolled out by 

some of our health workers, 

including the WHO are very 

fascinating. Statistics show 

that we are doing very well in 

Bauchi. I thank our development 

partners as well as our 

religious leaders. 

"I want to call on my Christian 

brothers, I am surprised 

that most of them have refused 

to present themselves 

to be vaccinated because of 

the campaign of calumny on 

population and demographics. 

They said they will not 

take it. 

"We are not expecting this 

from them because they are 

the most enlightened among 

our population. If they are 

not presenting themselves, 

their followers will not 

present themselves. I am really 

excited that the Ulamas, 

even our father, Sheikh Dahiru 

Bauchi, all the Emirs, all 

the Imams, including the 

Chief Imam here, indeed, all 

BENIN CITY—A chieftain 

of the Independent Petroleum 

Marketers Association of 

Nigeria, IPMAN, Elder Peter 

Ogbeide, weekend, called on 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

to do more to ensure peace 

and security of lives in the country 

Ȯgbeide who made this call 

at social gathering to make his 

68 birthday in Benin City, said 

lack of peace in Nigeria was 

turning it into a beggar nation 

instead of a donour nation. 

He said “We have all what 

great nations have but these 

nations don't have all what we 

have. We have the market, human 

capital, property, weather, 

agriculture and we are in a 

position to become world power.” 

On the unity and security of 

Nigeria, he said President Buhari 

should adopt the “attitude 

to protect every single Nigeria's 

life anywhere in the world. He 

should emulate Americans, 

who are ever ready to send 2000 

jets to rescue one kidnapped 

American. This Attitude will 

make any nation unite despite 

tongue, tribe or religion. This is 

the panacea of our current 

quagmire. Nigeria can be great 

and takes her position as the 

giant of Africa if President Burari 

will imbibe this change of 

attitude. 

“Nigeria can be great again 

inspite of the present turmoil. 

There is always light at the end 

of the tunnel. If things have 

not almost gone bad it will 

never be good but we must first 

find out what brought us to 

this situation and the answer 

is we don't have unity in our 

diversity. The only person that 

can activate that unity is Mr. 

President by developing an attitude 

to protect the life of every 

single Nigerian anywhere 

he or she is distressed in the 

world. This show of love for a 

Nigerian will automatically 

the Ustaz have presented 

themselves for vaccination. 

"I want my brothers, the 

Christian clergymen to follow 

suit so that they will show 

example, and for us to make 

sure we give total coverage. 

They cannot go for the Holy 

pilgrimage if they are not covered. 

They have to know this. 

And because they have not 

allowed themselves to be vaccinated, 

apart from the officials 

of the Christian pilgrimage, 

it will leave them out in 

the next exercise. 

"I must say this at this point, 

so that at the end of the day, 

the government of Bauchi will 

not be blamed. We call on the 

Christian leadership and the 

Christian Association of Nigeria, 

CAN, to come and 

meet with us so that we can 

discuss extensively on this. 

"We don't want any exclusion. 

Although the population 

is not very high, but they are 

very dear to me. As I said the 

other time, they constituted 

the bulk of my voters at the 

last election that brought me 

to power. So, I must make 

sure that they are well secured 

and protected." 

Earlier, Chairman of the 

state Primary Healthcare 

Development Agency, Dr Rilwanu 

Mohammed, said the 

State achieved 97.9 percent 

in the vaccination exercise of 

the first dose of AztraZenica 

COVID-19 vaccine, adding 

that Bauchi State received 

55,000 doses of AztraZenica 

COVID-19 vaccine from the 

Federal government for administration 

of the second 

dose. 

ABUJA—THE Federal 

Civil Service Pensioners, 

FCSP, has dismissed as untrue 

claims that members are 

planning to break away 

from its parent body, the Nigeria 

Union of Pensioners, 

NUP, to form another union. 

Chairman of FCSP branch 

of NUP, Mr. Eguaoba Fredrick 

who led hundreds of 

members to NUP National 

Headquarters in Abuja, to 

protest against the dissolved 

former FCSP Executive led 

by Mr. Sunday Omeize, for 

scheming to polarize FSCP 

branch and divide the national 

body, insisted that FCSP 

had no intention of leaving 

NUP. 

Speaking, FCSP Caretaker 

Committee Chairman , 

Fredrick disowned the recent 

activities of the dissolved 

Omeize-led excutive, warning 

that their activites were 

to create crisis in the branch 

and the national body to 

break away from the NUP. 

"Their intention is to divide 

the NUP, and break away. 

They are not representing the 

Federal Pensioners, all they 

are after is check off dues, just 

seven members of that executive 

and some of their kangaroo 

unit heads purported to 

have been put in place by 

same exco without the national 

body," Eguaoba said. 

He said the highest decision 

making organ of NUP, the National 

Delegates' Congress 

(NDC) had dissolved the executive 

of the FCSP branch 

for anti-union activities, that 

"are clearly against the constitution 

of the union during 

the National Delegates Conference 

held recently in Abuja." 

unite our great nation. But for 

now, we are dying in the hands 

of kidnappers, bandits, Fulani 

herdsmen, armed robbers” 

On the administration of 

Governor Godwin Obaseki, 

the elder statesman said 

Obaseki was on a rescue mission 

in the state with the launching 

a special Vigilante across 

the state to protect the people 

just as he commended the governor 

for regular “payment of 

salaries and pensions, improvement 

of our road network, 

creating employment 

opportunities has made Edo 

state an investment destination.”



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Celebrating Eddie Madunagu: 

International revolutionary at 75 

Life for Madunagu has 

been one of endless 

sacrifice and selfless 

service to the poor, the 

powerless, the marginalised, 

country and humanity; 

he has sowed revolutionary 

seeds across Africa 

MANY in my generation 

first encountered the 

name Eddie Madunagu when 

we started actively reading 

newspapers. He was a passionate 

Nigerian the Gowon regime 

threw into jail from January to 

May 1975 for fighting to end 

military rule and injustice and 

enthroning a Nigeria free of exploitation, 

poverty and want. In 

fact, I was to learn in later years 

that a major left political organisation 

he established with some 

other radicals at this period was 

called the Anti-Poverty Movement 

of Nigeria, APMON. This 

organisation carried out vigorous 

mobilisation amongst farmers 

and the urban poor and was active 

in the trade unions. 

Having known him on the pages 

of newspapers I cannot recall 

when I first met him, but before 

then, I had a chance encounter 

in 1979 with another quite passionate 

and committed revolutionary, 

Tony Engurube, who had 

been in APMON. He came to 

the then University of Ife (Now, 

OAU) in 1979 to mobilise Niger 

Delta students to take a stand 

against the naked exploitation of 

the region’s oil resources, the 

endless pollution and gas flaring 

and its complete underdevelopment. 

Engurube took me to a 

lecturer on campus, Dr. Biodun 

Jeyifo, BJ. In their long conversation, 

Madunagu’s name 

cropped up a number of times. I 

was to realise in later years that 

in the revolutionary movement, 

BJ and Madunagu were like a 

snail and its shell. While BJ and 

a movement of fine Nigerian intellectuals, 

like Dr. Segun Osoba, 

mobilised youths and people 

mainly around the West while 

reaching out across the country, 

Madunagu and his comradewife, 

the inimitable Professor 

Bene, with other comrades like 

Eskor Toyo, were churning out 

patriotic, radical youths in the 

South-South area with Calabar 

as base. When the National Association 

of Nigerian Students, 

NANS, at birth in 1980 suffered 

serious complications from the 

state leading to its 1981 factionalisation 

into five groups, two of 

the students who stepped out to 

lead others in reclaiming and 

reuniting it were the Madunagu 

‘boys’: Chris Mammah and Eddie 

Igharo. They became NANS 

President and Secretary General, 

respectively. It was that leadership 

that consolidated the 

NANS, produced the insightful 

and historically-grounded ‘Nigeria 

Students Charter of Demands’ 

and placed it on the path of radicalisation 

and national redemption. 

The NANS went on to play 

decisive roles in the country’s 

history, especially in confronting 

and assisting in conquering the 

monster that was military rule. 

Since the mid-1970s, there has 

hardly been any major initiative 

of the Nigerian left Madunagu 

and Bene had not been part. I 

was to know the international 

reach of Madunagu during the 

Rawlings regime in Ghana in the 

mid-1980s. Kojo Tshikata was 

that regime’s Head of National 

Security and Foreign Affairs and 

known as the powerful man behind 

the throne. Kayode Komolafe, 

one of Madunagu’s mentees 

and close associates and I 

travelled to Accra. Komo, as we 

called Kayode in those days, sent 

the word out to Tshikata that there 

was a message from Madunagu. 

We had expected Tshikata to 

send someone for the message 

or ask us to come see him. But 

Tshikata’s response was if Madunagu 

had sent him a message, 

he should not only receive immediately, 

but in person. So, he 

asked us for our hotel and room 

number. Soon, we had in our 

room, the then most powerful person 

in Ghana, apart from Rawlings, 

and certainly the most 

feared. As Kayode and I saw 

Tshikata off, the noisy reception 

and hall of the then Tulip Hotel, 

went silent. 

A very brilliant Mathematician 

with a Ph.D. Madunagu was 

ready to sacrifice all, including 

his life for the emancipation of 

the Nigerian people from political 

brigandage, military misrule 

and imperialist enslavement. At 

some point in 1976 and 1977, he 

left his career to work full time 

for a radical change in the country 

which required him to work 

and live with rural farmers far 

from the city lights and its comfort. 

One of the most prolific writers 

and authors of his generation, 

when he wrote or maintained his 

columns in the Guardian Newspapers 

in Nigeria, his brilliance 

shone like the sun; they reflect a 

sharp, logical mind that is not 

afraid of the logical conclusions 

of his thought process. 

Once Madunagu knows you as 

a comrade, he gives you unrestricted 

access. He treats you as 

an equal irrespective of your age 

and you were free to stay with 

him any time without notice. In 

the days I was active in journalism 

and the Nigeria Union of 

Journalists, NUJ, whenever I 

was in Calabar, I simply found 

my way to his home and was assured 

of a bed and meals. It did 

not matter whether he was in town 

or not as Comrade Bene ensured 

all comrades were comfortable. 

Bene was like a doting mother 

hen; she would take me round 

places I wanted to visit even when 

she had no car! Never have I 

come across such a couple dedicated 

to a cause and their comrades. 

The only comparison I recall 

in history is Vladimir Illich 

Lenin and Comrade Kruskaya. 

When Bene turned 70 on 

March 21, 2017, the highly 

cerebral and programmatic Madunagu 

in situating this relationship 

within historical, political and 

ideological context wrote: “Three 

integral attributes of the relationship 

between Bene and myself: 

compatibility, complementarity and 

love. The first two attributes are necessary 

– and, indeed, irreducible 

– for a cell in a revolutionary movement. 

But a revolutionary cell 

which, in addition, is endowed 

with internal love has an added 

advantage of high degree. Bene 

and I have constituted such a cell 

in the Nigerian Left since 1975.” 

Madunagu has been the most 

interrogative, resourceful and prolific 

comrade on the Nigerian Left, 

its trajectory and history. He lays 

bare issues, dissects them and presents 

his suggested solutions without 

being declarative or romantic 

as is common with a lot on the left. 

Life for Madunagu has been one 

of endless sacrifice and selfless service 

to the poor, the powerless, the 

marginalised, country and humanity. 

He has sowed seeds and also 

acted as a wind dispersal of revolutionary 

seeds across Africa. 

Given the current situation in Africa, 

particularly Nigeria, many are 

sceptical that anything good can 

come out of these shores. But 

those who think the work by comrades 

like Madunagu have come 

to nought, do not understand what 

grows below the surface. Some of 

these will germinate, and when the 

history of human progress is written 

in our country and continent, 

the names of Eddie and Bene Madunagu 

will occupy a pride of 

place. My salute to Comrade 

Edwin Ikechukwu Madunagu 

who turned 75 on Saturday May 

15, 2021. May the successor generations 

be your worthy heirs in 

the struggle for the emancipation 

of humanity to which you have 

dedicated your life. Aluta! 

Audacity of a first term Senator 

By Ibrahim Yahaya 

ACCORDING to primordial folklore, 

God preserves humanity regardless 

of its many misdemeanors because at any 

one period there are individuals who, without 

being aware of their role, redeem mankind. 

Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, 

who turned 56 on May 11, is such a man 

propelled into fame by a sequence of unpredictable 

events. Unassuming and without 

guile, Senator Musa undertook to restore 

the confidence every electorate aspires 

to have in an elected lawmaker. 

When he was taking the oath of office as 

the Senator of the Federal Republic of 

Nigeria in June 2019, many thought as a 

first term Senator, he lacked the experience 

to meet the expectations of the electorates. 

But for those who have known him 

for quite long, including this author, they 

believed he was not going to disappoint 

the electorates. Sani’s venture into politics 

has turned out to be a blessing to the 

Niger East Senatorial District, Niger State 

and the country. As a first term Senator, 

he is found worthy and saddled with the 

Committee Chairmanship of Senate Services, 

which is the engine room of the entire 

Senate, an office he has so far displayed 

competency and effective leadership 

in meeting the day to day affairs of 

the Upper Chamber. Sani 313, as popularly 

known and called by his followers, 

has, in less than two years, proved every 

doubting Thomas wrong by showing he is 

not a bench warmer and redundant type 

at the Red Chambers. 

Among the signatory projects he facilitated 

in less than two years at the Upper 

Chamber include: Construction of a stateof-the-art 

Modern PHC in Zabeyidna, 

construction of Youth Development Centre 

in Kuta, construction, furnishing and 

equipping of ICT Resource Centre in Paiko; 

provision of medical equipment such 

as Beds, Mattresses, Bedspreads, Drugs, 

and other essential medical equipment to 

the Hospitals in the Nine LGAs; construction 

of six blocks of classrooms each with 

office and toilets in Shiroro, Rafi, Munya, 

Suleja and Paikoro LGA; construction of 

rural feeder road and erosion control in 

Madaka community of Rafi LGA; construction 

of three kilometre Bassego Roadand 

rings culvert, erosion control in 

Gwam and construction of box culvert in 

Shampapi all in Paikoro LGA. He also 

facilitated the construction of over 40 

motorised solar boreholes in different locations 

of the nine LGAs of Niger East, 

electrification projects (solar) of Wabe/ 

Gwam in Paikoro LGA and construction 

of 22 hand pump boreholes in different 

locations of the nine LGAs. 

Senator 313 also facilitated the provision 

of 500KV transformers to Chanchaga, 

Paikoro, Rafi and Shiroro LGAs, completion 

of Tatiko Art and Pottery Centre, 

renovation of blocks of classrooms in Tafa, 

Paikoro, Suleja and Bosso LGAs. He also 

supported the farmers with the distribution 

of fertilizers in nine LGAs of Niger 

East and part of his humanitarian gesture 

was distribution of relief materials to the 

victims of flood in Shiroro, Suleja and 

Munya LGA, distribution of relief materials 

such as cement, zinc and nails, mattresses, 

blankets and Machines; food 

items like rice, beans, sugar, salt, wrappers 

and other essential materials; provision 

of relief materials to the victims of 

bandits attacks in Munya, Shiroro, Rafi 

and Paikoro local government and distribution 

of empowerment materials that 

were distributed to women and youths 

across the nine LGAs; training of youths 

across the nine LGAs on skill acquisitions 

as part of his constituency development 

effort and donated palliatives valued over 

N65Million to beneficiaries that were 

drawn from the nine LGAs. 

He sees politics as a call to 

service and a privilege, not an 

entitlement or commercial 

venture; Senator Musa is one 

of the finest, charismatic and 

influential politicians in the 

state 

Aside from helping in securing employment 

opportunities for many unemployed 

graduates in MDAs, military and paramilitary 

agencies, Senator Sani has from 

his first day at the Upper Chambers, decided 

to sacrifice his monthly earnings and 

allowance to cater for monthly remuneration 

of over 600 people in his Senatorial 

District whom he appointed as liaison officer, 

zonal, LGA and ward coordinators, 

spread across the nine LGAs. 

In supporting educational development, 

which was part of his blueprint, about 900 

students of tertiary institutions from his 

senatorial district, who are adjudge successful 

of his scholarship scheme, will soon 

be unveiled. 

Every honest Nigerian following the insecurity 

situation in Niger State for the 

past three years, especially in the Niger 

East which is worst affected, will agree 

that Senator Musa is never shy of speaking 

out about the plight of his people. He 

has severally risen to the occasion at the 

Chamber, granted interviews to the media, 

calling on the Federal Government 

and the security agents to come to the rescue 

of his people who are constant targets 

of bandits, cattle rustlers and kidnappers. 

Love or loathe him, Senator 313 has 

broken the record that no first term Senator 

has ever achieved in Nigeria in less 

than two years by sponsoring about 14 Bills 

out of which some have scaled the second 

or final readings and public hearing. Some 

of the Bills sponsored by him include: Nigerian 

Civil Defence Academy Pandogari, 

Constitutional Court of Nigeria, Loan 

Recovery (Regulation), National University 

of Medical & Health Sciences Suleja, 

National Railway Corporation Act (Repeat 

& re-enacted), Institute of Information 

Communication Technology Suleja, 

Bill for an act to Amend the Orthopedic 

Hospital Management Board and related 

to establish Orthopedic Hospital Kuta, 

Rape and Insurgency Victims’ Stigmatization 

(Prohibition). Others include Critical 

Infrastructure Protection, Federal 

Medical Centre, Kuta, North-Central Development 

Commission, National Land 

Drainage Flood Control and other related 

Matters, Federal Tertiary Teaching 

Hospitals Development Tax Fund and Protection 

from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation 

Bills. 

In his understated way, he sees politics 

as a call to service and a privilege, not an 

entitlement or commercial venture. Senator 

Musa is extraordinary; one of the finest, 

charismatic and influential politicians 

in the state. He is a symbol with a galaxy 

of landmarks that stand him out as an 

elected lawmaker electorates aspire to 

have. In politics, he is already a living legend. 

He has become a factor in the state’s 

politics given the fact that he is very visible 

and dominant which has made him to 

be a force to reckon with. He is also a 

brave leader who cannot be cowed and be 

cheated. 

Since his election, he has made several 

impromptu trips to some parts of his senatorial 

district, often stopping in small 

villages, meeting the people and asking 

their opinions about government and the 

area they need more attention. 

This gesture shows he has not lost touch 

with his senatorial district. His understanding 

of the electorates’ complex needs 

and opportunities are unmatched. 

Continues online: www.vanguardngr.com 

*Yahaya is Special Assistant on Research, 

Strategy & Documentation to 

Senator Sani Musa. 

C 

M 

Y




Pulling down the railway 

tracks 

RAILWAYS are a great passion 

of mine. They are very central 

to our common future. Not only are 

they the cheapest and safest means 

of public transport, I cannot imagine 

a nation of more than 200 million 

without an efficient and wellfunctioning 

rail network. Railways 

were crucial for the 19th-century Industrial 

Revolution in England. 

They also are for our own ambitions 

in the 21st century. Not only do they 

have the potential to employ millions 

of people, they are a vehicle 

for nation building. 

Last week, some unscrupulous 

characters were caught on camera 

vandalising the rail tracks on the 

Itakpe-Ajaokuta rail. They loaded 

them unto a waiting van and drove 

off. It made my stomach churn. If 

peradventure a train was moving on 

that track that afternoon, there would 

have been a catastrophic accident. 

In 2018, a police report revealed 

that “vandals were caught stealing 

heavy irons of brake system control, 

wagon parts, wagon wheels, clips of 

rail slippers…armoured railway 

doors, sheets of zinc and rail cables.” 

It is a metaphor for the failed state 

that our country has become. In all 

my travels around the world as an 

international civil servant, I have 

never come across this phenomenon 

of people deliberately destroying 

public infrastructures except in my 

beloved country. It is unthinkable in 

Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Ethiopia, 

Kenya and South Africa. The 

vandalization of public infrastructures 

in Nigeria is part of the mystery 

of iniquity. 

During the first decade of our independent 

nationhood, incidences of 

vandalisation of public infrastructures 

were virtually unheard of. It is, 

by and large, a post-civil war syndrome, 

just as much as the phenomenon 

of armed robbery and cultism. 

From the seventies onwards, NEPA, 

the water boards and other public 

utilities became targets for vandalisation. 

During the Second Republic 

under Shehu Shagari, it was not uncommon 

for public buildings to go 

up in flames whenever issues of fraud 

came up. Such conflagrations always 

coincided with audit investigations. 

It happened with the NITEL 

building in Lagos and also with the 

Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The military era also had its fair 

share of such terrible occurrences. 

During its heydays, our national carrier, 

Nigeria Airways, had over 50 

aircraft on its fleet, most of them 

brand new. One-by-one, they were 

systematically vandalised and sold 

off. Fake invoices would be raised 

by officials for equipment repairs; 

only for them to buy second-hand 

equipment. In some instances, they 

would remove a spare-part and replace 

same after receiving payment 

for a new one. We heard that some 

air force officers once flew one of our 

aircraft to London, where they sold 

it off at a give-way price to some reptilian 

Brazilian businessmen. 

I was perhaps among the last to 

have flown a Nigerian Airways flight 

to London in January1996. I was 

then living in London as a struggling 

young academic. I came home to 

see my parents at Christmas. On my 

flight back to London, the aircraft 

was impounded by the authorities at 

The social conditions 

underpinning vandalisation 

range from poverty 

and unemployment 

among the youths to 

official corruption and 

lack of adequate security 

for public infrastructure 

installations 

Heathrow Airport. After we disembarked, 

we heard the awful news that 

the door of the plane was not properly 

locked when we took off from Ikeja 

and it had been a miracle how we 

flew all the seven hours without an 

incident. That was, in all likelihood, 

the last Nigerian Airways flight to 

have seen the skies of Europe. 

I make a distinction between grand 

vandalisation and petty vandalisation. 

Grand vandalisation refers to 

big acts of sabotage and destruction 

of public properties and infrastructures. 

Petty vandalisation, on the other 

hand, involves pilfering and destruction 

in smaller scales. A good 

example are the metal frames that 

are installed in the pavements of 

public streets to protect rubbish falling 

in and blocking the free flow of 

water underneath. If you go round 

most of our cities, you will notice that 

most of them have been removed. 

Some wicked souls that call themselves 

“mai bolla” go around in the 

thick of night, systematically removing 

these metal frames. The longterm 

effect is, of course, rubbish piling 

up, blocking the free-flow of water. 

It is a contributor to flooding in 

many of our cities today. 

Telecoms providers such as MTN 

and Glo have often complained of 

systematic vandalisation of masts 

and other installations. There are 

thousands of these masts throughout 

the nooks and crannies of our 

country. Operating them is expensive. 

They often require standby generators 

with diesel. The vandals often 

descend on them at night to commit 

havoc. Unfortunately, it is not 

physically possible to provide fulltime 

24-hour security for these facilities. 

On a daily basis, these damaged 

facilities must be replaced and/ 

or repaired to maintain unbroken 

network transmission. It is a very 

expensive proposition. What the 

telecoms companies do is simply to 

pass-on the costs to the consumer 

through higher charges. At the end 

of the day, all of us are the net losers. 

A research conducted in the Copperbelt 

Region in May 2014, identified 

four motivations for public infrastructure 

vandalism. First, there 

is “acquisitive vandalism”, which is 

vandalisation as pure theft. Secondly, 

we have “tactical or ideological 

vandalism”, which is motivated by 

the need to make a political statement 

in order to draw attention to a 

grievance. Thirdly, there is “vindictive 

vandalism”, which aims to inflict 

revenge for a perceived wrong. 

Fourthly, we have “malicious vandalism”, 

deriving from anger and 

rage over a perceived wrong. And 

finally, “play vandalism”, where 

mischievous street urchins take it 

upon themselves to inflict damage 

on public infrastructures, not for any 

motivation but for the heck of it. 

The social conditions underpinning 

vandalisation range from poverty 

and unemployment among the 

youths to official corruption and 

lack of adequate security for public 

infrastructure installations. The 

corruption factor is particularly salient. 

For example, it is not possible 

to dismantle high-tension power cables 

or transformers without professional 

insider knowledge. Lack of 

patriotism is another factor. The 

tragedy of our nationhood is that 

our youths feel completely alienated 

and disconnected from the rest 

of society. Their future has been 

mortgaged and they feel hopeless 

and demoralised. This is why desperate, 

hungry unemployed youths 

see nothing amiss in pulling out rail 

tracks and power cables. 

In November 2013, NOIPolls Ltd, 

an independent polling agency, conducted 

opinion polls on public property 

vandalism. The results showed 

that six out of 10 Nigerians (60%) 

believe that Nigerians tend to value 

public property rather poorly. Majority 

of respondents (74%) agreed 

that the high incidence of property 

vandalism has become a problem 

in our country. The polls also showed 

that the most vandalised public 

properties are: electricity installation 

(57%); oil/gas facilities (51%); 

and public buildings (32%). In 

terms of solutions, respondents recommended 

provision of more jobs 

(58%); public enlightenment 

(15%); and provision of adequate 

security (13%). 

Under the miscellaneous provision 

of the Criminal Code entitled: 

“Wilful destruction of public property”, 

the law states that “any 

person who unlawfully or with intent 

to destroy or damage any public 

property removes, defaces or 

damages any public property 

shall be guilty of an offence and liable 

on conviction”. For a railway 

line, electric power line, telephone 

line or apublic highway that is damaged 

or rendered dangerous, impassable 

or non-functional, punishment 

is for imprisonment for a term 

not exceeding 21 years without the 

option of a fine. For vandalisation 

of highway facilities, the punishment 

shall not exceed 10 years. 

The criminal law looks severe 

enough. But it is obviously not deterring 

offenders. It seems what is 

lacking is detection and enforcement. 

The law-enforcement agencies 

must be trained in patrolling 

public facilities, including highways 

and railways and urban utilities. 

Handling vandalised goods 

must be treated as a crime of strict 

liability. Public education and enlightenment 

is also important. We 

need to inculcate in our youths the 

kind of civic virtue that makes them 

appreciate that public infrastructures 

belong to our common patrimony 

and must be protected by all 

citizens. 

Community leaders also have an 

important role to play. Every vandal 

belongs to a community. Communities 

must identify and isolate 

such criminals. Community leaders 

must also be held accountable for 

failure to report incidences of vandalization 

in their areas of jurisdiction. 

During planning and construction 

of public infrastructures, communities 

must be involved at every 

stage, so that they have a sense of 

ownership. Without a robust infrastructure 

development framework, 

we shall have no future as a country. 

Restructuring: There should be a level to every politicking 

BY PAUL JOHN 

I 

READ with great displeasure the reactions 

and comments credited to Senators 

Ahmed Lawan and Mohammed Ali Ndume 

and Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila to the clarion 

calls by the Southern Governors for restructuring 

of the country and for Mr President 

to address the nation along with the ban 

on open grazing in the South. I am aware that 

these national legislators are from Mr President’s 

party, hence should defend him at all 

costs even if the country is boiling . 

The Senate President said that the worsening 

security situation in the country is a result 

of a lack of a functional local government system. 

This is a fallacy and misleading. Is it the 

local government system that controls the security 

agencies and our National Intelligence 

agencies? Who appoints the service chiefs, the 

local government chairmen or the president 

of the country? Who is recognised as the Commander-in-Chief 

of the Armed Forces of the 

Federal Republic of Nigeria, the local government 

chairman or the president of the Federal 

Republic of Nigerian? In case Senator Lawan 

has forgotten, section 5 of the Nigerian Constitution 

vests executive powers of the federation 

in the president and not in the local government 

chairmen or the state governors. I 

know when the issue of state policing was deliberated 

upon by the Nigerian Governors 

Forum, it was rejected by most Northern governors 

on the ground that they did not have the 

financial clout to finance such project. Today, 

the federal police will post a police officer who 

does not know the terrain of an area or the 

culture of a people to go and police the area. 

On the call by the Southern Governors Forum 

for the restructuring of the country, Lawan 

said: “I believe that, as leaders, especially 

those of us who are elected into office should 

not be at the forefront of calling for this kind of 

thing. Because, even if you are a governor, you 

are supposed to be working hard in your state 

to ensure that this restructuring you are calling 

for at the federal level, you have done it in 

your state as well." The truth is that my people 

say that the oppressor will never see anything 

wrong in his act of oppression and I do not 

It is derogatory referring to a 

state governor as the chief security 

officer of his state when he 

has no control over any of the 

security agencies in his state; all 

the security agencies in his state 

are controlled from Abuja 

cies in his state. All the security agencies in his 

state are controlled from Abuja. 

In the same vein , House of Representatives 

Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, has argued that 

the agitation for restructuring may be genuine 

but elected leaders and state governors should 

not be the ones to champion the movement for 

restructuring without first replicating the idea 

at the state level. I want to remind the Speaker 

that the governors were voted in by the people, 

hence they should represent their people at all 

times. What the governors said was exactly the 

wish of their subjects. Since, we run a representative 

system of government, you should know 

that the governors are representing their people. 

On the other hand, the Chairman, Senate 

Committee on Army, Ali Ndume, said Southern 

Governors in the country won’t get the solution 

to the various problems confronting the 

region by playing to the gallery. I believe that 

Senator Ndume should have another meaning 

to the idiomatic expression of ‘’ playing to 

the gallery” because there is no way somebody 

should regard the decisions reached by 

the Southern Governors as playing to the gallery. 

Senator Ndume again faulted the decision 

of the Southern Governors to ban open grazing 

in the South-West, South-East and the 

South-South geopolitical zones of the country, 

adding that open grazing was not the problem 

but insecurity. This is preposterous as our 

people say that to separate a fight one must 

first stop the combatants from coming together 

. I want to remind Senator Ndume that southern 

governors are not acting alone in this as 

Justice Adewale Thompson banned open grazing 

on April 17, 1969 and warned of unprovoked 

killings by herdsmen; so there is a judiexpect 

Senator Lawan to say the contrary. 

I need not remind Senator Lawan that the 

1999 Constitution imposed on us by the military 

does not represent the wishes of the people 

of Nigeria. I put it to Lawan that it is both 

absurd and abusive referring the governors as 

the chief security officers in their states when 

they do not have any control on the police, the 

Army, DSS or any other security agencies in 

their respective states. Recently an online video 

showed where the governor of Akwa Ibom 

state was blaming the Commissioner of Police 

in his state for failing to prevent the mayhem 

in the state. If Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel 

had control over the police commissioner 

in his state would he not have transferred 

him out of his state or sacked him? To 

me, it is derogatory referring to a state governor 

as the chief security officer of his state when 

he has no control over any of the security agencial 

precedent on this matter before the southern 

governors did the needful . Senator Ndume 

may verify this from Suit no AB/26/66. 

In his judgement on the suit, the presiding 

judge, Justice Adewale Thompson , had this to 

say : “I do not accept the contention of Defendants 

that a custom exists which imposes an 

obligation on the owner of farm to fence his 

farm whilst the owner of cattle allows his cattle 

to wander like pests and cause damage. 

Such a custom if it exists is unreasonable and 

I hold that it is repugnant to natural justice, 

equity and good conscience and therefore 

unenforceable…in that it is highly unreasonable 

to impose the burden of fencing a farm on 

the farmer without the corresponding obligation 

on the cattle owner to fence in his cattle. 

Sequence to that I banned open grazing, for it 

is inimical to peace and tranquility and the 

cattle owners must fence or ranch their animals 

for peace to reign in these communities.” 

I still want to put it to Senator Ndume that 

trespass is both civil and criminal offence in 

Nigeria, hence it is senseless defending herdsmen 

who take their cattle to another person’s 

property to destroy the person’s crops and you 

say the person should accommodate the herdsmen. 

There is no way you can sit on somebody’s 

nose and get balanced. Section 342 of 

the penal code is clear on what constitutes a 

criminal trespass and section 348 of the same 

code clearly outlines the punishment for criminal 

trespass. It may also interest Senator 

Ndume to know that the Supreme Court has 

gone further to state the ingredients of a criminal 

trespass as follows: 

Continues online: www.vanguardngr.com 

*Dr John, a public affairs analyst, wrote 

from Port Harcourt, via: 

mazipauljohn@gmail.com 

C 

M 

Y 

K

18—Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 

The Federal Government and 

most state governments in Nigeria 

deserve a pat on the back for the 

able way they have steered the war 

against the coronavirus pandemic 

since the end of March 2020 when 

we embraced the first lock-downs 

to curb its spread. 

Commendations also go to the 

health workforce who, despite personal 

risks and inadequate welfare 

packages, succeeded in keeping 

our COVID-19 pandemic profile 

among the lowest in the world. 

Through their efforts and the mercies 

of God, Nigeria successfully 

evaded the doomsday prediction 

that “corpses would be picked up 

from the streets”. 

We, once again, extend our heartfelt 

condolences to families which 

lost loved ones, some of whom were 

among the finest and best among 

us. It is on record that as at Sunday, 

May 16, 2021, Nigeria had 

165,661 confirmed cases, 156,399 

discharged patients, 7,196 active 

New COVID-19 measures: We 

must remain vigilant 

cases and 2,066 deaths. From 

over 1,000 daily new infections 

in January 2021 when we reeled 

from the second wave, Nigeria 

has consistently recorded less 

than 100 per day for over a 

month. The curve had flattened, 

but the Presidential Task Force 

on COVID-19 are now talking 

about a “fourth wave” onset. 

This should put everybody on the 

alert. The Federal Government has 

also proactively instituted measures 

to ensure that the deadly 

Indian strain of the virus, which is 

reported to have arrived in Nigeria, 

does not explode. If India 

with its far more advanced 

health system,could be rendered 

so prostrate, the new restrictions 

ordered by the PSC should 

elicit our total cooperation. 

We must go back to full observance 

of the COVID-19 protocols 

of wearing face masks, 

frequently washing our hands 

with soap under running water, 

avoiding crowded places (especially 

indoor situations), using 

hand sanitisers and insisting on 

these protocols in public places, 

places of work and worship 

centres. Let us be reminded that 

the Indian Prime Minister, 

Narendra Modi, had only recently 

celebrated success 

against COVID-19 before the 

current wave that has crippled 

his country. 

We, however, urge Nigerians to 

guard against evils that some unpatriotic 

elements used the lockdowns 

of last year to perpetrate 

against innocent Nigerian communities, 

especially in the South. 

While we stayed behind doors in 

compliance with government orders, 

these shadowy elements used 

that period to transport thousands 

of strange elements in food and 

cement trucks, most of whom 

marched into our forests as soon 

as they disembarked. This has 

spawned a security challenge that 

is threatening the entire nation. 

While we reiterate our support 

for measures to contain COVID-19, 

we call on the various state governments 

and community vigilantes 

to rise and ensure that this does 

not happen again. 

BY TIMIOLUBIYI 

The number of small businesses 

keeps growing in the formal and 

informal sectors of the Nigerian economy 

due to the role of small businesses 

as the live-wire of any economy and 

the backbone of major developed 

economies the world over. Though Nigeria 

rely majorly on oil and revenues 

derived from it, from context observation 

the economy is largely supported 

by small businesses covering almost all 

spheres of activities within the country, 

ranging from nano, kiosk and micro 

businesses most importantly. 

A visible reference usually includes 

the vulcanisers,corner shop owners, single 

retail marketers, repairers, painters, 

business center operators, restaurants, 

market women and men in the 

various open markets, among others; 

and the formal operations such as the 

law firms, accounting firms, consulting, 

fintech and real estate companies, and 

so on in the country. 

The small business economic activities 

in Nigeria play an unrecognised 

but important role all across the country 

and can equally contribute largely 

to the growth of the non-oil sector, employment 

generation and in the creation 

of more sustainable entrepreneurship 

if well harnessed. For instance, the 

popular Computer Village in Ikeja, Aba 

Ariaria Market in Abia State, Kano Kurmi 

Market in Kano State and Onitsha 

Market in Anambra State all consist of 

clusters of mostly nano, micro and small 

businesses with huge economic engagements, 

however, without much involvement 

by government. 

Arguably small businesses represent 

a large chunk of private businesses in 

the country and contribute to more than 

50% of employment in Nigeria. Small 

businesses in Nigeria account for 48% 

of the national GDP in the last five 

years. They account for about 50% of 

industrial jobs, 96% of businesses and 

84% of employment in the country, and 

nearly 90% of the manufacturing sector, 

in terms of the number of enterprises, 

according to the Nigeria Bureau of 

Statistics, NBS. 

As it stands and relying on the NBS 

report shows that the total number of 

OPINION 

Economic participation of small businesses 

Small business gives the 

operator total control 

without any form of dilution 

from external investors, 

which is a form of 

prestige for the operators, 

according to the views 

gathered from the survey 

conducted 

enterprises in Nigeria was estimated 

at 41.5 million, spread out across the 

36 states in the country. The breakdown 

further shows that micro-enterprises 

constitute a high 99.8% (41.4 million) 

of total SMEs. The country enjoys a high 

presence of small businesses and this 

form of business predominates any other 

form of businesses in the country. 

Why is that? The simple reason that 

comes to mind is largely due to the many 

advantages small businesses present. 

From a survey conducted amongst small 

business owners, independence is the 

key driver and this gives the advantage 

for entrepreneurs to be their own 

bosses and be self-reliant. 

This singular attribute makes the total 

financial gain (100%) be that of the 

entrepreneur or the business owner. 

Small business gives the operator the 

total business control without any form 

of dilution from external investors, 

which is a form of prestige for the operators, 

according to the views gathered 

from the survey conducted. 

Without doubts, this form of business 

is easy to set up and enjoys low or no 

serious regulatory requirements, unlike 

large enterprises. In fact, it is usually 

made up of one to three people, with 

even less than N50,000 initial capital 

outlay to operate. This form of business 

structure in most cases provides direct 

services. 



What do I mean? Hairdressers, fashion 

designers, dry-cleaners, artisans, 

kiosk operators, and event plannersto 

mention a few, provide services directly 

to customers, and with that, they 

enjoy quick patronage and easy payments. 

The administration of small business 

services is not cumbersome; the 

problem of coordination and communication 

which is a major setback to the 

operations of large firms is therefore 

easily solved in small businesses. They 

conveniently give keen interest and 

personal attention to the particular requirements 

of their customers who in 

some cases willing to pay something 

extra for the special and urgent services 

rendered. 

Some customers are tied to these small 

businesses because of the existing long 

relationship and personal attention they 

enjoy in the business. Further to this is 

the decision-making and taking process, 

because most owners of the small 

businesses are the operators or managers, 

there is hardly any problem in 

the decision process. Unlike the large 

enterprise approval processes, decision 

processes and dealing with customers 

can take a lot of time but with small 

businesses, the structure is simple with 

less bureaucracy. 

Continues online:www.vanguardngr.com 

*Dr. Olubiyi, an entrepreneurship 

and business management expert, 

wrote via: drtimiolubiyi@gmail.com



Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021— 21


Bullish sentiment in stocks may wane this week 

*As banking sector uplifts market 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

The bullish sentiment driven by 

banking stocks in the stock market 

last week may be checkmated this week, 

if the position of some investment 

analysts is considered. 

The analysts said that instead of the 

bullish sentiment recorded throughout 

the trading sessions last week, investors 

would be more cautious as they book 

profits. 

Despite the shortened trading week 

due to the public holidays on 

Wednesday and Thursday, the bulls 

regained control of the market in the 

three trading sessions of the week 

supported by gains in beverage some 

banking stocks and an industrial goods 

giant, Dangote Cement Plc. 

Specifically, investors’ interest in 

International Breweries Plc (+7.6%) and 

bargain hunting in Zenith Bank Plc 

(+6.8%), Access Bank Plc (+3.7%), 

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (+2.7%) and 

Dangote Cement Plc (+1.6%) drove the 

positive performance. 

Consequently, investors gained N148 

billion as the market capitalisation of all 

listed equities rose to N20.589 trillion 

from N20.431 trillion, representing 0.72 

percent increase. 

The All Share Index (ASI) advanced 

by the same margin, rising to 39,481.89 

points from 39,198.75 points, while the 

Year-to-Date (YtD) return moderated to 

-1.9 percent. 

Performance across sectors was also 

positive, with the banking sector topping 


the gainers’ chart with 3.2 percent, 

followed by the insurance (+1.9%), the 

industrial goods (+0.8%), and consumer 

goods (+0.3%) sectors. 

However, the oil and gas sector closed 

flat during the week. 

Analysts at Cordros Capital said: “We 

do not think the bulls will repeat the 

flawless victory that ensued last week as 

the bears are likely to book profit across 

most counters. Consequently, we see 

more of a choppy theme as cautious 

trading takes centre stage ahead of a 

critical Monetary Policy Meeting 

(MPC) scheduled later in the month.” 

MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 

INFLATION: Money supply 

rises 22.5% to N38trn 

•Current account deposits rise 50% 

•Currency outside banks rises 23% 

•Analysts project 18.84% inflation for April 

By Babajide Komolafe in Narrow Money supply (M1), 

which comprises Currency Outside 

The increasing demand for cash by Banks (COB) and Demand Deposits 

members of the public to meet the (Current Account deposits of bank 

rising prices of goods and services has customers). 

caused money supply in the economy According to the CBN, Narrow Money 

to jump by 22.5 per cent Year-on-Year supply rose by N5.08 trillion to N16.17 

(YoY) to N38 trillion in the first quarter trillion in Q1’21 from N11.12 trillion in 

of the year (Q1’21). 

Q1’2020. 

Reflecting the rising trend in prices of Further analysis showed that the 

goods and services, the annual inflation increase in Narrow Money supply (M1) 

rate rose for the 19 consecutive months is largely caused by 50 per cent (YoY) 

to 18.17 percent in March according upsurge in Demand Deposits, which 

to data by the National Bureau of rose by N4.67 trillion to N13.87 trillion 

Statistics (NBS). This represents the in Q1’21 from N9.22 trillion in Q1’ 2020. 

highest inflation rate since January Currency Outside Banks (COB) also 

2017. 

grew by N430 billion or 23 per cent, YoY, 

The persistent rise in the inflation rate to N2.33 trillion in Q1’21 from N1.89 

is mostly attributed to increase in food trillion in Q1’2020. 

prices. The annual food inflation rate 

rose steadily to 23 per cent in March this 

year from 13.28 per cent in October 

2018, reflecting the impact of low 

harvest due to continued farmerherders’ 

crises and the volatility in 

logistics cost as well as the impact of 

border closure that lasted from August 

2019 to December 2020. 

Other factors driving the steady 

increase in prices of goods and services 

include: naira depreciation, increase 

pump price of petroleum products and 

electricity tariff. 

However, the persistent increase in 

inflation means that consumers need 

more money to purchase the same 

quantity of goods and services, a 

situation that usually leads to increased 

demand for money and hence increase 

in money supply. 

This development is confirmed by 

Financial Vanguard analysis of data on 

Credit and Money supply for Q1’21 

released by the Central Bank which 

showed that Broad Money supply (M2) 

rose by 22.5 per cent, YoY, to N38.03 

trillion in Q1’21 from N31.01 trillion in 

Q1’2020. 

Further analysis showed that the 

increase in Broad Money supply (M2) 

was driven by 46 per cent YoY increase 

Also contributing to the increase in 

Broad Money supply (M2) is a 9.5 per 

cent, YoY, rise in Quasi Money, which 

comprises Savings deposits, Fixed 

Deposits and Foregn currency deposits 

of bank customers. 

According to the CBN, Quasi money 

rose by N1.94 trillion to N21.84 billion 

in Q1’21 from N19.90 trillion in Q12020. 

Analysts project April inflation at 

18.84% 

The above trend in money supply is 

expected to continue this year following 

analysts’ projection of continued rise in 

the inflation rate to 18.84 per cent for 

April. This represents the average 

inflation rate projection by three of the 

nation’s top research and investment 

firms, who opined that continued 

increase in prices of food items 

aggravated by the impact of worsening 

insecurity across the country, Ramadan 

and Easter festivities drove up the 

inflation rate further in April. 

The analysts’ projections are ahead of 

the scheduled release of the inflation rate 

data for April by the National Bureau of 

Statistics (NBS) this week. 

“ In April, we are estimating a further 

increase of 0.6% to 18.77%, after 19 

months of consecutive increases”, said 

analysts at Financial Derivatives 

Company (FDC) Limited. 

“All inflation sub-indices except for the 

month-on-month index are expected to 

follow a similar trend with the headline 

inflation. 

“The monthly consumer price level is 

projected to slide by 0.03% to 1.53% 

(19.95% annualized) in April from 1.56% 

(20.40% annualized) in March. 

“This is largely due to weak aggregate 

demand, resulting from reduced 

consumer disposable income.” 

Similarly, Mosope Arubayi and 

Ibukun Omoyeni, analysts at Vetiva 

Capital Management, projected further 

increase in inflation rate to 18.92 per 

cent. 

Explaining the basis for their 

projections, they said: “With respect to 

energy prices, we recall PMS prices 

Continue on page 20


FINANCIAL VANGUARD 

Local electronic card industry to save 

Nigeria $100m import bill 

•As Electronic Payplus opens new facility 

By Emeka Anaeto and 

Elizabeth Amihor 

Nigeria may be saving 

about $100million 

annually with local 

manufacture of electronics 

card as bank cards alone gulp 

about $36 million. 

This was disclosed by Bayo 

Adeokun, the Managing 

Director of Electronic Payplus 

Limited, one of the few 

electronic 

cards 

manufacturing firms in sub- 

Sahara Africa. 

Speaking to some media 

operatives last week at the 

backdrop of commencement 

of operations at its 

multimillion dollar new 

manufacturing installations, 

Adeokun stated: “Bank cards 

alone is about $36 million 

every year prior to our 

intervention. I have not done 

the cost of SIM card; I have not 

done the cost of tax card by 

Lagos State government for 

instance and other states that 

are now coming up with that; 

I have not talked about the 

national ID card and I have 

not talked about the voters 

card. By the time you put 

everything together in terms 

of dollar you will be talking 

about $100 million savings for 

the country.” 

Calling on the Federal 

Government to take steps to 

protect investments in the 

card industry, he stated 

further: “In this period that 

remittances from abroad is 

going down, crude oil 

revenue is coming low and all 

of that the government really 

INFLATION: Money supply rises 22.5% to N38trn 

Continues from page 19 

were adjusted downwards in 

April 2020, in line with 

deregulation efforts as oil 

prices plummeted to low levels 

and consequently created a low 

base for core prices. 

“However, according to 

recent news reports, the Federal 

Government could bear the cost 

of subsidies for the next six 

months, even as oil prices 

remain at pre-pandemic levels. 

“Despite this clarification, we 

expect the low-base effect to 

drive inflation higher in the 

current month, informing our 

expectations of 18.92% y/y in 

April. Thus, we raise our 

average headline inflation 

forecast to 19.04% for 2021 

(2020: 13.21% y/y). 

“Customary with Easter and 

Ramadan festivities is the rise 

in inflation expectations. While 

prices may revert to earlier 

levels, the seasonal rise in 

prices could contribute to 

higher food inflation. “With 

likely pent-up demand for fruits 

and vegetables as a result of the 

Muslim fast, we anticipate a 

further uptick in food inflation 

to 23.74% y/y this month. 

needs to make a lot of savings 

in terms of foreign reserves.” 

He also harped on the 

employment value the 

industry adds to the economy 

saying, “Prior to this 

(commencement of its new 

production lines) Electronic 

Payplus had about 100 staff. 

Now, we are up to 150. So we 

are also generating 

employment. I mean, if you 

look at the nature of Nigeria, 

those 50 staff, each of them 

have a dependance, so we are 

talking of additional 500 or 

more that we are catering for.” 

Giving details of the 

company’s new production 

capacity, he said, “we can do 

any smart card. So the purpose 

is to extend it to every area of 

the economy. I showed you 

national ID card downstairs 

CITN decries corruption in tax administration 

in Nigeria …tasks tiers of govt on accountability 


The Charted Institute of 

Taxation of Nigeria, CITN, 

has attributed the low tax culture 

among taxable adults and 

businesses in Nigeria to lack of 

accountability and transparency 

in the expenditure of tax money 

by tiers of government. 

Making this claim at the 2021 

annual tax lecture in Lagos last 

weekend, Chairman of CITN, 

Ikeja, Mr Funso Abidakun, 

made reference to a recent 

research by the Nigeria 

Economic Summit Group, 

NESG, which revealed that 

more than 81 per cent of taxable 

Nigerians do not pay their 

income taxes as and when due 

thereby, accounting for low 

revenue from taxes. 

The research showed that of 

the tiers of government on 

whose shoulders tax collection 

is reposed, local governments 

and their officials are among the 

most untrustworthy, followed by 

the state governments and the 

tax officials. 

NESG, while condemning the 

seeming national apathy of 

Nigerians on payment of taxes, 

said the figures available 

revealed that there are 20 million 

registered taxpayers in the 

country, scoffing at the figure 

which seems paltry compared to 

the resumed country’s 

population of nearly 200 million 

people. 

It attributed the trend to “ironic 

twist to the distrust that pervades 

the environment when it comes 

to paying taxes, dues and levies 

to a government that does not 

command the public trust.” 

Abidakun therefore, urged 

governments, especially the 

state governments to correct the 

ills that are denying the country 

of its collectible revenues from 

taxes by showing justification for 

taxes being collected and 

change the ‘sour tax narrative’ 

in the polity as well as fight 

corruption holistically in the tax 

system. 

According to him, “Most 

taxable adults believe that it is 

unwise to pay taxes to entities 

that do not translate taxes to 

services, or to officials who divert 

same to personal use. 

“It is the duty of CITN, as a 

professional body to educate the 

society on reasons why they 

should pay tax and what 

government is doing with the 

taxes being collected. 

“Every budget year the 

Federal Government prepares 

budget giving fiscal intention of 

government in the coming year. 

In December 31, 2020, Federal 

Government signed the 

Finance Act and comes into 

effect from January 1, 2021. The 

Act did a lot of amendments to 

personal income tax, company 

income tax, VAT, and other tax 

law to fine-tune grey areas in tax 

system designed to support the 

implementation of the 2021 

Federal budget of economic 

recovery and resilience. 

“The reason is not farfetched, 

tax is dynamic you can not be 

using the law that has been 

obsolete, hence, the Ned for 

upgrading of the law which we 

are bringing to the knowledge 

of the general public which also 

informed the choice of the 

theme. 

“For example, the minimum 

wage of N30, 000 and below 

does not pay tax that shows 

government recognizes the fact 

that poor people should not be 

bothered about tax payment.” 

On the reason for low tax 

income, Abidakun, while 

maintaining that, tiers of 

government were not really 

doing their biddings in terms of 

justification on tax payment, 

stressed that the social contract 

between government and the 

tax paying public should be 

respected and upheld. 

His words: “One important 

thing that I need to say here is 

that there is a social contract 

between government and the 

citizens that pay tax. 

“This translates to an average 

food inflation of 23.50% y/y for 

the current year (2020: 16.11%). 

While the decision to keep fuel 

prices flat trumps higher 

inflation expectations, core 

inflation could still reel from 

currency pressures and a 

relatively higher fuel price (on 

a y/y basis). “In addition, 

demand-pull inflation from the 

‘Naira 4 Dollar’ policy could 

also swell inflationary 

pressures. Tying both together, 

we expect core inflation to rise 

to 12.78% y/y this month, 

amounting to a full year 

average of 13.04% y/y in 2021 

(2020: 10.29%).” 

On their part, analysts at 

United Capital Limited 

projected 18.83 per cent 

inflation rate for April, citing 

unabating pressures on food 

prices and increase in energy 

prices’. 

They said: “Looking ahead, 

our outlook for inflation remains 

grim. Our stance is informed by 

unabating pressures on food 

prices resulting from several 

supply-side constraints. 

Clearly, food insecurity 

problems in the country have 

not subsided, and this 

we produce for Nigeria. So we 

are known to the government. 

Now, when the present 

administration came in they 

said there is no money to 

finance the production of that 

again. So they said they want 

to go into digital ID card. We 

are also playing in that space 

because we have the license. 

“We presently enrolled 

Nigerians in diaspora. We do 

local enrollment that is 

currently ongoing as well. We 

have the license to produce 

that. We also are presently 

working with the Lagos State 

government because they 

want to roll out what is called 

residency card which is also 

going to be a payment card. So 

we are going to service all the 

industries. 

“We are also talking to 

telecommunication 

companies on the possibility 

of supplying their simcards as 

well. 

“Also are looking beyond 

Nigeria. We have customers 

all over Africa. All the banks in 

Gambia we produce all their 

cards, for instance. We have 

customers in Ghana, Guinea, 

Cameroun, Uganda and 

Kenya.” 

On the impact of the 

company’s new production 

facility upgrade, he said, 

“What we have done is 60 

million production cards per 

annum capacity. 

But the idea is all about 

improved turn around that we 

can offer because, today if you 

give me an order of one 

million cards, I can deliver it 

within a week. 

I can even deliver 250,000 

per day to you. So we believe 

that, that will be a game 

changer for us, and in 

addition we are now able to 

scale up our capacity 

utilization as well as market 

share as quickly as possible.” 

continues to be exacerbated by 

forex scarcity and high costs of 

importation. “Also, we note that 

as we enter the planting 

season, supply shortages are 

expected to garner pace, which 

could consequently place 

further pressure on prices. 

“Furthermore, an increase in 

energy prices is likely in the 

second half of the year (H2’21). 

Surely, a rise in gasoline prices 

will contribute to the index’s 

inflationary pressures, as it will 

feed into the transportation and 

logistical costs on the food 

index. 

“Given these factors, we 

forecast a 1.58% m/m increase 

in aggregate price level, 

translating into a y/y inflation 

rate estimate of 18.83% in Apr- 

2021. 

“Looking ahead to the second 

half of the year, we believe that 

the high base impact from 

H2’:2020 would only moderate 

inflation uptick slightly in 

H2’21, and that, barring 

another policy reversal, the 

National Electricity Regulatory 

Commission’s Multi-Year Tariff 

Order will come into effect by 

June 2021, exacerbating 

inflationary pressures.” 

NEWS 

Lagos Free Zone 

will boost Indian 

investments in 

Nigeria - High 

Commissioner 

The Indian High 

Commission in Nigeria 

has indicated that the Lagos 

Free Zone (LFZ) provides a 

unique and special 

ecosystem for Indian 

companies with growth 

aspirations to consider for 

their businesses. 

The High Commissioner 

to Nigeria, H.E, Mr. Abhay 

Thakur, who gave this 

indication when he visited 

the LFZ with a highpowered 

Indian corporate 

delegation, described the 

Lagos Free Zone, especially 

with its integration of the 

Lekki Deep Sea Port, as a 

defining project for Nigeria 

that would impact the 

economy positively and 

further open the country to 

the world as a preferred 

destination for foreign direct 

investment (FDI). 

He stated: “I have been 

very impressed with the 

scale, size and potential of 

the Lagos Free Zone project 

that I have seen here today 

and I commend Tolaram 

Group for having put 

together such a defining 

Project in Nigeria. I would 

urge all the Indian 

companies globally to 

seriously consider the 

possibilities at Lagos Free 

Zone because it is difficult 

to find a better investment 

destination in Nigeria 

today.” 

He assured the Lagos Free 

Zone team that the Indian 

High Commission in Nigeria 

would do all within its 

means to help promote and 

attract the much-needed 

investment into Nigeria. 

“As you may already be 

aware, Nigeria remains the 

largest trading partner of 

India in Africa with total 

trade volume of about $14b 

in 2020 and is also one of the 

leading investors in Nigeria 

with a cumulative 

investment base of about 

$20b in Nigeria. We are 

trying to play a bigger role 

in Nigeria’s growth story by 

creating a win-win 

relationship. 

In this context, Lagos Free 

Zone has a special place in 

furthering India-Nigeria 

collaboration.” he added. 

Addressing the High 

Commissioner and his 

entourage on the visit, the 

Managing Director, Lagos 

Free Zone, Mr. Dinesh 

Rathi, disclosed that the first 

phase of the zone which 

represents about 45 percent 

of the 830 Hectare area 

would be completed by the 

year 2022 with the delivery 

of critical infrastructure such 

as the Lekki Deep Sea Port, 

the piped gas distribution 

network, completion of the 

ready-built industrial and 

residential buildings and 

take off of the Industrial 

Training Centre.

Still on CBN action on First Bank 

“First Bank right to sack Adeduntan – Awosika.” 

News Report, May 2, 2021. 

MRS Ibukun Awosika, 

former chairman of 

First Bank Plc, FBN, was reported 

in a national newspaper 

insisting that the Board did 

the right thing in sacking the 

reinstated Managing Director, 

Dr Adesola Adeduntan. Before 

bringing some of the published 

text of Mrs Awosika’s assertion, 

permit me to provide some 

background information to this 

article. 

I have always believed that 

“no matter how you slice the 

bread, there are always two 

sides.” That invariably, is the 

situation with matters like this 

one – which will not soon go 

away. Until Mrs Awosika’s 

statement was released, there 

was nothing from the Board of 

FBN to provide insight into 

why they acted so suddenly; 

and apparently in contravention 

of banking industry regulatory 

position and procedures. 

In fact, the former Board’s position 

would have been dismissed 

as an after-thought if 

not for the person to whom it 

was attributed. I have known 

Mrs Awosika for years; and she 

is not the type to flout regulations 

needlessly. That gave the 

statement some credence. The 

messenger has a great reputation 

to protect. 

Her message 

“As a board, we acted in what 

we clearly believed to be in the 

best interest of the bank and we 

had great plans and 

aspirations….Without any 

shadow of doubt, I will unequivocally 

state that I have 

always acted with honour and 

integrity with the utmost interest 

of the institution, all our 

stakeholders and the nation.” 

Those were the words of Mrs 

Awosika – for whom I have the 

greatest respect. But, for justice 

to be done, one must be 

prepared to be objective; and 

not be swayed by sentiments. 

It is for this reason that I find 

Mrs Awosika’s statement necessary 

but insufficient – as will 

be pointed out shortly. But, first 

a personal experience will help 

to illustrate my position on this 

controversy. 

By October 1982, as the Marketing 

Manager for North 

Brewery Limited, Kano, I had 

introduced several innovations 

which propelled the brand 

Double Crown to the top in the 

North – beating Star, Gulder 

and Harp to second, third and 

fourth respectively. The Managing 

Director, MD, had privately 

told me that the Board 

had decided to start grooming 

me as his successor. Just 38, 

and puffed up with unbecoming 

pride, I then, on one occasion, 

flouted one of the brewery’s 

basic policies. Enemies 

within got to know and reported 

the infraction to the MD. 

During our meeting, I told the 

MD that the action taken was 

in keeping with the marketing 

guiding principle – “the customer 

is always right”. I saw 

no reason to consult anybody 

else; the beneficiary was our 

best customer by far. 

After listening to me, the MD 

called his secretary and dictated 

a query to be issued to me 

immediately and 24 hours to 

respond. I did and within 24 

hours I received a reprimand 

– reminding me that all deviations 

from company policy must 

first be discussed at top management 

meeting and approved 

before it can be implemented 

by the head of department. 

Later, the MD called me 

and said “My boy Dele, order 

is the first law in heaven. Your 

marketing principles are subordinate 

to that. If I allow ev- 

The order to reinstate 

the MD and to 

retrieve insider 

loans leaves a bad 

odour; and is an 

indictment of all 

concerned. That 

includes CBN 

ery departmental head to do 

what they like, based on good 

intentions, this brewery will 

fold soon.” I learnt a great lesson 

about being a part of a 

whole institution and abiding 

by its regulations. My MD was 

right. 

So, with that as my guide, I 

can return to the CBN-FBN 

case and query Mrs Awosika’s 

submission. My regard for her 

remains undiminished. 


approval of the CBN. Why was 

this regulation circumvented? 

The end justifies the means 

can certainly not be an acceptable 

excuse for any board of an 

institution to behave in a lawless 

manner. 

Four questions 

“The road to hell is always 

paved with good intentions.” 

On a matter such as this, one 

person’s or a group’s good intentions 

are never enough to 

justify taking extra-ordinary 

measures as the FBN board 

had done. Perhaps, Mrs Awosika 

would like to answer four 

questions for us. 

•Was Dr Adeduntan given a 

query; and was he allowed to 

defend himself in writing in response 

to the allegations levelled 

against him? If not the 

board had violated the first 

principle of justice – give the 

accused a fair hearing. What 

they did amounted to jungle 

justice by people in designer 

suits. 

•Were the offences so grievous 

and evidence to prove 

them be erased if the CBN was 

informed as required by law? 

FBN exists by virtue of the 

Banks and Other Financial Institutions, 

BOFI, Decree 25, 

1991, as later amended. Mrs 

Awosika rightly called FBN an 

institution. I agree. But, by 

their nature institutions are independent 

of individuals appointed 

to manage them. The 

managers must act according 

to the rules and regulations 

governing them. It is a fact that 

no MD of a bank can be appointed 

or removed, for any 

reason whatsoever, without the 

•“Every precedent embalms 

a principle.” Has Mrs Awosika 

considered what would be the 

consequences of CBN allowing 

FBN to get away with flouting 

the regulations and doing 

it in such a rude manner? What 

will then stop other boards of 

banks from doing the same? 

Will the inevitable chaos in the 

banking sector be preferable to 

compelling FBN to obey the 

rules? 

•Mrs Awosika insisted that 

the board acted in the interest 

of all stakeholders. Yet, there 

are allegations of insider trading; 

non-performing loans resulting 

from companies in 

which some directors have substantial 

stakes. If so, how can 

a board, aware of this infraction 

by its directors, be claiming 

to act in the best interest of 

all stakeholders? I am a depositor 

and a shareholder. Insider-trading 

and non-performing 

loans are not in my interest – if 

they have been allowed. 

I understand that Mrs 

Awosika, as chairman and a 

consummate team player, must 

defend her board. Those of us 

who know her personally would 

vouch for her; if the decision 

was hers alone to make. Her 

integrity alone is insufficient to 

absolve FBN board of all 

blame, especially when something 

stinks. The order to reinstate 

the MD and to retrieve 

insider loans leaves a bad 

odour; and is an indictment of 

all concerned. That includes 

CBN. 

NIMASA receives last batch of assets under deep 

blue project *Sets to tackle piracy on Nigerian waters 

By Godwin Oritse 

AS the Nigerian Maritime 

Administration and Safety 

Agency, NIMASA, took delivery 

of the last batch of the Deep Blue 

Project equipment last week, the 

agency said it is now set to take on 

the criminals terrorizing the 

nation’s territorial and coastal waters. 

The equipment which includes 

a Special Mission Aircraft, was 

received and installed to secure 

Nigerian waters up to the Gulf of 

Guinea, GoG. 

In a statement signed by the 

Head of Public Relations, Mr. 

Philip Kyanet, Director General 

of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, 

and other officials of the agency 

inspected three Special Mission 

Helicopters at the Naval Base, 

Apapa, under the project billed for 

launch on May 21. 

Speaking to journalists at the 

Nigerian Air Force Base, Murtala 

Muhammed International Airport, 

Ikeja, during a brief ceremony to 

mark the arrival of the aircraft, 

Jamoh said the assets would further 

improve security in Nigerian 

waters. 

Jamoh revealed that a drastic 

reduction in the rate of attacks in 

the country’s Exclusive Economic 

Zone (EEZ) with the deployment 

of the Deep Blue Project assets, is 

expected in the next few weeks 

and months. 

Part of the statement reads, 

“There has been a drastic decrease 

in the rate of security breaches in 

our waters in recent times. This is 

a clear indication that we are getting 

it right with the Deep Blue 

Project. 

“The figures we are getting from 

the International Maritime Bureau 

(IMB) are encouraging. We ultimately 

aim to completely eradicate 

security hindrances to shipping 

and business generally in the Nigerian 

maritime domain. “These 

figures are a proof that we can 

make our waters safe and secure, 

and we are determined to do so. 

“Today, we are here to receive 

the final phase of assets under the 

Deep Blue Project to further boost 

our capacity to secure our waters 

up to the Gulf of Guinea.” 

The Integrated National Security 

and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, 

otherwise known as 

the Deep Blue Project, is designed 

with three categories of platforms 

to tackle maritime security issues 

on land, sea, and air. 

The land assets comprise the 

Command, Control, Communication, 

Computer, and Intelligence 

Centre (C4i) for intelligence gathering 

and data collection; 16 

armoured vehicles for coastal patrol; 

and about 600 specially 

trained troops for interdiction, 

known as Maritime Security Unit. 

On air, there are two Special Mission 

Aircraft for surveillance of the 

EEZ, one of which was received 

Wednesday, with the second expected 

to arrive May 18; three 

Special Mission Helicopters for 

search and rescue; and four Unmanned 

Aerial Vehicles. 

The sea assets consist of two 

Special Mission Vessels and 17 

Fast Interceptor Boats. 

ANCHOR BORROWER SCHEME: Unity Bank to extend 

funding to 120,000 maize farmers 

NIGERIA’s 

foremost 

agribusiness lender, Unity 

Bank Plc, has said it will provide 

additional funding to no fewer than 

120,000 smallholder maize farmers 

in Nigeria in the 2021 wet season 

farming in Nigeria. 

The Managing Director/Chief 

Executive Officer of the bank, Mrs. 

Tomi Somefun, disclosed this while 

delivering a goodwill message at the 

unveiling of the first National 

Maize Pyramids and flag-off of wet 

season farming programmes held 

over the weekend in Katsina. 

As a major stakeholder in the roll 

out of the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers 

Programme (ABP), Unity Bank was 

invited to participate in the events 

marking the unveiling by the Maize 

Association of Nigeria, MAAN. 

Represented by Head, 

Agribusiness unit of the bank, Mrs. 

Patricia Ahunanya, Somefun said 

the additional funding for 2021 wet 

season farming is “in furtherance 

to the Bank’s commitment towards 

supporting maize farmers” in the 

country. 

She stated that the strategic 

partnership with the Maize 

Association of Nigeria commenced 

in 2019 with the financing of about 

37,182 smallholder farmers, with 

the Bank increasing its financing 

tally to 70,604 smallholder farmers 

in 2020. 

Commenting on the maize 

pyramid, Somefun stated that “The 

maize Pyramids will go down in 

history as the first maize pyramid 

in Nigeria which demonstrates not 

only the resilience of our farmers 

but also the commendable vision 

of the Federal Government of 

Nigeria through the implementing 

partners. This should be replicated 

in all states with a focus on the crops 

that have comparative 

advantage.” 

She noted that with agriculture 

contributing over 26% to Nigeria’s 

Gross Domestic Product, and 

employing about 50% of Nigeria’s 

working population in the rural 

areas, the Bank will continue to 

make strategic investments into the 

sector in line with the Federal 

Government’s quest to attain food 

sufficiency, diversify the economy 

away from oil, create jobs for the 

youth and reduce poverty. 

She added: “Unity Bank is fully 

committed to its partnership with 

MAAN and this commitment will 

ensure the attainment of FGN/CBN 

target to meeting self-sufficiency in 

Maize production through the 

Association”. 

Also speaking, the national 

President of MAAN, Dr. Abubakar 

Bello commended Unity Bank for 

its continued support of the farmers 

through its strategic role in 

providing the necessary financing to 

the maize farmers. He said: “We 

cannot appreciate enough our 

financing partners, especially Unity 

Bank. Today we have over 50,000 

bags of maize in this pyramid, which 

will contribute significantly to 

Nigeria’s strategic grain reserves. 

This could not have been possible 

without the financing made possible 

by these partners. We commend 

them for this role and remain 

grateful.” 

He restated the commitment of 

the association to continue to meet 

the financing obligations and 

sustain the drive for increased maize 

output in the 2021 wet season 

farming. 

Recall that recently, Unity Bank 

received similar commendation 

from Rice Farmers Association of 

Nigeria, RIFAN over the Bank’s 

strategic role in providing the 

necessary support to the association 

to explore the opportunities 

provided by the Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ 

Programme. RIFAN specially 

commended Mrs. Somefun for her 

leadership and doggedness in 

supporting the rice farmers through 

the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, 

which is playing a critical role in 

Nigeria’s quest to attain selfsufficiency 

in rice production.

26— Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 

INTERVIEW 

Rev’d Mother Olive Sulola Adejobi: 

My husband lived a 

purpose-led life 

‘’…His purpose was to lead his children and all who came to 

him to Christ….This is his legacy, and I will continue with 

this till I die.” 

Ninety-four-year-old Rev Mother Olive Sulola Adejobi remembers her 

late husband, Primate Emmanuel Owoade Adeleke Adejobi, who 

departed 30 years ago today. 

duced to my late husband by my brother. 

Then, I was working at the General 

Post Office Savings Bank in Igbosere, 

Lagos. It was during my visit with my 

brother to the Church of the Lord (Aladura) 

at No 3 Adams Street, Lagos, that 

I was introduced to this young, fine and 

handsome man. To God be the glory, 

on April 29, 1948 we got married at 

Ogere and started the journey of life 

together. During our lives together, we 

travelled to many countries, spreading 

the gospel of Christ from Nigeria to 

Ghana, Sierra-Leone, Togo, Africa, 

London, Europe and America. 

Those churches you and your husband 

pioneered, are they still in existence? 

Yes, they are. He was a prophet of 

God from 1940 till his death in 1991, 

more than 50 years and he Primate of 

the Church of the Lord (Aladura) for 24 

years. 

In 1935, 1939 and 1940, there had 

been apostolic missions of the church 

to Lagos, but there was no church established 

until 1943 when Primate Olunowo 

Ositelu sent Adejobi to Lagos. 

In June, that same year, Adejobi opened 

the first branch of the Church of the 

Lord in Pa Ogun’s house at 49, Lagos 

Street, Ebute Metta. After that, the Carter 

church. The church at Offin Road 

(Elegbata) and Agege followed in 1944, 

Yaba and Lafiaji in 1945 and then Sogunle 

(1946) and Ikeja (1967). There 

was also Mushin in 1968 and Anthony 

Village in 1970. He founded churches 

outside Lagos too – from Sapele (Delta) 

in 1945, Zaria in 1965, Ilorin in 

1968, Ifo (Osun) also in 1968, Asaba in 

1971, Okok (Oyo) in 1974, Igbetti and 

Iseyin in 1977, Ipapo (Oyo) in 1978, 

Lokoja in May 1978, Ijero-Ekiti in 1986 

Primate Emmanuel Owoade Adejobi and Reverend Mother 

Olive Sulola Adejobi 

With a good sense of 

modesty, and dignity, my 

husband, Primate Adejobi 

was, unequivocally, one 

of Africa's greatest unsung 

heroes; he was a 

great man and indeed the 

shining star of the Church 

of the Lord (Aladura) 

ma, Koindu, Pendemba and the church 

building at Njama. The temple at Oke 

Murray, Freetown was dedicated by 

Baba Ositelu himself on October 26, 

1952. 

At the same time that Adejobi was 

planting churches in Sierra Leone, Apostle 

Oduwole was also planting churches 

in Liberia; so the Church of the Lord 

expanded beyond the borders of Nigeria, 

first to Sierra Leone, then to Liberia 

and from there top Ghana, Togo and 

the rest of the world. 

In 1952, Adejobi left for Ghana. He 

pioneered the first branch of the Church 

of the Lord (Aladura) in Ghana at 14, 

North Suntresu, Kumasi on April 6, 

1953 and from there expanded to 

Sekondi - Takoradi and other parts. 

Oduwole also established the church 

in Accra and so the church prospered 

all over Ghana. 

After the Sierra Leone and Ghana 

missions, my husband decided that he 

needed a more intellectual grounding 

in the Word, due to his interactions with 

a higher number and more diverse quality 

of membership now in the church. 

So, he undertook formal theological 

training at his own expense. Between 

1961 and 1963, my husband, (he was 

an Apostle then), Adeleke Adejobi was 

The late Primate Emmanuel 

Owoade 

Adeleke Adejobi 

NINETY-four-year-old Reverend 

Mother Olive Sulola Adejobi is 

the wife of the late Primate Emmanuel 

Owoade Adeleke Adejobi, of the Church 

of the Lord (Aladura), a man of many 

parts, who took the gospel across Nigeria, 

Africa, the UK, Europe and 

America.Thirty years on, she is still an 

advocate of her husband’s calling and 

purpose-led life. With twinkling sparkles 

in her eyes and imprints of nostalgia 

spread across her face,she speaks with 

Adedayo Adejobi on her journey 

through life, her late husband, raising 

children with a church planter , life after 

retirement, and 30 years without him….. 

You are almost a century old, Mama. 

Tell us a bit about yourself. 

I am Reverend Mother Olive Sulola 

Adejobi. I was born in Abeokuta, Iporo-Ake 

on September 26, 1927 to Pa 

Reuben and Mama Kehinde John. My 

father was a businessman, trading in 

cocoa and palm kernel and my mother 

was full-time a housewife but was also 

engaged in tie and dye business. Both of 

them were committed Christians and 

staunch Anglicans. I started primary 

school at Iporo-Ake Anglican Church 

school, then Ake Primary School, where 

Pa Soyinka (Prof. Wole Soyinka’s father) 

was the headmaster. 

Do you have fond memories of 

growing up as a lady, and how did you 

meet your late husband, Primate Emmanuel 

Owoade Adeleke Adejobi? 

I came to Lagos to stay with my late 

brother, Mr. Ibikunle John, who lived 

in Oko-Awo. I attended Queens College, 

in Yaba, Lagos. Although we are 

Anglicans, I joined my late elder brother 

in attending The Church of the Lord 

(Aladura) from 1946 whilst I stayed 

with his family. Over time, I was introand 

Umunede (Edo) in 1987. 

He was an evangelist, a 

preacher of the Word. He always 

called himself “God’s 

donkey”, for Christ to ride 

wherever He wished. 

Before we got married, 

my husband, after receiving 

a divine message at the 

end of 1946, had taken 

leave from Baba Ositelu 

to go to Sierra Leone. He 

arrived in Freetown on 

March 21, 1947 and had 

spent about a year pioneering 

the church in Sierra 

Leone. In fact, the church 

Adejobi pioneered at 8 

Queen Street, Freetown on 

April 6, 1947, was the first 

branch of the Church of the 

Lord (Aladura) to be pioneered 

outside Nigeria. The next day 

April 7, he inaugurated the second 

branch at a bigger location, at Dove 

Cot on Guard Street. It was from Dove 

Cot that we moved to the permanent 

site of the church at O’Neil Street on 

June 28, where the church still stands 

now. After that he moved to the interior 

for evangelical missions to Bonthe, 

Kwellu, Banya, Karibundu, Segbwea 

student at the Bible Training Institute, 

BTI, in Glasgow, Scotland, where he 

was awarded a Diploma in Theology. 

There he met and established relationships 

with a number of renowned academics 

and churchmen in the UK. It 

was after his BTI years that he felt the 

call to pioneer the church in the United 

Kingdom (London branch) in 1964. He 

also pioneered the church in Manchester 

and the Liverpool branch in 1969. 

In London, we had some pioneering 

members who worked tirelessly with 

us. Reverend Yaw Baokye, Deaconess 

Margaret Edet, Reverend Samuel Olusanya 

and Late Reverend Enang. 

Asides from pioneering Churches, he 

founded the Aladura Comprehensive 

High School in Anthony Village, Lagos 

in 1971 and the first Principal was 

Chief D. A. Olugunna, also an Osogbo 

indigene like Primate Adejobi. The 

school is still very much there and functioning, 

with students. He also established 

the Ositelu Memorial Grammar 

School in Ogere, in honor of the first 

Primate, Baba Ositelu, after his passing. 

He established the Aladura Theological 

Seminary, ATS and Prophets and 

Prophetesses Training Institute, PPTI, 

to provide theological education for aspiring 

priests on January 27, 1971. He 

did that as part of his desire to raise the 

standard of training of the ministers of 

the church, following his own experience 

at BTI. He was always striving for 

that. The ATS was for those were competent 

to study in English and the PPTI 

was for those who did their studies in 

Yoruba language. At the beginning, we 

had nine students, and they became 13 

in three months, and then more and 

more. Students came from Liberia, 

Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, 

republic of Benin. Our first Principal 

was a White man, Rev. Charles Hostetter 

sponsored in partnership with the 

Mennonite Board of Missions and the 

Theological Education Fund of Indiana, 

USA. After my husband died, the 

name of the theological seminary was 

changed in his honour by his successor, 

the late Primate Olusegun Ositelu to 

Adejobi Memorial Theological Seminary, 

AMTS. My husband also commissioned 

the building of the Cathedral 

of the Church of the Lord Aladura 

at Ogere - Remo. 

He was the First President of the Nigerian 

Association of Aladura Churches, 

NAAC. On November 28, 1975, at 

its 5th Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, the 

Church of the Lord (Aladura) was approved 

as a member of the World Council 

of Churches, WCC, the first Pentecostal 

church in Africa to be so admitted 

to the Council. In 1976, Primate 

Adejobi led the Church of the Lord Aladura, 

other African churches, and 

Church leaders like Desmond Tutu, to 

the WCC in Geneva and sat as a highranking 

member of the WCC's Central 

Working Committee, CWC, from 

1983. He was very focused on building 

ecumenical connections with other 

Christian organisations apart from the 

WCC and brought the Church of the 

Lord into the Christian Association of 

Nigeria, CAN, as well. He met with 

many Christian leaders, including Pope 

John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury, 

Most Rev. Robert Runcie in 

1982 and played host to Dr. Emilio Castro, 

the Secretary General of the WCC 

in March 1989. 

Late Primate Josiah Olunowo Ositelu 

pronounced Adejobi as his successor 

on the mount at Ogere in August 1945. 

The Primate received the divine message 

on August 18 and read it to all the 

worshippers on Tabbieoriear day, August 

22, 1945. 

When Primate Ositelu pronounced 

my husband as his successor, he said: 

“Adejobi’s light was the sun, Ositelu’s 

light was the star”, and so the day broke 

with my husband and it was a good 

day. Baba Ositelu called Adejobi the 

“Gbolahan” of the church and it came 

to pass. My husband came to put the 

Church of the Lord (Aladura) on the 

map of the world. 

After Baba Ositelu died in 1966, my 

husband was anointed Primate in 1967 

by Primate (Dr.) S. A. A. Somoye of the 

Church of the Lord Israel after Papa 

Ositelu’s death. Primate Adejobi dined 

with and prayed for Presidents and 

Kings - President Tolbert of Liberia, Siaka 

Stevens and Major General John 

Momoh of Sierra Leone, His Royal 

Highness Opoku Ware II, the Ashantehene 

of Ghana. In Nigeria, notable 

amongst others are the Alaafin of 

Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the late 

Timi of Ede, Oba Laoye, the Ooni of 

Continues on page 27

INTERVIEW 

My husband lived a purpose-led life 

Continued from page 26 

services and still preach. When I do not 

go, the members come home to see 

Ife, Oba Sijuwade, the former attorney 

general of Nigeria, Sir Adetokunbo 

Ademola, Chief H. O. Davies, Ebenezer 

Obey, the Ologere of Ogere, Oba 

Oladele Ogungbade, The Ataoja of 

Osogbo, Oba Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi 

III, the Mobolaji Johnsons’, Chief 

Rita Lori, Prince Awogboro, and so 

many others came to him for 

prayers and counsel. 

With a great sense of modesty, and 

dignity, my husband, Primate Adejobi 

me. Of course, everybody puts on their 

face masks and keep their social distances. 

Your husband enjoyed goodwill 

across the world, whilst his missionary 

activities earned him a lot of 

fame. In 1984, he predicted that Nigeria’s 

leadership crisis will not subsist 

until a woman becomes President. 

To date, no woman has come 

to power. Do you ever see Nigeria 

being ruled by a woman in the next 

was, unequivocally, one of Africa’s 

10-20 years? Papa was a man truly 

greatest unsung heroes. He was a great 

man and indeed the shining star of the 

church of the Lord (Aladura). 

What was the reception of Aladura 

church in a white man’s land, UK? 

We had pioneered churches in Sierra 

Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria, and so 

called and used by God. Yes, he gave 

that prophecy and I believe the word 

of God always come to pass. We may 

not know when this prophecy will 

come to pass, but the word of God does 

not return to Him void. 

Looking at the instability in the country 

and your husband’s prediction 

some of those members had travelled 

The late Primate Adejobi and the late Pope John Paul II 

to the United Kingdom and other parts 

years ago, can you say the time has 

of the world. As soon they heard we 

come for a woman to become the 

were in London, that was the beginning 

of the Church of the Lord Aladu- 

at all, but through it all, the grace of with technology, people can attend on- 

church members. It has not been easy ical attendance would be restricted but 

President, hence the reason everything 

is happening this way? 

ra in the United Kingdom. After his God and His help, I have weathered line, on Zoom. 

I am not in place to say yes or no 

Bible Training Institute, BTI, training the storm. 

Are you still marching on with 

because God moves in a wonderful 

in 1963, he held a crusade in London What’s the particular thing you your late husband’s legacy, or do you 

way to fulfill His promise. What we 

and many souls were won for Christ remember about him? 

feel otherwise? 

need to do is to continue to pray for 

and that developed into prayer meetings, 

singing practice and Bible fellow- 

full open house because he loved peo- 

thee way of salvation, his purpose was 

When he was alive, we always had a He had a passion to point people to 

the peace of Nigeria. There is nothing 

difficult for God and when we pray, 

ships. 

ple and loved having people around to lead his children and all who came 

wonders will happen in this country.Let 

Did you have White members? him, especially at meal-times. He never 

enjoyed eating alone, so I was alcy, 

and I will continue with that till I 

through him to Christ. That is his lega- 

us pray for Nigeria and those in authority. 

Not at the beginning, subsequently 

we had some who came and became ways in the kitchen cooking and entertaining, 

in addition to my missionary How’s the Church soldiering on 

die. 

At 94, your beauty is still pristine 

our members. In fact, some of them 

and you are standing erect, seeing 

even married our members. 

duties. 

without your husband? 

clearly. What’s your secret formula? 

What kind of food do you eat? 

Thirty years on and counting, how What plans are in place to celebrate 

your Papa’s 30th anniversa- 

was founded on Christ the solid rock. 

The church is moving on because it 

have you weathered the storm without 

your husband? 

ry? As you know I am retired now and 

There is no secret whatsoever. At times 

we go without food while preaching, 

It was very tough, sometimes very There would be a befitting thanksgiving 

service held in his honour at ny Village branch that Primate Adejo- 

most of my time is spent at the Antho- 

fasting, and doing church work. We 

tough, lonely and very difficult because 

sometimes forget to eat because we 

I was left alone to care for our children our family church in Anthony Village, bi left in my care, attending to members 

who need prayers, advice and 

get so busy. I used to fast, although I 

and look after the well-being of the Lagos. Because of the pandemic, phys- 

hardy fast now, but I don’t eat much, 

counselling. When I am able, I attend 

Gaza bombardment‘ll continue in full 

force — Netanyahu 

*World leaders intervene 

Israeli Prime Minister 

Benjamin Netanyahu on 

Sunday said that an end to seven 

days of hostilities with Gaza 

fighters was not imminent, despite 

diplomatic moves to restore 

calm. 

Israel’s bombardment of the 

Gaza Strip entered its seventh 

consecutive day with air raids 

early on Sunday killing at least 

42 Palestinians, wounding dozens 

more, and flattening at least 

two residential buildings. 

The home of Gaza’s Hamas 

chief, Yehya al-Sinwar, was also 

targeted, according to the 

group’s media. In Israel’s Tel 

Aviv, people dashed for bomb 

shelters as sirens warning of incoming 

rocket fire blared 

across the city. 

At least 188 people, including 

55 children and 33 women, have 

been killed in the Gaza Strip in 

the past week. More than 1,200 

others have been wounded. In 

the occupied West Bank, Israeli 

forces have killed at least 13 

Palestinians. Israel has reported 

10 dead, including two children 

Al Jazeera’s analyst Marwan 

Bishara said the Israeli and Palestinian 

delegations were trying 

to “score points”, rather than 

“make points” in the UN Security 

Council meeting. 

“Certainly, it sounded to me 

that the Israeli and the Palestinian 

spokesperson were speaking 

to their constituency and to 

their public opinion because 

clearly no one present at the 

Security Council meeting was 

affected by those speeches that 

were meant more to score points 

than to make points,” he added. 

“I haven’t seen anything from 

the Chinese or the British to 

give me a sign that the Israeli 

and the Palestinian spokespeople 

were able to influence them 

at all. In as far as the rest … it is 

more of the same.” 

American politician Bernie 

Sanders in a tweet the destruction 

in Gaza was ‘unconscionable’, 

adding that the US must 

take a ‘hard look’ at military aid 

the country provides to Israel. 

‘It is illegal for US aid to support 

human rights violations.” 

Jordan’s King Abdullah said 

his kingdom was involved in 

intensive diplomacy to halt 

what he described as Israeli 

military escalation that has led 

to the worst flare-up of violence 

in years. 

The monarch, whose ruling 

family has custodianship of 

Muslim and Christian sites in 

Jerusalem, did not elaborate but 

has in recent days warned that 

Israel’s military campaign was 

risking major instability in the 

region. 

Gaza journalist Sami Abu 

Salem said four more bodies 

were rescued from one of the two 

buildings destroyed in an Israeli 

airstrike. 

“I’m standing in front of two 

of the buildings flattened last 

night by Israeli airstrikes, one 

hour ago the rescue teams evacuated 

4 dead bodies … a mother 

and her three children who 

were sleeping when the rockets 

hit the buildings,” he told Al 

Jazeera. 

Jordan’s foreign minister said 

Israel as an occupying force 

“shoulders the responsibility” 

for the current situation in the 

occupied territories and Gaza. 


either. I also sleep well, eat well and 

enjoy the company of my children, my 

family and church members. They 

make me feel happy and well. For my 

age, I think I have enjoyed good health. 

What, if anything, would you have 

done differently in your life? Is there 

any action or decision like that? 

Yes. I would have loved to be a 

nurse,but my father said no. I like the 

profession a lot especially working with 

children. I would have loved to work 

at the Mercy Children Hospital.When 

I was growing up, you did as you were 

told by your parents. What they said 

was final. So, I worked in the Accounts 

section of the Post Office where we entered 

ledgers and dockets. I didn’t like 

the job. I just had to do the will of my 

father. Later, I trained as a caterer in 

the UK. 

Mama, you pray for long hours 

every night even to date, considering 

your age, how do you manage to stay 

up late on your feet? 

When you are used to doing something, 

it becomes part of you. Even when 

I want to sleep, something will just 

wake me up. It has become a part of 

me. 

What was parenting like for you 

and Baba considering your movement 

from one country to another pioneering 

church? 

It wasn’t easy. Jointly, Papa and I 

took responsibility for the training of 

our children. We discussed issues with 

regards to any problems and we agreed 

on what stands we took, and we always 

had a united front in the discipline 

and training of our children. 

What do you want to be remembered 

for? 

I want to be remembered for bringing 

my children to know the Lord and 

for those who came to the church, we 

pointed to the way of salvation. I want 

to be remembered for pointing those 

that God had put within my reach to 

Christ. 

No alternative to vaccine 

passports — Dubai airport boss 

The boss of the world’s 

busiest airport for international 

passengers has said Covid 

passports are the only way to 

restart mass foreign travel. 

Dubai Airport’s chief executive 

Paul Griffiths told the 

BBC: “I don’t think there is 

an alternative.” 

Critics of the digital systems 

argue they discriminate 

against those who cannot get 

vaccinated. 

But Mr Griffiths says he is 

a complete supporter of the 

documents, which he says 

are “inevitable”. 

“I think the problem is not 

the vaccine passport and its 

discrimination. It’s the need 

to roll things out and have a 

Myanmar military take rebel town of 

Mindat, Chinland 

MYANMAR’s military 

has entered a small 

town in western Chin state 

which took up arms against 

them three weeks ago. 

Activists from the volunteer 

Chinland Defence Force say 

they have retreated from Mindat 

to spare the town further 

bombardment. 

Mindat is one of several towns 

where opponents of the military 

have armed themselves. 

Nearly 800 people have died 

in mainly unarmed protests at 

February’s coup which ousted 

the elected government. 

BBC South East Asia correspondent 

Jonathan Head says 

the army now appears to control 

Mindat. 

For three weeks they have 

been fighting against local people 

armed mainly with homemade 

hunting guns, and dozens 

of soldiers are reported to 

have been killed. 

The rebels said six of their 

fighters had died. 

Some of the population of 

Mindat is believed to have fled 

into the surrounding forests. 

Others remain trapped in the 

town. 

“We will not stay any more in 

the town... but we will come back 

to attack soon,” a spokesman for 

the rebel group said, quoted 

by AFP news agency. “We only 

have homemade guns. This 

was not enough.” 

The army was forced to use 

helicopters to bring in troop 

reinforcements, as at least 

three of its road convoys were 

ambushed. 

proper globally equitable 

vaccine programme,” he 

said. 

The World Health Organisation 

and World Travel & 

Tourism Council are among 

those opposed to vaccine 

passports amid fears they 

will create a “two-tier society”. 

Last month, Dr Mike Ryan 

from the WHO repeated concerns 

about the ethical and 

fairness issues surrounding 

vaccine passports. 

“They do need to be considered, 

especially in a 

world where vaccine is distributed 

in such a grossly 

inequitable way,” he said. 

The aviation industry is 

desperately looking for ways 

to pick up speed after the 

damage wrought by government 

restrictions and a collapse 

in passenger confidence. 

According to the Air Transport 

Action Group, it was making 

a $3.5 trillion annual contribution 

to the global economy 

before the pandemic. 

However, with flights 

grounded, the numbers going 

through Dubai International 

Airport have collapsed in a 

similar way to the rest of the 

industry. 

Even so, 2020 was Dubai’s 

seventh year in a row as the 

world’s busiest airport for international 

passengers, having 

overtaken London Heathrow 

in 2014. 

A record 86.3 million people 

passed through in 2019, but 

as the coronavirus pandemic 

grounded flights, that fell 

70% to 25.8 million last year.


Stories by Prisca Sam-Duru 

The joy of hard work, some 

one said recently, is more 

work. For the second time, 

Otunba Segun Runsewe (OON), 

famously known as ‘Mr. Tourism’ 

and the ‘Face of Nigerian Culture’ 

has been re-appointed as Director-General 

of National Council 

for Arts and Culture, NCAC, under 

the Federal Ministry of Information 

and Culture. 

His re-appointment is an eloquent 

testimony to his meritorious 

service rendered to preserve 

and promote Nigeria’s rich cultural 

heritage, right from his days 

as D-G of NTDC, down to his first 

tenure in office as NCAC D-G 

which began in May 2017. 

Otunba Runsewe brought dignity 

to the sector while maintaining 

a revered position as a consistent 

phenomenon in Nigeria’s 

culture and tourism sectors, having 

served in different capacities 

in the last three decades. 

Undoubtedly, his sterling performance 

during his first tenure 

as D-G had a huge impact on the 

Council owing to his positive attitude 

towards collaboration with 

stakeholders in the arts and culture 

industry. His recognition of 

the vital role of the media and 

diverse associations under the 

culture ministry, retreats with 

Zonal Directors of the Council, 

and subsequent collaborations 

with all stakeholders, all went 

into the tapestry of his success, 

especially in job creation through 

arts, crafts culture, skill acquisition; 

which as a whole, translate 

to income generation to Nigeria’s 

economy. 

The annual International Arts 

and Crafts Expo (INAC) which 

holds in Abuja has become an 

arts, crafts and culture exhibition 

ground for many countries across 

the world who queue up to participate 

in the yearly event. Apart 

from job creation, INAC has also 

become an effective tool for networking, 

marketing and promotion 

of arts, crafts and cultural 

products of Nigeria and many 

other countries. 

By dint of hard work, Otunba 

Runsewe brought rare innovations 

to the National Festival of 

Arts and Culture (NAFEST), 

rebranding the festival and making 

it a prime national cultural 

event state governors vigorously 

bid to host. 

Each edition of the festival almost 

always witnesses youth participants 

engaged in skills acquisitions, 

waste-to-wealth programmes, 

free medical services 

with distribution of hundreds of 

eye glasses. 

To strengthen international 

partnership, Otunba Runsewe 

After what looked like months of re 

dundancy due largely to the impact 

of the covid-19 pandemic on the art community, 

the Society of Nigeria Artists, 

SNA, Lagos State Chapter is back and 

fully loaded for a fresh start. 

The Lagos Chapter of the association 

began its journey towards a greater recovery 

path, with the inauguration of the 

Review of Otunba Runsewe’s 

performance in arts & culture 

…and expectations from his new tenure as NCAC boss 

Otunba Segun Runsewe standing before two paintings 

of his portrait exhibited at the 2017 AFAC (now INAC) in 

Abuja. PHOTO: Osa Mbonu-Amadi. 

ensured that the Council participated 

in foreign mission activities 

such as the first Asian 

Whatever reservation anyone has 

about most Nollywood movies 

will surely be dispelled after watching 

“The Mystic River” series now on 

Netflix, due to its quality and intriguing 

nature. 

The 26-episode Nigerian horror series, 

streaming on Netflix from May 

14, 2021, is as thrilling, suspense-filled, 

as it is spellbinding. Being in the category 

of horror supernatural series, the 

movie shot in Ijebu Ode, will keep viewers 

on the edge of their seats till the 

end of each episode, before leaving 

them yearning for more. 

The dominant theme in “The Mystic 

River” produced by Rogers Ofime 

and directed by Uzodinma Okpechi, 

which comes from the stable of Native 

Media, is that of good and evil. 

It’s a major platform through which 

the African narrative is shared to the 

rest of the world, in a most believable 

and compelling way; unearthing some 

of the lost cultures and traditions that 

undermined the people, hence the 

need to jettison them. 

The series parades veterans in the 

industry including; Jide Kosoko, Lota 

film festival in Abuja and the 

French Institute animated films 

festival. While his first tenure 

also saw some NCAC staff enjoying 

training, workshop and seminar 

in China, the Council also 

enjoyed partnership and cultural 

exchange programmes with notable 

foreign missions like India, 

Iran, South Korea, Ghana, Russia 

etc. 

As the saying goes, to whom 

much is given, much is expected. 

Otunba Segun Runsewe’s second 

time in office as the D-G of 

NCAC is an indication of his employer’s 

expectation that he will 

do more for the culture ministry. 

He has an important role to play 

in ensuring that our buried histories 

and neglected aspects of 

our cultures are exhumed and 

documented while those on the 

brink of extinction ones like our 

indigenous languages are revived 

through constant usage in 

both spoken and written communications. 

That can be incorporated into 

the existing festivals. Also, materials 

and books written in indigenous 

languages can be archived 

in a standard library and 

stored at the NCAC offices. Even 

achievements and programmes 

of the Council can be documented 

in books and pamphlets 

and stored for reference purposes. 

To ensure maximum success, 

Otunba Runsewe should also 

consider championing government’s 

sponsorship of creative 

works that document our national 

cultural heritage and at the 

same time have the capacity for 

commercial success. 

With Otunba Runsewe’s pedigree 

for success, innovative 

skills and capacity to turn dead 

agencies into functional and profitable 

entities, society should 

clamour for him to be given 

higher responsibilities in a country 

that has historically had the 

misfortune of having bad leaders 

manage its affairs. 

Why shouldn’t Nigeria have an 

Otunba Runsewe as minister, 

governor or even president of the 

country, if we are sincere and 

serious about securing a place of 

honour for Nigeria and Africa in 

the comity of nations, and under 

the sun? 

Nigerian horror series, The Mystic River streams on Netflix 

newly elected executive 

officers, last 

Sunday. The inauguration 

ceremony 

was held at the Aina 

Onabolu Hall, National 

Arts Theatre, 

Iganmu, Lagos. 

Inaugurating the 

new executives, ex- 

Chairman of SNA 

Lagos State Chapter, 

Dr Kunle 

A d e y e m i 

commended the 

electoral committee 

chaired by Mr 

K u r t . O . 

Odunorin(FSNA), for 

that at 

s o m e 

point during 

the 

sneak 

preview, 

the audie 

n c e 

screamed 

instructions 

to 

their favourite 

actor who 

is walking 

into 

danger. 

Scenes from ‘The Mystic River’ 

“The 

Mystic 

Chukwu, Jude Chukwuka, Dele River” is new horror series made in 

Odule, Thelma Nwosu, Joke Muyiwa, naija as the first episode is completely 

Folaremi Agunbiade and others. laced with horror scenes. It tells the story 

The high quality of the film says a lot of a young couple who relocate to a 

about the Executive Producer’s eye for remote Nigerian Village following the 

details, value for professionalism and woman’s deployment as a doctor in the 

penchant for narratives with cultural village health centre. They are oblivious 

of the deadly practice of sacrificing 

depth. The suspense is killing, and each 

scene, engaging and captivating such 

SNA: Building artists’ colonies in Lagos 

R-L: Mr Kurt O. Odunorin (FSNA), new Chairman 

SNA Lagos State Chapter, Prince Kolawole Olojo-Kosoko 

receiving his certificate, and Mr Dotun Alabi during the 

inauguration ceremony held at the Aina Onabolu hall, 

National Theatre Lagos. 

a smooth and peaceful transitional exercise, 

noting that their labour to move the 

association forward will not go unrewarded. 

Dr Adeyemi advised the new 

executives to ensure continuity and peace 

so that the Lagos State Chapter will continue 

as a model for other states to emulate. 

“My administration has adopted the 

sole vision of rebuilding and sustaining 

the legacy of the founding fathers of Nigeria’s 

foremost and greatest art union”, 

the new SNA Chairman Lagos State 

Chapter, Prince Kolawole Olojo-Kosoko 

said shortly after his inauguration. 

First on the agenda of his administration 

Prince Olojo-Kosoko hinted is to immediately 

commence the establishment 

of artists’ colonies in some parts of the 

state. “We clearly identified in our manifesto 

that we are having issues concerning 

some of our members’ inability to attend 

meetings. It’s becoming difficult now 

because people are moving into the suburb 

due to studio base and logistics of 

coming to town every day. This is why 

we are raising our first point agenda as 

the Artists’ Colonies whereby we have 

artists’ workshops in communities such 

as Ikorodu, Badagry, Ayobo etc. If we can 

achieve two or three in this administration 

it’ll be something worthwhile. The 

society is about 50 years now, and I don’t 

think we have any landed property anywhere. 

This is a new way to go. That’s 

why it’s our first point of call”, he said. 

In addition to the Artists’ Colonies, he 

disclosed that “We have artists’ directory, 

and this is because majority of our artists 

need to be reached both in the country 

and beyond. We don’t need to be at the 

mercy of gallery every time. So, when we 

have our artists’ directory, it becomes easy 

for anybody to reach us from anywhere”. 

Members of the association will also 

benefit from a health insurance scheme 

while student’s membership will be revived 

to accommodate the younger artists 

according to him. 

The newly inaugurated executives also 

have plans to strengthen relationships 

with both local and international artists 

so as to drive the much-needed change 

and progress of the SNA Lagos State 

Chapter, through collaboration. 

“We are in a new world now and nobody 

does anything alone anymore. You 

have to collaborate. For us to go far, we 

have to think of collaborating, even if it 

means starting with neighbouring countries 

like Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, 

etc. Already we’ve started visiting our 

elders for ideas and at the moment, we 

have got two scholarships even before our 

inauguration. One of our masters is giving 

out about twenty scholarships to our 

members. So, you see that we are working 

quietly to achieve a lot to move the 

association forward”. 

pregnant women to their gods to avert 

suffering and death. The mystery surrounding 

the disappearing pregnant 

women is about to be unravelled by 

the young doctor who herself is pregnant, 

as she encounters the brutal suicide 

of Bisi who is marked for sacrifice, 

right before her. 

“I want to be able to tell Africa stories, 

I want to be able to tell stories that 

have some impact, I want to be able to 

tell stories that will provoke people to 

think, to do something, to change 

something, that’s the niche I’m trying 

to carve for myself”, Ofime said on why 

he shot a horror series. 

In as much as the setting of the series 

is archaic, it speaks to present state 

of the country, where bloodshed has 

become the order of the day amid decay 

in every sector including health. “I 

am not going against tradition, I’m not 

going against culture. It’s a metaphor, 

there are some things we don’t like in 

our country today and we can stand 

up and do something about it. Like the 

doctor stood up to fight tradition, we 

can stand up and do something, we 

don’t have to leave everything to the 

government. I believe that standing up, 

saying something, or making a change 

will go a long way,” he added. 

Jude Chukwuka, veteran Igbo actor 

who describes himself as Yoruba-centric, 

especially for his impeccable mastery 

of the Yoruba language, said shortly 

after the screening, that the movie simply 

celebrates our Africanness. 

While commending the screenwriter 

and filmmaker for promoting the Nigerian 

and African narrative in the 

project, he urged more Nigerian filmmakers 

to join the trend. 

“What is wrong with us just 

showcasing our Africanness? If you are 

looking for an American message, you 

will not find it in an African story. It’s 

not every time that we must emphasise 

on message, is our culture, our beliefs 

not enough lessons? Except you are 

looking at it from the point of James 

Bond, for me our culture, telling our 

story the way we are, is enough message. 

“Create an African environment, let 

us tell your story, and let Africanness 

fly everywhere, that’s my point. So, 

looking for a core message like you 

would find in Shakespeare, I don’t care, 

let’s just bring our Africanness and let 

people see it”, Chukwuka stated.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021—29 

Need for contemporary 

artists to study history 

By MuyiwaAkinwolere -Artist; 

Joy Abah -Gallery Assistant 

at Ferrum; and Ugo Ikpeazu 

-Curator at Ferrum 

rt, expression, has played a sig 

Anificant role in the history of the 

tribes and cultures that make up 

modern day Nigeria. Post-colonial Nigerian 

art has evolved significantly 

in the 61 years since Nigeria's independence, 

so much so that we might 

argue for the art industry as the most 

evolved aspect of 'Nigeria'. 

With the emergence of generations 

of new Artist's, methods and equipment, 

contemporary Fine Artists 

have gained even more creative liberty. 

The result has been an increase 

in how we can tell stories and talk 

about culture. Whether we have been 

able as a nation to maximize this evolution 

for story telling or not, is a discussion 

for another day. 

Contemporary Artists have a responsibility 

to study history so that 

they can create pieces relevant to today 

and the future. Understanding 

history allows the Creative to draw a 

thought-line through time. 

Before the year 1960, when a lot of 

African countries gained independence, 

a new consciousness was making 

its way into the cultural and political 

landscape in Africa. The rejection 

of western values and culture 

while embracing national ideals was 

propagated by intellectuals who 

were overburdened by the colonial 

toga of the west. Leopold Sedar 

Senghor, the late Senegalese poet 

and politician created the concept of 

Négritude, an important intellectual 

movement that sought to assert and 

to valorise what they believed to be 

distinctive African characteristics, values, 

and aesthetics. 

Négritude is the simple acknowledgment 

and acceptance of the fact 

of being black, of our destiny as Black 

people, of our History, and of our 

Culture." Negritude as defined by 

Léopold Sédar Senghor is "the sum 

of the cultural values of the black 

world as they are expressed in the 

life, the institutions, and the works of 

black men." 

During the period of Nigeria's independence 

leading up to and after 

1960, Artists were exploring a 

newfound identity, characterized first 

by the narrative on freedom and then 

self-actualization. This exploration 

was so profound that pre-colonial and 

colonial era Artists and Artistes are 

still among Nigeria's most revered 

both at home and abroad. 

Fast forward into the 21st century. 

While the explorations on identity 

have continued, influenced by exposure 

from globalisation, Négritude 

has been relegated to history; a tragedy 

realised by a longstanding institutional 

disinterest in history. 

A current trend in contemporary 

figurative art depicts African figures 

in silhouettedark-coloured portraits 

against bright, contrasting backgrounds. 

This form of artistic expression 

has gained in popularity over 

the past 4 years, evolving from a previous 

trend of depicting figures in 

somewhat distorted and near abstract 

representations. 

These trends and the interest from 

emerging artists in the ideas that 

make up our time today, reflect the 

ongoing struggle to define identity. 

A struggle that is currently pulled 

between the international market, 

history, and a national identity 

threatened factors we will leave to 

your imagination. 

In the struggle for the soul of Africa 

and the variety of cultures that 

make up her Countries, Art needs to 

be about creation and making, rather 

than production. Contemporary Nigerian 

Artists today have a difficult 

task on their hand, balancing out this 

triage in their efforts at storytelling 

and continuing the thought-line 

through time. 

Muyiwa's body of work explores 

these trends both inside and outside 

Nigeria, to understand how these relate 

with neo-colonialism and the 

struggle for identity. His approach 

deploys humour and sarcasm in a 

discussion on the direction of Nigerian 

contemporary art. 

ScAN, public art and Nigeria'scity scape 

By Chukwuma Ajakah 

The professional body of registered 

sculptors in Nigeria - 

SculptorsAssociation of Nigeria, 

ScAN, performed the inauguration 

of her Board of Trustees on April 16 

and heldits National Conference on 

April 21-22, 2021. Both events were 

conducted on dual platforms of physical 

and online participation. 

Eight out of the nine-member 

board were inaugurated. They 

includethe board Chairman, his Imperial 

Majesty, OoniAdeyeye Enitan 

Ogunwusi,Ojaja II, the Ooni of Ife; 

the Association President, Sculptor 

OladapoAfolayan and Secretary Dr. 

Olusola Kukoyi were inaugurated 

physically at the royal palace of Ile- 

Ife. The Assistant Director of NGA, 

Osogbo, Mr. Alabiconducted the 

chairman's inauguration, while the 

Ooni conducted Inauguration of the 

president and secretary. 

Other board of trustees had their 

inauguration conducted by ScAN 

representatives at various locations. 

They includedOmooba (Engr.) Yemisi 

Shillon atMaryland, Lagos. The 

newly elected Lagos SNALagos State 

Chapter Chairman and his entire 

cabinet were also present. Dr. Bruce 

Onobrakpeya had his inauguration 

at his Oloje studio, Lagos, while the 

inauguration of Dr. Chief Mrs. Nike 

Davies Okundaye inauguration took 

place at the Nike Gallery, Lekki, Lagos. 

Other inaugurations conducted 

were Prof. Tonie Okpe in Ahmadu 

Bello University, Zaria, while Dr. Okay 

Ikenegbu'sinauguration took place at 

NGA grounds, Enugu. For logistic 

reasons but with his consent, the inauguration 

of H.E. Arc. Obong Victor 

Attah had to be postponed. 

Highlights of the inauguration was 

presentation of BoT Certificates and 

ScAN Medal of honour to the 

inductees. In his reaction, the proprietor 

of Yemisi Shyllon Museum and 

largest collector or arts in Africa, 

Yemisi Shyllon,observed that 

ScANhas a great amount of work to 

carry out in educating, enlightening 

and projecting the essence of sculptural 

forms through publication of 

online journals, exhibitions and conferences. 

He therefore called for cooperation 

of all stake holders in 

fulfillment of ScAN's mandate. 

•OAU V.C. delivering his 

speech at the conference. 

At the Conference, thirty academic 

papers delivered physically and 

online. Participants were drawn from 

Zaria, Enugu, Uyo, Aba, Port- 

Harcourt, Abuja, Ijebu-Ode, 

Abeokuta and Lagos. Under the 

main theme, "PublicArt and Our City 

Scape".Papers presented covered areas 

like- Production, Cluster formations, 

Public Space, philosophy, Perception, 

Aesthetics, Education, National 

Identity, Standards and Standardization, 

Management and Advocacy. 

The conference held at the OAU 

Conference center in full observance 

of COVID-19 safety protocols. 

The Vice Chancellor of Obafemi 

Awolowo University, Prof. 

Ogunmodede, Deputy Vice Chancellor 

(DVC)and Chairperson, Dean of 

Deans 

and 

Abandonment in Chinwuba's 

narrative poem 

By Salamatu Sule 

ne of the basic characteristics of a Romance poem or poetry, is that it 

Ousually or more often, comes in an epic form or in ballads or idylls. It also 

usually, tells of the chivalry of which subjectivity is bedrock and with emphasis 

on the individuality or individualism as is the case with Ifeoma Chinwuba's 

132-pageAfrican Romance: Poetry in Dialogue, published by Kraftgriots in 

2013. 

The poetry narrative is divided into three parts with the poet personae 

calling our attention to her plight while the second part shows the response 

from her philandering husband in his self-defense and the third part being 

the neighbors as witnesses. 

African Romance is a narrative poem of the Poet personae Mallama's lamentation 

about the abandonment and neglect of her husband whose sexual 

escapade is fast ruining their relationship. It is largely about a philandering 

husband of a polygamous household with the older wife who is the complainant 

and the occasional riposte from the husband and interjections from the 

neighbours and the other woman outside. 

It is a book on the battle of the sexes that is narratively modelled after 

OkotBitek's Song of Lawino and Song of 

Ocol. Only this time, with the setting, 

largely in a Hausa household in an urban 

environment of the Federal Capital Territory, 

Abuja. 

The major speaking persona in the 

poem mirrors the textually extraneous life 

of the poet herself in a relationship entanglement 

with a philandering person whom 

she has had this sort of experience vicariously 

with. This insight is undoubtedly 

extra literary and the stuff of "literary gossips" 

in Abuja as at the period the book 

was released. The poet personae show to 

the readers, traces of this real-life character 

said to be domiciled in Abuja and of a literary 

personality. These forensic extra-literary 

traces are as follows: He played the 

string for me/ he made music in my name. 

He played the guitar for me and composed 

songs for his sweet heart,/ for his rabinraina 

.( page 10-11.) There is also the oblique 

reference the sojourn of a northerner to the 

East to study. (page 28-29) and the descriptions thereafter, the refuge provided 

for someone who lost his job (page 33), the experiences described on page 38 

and the eventual finding of love in the hands of another man towards the end 

Dean,EnvironmentalManagement, 

Prof. M.O Babalola, were in attendance. 

The V.C, in his remark, highlighted 

the values of art in the 

buildingof environment. OAU, 

through the V.C, offered to sponsor 

the next Association's project, in the 

event thatScANchooses to consider 

OAU as venue. 

Other highlights of the conference 

were distribution of registered member's 

certificate, book of Abstracts and 

participant's certificate.Papers presented 

at the conference will form a 

body of articles for the Association 

journal which will debut in Oct 2021. 

Ahmed,NTN new Artistic Director/CEO to 

reposition trouope 

By Japhet Davidson 

THE substantive Artistic Director 

and Chief Executive Officer of 

the National Troupe of Nigeria 

Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed 

has promised to revitalise the 

National Troupe and reposition it 

for effective service delivery and the 

demonstration of Nigeria’s 

advancing cultures. Ahmed who 

formerly assumed office takes over 

from Comrade Tar Ukoh whose 

tenure as Artistic Director ended on 

March 31. Ahmed whose 

appointment takes effect from April 

30, 2021 stated this while addressing 

management and staff of the NTN 

at the Troupe’s temporary office 

space at the National Theatre Annex 

in Lagos. He had earlier held a 

similar meeting with staff of the 

Abuja Liaison Office of the NTN. 

Ahmed holds a Master of Arts 

(MA) Degree in Theatre Arts from 

the University of Jos, with a certified 

Project Management certificate 

(PMD Pro 1). He served Bauchi 

State Government until his 

retirement in 2020 as a Director in 

the Ministry of Culture and 

Tourism. While serving with 

Bauchi State Ministry of 

Information and Culture, and later 

Ministry of tourism and Culture, 

Ahmed facilitated many 

productions and demonstrated 

skills in presenting cultural 

practices of Bauchi State through 

performing arts medium (drama, 

dance and dance-drama), 

especially towards packaging for 

Bauchi State Festival of Arts and 

Culture (BAFEST), National 

Festival of Arts and Culture 

(NAFEST), Abuja Carnivals, and 

host of other independent 

productions. 

As a UNICEF trained “Theatre 

for Development” practitioner, 

Ahmed was able to build capacities 

of over 40 local theatre groups 

across northern states of Nigeria 

including Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, 

Adamawa and Kano. The Hausa 

film industry, popularly known as 

Kannywood also benefitted from his 

artistic expertise. 

Ahmed contributed to many 

cultural journals including African 

Women Drama and performances 

published in 2011. 

Ahmed is also multi-disciplined as 

he ventured into public health with 

skills in Communication for 

Development where he contributed 

immensely to addressing maternal, 

newborn, child health and 

•Ahmed M. Ahmed 

reproductive health in northern 

Nigeria when he was seconded to 

work with funded projects of 

USAID, DFID and UNICEF. 

He has written series of 

unpublished plays including The 

Royal Ring, Sins of the Fathers, One 

with a Difference, A Drama of Life, 

and published articles in Nigeria’s 

newspapers such as: Quest for a New 

Vision, Man’s Endless Journey, 

UNICEF for World Posterity, and a 

number of poems (Dying Ember, A 

Simple Dance, Wilted et al). 

His specific areas of expertise 

include community engagement, 

theatre for development, social 

behaviour change communication, 

project management, human 

resource management, and 

evidence-based advocac 

of the book. All these have verifiable 

markers in the real-life experience of 

the poet. 

There are aspects of the book which 

straddles the literary reality of 

intertextuality the book is definitely 

in conversation with the earlier text of 

OkotBitek's Song of Lawino and Song 

of Ocol in subject matter and literary 

style. Another earlier text the book can 

be said to have conversed with is 

Denja Abdullahi's Mairogo, particularly 

the section devoted to the problem 

of women in Northern Nigeria. 

The book in a way also prefigures later 

texts in poetry and prose such as in 

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim latest book, 

Dreams and Assorted Nightmares, a 

collection of short stories, in which a 

particular story(Mororo's Masterpiece) 

focuses on the community philanderer 

prefigures on page 42 of African 

Romance which goes thus: "My 

husband father's children/ Up and 

down in our quarter/ With different 

women/ Who knows his wife." 

The themes that adumbrate the 

narrative is that of love, betrayal as 

well as ethnic divide. The poet talks 

about the Gowon administration that 

tries to bring intra cultural marriages 

to the failure of the cultural issues in 

our various societies.On the whole, it 

is an interesting book that mirrors the 

problems of women in Northern Nigeria 

particularly under marital situation. 

It also touches on the problem 

of inter-ethnic marriages and the immoral 

life of women in urban areas 

where ultimately the dices are loaded 

against the female folk. It is appalling 

that since its release in 2013, in spite 

of its unique narrative style, elegant 

diction and highly accessible language, 

the work has not gained the 

required readership popularity. Is it 

that eroticism in literature, which is 

cleverly embedded in the book, is yet 

to gain acceptance in our world or that 

readers still hold suspect the perception 

of a writer from another place who 

attempts to talk authoritatively of a 

clime other than his or her own? Can 

we attribute the seeming unpopularity 

of the work in spite of its literary 

merit to the failure of promotion and 

literary agency? Finding answers to 

the foregoing questions will help in 

assessing the sociology of the trajectory 

of literary texts in our world. 

In this day and age where performance 

poetry has gained much currency 

and in view of the issues stylistically 

tackled in the book, a stage 

adaptation or performance may be the 

tonic that will lift the book from its 

quiet existence to the forefront of the 

literary audience.


AWE 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Awe Favour Ejiro, 

now wish to be known and 

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note. 

UMEH 

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addressed as Omaehwe 

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I, formerly known as Joy 

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general public take note 

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IRUH 

UCHENDU 

I, formerly known and I, formerly known as Dr. (Mrs) 

addressed as Miss Iruh Ifeoma Egoabunwa Amara Obianuju 

Stella, wish to be known and Uchendu, now wish to be known as 

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BEAUTY AN 

OR 

UKACHUKWU EF 

I, formerly known as I, formerly known as 

Eruonasere Beauty, now wish Ukachukwu Solomon Ekene, 

to be known as Newton now wish to be known as 

Beauty. All former documents 

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CHUKWUEMEKE 

UDEGBUNEM 

My name was wrongly spelt on some I, formerly known as Miss 

of my documents as Chukwuemeke 

Amaka Augustina Udegbunem, 

Gift Ogochukwu and Chukwuemeka 

Gift Ogochukwu, instead of now to be known as Mrs 

Chukuemeke Gift Ogochukwu, My Onuoha Amaka Augustina. All 

correct name remains Chukuemeke former document remain 

Gift Ogochukwu. All former 

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general public please take note. take note. 

EKWEALOR ENEGIDE MUSA 

I, formerly known and This is to confirm that I, *JOY 

addressed as Miss Ekwealor MUSA* , am the same person 

Oluchi Felicia now wish to be 

bearing *JOY MUSA 

known and addressed as Mrs 

SHALLANGWA*. All 

Okafor Oluchi Felicia. All 

former documents remain documents remain valid. The 

valid, general public please general public should please 

take note. 

take note. 

OW IDONIJE 

OKORO 

This is to confirm that the name I, formerly known and addressed as 

Charity Uwidia and Charity Idonije 

Okoro Blessing Chidinma, now 

refer to me. Inow wish to be known 

as Mrs. Charity Ohiole Uwidiawish 

to be known and addressed as 

Idonije. University of Benin, Okechukwu Blessing Chidinma. All 

National Identity Management 

Commission and general public take 

former documents remain valid, 

note. 

general public please take note. 

OKENWA 

OPEYEMI OBIE 

I, formerly known as Okenwa I, formerly known and addressed as 

Chinagorom Rosemary Now Abdulsalam Shakiroh Opeyemi 

wish to be known, Called and Now wish to be known and 

addressed as Umeh addressed as Salami Sakirat 

Chinagorom Rosemary. Opeyemi. All former documents 

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valid. Public note 

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ABUBAKAR 

USMAN 

AI 

METSETSE 


addressed as Metsetse Rita 

Baby, wish to be known and 

addressed as Mene Rita. All 

other documents remain valid. 


NWONU 


Nwonu Ugochi Favour, now 

wish to be addressed as Mrs 

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documents remain valid. general 

public take note 

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I, formerly known as Elohor 

Judith Akpokoraye, now wish 

to be known as Elohor Judith 

Edeki. All former documents 



IYOMI 


Iyomi Nyerhovwo, now to be 

known as Mrs Anighoro 

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document remain valid, 

general public please take 

note. 

NWOSU 


addressed as Miss Nwosu 

Chisom Laeticia, now wish to 

be known and addressed as Mrs 

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formal documents remain 

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ABDUL 

I, formerly known as ABDUL 

YAKUBU, now wish to be known 

as ABDULLAHI YAKUBU. My 

correct date of birth is 22/06/1994. 

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UGBENI 

UBA 

I, formerly known and addressed as 

I, formerly known as Uba 

Miss Dorathy Choivwe Ugheni, 

Zaria, now wish to be known 


and addressed as Muhammad 

addressed as Mrs. Dorathy Ugheni 

Sani Abubakar. All former 

Okorogri. All former documents 


remain valid. General public please 


take note. 

note. 

AGBO AI 

SALIHU 




I, formerly known as 

addressed as Mrs Anthonia 

addressed as ABUBAKAR 

addressed as USMAN Abdulsalam Salihu, now wish 

Agbo now wish to be known ISIYAKU ALHAJI, now wish CHRISTY, now wish to be to be known and addressed as 

and addressed as Mrs Anthonia to be known and addressed as known and addressed as Alamin Ahmad. All former 

Joseph. All former documents ABUBAKAR ISIYAKU. All USENI CHRISTY USMAN. 


remain valid. Access Bank former documents remain All former documents remain 

PLC and General public please valid, general public please 


valid, general public please 

take note. 

take note. 

take note. 

note. 

UKWEZI OG 

ESHIAKA 

OLANIYI 

OKOLI 

I, formerly known and In my SSCE, my name was wrongly I, formerly known and addressed as I, formerly known and 

addressed as Ethelbath captured as Eshiaka Edith, instead TOLOWODUN BEN OLANIYI, addressed as OKOLI OGE JOY, 

Ifeanyichukwu I. Ukwezi, now of Isiaka Edith, My BVN and NIN is 



wish to be known and addressed carrying Hammed Edith Ayomide. 

addressed as OKORIE OGE 

addressed as TOLOWODUN BEN 

as Ukwezi Ifeanyi Ethelbath. Now I want to be known as Isiaka 

JOY. All former documents 

CHARLES. All former documents 

All former documents remain Edith. All former documents bearing 

remain valid. Banks, 

valid. General public please the former names remain valid, general remain valid. General public should Concerned Authorities and the 

take note. 

public should take note. 

take note. 

general public to take note. 

OKORIE ADAMU 

UCHE ANI 

I, formerly known and called I, formerly known as Ibrahim I, formerly known as UCHE I, formerly known as ANI, 

GRACE UZOAMAKA OKORIE Adamu, now wish to be known MICHAEL ELUU and OGOCHUKWU EUNICE. 

MICHAEL GABRIEL Now wish to be known as 

now wish to be known and as Marwan Abubakar 

UCHE. Now wish to be known ANI, OGOCHUKWU 

addressed as GRACE UZOAMAKA Muhammad. All documents 

as GABRIEL ELUU UCHE. VICTORY . All documents 

SANTALI.All former documents bearing my former name All documents bearing my bearing my former name 

remain valid,Relevant authority and remain valid. The general former name remain valid. remain valid. The general 

the general public take note. public should please take note. The general public take note. public take note. 

AMUKE 


Amuke Oghenevwede Rita, 

now wish to be known as Mrs. 

Ayala Rita Oghenevwede. All 


valid. Concerned authorities 

and the general public should 


MODJOTA UZOH 


addressed as Uzoh Chizobam 

Cynthia, wish to be known 

and addressed as Collins Uzoh 

Chizobam Cynthia. All 


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BUSARI 

I, formerly known as Busari 

Oluwatoyin, now wish to be 

known as Dada Oluwatoyin 

Aramide. All former 



note. 

IWEBEMA DORCAS 


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OGUCHE DE 


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Now wish to be known and 

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TRACY 


addressed as Elakaphe Tracy, 


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MOHAMMED 

This is to inform the general public 

that my name was wrongly captured 

in my bank and bvn as Mohammed 

Makama and on my bvn is Muhammad 

Makama my correct name is 

Muhammad Surajo Makama. All 

authority concerned should take 

note. 

YUNUSA 

I, formerly known as Yushau 

Yunusa, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mohammad 

Faisal. All former documents 



ODIANA 


addressed as Odiana Eriata now 

wish to be known and addressed 

as Odiana Williams-Eriata. All 


valid. General public take note 

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I, formerly known as HUSENI 

MUDI, now wish to be known 

as HUSSEINI MUDI. My 

correct date of birth is 16/05/ 

1994 not 10/06/1989. All 

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NZETE 


addressed as Nzete Esther 

Ishioma, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Mrs 

Nwadugbo Esther Ishioma. All 


valid. General public please 

take note. 

IKECHI 

I, formerly known as Ikechi 

Doris Chioma, now wish to be 

known as Mrs. Ernest Doris 

Chioma. All former 



note. 

AJILEYE 

I, formerly known as Omotola 

Olabisi Ajileye, now wish to 

be known as Omotola Olabisi 

Adebesin. All former 



note. 

IVIE 


Miss Ivie Precious Imuentinyan, 


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Precious. All former documents 

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AKUOMA 

I, formerly known as Chinagu 

Precious Akuoma, now wish 

to be known and addressed as 

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please take note 

ORIGBO 


Miss Origbo Omamomoyavwie 

Gloria, now wish to be known and 

addressed as Mrs Omamomoyavwie 

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public please take note. 

ANYIAM 

I, formerly known as 

ANYIAM YEOMA, now 

wish to be known and addressed 

as IFEANYI IJEOMA 

FELISTA. All former 

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EFFA 

I, formerly known and addressed As 

EFFANGA, UMO-GLORIA EFFA, 

now wish to be known as UMO 

IMOH AKWANG. All documents 

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Any other concerned authority and 

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OFFOR 

We, the following wish to 

change our family name from 

OFFOR to my direct name 

CHINEDU. Our names are as 

follows: 

Chinedu Chukwuebuka 

Jeremiah; Chinedu 

Chukwuemeka Jeffery; 

Chinedu Chiamaka Janet, 

Chinedu Chukwuebuikem 

Justice, Chinedu Jennifer 

Chimamanda, Chinedu Jessica 

Chiziterem. All former 


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C 

M 

Y 


32 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17 , 2021 


:@vanguardnews 

Jonathan backs Govs' Forum on state 

synergy 


BENIN CITY—FORMER 

President Goodluck 

Jonathan, yesterday, threw his 

weight behind the Nigeria 

Governors Forum, NGF, 

saying that the forum remains 

the best platform to discuss 

issues affecting the country. 

Jonathan, who spoke in 

Benin City, Edo State, where 

he attended the 50th Birthday 

anniversary of the General 

Overseer of Rock of Ages 

Christian Assembly 

International, RACAI, Benin, 

Pastor Charles Osazuwa, 

posited that the antagonism 

between the Southern 

Insecurity: Anglican church asks Buhari 

to convoke National Peace Dialogue 

By Jimitota 

Onoyume 

WARRI—CHURCH of 

Nigeria, (Anglican 

communion) has called on 


Buhari to urgently convoke a 

National Peace Dialogue to 

evolve solutions to the myriad 

of challenges already 

threatening national peace. 

Rt. Reverent Christian Ide 

in his Bishop’s charge 

delivered to the third session 

of the 13 synod of the Anglican 

Diocese of Warri, Delta State, 

with the theme “ Symbols of 

the Holy spirit: 

understanding /experiencing 

more of him “, said the country 

was drifting towards the 

direction of large conflicts, 

thus making it expedient for 

an urgent National Peace 

Dialogue to rescue the ugly 

trend. 

“The preferred Chief 

By Festus Ahon 

A Leader SABA—MINORITY 

of the Federal 

House of Representatives and 

member representing Aniocha/ 

Oshimili Federal Constituency, 

Mr Ndudi Elumelu, weekend, 

flagged off empowerment 

programme with 456 

beneficiaries drawn from the 

Constituency. 

Delta State Governor, Dr 

Ifeanyi Okowa who flagged off 

the distribution and 

presentation of the 

empowerment items, 

commended Mr Ndudi Elumelu 

for the gesture, adding that it 

would help lift the people out of 

the poverty level. 

While encouraging other 

representatives and well 

meaning Deltans to emulate Mr. 

facilitator of this national 

peace dialogue should be our 


Buhari. Nigeria is moving 

towards large conflicts that 

are beyond the current 

terrorism being unleashed in 

the country “ , he said. 

“The AK 47 wielding 

herdsmen are moving in their 

large numbers into the South 

west, South east and South 

south which is already having 

its negative effects on the 

socio-economic wellbeing of 

the nation”, he added. 

“The state of human 

insecurity in Nigeria is almost 

at an explosion point. In the 

last three months, no fewer 

than 25 Police stations have 

been burnt in the South east 

and South south regions of 

the country while 67 security 

men have been killed “ 

“This underscores the need 

for an urgent National Peace 

Dialogue to be facilitated by 

our President “, he said 

“The dialogue should be 

honest enough whose outcome 

will not be subjected to the 

institutions under the 1999 

constitution”, he added. 

Continuing, the church said 

insurgency and the twin 

problem of banditry and 

kidnapping had resulted in 

closure of schools , businesses 

in the northern part of the 

country, stressing that the 

federal government should 

begin to consider state or local 

policing since indigenes were 

more conversant with their 

communities than strangers. 

The church further enjoined 

the Delta State government to 

prevail on some of its 

contractors to deliver quality 

jobs even as it lauded the 

government for the plethora of 

roads so far delivered to the 

state in this administration. 

Elumelu empowers 456 constituents 

Ndudi Elumelu, Okowa said the 

gesture was in the right direction 

and urged the beneficiaries to 

make good use of the items. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr 

Ndudi Elumelu, said the 456 

beneficiaries were drawn from 

various wards across the four 

local government areas in the 

Federal constituency that he 

represents at the Green 

Chamber of the National 

Assembly. 

While listing the 

empowerment items to include; 

111 electricity generating sets, 

90 deep freezers, 148 motorcycles 

and 107 tricycles, he said the 

items would assist the 

beneficiaries engage in some 

form of independent, lucrative 

enterprise. 

The Federal Lawmaker, 

explained that the whole idea 

was to make the beneficiaries 

small business owners who 

would eventually help in 

creating jobs and reducing 

poverty in their immediate 

communities. 

Elumelu said: "I urge the 

beneficiaries to be passionate in 

putting these items into proper 

use and to see this as an 

opportunity to climb to an 

enviable level of prosperity which 

is before you today. 

"Though, it appears 

insignificant, it is my expectation 

that from this small beginning, 

with determination, focus and 

fear of God, you will be able to 

record amazing testimonies, not 

only as employers of labour in 

our communities but also 

providers of essential social 

services to meet some of the 

essential needs of our people". 

Firm launches tech-based betting in Benin 


BENIN CITY—AS part of 

efforts to create jobs through 

lottery, a promoter of mobilelotto, 

Achastele communications 

company Nigeria Limited, at the 

weekend launched a 

technologically advanced 

method of betting for Nigerians 

in Benin City, Edo State. 

Speaking at the launch, 

Managing Director of the 

company, Paul Okojie said the 

game is different from other lotto 

businesses in Nigeria due to its 

unique characteristics of using 

mobile phones to win prizes from 

any part of Nigeria. 

He said, “Edo state is the first 

we want to start from. This is 

Governors Forum and the 

Northern Governors Forum, 

following the former's 

inaugural meeting held in 

Asaba last Tuesday, was 

uncalled for. 

He said: “Coming together 

of all the governors in a 

roundtable to discuss and 

proffer solutions to issues 

affecting Nigeria will go a 

long way in helping the 

president to address some of 

the issues affecting the nation. 

"Governors themselves 

should continue to meet, I 

don’t really love a situation 

where the Northern 

governors will meet then the 

Southern governors will cry 

foul. 

“Then the Southern 

governors will meet then the 

about texting, there is an app 

currently being developed. You 

can also play with your mobile 

phone and will be charged by 

your network provider. 

"The games are classified into 

Nack three, four and five. For 

nack three, you select three 

numbers from zero to 99, then 

nack four, you select four 

numbers from zero to 99, while 

nack five, you select five numbers 

from zero to 39. 

“To play, use your phone to 

type Nack three or four or five 

then input your three or four or 

five likely winning numbers and 

send to a short designated 

number ‘3123’. You will receive 

an acknowledgment or receipt 

of your game containing your 

Northern governors will cry 

foul, that will not help our 

country. 

“The governors through the 

governors forum should meet, 

they are the people who run 

this country, the President is just 

one person in Abuja. 

“The states, especially in a 

country where the local 

governments are very weak, 

it’s the states that people fall 

back to. So, if the governors of 

the states meet and dialogue, 

interrogate things that are 

good for this country, then we 

will move forward." 

He also condemned the 

antagonism among the 

governors, advising that they 

should come together and 

discuss for the sake of the 

country. 

reference number. The reference 

number will be used to identify 

the player. 

“For the winning prizes, If you 

get two numbers for the nack 

three, we pay N5,000. For the 

nack four, if you get three 

numbers, we pay N15,000. If you 

get all five numbers for the nack 

five, we will pay N25,000 and will 

qualify you for the mega game 

which is N1million. 

“For now, we are only with 

9mobile and only subscribers can 

play the game now. We are hoping 

that we will have MTN, Airtel 

and Glo soon,” he said 

He further said that the 

company has met the 

requirements of the National 

Lottery Regulatory Commission 

and other agencies to operate.

C 

M 

Y 



OSHODI-APAPA: I won't surrender to hydra-headed 

gridlock — Sanwo-Olu 

*Lagos bit more than it can chew on Lagos-Badagry expressway 

By Clifford Ndujihe, Politics 

Editor 

IT will be exactly two years 

that Governor Babajide Sanwo- 

Olu took over the reins of governance 

in Lagos on May 29. Two weeks 

to the time, like a brilliant scholar, 

who is in a hurry to show his parents 

his report card, the governor reeled 

out his achievements after 714 days 

in office, saying he would have done 

more but for the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He also spoke on the challenges 

of governing the centre of excellence 

and why Lagos must get it 

right 

*Gov. Sanwo-Olu 

On what he has done and the 

challenges since he became 

governor 

I count our mandate by the days. 

For me, I know what it means to 

sleep and wake up every day and 

you have that huge challenge on 

you. It is a challenge of honour, of 

immense trust and a sense of belief 

that people have given to you. So, 

as tough as the job is and looking 

for that job and asking God to give 

you that job, it is also a very difficult 

job. So, two years into it, how 

would I with all sense of humility 

rate and rank myself? 

I would say that we have actually 

not disappointed the people 

that gave us this mandate. We 

started this government with an 

economic agenda, which I’m sure 

you all know under the THEMES 

programme. And we all went into 

it with full sense of purpose, that 

we would work, break barriers, 

make audacious decisions and we 

would raise the level of governance. 

Unfortunately, COVID-19 came 

in about 15 months ago, slowed us 

down in some areas extensively, because 

Lagos, all throughout, even 

up to now, continues to remain the 

epicentre. But it has actually not 

stopped us from achieving a lot of 

the things we had wanted to achieve 

because we realise that stories and 

excuses cannot be a thing that we’re 

going to put forward. 

So, if I take each of the pillars in 

the THEMES agenda, we have intervened 

extensively in each and 

every one of them. 

The very first one which is traffic 

management and transportation 

was something borne out of what 

we asked our citizens during all of 

these times that what would you 

want us to do first for you and they 

said, just solve the traffic challenge 

for us. They said we should give 

them means of moving from one 

area to another very quickly and 

efficiently. 

So, what have we done? We have 

in the last two years created, on an 

ongoing basis, an opportunity 

where we can utilise the three 

modes of transportation that is 

available for us in Lagos-rail, 

roads and waterways. For the rail, 

we have not completed it, but we 

are certain that before the end of 

our four years tenure, rail will move 

in Lagos. 

Why do we say so? We have spent 

more money in the last two years 

than what we did in the last six 

years and we are confident now 

that we will take that project, two 

of them – the Blue Line, and the 

Red Line, to completion because 

we have seen what we called the 

financial closure. We have direct 

throughputs into how we can raise 

money to complete it. We have ordered 

rolling stock, especially for 

the blue line, which is the one coming 

on phase one from Mile 2 to 

Marina. 

The two terminals that are remaining 

are the Mile 2 terminal 

and the Marina terminal. When 

you are driving in, immediately 

after Marina, you see that there is 

a big hole that they have started 

excavating, that is actually the construction 

for the terminal for Marina. 

And you can see that it is extended 

to right in front of the State 

House, Marina. That will be the 

last parking point for the Blue Line. 

So, we are convinced that we would 

see rail. 

What about the Red Line? 

The Red Line is even the most audacious. 

We are certain that in the 

remaining two years, we would 

have completed 10 stations. We 

have approved to build four overpasses; 

Federal Government is supposed 

to build another four for us 

but we are convinced because we 

have raised finance to build our 

own four overpasses, and the plan 

around the rolling stock is completed 

and is finalised. So, what are 

we saying, we’re saying that in two 

years time, we believe that 

Lagosians will be moving on rail. 

’I’m not throwing in 

the towel but I’m being 

fair. It’s a hydraheaded 

problem. Nigeria’s 

problem is 

pretty much complex 

because we are not 

even producing refined 

oil. So my take is 

this, a fairly short to 

medium term solution 

How about the Bus Rapid 

Transport system? 

For buses, which is the BRT, we’ve 

commissioned over 600 buses in the 

course of two years and before the 

end of this month, we are also 

launching another 100 new high 

capacity buses. We are introducing 

what we call the Last Mile buses 

and we are starting with the first 

350 buses. Almost 500 are around 

but we are starting with the first 350. 

They are small eight to nine-seater 

buses and they are called First Mile 

and Last Mile. 

So, we are intervening in the 

three components of road infrastructure- 

the high capacity, the 

medium capacity and the tactics. 

We do not say that we have all of 

the money, but we want to continue 

to be an enabler in all of these 

things. So, we believe that before 

the end of these two years, by the 

time we add another 100 to it, we 

would have about 700 high capacity 

buses. On the Lagos Ride, we are 

actually building a small assembly 

to it where they will be producing 

because the plan is to have 

about 5000 at the end of the day 

and the work-plan is out. 

The third component of transportation 

is the waterways. We are 

currently building 15 terminals 

concurrently in different parts of 

the state. We have in Liverpool, 

Ebute Ero, Ibeshe, Ita Omu, Okun- 

Aja, we have two in Badagry and 

so on. Six or seven should be completed 

before the end of the year. 

So, what do we see? We see an integrated 

mass transportation system 

where our citizens will have options; 

options of we want to go on a bus, we 

want to go on the rail, or we want to 

go on the waterways. On the waterways 

as well, we are dredging, we are 

putting balls on the navigational system 

so that people will know how to 

navigate. We are also building a command 

and control centre for the waterways 

because we know that is important. 

We have actually bought 

what we call search and rescue boats 

for LASWA. Our command and control 

is going to have cameras in some 

strategic places on the waterways. So 

that, indeed, people can be safe and 

be sure that we are not just throwing 

people into the big body of water 

We are also looking at a single payment 

system for all our transportation 

system where a single card can 

take you on a bus, rail and waterways 

You have done well in rehabilitating 

the Trade Fair Road along 

the Lagos/Badagry expressway, 

when are you taking it to Badagry 

and when do you plan to resolve 

the Apapa issue? 

The problem in Apapa is not the 

roads but the gridlock. Let’s be fair. 

Between Lagos State and Federal 

Government, a lot has been done on 

the roads. But to assure you that 

Badagry and Ojo are also not forgotten, 

we will start work on Buba 

Marwa that takes you to Ijegun jetty 

and we are also starting Ojo, Navy 

Town. Both of them have been 

awarded and I am sure if they are not 

there now, they will be there very soon. 

Straight to Badagry, we are doing 

four roads inside Badagry. But that 

carriage way, let’s say it the way it is. 

Lagos state chewed more than itself. 

This is a federal government highway, 

a transnational West African 

road corridor. Two weeks ago I was 

still in a meeting with the Honourable 

Minister of Works and Housing. 

Lagos State does not have the responsibility 

to carry that burden all 

through to the end. I was here when 

that decision was taken to move that 

road from Iganmu from two lanes 

on each side to five lanes. That’s more 

than 100 per cent what we currently 

have. A lot of people don’t know we 

are building ten lanes. The Badagry 

expressway is 10 lanes from four. 

That’s what we are building. It’s massive. 

What the Federal Government 

now says is that from Okokomaiko, 

they have awarded it up to Agbara. 

Even for them, it’s a big embarrassment 

because on the West African 

route, there’s meant to be a commitment 

around it. They assured us that 

the contractor is there, but I don’t 

know how their own numbers work. 

Sometimes, they spread it within, they 

could be there for as long. That’s what 

I said earlier. People don’t know whose 

responsibility it is. All they know is 

that they don’t fix the roads and it’s 

your name alone they know. So we 

will continue to carry that burden and 

have that conversation with the federal 

government to see what can be 

done. 

But inside Badagry itself, we are 

doing great. And we have not stopped 

on the Badagry expressway. We are 

pushing it. We are in front of LASU 

now. While we appear to be slow is 

because there’s a bridge that we are 

doing now. A massive bridge in front 

of Ojo Cantonment and LASU. It’s a 

massive bridge because they need to 

do connections and all sorts. The 

bridge is there. That’s what has 

slowed the work. So from there they 

will move to Okokomaiko. They have 

done the drainage. We have pleaded 

with them, two weeks ago, that the 

rainy season is coming, let them do 

the necessary palliative so that people 

can have relief while we look for 

money to do this. We are also coming 

to Alaba and Trade Fair. The road 

that leads from inside Trade Fair into 

the market, we are going to do it. And 

I will charge my Igbo brothers to do 

it for them. 

Containers are the issues in Apapa. 

I will be the first to say that we were 

looking at that problem from one angle. 

it’s more than one angle. There’s a 

second angle that is equally as tough 

as the first angle. So we all said that it 

is the containers whether Apapa Port, 

or Tincan Port that’s causing the problem. 

Not only are they the problem 

which we are attempting to solve but 

the tankers are the ones that nobody 

usually talks about. All of the pictures 

that have come out in the last three 

months are all tanker drivers that are 

mostly on the roads. Eighty per cent 

of those pictures are tanker drivers 

and what is the problem? Seventy 

per cent of PMS, in this country 

come from that axis. That’s where 

the water is, the tank farms are, 

that’s where the infrastructure has 

been built. Seventy per cent that 

goes to every part of this country, 

they take their products from that 

place. So on a daily basis, you have 

about 3,000 to 4000 tankers or 

trailers that need to be loaded or 

something. From an engineering 

perspective, It’s a major 

infrastructural problem. From the 

fact that we are not producing the 

oil to the fact that the tank farms 

are built around the same corridor 

that we have the ports. That’s where 

all of them are. Before you say Jack 

Robinson, they NUPENG will say 

they are going on strike. And nobody 

wants to hear there’s no fuel 

in this country. It’s a sabotage. 

Consistently, I have had that conversation 

to say that the same way 

we are controlling the flatbed that 

are carrying the containers if they 

don’t have this or that…they are 

very strong unions. Calls will come 

from everywhere. So, we ask the 

DPR and NNPC, how do you give 

approval? Are they not meant to 

have enough parking space inside 

the tank farms which is what is supposed 

to have been done? If you 

have the capacity to be able to take 

500 trailers or tankers, you should 

at least have 400 parking spaces 

but they don’t have any. So everybody 

is now on the road. 

The Call-Up system that we introduced 

with NPA is only for the 

flatbeds. There is no Call-Up for 

tankers. All the things that we have 

been talking about are containers, 

whether Tincan Port or Apapa Port. 

Once any of the ports does the Call- 

Up for 200 trucks, you must have a 

means to keep the 200 inside because 

once the Call-Up is done, that 

200 trucks must leave and enter the 

premises not that they will get to 

your gate and you start telling a 

long story. And that’s what happens. 

It’s supposed to be electronic. It’s 

supposed to be on your phone.. just 

scan it and boom. But our typical 

Nigerians, we bombard them with 

questions. Even the fact that you 

are having a five-minute conversation 

with that trailer driver is 

queue because you’ve called all of 

them. And it is based on the call up 

that the security operatives and 

LASTMA allow them. So when 

they get there, they get stuck. They 

cannot go back, then the gridlock 

starts. So once you do your Call- 

Up, you must have the capacity to 

take that number inside of your 

premises. 

*Unagha 

What are the solutions? 

It’s you and I that will review it. 

I’m not throwing in the towel but 

I’m being fair. It’s a hydra-headed 

problem. Nigeria’s problem is 

pretty much complex because we 

are not even producing refined oil. 

So my take is this, a fairly short to 

medium term solution. Dangote is 

building a refinery, he’s saying that 

half of the things he can help us distribute. 

We don’t need to come into 

the refinery, he’s building pipes to 

take it to different locations, so it’s 

just plug and play so wherever it’s 

taking it along the waterways. 

Secondly, we are also building 

Lekki ports. Lekki ports for us will 

do two things, it will take bigger vessels 

than we currently have. The 

Apapa Port currently has 4000 

MTU, Lekki port will do 18000 

MTU, meaning it will take four 

times the vessel that currently passes 

Apapa now. Bigger vessels will drop 

these things quicker, but the idea is 

that it turns to a container terminal 

so that it can also supply and hold. 

And we are progressively doing the 

road from Eleko Junction to Epe, 

we are turning it to six lanes from 

two lanes. And from Epe we have 

done the road. Ogun State is also 

doing its own from Ijebu-Ode to 

Epe. So right from Eleko Junction, 

you make a right, you can get out of 

Benin Express road in no time. Epe 

residents are my greatest friends 

now.

STATE OF THE NATION: We’re losing our youths 

to bandits — Nnamani 

*South-East deserves to produce president in 2023 

Highlights 

*Insecurity in South-East anti-Igbo culture 

*Igbo emancipation not dependent on producing 

president 

*Govt losing to bandits on youths’ loyalty 

*Southern governors right on need for conference 

*We need to talk urgently 

*Elite capture of state bedrock of economic inequality, 

rising poverty 

*How porous border, ungoverned large spaces boost 

insecurity 

*Rising population, a looming time bomb 

By Henry Umoru, Assistant 

Politics Editor 

SENATOR 

Chimaroke 

Nnamani, a medical doctor, 

an administrator, and a politician, 

served as governor of 

Enugu State from 1999 to 2007, 

and as Enugu East senator on the 

platform of the Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP from 2007 to 

2011. He was re- elected as a 

senator in 2019 and is currently 

the chairman, Senate Committee 

on Cooperation & Integration 

in Africa/ NEPAD. In this 

exclusive interview with Vanguard, 

Senator Nnamani spoke 

on the state of the nation, the 

Ninth Senate, insecurity in the 

country, the South East, State Police, 

South East 2023 Presidency 

struggle, need for the convocation 

of multi-ethnic conference, 

and youth empowerment commission 

among others. 

Nigeria is facing serious security 

challenges both in the North 

and in the South. Where did we 

actually get it wrong and what is 

your take on the security situation 

in your own zone, the South- 

East? 

Before I go to my own zone, let 

us look at where it all started. We 

have Boko Haram operating out 

of the Chad Basin. We have the 

Islamic State of West African 

Province, ISWAP, operating in 

Niger. We also have the Islamic 

State for the Maghreb. We have 

also the Islamic State of Greater 

Sahara and the Alqaeda faction 

of Maghred. We have the negative 

Fulani herdsmen because 

there are Fulani herdsmen who 

are law-abiding. Then you have 

the so called banditry which is 

local terrorism. To call it banditry 

is to sanitise and colour it. It is 

local terrorism operating essentially 

in the North-West. 

And then, we have recently the 

activities in the South-East and 

then you have the farmers-herders 

conflicts which are also local 

terrorism that has gone through 

North-Central and is now in 

South-West and South-East and 

also part of South-South. And 

then of course kidnapping and the 

age old problems with South- 

South, Niger Delta. 

The Boko Haram insurgency 

has been ongoing for quite some 

time, not much is being talked 

about it, what we are talking 

about is the local terrorism, the 

so called banditry and there are 

several factors. 

One is the border between Niger 

and Nigeria which is specifically 

about 1,497kilometres. It is not 

going to be easy to police such a 

wide border, the border is completely 

porous. We have influx of 

persons from Burkina Faso, Mali 

and of course of Libya, so you 

have inflow of weapons from 

South Sahara and also the Sahel 

region. 

We have wide terrain largely 

unpoliced with thick forest, very 

large spaces that are practically 

ungoverned. We have gap crisis, 

massive inequality, we have poverty, 

we have overstretched the security 

framework, the police and 

the army. We have areas of problem 

with the immigration and 

customs. These are contributory 

factors to the local terrorism also 

called banditry. 

Then you have failed pacts, 

failed agreements between this so 

called bandits and government; 

agreements that failed because the 

bandits don’t have common leadership, 

and the local communities 

were not involved and the 

monies given to them acted as incentives, 

and incentivised them. 

These problems are critical. They 

are terrorists are driven by agitation, 

maybe religious. 

What is going on in the South- 

East needs to be clearly delineated, 

and studied. One thing that is very 

clear is that it is anti-Igbo, it is 

anti-cultural. People sneak at 

night into police stations and burn 

them and burn our infrastructures. 

I condemn it in its entirety. 

It boils down to one issue: 

inclusiveness. In a system where 

some people believe they are oppressed, 

there has to be dialogue 

to address it. If you remember the 

pedagogy of the oppressed, it has 

to be dialogue. There has to be 

some form of dialogue which is 

discussion, conference, cultural 

assimilation, understanding, and 

faith in the system. So this needs 

to be addressed. 

To address the one especially 

in the South-East, what should 

be the level of discourse, dialogue, 

especially by the state 

governors that they are not doing? 

I already told you. Even the 

southern governors’ meeting on 

Tuesday, when they came out with 

their communiqué, they talked 

about convocation of conference 

of nationalities. We need to sit 

down and talk. 

We have gap crisis, massive inequality, 

economic inequality, 

gender inequality, and regional 

inequality. 

Regional inequality is the disparity 

in data in terms of poverty 

between the extreme North and 

the extreme South, where you 

have poverty running from 81 per 

cent down to about 10 to 15 per 

cent. 

Gender inequality is the gender 

gap indices, where Nigeria is 128 

out of 153 countries in terms of 

gender gap indices. Gender gap 

indices look at quality of life, 

things like health affordability, 

educational attainment and economic 

empowerment. 

Traditionally, the African system 

is being built to go against the 

woman. What do they do? Mostly 

unskilled casual labour, there are 

practices where they can’t even 

own lands. So you have areas 

*Senator Nnamani 

where 75 per cent of poor women 

are illiterates, you even have 

states in this country where there 

is 94 per cent illiteracy rate in 

women while 28 per cent of the 

richest men are illiterate, and 75 

per cent of the poorest men are 

not educated. 

You find out that the factors of 

production and labour are skewed 

against the woman and we are 

going to have gender empowerment 

and gender equality. 

In terms of economic inequality, 

we already talked about the 

poverty index and we talked about 

absolute poverty. The situation 

with Nigeria absolute poverty is 

that it has nothing to do with economic 

growth. So even if the 

economy is doing well, the people 

who are absolutely poor still 

stay in that condition; it doesn’t 

affect them. 

If you look at Nigeria in terms 

of GDP, Nigeria economic growth 

rate was about 7 per cent from 

As an Igbo, one of the 

nationalities that make 

up the multi-ethnic state 

of Nigeria, our future, 

our survival does not 

rest on an eight- year 

presidency, it rests 

somewhere else. 

the year 2000 up, yet the poverty 

rate increased from about 69 million 

people poor in 2004 to about 

102million people in 2010. 

You can see that while the country 

was growing, it did not affect 

rate of absolute poverty. Within 

the same period we also had over 

44 per cent increase in millionaires, 

because there is a synergy, 

and partnership between those 

who are politically powerful and 

those who are economically powerful. 

S 

ynergy in the sense that powerful 

policy makers and powerful 

rich people form a synergy, they 

form a partnership, so they skew 

policy in their favour, policies 

that will lead to opportunities and 

economic wealth. 

So you have things like import 

waivers, tax relief even in terms 

of policy. Agriculture employs 

about 50 per cent of the poor people 

and nobody talks about agriculture, 

everybody talks about the 

oil sector where massive money 

is voted for refinery repairs and 

all that stuff. So the policy is 

skewed in favour of the rich and 

that is the problem with economic 

inequality. 

In Nigeria if you look at budgetary 

allocation, education is 

about 6.5 per cent, health is about 

3.5 per cent, social service is 

about 6 per cent. Compare that 

Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 —35 

to a country like Ghana where 

education is about 18 per cent, 

and health is about 13 per cent. 

So, Nigeria’s economic inequality 

is fostered by interest of 

the politically powerful and the 

politically rich with elite capture 

of the state. 

Then we talk about failed expectation 

framework which is also 

part of the frustration, and agitation. 

Our in constitution, Section 

14, 2b says that the primary role 

of government is the welfare and 

security of the people. 

In terms of social contract, those 

who vote for you expect something 

in return for their vote, the 

so called dividends of democracy. 

So, when people invest in democracy, 

in the process, they expect 

returns. There is a failure of that 

social contract, that is failed expectation 

framework. 

You remember the Arab uprising? 

The world is digital. Given 

the effect of social media, it is a 

global world. So as you have 

agitations all over the world, 

within the country there is youth 

restiveness and agitations coupled 

with lack of inclusion, poverty, 

and greater sensitization due 

to failed expectation framework. 

Do you subscribe to amnesty 

for repentant armed bandits and 

Boko Haram insurgents as a way 

forward which some people are 

advocating for? 

What I subscribe to is a plan that 

will attack poverty holistically 

and aggressively. What I subscribe 

to is a plan where it would be unattractive 

for the youths to become 

bandits. 

We talked about failed expectation 

framework, we talked about 

social contract, there is an allegiance 

between the people and 

those who govern them, there is 

loyalty to the state. 

So if loyalty to the state is effective, 

there won’t be loyalty to the 

bandit leader. There is competition 

between the government and 

the terrorist leader for the youths 

that are between 12 and 18. Does 

he become a bandit and become 

loyal to a bandit leader or does 

he remain a responsible citizen 

and become loyal to the government? 

So government has to compete 

in order to maintain that loyalty 

and how do you maintain that 

loyalty? Adult literary education 

for those who fell through the 

cracks, some level of welfare, you 

can give them money for coming 

to the adult literacy class, you can 

give them money for becoming 

good citizens, you attack unemployment; 

unemployment rate is 

between 12 and 21 per cent and 

underemployment is even worse. 

Attack unemployment, provide 

critical infrastructure, provide 

innovative technology, provide 

agrarian loans, provide cottage 

industry, provide some level of entrepreneurship, 

then you won’t 

have bandits in the first place and 

there won’t be any need for amnesty. 

There is a fight for the soul of 

the youth, does the youth become 

a bandit, does the youth become 

a bad citizen or does the youth 

remain a good citizen and stay 

loyal to the government? Government 

has to fulfil its contract. 

Select areas where bandits operate, 

have a registry of the 

youths, provide welfare for them, 

provide adult literacy classes for 

those who fell through the cracks, 

provide jobs, provide small cottage 

industry, provide agrarian 

loans, use the power of government 

and the wealth of government 

to keep them rather than 

allow them to get to the bandits. 

Provide multi conference, 

where the multi-ethnic nationalities 

will get together and trash 

out the problems. The earlier you 

do it the better. That will save you 

the efforts of talking about amnesty 

and ransom. 

Ahead for 2023 there are calls 

for South-East to produce the 

President, what is your take on 

this? 

All regions in Nigeria have the 

wherewithal to produce the president 

including the South-East. 

But you must also remember that 

the Presidency is overrated, it is 

not about Presidency. 

As an Igbo, I know in my heart 

that the fight for effective representation, 

the fight to derive the 

benefits, the largesse of the Nigerian 

state does not rest with the 

Presidency. 

As an Igbo, one of the nationalities 

that make up the multiethnic 

state of Nigeria, our future, 

our survival does not rest on an 

eight- year presidency, it rests 

somewhere else. What will stamp 

Igbo solidly on the history of this 

nation is not on an eight - year 

presidency, it is somewhere else, 

I won’t tell you, you can go and 

find out. It has nothing to do with 

the presidency, the presidency is 

overrated. 

In a society where there is elitist’s 

dysfunction, the presidency 

is personal to who holds the job. 

After all, all the regions have held 

the presidency for over 40 years, 

what is the poverty rate, what is 

the school enrolment rate, what 

is the infant mortality rate, what 

is the maternal mortality rate, 

what is the gender gap indices? 

Even ordinary things like open 

defecation, what is the rate? So it 

has nothing to do with the presidency, 

it is personal, it depends 

on who holds the job. 

In summary, in the context of 

the politics of Nigeria, the Igbo, 

the South-East deserves the 

presidency and should be given 

an opportunity. 

The National Assembly is in 

another round of constitution review, 

outside what you have 

said, what do you think should 

be on the top burner? 

What should be on the top 

burner in Nigeria is the convocation 

of a conference of multiethnic 

nationalities that make up 

Nigeria on basis of equality. 

The resolutions derived from 

there will now be tabled to the 

National Assembly to legislate 

and put into law as a constitution 

with the concurrence of the 

two -third of the states of the country. 

As an elder statesman, what 

is your message to Nigerians 

now? 

My message to Nigeria is that 

these are tough times, these are 

make or break time for the nation 

state. We have to bury our 

differences and put Nigeria first 

and the only way we can do that 

is to provide for an enabling environment 

where every child 

from every ethnic group will have 

equal opportunity to fulfil their 

greatest potential, we need to talk 

and we need to talk urgently. 

Read more on 

www.vanguardngr.com

36—Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 


new weapons, training —IBB 

Continued from page 5 

August 2017, placed an 

order for 12 Tucano 

fighter aircraft valued at 

$593 million, six of which 

government said will be 

delivered in July. 

The money for the Super 

Tucano aircraft was part of 

the $1 billion approved for 

strengthening of the 

military to confront the 

insecurity in the country. 

IBB’s advice not 

taken 

— Afenifere 

Reacting to General 

Babangida’s advice that 

our soldiers should be 

given modern weapons 

and training to combat 

insecurity, Leader of the 

Pan-Yoruba Socio-Political 

Oganisation, Afenifere, 

Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said 

Babangida should not 

pretend because he knew 

that his advice would not 

be taken. 

He said: “Why is he 

(IBB) pretending? Does 

he not know that Buhari 

will not listen? He should 

be bold enough to say 

that Buhari does not take 

advice.” 

IBB knows what 

he’s talking 

about — ACF 

Similarly, Arewa 

Consultative Forum, ACF, 

said Babangida, being a 

former military President, 

knew what he was talking 

about. 

Spokesman of the 

group, Emmanuel Yawe, 

said: “Gen Babangida 

was Chief of Army Staff 

and Commander-in- 

Chief,so he should know 

what is required. ACF 

supports his assertion 

that our soldiers be 

provided with modern 

weapons and training to 

handle the weapons. 

Good advice, but 

not new — CAN 

In its reaction, Christian 

Association of Nigeria, 

CAN, said the advice by 

the former military 

President is good but not 

new. 

He, however, argued 

that many Nigerians had 

made similar calls in the 

past, but the country’s 

leadership had not taken 

such advice seriously. 

Rev. John Hayab, who is 

CAN’s Vice Chairman 

(Northern Region), also 

noted that the Federal 

Government had 

previously budgeted for 

modern military hardware 

and for the training of 

troops with little or 

nothing to show for it. 

He said: “It is true that 

many of the weapons 

Nigerian security 

agencies are using are 

obsolete. The personnel 

also lack some basic skills 

and, therefore, need 

training. 

“Bandits and criminals 

who are terrorising the 

people in the North have 

better weapons and are 

well-trained by their 

sponsors than what our 

security have. 

“So, the call by our 

former President, IBB for 

the military to be given 

modern weapons and be 

trained is good, but not 

new because many 

Nigerians have made 

similar calls. 

“However, due to 

reasons best known to 

those in power, such wise 

counsel were never taken 

seriously and were 

sometimes viewed as 

voices of the opposition 

and also tagged as 

disgruntled elements or 

wailers. 

“Now that a former 

President has added his 

voice on the matter, we 

hope something concrete 

will be done. Though we 

have been told that money 

was voted for weapons 

that are not anywhere to 

be found now, any new 

release of funds for 

weapons when the last 

funds has not yet been 

accounted for could also 

disappear. 

“Nonetheless, our 

military really needs our 

support as IBB said, but 

those in power, at the 

federal, state and local 

government levels must 

do something serious to 

win the trust of the 

general public which will 

help boost the people’s 

support for our military.” 

New equipment 

can’t revive 

dampened 

morale 

— Ohanaeze 

Also reacting Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo, however, said no 

amount of equipment 

could revive the already 

dampened spirit of the 

soldiers. 

Ohanaeze blamed the 

poor performance of the 

military on the nepotism 

being exhibited by 

President Buhari in his 

appointments, including 

the service chiefs. 

“The only solution is for 

President Buhari to begin 

to reverse some of his 

policies 

and 

appointments because 

they are the cause of the 

problems in the country, 

including in the armed 

forces. 

“How can you have 

such lopsided 

appointments in the 

service chiefs and you 

expect the troops to have 

high spirits to fight? They 

are human beings. The 

nepotism is too much, in 

every aspect of the 

nation’s sector,” said Alex 

Ogbonnia, spokesman of 

the group. 

Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (3rd left); Delta Governor, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa 

(2nd right); Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo (right); Senator Matthew 

Urhoghide (left); Bishop Abraham Chigbudo (2nd left); Pastor Charles Osazuwa (middle), his wife, 

Deborah Osazuwa, (3rd right) with Birthday Cake for Charles Osazuwa at his 50th Birth Anniversary 

Thanksgiving Service at Rock of Assembly Christian Assembly International, Benin City, yesterday. 

Photo: Jibunor Samuel. 

He said unless the 

security architecture of the 

country is reversed and 

balanced by the President, 

no amount of modern 

equipment procured for 

the military will ginger 

their morale. 

He said: “What is 

needed is to correct the 

security architecture of the 

the country; appointments 

should be devoid of 

nepotism; it must reflect 

federal character and 

merit. The same thing for 

other appointments. 

Buhari should reverse all 

the 

lopsided 

appointments he had 

been making. He is the 

one causing the problem 

of insecurity. 

“Buhari is the one 

lionizing Nnamdi Kanu 

and other agitators. His 

nepotism in all his 

appointments are the 

main cause of the tensions 

in the country. 

“Look at all the police 

commissioners in the 

South East, all of them, 

except Abia, are from the 

North. The same thing 

with military formations. 

Is that how to run a 

country? 

IBB’s advice 

critical 

— PANDEF 

Also reacting, the Pan 

Niger Delta Forum, 

PANDEF, said the advice 

offered President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

from an elder statesman 

like General Babangida is 

critical to the peace of the 

nation. 

National Publicity 

Secretary of PANDEF, 

Ken Robinson, in Port 

Harcourt yesterday, also 

stated that Nigerians are 

now vulnerable in the 

hands of criminals, calling 

on the Federal 

Government to heed the 

advice. 

Robinson said: “He is a 

former head of state. We 

assume that he knows 

what he is talking and for 

civilians like us, training 

and re-training is 

essential. 

“Upgrading of 

ammunition and training 

for the military personnel 

is critical. We know the 

level of security 

challenges in the globe. 

His suggestion is most 

appropriate of course and 

that is what we have been 

saying. The Nigeria 

Government should 

accommodate views and 

opinions from wellmeaning 

Nigerians. 

“The Government 

should stop isolating 

itself. Suggestions like 

this shouldn’t be taken for 

granted, and the right 

thing should be done. 

“There is dissolution in 

the military. They are 

vulnerable now. They are 

being killed by some 

elements for whatever 

reasons that are not 

acceptable on daily basis. 

“The government 

should take this advice 

seriously and the best 

attention, welfare and 

care should be given to 

the military.” 

Don’t 

ignore 

F OLLOWING 

c r e d i b l e 

intelligence, troops of 

Operation Hadin Kai 

have bombarded a mass 

gathering of Boko 

Haram fighters at 

Dawuri village in the 

Konduga Local 

Government Area of 

Borno State, killing 40. 

Sources said the 

terrorists were planning 

to execute coordinated 

attacks around 

Maiduguri and its 

environ when the 

Nigerian Army launched 

massive artillery gun 

bombardment on their 

camps. 

IBB’s call — NEF 

On its part, the 

Northern Elders Forum, 

NEF, faulted the Federal 

Government’s approach 

in handling the issues of 

defence, security and law 

and order. 

The Forum urged the 

Buhari administratiion to 

ensure that the advice by 

former military president, 

Gen. Ibrahim Babangida 

for equipping soldiers 

with modern weapons 

and training was not 

ignored. 

NEF’s spokesman, Dr. 

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, 

said: “Under all 

circumstances, the advice 

of President Babangida 

should be accorded the 

highest consideration. 

‘He is not given to 

advising Presidents 

outside the most 

confidential settings. The 

substance of his advice, 

which acknowledges 

major deficiencies in our 

military’s capacities, is 

fairly well-known, but few 

persons in his place have 

addressed them. 

“It is an advice that must 

not be ignored because it 

Army kill 40 terrorists in 

artillery bombardments 

A military intelligence 

officer involved in the 

operation disclosed that 

the pre-emptive strike by 

the army was undertaken 

after obtaining 

intelligence on the 

movement of the fighters 

and the interception of 

their communication. 

“Apart from credible 

information from the 

people on the 

movements of the 

terrorists, we were able 

to intercept their 

communication and 

devilish plans to attack 

Maiduguri and its 

environ. 

“Their ugly plans were 

reinforces the concerns 

that our military needs 

massive injections of 

additional technical, 

manpower and other 

professional 

requirements, if it is to 

carry the increasing 

burdens it is being asked 

to shoulder. 

“There are other related 

matters that should also 

be addressed. The need 

to re-invent policing and 

related agencies that 

should deal with internal 

security challenges is a 

major and an urgent 

priority. So is corruption 

in all our defence, 

security and law and 

order institutions. 

“There are major issues 

with our country’s ability 

to procure weapons that 

our leadership is aware of. 

They must be addressed. 

We are talking about the 

foundations of our very 

existence as a country 

here, and the fact that 

leaders of the calibre of 

President Babangida are 

raising issues around 

them should alert the 

country over threats and 

our abilities to deal with 

them.” 

thwarted when the 

Nigerian Army launched 

an Artillery gun 

bombardment within the 

general area and luckily 

strike the mass 

gathering of the 

terrorists killing at least 

40 of them while others 

escaped with various 

degrees of injury. 

“The acting General 

Officer Commanding 7 

Division of the Nigerian 

Army, Brigadier General 

Abdulwahab Eyitayo, 

was so excited that he 

sent words of 

commendations and 

encouragements to the 

troops for the latest feat.”


Alisson wonderland! 

Liverpool keep Champions League hopes alive 

EID-EL-FITR CELEBRATION: Mallam Jaafaru Munir Jaafaru, son of 

Alhaji Munir Jaafaru, during the Eid-el-Fitr Sallah hawan Barikin 

celebration in Zaria, yesterday. Photo:Olu Ajayi. 

DONATION: Special Circle of Friends International, SCOFI, donates to Arrow of God 

Orphanage in Ajah, Lekki, Lagos to mark the non-governmental organisation's first 

anniversary. 

LAUNCHING: From left, Oluitan Mofiyin, Brand Manager, Snacks, UAC 

Plc; Adebola Williams, General Manager, Marketing, UAC Plc; Mrs 

Roseline Nwana, Lagos Distributor; Chris Towoju, General Manager, 

Sales, UAC Plc; and Mrs Agnes Okuakwa, Lagos Distributor during launch 

of the new Gala Spicy and Gala Classic variants. in Lagos. 

AWARD: Forensic expert, Mr Victor Dogubo (left) presenting the award of Nigeria 

Society and Security, NSAS, to Mrs Angela Ukponmwan, a safety personality 

recipient, at 8th edition of NSAS Award, at Abiola Gardens, Alausa, Ikeja. 

L IVERPOOL 

goalkeeper Alisson 

did what his team-mates 

couldn’t - and produced the 

goal that keeps Jurgen 

Klopp’s Champions 

League hopes alive. 

West Brom boss Sam 

Allardyce looked to have 

frustrated Liverpool again 

by stretching his unbeaten 

run against the Reds to six 

games. It was going take 

something special to beat 

relegated Albion - and 

that’s exactly what 

happened. 

With Liverpool wasting 

chance after chance, it 

seemed their top-four 

hopes were about to take a 

huge dent. 

But a stoppage time 

corner saw Alisson race 

upfield to take his place in 

the Baggies box. And when 

•As Covid-19 cases continue 

to grow in the country 

Almost 60 per cent of 

people in Japan 

believe the Tokyo Olympic 

and Paralympic Games 

should be cancelled, 

according to a study on 

Sunday, as coronavirus 

infections surge across the 

country and anti-Olympics 

protests continue. 

A total of 59.7 per cent 

stated that in a two-day 

Kyodo News telephone 

survey, which also found 

more than a quarter, 25.2 

per cent, felt the Games 

should happen without 

fans, with 12.6 per cent 

wanting them to go ahead 

but with limited fan 

numbers. 

The results demonstrate 

rising opposition to holding 

the sporting event, put on 

hold from its planned start 

CHELSEA loanee Victor Moses snatched an all-important 

equaliser for Spartak Moscow to qualify on final day of 

season in Russia for UEFA Champions League football next 

season. Victor Moses salvaged a crucial point against Akhmat 

Grozny seven minutes from time. 

He got to the end of a pass on the 

edge of the box before he let fly a shot 

into the left corner of the net for scores 

to be leveled at 2-2. He thus finished 

the season with four goals and two 

assists. Spartak recorded 57 points 

from 30 games to finish as runnersup 

behind champions Zenit Saint 

Petersburg to earn them passage to 

the Champions League. 

The Moscow club have the option 

to now buy Victor Moses 

permanently following the end of his 

loan spell. 

North Korea withdraws from World Cup qualification 

The Asian Football 

Confederation has 

announced North Korea has 

pulled out of qualification for 

the 2022 World Cup. 

“The (AFC) yesterday 

confirmed the withdrawal of 

the DPR Korea Football 

Association from the Asian 

Qualifiers,” the AFC said in 

a statement. 

Pyongyang has not yet 

given an official reason for 

pulling out of next month’s 

qualifiers for the tournament, 

to be held in Qatar in 

November and December 

2022, but South Korean 

WBA 1 – 2 Liverpool 

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 

corner came in, the 

Brazilian was there to head 

home and spark wild 

celebrations on the Reds 

bench. 

Allison became only the 

media has reported that it is 

because of concerns over 

COVID-19. 

Due to the spread of the 

virus, there have been no 

qualifiers in Asia since 

November 2019 and in order 

to reduce travel as the games 

resume, the AFC has ruled 

that all group matches in the 

second round of qualification 

will be played in hubs. 

South Korea is scheduled to 

host North Korea, 

Turkmenistan, Lebanon and 

Sri Lanka in Group H 

qualifying matches from June 

3-15 in the city of Goyang, 

SIXTH keeper in Premier 

League history to find the 

net - and the first to score a 

winner. The goal came just 

three months after the 

death of Allison’s father, 

Jose, who drowned aged 

just 57, who he dedicated 

the goal to. 

60 per cent of people in Japan want Tokyo 

Olympics CANCELLED 

in summer 

2020 due to the 

impact of the 

pandemic, in 

the current 

context of a fourth wave of 

infections including more 

contagious variants. 

Despite Olympic 

organisers already ruling 

out any overseas fans to 

avoid spreading Covid-19, 

87.7 per cent of those 

studied expressed concern 

that the mass arrival of 

athletes and staff could 

spread the virus. 

A survey in April showed 

39.2 per cent wanted the 

event to be cancelled, with 

32.8 per cent keen for it to 

be rescheduled and just 

24.5 per cent happy for it to 

continue as planned. 

Victor Moses lifts Spartak 

Moscow to Champions League 

Lobi Stars 

senior official 

resigns 

A senior official of Lobi 

Stars of Makurdi, Divine 

Ogbonnaya, has resigned 

his appointment with the 

former NPFL champions. 

In a statement he 

personally signed, 

Ogbonnaya, who until his 

resignation was the 

Management consultant to 

the team said he’s calling it 

quit because the 

environment was no longer 

conducive for him to work. 

“I’ve served Lobi Stars for 

almost eight years and it’s 

time for me to move on. I’m 

leaving the team with lots 

of experience having 

worked with different 

managers in my stint with 

the team. Sadly, I’ve to 

move on because the 

atmosphere was no longer 

conducive for me to achieve 

the aim I joined the team,” 

he said. 

Ogbonnaya thanked the 

Benue State government, 

the management of Lobi 

Stars and the people of 

Benue State for the 

opportunity to serve and 

promised to make himself 

available in future is the 

right environment is 

provided. 

just north of Seoul. With three 

games remaining, North 

Korea was in fourth in Group 

H of qualification, level on 

eight points with Lebanon 

and South Korea and one 

behind leader Turkmenistan. 

Only the group winners are 

guaranteed a place in the 

third round of qualification, 

scheduled to start in 

September, along with the 

four best runners-up. 

The AFC said that it will 

refer the decision on how the 

withdrawal will affect Group 

H standings to world 

governing body FIFA.


Kanu: Iheanacho, Ndidi can win more trophies 

Nwankwo Kanu has said 

that Saturday's FA Cup 

triumph can help Nigeria 

duo Kelechi Iheanacho and 

Wilfred Ndidi to kick on and win 

more trophies at club and 

international level. 

Both players made major 

contributions in Leicester City's 

cup run, culminating in the 

triumphant scenes at Wembley 

after they edged Chelsea 1-0 to 

claim a first ever FA Cup title 

for the club and the duo 

themselves. 

Kanu, who won the FA Cup 

with Arsenal (twice) and 

Portsmouth as well as Olympic 

gold with Nigeria, was thrilled 

for them. 

"It is wonderful to see them as 

FA Cup champions," the former 

Nigeria captain told ESPN. 

"They needed to go for it and they 

did. Congratulations to them, 

they did really well. 

"This will now give them the 

belief that they can go and do 

more. When you win one, you 

want to win another and another 

one. At least you know that you 

have won the FA Cup. The next 

thing now is to look for more 

trophies and it gives them more 

confidence and more 

Osimhen, 

Napoli move 

one win away 

from 

Champions 

League football 

Victor Osimhen played for 84 

minutes to help Napoli beat 

Fiorentina 2-0 in the Italian Serie A 

and move just one win away from 

securing Champions League 

football next season. 

Napoli went into the clash, 

knowing a win would put them 

back into the top four ahead of 

the final round of games next 

weekend. 

And they did just that, with 

Osimhen playing a vital role. 

The 

international led the 

line well and was 

tireless with his 

pressing. 

He also had a 

100% pass 

accuracy, 

completing all of 

his 12 passes. 

Although he did 

not score, he 

managed one 

shot off target 

and had a hand in 

the second goal. 

The opening 

half of the 

encounter 

lacked fireworks, 

but it came alive 

in the second 

half as Napoli 

took the lead in 

Nigerian 

the 56th 

m i n u t e 

through 

Lorenzo 

Insigne’s 

rebound from his 

spot-kick initially saved. 

Gennaro Gattuso’s men then 

made sure of the points in the 67th 

minute after Lorenzo Venuti 

deflected Piotr Zielinski’s shot into 

his net. 

Osimhen’s pinpoint cross found 

Insigne to fire a shot that came off 

Venuti into the net. 

The win takes Napoli back into 

the top four after Juventus briefly 

overtook them following a 3-2 win 

over Inter Milan on Saturday. 

Gennaro Gattuso’s men are now 

just one win away from sealing their 

place in the top four, and they can 

achieve that in the final game of 

the season against Hellas Verona 

next weekend. 

•Ndidi and Iheanacho 

encouragement and the belief 

that they can do anything and 

win against anybody." 

Winning the FA Cup comes as 

something of a personal 

triumph for Iheanacho, who has 

endured really trying times since 

joining the Foxes from 

Manchester City in the summer 

of 2017. 

The forward struggled to 

establish himself in the side and 

things got so bad that Nigeria 

coach Gernot Rohr not only 

questioned his attitude to work, 

but left him out of the squad for 

the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations 

in Egypt. 

Onuachu can't stop scoring 

•Nets 33rd goal of the season 

Paul Onuachu scored his 33rd league goal 

of the season, but Cyriel Dessers scored 

the winner as Genk overcame Anderlecht by 

two goals to one at Lotto Park. 

Onuachu had scored the equaliser in the 

reverse fixture on Wednesday, and 

he picked up from where he left 

by firing in the opener in the 

16th minute. 

It’s the Nigerian 

international’s 33rd 

strike in the Belgian 

top-flight this season 

(29 in the regular 

•Onuachu 

season and four in 

the playoff 

rounds). The 26- 

year-old also has 

three goals in the 

Belgian Cup, 

including the winner 

against Standard Liege 

ep Guardiola has admitted 

Ppicking the Manchester City 

side for the Champions League final 

against Chelsea will be one of the 

toughest calls he will make in his five 

•Osimhen 

years at the club. 

City play possibly the biggest game 

in their history against the Blues in Porto 

on May 29, and Guardiola - who has rested 

and rotated heavily throughout this season 

- admitted he had not fully decided the 

line-up or tactical setup. 

The Spaniard also told the Manchester 

City website he had two options for how 

the team would play against Thomas 

Tuchel's side, who beat them in the league 

on May 8 and in the FA Cup semi-final on 

April 17. 

He said: 'I have an idea. I know how we play, but I have two options, 

we will see. I am not clear so these three games will tell me about their 

momentum and the chances they have to play. 

'They (the players) want it. They will kill me to play, I know it. It's 

nice and everyone can do it. It will be an incredibly tough decision for 

me, but I have to analyse the opponent and we will try. 

'It's tough in a normal game to tell players they aren't playing, so, 

can you imagine Champions League final? But the players we have a 

good relationship and it's a business, I'm sorry.' 

Guardiola stated he would judge the best starting line-up based on 

the next two Premier League games and training sessions, picking 

those who can handle pressure the best. 

Genk reject Lazio's 25m 

euros offer for him 

enk have turned down a 25 

Gmillion Euros bid for Belgium 

Goal King Paul Onuachu, insisting 

in the final. 

Meanwhile, Onuachu was 

not the only Nigerian on 

target on the night, as Dessers 

scored the winner for Genk 

after Lukas Nmecha had 

restored parity for Anderlecht. 

The former Utrecht striker 

was brought in from Heracles 

last summer after finishing as 

the joint top scorer in the 

Dutch league last season. 

Although he has been 

overshadowed by his 

compatriot this season, he 

came on for him in the 76th 

minute and scored the winner 

ten minutes later. 

The Belgian-born Nigerian 

forward has now scored five 

goals in 30 league 

appearances for John van den 

Brom’s men. 

Champions League final: 

Guardiola admits team 

selection headache 

against Chelsea 

He added: 'The players follow the 

manager because you win. If you don't win 

they leave you alone except a few 

exceptions. That depends on personality. 

That's why today I observe the next few 

games and again in training. 

'I have to see the way I want to play and 

defend, the mentality, the guys who handle 

the pressure and in that moment try to be 

honest with myself and the team and do 

the best selection possible knowing we have 

five substitutions available in the final. 

'Everyone has to be ready because in a 

final many things can change or happen.' 

•Guardiola 

he is worth far more. 

Onuachu netted his 33rd goal in 

the league Saturday night to help 

Genk win at Anderlecht and keep 

their championship hopes intact. 

A report by Dave Peters at Eleven 

Sports now has it that Serie A club 

Lazio are willing to pay as much as 

25 million Euros for the 26-year-old 

striker. 

But KRC Genk did not accept and 

are holding out for at least 30 million 

Euros for the high-scoring Onuachu. 

He cost the Belgian club six million 

Euros two years ago. 

Lazio are not the only team who 

have shown interest to sign 

Onuachu. 

Last winter, French Ligue 1 side 

Olympique Lyon made a bid for 

Onuachu, while Scottish giants 

Celtic Glasgow also have their eyes 

on the free-scoring top striker. 

NPFL: Ahmed 

Musa helps Pillars 

to a vital win 

S 

uper Eagles captain Ahmed 

Musa showed his quality in his 

first game since rejoining Kano 

Pillars by leading them to a 1-0 win 

over Adamawa United. 

Musa missed the 1-1 draw against 

Warri Wolves last weekend but was 

handed a start yesterday evening. 

Before kickoff, the ex-Leicester City 

man received the armband from 

Pillars captain Rabiu Ali and it 

inspired the team to a vital victory. 

Pillars dominated the game from 

start but could not find the 

breakthrough in the opening half. 

The second half followed a similar 

pattern until Pillars were offered a 

lifeline in the 70th minute after Ali 

was fouled in the box. 

However, the veteran midfielder 

could only send the resultant spotkick 

wide, leaving Pillars frustrated. 

It looked like the game was heading 

for a draw until Musa showed his 

quality in the 80th minute. 

The former Al-Nassr man found 

Ali with a brilliant ball, who then 

fired home to make amends for his 

earlier penalty miss. It was a goal 

that kept Pillars in the second 

position but level on points with 

leaders Akwa United. 

Meanwhile, in other games, there 

were four away wins, with MFM’s 

2-0 win at Warri Wolves the pick of 

the bunch. 

Rivers United also stunned 

Rangers of Enugu at home, 

Nasarrawa United won 2-1 at Wikki 

Tourist, while Akwa United were 2- 

0 winners at Dakkada FC. 

18-year-old 

Rhasidat Adeleke 

sets new Irish 

200m record 

RENHANCED HASIDAT 

her reputation ADELEKE 

as 

a major athletics prospect by 

becoming the fastest Irish woman 

in history over 200 metres last night 

in Manhattan. 

Adeleke ran a new national record 

of 22.96 to win her heat while 

competing for the University of 

Texas at the Big 12 Championship. 

The talented Dubliner, who 

doesn’t turn 19 until August, 

bettered the previous 200m best of 

22.99, which was set by Phil Healy 

in July 2018. 

Adeleke is also now second 

behind Healy (11.28) on the 100m 

standings, having broken the Irish 

U20 and U23 records earlier in the 

evening with a time of 11.31. 

“Massive congrats, Rhasidat!” 

Healy tweeted. “Insane run and 

unreal performances across all 

distances to date. No doubt there 

(are) plenty more to come.” 

Bolaji wins gold at 

the Spanish Para 

badminton Int'l 

Championship 

N 

igeria's Eniola Bolaji made history 

as the first African to qualify for the 

final and win gold at a major para 

badminton international championship. 

She achieved the feat by beating 

Ukraine's Oksana Kozyna 18-21, 21- 

14, 21-18 at the 2021 Spanish Para 

Badminton International championship 

which ended in Cartegena yesterday 

Sunday. 

Competing in the Female Standing 3 

(SL3) category, the Nigerian lost the 

first game 18-21. However, she won 

the last two games 21-14, 21-18 to win 

the historic gold medal.

C 

M 

Y 


Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

FRIDAY’S SOLUTION 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

FRIDAY’S ANSWER 

ACROSS 

1 Woodwind instrument (4) 

3 Paper size (8) 

9 Small salty fish (7) 

10 Person under age (5) 

11 Clothe (5) 

12 Whole (6) 

14 Severe food shortage (6) 

16 Handsome Greek god (6) 

19 Ailing (6) 

21 Derby venue (5) 

24 Raise aloft (5) 

25 Scoundrel (7) 

26 Opposite (8) 

27 Adhesive (4) 

DOWN 

1 Intermittently (2,3,3) 

2 When expected (2,3) 

4 Gas essential for life (6) 

5 Restrict (5) 

6 In the middle (7) 

7 South American country (4) 

8 Venom (6) 

13 Begin (8) 

15 Allude to (7) 

17 Spanish rice dish (6) 

18 Ingenious (6) 

20 Go in (5) 

22 Little (5) 

23 Smart (4) 

How to Play Sudoku 

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

two of the same number). 

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

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

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

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

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

multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination. 

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17052021 - Insecurity: Military needs new weapons, training — IBB

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