02062021 - Attacks on INEC offices won’t stop 2023 polls —BUHARI

CBN intervened in textile to halt $4bn annual forex flight — EMEFIELE 

19 

VOL. 27: NO. 64348 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 

<strong>Attacks</strong> on INEC offices won’t 

stop 2023 polls —BUHARI 8 

•Says rude shock awaits attackers, they want this administration to fail •All 

demands from INEC'll be met; there'll be no excuse for failure•As INEC boss, 

Yakubu, briefs him on spate of attacks on INEC facilities 

HEIRS TOWERS... 

Vanguard Editor, 

Eze Anaba 

emerges NGE's 

new spokesman 7 

From left, CEO, Heirs Insurance, Mr. Niyi Onifade; Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu; Lagos 

State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Commissioner for Insurance/CEO, National insurance 

Commission, NAICOM, Mr. Olorundare Thomas and Acting Managing Director, Heirs Insurance, Adaobi 

Nwakuche during the commissioning of Heirs Towers at Adeogun Ajose, Victoria Island, Lagos, yesterday. 

Scrap Senate, cut no of Reps, 

slash FG's size — AKEREDOLU 

Buhari has done what other Nigerian presidents 

35 

have not —LAI MOHAMMED 

INSECURITY: 

If Buhari, Sultan 

speak against 

violence by 

herders, attacks 

will stop —BENUE GOVT 

•We’re tired of one minute silence 

in honour of persons killed by 

bandits, kidnappers, says Senate 

Bandits demand 

N110m for 

abducted 

Islamiyya pupils 

in Niger 

Gulak: Ohanaeze 

takes on ACF 13 

over advice on 

travel to S-East 

9 6 

COLUMNISTS OCHEREOME 16 FASAN 17 BUNMI 20 AFE 34 

Mr & Mrs 

5

C 

M 

Y 

K 

2 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021— 3

C 

M 

Y 

K 

4— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021

vanguardnews 

@vanguardnews 

@vanguardnews 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 



•Nigeria in dire straits, no efforts must be spared to stop the free fall— GOV 

AKEREDOLU •Adds: Drop bicameral structure of NASS •Says Nigerians’ limit 

of endurance stretched• 1999 constitution below standard — 

GBAJABIAMILA•Sanwo-Olu restates Special Status for Lagos 

By Dayo Johnson, Regional Editor, South- 

West, Olasunkanmi Akoni & Tordue Salem 

AKURE — 

Chairman of the 

South-West 

Governors’ Forum and 

governor of Ondo State, 

Arakunrin Rotimi 

Akeredolu, SAN, 

yesterday, said Nigeria is 

in dire straits and called 

for the adoption of a 

unicameral legislature, 

against the current 

bicameral structure. 

This came on a day 

Speaker of the House of 

Representatives, Mr. 

Femi Gbajabiamila, said 

the 1999 Constitution has 

fallen short of the 

expectations of 

Nigerians, and thus 

needed a drastic 

overhaul. 

On his part, Governor 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu of 

Lagos State reiterated the 

call for Special Economic 

Status for Lagos as the 

economic nerve centre of 

the country. 

Unicameral 

legislature 

better for 

Nigeria 

— Akeredolu 

Akeredolu, who spoke at 

the South-West zonal 

public hearing organised 

by the House of 

Representatives 

Committee on 

Constitution Review in 

Akure, Ondo State, said 

membership of the 

National Assembly 

should be on part-time 

basis. 

Represented by his 

deputy, Mr. Lucky 

Aiyedatiwa, the governor 

said: “The country may 

consider dropping the 

current bicameral 

structure of the National 

Assembly and adopt a 

unicameral legislature. 

“The membership of the 

Assembly should be parttime. 

No member should 

earn allowances not 

known to the Revenue 

Mobilisation, Fiscal and 

Allocation Committee 

and, more importantly, 

the people they claim to 

serve. 

“Legislators should 

earn under a uniform 

salary structure. 

Allowance peculiarities 

must not be about 

obscenity. 

“The Senate should be 

scrapped, while the 

House of Representatives 

too should not be 

unwieldy. A maximum of 

four representatives 

should come from each 

zone. 

“It is becoming 

increasingly 

embarrassing to those 

who reason deeply 

enough to observe that 

while the people wallow 

in despair, those who 

claim to represent them 

revel in ravenous 

opulence. 

“The number of public 

servants is very small 

compared with the 

humongous percentage of 

the commonwealth 

expended to maintain 

them. 

“There are too many 

ministries, departments 

and agencies of 

government that are 

moribund at all levels. It 

does not make economic 

sense to retain them. 

“There are several areas 

of overlap in the activities 

of government at both 

state and federal levels. 

‘Nigeria in 

dire straits’ 

On the state of the 

country, Akeredolu said: 

“The country is in dire 

straits now. No efforts 

President Muhammadu Buhari receives briefing from chairman and 

members of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in State 

House Abuja, yesterday. 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

must be spared to stop 

the free fall. 

“The current 

experiences stretch the 

limits of endurance. 

Everyone tries to remain 

calm amid the raging 

storm. 

“More than ever, this 

period calls for 

cooperation from all 

stakeholders in the 

survival of the country. 

“The position of the 

Ondo State Government 

has been made public. We 

advocate a Federal 

Government largely 

reduced in size and scope 

of engagement. 

“We want to see a 

Constitution that will 

enhance the performance 

of public office-holders at 

all levels. It is possible to 

have a government that 

will serve the people in 

deed and truth. 

“The law of the land 

must aid this realistic 

expectation. We must 

reduce the cost of 

governance and shift 

attention to service 

delivery in this trying 

period.” 

Speaking earlier, the 

leader of the House of 

Representatives and 

chairman of South-West 

committee on constitution 

review, Mr. Ohio 

Akpatason, assured that 

after the public hearing, 

the National Assembly 

will produce a 

constitution that will meet 

the desires of all 

Nigerians. 

1999 

constitution 

below standards 

— Gbajabiamila 

Speaking at another 

forum, Speaker of the 

House of Representatives, 

Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, 

noted that a nation’s 

constitution is not only the 

foundation of its existence 

but is also supposed to set 

the terms of nationhood 

and define the manner 

that reflects its common 

truths and highest 

aspirations. 

“Our constitution falls 

short of this standard,” he 

said. 

The speaker said the 

reason is the fact that the 

1999 constitution is the 

product of a hurried 

national compromise 

entered into two decades 

ago to ensure that the 

military returned to the 

barracks and the country 

returned to a democratic 

government. 

Gbajabiamila, who 

spoke in Lagos while 

Continues on Page 35 

By Yinka Latona 

On IGP's claim that SARS disbandment created vacuum in policing 

As it stands right now, 

it's difficult to 

understand what is 

happening in Nigeria. 

Looking at all the 

disheartening events, 

you will realise that it’s 

hard to say if there is a 

vacuum in policing as 

the IGP said. However, 

he is the Police boss, he 

knows better and I will 

advise that the present 

vacuum should be filled. 

—Lorita Chuks, 

Beautician 

I 

feel that the 

disbandment of SARS 

contributed to the increase 

in the level of insecurity 

in Nigeria. 

If the government is 

waiting for the Special 

Weapons and Tactics 

Squad to replace SARS, it 

would take time and the 

vacuum will become 

bigger. 

— Adegbeyeni 

Oluwaferanmi, 

Student 

Nigeria has been 

peaceful even before 

the creation of SARS, so 

Mr. IG, this is not an 

excuse for insecurity in 

Nigeria. The disbandment 

of SARS is not 

disbandment of NPF. The 

fight will be done by police 

personnel. You have your 

policemen, so do your 

work. Moreover, is SARS 

the only solution to 

insecurity? 

—Prince Osinachim, 

Entrepreneur 

When SARS was still 

in operation, how 

many bandits, terrorists 

and kidnappers did NPF 

arrest? Or why is it that 

the basic police 

mechanism can’t fight 

terrorism? Are the former 

SARS operatives no 

longer part of the NPF? 

The NPF is known for 

always giving excuses 

and never owning up to 

their responsibilities. 

—Oluwashola Thompson- 

John 

What's the work of 

SWAT team? I don’t 

think there’s any excuse 

for poor performance. 

Nigeria Police is 

entrenched in endemic 

corruption. SARS teams 

were disbanded but not 

executed. Prove your 

worth not force, to the 

general public. It takes 

ages to build trust and a 

second to quash it. 

—Dammy Abolore, 

Entrepreneur 

Ibelieve in what the IGP 

said because SARS 

officers were trained to fight 

against criminal activities 

but they overdid it. Since 

their disbandment, there's 

been no replacement. Has 

the FG made provisions for 

their replacement? Is the 

police trained to operate 

like SARS? No! The FG 

should restructure the NPF; 

all security personnel must 

undergo adequate training 

to combat insecurity. 

—Kareem Hakeem, 

Researcher

6—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 

Woman found 

dead in Delta 

community with 

body parts 

missing 

By Paul Olayemi 

A29-year-old woman was 

found dead at her home with 

vital parts missing after she 

reportedly took a man home in 

Mosogar, Ethiope West Local 

Government Area of Delta State, 

yesterday. 

The woman, whose name could 

not be ascertained at press time, 

was said to have been missing 

since Saturday night. 

A source, who claimed to be her 

neighbour, told Vanguard that 

“she came home with a man 

Saturday night, and I saw the man 

leaving that night but since then 

we have not seen her. 

“We only discovered that she 

was dead this morning (yesterday) 

with her vital organs missing.” 

Another man, who identified 

himself as Friday, said they were 

not worried at first when they 

noticed she was missing, “but 

when we began to perceive some 

foul odour from her room, we 

started getting suspicious. This 

morning (yesterday) we 

informed the police and the door 

was forced open only to find her 

dead and her private parts gone.” 

As at the time of filing this 

report, the police were yet to report 

at the scene. 

Bandits 

demand N110m 

for abducted 

Islamiyya pupils 

in Niger 

By Wole Mosadomi 

& Ochuko Akuopha 

KIDNAPPERS of the Salihu 

Tanko Islamiyya School 

pupils in Tegina town, Rafi Local 

Government Area of Niger State 

have demanded N110 million 

ransom for their release. 

It was reliably gathered that the 

bandits had also threatened to 

“waste” the innocent pupils if the 

ransom was not paid by midnight, 

yesterday. 

The bandits, it was gathered, 

passed the information to the 

Headmaster of the school, Alhaji 

Abubakar Alhassan on Monday. 

The headmaster, who confirmed 

the development in a telephone 

interview with some journalists in 

Minna, yesterday, also said the 

bandits declared that there are 

156 pupils in their captivity. 

“I was baffled when the kidnappers 

declared to me that N110 million 

should be paid to secure the release 

of the pupils and threatened to kill 

all of them if the money is not paid 

by the end of yesterday (Tuesday)," he 

said. 

Meanwhile, one Ibude 

Celestine has been rescued by 

operatives of Delta State Police 

Command from kidnappers at the 

Ekrehavwe community junction 

of Ughelli/Warri, Ughelli North 

Local Government Area of the 

state. 

Delta State Police Public 

Relations Officer, Bright Edafe, 

stated: “The victim was 

kidnapped at about 0730hrs of 27/ 

5/2021 in her Lexus SUV after 

dropping her kids at school in 

Inspector, 6 others dead as Police battle 

bandits in Katsina 

By Wole Mosadomi & 

Bashir Bello 

A 

fierce battle between security 

operatives and bandits 

reportedly left a police inspector and 

six other persons dead in Zandam 

village, Jibia Local Government 

Area of Katsina State. 

It was gathered that the casualties 

included three suspected bandits 

and three villagers. 

Confirming the incident, 

spokesperson of Katsina State Police 

Command, SP Gambo Isah, said the 

incident happened when the 

bandits in their large number, 

armed with sophisticated weapons, 

on motorcycles invaded the village. 

Isah said an uncompleted clinic 

block was also set ablaze by the 

hoodlums during the attack. 

According to him, “Monday, at 

about 17:00hrs, bandits in large 

number, armed with sophisticated 

weapons, on motorcycles invaded 

Zandam village, Jibia LGA of the 

state. The bandits had a fierce gun 

battle with the mobile policemen 

deployed to the village. At the scene, 

it was discovered that three 

residents, all males, were shot and 

killed by the hoodlums while five 

others sustained injuries. 

“The team gunned down three of 

the bandits. One Inspector of police 

gallantly lost his life during the 

encounter. 

“An uncompleted clinic block was 

set ablaze by the hoodlums. Police 

reinforcement was deployed to the 

area and injured persons were 

given first aid and moved to general 

•Bandits kill 3, set Police station ablaze 

in Niger 

hospital. Investigation in progress 

to track down the fleeing 

hoodlums.” 

Bandits kill 3, set Police 

station ablaze in Niger 

In a related development, there 

was pandemonium, yesterday, as 

bandits invaded Kampani Bobi in 

Mariga Local Government Area of 

Niger State, killing three, abducting 

some people and setting a police 

station ablaze. 

It was gathered that the bandits 

arrived in the town on motorcycles, 

shooting sporadically to scare the 

villagers. 

A source said: “We are not sure of 

the number of our people abducted 

but most of them were women. Each 

household is still counting and until 

when we get the statistics before 

we know who and who is missing.” 

Similarly, Maigoge village in the 

same local government was 

invaded and their cattle rustled. 

As a result of the invasion, many 

of the villagers and surrounding 

communities have started fleeing 

the affected villages. 

Contacted, Director-General, 

Niger State Emergency 

Management Agency, NSEMA, 

Ibrahim Inga, confirmed the 

development, saying: “We learned 

that bandits invaded the village 

and some people were killed and 

some cattle rustled by the bandits. 

“Three persons were killed, 

several others injured and 

displaced in Kampanin Bobi in 

Mariga LGA this (Tuesday) 

morning.” 

Delta community leadership crisis: Youths burn down 

houses, destroy property 

By Paul Olayemi 

THE leadership crisis in Otefe 

Oghara in Ethiope Local 

Government Area of Delta State, 

Monday night, took a new twist as 

some youths in the community 

attackedproperty of leaders in the 

town. 

The crisis, which started with an 

attack on the member representing 

Ethiope West Local Government 

Area in Delta State House of 

Assembly, Eriatakhe Ibori, Sunday, 

while hosting a peace meeting in 

her grandfather’s house in Otefe- 

Oghara, saw youths destroying 

cars, shooting two persons with 

many sustaining injuries while the 

House of Assembly member was 

said to have narrowly escaped 

being lynched. 

The attack was said to have spilt 

over to yesterday when youths 

numbering over 30 took to the 

streets of the community allegedly 

parading with arms and grenades 

while barricading roads in the 

By Wole Mosadomi 

MINNA—Details of how the 

Registrar/Chief Executive, 

National Examinations Council, 

Professor Godwills Obioma, died 

emerged, yesterday. 

Vanguard had earlier reported 

that the late NECO boss slumped 

in his bedroom in Minna, Niger 

State, Monday evening, after an 

official trip to Abuja and was rushed 

by his wife and other relatives back 

to National Hospital, Abuja where 

he eventually gave up the ghost. 

However, the Police in Minna and 

National Examinations Council, 

NECO, Headquarters in Minna, 

Niger State in separate press 

releases said Prof. Obioma died after 

a brief illness. 

NECO in a statement by its Head 

of Information and Public Relations, 

Azeez Sani, said the late professor 

passed on at the National Hospital, 

Abuja after a brief illness. 

NECO’s Director, Human 

Resource Management, Mr 

Mustapha Abdul, in a circular 

released in Minna, yesterday, 

quoted family sources as saying that 

Prof. Obioma died Monday after a 

brief illness. 

“This is contrary to insinuations 

in the social media that the late 

registrar was assassinated in his 

residence in Minna. 

process. 

However, the crisis was said to 

have taken a new turn, Monday 

night, when a faction of the youths 

started attacking some of the 

community leaders’ houses and 

property. 

One of those, whose property was 

destroyed, Chief Duncan Egwere, 

told Vanguard that about 7 pm on 

Monday, his house was attacked 

by some persons. 

Egwere, who is the Senior Special 

Adviser to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa 

on Special Duties, said he was 

outside his house when he heard 

gunshots and from where he took 

cover, “I saw them attacking my gate, 

they set the gate on fire, they burnt 

my car and part of my house. They 

are youths I know in this 

community”. 

He, however, refused to lay the 

blame on anyone, saying: “I don’t 

know why my house and car were 

burnt, this place is entirely different 

from the quarters the crisis is 

One of the destroyed cars. 

happening.” 

Another chief in the kingdom, 

Lucky Atuma, whose houses and 

cars were touched too, told 

Vanguard that the daughter of a 

prominent leader was behind the 

How NECO Registrar died — Family spokesman 

Late Professor Obioma 

The circular enjoined staff of the 

council to remain calm and prayed 

for the repose of the soul of Prof. 

Obioma. 

Assassination story 

false —Police 

The state police command in its 

statement described the purported 

assassination story as false and 

misleading. 

It said: “The attention of Niger 

State Police Command has been 

drawn to a publication circulating 

in some section of social media and 

national dailies(not Vanguard) that 

NECO Registrar, Prof. Godswill 

Obioma, was murdered by 

unknown gunmen in Minna. 

“This story is false, untrue and a 

pure piece of fake news. It is 

important to state categorically that 

on May 31, 2021 the family of the 

Registrar/CEO NECO, formally 

announced that he passed to 

eternal glory after a brief illness at 

National Hospital, Abuja.” 

Governor Bello 

condoles with 

family, NECO 

Meanwhile, Governor Abubakar 

Bello of Niger State has condoled 

with the family of the deceased and 

the staff of NECO. 

In a condolence message, 

Governor Bello described the death 

of Professor Obioma as a huge loss 

to the family and the nation. 

In the message signed by his 

Chief Press Secretary, Mary Noel 

Berje, the governor said Prof. 

Obioma’s death came at a time 

when the country needed his 

services most for the advancement 

of the education sector. 

He noted that since Obioma 

assumed office a year ago, he has 

made his impact felt in the running 

of the organisation through prompt 

conduct of examination and the 

release of results. 

crisis. 

“She wants to impose her relative 

on us after her tenure has ended, 

and look at what they have done to 

my houses and cars,” he said. 

Delta Poly students flee 

hostel 

Students of the Delta State 

Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara were 

also said to have fled from their 

accommodation after an 

unconfirmed report alleged that one 

of them was shot. 

“A girl was shot on the leg last 

night and we all fled for our lives,” 

a girl, who called herself Sophia, 

and claimed to have fled from her 

hostel, yesterday, after the 

gunshots, told Vanguard. 

She said a platform for lecturers 

was said to have informed the 

teachers to stay away from the 

school for fear of insecurity, a 

message that triggered students to 

head home. 

Ibori-Suenu calls 

for calm 

Meanwhile, the member 

representing the Ethiope West 

constituency in the Delta State 

House of Assembly, Erhiatake Ibori- 

Suenu, has called for calm and 

urged her supporters not to carry 

out any reprisal attack after she was 

attacked on Sunday by hoodlums 

while trying to settle rifts among 

youths in Otefe community of 

Oghara. 

The lawmaker and daughter to 

ex-Governor of Delta State, Chief 

James Ibori, who spoke shortly after 

the attack on the phone, stated that 

the dastardly act was highly 

condemnable.


:Vanguard News 

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

3-DAY FIDAU PRAYER FOR GULAK: The FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad 

Bello commiserating with the son of the deceased former Presidential aide, 

Mr. Mustapha Gulak (left) while Barayai Bauchi, Alhaji Sanusi Banfako looke 

on during the three days fidau prayers for former Presidential aide, Ahmed 

Gulak at his residence, Gwarimpa, Abuja yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida. 

Vanguard’s Editor emerges 

spokesman for Nigerian Guild 

of Editors 

By Bashir Bello 

KANO—THE Editor of 

Vanguard Newspaper, Mr. 

Eze Anaba has been elected 

Social/Publicity Secretary of the 

Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE. 

Anaba defeated his opponent, 

Chuks Oko with 111 votes to 

emerge NGE’s spokesperson. 

The Chairman, Screening and 

Election Committee, Bonnie 

Iwuoha, who announced the 

election results at the 40th 

Biennial Convention of the Guild 

in Kano, said Anaba was elected 

after polling 164 votes against his 

opponent who scored 53 votes. 

According to him, the 

incumbent President of NGE, 

Mustapha Isa of Silver birds was 

reelected after polling 176 votes 

against his opponent, Victoria 

Ibanga’s 54 votes. 

Other elected executive 

members of the Guild included 

Ramadan: Maltina reaches out to 

Muslim communities, mosques 

MALTINA, the nonalcholic 

drink during the 

month-long Ramadan fasting 

reached out to over 300 mosques 

and neighborhoods, distributing 

prayer mats, digital tasbihs, as well 

as ablution kettles to Muslim 

faithfuls just before their evening 

prayers. 

Taking into consideration the 

economic impact of the pandemic 

on Nigerians, the brand through 

its campaign message; ‘Share, No 

Matter How Little’, celebrated 

Muslim faithfuls during of the 

Holy Month of Ramadan at 

various touchpoints. 

Chilled Maltina drinks and 

meal packs were also serves after 

the prayers for them to break 

their fast. This extensive 

campaign took place in 15 

locations across the country - 

Samuel Egbala (Vice President, 

East), Bolaji Adebiyi (VP West), 

Austeen Elewodalu (Assistant 

General Secretary) and Steve 

Nwosu (Treasurer). 

The Standing committee 

members elected included Gabriel 

Akinadewo, Onuoha Ukeh and 

Wole Sogunle (West), Umoru 

Ibrahim and Adesina Gbenga 

(North) while Nguwoke 

Nguwoke and Boma Nwuke 

(East) emerged unopposed. 

“The constitution of the guild 

allocated two standing committee 

members to the North and East 

while it allocated three seats to 

the West,” Iwuoha explained. 

Other executives elected 

unopposed were Ali M. Ali as 

Deputy President while Kila 

Habibu Nuhu and Iyobosa 

Uwugiaren were elected as Vice 

President (North) and General 

Secretary respectively. 

The new executive members 

would oversee the affairs of the 

Guild for the next two years. 

Matawalle sets up c'ttee to probe 

suspended Emir 

By Nimat Otori 

GOVERNOR 

Bello 

Matawalle of Zamfara 

State, has set up a committee to 

investigate the activities of the 

suspended Emir of Dansadau, 

Alhaji Hussaini Umar. 

In a statement, yesterday, Special 

Adviser, Public Enlightenment, 

Media and Communications to the 

Governor, Zailani Bappa, said the 

committee is headed by a retired 

Deputy Inspector of Police, 

Moh’d Ibrahim Tsafe, while 

Abdurrashid Haruna would serve 

as Secretary. 

Lagos, Sokoto, Kaduna, Ibadan, 

Abuja etc, and impacted over 

30,000 Muslims. 

Maltina also engaged 

consumers online this season by 

working with some accomplished 

food bloggers who created and 

shared innovative Iftar recipes to 

inspire muslim families on the 

#IftarwithMaltina online. The 

brand also challenged consumers 

to recreate these recipes to get a 

chance to be rewarded with 

shopping vouchers that are 

redeemable on online stores. 

Wrapping up the campaign, 

Maltina partnered with four None 

Governmentla Organisations 

(NGOs) across the country to put 

a smile on the faces of those in 

need by distributing welfare 

packages donated by employees 

in the business. 

Minister of FCT, Mallam Muhammad Bello flanked by the Former Minister of 

Transport, Senator Idris Umar (left); Director of Government Relations, BUA, Dr. 

Idi Hong (right) and others during the three days fidau prayers. 

Rescue 200 abducted Islamic students, 

Buhari orders security agencies 

A 

B 

U J A — 

PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari has 

ordered security and intelligence 

agencies to step up rescue efforts 

of the 200 Islamic students 

kidnapped from an Islamic school 

in Niger State. 

Recall that the over 200 

students were abducted Sunday 

by bandits in Tegina, Rafi Local 

Government. 

The Islamiyya school has three 

components comprising Nursery, 

primary, and junior secondary 

school. 

The Senior Special Assistant 

to the President on Media and 

Publicity, Garba Shehu, made 

this known in a statement titled, 

‘Expedite action towards release 

of school children, President 

Irigwe natives in Plateau raise alarm over planned annihilation 

By Marie-Therese 

Nanlong 

JOS—THE 

Irigwe 

natives in Plateau State 

have raised the alarm over 

what they termed plot by 

“Fulani nihilists” to wipe 

them out of their ancestral 

land without any 

intervention by “those whose 

primary responsibility is the 

security of lives and property of 

all citizens.” 

The natives, in Bassa local 

government area of the State 

claimed in the last five months, 

over 40 of their people had been 

killed, over 20 houses razed, 

several farming implements and 

household items carted away, 

over 500 cultivated farmlands 

destroyed, even as they suffered 

other losses in the hands of the 

attackers. 

The people in a joint briefing 

by the Irigwe Development 

Association, IDA, Irigwe Youth 

Movement and the Women wing 

of the tribe, lamented that 

precious lives were being wasted 

without perpetrators being 

arrested or prosecuted. 

The IDA National President, 

Robert Dodo who read the text of 

the briefing, yesterday said, 

“It’s no longer news that 

Rigwe Nation has been under 

attacks by Fulani herdsmen 

for over some months and the 

effects of these have resulted in 

the destruction of lives and 

property, materials carted away, 

farmlands and crops destruction, 

houses burnt. But in spite of our 

endless, limitless and boundless 

efforts in ensuring that we do not 

cross the bounds of anyone by 

way of fomenting trouble yet, we 

are being attacked, killed and 

subjected to absolute 

homelessness, psychological 

trauma, penury and internally 

displaced condition. 

“We have been invited and 

participated in dialogues , 

meetings and trainings aimed at 

enhancing peace building and 

peaceful coexistence, we have 

kept our words in ensuring that 

we are not found wanting in 

acts capable of ruining our 

reputation and integrity as a 

people, yet the Fulani Militias 

have tagged those 

engagements as exercises in 

futility, this they have proven 

Gombe gov gets second jab of COVID-19 vaccine 

By Ben Ngwakwe 

G 

O M B E — 

GOVERNOR 

Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of 

Gombe State, yesterday received 

his second jab of the AstraZeneca 

vaccine to flag off the second 

phase of the exercise. 

The Governor was inoculated 

by his personal physician, Dr. 

Bello Abdulkadir in the presence 

of the State Deputy Governor, 

Dr. Manasah Daniel Jatau, 

Secretary to the State 

Government, Professor 

Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, Chief 

of Staff, Abubakar Inuwa Kari 

and other top Government 

functionaries who also received 

their doses. 

Briefing journalists, 

Commissioner for Health, Dr. 

Habu Dahiru, said the second 

dose of the AstraZeneca 

COVID-19 vaccine 

administered on Governor 

Yahaya was coming after the 

first jab on March 17, 2021. 

According to him, “Today 

(yesterday) being the 1st of June, 

2021, Governor Muhammadu 

Yahaya, was again the first to take 

his second dose of the 

Buhari urges law enforcement 

officials.’ 

He said President Buhari 

received a briefing on the latest 

incident of school kidnapping and 

condemned it. 

“President Muhammadu 

Buhari has charged the 

nation’s security and 

intelligence agencies to 

expedite efforts towards the 

by constantly devising means of 

engaging in an ungodly, unholy 

and inhumanely acts that are 

antagonistical and inimical to 

Rigwe people. 

“The entire Rigwe Nation is 

saddened, wretched, heartsore 

and hangdog by the continuous, 

perpetual and unremitting 

perpetration of attacks by Fulani 

nihilists in the land. It’s 

provoking and annoying that 

precious lives of Rigwe people are 

being wasted, emaciated and 

expunged on daily basis by 

AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine 

in Gombe State, signaling the 

commencement of the second 

round of the vaccination 

exercise.” 

He said the second phase of 

the vaccination exercise strictly 

By Esther Onyegbula 

H Nigerians ENCEFORTH, 

will no longer 

have to travel outside the country 

to be certified as members of the 

Africa Institute of Public 

Administration, AIPA, as the 

institute has been established in 

the country. 

Before now, Nigerians used to 

travel to the United Kingdom, 

Ghana and other countries to 

become certified members of the 

institute. 

Speaking in Calabar, Cross 

River State, AIPA’s South-South/ 

South-East coordinator, Mr. Odo 

Pius Odey, during the certification 

of some members, explained that, 

instead of travelling to Ghana, 

recovery of the 200 children 

kidnapped from an Islamic 

school in Niger State,” the 

statement read in part. 

He noted that President 

Buhari urged all the agencies 

involved in the rescue operation 

to do their utmost in securing 

their immediate release. 

The President also directed the 

concerned government agencies 

to extend possible support to the 

families of the kidnapped 

children. 

Fulani militias without any iota 

of remorse and penitence but with 

absolute impunity and sadism. 

“It’s worthy of note that from 

the beginning of the year 2021 

to date, over forty (40) Rigwe 

people have been killed by 

Fulani nihilists in Bassa and Jos 

North LGAs, over twenty houses 

razed down, several farming 

implements and household items 

carted away, over 500 cultivated 

of different farmlands worth over 

1billion naira destroyed and many 

unbearable losses.” 

for those who had received the 

first dose, was arranged to guard 

against any shortage of the 

vaccines, informing that the 

exercise would continue up to 

2022 until everyone was 

vaccinated against coronavirus. 

Why we set up AIPA in Nigeria 

— ODEY 

UK and other countries to get 

trained in administration, AIPA 

had given the opportunity to 

Nigerians by coming into the 

country to train citizens. 

“Many people who are in 

public service or leadership 

positions did not have the 

opportunity of studying public 

administration in an institution 

of higher learning. Many public 

servants got into positions by 

appointment without knowing 

the fundamentals of 

administration and that is why 

this institute should be 

applauded,” he said. 

On his part, Mr. Ben 

Nwankwo, chairman of the 

governing council of AIPA, urged 

the CPAs to apply everything 

they learnt in the programme 

towards professional excellence.

8 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 

:Vanguard 

News 


WORLD MILK DAY CONFAB — From left: GM Operations, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Dairy Development, John 

Olayiwola; President, Commercial Dairy Ranchers Association of Nigeria, CODARAN, M. D. Abubakar; Senior 

Programme Manager, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Audu Grema, and Dairy Development Manager, 

FrieslandCampina WAMCO Dairy Development, Samson Akinade, during the CODARAN World Milk Day Conference 

in Abuja, co-sponsored by FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc. 

Insecurity: <strong>Attacks</strong> on INEC offices won’t stop 

2023 polls — Buhari 

•Says we’ve given enough time to 

those trying to destroy Nigeria 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A BUJA—PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari 

said yesterday that attacks on 

offices of the Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, nationwide, especially 

in the South East, will not stop 

2023 elections. 

He also threatened that the 

federal government had given 

enough time to people plotting 

to destroy the country by 

promoting insurrection and 

burning down critical national 

assets, warning that 

very soon, a rude shock awaits 

those who want his administration 

to fail. 

President Buhari, who 

stated this when he received 

briefing from chairman of the 

Independent National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, 

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at 

the First Lady Conference 

room, Presidential Villa, 

Abuja, promised to meet all 

the demands of the commission 

for the 2023 elections. 

He said the attacks on INEC 

facilities would not stop elections 

and his determination to 

leave office in 2023 to avoid 

any insinuation suggesting 

that he would want to extend 

his tenure. A statement issued 

by the Special Adviser to the 

President on Media and Publicity, 

Femi Adesina, stated 

that the INEC boss briefed 

Buhari on the series of attacks 

on the commission’s facilities 

across the country. 

The statement quoted the 

President as saying: “I receive 

daily security reports on the 

attacks, and it is very clear 

that those behind them want 

this administration to fail. 

“Insecurity in Nigeria is 

now mentioned all over the 

By Henry Umoru & 

Johnbosco Agbakwuru 

ABUJA — -THE Senate 

yesterday threatened 

to issue an arrest warrant 

on officials of Petroleum 

Product Pricing Regulatory 

Agency, PPPRA, Nigeria Social 

Insurance Trust Fund, 

NSITF, and 54 other government 

agencies for refusing to 

honour its several invitations. 

Disclosing this yesterday in 

Abuja during the meeting of 

his Committee, Chairman, 

Senate Committee on Public 

Accounts, Senator Matthew 

Urhoghide, Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, Edo South, 

said members of the committee 

were angry and disappointed 

that the arrest warrant 

had become imperative 

because these agencies of government 

had vehemently refused 

to attend their meetings 

to answer to queries on how 

they spent money appropriated 

by the Senate. 

Urhoghide mandated the 

committee secretariat to write 

the agencies involved to appear 

latest next week Tuesday, 

warning that failure to do that 

would lead to the Senate 

invoking a section of constitution 

against the agencies. 

Urhoghide, who raised the 

issue of NSTIF, said the 

agency had over 50 queries to 

answer, adding it was obvious 

that the agency was running 

away from investigation. 

He said: “We have just directed 

the Secretariat of the 

Committee to write to the erring 

ministries agencies and 

department of government for 

the last time, asking them to 

appear before us as from next 

week. “We are going to invoke 

Section 89 of the Constitution, 

which is bench warrant of arrest 

to be issued on them to 

compel them to appear. 

“Why will the Nigeria Social 

Insurance Trust Fund 

come to tell us that they have 

a new management? For 

how long do they want the 

management to be in place 

before they can appear? 

“They know that government 

is a continuun? NSTIF 

has over 50 queries. It is obvious 

that they are running 

away, they don’t want to come 

and give account. 

“Today, the Petroleum Product 

Pricing and Regulatory 

Agency, and the Rural Electrification 

Agency and NSITF 

are all supposed to be here, 

world. All the people who want 

power, whoever they are, you 

wonder what they really want. 

Whoever wants the destruction 

of the system will soon have 

the shock of their lives. We’ve 

given them enough time.” 

President Buhari recalled 

that he visited all the 36 states 

of the country before the 2019 

election, “and majority of the 

people believed in me, and the 

election proved it.” 

He promised to continue 

leading the country in accordance 

with constitutional provisions, 

adding that those misbehaving 

in certain parts of 

the country were obviously 

too young to know the travails 

and loss of lives that attended 

the Nigerian civil war. 

“Those of us in the fields for 

30 months, who went through 

the war, will treat them in the 

language they understand. We 

are going to be very hard 

sooner than later,’’ he said. 

The President said the service 

chiefs and the Inspector 

General of Police had been 

changed, “and we will demand 

security from them.” 

bringing the total number of 

errant agencies to 56. 

“We are giving them till next 

week Tuesday to appear or we 

issue warrant of arrest on 

them to appear. They came for 

appropriation and they don’t 

want to account for the money 

they collect.” 

Meanwhile, the Federal 

Government yesterday said 

that the Nigeria Social Insurance 

Trust Fund, NSITF, has 

passed through financial 

hemorrhage in the last few 

years. The Minister of Labour 

and Employment, Senator 

Chris Ngige, stated this in his 

speech at the inauguration of 

the reconstituted board of the 

NSITF at Old Banquet Hall, 

Abuja. The minister advised 

the new management to untie 

the Fund from the tethers of 

stagnation and lead a rewarding 

change. 

He said: “If there are some 

corrupt elements remaining 

in NSITF, I sound a warning, 

your days are over. It is important 

for me to draw the attention 

of the new management 

to the financial 

hemorrhage the NSITF has 

passed through in the last few 

years and the imperative of a 

new direction as contained in 

On the dangers posed to future 

elections by the burning 

of INEC facilities, President 

Buhari said he would give the 

electoral commission all it 

needs to operate, “so that no 

one would say we don’t want 

to go, or that we want a third 

term. There will be no excuse 

for failure. We’ll meet all 

INEC’s demands.” 

In his briefing, Prof Yakubu 

said that so far, there had been 

42 cases of attacks on INEC 

offices nationwide, since the 

last general election. 

“The 42 incidents so far occurred 

in 14 states of the Federation 

for a variety of 

reasons….Most of the attacks 

happened in the last seven 

months, and they are unrelated 

to protest against previous 

elections. ‘’From the pattern 

and frequency of the most 

recent attacks, they appear to 

be targeted at future elections. 

The intention is to incapacitate 

the commission, undermine 

the nation’s democracy 

and precipitate a national crisis,” 

Prof Yakubu said. 

Senate threatens to issue arrest warrant on PPPRA, 

NSTIF, 54 others for shunning probe 

•Says NSTIF alone has over 50 queries to answer 

•NSITF passes through financial hemorrhage — FG 

the directive of the President. 

“The NSITF must be revitalized 

and repositioned to 

fulfill its mandate in accordance 

with the establishing Act. 

“Instructively therefore, the 

new management should not 

indulge in the sins of the past 

and must adhere to the statutory 

conditions of service and 

remunerations for board 

members approved by the 

Minister as enshrined in the 

NSITF Act. “Besides, procurements 

must be done as contained 

in Procurement Act 

2007 and Finance Act, Financial 

Regulations and the extant 

government circulars especially 

on threshold of procurement 

items. 

“Let’s acknowledge at this 

juncture the ground zero level 

on which you are taking over 

today (Tuesday). In spite your 

performance will be measured 

every quarter and annually 

with the yearly reports and 

audited accounts to enable the 

ministry do her own report to 

the President. 

“Our measure as supervising 

ministry is tied to your 

performance in terms of realization 

of your mandate and 

vision. I congratulate you all 

especially those who held the 

ship in the past. 11 months 

which was a trying period 

even as you recorded an increase 

of about N7 billion in 

your contributions when compared 

to same time last year. “ 

Constitution Review: Sultan, NTC 

seek role for traditional rulers 

By Haruna Aliyu Usman 

BIRNIN KEBBI — The 

zonal public hearing on 

the 1999 constitution review 

kicked off at the presidential 

lodge in Birnin Kebbi yesterday 

with Governor Atiku Bagudu 

and Sultan of Sokoto in 

attendance. 

In his speech,the Sultan of 

Sokoto, His Eminence, Mohammed 

Sa'ad Abubakar II, 

said a role in the constitution 

for traditional rulers was critical 

for nation building peace, 

progress and security, adding 

that traditional rulers over the 

years were custodians of peace 

as they can identified easily 

visitors with bad intention. 

The monarch further said 

that every citizen of the country 

must be allowed to practice 

his religion without interferance 

or hinderance. 

“Muslim women must be 

allowed to wear their hijabs 

and Christans too must be allowed 

to wear their religious 

By Chris Ochyi 

ABUJA — About 75 con 

struction companies 

have submitted bids for the 

concession of the 12 Ffederal 

highways under the Highway 

Development and Management 

Initiative, HDMI. 

It would be recalled that the 

Federal Ministry of Works 

and Housing had in December 

2020, received the Certificate 

of Compliance for the 

Outline Business Case for the 

HDMI. Julius Berger PlC, 

Dantata and Sawoe construction 

companies were among 

other notable companies that 

showed interest in the bidding 

process at an event held at the 

Federal Ministry of Works 

and Housing headquarters, 

Abuja. The Request for Qualification 

Bid Opening Ceremony 

signaled the commencement 

of the Value-Added Concession 

Evaluation Exercise. 

symbols,'' the Sultan said. 

He called on Nigerians to 

speak truth to power and hold 

their leaders accountable for 

their actions and inactions. 

In his address, the governor 

of Kebbi State, Senator Atiku 

Bagudu, told the gathering 

that he was in support of any 

amendment that will guarantee 

security of lives and property 

of citizens. 

He added that, Kebbi, Sokoto 

and Zamfara states were 

blessed with natural resources 

which had remained untapped 

due to insecurity. 

According to him, the three 

states are opposed to secession 

and believed in one Nigeria. 

Emir of Gummi, who spoke 

on behalf of northern traditional 

rulers council, Justice 

Gummi, corroborated what 

the Sultan said earlier, and 

recalled the time of native authority, 

when traditional rulers 

were in-charge of conflict 

resolutions and other vital 

community issues. 

75 companies bid for 12 highways 

marked for concession 

In his opening address, the 

Permanent Secretary of the 

ministry, Alhaji Babangida 

Hussaini, listed the 12 roads 

to be concessioned under the 

first phase of the HDMI as: 

Benin – Asaba,; Abuja – Lokoja; 

Kaduna – Kano; Onitsha – 

Owerri – Aba; Shagamu – 

Benin; Abuja – Keffi – Akwanga; 

Lokoja – Benin; Enugu – 

Port Harcourt; Ilorin – Jebba; 

Lagos – Ota – Abeokuta; Lagos 

– Badagry; and Kano – 

Shuari – Potiskum – Damaturu 

Ḣussaini noted that the 

Federal Government was 

committed to a transparent, 

fair and competitive bidding 

process for the 12 pilot road 

corridors earmarked for concession 

through the Value- 

Added Concession programme 

under the Highway 

Development and Management 

Initiative, HDMI, 

Project Life Cycle. 

WTO, WHO, World Bank, IMF 

agree on $50bn financing 

model to end COVID-19 

By Victoria Ojeme 

ABUJA — THE World 

Trade Organisation, 

WTO, World Health Organization, 

WHO, the World Bank 

and the International Monetary 

Fund, IMF, have agreed 

to spend $50 billion to fight 

COVID-19 by making and 

delivering vaccines and treatments. 

“Governments must act 

without further delay or risk 

continued waves and explosive 

outbreaks of Covid-19 as 

well as more transmissible 

and deadly virus variants undermining 

the global recovery,” 

the four organizations 

said in a joint statement yesterday 

The IMF last month proposed 

the spending plan, 

which targets immunizing at 

least 40 per cent of the global 

population by the end of this 

year — up from the 30 per cent 

goal set by the WHO’s Covax 

vaccine initiative — and 60 per 

cent or more by the first half 

of 2022. The groups yesterday 

called for the immediate 

donation of vaccine doses to 

developing countries. 

The plan will require additional 

financing for low- and 

middle-income countries, 

with much of it coming from 

grants and below-market-rate 

loans, the groups said. It also 

entails investing to boost vaccine 

production capacity by at 

least one billion doses, increasing 

output in regions and 

countries that at present make 

little. 

The blueprint also urges 

boosting testing and tracing, 

oxygen supplies and public 

health measures, while ramping 

up vaccination, and the 

work of the Access to COVID- 

19 Tools Accelerator, the campaign 

led by the WHO and 

others. The IMF says the plan 

will save lives and deliver a 

potential $9 trillion economic 

boost by 2025. 

The leaders of the IMF, the 

World Bank Group, WHO and 

WTO (Kristalina Georgieva, 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, 

David Malpass, and Ngozi 

Okonjo-Iweala) said governments 

must act without 

further delay or risk continued 

waves and explosive outbreaks 

of COVID-19 as well 

as more transmissible and 

deadly virus variants undermining 

the global recovery.




INAUGURATION: Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen Chris Ngige flanked by the new Managing Director 

of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, Dr. Mike Akabogu and to the right by Chairman of the board 

of directors of NSITF, Austin Isere and the Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, at 

the inauguration of the new management of the NSITF at the Banquet Hall of the State House, yesterday. 

Insecurity: If Buhari, Sultan speak against violence 

by herders, attacks'll stop — Benue govt 

•We’re tired of one minute silence in honour of persons killed by bandits, kidnappers, 

says Senate •Promises to step up interventions to protect Nigerians 

•Mourns Attahiru, wants military structure named in his honour 

By Henry Umoru 

BENUE 

State 

government yesterday 

said that a word from President 

Muhammadu Buhari , the 

Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammed 

Sa’ad Abubakar 111, and 

Lamido of Adamawa, 

Muhammadu Aliyu, would put 

a stop to the deadly attacks of 

herders on communities across 

the country. 

This came against the 

backdrop of repeated attacks on 

Benue communities by killer 

herders which have claimed 

hundreds of lives and properties 

in the past few weeks. 

The call is coming on a day 

Senate President, Ahmad 

Lawan, said the Red Chamber 

was tired of observing a minute 

silence in honour of those killed 

by bandits and kidnappers across 

the country, following continued 

cases of insecurity in Nigeria. 

Recall that hundreds of 

Nigerians had been killed by 

armed herders, bandits and 

kidnappers across the country 

in recent times. 

Deputy governor of Benue 

State, Benson Abounu, who 

called on the President, the 

Sultan and Lamido to stop killer 

herders from their activities, 

also urged Fulani leaders to 

speak against the attacks by 

herders on communities. 

Abounu, who made the call 

on Sunrise Daily, a Channels 

Television breakfast 

programme, yesterday, said: 

“One very effective response 

that I seek is a word from the 

president of this country 

concerning what is going on, 

asking the herders to stop these 

terrible actions of theirs. 

“I believe this will go a very long 

way. And also, I put a solemn 

request to the Sultan of Sokoto, 

and even to Lamido of Adamawa, 

who is the worldwide leader of 

the Fulani, that we need to hear 

from them. 

“They (herders) need to 

hear from them, their own 

leaders condemning what 

Senate begins consideration of 

Buhari’s $6.18bn loan request 

By Henry Umoru 

A Senate BUJA—THE 

has begun the 

consideration of the $6.18 billion 

( N2.3 trillion) external loan 

request by President 

Muhammadu Buhari to fund the 

2021 budget deficit. 

President of the Senate, 

Senator Ahmad Lawan, 

yesterday referred the request to 

the Senate Committee on Local 

and Foreign Debts, led by Senate 

Clifford Ordia, PDP, Edo Central, 

to report back at plenary in two 

weeks. 

The action of the Senate 

president was sequel to the 

executive communication of 

2018 - 2020 by the Senate Leader, 

Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, that 

the Senate considered the 

request of President 

Muhammadu Buhari on the 

approval of Donor Fund Projects 

under the 2018- 2020 Federal 

Government External 

Borrowing( Rolling) Plan. 

Recall that President Buhari 

had written the Senate last 

month, seeking approval of 

another external loan to the tune 

of $6,18 billion to fund the 2021 

budget deficit. 

The request by President 

Buhari was contained in a letter 

read at plenary by the President 

of the Senate. 

According to Buhari, the 

proposed loan, which is 

equivalent of N2.3trn, is to 

finance the 2021 budget deficit of 

N5.6 trillion. 

He also explained that the 

loan would enable the Federal 

Government fund critical 

infrastructural projects in 

transportation, health and 

education,m among others. 

Two letters from the 

President with regard to the 

approval of external loans 

were read by Lawan. 

they are doing and asking them 

to put a stop to it. 

“It is a very simple thing but I 

believe it will be an effective one. 

We are yet to hear that, the 

herders are yet to hear that.’’ 

Abounu also said the body 

language of leaders of the herders 

had contributed to the atrocities 

committed by the herders in 

Nigeria. 

“The body language of the 

leaders of herders in our society 

today is a very serious issue to be 

addressed,” he added. 

Meanwhile, the Senate said 

yesterday senators were tired of 

observing a minute silence in 

honour of those killed by bandits 

and kidnappers across the 

country, following continued 

cases of insecurity. 

President of the Senate, 

Senator Ahmad Lawan, who 

stated this yesterday, said it had 

become very imperative for 

legislative interventions that 

must be stepped-up by the 

National Assembly to protect 

Nigerians. 

According to him, such 

interventions will be backed by 

collaborative efforts among the 

legislature, executive and 

Nigerians to address the 

country’s security challenges. 

Only yesterday, a point of Order 

raised by the Deputy President 

of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo 

Agege, All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Delta Central; 

Senate Majority leader, Yahaya 

Abdullahi, APC, Kebbi North; 

Deputy Chief Whip, Senator Sabi 

Abdullahi, APC, Niger North; 

former Senate Leader, Senator 

Ali Ndume, APC, Borno South; 

Senator Ibikunle Amosun, APC, 

Ogun Central and Senator Aisha 

Dahiru, APC, Adamawa Central, 

led to the observation of a minute 

silence by the senators in honour 

of those killed. 

Lawan said: “Let me observe 

that we have observed about six 

one-minute silence and most of 

it was to pray for the repose of the 

souls of Nigerians who were 

murdered or killed by criminals. 

“It is very important that we 

step up our legislative 

intervention in ensuring that we 

protect the lives and properties 

of Nigerians to reduce the 

incidence of one-minute silence. 

“I believe the Senate and, 

indeed, the National Assembly, 

working together with the 

executive and getting the 

support of Nigerians, can bring 

the much-needed succour to our 

people, and that is why we are 

here.” 

Earlier, the Senate yesterday 

had asked the Federal 

Government to immortalize the 

late Chief of Army Staff, Lt. 

General Ibrahim Attahiru, by 

naming a military structure in his 

honour. 

It also observed a minute 

silence in honour of the late 

COAS and 10 others who died in 

a plane crash penultimate Friday 

at Kaduna airport. 

The Upper Chamber also 

resolved to send a team to the 

family of the late Chief of Army 

Staff to commiserate with it. 

Resolutions of the Senate were 

sequel to a point of order raised 

by the Chairman, Senate 

Committee on Army, Senator Ali 

Ndume, All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Borno South. 

Ndume, who came under Order 

43, said personal explanation was 

being sought along side his 

colleagues, in the person of 

Chairman, Senate Committee 

on Defence, Senator Aliyu 

Wamakko and Chairman, Senate 

Committee on Air force, Senator 

Ibn Na’ Allah. 

Missing $3.54bn ports’ 

concession fund: Reps summon 

NIMASA, NSC others 

By Tordue Salem 

ABUJA—THE House of 

Representatives has 

invited the Nigerian Maritime 

Administration and Safety 

Agency, NIMASA, Nigeria 

Shippers’ Council, Five Star 

Logistics Limited, and ENL 

Consortium to appear before it 

today over loss of over $3 billion 

concessions of ports to private 

players. 

Both Houses of the National 

Assembly have quasi-judicial 

powers under sections 88 and 

89 of the 1999 constitution to 

issue summons on all persons 

and agencies of government 

concerning public finances and 

public interest in general. 

Chairman of the Ad hoc 

committee on Assessment of 

all Recovered Loots, Movable 

and Immovable Assets from 

2002-2020 by Agencies of 

Federal Government of 

Nigeria for Effective and 

Efficient Management and 

Utilization, Daniel Effiong 

Asuquo, disclosed the 

decision of his committee 

yesterday. 

The committee had 

announced weeks ago, that 

it uncovered a loss of over 

$3billion from the concession 

of ports in Nigeria by the 

Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA. 

Besides, the Green Chamber 

also reported that another 

whopping loss of $90.5million 

dollars to the concessioning of 

airports’ terminals. 

Asuquo said at a two-day 

public hearing: “The major 

advantage of a concession is 

that it allows certain public 

assets (for which private 

ownership is economically 

Senate receives Buhari’s request 

to confirm Yahaya as COAS 

ABUJA—THE Senate 

yesterday received a 

formal request from President 

Muhammadu Buhari to confirm 

the newly appointed Chief of 

Army Staff, Major General Farouk 

Yahaya. 

The request was contained in 

a letter addressed to the Senate 

President, Ahmad Lawan, and 

read during resumption of 

plenary. 

Buhari in the letter, said 

Yahaya’s appointment was in 

compliance with the provisions 

of Section 18 subsection 1 of the 

Armed Forces Act 2004. 

The letter read: “In compliance 

with the provisions of section 

Expert worries over rising cases of kidney disorders 

•Says UBTH has prioritized management 

By Juliet Umeh 

A 

Consultant 

Nephrologist at the 

University of Benin Teaching 

Hospital, Edo State, Dr Ojeh 

Odije, has expressed worry over 

the rising cases of kidney failure 

in Nigeria, noting that the factors 

aggravating the disorders were 

also on the rise. 

In an interview with 

journalists at the hospital in 

Benin City, Odije said the 

ailment was not just wreaking 

havoc in the state alone but 

across Nigeria as a whole. 

He said: “The last population 

studies we did in a village not far 

away from here showed that close 

to one third of the public are 

beginning to have problems with 

their kidney and that’s a terrible 

figure. 

“I have been more or less with 

this kidney unit since it started 

around 1999 and at that 

particular time, we probably 

diagnose three or four patients a 

day. 

“But what we have now is that 

in UBTH at times, we diagnose 

as many as 10 to13 a day. In 

addition, there are about four 

dialysis centres in Benin that 

equally operate at full capacity. 

inefficient and politically not 

possible) to be maintained and 

operated efficiently by private 

players. 

“Categories of public 

infrastructure that benefit from 

PPP include power generation 

plants, power transmission 

distribution network, roads and 

bridges, sea ports, air ports, 

railways, inland container 

depots. Logistics hubs etc. 

“A case in point is that the 

Murtala Muhammed Domestic 

Airport Terminal 2 (MMAZ), the 

domestic terminal of the 

international airport situated in 

Lagos and its ancillary facilities 

were developed under a BOT 

agreement. 

‘’The Federal Government is 

losing over $90.5 million annually 

due to the shoddy agreements 

between the Federal Airports 

Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, and 

its concessionaire at both local 

and international wings of the 

Murtala Muhammed Airport 

(MMA) Lagos. 

“A similar situation obtains in 

the maritime sector where the 

Nigerian government has 

concessioned 26 ports in Nigeria 

to private companies. The 

tenures of the NPA concession 

agreements range from 15 to 25 

years and the estimated revenue 

to government from the 

concessions is estimated at over 

$6.54 billion over the period. 

‘’However, J V companies have 

allegedly only realized an 

estimated sum of $3billion since 

2005 out of the total sum.’ 

‘’This investigative hearing will 

serve as a turning point in the 

fight against sharp pratices and 

economic sabotage in the area of 

lease and concession of Federal 

Government-owned assets.'' 

18(1) of the Armed Forces Act 

Cap A20 laws of the Federation 

of Nigeria 2004, I hereby forward 

for confirmation by the Senate, 

the appointment of Major 

General Farouk Yahaya as the 

Chief of Army Staff of the Armed 

Forces of the Federal Republic of 

Nigeria. 

“His CV is herewith attached. 

It is my hope that the Senate will 

consider and confirm the nominee 

in the usual expeditious manner.” 

The new nominee takes over 

from former Chief of Army Staff, 

Major General Attahiru Ibrahim, 

who died in a plane crash near 

the Kaduna International Airport 

about two weeks ago. 

“We used to be able to provide 

all the services that the town 

requires but now, we are 

beginning to find out that there 

are five dialysis centres working 

at full capacity as the numbers of 

patients we are having are on 

the increase.’’ 

On why the number of cases 

was increasing, he explained: 

“Hypertension, diabetes, other 

unresolved infections are on the 

rise; things that weren’t there 

some years back are on the rise. 

“A lot of people are now 

becoming hypertensive at a 

younger age and that causes 

close to half of the number of 

kidney diseases that we have.''


:Vanguard 

News 

17 yrs after, NPA workers 

demand salary increase 

By Victor Ahiuma- 

Young 

LAGOS—WORKERS of 

the Nigerian Ports 

Authority, NPA, yesterday, 

urged the management of 

the NPA to increase their 

salaries, lamenting that 

their salaries and other 

benefits have not been increased 

in the last 17 years. 

President of Maritime Workers 

Union of Nigeria, MWUN, NPA 

branch, Mr. Ifeanyi Mazeli, said 

this while addressing guests and 

delegates at the 5th Quadrennial 

Branch Delegates Conference, in 

Lagos. 

Mazeli said: “We wish to 

Family petitions Defence minister, 

SGF over use of Naval personnel 

by land grabbers 

By James 

Ogunnaike 

A Agbeje BEOKUTA—THE 

family of Fowowawo 

village, near Magbon Etido in 

Obafemi-Owode Local 

Government Area of Ogun State, 

has petitioned the offices of the 

Minister of Defence and the 

Secretary to the Government of 

the Federation, SGF, over the use 

of Naval personnel by land 

grabbers to terrorise the 

community. 

In the petitions by solicitors, 

Manasseh Ehile and Company, 

dated May 4, 2021, the family said 

the Naval personnel, led by an 

officer, invaded the village on May 

1, abducted three members of the 

Agbeje family and locked them 

inside a container in the bush. 

According to the petitioners, 

the Agbeje family had obtained 

judgment in a land suit against 

the Alabi Taiwo, progenitor of the 

Ogunleyes, in 1993, part of which 

it sold 10 acres to one Alhaja 

Awawu Gidado for mining and 

sand dredging. 

They added that another 

judgement was delivered by an 

Ogun State High Court in 

Abeokuta, on April 20, 2015, in 

favour of the Agbeje family, 

reaffirming its ownership of the 

land. 

Orubebe eulogises Clark at 94 

Former minister of Niger Delta 

Affairs, Elder Godsday 

Orubebe, has joined well-wishers 

to wish Chief Edwin Clark a happy 

and memorable birthday, 

describing him as a true living 

legend. 

The elder statesman, who 

turned 94 on May 25, celebrated 

God’s grace in his life amidst 

encomiums from the general 

public, who see him as a blessing. 

Orubebe said: “On May 25, we 

celebrated a true living legend, 

an ‘iroko’ of our common 

aspirations, and pride of our great 

heritage, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo 

Clark, as he clocks the enviable 

age of 94 years. 

“Over the years, you have paid 

the unique price of leadership, not 

only in your Ijaw land but also in 

our beloved country, Nigeria. 

Your outstanding qualities of 

truthfulness, fairness and justice 

for all are some of your living 

legacies. 

“This day, I join millions of 

Nigerians and the entire world to 

suggest that the NPA 

management should kindly look 

into the possibility of increasing 

the salaries of workers as the last 

increment was done in 2004. The 

numerical strength of our 

members is dwindling daily. This 

is as a result of promotions, 

retirements and death which is a 

natural phenomenon. 

We wish to use this opportunity 

to once again to appeal to our 

management to employ more 

junior workers to boost the 

workforce. There are hundreds of 

private jetties operating in the 

country and yet, the presence of 

the NPA is not there. There is a 

need to reverse the trend for 

obvious reasons.” 

The family stated further 

that since its loss in court, the 

Alabi family via Sufi Taiwo 

Ogunleye, Ayinde Ogunleye 

and Adisa Ogunleye, had 

sought the help of the naval 

personnel stationed at Arepo, 

to abduct members of the Agbeje 

family, aiding forcible 

entry on the judgment land, 

harass, intimidate and assault 

resident of Fowowawo Village. 

They argued in the petitions 

that the naval officers and 

members of the Ogunleye family 

have been engaging in illegal 

dredging of sand and destruction 

of farmlands. 

The petitioners said that one 

Nurudeen Adenekan, a member 

of Agbeje Family, who was 

allegedly abducted sometime in 

2019 by some naval officers, was 

brutally assaulted and eventually 

died due to the internal injuries 

he suffered during the assault. 

They stated that despite the 

affidavits of undertaking sworn to, 

by the duo of Taiwo Sufianu 

Ogunleye and Waliu Babalola, 

before a Magistrate Court, in 

December 2020, not to step on 

the judgment land and cause 

mayhem, they had led the military 

officers to sack Fowowawo Village 

four times between March and 

April. 

The petitioners, therefore, 

urged the offices of the Defence 

Minister and that of the SGF to 

celebrate you as a great gift from 

God. You are a father to all and a 

worthy leader. May the Grace and 

Glory of God continue to rain 

upon you,” Orubebe said. 

Describing him as a legal 

luminary and political leader, 

Orubebe said Chief Clark is also 

the father of Niger Delta and Ijaw 

Nation, and many more. 

“We are inspired by your 

continued legacy and hard work, 

and we convey our best wishes 

and prayers for more healthy and 

active years ahead.” 

LAGOS—IN a bid to 

empower Nigerian 

youths in the tourism 

business, Goge Africa, 

which is Africa’s leading 

tourism media and 

destination marketing 

outfit, has commenced a 

four-day free training programme 

in tourism in Lagos State. 


By Ola Ajayi 

Iof BADAN—PRESIDENT 

the Christian 

Association of Nigeria, 

CAN, Reverend Supo 

Ayokunle, said, yesterday, 

that some members of the 

National Assembly 

approached the Christian 

body to lobby the legislature 

for the amendment of the 

controversial Companies 

and Allied Matters Act, 

CAMA, bill. 

Revd Ayokunle, who was 

the President of the 

Nigerian Baptist 

Convention for 10 years, 

said this during the 

handover ceremony to new 

leaders, Dr. Israel Akanji 

and Professor Emeritus 

Adewale Akinsola. 

The ceremony was 

PRESENTATION— 

Ambassador 

E l i j a h 

Onyeagba 

( r i g h t ) , 

Nigeria's envoy 

to the Republic 

of Burundi, 

presenting his 

Letter of 

Credence to the 

President of 

B u r u n d i , 

E v a r i s t e 

Ndayishimiye. 

Some NASS members demanded bribe 

for CAMA bill amendment —CAN president 

By Rotimi 

Ojomoyela & Deola 

Badru 

ANational DO-EKITI—THE 

Association of 

Nigerian Students, NANS, 

yesterday, declared June 12 

as “a national day of 

protest” for all Nigerian 

students. 

National President of the 

association, Sunday 

Asefon, said the country 

has nothing to celebrate the 

June 12 Democracy Day, 

when students were being 

killed and kidnapped by 

bandits. 

organized by the Nigerian 

Baptist Convention at the 

Baptist Convention 

Building Chapel, Dugbe, in 

Ibadan. 

While advising his 

successor to put on the 

armour of God and to avoid 

putting his trust in 'arms of 

flesh', he narrated what he 

went through while trying 

to look for a sponsor for the 

amendment of CAMA bill. 

He said: “The arm of flesh 

is going to fail you. 

Politicians in Nigeria, when 

they want to have their way, 

they know how to lobby. 

When we went to 

lawmakers who are 

Christians in the National 

Assembly to assist us in 

sponsoring a bill for 

amendment to CAMA, I set 

up a committee to meet 

them. 

“When we got to them, 

they told us they were not 

in the National Assembly 

because of CAN. They said, 

though they are Christians, 

CAN didn’t send them 

there. They told us: ‘we 

were nominated and 

sponsored by our parties.’ 

Their loyalty is first to their 

parties and those who 

sponsored them. 

“They said if you want us 

to help, you have to lobby 

and what does lobby mean. 

They said Christians only 

cannot give us what we 

wanted; that they have to 

go to non-Christians and 

before they can support us, 

there must be an ‘answer’ 

in your hands.” 

While speaking on the 

proposed introduction of 

Sharia law in the southwest 

zone of the country, the new 

NBC President, Revd 

Akanji said, it was wrong 

to impose it on the people. 

Akanji said: “We don’t all 

believe in Sharia and 

Christians should be allowed to 

operate as Christians. In our 

Christian schools, we have our 

enabling law. You can’t come to 

our schools and say you want this 

done. There are Islamic Schools, 

a Christian can’t go there and call 

the shots saying we want this or 

that. We can’t do that. 

“Why for God’s sake will you 

come to a Christian School with 

Christian principles and enabling 

law and demand that certain 

things must be done? We should 

create space for one another. 

Christians must not drive out 

Muslims and Muslims must not 

drive out Christians.” 

Democracy Day: NANS declares June 12 

national protest day ....As Makinde slashes LAUTECH fees by 25% 

Asefon, who spoke in a 

chat with journalists, said it 

was sad that insecurity has 

reached a frightening peak, 

where students can longer 

go to school with the 

guarantee that they would 

return home safely. 

He said: “Putting it in the 

right perspective, the 

Federal Government and 

security apparatuses have 

failed us; we can no longer 

trust them. 

“The Federal 

Government must convene 

a national dialogue, where 

people can come with 

different ideas and proffer 

Goge Africa, LASG commence training in 

tourism business 

The programme, which spans 

June 1 and 4, is in collaboration 

with the Lagos State government, 

Sterling Bank, National Institute 

for Hospitality and Tourism, 

NIHOTOUR, and Nigeria 

Railway Corporation, NRC. 

A statement by Managing 

Director, Goge Africa, Mrs. Nneka 

Isaac-Moses, said: “This initiative 

is in line with our mission to 

build capacity for 1000 tourism 

practitioners by 2025. 

“The tourism industry 

worldwide needs reinvigoration 

following new travel regulations 

necessitated by the COVID-19 

pandemic. Therefore, there is no 

better time to upscale human 

capacity in line with global best 

practices in the tourism industry 

worldwide than now. 

solutions to this insecurity 

issue. 

“We are daunted by the 

endless news of the 

kidnapping of students in 

their hundreds within the 

last two years. This 

development is not only 

unacceptable; it challenges 

the very fabrics of our 

national development, 

unity, cohesion and 

portends grave danger to 

our educational institutions. 

“NANS under my 

leadership, having 

considered the continuous 

threats to the lives of our 

students and the lukewarm 

pace of security 

apparatuses to these 

nefarious crimes, we 

regrettably call on the 

Federal Government to 

order the temporary closure 

of all schools in the North- 

West and North-Central 

until adequate security is 

put in place.” 

Makinde 

slashes 

LAUTECH fees 

by 25% 

Meanwhile, Governor 

Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, 

yesterday, announced a 25 

percent reduction in the 

tuition fee of students of 

Ladoke Akintola University 

of Technology, LAUTECH, 

Ogbomoso. 

The governor said this 

while meeting with students 

of the institution during his 

visit to the town to 

commission the school’s 

teaching hospital’s High 

Dependency Unit. 

Makinde said: “Let me 

tell you, the LAUTECH fee 

is still the lowest in the 

South-West. Having said 

that, I will reduce your fee 

across the board; whether 

indigenes or nonindigenes, 

even new 

students. There will be a 

reduction of 25 per cent 

across the board. 

“We will ensure your fouryear 

course does not 

become an eight-year 

course as a result of many 

strikes. We will make sure 

your academic calendar is 

properly regularized.”

Vanguard, , WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 — 11 

:Vanguard :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 

Social Media Conversation 

COMMISSIONING—Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Rauf Olaniyan, with Governor Seyi Makinde; 

Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Bashir Bello, and Chief Medical Director, Ladoke Akintola 

University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Prof. George Opadijo, with other state officials, during the 

commissioning of the High Dependency Unit at the teaching hospital. 

LG primaries: Confusion as Lagos APC 

candidates receive nomination forms 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

LAGOS—THE 

All 

Progressives Congress, APC, 

in Lagos State, yesterday, 

commenced distribution of Lagos 

State Independent Electoral 

Commission, LASIEC, 

nomination forms to those who 

emerged winners in the primary elections, 

held on Saturday, May 29, 2021. 

The APC primary was held across the 

20 local government areas, LGAs and 37 

local council development areas, LCDAs, 

of the state to decide the chairmanship 

and councillorship candidates of the 

party in the forthcoming council elections 

in the state, slated for July 24. 

The distribution of the forms, however, 

is contrary to the earlier claim by APC of 

still collating results of candidates that 

emerged winners from the primary 

elections, after leaked results appeared 

and widely circulated on social media on 

Monday. 

This development came amid series of 

petitions from aggrieved aspirants and 

supporters, over reports of violence and 

Lagos-Ibadan expressway: Reps warn against 

compensation rift 

By Gabriel Olawale 

LHouse AGOS—CHAIRMAN, 

of Representatives 

Committee on Works, Abubakar 

Kabir, yesterday, urged the 

electoral malpractices in some councils, 

while party registers were not available 

in other councils, among other 

discrepancies against particular 

aspirants. 

Results were also said to have been 

cancelled by APC in areas where 

violence was recorded. 

Vanguard gathered that the 

Special Electoral Committee, headed by 

Wale Edun and set up to conduct the 

poll, and the leadership of the party, have 

secretly contacted their 'anointed' 

candidates to come forward to receive 

their nomination forms as flagbearers in 

the general council polls on July 24. 

But reacting to results making the 

rounds, the Lagos APC spokesman, Mr. 

Seye Oladejo, dismissed the claim, 

describing it as “fake in its entirety,” 

adding that “there’s nothing like that 

yet on any local government.” 

Oladejo said: “We have decided to 

ignore the fake results in circulation from 

distracting us. i can assure you that the 

results will be released in due course.” 

It was gathered that the party 

leadership after deliberation with 

Federal Ministry of Works and 

Housing, as well as contractors 

working on Lagos Ibadan 

expressway, not to allow the issue 

of compensation and relocation 

affect the May 6, 2022, hand-over 

date of the 

reconstruction 

project. 

Speaking 

during a fived 

a y 

inspection 

tour of road 

projects in 

the South- 

West by the 

National 

Assembly 

Committee 

on Works, 

Kabir said the 

present 

administration 

has made 

available all 

that is 

necessary for 

the smooth 

completion of 

the project, 

pointing out 

that the 

Ministry of 

Works and 

Governor’s Advisory Council, GAC, at a 

meeting held recently, decided that all 

chairmen who are first-timers should be 

returned. 

Among the anointed candidates, who 

have collected the forms are Bayo 

Olasoju, the band manager of Fuji 

maestro, Wasiu Ayinde, popularly called 

KWAM1 K1 De Ultimate. 

There was pictorial evidence as 

Oladejo was seen collecting the form from 

an APC leader. 

Also, the chairmanship candidate in 

Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, 

Mr. Dipo Olorunrinu, was seen collecting 

his nomination form from a party official, 

thereby, defeating the incumbent 

chairman, Mr. Valentine Buraimoh, after 

a keenly contested poll. 

An APC faithful, who preferred 

anonymity, described the act as one of 

the “Abracadabras of APC Lagos politics.” 

Meanwhile, efforts to get reactions from 

the APC Chairman, Mr. Tunde Balogun; 

the Electoral Committee Chairman, 

Edun and the party’s spokesman, 

Oladejo were unsuccessful at press time 

as call attempts to their phone rang out. 

Housing must ensure that the 

handing over date is sacrosanct. 

He said: “The House of 

Representatives is ready to assist in 

whatever area to ensure that nothing 

hinders the deadline. This is one of the 

most important roads in the entire 

country because it connects Lagos to the 

rest of the country. 

“We constantly engage with the 

Ministry of Works and Housing as well 

as the contractors on how we can assist 

in terms of funding, technical challenges 

among others. From the look of things, 

Julius Berger and RCC have achieved a 

lot of progress and we are optimistic that 

this project will be handed overcome May 

2022. 

“The only challenge we observed was 

that of kilometre 8, where there was an 

issue with compensation and relocation. 

Once we get back to Abuja, we will see 

how we can assist to resolve the issue.” 

In his remarks, the Director, Federal 

Highways, South-West, Mr. Adedamola 

Kuti, said the delivery dates of all Lagos 

roads are sacrosanct. 

Kuti said: “We appreciate the 

cooperation we are enjoying from 

motorists which makes it possible for us 

to record some progress. I can assure 

Nigerians that by God’s grace, we will 

deliver on deadline. In terms of 

compensation, we have made 

appreciable progress because everybody 

is sacrificing just to ensure that this 

project is completed. 

It should have been patented! 

Curious suggestion!


:Vanguard 

News 


GRADUATION: From left, Assistant to Special Adviser on Job Creation and Youth 

Empowerment to the Ogun State Governor, Abiola Odetola; Director, Sustainability and 

Corporate Communications, IHS Nigeria, Cima Sholotan; Snr. Special Adviser to the Deputy 

Gov. of Ogun State, Ramon Salako; Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Dr. Toyin 

Taiwo. and Special Adviser on Finances, Dimeji Belo, at the graduation ceremony of 100 

beneficiaries from the IHS Project Empower initiative, in Ogun State. 

NDDC: Akpabio moves to halt Tompolo, 

N’Delta militants 

By Emma Amaize 

MINISTER of Niger 

Delta Affairs, Senator 

Godswill Akpabio, has initiated 

moves to stop the leader of Niger 

Delta agitators, Government 

Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, 

from fulfilling his threat of 

catastrophe in the oil region if 

the Federal Government did not 

inaugurate the substantive 

board for Niger Delta 

Development Commission, 

NDDC, by June 6, 2021. 

Meanwhile, the ranks of 

Niger Delta militant groups 

preparing to cause havoc at the 

expiration of the ultimatum 

have increased, as Niger Delta 

Revolutionary Crusaders, 

NDRC, vowed, yesterday: “We 

will respond with maximum 

force at the expiration of the one 

week ultimatum if the 

substantive board was not 

inaugurated.” 

Past IYC leaders 

meet in Warri 

over escalating 

tension 

Also, past leaders of Ijaw Youth 

Council, IYC, held an 

emergency meeting in Warri, 

Delta State, yesterday, following 

renewed tension in the region, 

while Special Assistant to 

NDDC Interim Administrator 

on Youth, Mr Udengs Eradiri, 

flew to Warri to meet Tompolo 

for a meeting. 

Coordinator of Presidential 

Amnesty Programme, PAP, Col 

Milland Dikio (retd) and 

Interim Administrator, NDDC, 

Effiong Akwa, were reportedly 

involved in the combined efforts. 

Akpabio moves 

to halt Tompolo, 

N’Delta militants 

Vanguard learned that 

Akpabio, who is leading the 

team, has been speaking on 

phone to several persons 

perceived to be close to 

Tompolo, popularly known as 

General Officer Commanding, 

GOC, of Niger Delta struggle 

since Monday. 

A source close to him said he 

pleaded with one emissary on 

phone that Tompolo should 

withdraw his last Sunday's 

ultimatum, calling on Mr 

President, members of 

the National Assembly 

and security agencies 

to work towards the 

constitution of the 

substantive board of the NDDC, 

within a few days, to avert a total 

breakdown of law and order 

that would equally affect crude 

oil exploration and exploitation 

activities in the region. 

Having whittled down the 

protest by Ijaw Youth Council, 

IYC, which earlier issued a 30- 

day ultimatum over noninauguration 

of the substantive 

board, the minister was rattled, 

weekend, when Tompolo came 

up with his ultimatum. 

Chief Press Secretary to the 

Minister, Anietie Ekong, 

promised to reach his boss, 

Akpabio, and get back to 

Vanguard when contacted on 

the moves by the minister, 

yesterday, but was unable to live 

up to his promise at press time. 

But an official told Vanguard: 

“The minister cannot discuss his 

moves with you (journalist). You 

know that there is certainly no 

way he will sit down in his office 

and watch with such an 

ultimatum from Tompolo, he 

must reach out.” 

A dependable source hinted: 

•NDRC vows to use maximum force, if... 

•Past IYC leaders meet in Warri over escalating 

tension •Eradiri, NDDC interim administrator's 

aide to meet Tompolo today 

“Akpabio and members of his 

team spoke to a Tompolo's 

representative, contending that 

the Ministry of Niger Delta 

Affairs had already forwarded 

a new list of NDDC board 

members for inauguration to the 

Senate and Tompolo should 

withdraw his ultimatum, as 

raising the matter at the Senate 

while the ultimatum is pending 

would look as if government 

capitulated due to Tompolo’s 

threat. 

“Tompolo informed them 

through his representative that 

it was too late to ask him to 

retract an ultimatum he had 

already issued, urging them to 

do the right thing,” he added. 

Vanguard could not confirm, 

yesterday, if Ministry of Niger 

Delta Affairs, indeed, forwarded 

a new list of board members for 

the interventionist agency to the 

Senate. 

However, Special Assistant to 

NDDC Interim Administrator 

on Youth, Eradiri, told 

Vanguard: “I am surprised that 

Tompolo is involved in this 

ultimatum and I do not want to 

believe that he has anything to 

do with it until I see him.” 

On the protest by IYC, he said 

the council had wisely called off 

the protests when it found out the 

truth. 

NDRC vows to 

use maximum 

force, if... 

NDRC in a statement, 

yesterday, said: “We will bring 

the economy of the country to its 

knees if the Federal 

Government fails to constitute 

the substantive board of NDDC. 

The silence of FG over the 

demand of the region to 

constitute a substantive board of 

NDDC is a clear grand 

conspiracy against the people of 

the region. 

“Therefore, at the end of the 

seven-day ultimatum given by 

Tompolo, we will launch a 

deadly attack on the nation’s oil 

facilities in the region. Our 

actions will cost the federal 

government an unimaginable 

damage to the already fledgling 

economy.” 

Constitution review: A-Ibom, Rivers 

demand 100% resource control by 

states 

By Tordue Salem 

GOVERNORS Udom 

Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) 

and Nyesom Wike (Rivers), 

have demanded a return to 

the 1963 Constitution and the 

removal of resource control 

from the Exclusive List of the 

1999 Constitution, to allow 

the 36 states mine their 

resources and pay tax to the 

Federal Government. 

Meanwhile, Speaker of 

Akwa Ibom State House of 

Assembly, took a different 

stand with the Akwa-Ibom 

governor on the issue of 

autonomy for the local 

governments. 

The states separately made 

the demand, yesterday, at the 

Zonal Public Hearing on the 

review of the 1999 

Constitution in Uyo, Akwa 

Ibom State. 

Attorney-General of Akwa- 

Ibom State, Uwemedimo 

Nwoko, in his presentation 

on behalf of the state 

government, called for 

adoption of the 1963 

Constitution to allow states of 

the federation mine their 

resources and pay royalty to 

the Federal Government. 

“The Akwa Ibom State 

government wants the 

National Assembly, to adopt 

the 1999 Constitution, which 

gives the states 100 per cent 

control of their resources,” he 

stated. 

Earlier, the Head of Service, 

Rivers State government, Rufus 

Godwin, on behalf of Governor 

Wike, kicked against 13 per cent 

derivation for states. 

He said: “The constitution 

should be amended to allow for 

states to control their resources; 

you can’t be mining our 

resources and giving us only 13 

per cent derivation. It is not 

acceptable. It is wrong. 

“The entire Chapter 2 of the 

Constitution is actually the heart 

and soul of the 1999 

Constitution, but sadly, it’s not 

justiciable. Section 6 paragraph 

C, says none of these principles 

can be challenged in court, so 

this is no constitution at all.” 

He also condemned the 

appointment of the bulk security 

chiefs, from one side of the 

country. 

The Rivers State government 

also called for judicial autonomy, 

insisting that state judges should 

be appointed by state governors, 

as against their appointment by 

the National Judicial Council, 

NJC. 

He, along the Akwa Ibom 

State government, also backed 

state policing, demanding its 

inclusion in a new constitution. 

Asaba Declaration: Southern 

govs have no apology on open 

grazing, restructuring —Okowa 

GOVERNOR 

Ifeanyi 

Okowa of Delta State has 

berated critics of Southern 

governors on the ban of open 

grazing of cattle and 

restructuring of Nigeria. 

He was reacting to criticisms 

of the Asaba Declaration by the 

Attorney-General of the 

Federation and Minister of 

Justice, Abubakar Malami, 

SAN, and presidential 

spokesman, Mallam Garba 

Shehu. 

The Southern governor had 

at May 11, 2021, in Asaba 

meeting called for state police 

and devolution of powers from 

the Federal Government to the 

states. 

Okowa, who spoke with 

selected journalists in Asaba, 

said: “We owe no apologies 

because we spoke the truth and 

we thought that the truth we 

spoke was in the best interest of 

this nation. 

“Can we truly at this moment 

be promoting open grazing? 

Thank God that the president 

was misrepresented because I 

have seen news headlines that 

the president was not opposed 

to the ban on open grazing. 

“We need to begin to look into 

what is best for us. Where we 

Diokpa Isi Ugbolu, Ruth Dare 

for burial 

THE traditional ruler of 

Ugbolu community in 

Oshimili-North Local 

Government Area of Delta 

State, Diokpa Isi Amon 

Okonkwo, 101, is dead. 

There will be an all-night 

social wake on June 10, 2021 

at his Ogbe-Obi palace 

ground, Ugbolu to be 

followed the next day by 

other burial activities and 

thereafter interment at the 

same venue according to 

Ugbolu traditional burial 

rites. 

Late Diokpa Isi 

Ugbolu, 

were 50 years ago should not be 

where we should be today and 

tomorrow. 

“It may not be a one-day affair 

but the process has to start and 

there must be a programme that 

must become evident, a 

programme in which we will 

begin to see actions being taken. 

“Today, a lot of money is being 

spent by the Central Bank of 

Nigeria to encourage farmers 

to ensure that we are food 

sufficient but a lot of these efforts 

are lost, because of insecurity. 

Farmers can’t go to the farm, 

their crops are destroyed, they 

are maimed and raped and 

some are even killed. 

"We cannot continue like this, 

because if you have a 

programme you are spending 

billions on, we must secure it and 

we must ensure the food security 

of this country. 

“Ranching obviously is the 

only way out as it is in other 

climes and it’s not impossible in 

this place. In some parts of 

Taraba State, ranching has been 

on for so many years and we 

can actually create those 

ranches where the cattle will 

have more meat, more milk and 

then the children can actually 

afford to go to school." 

2023: Reject APC tales of killings, 

embrace promise-keeping PDP, 

Wike tells electorate 

By Egufe 

Yafugborhi 

PORT HARCOURT — 

GOVERNOR Nyesom 

Wike of Rivers State, yesterday, 

urged Nigeria’s electorate to, 

come 2023, reject the All 

Progressives Congress, APC, at 

the centre for having only tales 

of killings and kidnappings to 

show in power. 

Wike, during the flag-off of 

the construction of Etche 

Campus of the Rivers State 

University in Abara, Etche 

Local Government Area of the 

state, said Nigerians should 

instead return power to the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

for commitment to fulfilling 

promises made without excuses. 

He said: “Don’t listen to those 

who lie to you, those who cannot 

provide security for Nigeria. Are 

you seeing the killings every day 

now? Are you not worried about 

this country? Is there any hope 

that they can offer this country 

again? 

“You know the difference 

between us and them is that you 

see us every day, moving from 

one local government to 

another. It is either we are 

flagging off or commissioning 

projects. They are not doing so 

because there’s nothing for them 

to do. They don’t have anything 

MRS Ruth Iyabo 

Dare, 75, is dead. 

Service of Songs/ 

Christian wake hold at 

E b e n e z e r 

Comprehensive High 

School, Agbado Station 

Road, opposite Ojokoro 

Police Station, Ojokoro, 

Agbado Ijaye, Lagos on 

Friday while burial takes 

place in North Carolina, 

United States of America 

on Saturday. 

Late Mrs Ruth Iyabo 

Dare.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY JUNE 2, 2021 — 13 



HEARING: Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State (middle) with the Speaker of Enugu State House of 

Assembly, Rt. Hon. Edward Ubosi (left), Deputy Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Toby 

Okechukwu (4th left), Rt. Hon. Ofor Chukwuegbo (3rd left), Rt. Hon. Lynda Chuba Ikpeazu (4th right), Hon. 

Nnolim Nnaji (2nd left), and other members of the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review, 

during the opening ceremony of the Zonal Public Hearing for Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi States, held in Enugu, 

yesterday. 

Gulak: Ohanaeze takes on ACF over 

advice on travel to S-East 

•Berates ACF chair, Audu Ogbeh, says his travel advice incendiary 

•Warns against politicizing Gulak's death 

•As S-East govs condemn assassination of Gulak 

By Anayo Okoli & 

Peter Okutu 

ENUGU—APEX Igbo so 

cio-cultural organisation, 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo has 

frowned at the travel advice 

issued by the Arewa Consultative 

Forum, ACF, to Northerners 

against travelling to the 

South East following last Saturday's 

murder of Ahmed Gulak 

in Owerri, Imo State. 

This came as Governors of 

the South East geopolitical 

zone, yesterday condemned 

the assassination of Alhaji 

Ahmed Gulak by unknown 

gunmen in Imo State. Their 

position was made known in a 

communique issued at the end 

of a virtual meeting of the 

South-East Governors Forum. 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo described 

the statement by the 

ACF as "very inflammatory, 

incendiary, unreflective and 

unguarded", saying the ACF by 

that action was not showing 

good leadership. 

The apex Igbo socio-cultural 

body particularly lampooned 

the chairman of ACF, 

Chief Audu Ogbe, saying that 

"his remarks are capable of 

rocking the already precarious 

boat". 

ACF in the travel advice, 

warned Northerners not to 

travel to the South-East "unless 

such travels are absolutely 

necessary and of compelling 

nature, like matters of life and 

death.” 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo said it 

"rates the statement by Chief 

Ogbe as baleful" and urged 

"Nigerian government and 

patriots to hold Ogbe responsible 

because his remarks are 

capable of rocking the already 

precarious boat. 

"It is strange that the leaders 

that have gained everything 

from Nigeria are always the 

first to set it on fire", Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo said. 

Reacting to ACF' statement, 

Ohanaeze through the spokesman, 

Alex Ogbonnia said: 

"The attention of Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo has been drawn to a 

press release by the Arewa 

Consultative Forum, ACF, asking 

the Northerners to be cautious 

of travels to the South 

East of Nigeria. It is really 

doubtful if Chief Audu Ogbe, a 

man who has gained the respect 

of many as a detribalized 

Northern patriot could issue 

such a sinister press release. 

"This is a reaction to the heinous 

murder of Alhaji Ahmed 

Gulak. It is worth repeating 

that the gruesome assassination 

of Alhaji Ahmed Gulak is 

very painful to all and has been 

condemned in very strong 

terms by Governor Hope 

Uzodinma, people of Imo 

State and indeed all the leaders 

of thought in Igbo land, including 

the apex socio-cultural 

body of the Igbos, the Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo Worldwide. 

"On behalf of Ndigbo, we 

commend the Chairman, 

Northern Governors Forum 

and the Governor of Plateau 

State, Mr. Simon Lalong, who 

admonished that “the awful 

incident should be treated as a 

criminal act, warning that politicization 

of issues surrounding 

the death of Gulak could 

lead to further violence in Nigeria. 

"Evidently, for over a month, 

the South East which has been 

variously described as the 

most peaceful geopolitical 

zone in Nigeria is facing sophisticated 

security challenges 

but nevertheless should not 

be isolated from the security 

challenges facing the other 

parts of the country. 

"In the nation's newspapers, 

it is reported that over 200 

school children were abducted 

in Niger State; the North 

Central. Benue State in particular, 

has turned into a killing 

field; Katsina State in the 

North West is noted for banditry; 

the Boko Haram insurgency 

has engaged the North 

East for years; etc. One wonders 

why the ACF should single 

out the South East as a nogo-area 

for the Northerners. 

"Boko Haram insurgents, 

bandits, kidnappers, unknown 

gun men, Fulani herdsmen, 

etc, have not shown discretion 

in their attacks in Northern 

parts of the country. They have 

not been selective on the state 

of origin of their victims. 

"On the other hand, several 

persons of various ethnic 

groups have lost their lives in 

the security challenges facing 

Nigeria as a whole. The admonition 

by Lalong, that the 

death of Gulak should not be 

politicized is therefore a tribute 

to leadership quality. 

"The reference by Chief Ogbe 

to the the killings of northern 

leaders in 1966 that triggered 

the events that led to a civil war 

that cost the country thousands 

of lives and untold sufferings 

to millions of innocent people 

is to say the least very inflammatory, 

incendiary, unreflective 

and unguarded. 

"It should be noted that Igbos 

have suffered immeasurably 

in the current Nigerian 

dilemma. In Nimbo community 

of Enugu State, at about 

5.15 am on April 25, 2016, 

armed herdsmen numbering 

over 500 struck, killing 54 people. 

The governor of Enugu 

State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi 

in his maturity, pleaded 

with the indigenes to accept the 

incident as an act of God. On 

March 30, 2021, Egedege 

community in Ebonyi State 

witnessed a horrendous sight 

of 18 persons slaughtered by 

the Fulani herdsmen. 

"Governor Dave Umahi 

could not withhold his tears 

when he saw the 18 corpses of 

Ebonyi State indigenes killed 

spread like fish in the cold 

room. 

"Today, May 31, 2021, the 

Commissioner for Capital 

City Development in Ebonyi 

State, Onyekachi Nwebonyi, 

stated: “we got a very sad news 

yesterday morning that armed 

herdsmen invaded Izzi land 

particularly in a place called 

Ndiobashi and killed so many 

of our people. The commissioner 

added that over 30 bodies 

have been evacuated from 

bushes around the affected 

communities. 

"A national newspaper recorded 

that “about 50 indigenes 

of the area were killed 

by the Fulani at the Ndiobashi 

mass slaughter. This is the reality 

of today 's Nigeria but in 

all these, Ohanaeze Ndigbo 

and the Igbo leaders have 

called for restraint and warned 

against reprisal attacks. 

"It cannot be denied of the 

Igbo that they are the most 

outreaching and adaptable, as 

well as the most hospitable ethnic 

group with insurable interests 

in all parts of Nigeria. 

By Anayo Okoli 

ENUGU—GOVERNOR Ifea 

nyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu 

State, yesterday in Enugu, declared 

open a two-day Zonal 

Public Hearing of the House of 

Representatives Committee on 

Constitution Review for Enugu, 

Anambra and Ebonyi States, reiterating 

his administration’s 

support, “unequivocal and unwavering 

commitment to an egalitarian 

Nigeria where justice, fairness, 

equity and inclusiveness 

shall be functional directive principles 

of state policy”. 

Gov. Ugwuanyi had during the 

Zonal Public Hearing of the Senate 

Committee on Constitution 

Review, held in Enugu, last 

week, declared the state government’s 

support for amendments 

"The Igbo large heart and 

magnanimity has variously 

been proved beyond reasonable 

doubt. For instance, Mallam 

Umaru Altine who hailed 

from the old Sokoto Province 

of the defunct Northern Region 

was elected as the President of 

the Enugu Branch of the National 

Council of Nigeria and 

the Cameroons, NCNC. He 

was later elected the first Mayor 

of Enugu in 1956. Alhaji 

Altine stood another election 

in 1959 with an Igbo man and 

was overwhelmingly voted for. 

That is the Igbo spirit for fairness 

and universalism. 

"Chief Audu Ogbe and the 

ACF are reminded that it is 

rather the federating capacity 

of the Igbo, their equanimity, 

fortitude and readiness to 

adapt to every part of Nigeria, 

as a home, that has served as 

the salt without which the concept 

of Nigeria becomes tasteless. 

"Let it be known that what 

binds the established leaders 

and the followers in the South 

East is the obvious orchestrated 

marginalization and existential 

threat against them. But 

history shows that no condition 

is permanent. 

"Ohanaeze Ndigbo rates the 

statement by Chief Ogbe as 

baleful. Nigerian government 

and patriots are called upon 

to hold Ogbe responsible because 

his remarks are capable 

of rocking the already precarious 

boat. 

"It is strange that the leaders 

that have gained everything 

from Nigeria are always the 

first to set it on fire". 

in the constitution of Nigeria that 

will enhance the nation’s unity 

and prosperity “in an environment 

where justice, fairness and 

equity shall prevail”. 

Declaring open the House of 

Representatives Committee’s 

Zonal Public Hearing in Enugu, 

yesterday, the governor further 

enjoined all relevant institutions, 

civil society organizations, stakeholders 

and the entire Enugu 

State citizenry “to stand up and 

be counted in this important national 

discussion”. 

While welcoming members of 

the House of Representatives 

Committee to Enugu State, Gov. 

Ugwuanyi extended his administration’s 

fraternal compliments 

to the leader of the team, the 

Deputy Minority Leader of the 

S'East govs 

condemn 

assassination of 

Gulak 

In the communique which 

was signed by the Chairman, 

South East Governors' Forum 

and Governor of Ebonyi 

State, Engr. David Umahi, the 

governors assured the Northern 

governors of their commitment 

towards unravelling 

the masterminds of that dastardly 

act. 

According to them: "In our 

efforts to tackle the rising security 

challenges in South 

East, a meeting of South East 

Governors Forum was convened 

on Monday, 31st May,, 

2021, via zoom to review the 

security situation in the zone 

and the following resolutions 

were therefore reached: 

"That South East Governors 

Forum condemns in strong 

terms the brutal assassination 

of Alhaji Ahmed Gulak by 

gunmen on Sunday, 30th, 

May, 2021 while on his way 

to Sam Mbakwe Cargo Airport, 

Owerri, and stands with 

the Governor of Imo 

State,His Excellency Sen.. 

Hope Uzodima and the security 

agencies in their efforts 

to unravel the masterminds of 

this heartless killing. 

"That the Forum heartily 

commiserates with the immediate 

family of Alhajji Ahmed 

Gulak, the government and 

people of Adamawa State 

over the unfortunate killing of 

their son. 

"That the Forum thanks the 

President and father of our 

nation for timely directing the 

security agencies to fish out 

the perpetrators as this will 

further strengthen the bonds 

of unity and trust with our 

Northern brothers and sisters. 

"That we thank our brother 

governors from the North for 

their understanding in the 

face of this unfortunate murder 

of their son and we assure 

them of our commitment in 

unravelling the masterminds 

of that dastardly act. 

"That the Forum sympathizes 

with the families of all 

those who lost their lives during 

this moment of violent 

hostilities by bandits in South 

East 

"That the Forum shall leave 

no stone unturned in tracking 

and bringing to justice all 

those involved in the armed 

banditary that is currently 

ravaging South East zone. 

"That the Forum urges 

members of the public to exercise 

restraint and allow the 

security agencies to continue 

with their investigations with 

the assurances that all those 

who have a hand in the brutal 

murder of Alhaji Ahmed Gulak 

and other killings in the 

zone would be brought to justice." 

Diaspora Igbo insists on restructuring, fiscal federation 

DIASPORA IGBO group, the 

Igbo World Assembly, IWA, 

is still insisting on the need to 

restructure Nigeria to ensure 

true federalism as it was in the 

1963 constitution based on regions 

or zones respectively. 

This is even as the group has 

condemned in the strongest 

term the Federal Government 

position of shooting South East 

youths on sight, noting that it 

was an act of ethnic cleansing 

and commitment of genocide. 

The Chairman of IWA, Dr. 

Nwachukwu Anakwenze who 

stated this in his keynote address 

in Abuja at the just concluded 

Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Transition 

Inter-ethnic peace dialogue 

told the gathering that true 

Fiscal federalism is needed in the 

Nigeria to address issues affecting 

the country. 

Restructuring of Nigeria , according 

to him, should be a 

means of tackling the worsening 

security situation and the agitation 

for secession 

“We need a Nigerian political 

structure that is based on equity, 

fair play, balance and equal 

access to political power for the 

good of all Nigerians. 

“IWA feels that what Nigeria 

needs in the long run is true fiscal 

federalism which is a system 

of government based upon democratic 

rules and institutions in 

which the power to govern is 

shared between National and 

Regional/State Governments. 

The individual federating units 

need to have more control over 

their own affairs. 

“The regional government 

should control their resources 

and pay a percentage royalty tax 

to the federal government. The 

federal government should control 

issues in the single exclusive 

list such as military or foreign 

policy. We should return to 

agricultural businesses such as 

was practiced in the sixties by 

our former leaders.”, Anakwenze 

who spoke on a number of 

issues affecting Nigeria told the 

capacity audience. 

According to him, “there is a 

need to restructure Nigeria to 

ensure true federalism as it was 

in the 1963 constitution based 

on regions or zones. We need a 

Nigerian political structure that 

is based on equity, fair play, balance 

and equal access to political 

power for the good of all Nigerians” 

Constitution review: Ugwuanyi backs egalitarian 

Nigeria anchored on justice, fairness, equity 

House of Representatives and 

member representing Aninri/ 

Awgu/Oji River Federal Constituency, 

Rt. Hon. Toby Okechukwu 

and “other illustrious Representatives 

from Enugu State: Rt. 

Hon. Ofor Gregory Chukwuegbo 

and Hon. Nnolim John Nnaji 

representing Enugu South/ 

Enugu North and Nkanu West/ 

Nkanu East Federal Constituencies, 

respectively”. 

“I also acknowledge other 

Honourable Members of the 9th 

Assembly, to wit: Hon. Akande- 

Sadipe Tolulope Tiwalola, Hon. 

Ahmed Shehu, Hon. John 

Dyegh, Hon. Lynda Chuba Ikpeazu, 

Hon. Usman Ahmed 

Liman and Hon. Makwe Livinus 

Makwe”, the governor added 

while wishing them a successful 

public hearing.

14 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY JUNE 2, 2021 

2021 BIENNIAL CONVENTION OF 

NIGERIAN GUILD OF EDITORS, NGE, IN 

KANO, YESTERDAY Photos: Olu Ajayi 

From left, President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, Mr. Mustapha 

Isa; Governor Abdulahi Ganduje of Kano State, and former Governor 

of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba, at the commissioning of Yahaya 

Gussau Industrial Area road, Kano during the facility tour by 

members of the NGE. 

Dupe Gbadebo (left) swearing-in the elected officials. 

Mr. Chidi Nnadi, Sunday Editor, The Sun Newspapers (right); 

Mr. Eze Anaba, Editor, Vanguard Newspapers (2nd right); Mr. Emma 

Onoha, GM, The Sun Newspapers (2nd left) and other elected officials 

of NGE taking the oath of office during Day 2 of the Biennial 

Convention of the NGE, in Kano. 

From left, Chairman, Electoral Committee, NGE, Mr. Bonny Iwuha; 

President, NGE, Mustapha Isa; and GM/Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard 

Newspapers, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, at the event. 


:@vanguardnews 

Why I moved to APC with Ayade —Ita-Giwa 

By Dapo Akinrefon 

FORMER PRESIDENTIAL 

Adviser on National Assembly 

Matters and the leader of 

Bakassi people, Senator Florence 

Ita-Giwa, yesterday, explained 

why she moved to the 

All Progressives Congress, APC, 

with Governor Ben Ayade of 

Cross River State, recently. 

Responding to an online publication, 

which had queried her 

defection to the party and accepting 

the Ambassadorial position 

given her by the governor, 

Ita-Giwa in a statement, said: "At 

75 years of age, nothing will 

please me more than to relax and 

enjoy my celebrity status, attend 

events in eye-popping outfits 

and so on, but when a very driven 

digital governor like Ben Ayade 

comes along with such verve 

and a vision that will lift my people 

and state out of perennial 

poverty, I am left with no option 

than to support him. 

"Cross River State has had to 

bear the brunt of many economic 

setbacks, the loss of our oil 

fields, then more poignantly to 

me personally was the ceding of 

Bakassi to Cameroon. 

"In my position as a leader, it is 

incumbent on me to do all in my 

power to ameliorate the hardship 

my people are going through. In 

doing this, I don't mind being occasionally 

misunderstood by people 

who do not feel the pinch. 

"What you described as mimicry 

is what I know to be the solution 

to my state's perennial struggle 

with poverty and underdevelopment. 

Industrialisation 

holds the key to unlocking the 

vast potentials of my people and 

state. 

"I, therefore, will not hesitate 

to do all that I can to promote it, 

which is why I accepted to be 

the Cross River State Ambassador 

For Industrial Projects, even 

at the risk of being mocked by 

less discerning pundits. 

"By the special grace of God, 

over the years, I have amassed 

tons of goodwill both nationally 

and internationally and I believe 

now it is time to put it to good 

use on behalf of my state. I fully 

intend to give this assignment 

my best, as I see it as the only 

path to the economic liberation 

of my people." 

Ebonyi massacre: This wickedness can 

bring curse upon Nigeria —Umahi 

By Peter Okutu 

ADavid BAKALIKI—GOVERNOR 

Umahi of Ebonyi 

State, yesterday, stated that the 

kind of heartless killings perpetuated 

by herders in the boundary 

area between Ebonyi/Benue 

States could bring a curse upon 

a nation. 

Many Ebonyi indigenes living 

around the boundary area of 

Benue and Ebonyi were gruesomely 

murdered by herdsmen 

last Sunday. 

He described the recent killing 

as a wicked and satanic act. 

He spoke when he visited victims 

of the attack at the Alex 

Ekwueme Federal University 

Teaching Hospital, AEFUTHA. 

More than 30 persons have 

been killed in the attacks which 

occurred on Saturday although 

locals said the death toll had risen 

Ṫhe governor said he could not 

understand the raping of little 

children by the killer herdsmen. 

"What I saw this afternoon is 

nothing but an act of wickedness 

and satanism. I do not know for 

any reason why people should 

THE DELTA State Govern 

ment and stakeholders in 

Warri have repudiated claims by 

the former Chairman of the Executive 

Committee of OML 150 

Consultative Forum, Mr Charles 

Omadeli, that his tenure subsists. 

It was gathered that Omadeli, 

whose tenure expired on December 

21, 2020, has been parading 

himself as the chairman. 

A letter dated April 21, 2021, 

by Mr A. Avwenaghagha, Director, 

Local Content Promotion, 

Delta State Ministry of Oil and 

Gas, said Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa, had approved the recon- 

be raping two-year-old little children, 

putting knives on 1-yearold 

little children, killing mothers, 

killing fathers, for what reason!", 

he said. 

The governor also condemned 

the deputy governor of Benue 

State, Benson Abounu for allegedly 

saying that Benue State 

government was yet to ascertain 

the identity of the victims. 

Vanguard gathered that though 

the communities attacked were 

geographically located in Benue, 

they are mostly Izzi(a dialect and 

clan in Ebonyi) speaking people. 

Umahi advised the deputy governor 

to stop playing politics with 

such a delicate matter involving 

human lives. 

"But what worries me so much 

is that the Deputy Governor of 

Benue state came on air to say 

that they don’t know whether 

these people are from Benue 

State or they are from Ebonyi 

State. That is the height of irresponsibility. 

"We know that we have 

boundary problems with Benue 

State but we have a buffer zone 

and this place is not within the 

buffer zone. These people are 

residents of Benue State, paying 

their taxes in Benue State, 

having facilities, everything in 

Benue State. 

"Yes, they are Ebonyi indigenes. 

We have indigenes of 

South-East in Edo State, in Rivers, 

in Akwa-Ibom, in so many 

other locations in this country 

even beyond the shores of this 

country. 

"But that doesn’t mean that 

security-wise we are responsible 

for them. These people even if 

they were not from Ebonyi State 

and this attack occurred, will still 

have to come to Ebonyi State. 

We would still have sheltered 

them and given them proper 

medical treatment. Everything 

should not be reduced to blame 

games". 

Umahi also urged the people 

of Benue to form their vigilante 

to secure themselves and stop 

blaming President Muhammadu 

Buhari. 

Hé vowed to assist the communities 

in Benue with a large 

concentration of Ebonyi indigenous 

people to set up their security 

outfit similar to Ebube Ag? 

security outfit to enable them 

protect themselves 

Delta govt, stakeholders okay Agbeyi-led exco 

of OML 150 Consultative Forum 

stitution and inauguration of a 

new executive of the OML 150 

Communities Consultative Forum 

led by Monday Agbeyi. 

Sources said the state government 

had acted upon the receipt 

of a letter from the Warri Palace 

which had noted the expiration 

of the tenure of the Omadeli-led 

exco and had inaugurated a new 

exco led by Agbeyi at the Palace 

on January 8, 2021. 

A letter from the Office of the 

Director of Palace Administration, 

Olu of Warri Palace, dated 

January 12, 2021, by Chief Clement 

Malegbemi, to the state government 

and Conoil Producing 

Limited, reaffirmed that the tenure 

of Omadeli-led exco had expired 

and that the Agbeyi-led 

Exco had been inaugurated in 

its stead for a four-year tenure. 

On the alleged scheming by 

the past exco to perpetuate itself 

in office, Agbeyi, the new Chairman 

of the Forum, said: "I don't 

know why Omadeli and his cronies 

are still parading themselves 

as being in charge. They are playing 

God. If he has any letter from 

the Palace or the state government 

recognising his expired 

exco, let him present it to the 

public." 

Road blockade: Okechukwu commends 

Omo-Agege's maturity, warns restive youths 

By Adesina Wahab 

SECRETARY, BOARD of Trust 

ees, Ndokwa Neku Union, 

NNU, Chief Henry Okechukwu, 

has commended the Deputy 

Senate President, Senator Ovie 

Omo-Agege, for the mature way 

he handled last Saturday's incident, 

where some unruly youths 

blocked the road when his entourage 

was going to Okpai to 

inspect a power project being 

built in the town. 

Okechukwu in a statement, 

yesterday, warned youths in the 

area against being used by selfish 

people to foment trouble or 

put the community in crisis. 

He said, "As the Secretary to 

the Board of Trustees NNU, l 

thought it wise to go to Okpai 

last Saturday when Senator 

Omo-Agege and a high powered 

delegation of the Federal Ministry 

of Power, were going to inspect 

the ongoing work on the 

project of stepping down power 

from the AGIP-IPP for our people. 

"What happened at Okpai junction 

that Saturday, when some 

youths blocked the road, was sad, 

unfortunate and against the 

constructive approach for which 

we in Ndokwa are known for. The 

youths who were used and their 

sponsors were, however, disappointed 

as Senator Omo-Agege 

disarmed all by a show of rare 

leadership and humility. 

"He showed humility and appealed 

to them to allow him to 

enter into Okpai for the official 

inspection of the power project 

by the Federal Government for 

the benefit of their community 

and the entire Ndokwa Nation. 

"I repeat that our youths are 

not unruly. Their respect for elders 

is unprecedented. The purposeful 

and non-violent struggle 

for Power Step Down by 

youth leaders in 2005, under the 

aegis of Ndokwa Youth Congress, 

Ndokwa Youth Vanguard, 

Pages Group amongst others 

with the elders in the Ndokwa 

Leaders of Thought led by the 

late Prof BIC Ijomah, and other 

patriots led the struggle against 

AGIP's oppression until its eventual 

approval in 2015, by the President 

Muhammadu Buhari's 

APC administration.‘‘

C 

M 

Y 

K 

MainOne expands data center offerings 

By Emmanuel Elebeke 

NIGERIA’s pioneer 

t e l e c o m s 

infrastructure company, 

MainOne says it is set to 

expand its data center 

footprint across west African 

region. 

The company also said it 

would double storage 

capacity through its MDXi 

data center subsidiary over 

the next two years. 

The company’s Country 

Manager for Ghana, 

Emmanuel Kwarteng, who 

disclosed this said MainOne 

will equally increase the 

capacity of data centers from 

around 700 racks to 900 racks 

next year, with an additional 

300 racks by 2023 if demand 

is sustained. 

He said: “MainOne is 

building a 130-rack facility in 

Lagos due for completion later 

this year, and plans to add a 

50-rack center in Cote 

d’Ivoire in 2022, as well as 

expand its 104-rack Ghana 

facility to 400 racks by 2023. 

“The company is also 

looking to extend services to 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 —15 

more countries including 

Liberia over the next three 

years. 

“We see the data center 

market growing a lot in Ghana 

and Nigeria, with demand 

from financial institutions, 

manufacturers, oil and gas 

companies and enterprises,” 

he added. 

Demand in Ghana is 

reportedly being driven by 

institutions seeking to comply 

with government 

requirements to store their 

data locally, as well as in 

primary and back-up 

facilities. 

MaineOne was the first 

company to launch fibre 

optics cable in Nigeria in 

2010, provides network and 

connectivity services across 

West Africa and provides 

colocation through its MXDi 

brand. 

How Strict Data governance’ll grow 

Nigeria’s local content capacity 

*Journalists group, NITRA pushes for 30% local cloud hosting 

*NITDA challenged to give NDPR teeth 

By Prince Osuagwu, Hi- 

Tech Editor 

THE issue of data governance has 

been a global discourse since 

data was discovered to be the new 

oil to power world economy. In 

Nigeria, it is growing concern going 

by the huge population and fast 

growing tech ecosystem, as there is 

a thin line between good 

management and mismanagement 

of the boost data can give to the 

country’s economy. 

However, the issue heightened 

recently when social messaging 

platform, Whatsapp, announced a 

skewed upgrade to its privacy policy. 

The Policy states that WhatsApp 

will share information about the 

users on their platform with their 

parent company Facebook, as well 

as other Facebook companies. 

The information, according to 

Whatsapp, will include users’ phone 

numbers, transaction data, servicerelated 

information, users 

interaction with loved ones and 

business associates, mobile device 

information and IP addresses, 

among others. 

WhatsApp however said users can 

refuse to accept the revised privacy 

policy but warned that such users 

risk disconnection from its services. 

Immediately the announcement 

was made a proactive Minister of 

Communications and Digital 

Economy, Dr Ibrahim Pantami, who 

confirmed his awareness of the 

updated policy, immediately 

directed the National Information 

Technology Development Agency, 

NITDA, to engage vigorously with 

Facebook to understand the 

processes, level of security of the data 

of Nigerian users in this new policy. 

NITDA, is the Regulator of 

Nigeria’s Information Technology 

sector, and protection of the data 

privacy of Nigerians is one of its 

responsibilities. 

Pantami stated that the federal 

government particularly frowned at 

the policy, being aware that the 

European region is exempted from 

the provisions of the updated Policy. 

He also revealed that the policy is 

currently being challenged in a 

number of countries. 

He said: “Our attention has been 

drawn to an updated privacy policy 

of messaging platform of Whatsapp 

in which it tends to share users data 

and information with its parent 

company Facebook and others. 

“We have directed the National 

Information Technology 

Development Agency, NITDA, to 

engage vigorously with Facebook 

to understand the processes, level of 

security of the data of Nigerian 

users in order to ensure that Policies 

proposed for Nigeria strictly adhere 

to the provisions of Nigeria Data 

Protection Regulations, NDPR. 

“We are also aware that the 

European region is exempted from 

the provisions of the updated Policy 

which is being challenged in a 

number of countries. 

“Nigerians can be assured that the 

Federal Government will give 

utmost attention to the privacy of 

their data, in line with the NDPR and 

the National Digital Economy 

Policy for a Digital Nigeria” he 

added. 

NITRA’s 30 percent local cloud 

hosting demand 

But taking it beyond the directive, 

a vibrant journalists group, 

Nigerian ICT reporters Association, 

NITRA, escalated the issue, by 

organising a programme which 

looks at how the country will 

generate and domesticate data of 

its citizens or at best grow its local 

cloud hosting capacity by 30 

percent. 

Out of the over $1.7bn world cloud 

market, Nigeria, with its huge 

population boasts of just over 

$100m. Even at that, well over 95 

percent of that revenue resides with 

foreign data managers like Amazon 

Web Services, Microsoft’s Azure and 

Google Cloud Platform, among 

other hyperscalers. 

The event drew top data 

managers and data center operators, 

including Managing Director and 

Chief Executive Officer of 

Cloudflex, Mr. Aderemi Adejumoh, 

Managing Director of Rack Centre, 

Ayotunde Coker and Chief Executive 

Officer, Internet Exchange Point of 

Nigeria, IXPN, Mohammed 

Rudman among others, who 

painted a glowing picture of the 

transformation data can bring to 

the economy, but lamented that a 

badly managed one can also spell 

doom to the same economy. 

For instance, Adejumoh said the 

starting point to good data 

management policy is when 

government makes it a condition in 

the licensing process. He tasked all 

the federal government regulatory 

agencies in the country to include 

local hosting option in their 

licensing requirements. 

He noted that such a clause in 

regulatory and licensing 

requirements would give boost to 

the cloud hosting industry and 

metamorphose to good data 

management in the country. 

Adejumoh said that agencies like 

the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, 

Nigerian Communications 

Commission, NCC, National 

Information Technology 

Development Agency NITD), 

National Insurance Commission, 

NAICOM and National Pension 

Commission PenCOM, should have 

as part of their licensing agreement 

a commitment from the licensee that 

data will be hosted locally. 

He pointed out that with 95 percent 

of Nigeria’s data hosted abroad, the 

country’s regulators have no control 

over the data. 

He particularly charged NITDA 

to give the 2019 Nigerian Data 

Protection Regulation, NDPR some 

teeth to compete with its equivalents 

in other climes like the American 

Patriot act, Cloud Act and European 

General Data Protection 

Regulation, GDPR. 

The Federal Government, 

through NITDA, issued the NDPR 

in 2019, strictly for upholding the 

data privacy of Nigerians. 

Western Digital’s new storage SSD 

improves gaming experience 

By Juliet Umeh 

T ECHNOLOGY 

Western Digital has Company, 

unveiled 

three new SSDs for its WD BLACK 

product portfolio . 

The new products provide gamers 

with fast, high-performance storage 

solutions to upgrade their PC and 

next-gen console gaming 

experience. 

Executive Vice President and 

GM, Flash Business, Western 

Digital, Rob Soderbery, said: “Our 

new brand delivers a clear and 

simple promise to gamers – fast 

and reliable storage that enhances 

their game play. 

“With today’s new products, the 

WD_BLACK portfolio has diverse 

flash-powered solutions for every 

gamer, whether starting out or 

more advanced, to explore the rich 

worlds of today’s most inventive 

games.” 

Living at the intersection of 

technology and entertainment, the 

newly introduced gaming 

portfolio delivers innovative 

storage solutions customized for 

the gamer. 

The SN750 model allows 

gamers level up their PC or laptop 

gaming experience with PCIe 

Gen4 technology and storage 

space for more games. With up to 

30 percent less power consumption 

than its predecessor, laptop 

gamers can expect longer 

playtimes between charges. 

For console gamers looking to 

minimize game load times, the 

the D30 Game Drive SSD 

features read speeds up to 900 MB/ 

s. Gamers can spend more time 

playing games and less time 

deleting them with expanded 

storage for up to 50 games with 

capacities up to 2TB. Designed 

to perfectly complement next-gen 

consoles, the drive has a 

detachable stand for placement 

The Regulation is the current 

national law on data protection in 

Nigeria. 

It applies to public and private 

sector processing of personal data 

within and outside Nigeria. The 

Regulation is aimed at protecting 

the right to privacy, creating the 

right environment for digital 

transactions, job creation and 

improving information 

management practices in Nigeria. 

Although it gets backing from 

Section 6 of the NITDA Act 

2007, it was however adapted 

from The European Union’s 

General Data Protection 

Regulation GDPR of 2016 which 

was implemented in 2018. 

GDPR is a regulation in EU law 

on data protection and privacy 

in the European Union (EU) and 

the European Economic Area, 

EEA, which Nigeria is part of. It 

next to a system. 

Also, the D30 Game Drive SSD 

for Xbox is built to complement 

the Xbox console gaming 

experience. This officially licensed 

version of the Game Drive SSD 

offers accelerated speeds and 

capacity packaged in a compact 

Xbox-inspired design. 

Gamers can plug in their drive 

and quickly begin building their 

game library or making room on 

their console for new titles, while 

also being able to play legacy Xbox 

One favourites directly from the 

drive. Included with purchase is a 

one month membership of Xbox 

Game Pass Ultimate with access 

to 100+ games on consoles and 

PC, plus online console 

multiplayer. 

Industry veteran and host of The 

Game Awards who spoke at thr 

unveiling of the products, Geoff 

Keighley, said: “Over the past few 

years, the graphics and fidelity of 

immersive game worlds have 

become more intense, and flash 

technology has become critical to 

enhancing the gaming experience. 

Gamers not only need more 

storage, they need speed for quick 

access so they can instantly step 

into these rich game worlds and 

experience games the way they’re 

meant to be played.” 

With the introduction of the new 

SSD Storage drives, Western 

Digital continues to lead in data 

infrastructure, driving innovation 

needed to help gamers capture, 

preserve, access and transform the 

gaming experience. 

also addresses the transfer of 

personal data outside the EU and 

EEA areas, and frowns seriously at 

arbitrary privacy data breaches. 

Adejumoh’s argument is that with 

the Patroit Act, Cloud Act and 

GDPR, western governments 

have more control and authority 

over Nigeria’s data than the 

Nigerian government. 

However, in his keynote address 

at the event, Director-General of 

NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa, 

appeared to welcome the 

challenge. 

He admitted that “the role of the 

government is to enable the 

environment for private and 

corporate bodies to invest in local 

hosting services, the building of more 

data centres. 

The government will continue to 

provide enabling environment for 

data hosting firms to thrive”.


Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

Really, who killed Ahmed Gulak? 

BEFORE we know it, the gruesome 

murder of Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, a 

former Political Adviser to ex-President 

Goodluck Jonathan, will be quickly consigned 

to the overcrowded dustbin of 

Nigeria’s history. In Nigeria, life has 

no meaning, sanctity or value. As far 

as the system and its blind supporters 

are concerned, the murder has already 

been solved. Not being a “follower” of 

the system, this heinous crime has, to 

me, not been solved. That is why I ask 

today: Really, who killed Ahmed Gulak? 

Gulak was assassinated at the precincts 

of the Dr. Sam Mbakwe Airport, 

Owerri on Sunday, May 30, 2021 on 

the eve of the annual sit-at-home ritual 

in the South East and parts of the 

South-South to honour the memories 

of the millions of Igbo people who lost 

their lives during the pogroms and the 

subsequent 30-month Civil War. The 

estimated number of people killed during 

the war was once popularly put at 

one million. But the “death toll” appears 

to still be rising. President Muhammadu 

Buhari likes to put it at “two 

million”, while the leader of the Indigenous 

Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi 

Nnamdi Kanu, regularly quotes “five 

million”. 

As soon as Gulak’s murder took 

place, the official, knee-jerk verdict 

was that it was the handiwork of IPOB, 

an allegation that the movement vehemently 

denied and still denies. Acting 

true to this opinion, the Imo State 

Police Command triumphantly announced 

the same day that it had killed 

the alleged perpetrators. According to 

a statement by Bala Elkana, the Imo 

State Police Spokesman, the driver of the 

taxi that Gulak rode (without security escort) 

to the airport had vividly described 

the vehicles allegedly used by the socalled 

“IPOB” operatives. According to Elkana, 

the police team met the assassins 

sharing a bag of onions they confiscated, 

obviously from a Northern trader at 

Mbaise. 

“On sighting the police, the hoodlums 

providing security coverage to 

those sharing the onions opened fire 

on the police teams, but the gallant and 

battle-ready police officers returned 

fire. Six hoodlums who carried out the 

killing and four other members of their 

gang were fatally injured…” 

This is an everyday Nigeria police 

story. It is recycled, especially when 

the Police carry out extrajudicial killing 

of suspects, in the apparent belief 

that the Nigerian public are dunderheaded. 

Do assassins move in a manner 

as to make themselves easily detectable 

by the law enforcement agents? 

Would assassins normally abandon 

their mission of escaping justice to 

pounce on truckload of onions (ON- 

This police story, like all 

Nigeria Police stories, is 

fit only for the proverbial 

“marines”; it smells like 

hell, and I am not buying 

it 

IONS, for goodness’ sake!) so that the 

police can conveniently come and “fatally” 

wound them with no police casualty? 

This police story, like all Nigeria Police 

stories, is fit only for the proverbial “marines”. 

It smells like hell, and I am not 

buying it. Ahmed Gulak’s killers may still 

be somewhere patting themselves on the 

back for the closure which this unintelligent 

police statement provides for 

them. Some innocent young men and 

women may have been sent to their 

early graves with impunity. I will only 

be mollified if this police statement 

Social class in Nigeria: The “packaging” and the 

realities.. 

BY TIMI OLUBIYI 

LIFE is indeed transient. My 

father Chief Sehindemi 

Hezekiah Awe Olubiyi, JP, left 

this world in the year 2020 and 

it feels just like yesterday. So 

with a keen desire, I write to reflect 

on social class, particularly 

social mobility which is a concept 

I benefited and learnt from 

him during his lifetime. Social 

mobility, in my opinion, can be 

regarded as the movement of individuals, 

families, or groups 

through a system of social hierarchy. 

This means, when people 

improve or diminish their 

economic status in a way that affects 

social class, they experience 

social mobility. 

However, it makes a lot of 

sense to strive to improve it, 

which is usually referred to as 

upward social mobility in that 

context. This upward mobility 

happens when a person moves 

from a lower position in society 

to a higher one. Most noticeably 

are the notable families and businesses 

in Lagos State, the adjudged 

economic capital of the 

country. Arguably movement to 

Lagos State from huts, villages 

or towns around the country for 

greener pasture is due to this 

particular subject matter- social 

mobility. From observation, social 

mobility can either be an 

upward or downward change in 

position within the social class, 

occupation, and lifestyle. However, 

most people strive for upward 

social mobility because this 

improves social class and livelihood. 

It is important to note that upward 

social mobility is not only 

about becoming richer, having 

loads of cash and/or being famous. 

It can involve people 

earning high qualifications and 

university degrees, getting a 

significant career boost, doing 

well and raising the family 

wealth or even getting married 

to someone with a good status 

which can guarantee moving up 

socially and much more. Largely, 

upward social mobility is 

more common where children or 

grandchildren are in economic 

circumstances, better than those 

of their parents or grandparents. 

Another example is a child of a 

village farmer who becomes a 

professor: definitely, upward social 

mobility has been achieved. 

In contrast, downward mobility 

indicates a lowering of one’s 

social class and if you look 

around its more prevalent and 

troubling within our environment 

due to unemployment, a 

high number of out-of-school 

populace, business setbacks, 

pandemic, job losses, growing 

inequality, reduced economic 

opportunities and/or even illness. 

Just like we have seen 

poverty level on the rise the 

downward mobility of many of 

the populace has also been on 

the increase consistently. Many 

people have experienced economic 

setbacks, creating a wave 

of downward mobility in the 

country. This has continued to 

escalate the level of inequality 

and the growing gap between 

the haves and have-nots in the 

country. 

It is important to mention that 

the level of social mobility in a 

society or country could be an 

indicator of the fairness of that 

society or country. A society with 

a high level of upward social 

mobility will provide equal opportunities 

for people to be rewarded 

for their efforts and talents, 

regardless of their background. 

In a society with a low 

level of social mobility, the social 

background will either be a 

barrier and inequality is rather 

prevalent. I leave you to determine 

what we currently have in 

Employers and businesses 

should strive to 

recruit employees with 

talents, irrespective of 

their backgrounds, who 

have different experiences, 

knowledge and 

who can tackle challenges 

in different ways 

the country based on this narrative. 

From lessons learnt from my 

late father, the revered entrepreneur, 

I can present the salient 

factors that promote upward social 

mobility. Firstly, the decision 

and conviction to take calculative 

risk is key and should be 

apparent. To arrive at huge success 

and upward social mobility 

there is a need for proactiveness 

and opportunity seeking. Do not 

get too comfortable with your 

current status, strive for improvement 

always; though let 

simplicity be a way of life. Therefore, 

it might be right to continue 

to aspire for greater heights 

and have dreams, vision and 

stay committed to them. It is also 

essential to get knowledge continually, 

which is upskilling, 

even when it does not seem like 

you need it. It is crucial to imbibe 

the culture of seeking sound 

and good education and be interested 

in other people’s success 

stories because it inspires. 

Furthermore, hard work is key 

and necessary; we plant, we water 

and only God can give the 

increase; so learn to support 

hard work with prayer. With 

that, I remember the law of gradual 

growth I learnt from him and 

the importance of giving thanks 

to God for every progress; in fact, 

celebrate it if you can. It further 

motivates. Regardless of any 

challenges ensure you do not 

give up, persist and understand 

that you must put in the efforts 

before you see the results. 

For professionals and individuals, 

this is the time to consider 

less of “packaging”, which is 

actually putting up appearances, 

actions and behaviours in a 

certain way to boost a perceived 

social class or status. Instead 

explore social mobility with qualifications 

that are recognised 

across the world; this could be a 

winning strategy to stem the tide 

of any economic woes and ensure 

a quality livelihood beyond 

the shore of this country. A 

world-recognised qualification 

can offer opportunities regardless 

of your background, gender, 

race or religion and can just 

provide the upward social mobility 

needed without a logjam. 

That said, remember the chief 

maker of upward social mobility 

is either education or knowledge, 

but most times the combination 

of the two coupled with 

valuable information helps a 

great deal. 

In conclusion, just like social 

was created to divert attention from a 

thorough investigation which the police 

still intend to carry out. 

I am definitely not ruling out possible 

IPOB (or its armed group defending 

the forests and farmlands against 

invader herdsmen militias) involvement. 

Though I have my doubts about 

IPOB involvement, everything should 

be on the table. Everyone is a suspect 

until cleared after a thorough, unbiased 

investigation. 

There are three suspects on the table. 

We have already mentioned IPOB. 

But is it the same Nigeria Police which 

fingered the movement for the Owerri jailbreaks 

without evidence or investigation 

that can be trusted to investigate IPOB 

without bias? The Imo State Government, 

a sworn IPOB enemy, blamed it on “aggrieved 

politicians”. Ralph Uwazuruike, 

another IPOB foe, also cleared IPOB. Governor 

Hope Uzodimma, who is pitched in 

a frontal battle against IPOB, has also announced 

that 70 per cent of the Imo attackers 

arrested so far “are not Igbo”. They 

are people of Northern and Sahelian origins. 

Who, really, are behind the Imo violence? 

Who killed Ahmed Gulak? All murders 

have motives. What is IPOB’s motive 

in killing Gulak? 

Gulak’s murder must be thoroughly investigated. 

He was a Nigerian citizen and 

deserves justice. It does not matter what 

one thinks of his person or politics. Those 

are no reasons to gun after his life. We, 

ordinary Nigerians, must be on our guard 

against our enemies masquerading as our 

leaders. Gulak’s death was already (still 

is) being hyped in a manner to pitch the 

North against the Igbo. The herdsmen 

orgy of killings have already frayed nerves 

enough. Sanity must return! 

mobility in individuals and families 

it also happens in businesses, 

be it Micro, Small or Medium-Sized 

Enterprises, MSMEs. 

The lack of social mobility is not 

only a family issue but also a 

business issue in the country. 

Records have shown that businesses 

are only as good as their 

employees. For instance, an individual 

born into a family on a 

low income is less likely to have 

the same opportunities as someone 

from a more privileged and 

well-to-do background despite 

talent and determination. Consequently, 

businesses have a key 

role to play in helping to create 

social mobility in the workplace. 

When businesses identify and 

recruit the best individuals regardless 

of gender, race or background, 

social mobility is improved 

and this, in turn, is vital 

for businesses to move from success 

to improved success. Therefore, 

employers and businesses 

should strive to recruit employees 

with talents, irrespective of 

their backgrounds, who have different 

experiences, knowledge 

and who can tackle challenges 

in different ways. Businesses 

can benefit from this and have 

better decisions, improved performance 

and better solutions. 

Responsible businesses, therefore, 

can explore workplace social 

mobility to maximise profitability, 

market share, sales and 

business growth. However, having 

a highly skilled, diverse 

workforce and equality in your 

business is key to these mentioned 

performance indicators. 

Good luck! 

Dr. Olubiyi, an entrepreneurship 

& business management 

expert, wrote via: 

drtimiolubiyi@gmail.com. 

C 

M 

Y 

K

A look at Buhari’s hailers and his 

haters 

LAST Saturday, May 29, makes it exactly 

six years since President Muhammadu 

Buhari first took the oath of office during an 

elaborate ceremony in Eagles Square, in 

Abuja, the country’s capital. It was his first 

four-year term as president. Since that first 

oath-taking ceremony, the President has had 

to take the oath of office one more time for a 

second four-year term that started in May of 

2019. At this point of his presidency, Buhari 

has spent more than two-thirds of his 

presidential terms. It is, therefore, an 

appropriate time as any for Nigerians to 

appraise his performance. Long before now, 

the Buhari scoresheet as president has been 

a subject of animated, often-polarising, 

debates. Yes, even before Buhari’s multiple 

bids for the presidency, long after his 

unceremonious ouster as the head of a junta 

that sacked the Second Republic, met with 

success at the fourth attempt, his suitability 

or otherwise as president has been the 

subject of acrimonious arguments. 

No sooner was he sworn-in than his 

performance or lack of performance became 

the basis of mudslinging that has shown no 

sign of abating even six years after. Events 

of the last two years, specifically the state of 

(in)security, be it social, economic or political, 

with terrorists of various shades, insurgents 

and bandits, running amok; mass loss of jobs 

and two-digit inflationary rise, and the future 

of Nigeria as a political entity being constantly 

put in question, the role of Muhammadu 

Buhari as either a performing or nonperforming 

president has again come under 

sharp focus, ever more stridently. 

Thus, on this occasion of the sixth 

anniversary of his administration, it was 

again time for both the praise singers and 

dirge masters to roll out the drums, 

respectively to celebrate or mourn. But this 

was not an activity that the arm of the Buhari 

administration now infamously known as 

‘’the Presidency” was going to leave to 

outsiders alone. One of the duo of 

presidential media aides, Femi Adesina, was 

quick to roll out the drums. But unlike in the 

past when the songs from Adesina had been 

unmitigatedly upbeat, he was on this occasion 

prepared for a nuanced, even if still-gushy 

appraisal. He conceded in the opening 

remark of his somewhat starkly long and 

boring release, that the economic, social and 

security situation of the country has been 

very challenging. 

As would be expected of a paid mouthpiece 

on a public relations assignment, Adesina 

did not dwell in any relative detail on the 

specifics of the challenging circumstances 

he wrote about in broad, generalising 

strokes, before quickly moving on to highlight 

in very elaborate terms that did nothing to 

sustain the reader’s interest, due to the 

boring officialese in which it was written, 

what he would later call “teeny-weeny bits 

of what the Buhari government has done in 

these spheres of national life’’. 

Adesina offered very generous appraisal 

of his principal’s handling of the country’s 

infrastructural sector, celebrating railways and 

road constructions, a number of which he 

says are already slated for inauguration by 

the President, from the South-West, through 

the South-East, South-South and the North- 

Central to the North-West and North-East. 

On the economic front, he celebrated the 

different poverty alleviation programmes of 

the Buhari government. The administration’s 

effort in the agro-allied sector is not left out. 

In all, Adesina gave his principal a 

resounding pass mark reminding those who 

care to know that there are yet more 

‘’wonders’’ waiting to be performed by the 

Buhari administration. 

For the sake of Nigeria, I would want to 

believe Adesina and, therefore, look forward 

What this country needs 

are citizens, women and 

men, young and old, who 

can see things and people in 

terms of their own merit, 

people without fixed, apriori 

allegiance to any position, 

individual or group 

to those wonders that the administration will 

perform that it could not convincingly 

perform in the previous six years. The 

problem of this present administration is not 

so much that it has lost much of the goodwill 

it enjoyed at the beginning as that it is 

determined to live in the bubble of the 

alternative reality it has created for itself no 

matter what the facts on the ground say. That 

should not be surprising about an 

administration that has been hijacked by 

interlopers who, in the guise of “the 

presidency”, now speak, take decisions and 

act in the name of the President. Even when 

the President must be held accountable for 

all that goes on in his administration, there 

is no doubt that a clique, perhaps, a 

triumvirate that includes Abubakar Malami, 

Garba Shehu and Sabiu Yusuf/Mamman 

Daura, are largely responsible for those 

contentious decisions that have brought the 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021—17 

country to the brink of separation. 

Garba Shehu too has been defending the 

indefensible in the name of celebrating the 

achievement of the administration whose 

history he is doing only next to Malami to 

write in infamy. The important thing to note 

here about the hailers and haters of Buhari 

is that they all operate in absolute terms. 

While for the hailers it is all rankadede, as 

with them Buhari cannot set a foot wrong, 

for the haters it is mostly bamuso, nothing 

Buhari does, no matter how useful, can be 

good. Which then makes both the hailers 

and the haters who cut across ethnic, 

religious, professional and educational 

divides, undesirable anachronisms unfit and 

unable to make objective assessments of the 

Nigerian situation under Buhari. 

But what this country needs are citizens, 

women and men, young and old, who can 

see things and people in terms of their own 

merit, people without fixed, apriori allegiance 

to any position, individual or group. When 

they see what is right or wrong, they say so 

within human limitations, no matter what 

the stakes are. That they supported a Buhari 

policy today does not mean they should 

support it tomorrow if there is no reason to. 

That they were fervent supporters of Buhari 

over Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, does not 

mean they should remain Buhari’s 

supporters for ever even when evidence 

shows he has performed less than even he 

promised to. Where such citizens exist, they 

would be able to examine the Buhari 

administration in terms what it has got wrong 

in the context of present concerns. Indeed, a 

full account of the Buhari administration will 

only be possible after the administration has 

taken its exit. 

Until it does, however, honest Nigerians 

should not be afraid to say that in six years 

the Buhari administration has accentuated 

the fault lines of our fragile nationhood more 

than any other administration in recent 

memory. No government before this present 

one practised nepotism to the level the Buhari 

administration has now taken it. Nor has 

the general decline in security been this bad 

in peace time Nigeria. The economy itself 

has been ailing well before COVID-19. 

These are the facts of a national malaise that 

is not inevitable. To see this and remain silent 

is to be unpatriotic. 

08055069060 (SMS Only) 

For DSO, a little consideration 

for the ordinary Nigerian 

THE monetisation and other 

advantages of the Digital 

Switchover, DSO, remain the 

most compelling narrative of this 

convoluting story. The 

entertainment sector will open up 

with foaming opportunities. The 

league of talents available in the 

sector will suddenly sponge up 

the opportunities – whether in the 

movies, music, comedy, live 

theatre shows, technical and 

every aspect of the entertainment 

sector, will suddenly become some 

kind of attractive pie that every 

entertainer with a little gift will 

scramble to have a piece of. And 

all of us writers will have more 

stories to write, build up a dome 

of adjectives to decorate an 

industry that continues to search 

for its best days. 

This is the one story the Minister 

of Information and Culture, Alhaji 

Lai Mohammed, loves to tell. I 

cede that to him with all respect. 

And when he tells the story, he 

waxes lyrical like Unoka in Things 

Fall Apart, seducing listeners with 

his flute, and perhaps those 

hearing the good news from the 

Minister will jostle for positions of 

advantage to reap from an 

opportunity unfolding piecemeal. 

The nation is bleeding for good 

stories. Every little strand is 

important to drop in the mix. 

In spite of some spice of nihilism 

in a seemingly obliterating 

situation, I love good news and 

try to go overboard in search of 

some crumbs to sweeten our 

situation. This is why I am 

contributing this material with the 

prayers that it be considered 

dispassionately even by those who 

grumble that the Simply Tech 

Column haunts them 

unjustifiably. 

And there is no need to feel that 

way. The DSO process is a very 

big thing, bigger than personal 

convenience and predilections, 

and Nigeria, with the exaggerated 

claim of being the biggest economy 

in Africa, is far behind in 

execution. This is very painful and 

only a few people will understand 

why. While we talk of the business 

benefits of the DSO, some people 

fail to actually reason that one of 

the most important components of 

the DSO is the social inclusion in 

the value chain which unfolds into 

benefits for the ordinary TV viewer. 

This is why the NTA, for me, 

presented a rare piece of good 

news last week, when it reported 

the meeting between the lower 

house of the National Assembly – 

House of Representatives and the 

National Broadcasting 

Commission, NBC, to discuss 

ways of ensuring that the DSO 

process runs smoothly and also 

provide benefits for the ordinary 

Nigerian. It was a smart and 

needed move by the House and 

efforts should be channeled into 

such meetings to prevent the 

process from atrophying. 

Odebunmi Segun, Chairman, 

House Committee on Information 

and National Orientation, in the 

report monitored by this writer, 

was very concerned about 

government expenditure in the 

DSO and how such expenditures 

were being managed to profit the 

ordinary Nigerian out there. 

The DSO process is far 

from being foolproof; 

there are too many 

contradictions and 

checkpoints that can abort 

the process any time; but 

the process should be 

niftily managed for the 

sake of the people 

Government, he informed, has 

subsidized 908, 000 Set Top Boxes 

to be given out free. How far have 

we gone about it and how many 

have been activated? he asked. 

For a simple recall, DSO means 

Digital Switchover from analogue 

broadcasting to digital 

broadcasting. Although some 

countries have since concluded 

the process, Nigeria is only now 

struggling along. A cardinal 

feature of the process is that when 

concluded some television sets will 

be unable to access TV 

programming, thus making the 

Set Top Box, which will help 

convert these signals, mandatorily 

indispensable. 

In the United States, 

government gave out two coupons 

of $40 each to TV homes. The 

South African government is 

giving out free Set Top Boxes 

through the SABC. “Important 

notice. If you see this message,” 

the station says, “go to your 

nearest Post Office to register for a 

free government subsidized 

decoder…..to continue receiving 

a television broadcast.” 

It thus become very expedient 

to give considerate concern to the 

position of the ordinary Nigerian 

in the DSO value chain. This is 

the fellow who earns the minimum 

wage of N30, 000; the fellow for 

whom there is little respite because 

even that amount, now less than 

$65, is not being paid by the state 

governor who justifies this 

aggravating wrench with 

dwindling revenue from Abuja. 

A Set Top Box which some 

nations, including South Africa, 

are giving out free, costs N10, 000 

at the moment. A state 

government which acquires 10, 

000 Set Top Boxes will have to 

shell out N1bn. This is a lot of 

money, especially in the face of the 

economic tailspin facing the 

nation, and this math staggered 

me last week into thinking that the 

DSO was heading for the rocks if 

some ingenuity was not 

introduced into the process. The 

ordinary folk cannot afford it and 

government may not want to be 

involved, pleading a worsening 

economic reality. 

But here is my appeal. An 

attractive spinoff of the DSO is the 

Digital Dividends which will cede 

the broadcast frequencies given up 

by broadcasters to the 

telecommunications industry. 

When former DG of the NBC, Mr 

Emeka Mba, tested the waters, 

one of such frequencies was 

ingeniously sold to MTN for about 

N34bn. There are two left, this 

writer was reliably informed. Even 

when I am the first to admit that 

the worsening security situation in 

the country will likely attenuate the 

value of the remaining two, there 

may still be the compelling need 

to put them up for sale. While such 

monies would necessarily go to 

the Federation Account, it is my 

appeal that a significant 

percentage be given to the NBC 

as seed fund to acquire Set Top 

Boxes for some TV homes across 

the country. 

While one was pained by the 

insipid participation of the Lagos 

State Government in the DSO 

launch in Lagos recently, my 

prayer is that as the exercise berths 

in Kano, the state government and 

the local councils should be fully 

mobilised to be part of the process, 

and explore the possibility of 

funding some Boxes for those who 

can’t afford them economically. In 

addition, businesses, as part of 

their corporate social 

responsibility, CSR, should fund 

some Boxes while wealthy 

individuals should give some kind 

considerations to the ordinary 

Nigerians by funding their little 

window to the world. 

This is what I think. The DSO 

process is far from being foolproof. 

There are too many contradictions 

and checkpoints that can abort the 

process any time, too much of 

dredges that won’t be healthy to 

wash up. But the process should 

be niftily managed for the sake of 

the people. Some of us will also 

need to manage our badly 

concealed interests, expectations 

and plain but irritating 

meddlesomeness. The ordinary 

Nigerian needs a little space. You 

can’t take food from his table and 

also take his television. That will 

be wicked.


INEC’s deregistration of 74 

political parties 

With the affirmation of the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, 

INEC’s, constitutional 

power to deregister political parties, 

the Commission is now in a 

stronger position to moderate the 

excesses of some political actors in 

our democracy and sanitise our 

electoral process. 

On February 6, 2021, the INEC 

had removed 74 political parties 

from its register in line with Section 

225A of the 1999 Constitution 

(as amended). That section empowers 

the Commission to deregister 

any party that (a) violates the terms 

of its registration, (b) fails to win 

at least 25 per cent of votes cast in 

one state of the federation during 

a presidential election, (c) fails to 

win 25 per cent of votes cast in one 

LGA in a governorship election or 

fails to win at least a seat in a State 

Assembly or National Assembly 

election. 

The aggrieved political parties had 

sued INEC. The May 7, 2021 Supreme 

Court verdict, while validating 

the Commission’s power to 

deregister political parties after due 

processes, does not vitiate the appeal 

still pending from the suit filed 

by 22 of the 74 political parties at 

the Supreme Court. 

We have been calling for INEC to 

be empowered to control the unwieldy 

number of registered parties 

subject to thorough assessment 

of their performances in elections. 

The amendment of the Constitution 

which spelt out the conditions for 

deregistration of ineligible political 

parties is welcome. It will not 

only enable INEC to clean up the 

clutter of parties vying for elections, 

it will also prevent INEC from 

deregistering parties with impunity. 

The liberalisation of multi-partyism 

under the 1999 Constitution following 

the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s 

legal battles for the registration 

of his National Conscience 

Party, NCP, had initially yielded the 

welcome emergence of more political 

parties to enable Nigerians exercise 

wider choices beyond the two 

or three dominant parties. However, 

as with all things Nigerian, this 

was abused. 

Political jobbers flooded the terrain. 

Rather than these parties 

broadening the democratic space, 

most of them resorted to the cashand-carry 

“endorsements” of candidates 

of the dominant parties, especially 

the ruling parties. Many of 

them remained dormant till election 

times only to engage in these unwholesome 

endorsements. 

Some of them still insisted on being 

put on the ballot papers though 

they fielded no candidates or fielded 

candidates who were proxies of 

bigger parties or were simply there 

on a jamboree. This increased the 

INEC’s logistical headaches as ballot 

papers became avoidably difficult 

to handle during elections. 

Now that their continued existence 

is based on electoral performance, 

political parties and candidates will 

be forced to shape up or ship out. 

We hope the 18 remaining parties 

will be further whittled down to 

make it easier to identify the serious 

parties and their candidates. 

OPINION 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

COVID-19 test kits, contract tracing for safe NYSC camps 

BY MURTALA MUSA 

ON May 17, 2021, National Youth 

Service Corps, NYSC, orientation 

camps re-opened across the country. The 

NYSC continues to remain one of Nigeria's 

leading schemes aimed at fostering 

unity, harmony and an appreciation 

for our Fatherland. 

But the Corps has been threatened by 

the COVID-19 global health pandemic 

as we witnessed a few unfortunate incidents 

a few months ago which were only 

nipped in the bud by the proactive leadership 

of the new DG of NYSC, Brigadier 

General Ibrahim Shuaibu. 

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic 

disrupted the NYSC orientation 

calendar as its management had proactively 

shut down orientation camps with 

the hope of preventing further transmission 

of the disease. The closure of the 

camps on March 18, 2020 affected the 

orientation of the 2020 Batch A Stream 

1, and subsequent batches across the 37 

centres in the country. 

The Victims Support Fund chaired by 

Gen. T.Y. Danjuma(rtd), through its 

Emergency Task Force on COVID-19 

has been engaging in a series of interventions 

across multiple sectors since last 

year to help mitigate the impact of the 

pandemic on vulnerable populations. 

As part of the NYSC scheme's design, 

qualified young Nigerians are assembled 

in camps across the country for a 

three-week orientation programme and 

those sorts of gatherings pose threats of 

community transmission of Coronavirus. 

How then could we have ensured that 

the youth service scheme was not disrupted 

further, especially as the country 

tries to implement strategies to return 

The VSF COVID-19 Taskforce 

considered youth corps members 

as one of the critical demographics 

in the fight against 

COVID-19, hence its decision 

to support the safe re-opening 

of NYSC orientation camps 

across Nigeria with the donation 

of 60,000 Rapid Test Kits 

different sectors to some semblance of 

normalcy? Already, educational institutions 

had re-opened and new batches 

of graduates were already exiting the 

gates of tertiary institutions. 

On May 17, 2021, the Nigeria Centre 

for Disease Control, NCDC, announced 

that it had been able to test about two 

million Nigerians since the pandemic 

broke out. With a population of over 200 

million, Nigeria has only tested one percent 

of that number. 

"With a high population density environment 

(orientation camps) across the 

country, the VSF COVID-19 Taskforce 

considered youth corps members as one 

of the critical demographics in the fight 

against COVID-19, hence its decision 

to support the safe re-opening of NYSC 

orientation camps across Nigeria with 

the donation of 60,000 Rapid Test Kits. 

"The main objective for this donation is 

to strengthen infection prevention control 

in NYSC camps and promptly identify 

outbreaks of COVID-19 in camps for 

treatment,” Mrs. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, 

the Chairperson of the VSF's Task 

Force on COVID-19 said, while explaining 

the rationale behind the VSF's decision 

to support the NYSC with ramping 

up testing nationwide. 

The NYSC was already staring down 

the barrel of a two-year suspension as 

proposed by the Federal Government. 

On June 16, 2020, it was reported that 

the Economic Sustainability Committee, 

ESC, led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, 

recommended the suspension of 

NYSC’s orientation camp exercises for 

two years. 

"The VSF COVID-19 Task Force in its 

wisdom, thought donating these kits to 

the scheme is a very important initiative, 

as it will diversify the way testing 

is done in Nigeria, especially one that 

can deliver results within a short period 

of time, with a high degree of accuracy, 

and specificity because many hospitals 

have been refusing to treat patients without 

COVID-19 results," Akerele-Ogunsiji 

further added. 

Professor Nana Tanko, the VSF Executive 

Director said that the donation to 

the NYSC was made through the Presidential 

Steering Committee on April 27, 

2021 and total cost of the test kits was 

N210 million and is the single largest 

donation of test kits to the Federal Government 

by any organisation since the 

beginning of the pandemic. 

The NYSC Director General, Brigadier-General 

Shuaib, demonstrating palpable 

excitement while receiving the test 

kits, acknowledged that all our brothers 

and sisters deployed in villages and remote 

areas for their mandatory one-year 

national youth service programme can 

be conveniently tested through a rapid 

diagnostic test, RDTs, as approved for 

use in specific settings by WHO to screen 

members of every NYSC orientation 

camp community as resumption commences. 

It is worthy to note that Nigeria 

has Africa's largest population and has 

tested only about two million people. 

"It is, therefore, expected that these donations, 

which come at no cost to the 

beneficiaries, would support the ongoing 

efforts of the government in scaling 

up the overall testing capacity, with a 

view to identifying, isolating and treating 

positive cases, and ultimately reducing 

community-to-community transmission 

of the pandemic across the country," 

he said. 

The VSF COVID-19 Task Force says 

an effective monitoring and evaluation 

system has been developed to ensure 

that this, as with all other VSF COVID- 

19 interventions are being implemented 

strictly in tandem with laid down protocols. 

For the COVID test kits, this 

translates to a process that involves the 

NCDC, VSF Monitoring, Evaluation 

and Learning, MEAL, Officer, in conjunction 

with State NYSC officials, State 

Ministries of Health and other relevant 

stakeholders. Their joint responsibility 

is to implement plans to carry out a comprehensive 

monitoring and evaluation 

exercise across the NYSC camps in their 

respective states for robust data collection 

and reporting during the orientation 

period to ensure a proper coordination 

and impact assessment of the use 

of the test kits. 

•Musa, a civil servant, wrote from 

Wuse 2, Abuja

CBN intervened in textile to halt 

$4bn annual forex flight — Emefiele 

Emma Ujah, Abuja 

Bureau Chief 

ECONOMY 

THE Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN, has 

said it intervened in the 

Cotton, Textile and Garment 

(CTG) industry to 

halt the annual import bill 

of $4 billion in the sector. 

Disclosing this at the 

stakeholder meeting of the 

CTG sector resuscitation 

programme in Abuja yesterday, 

the CBN Deputy 

Governor, Corporate Services, 

Mr. Edward Adamu, 

also said the apex bank is 

determined to return the 

textile industry to its 

golden era when it provided 

the largest employment 

in the manufacturing 

sector of the country. 

According to him, the industry 

was already making 

a positive impact in returning 

the Nigerian 

economy to the path of 

growth. 

He noted that the 

economy was witnessing a 

gradual turn around but 

that, “we must focus and 

channel our resources towards 

reviving critical industries 

like the CTG in order 

to firm up economic 

recovery, improve employment 

and create wealth for 

our people.” 

Adamu who represented 

the CBN Governor, 

Godwin Emefiele, at the 

meeting said that following 

the inclusion of textile 

materials to the list of 

items ineligible for foreign 

exchange from official 

windows in 2019, and 

the CBN intervention in 

the sector, the textile industry 

could now record 

an average output of between 

150, 000 and 300, 

000 metric tonnes (MT), 

with a ginning capacity of 

479 MT at 51 per cent capacity 

utilization from 19 

per cent. 

He disclosed that over 

278, 500 hectares was financed 

in 2019 and 2020 

with over 90,000 MT of 

cotton seed harvested, 

adding that nine ginneries 

have been brought back to 

life and ginned cotton all 

year round for the first time 

in 10 years. 

The governor said that 

over 620,000 direct and indirect 

jobs were created in 

2 years, while the textile 

sector got 100% of their 

major raw material (cotton 

lint) at a CBN-subsidized 

rate of N440,000 as 

against the market price of 

N593,000 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 —19 

Heirs Holdings enters insurance market 

By Cynthia Alo 

INSURANCE 

THE Heirs Holdings (HH) 

has launched its entrance 

into the insurance market with 

two institutions, Heirs Insurance 

Limited (HIL) and Heirs Life Assurance 

(HLA), yesterday. 

The group said it will bring a 

dynamic, digitally driven offering 

to the general and life insurance 

sectors, providing clients 

with a real choice of products, 

pricing, channel, and claims 

handing. 

Heirs Insurance Limited 

(HIL) provides general insurance, 

offering policies covering 

vehicles, homes, SMEs, business 

risks, and other properties. 

Heirs Life Assurance (HLA) offers 

insurance-backed savings 

plans and life insurance security 

for individuals, families, 

children’s education, debtors, 

creditors, entrepreneurs, and employees. 

Both companies leverage the 

business track record of Heirs 

Holdings, the pan-African investment 

group, chaired by leading 

investor and philanthropist, 

Tony Elumelu, Heirs Holdings’ 

portfolio includes companies 

transforming financial services, 

power, oil and gas, real estate, 

hospitality, healthcare, and technology. 

At the launch, the companies 

announced a series of product 

innovations, including a web 

portal enabling customers to get 

an insurance quote in minutes 

and receive claims settlement in 

less than 24 hours, from their 

mobile devices. 

Dr. Adaobi Nwakuche, Ag. 

MD/CEO, Heirs Insurance, 

said: “We are delivering insurance 

that is easy to understand, 

quick and reliable, simplifying 

our customers’ lives. Our mission 

is simple: make insurance 

accessible.” 

Niyi Onifade, MD/CEO, 

Heirs Life, said: “Our goal is to 

integrate life insurance products 

into people’s daily lives to create 

financial inclusion and 

bring quality financial services 

to the many, not just the few.” 

NIMN confers Fellowship on Tunde Olufowora, 26 others 

MARKETING 

THE National Institute 

of Marketing of Nigeria 

(NIMN), has conferred 

its highest professional 

honours on Tunde 

Olufowora, the Chief Executive 

Officer of Brand I Communications 

Limited, as part 

of its annual congressional 

activities. 

Olufowora was inducted 

alongside 26 other persons 

who have distinguished 

themselves in the field of 

marketing, while the Institute 

admitted one person as 

Honorary Member into its 

Body of Fellows at the 2021 

edition of Conferment of Fellowship 

Award and Dinner 

last weekend in Lagos. 

NIMN is the highest professional 

body for professionals 

and institutions involved 

in marketing activities and 

related fields in Nigeria. 

Olufowora, an accomplished 

communications 

and marketing expert with 

over 29 years cognate experience 

spanning Media, 

Public Relations and Marketing, 

has worked with 

major flagship brands in 

Nigeria including, The 

Guardian and ThisDay 

Newspapers as well as 

FCMB Bank, pioneering a 

number of initiatives that 

have strongly positioned 

and distinguished the 

brands in the market. 

He was the Head of Corporate 

Communications of 

FCMB for a period 16 years 

(1997-2013) within which 

period he had responsibilities 

for managing all the 

marketing communications 

activities of the bank. He 

spearheaded almost all the 

transformational stages in 

the life of the bank, from a 

small privately owned merchant 

bank to becoming a renowned 

commercial bank in 

Nigeria and Africa today. 

Some of those transformational 

changes include the 

Initial Public Offer of the 

shares of the bank and its 

listing on the Nigerian Stock 

Exchange after its successful 

Public Offer campaigns; 

the change of name from 

“Merchant” to “Monument”, 

the various mergers 

& acquisitions exercise and 

the rebranding campaign of 

the bank which gave it the 

current brand appeal. 

*Tunde Olufowora

20 — VANGU 

ANGUARD, ARD, WEDNESDAY, , JUNE 2, 2021 

I can't give both of them up! 

Dear Bunmi, 

MY friends have the 

impression that I lead 

a rather exciting life with a 

wonderful wife and a 

beautiful, young lover, but the 

truth is that I have two halflives! 

I am 38 and have been 

married for 12 years to a 

woman I cherished, but who 

sees me more as a companion 

than a lover. We have four 

children - three girls and a 

boy. We live in our own house, 

as I have a high-profile and 

well paid job. 

My life changed forever 

about four years ago, when I 

met a young, attractive, 

intelligent actress, who 

fulfilled my every dream. 

She's an ambitious 27-year-old 

and we got on well right from 

the word go. She is attentive 

and affectionate, loving, fun 

in and out of bed. She's taught 

me a lot about love-making 

and in wild form, most of the 

times. We also like the same 

things - music, food and 

movies - and we truly are 

soul-mates. 

It was inevitable that my 

wife got to know about my 

lover, but she hasn't pressured 

me to give her up though, 

secretly, both women want me 

to ditch the other, but they 

offer me different things. 

Staying with my wife means 

security, but the other woman 

offers me true love. My lover 

swears she'll be with me 

forever and now wants my 

child but, at just 27, who 

knows how long her love will 

last? I love them both but can't 

make a choice. 

Osa, by e-mail. 

Dear Osa, 

It must be obvious to you by 

now that you are at a crossroads 

and whichever road you 

take means leaving something 

behind. You might toy with 

He wants us to separate after 16 

years 

Dear Bunmi, 

WHEN I met my partner 

over 16 years ago, we 

were both separated from our 

spouses. He made it clear at 

the onset he wasn't getting 

married again. He swore he'd 

always love me, so I moved 

in with him whilst my mom 

looked after my two children. 

Now, after almost 16 years 

together, he's determined to 

separate, though he says I've 

done nothing wrong. I am 

now 48 and he is 53. 

He's made it quite clear he 

wants his independence, 

which is a joke because he's 

always done what he wants. 

I've asked him if he's met 

Dear Bunmi, 

IAM six years older than 

my husband. When we 

met, I had a good job and he 

was into contracts. Now he's 

been employed as a bar 

manager of a sophisticated 

night-club. He's naturally 

made a lot of friends and has 

changed. He's completely 

over-hauled his wardrobe, 

bought a second hand car and 

stays out most nights. His 

excuse is that he works erratic 

hours and, since he has a 

room at the club, it was safer 

for him to sleep over. 

Recently, when I 

complained that we don't 

behave as a couple anymore, 

someone else, but he denies 

it. I have given 100 per cent 

to our relationship. I have 

changed myself for this man 

and accepted his ways. I still 

love him and have tried 

reasoning with him. Now, we 

still live under the same roof 

and he's offered to pay the rent 

for a new flat, so I could move 

out. He's behaving like a total 

stranger. I just don't 

understand what's happened 

to him. I don't want to lose 

him. I'm hurting so much right 

now. 

Bianca, by e-mail. 

Dear Bianca, 

Being rejected is painful. 

Like you suspected, I also 

think it's likely he has 

someone else, but he's not 

Age difference now a draw-back 

he told me what he does is his 

business, and that I didn't own 

him. I'm so unhappy. The agegap 

is obviously a draw-back, 

and I have this feeling that 

something is going horribly 

wrong. Help! 

Iquo, by e-mail. 

Dear Iquo, 

I'm afraid I have to agree 

with you that your marriage 

is in trouble. For some 

reasons, the new job means 

your man is exposed to the 

finer and wilder side of life 

and the people that make it 

tick, and is now feeling 

trapped in a relationship with 

an older woman. He obviously 

Dear Bunmi, 

I 

'M in my mid 40s and need 

to know how to be more 

successful with women. 

When I think about women, 

it isn't only for sex but 

desperation to find some 

tenderness in a relationship. 

I've hardly ever known this. 

Even as a child, I was raised 

by a mother who didn't show 

us that much love. I am a 

graduate, polite and caring 

and resent this unkind 

attitude women have towards 

me. They either ignore me or 

treat me very casually. Though 

I'm big, tall and not ugly, 

women don't seem to fancy 

me. 

In spite of my education, I 

haven't really been that 

successful in life and I believe 

this is why they don't fancy 

me. 

The few I've had dropped 

me as soon as they realized I 

wasn't a cash register. 

It's obvious that women are 

really interested in a 

relationship because of the 

money they can get out of it. 

My life has been horribly 

desolate and I have a low selfthe 

idea of having it all, but 

them, you might lose it all. 

You paint a picture of a dull 

marriage but played a part in 

creating that too. 

Your lover now wants a 

child, but what about the ones 

you already have who need 

their father? Before you get 

carried away by the lust this 

actress offers, remember she's 

professionally trained to play 

roles and you might not really 

be certain of what you'd be 

letting yourself into by 

fathering her child. You've 

learnt a lot from your actress 

'teacher about sex, why don't 

you pass some of this to your 

wife? 

Who knows, behind what 

you think is a cool exterior 

might be a fire waiting to be 

lit. Like most men, you seem 

to prefer a humdrum wife and 

a wild mistress, but you just 

might have both qualities in 

your wife. 

giving you any explanation - 

something you deserve. He 

prefers to take the coward's 

way out. It's a horrible 

situation, but if he's adamant 

this is what he wants, there's 

not much you can do. You are 

stuck in limbo and can't move 

on emotionally, while you live 

under the same roof. 

Simply put, the earlier you 

leave, the sooner you can start 

healing. It is a fact that, just 

as much as you can't help who 

you fall in love with, you can't 

also help it when you fall out 

of love. You need to pick up 

the pieces and move on. 

You've had 16 years with this 

man. Cherish that and cut 

your losses. 

has started moving with 

sophisticated night crawlers 

that come into the club, and 

is wishing he is one of them. 

He could also be regretting 

pairing up so young and is 

making up for lost time. 

A man who stays away for 

days without even inviting 

his wife to spend the night 

from time to time is no longer 

committed to his relationship. 

You need to have a heart-toheart 

talk to know if he really 

still wants to be with you. If 

he does, tell him he needs to 

change. If he doesn't, then 

you need to come to terms with 

your marriage being over. 

I don't have much luck with 

women 

How do I stop sleeping with her 

step-mother? 

Dear Bunmi, 

I 

'M almost 23 and in love 

with a girl who lives with 

her dad and stepmother. 

About two years ago, this 

woman threw herself at me so 

shamelessly that we 

eventually ended up in bed. 

She was in her 30s and had 

been coming on so strong that 

I really fell under her spell. 

Since then, whenever I see 

her with her husband, she 

makes a fuss of him by 

kissing him, then she smirks 

at me. It breaks my heart 

whenever she does that. She 

also sends me text messages, 

telling me she likes me and 

what she will like to do to me 

when next we meet. 

esteem. Is there a way out of 

my situation? 

Samuel, by e-mail. 

Dear Samuel, 

A woman will eagerly give 

her affection to a man who is 

penniless if he offers her 

passion, protection and love. 

Instead, you seem to be on an 

endless search for the love 

you felt your mother denied 

you. This sends the message 

that you are someone who, 

although gentle and nice, has 

little to give. Also, the anger 

you feel towards women, 

because you have been 

unable to win their affection, 

shines through. That's why 

they turn away. 

Your childhood greatly 

influences you, but it doesn't 

dictate the adult you become. 

So, push aside the urge to 

measure your worth by the 

love you receive from women, 

take stock of the person you 

are and learn to love yourself. 

Then ask yourself: 'In what 

sense am I a failure?' 

Our worth is measured not 

by money, but in the love we 

give to ourselves and others. 

You'll soon discover that 

women are attracted to a selfconfident 

men! 

We're still sleeping together 

though she's turning me into 

a basket case. I'm lost as to 

what to do. Please help. 

Frank, by e-mail. 

Dear Frank, 

Simply ignore her - she's 

totally bad news. She's just 

boosting her own ego by 

playing around with your 

feelings. It gives her a kick to 

think a young virile man like 

you is lusting after her. Don't 

reply any of her texts and 

walk out of the room when 

she's trying to make you 

jealous with her husband. 

Once she sees she can't mess 

with your emotions any more, 

she'll probably stop. She 

wouldn't want to be caught in 

a scandal by being too daring! 

I'm not ready to commit to him 

yet 

Dear 

I 

Bunmi, 

'VE just met this chap 

and all he wants is sex. 

We were introduced by a 

mutual friend and I agreed to 

go out with him because he 

has a pleasant personality. 

In spite of the fact that 

things haven't been serious 

between us, he's hinting that 

we should cement our 

relationship by sleeping 

together. 

I feel he's rushing me a bit 

and I'm scared I'll lose him if 

I say no. I've been able to put 

him off, so far, but I'm going 

to have to tell him how I feel 

soon. What's the best thing to 

do? 

Amaka, by e-mail. 

Dear Amaka, 

Follow your gut feeling on 

this. If you don't you'll end up 

feeling bad about sex, 

resentful of him and down on 

yourself. If you know you're 

never going to want to sleep 

with him, tell him and let him 

off the hook. 

But if you want more time, 

you have every right to ask 

him to wait. If he won't wait 

or leaves you for someone 

else, then he's not the man 

you should want to make love 

with. 

You'd be better off waiting 

until you meet someone who 

respects your sexual needs 

and doesn't insist on rushing 

things. 

Share your problems and release 

your burden. Write now to 

Dear Bunmi, 

Vanguard Newspapers, 

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

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 — 21

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VOL. 2 NO. 72 

Officers of IGP's Operation Restore Peace in South East 

Operation Restore Peace in South East: 

Is it for peace or war? 

•Seek peaceful solution for national unity, peaceful coexistence — Ohanaeze 

•Says dream of Nigerian unity fading fast with crises and conflicts 

•South East now a site of organized criminality — Nzuko Umunna 

•Conduct proper forensic audit on Unknown Gunmen syndrome — Igbo group 

•Refrain from the use of force in resolving the present crises — Group 

•It will lead to genocide; we in believe in a peaceful resolution — ADF 

•IGP’s order provocative — Nwaonuma, Awka resident 

•Establishment of state police'll bring peace — Enugu monarch 

•End carnage in South East, we are not at war — Prof. Igwe 

•Only restructuring, dialogue'll return peace to S-East – Obasi 

By Anayo Okoli, 

Vincent Ujumadu, 

Chinedu Adonu, 

Ugochukwu Alaribe & 

Ikechukwu Odu 

ENUGU—THE South East zone 

has of recent come under 

intense attacks with killings and 

maiming, mainly of policemen whose 

stations were equally burnt or destroyed 

by so-called “Unknown Gunmen”, a 

new lexicon in the vocabulary of 

Nigerian security system. The 

frequency of the attacks prompted the 

Acting Inspector General of Police, 

Usman Alikali Baba, to launch what he 

codenamed, “Operation Restore Peace” 

in the South East, to tackle the ugly 

situation. 

Inaugurating the operations in 

Enugu, the IGP charged his men to be 

civil with law-abiding citizens, “but firm 

and ruthless with criminal elements and 

secessionists that may attempt to take 

the risk of testing your will or 

threatening the citizens within your 

area of jurisdiction.” 

Also worrisome was the reported 

comments credited to the Acting IGP, 

which alleged that he told police officers 

to ignore human rights while dealing 

with insecurity in the Southeast, an 

action that would only escalate the crisis 

in the zone. Though the IGP may have 

genuine interest to restore sanity and 

peace in the zone, however, his method 

is questionable. This is why many 

stakeholders in the zone, including Igbo 

groups, human rights groups and Igbo 

leaders have faulted the IGP’s directive. 

They argued that it will give policemen 

wide latitude to kill Igbo youths majority 

of whom are already branded enemies 

of the Buhari government by security 

operatives and a section of the country. 

How best do they think policemen can 

peacefully carry out the order; and what 

in their view is the best method to 

restore peace in the southeast? 

The apex Igbo socio-cultural body, 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo condemned any 

directive that would amount to shootat-sight 

on Igbo youths by the police or 

any other security agency, advising the 

Nigerian government to learn a lesson 

from history by not fighting an 

unwinnable war against nationalism. 

Rather than confrontational attitude, 

Ohanaeze urged the Buhari-led 

government to “seek possible peaceful 

options that are the only solution that 

guarantee national unity and peaceful 

coexistence. 

Ohanaeze noted with regret that 

“sub-national consciousness or 

ethnocentric nationalism which is a 

dangerous form of nationalism to 

national unity has taken over Nigeria”, 

and warned that by the way the nation 

is going that “the dream of Nigeria unity 

is receding and fading fast with violence, 

crises and conflicts.” 

In a statement by its spokesman, Alex 

Ogbonnia, the President General of 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. George 

Obiozor was quoted as being 

“unequivocal that the current problems 

confronting Nigeria for instance, ethnic 

militia, agitation for secession, 

insurgency, etc are a product of 

sustained orchestrated injustice in 

governance.” 

Ohanaeze warned against handling 

South East youths different from their 

counterparts from other regions is not 

the best way to go. 

Also, the apex Igbo body quarreled 

with the way and manner security 

chiefs deploy officers applying ethnic 

bias, saying it would not make for peace. 

“The pattern of deployment of 

Northern military officers to the South- 

East lends credence to the above report. 

Reports revealed that in the Nigerian 

army has posted Northern Muslims as 

commanders over its operations and 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo is 

unequivocal that the 

current problems 

confronting Nigeria, 

e.g. ethnic militia, 

agitation for 

secession, 

insurgency, etc are a 

product of sustained 

orchestrated injustice 

in governance... It is 

clearly admitted even 

by fair-minded 

Northerners that the 

Igbo have been 

systematically 

marginalized since 

the civil war 

brigades in Anambra, Imo, Abia, Akwa 

Ibom, Enugu, Benue, Edo, Delta and 

Rivers. 

“In Anambra State, the Cantonment 

Commandant of the 302 Artillery 

Regiment, Onitsha, is Col. Abdulsalam 

Abubakar Sambo, a Hausa-Fulani 

Muslim; while in Imo State, the Brigade 

Commander of 34 Brigade, Obinze, is 

Brig Gen Ibrahim Tukura, another 

northerner; in Abia State, the Brigade 

Commander of 14 Brigade, Ohafia, is 

Brig Gen M. Ibrahim, still, a northerner; 

while in Akwa Ibom State, the Brigade 

Commander of 2 Brigade, Uyo, is Brig 

Gen Faruk Mijinyawa, another 

northerner. This is truly worrisome! 

“The President General of Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo Worldwide, Ambassador Prof. 

George Obiozor, an erudite scholar, 

seasoned diplomat with diverse 

experience in governments, has 

admonished the Nigerian government 

to “learn a lesson from history by not 

fighting an unwinnable war against 

nationalism but seek possible peaceful 

options that are the only solution that 

guarantees national unity and peaceful 

coexistence”. 

Obiozor lamented that “sub-national 

consciousness or ethnocentric 

nationalism which is a dangerous form 

of nationalism to national unity has 

taken over Nigeria”, and warned that 

“the dream of Nigeria unity is receding 

and fading fast with violence, crises and 

conflicts. 

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo is unequivocal 

that the current problems confronting 

Nigerian, e.g. ethnic militia, agitation for 

secession, insurgency, etc are a product 

of sustained orchestrated injustice in 

governance. It is clearly admitted even 

by fair- minded Northerners that the Igbo 

have been systematically marginalized 

since the civil war. 

“The problem with Nigeria in general 

and the Igbo in particular is located in 

injustice and the simple solution lays in 

manifest dialogue, equity and justice. 

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo warns that any 

shoot-at-sight order to security 

operatives on Igbo youth is a call for 

another pogrom and genocide. 

“Ohanaeze asks the federal 

government to refrain from the use of 

force in resolving the present national 

crises. History shows that military and 

violent means to solve the national 

question is bound to fail as it leads to 

further national fractionalization, 

anarchy and eventual or inevitable 

disintegration, as in all empires or multinational 

states or countries.” 

Also reacting to the IGP’s alleged 

comment and body language, Igbo elite 

group, Alaigbo Development 

Foundation, ADF, cautioned against any 

reckless speech and action and warned 

that the police have no right to give a 

“shootat-sight” blanket order to their 

officers, saying “It will lead to genocide 

and in the event of genocide, Igbo groups 

will take up the matter at the 

International Criminal Court at The 

Hague. Nigerian security officials 

charged for genocide should get ready 

to go there and defend themselves.” 

According to spokesman of ADF, Chief 

Abi Onyike, “Some people believe that 

the killing of police men and burning of 

public facilities by unknown gunmen may 

be the handiwork of agent provocateurs 

who are acting as mercenaries of the 

federal authorities, with a view to 

preparing the grounds for the military 

invasion of the South East. 

“We in ADF believe in a peaceful 

resolution of the current crisis which has 

bedeviled the Nigerian federation. The 

crisis is the brainchild of President Buhari 

regime which pursued anti-Igbo policies 

to a level of brazen impunity.” 

Onyike, a former information 

Commissioner in Ebonyi State, said: 

“The seeming official endorsement of the 

atrocities of Fulani herdsmen by the 

government and the alleged islamization 

policies of the Islamic diehards under 

Buhari’s regime have combined to 

worsen the security situation. 

“The only way forward is for President 

Buhari to call a Sovereign National 

Conference to address the crises. We 

restate our call for a new constitution, a 

return to regional autonomy of the 

federating units and the adoption of fiscal 

federalism. 

“The idea of blaming secessionists is a 

bankrupt and useless idea. When you 

pursue policies of marginalization against 

mega ethnic nationalities like the Igbo 

and Yoruba, what do you expect? These 

are independent nations bigger than 

most African countries. If you push them 

to the wall, they can assert their right to 

self-determination, which is in line with 

the United Nations resolution of 2007. 

“The era of empire states is over. The 

Caliphate ruling class in Nigeria should 

not drag Nigeria to a civil war because of 

their extremist ideas. If they are not ready 

for political reforms, then the blame 

should be placed on their doorpost if 

Nigeria is destroyed.” 

Igbo think tank group, Nzuko Umuna 

condemned the reported comments of 

Alkali Usman Baba, the acting Inspector 

General of Police, who allegedly told police 

officers to ignore human rights while 

dealing with insecurity in the south-east, 

saying such comment would only 

escalate the crisis in the region. 

“We consider this statement horrifying, 

frightening and unutterable in a 

democracy with entrenched 

constitutional rights to life and due 

process. 

‘We are more surprised that the head 

of the Nigerian Police will make such an 

outrageous statement authorising state 

violence in a region that, for long, has 

been seething at police brutality and 

extortion and a region whose youths 

have been extra-judicially killed by 

security agents in large numbers,“ the 

group said. 

Nzuko Umuna lamented the 

increasing insecurity in the country, 

particularly the South East region, and 

attributed it to “injustice, inequalities and 

lack of good governance.” 

Dr. Sam Amadi, rights activist and 

chairman of the legal committee of Nzuko 

Umuna, who addressed journalists in 

Abuja, noted that the “unfair and 

unequal treatment of citizens have 

compounded the insecurity crisis.” 

According to Amadi, the South East 

which used to be the “safest region in 

Nigeria has become a site of organized 

criminality. 

“Nzuko Umuna recognizes that 

Nigeria has descended into a depth of 

insecurity partly because of the failure of 

governance across the country and 

particularly because of inequities and 

injustices of political leadership in Nigeria. 

“We acknowledge that the perception 

of unfair and unequal treatment of 

citizens compounds the insecurity crisis,” 

the group said. 

Continuing, Nzuko Umuna said: 

“Statements like those of the IGP further 

deepen the sense of victimization by the 

state and therefore escalates the crisis. 

We stand with the south-east governors, 

the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other civic 

organizations in Igbo to demand proper 

forensic audit of the hitherto unheard 

Unknown Gunmen syndrome as it is 

strange to the customs and norms of 

people of the region. 

“We know from data available in public 

domain that there has been escalation 

of killing of police officers across the 

country before the current wave of 

attacks in the South East. 

“This suggests that the ‘unknown 

gunmen’ phenomenon may relate to a 

more complex crisis of insecurity in 

Nigeria. With open borders, increasing 

poverty and frustration of youths, 

corruption in the most hallowed centres 

of law enforcement, herdsmen violence 

and banditry, and political brigandage in 

Nigeria, a simplistic and unscientific 

explanation of the ‘Unknown Gunmen’ 

phenomenon does not suffice,“ Nzuko 

Umunna said. 

In the opinion of the traditional ruler 

of Obimo Community in Nsukka Local 

Government Area of Enugu State, Igwe 

Spencer Ugwuoke, the establishment 

of the state police in South East Nigeria 

will bring peace. 

Ugwuoke also advised that the state 

police should be constituted of 

indigenous people who know the terrain 

of different localities and can identify 

criminal elements in different villages in 

the zone. He suggested that the state 

police personnel could liaise with men 

of the Nigeria police force to rid the states 

in South East of crimes and other vices. 

According to him, using police 

personnel from different states outside 

the zone to enforce Operation Restore 

Peace in South East would continue to 

generate suspicion from the people of 

the zone on the latent intention of the 

Inspector General of Police. 

The monarch also urged the Federal 

Government to create the fourth tier of 

government which would empower 

traditional rulers who are the Chief 

Security Officers of different communities 

to legally play roles in securing different 

communities in the zone. 

For Isaac Nwaonuma, who said he 

Continues on page 29

Operation Restore Peace in South East: 

Is it for peace or war? 

Continued from Page 28 

supports Biafra but does not like 

the activities of unknown 

gunmen, his advice is for the 

police to evolve ways of 

identifying those who target 

police men and stations and 

INEC offices and deal with them 

decisively. 

According to him, those the 

IGP described as secessionists 

are only demanding their freedom 

from an oppressed society, adding 

that if the country was properly 

structured, the issue of secession 

would not arise. 

He said: “I cannot deny that I 

have sympathy for Biafra and my 

support for the pro Biafra agitators 

is borne out the marginalization 

of the people of South East from 

the affairs of the country. We are 

speaking out so that leaders of 

the country can turn a new leaf 

and do the needful, which is 

giving the South East region 

what is due to it.'' 

Another respondent, Mr. 

Magnus Onyedika said that the 

police has adopted a dangerous 

method of swooping on beer 

palours rounding up all the 

young men and detaining them 

on the allegation that they are 

pro-Biafra agitators, while those 

who attack police stations could 

not be arrested. 

He, however, advised Igbo 

youths to be mindful of what they 

say in public and where they go 

to as many security operatives 

have put their ears on ground to 

listen to what people say in any 

gathering. 

Renowned academic, Prof. 

Obasi Igwe in his contribution, 

called on Federal Government 

and Nigerian Army, police and 

other security agencies involved 

in killing innocent people in the 

South East to immediately end 

the unwarranted carnage, saying 

there is no war going on in the 

region. 

Igwe also enjoined other wellmeaning 

Nigerians to join in 

condemning what he called “the 

officially sponsored war in the 

East”. 

He believed that the ongoing 

violence crisis in the southeast is 

stage managed. He said: “There 

is not a single verifiable logical or 

empirical evidence to prove that 

it is either IPOB or the ESN outfit, 

or other Igbo youths that are 

behind the sudden violence 

attacks in the East; all we hear 

are repeated assertions by the 

authorities, which we are 

expected to swallow as the truth. 

“Imo Governor had said that 

70% of those arrested for the 

mayhem in Imo were not Igbo; 

and if there were any Igbo among 

them, were they not publicly 

questioned to know if they were 

sent by IPOB. Ebonyi Governor 

equally exonerated the Igbo from 

the atrocities, which might be the 

reason for his probably being 

summoned to Abuja. The 

policeman whose bomb or 

grenade exploded on him in an 

Afikpo school, was he Igbo or 

IPOB/ESN? 

“Another twist to the 

Goebellian/NAZI propaganda is 

that ships have been sighted in 

the high seas with which 

Cameroonian Ambazonia are 

carrying arms to IPOB for an 

attack on Lagos and bomb the 

Yoruba, and we are still waiting 

for the boarding and arrest of the 

vessel. Next is that IPOB/ESN, 

no more Fulani aided by 

officialdom are now the ones 

killing Benue brothers. In all 

these are efforts to scratch out a 

Cassius belli to conquer the Igbo/ 

East. 

“One question that the federal 

government has not answered 

is: why leave the heavily armed 

Fulani terrorists embedded in 

Eastern/Southern/Middle Belt 

forests and killing Nigerians, 

sacking farms and villages, and 

instead waging a ferocious war 

against those trying to flush 

them out from their places; are 

the ESN more heavily “armed” 

than the Hisbah police and army 

terrorizing southerners in the 

Sharia North? 

“Why is it that most of the police 

men killed in the stations are Igbo; 

is it not by secret information that 

the non-Igbo disappear prior to 

the attack only for their Igbo 

colleagues to innocently report 

for duty only to meet their death? 

Like in the Imo case, is it possible 

for the IPOB/ESN to infiltrate and 

bomb a military asset (prison, etc.) 

surrounded by sundry security 

infrastructure, safely evacuate 

the inmates, and neatly melt into 

thin air with absolutely zero. 

“Above all, have the IPOB/ 

ESN repeatedly not denied any 

responsibility in the bombings? 

“We are not members of the 

IPOB and do not support the 

killing of security personnel, but 

on the other hand, we totally 

reject the blackmail of using the 

IPOB to kill our children or any 

other Easterners/Nigerians, and 

condemn the unwarranted 

elimination of the population of 

Igbo/Eastern youths under the 

pretext of fighting a secession 

happening in radio agitation.” 

In his own opinion, a chieftain 

of the All Progressive Grand 

Alliance, APGA, Chief Jerry 

Obasi, said only restructuring and 

dialogue with the agitators will 

return peace to the South East 

zone. 

Obasi insisted that police or 

military action would only 

aggravate the problem and make 

the attackers more daring in their 

bid to achieve their objectives of 

making the South East zone a 

war theatre. 

He condemned the IGP’s 

ruthless order to policemen, 

stressing that such directives in 

a zone where extrajudicial killings 

by security agents is the order of 

the day is very dangerous. 

“The Federal Government 

should restructure the country; 

there are lots of injustices meted 

against the South East in Nigeria. 

Even the blind have confirmed 

that military action isn’t working 

and will never work. If the 

Federal Government can 

negotiate with Boko Haram and 

other insurgents in the North, 


what stops it from negotiating with 

IPOB and other agitating groups 

in the South East? The problem 

is that the current federal 

government sees the Igbo as 

second class citizens and 

conquered people. 

“The IGP’s directive is 

unfortunate. Such an order in a 

country where extrajudicial 

killings by policemen have been 

the order of the day is dangerous. 

No matter the insecurity 

situation, this order shows that 

IGP Baba is not well schooled in 

the management of civil strife. 

Nigeria has become a police state; 

the order from the IGP has 

confirmed it. 

“Though it is widely known 

that hoodlums now hide under 

the guise of agitation to commit 

crime, there should have been 

better ways of tackling the 

problem. The directive will kill 

more innocent persons than the 

criminals. 

''The IGP ought to have been 

circumspect with the order. Now, 

he has licensed the police 

to kill people under the 

guise of fighting criminals. 

The order can’t solve the 

problem; it will rather add 

fuel to the raging fire. 

“There is too much 

bottled-up anger in Igbo 

land. No Igbo man is 

qualified to head any 

security arm, the Igbo are 

angry with Nigeria. There 

should be more 

engagement with the 

people to ascertain the 

problem and how best to 

solve it. Engaging or 

negotiating with the IPOB 

isn’t a bad idea. Such 

negotiations are needed at 

this time. The federal 

government needs to be 

careful because arms and 

ammunition have entered 

into the wrong hands,” 

Obasi said. 

Obasi also berated the South 

East governors, accusing them 

of allowing the secession 

problem in the zone to fester to 

the extent of almost consuming 

the people. 

“The South East governors 

have not done well in handling 

the IPOB crisis. This is a problem 

that they could have 

successfully handled at the root 

stage, but they were only 

interested in the politics of 2023 

and listening to their Fulani pay 

masters. Look at what Governor 

Hope Uzodinma has been doing 

in Imo State. He has been 

adding fire to the crisis through 

his unguided utterances,” he 

said. 

He urged the federal 

government to thoroughly 

investigate the attacks on police 

formations in the South East 

zone, stressing that the blanket 

conclusion on IPOB may not be 

totally correct. 

THE TEAM 

SUPERVISING EDITOR: 

Chioma Gabriel, Lagos 

(08052201257) 

REGIONAL EDITOR 

Anayo Okoli, Enugu 

08034046839 

Vincent Ujumadu, Awka 

Chidi Nkwopara, Owerri 

Dennis Agbo, Enugu 

Peter Okutu, Abakaliki 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu, Nnewi 

Nwabueze Okonkwo, 

Onitsha 

Chinedu Adonu, Enugu 

Ugochukwu Alaribe, Aba 

Chinonso Alozie, Owerri 

Eric Ugbor, Aba 

Ikechukwu Odu, Nsukka 

Steve Oko, Aba

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32 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY JUNE 2, 2021 

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I, formerly Known As JACOB 

AGANYI MONDAY, now Wish 

To Be Known And Addressed As 

JACOB ODAMA MONDAY 

CORRECT DATE OF BIRTH IS 

24/4/1996.All Former Documents 

Remain Valid And General Public 

Please Take Note. 

NWACHUKWU 


as, MISS. NWACHUKWU 

CONFIDENCE ONYINYECHI, 

now wish to be known and 

addressed as, MRS. OTOMO 

CONFIDENCE ONYINYECHI. 

All former documents remain valid. 

General public should take note. 

HAKURI 

I, Formerly known as HAKURI 

HASSAN MILDRED now wish 

to be known as HAKURI 

HASSAN. All former 


General public should take note 

OT IME 

This is to confirm that my full and 

correct name is IME JUMBO 

AKPAN and date of birth is 5/5/ 

1971, All documents that bear IME 

JUMBO AKPAN are my documents 

any authority concern and the 

general public to please take note 

EKE 

I, formerly known as EKE 

UDOKA now wish to be known 

and addressed as OPUTE 

UDOKA. All former 


Authorities concerned and the 

general public should please 

take note. 

UCHENNA 

I, formerly known as SARAH 

NOMEH. Now wish to be known 

as UCHENNA, SARAH 

UKAMAKA. All documents 

bearing my former name remain 

valid. The general public take note. 

TUKUR 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Sakinatu 

Mohammed Tukur, now wish 

to be known and addressed as 

Sakinatu Muhammed Tahir 

Liman. All former documents 

remain valid. General public 


UMUNNAKWE 

I, formerly known as 

Umunnakwe Heart Obioma 


addressed as Ejezie Heart 

Obioma. All former documents 


take note. 

IMAGA 

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AND 

ADDRESSED AS MISS IMAGA 

CHINYERE NNOKE, NOW WISH 

TO BE KNOWN AND 

ADDRESSED AS MRS 

CHINYERE EZE. ALL FORMER 

DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. 

GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD 

TAKE NOTE. 

ADIJAT 


ABDULLAHI ADIJAT. Now wish 

to be known and called as 

MUHAMMED OZUOHU 

KHADIJAT. Former documents 

remain valid. Authority concern and 

general public to take note. 

KURIYETU 


KOKORI KURIYETU 

OSHEYIZA. Now wish to be 

known and called as KOKORI 

HAUWA KULU OSHEYIZA. 

Former documents remain 

valid. Access bank PLC and 

general public to take note. 

NWAMAGA 

I, formerly known and called 

N W A M A G A 

CHUKWUBUIKEM JOSEPH, 

now wish to be known as 

OGBAGA CHIBUIKE. 

JOSEPH. Former documents 


take note. 

OKON 

I formerly known as GLORY 

OKON SAMPSON, now wish to 

be known and addressed as 

GLORY WILLIAM UDO. All 

former documents remain 

valid. The general public should 

take note. 

RALPH 

I formerly known as LULLUNG 

RALPH SALEH now wish to be 

known and addressed as RALPH 

SALEH LULLUNG. All former 

documents remain valid, Authority 

concerned and the general public 

to please take note. 

ANTIA 


Miss NDORENYIN ANTHONY 

ANTIA Now wish to be known and 

addressed as Mrs NDORENYIN 

JOHN EFFIONG. All former 

documents remain valid General 

and authority concerned please take 

note 

OKEKE 


addressed as MISS. OKEKE 

GRACE ANULI, now wish to be 

known, called and addressed as MRS. 

EKE GRACE ANULI. All 

documents bearing my former name 

remain valid. The general public 

should please take note. 

AUGUSTINE 

I, formerly known as MISS. 

AUGUSTINE PATIENCE 

ONYINYECHI . Now wish to be 

known as MRS. GAMBO 

PATIENCE ONYINYECHI . All 

documents bearing my former name 

remain valid. The general public 

take note. 

WASIU 

I, formerly Known As 

Babatunde W. Bakare, now 

Wish To Be Known And 

Addressed As Wasiu Babatunde 

Bakare.All Former Documents 

Remain Valid And General 

Public Please Take Note. 

OSAS 


ELLAMS PROGRESS OSAS, 


addressed as OKUNBOR 

OSAHENRUMWEN ELLAMS. 

Former documents remain valid. 

General Public please take note. 

IGELI 

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS 

ISAH IGELI NOW WISH TO 

BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED 

AS SEIDU ISAH ALL 

FORMER DOCUMENTS 

REMAIN VALID. GENERAL 

PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE. 

MOMOH 

I opened bank account with 

names as MOMOH 

EMMANUEL. Now wish to be 

known and called as DANIEL 

SAMUEL ADINOYI. Former 


Stanbic bank PLC and general 

public to take note. 

RUWAN 

I,formerly Known As Junaidu Ado 

Ruwan Bago,now Wish To Be 

Known And Addressed As Junaidu 

Ado.Wrong Date Of Birth 1/01/ 

1994,correct Date Of Birth 1/01/ 

1998.All Former Documents 

Remain Valid And General Public 

Please Take Note. 

NWABUEZE 

I, formerly known and called 

EMEONYE NWABUEZE 

CHIEMELA, now wish to be 

known as EMEONYE 

CHIEMELA PROMISE. 

Former documents remain 

valid. General public take note. 

OTTO 


as, MISS. OTTO EUCHARIA 

CHINYERE, now wish to be 

known and addressed as, ANI 

EUCHARIA CHINYERE. All 


General public should take note. 

OYEGUN 

I formerly known as RICHARD 

IDOGUN now wish to be known 

and addressed as RICHARD 

IDOGUN OYEGUN. All former 

documents remain valid, Authority 

concerned and the general public to 


HAWA 


as HAWA MURTALA, now 


AJARA AUDU. All former 


public should take note. 

ADEDOKUN 


ADEDOKUN TOYIN. Now 

wish to be known as 

ADEDOKUN MANSURAT. 

All documents bearing my 

former name remain valid. The 

general public take note. 

NOBLE 


ROSELINE NOBLE ADOKIYE 

. Now wish to be known as MRS. 

ROSELINE CLINTON - 

IGONIKON . All documents 



:Vanguard 

News 

20,000 petty traders, artisans to get 

FG's COVID-19 palliatives in Lagos 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

LAGOS—LAGOS State 

Government has 

concluded plans to present 

20,000 vulnerable 

households, comprising of 

small business owners and 

artisans in the state with the 

Federal Government's 

COVID-19 Rapid 

Response Cash Transfer. 

Director, Lagos State 

Operations Coordinating 

Unit, LASOCU, Ministry of 

Economic Planning and 

Budget, Mrs. Oluwakemi 

Adedeji, who disclosed this 

yesteday, explained that 

the initiative is being 

sponsored by the Federal 

Government, through the 

Federal Ministry of 

Humanitarian Affairs, 

Disaster Management and 

Social Development as well 

as Lagos State Government 

in collaboration with the 

World Bank. 

Adedeji stresed that the 

sole aim of the programme 

is to come up with a 

COVID-19 Rapid 

Response Register that will 

enrol small business 

owners and artisans whose 

businesses have been 

badly affected by COVID- 

19 pandenmic in Lagos 

State, through the use of 

satellite technology of 

sending text messages to 

their mobile phones, slated 

to take place between May 

30 to June 5, 2021. 

According to the 

By Gabriel Olawale 

L lager, AGOS—PREMIUM 

Trophy, a product of 

International Breweries Plc 

has celebrated some 

Nollywood icons across the 

South West in continuation of 

its Waa Gbayi Experience 

Campaign. 

The campaign which saw a 

retinue of poets, praise 

singers and drummers hail 

the big screen superstars with 

panegyrics and local songs at 

their places of residence also 

had a Trophy set up to treat 

the stars’ family and friends 

to cans of their favourite 

Trophy lager. 

Actors who were given the 

UZOMA 


UZOMA VIVIAN AFOKWALAM 

. Now wish to be known as MRS. 

VIVIAN CHIDIEBERE 

EMMANUEL. All documents 



CHUKWUYEM 


N W A N G B O G W U 

CHUKWUYEM ISAIAH . 

Now wish to be known as 

NWANGBOGWU ISAIAH 

DAVID. All documents bearing 

my former name remain valid. 

The general public take note. 

ONOKURHEFE 


as Onokurhefe Rukevwe Joan, now 


Dumi Rukevwe Joan. All former 


public take note. 

National Social Safety Nets 

Coordinating Office, 

NASSCO, the initiative will 

be starting with seven 

wards, 181 communities in 

four local government 

areas. 

The list of the benefitting 

areas include: Irewe and 

Tafi in Ojo Local 

Government, Ikoga, Ajido 

and Iya Afin in Badagry 

and Abomiti and Ijede in 

both Epe and Ikorodu 

Local Government, 

respectively. 

Residents were therefore, 

urged to register by 

responding to the text 

message that will be sent to 

their phones or contact 

their Community 

Development Association, 

CDA, in selected wards. 

Adedeji further reteirated 

that, the selection will be 

based on scientific method 

of Satellite Remote 

Sensing Technology, 

Machine Learning, 

Algorithm and Big Data 

Analysis, which provided 

the basis for ranking the 

wards according to poverty 

index and availability of 

resources. 

She explained that 

enumerators would meet 

applicants at their residents 

to take further information 

such as: National 

Identification Numbers, 

NIN, and bank account 

details. 

Adedeji added that those 

registered would receive 

cash transfer credited 

directly to their accounts. 

Yoruba Movie icons get Trophy 

Waa Gbayi experience 

spectacular green carpet 

treatment include Taiwo 

Hassan, popularly known as 

Ogogo, Yinka Quadri, Dele 

Odule, Adebayo Salami (Oga 

Bello), and Prince Jide 

Kosoko. 

Shedding light on the 

decision to honour the 

legends, Marketing Director, 

International Breweries Plc, 

Tolulope Adedeji explained 

that Trophy decided to pay 

tribute to the Yoruba movie 

legends through the Waa 

Gbayi experience because 

they had demonstrated that 

they were deserving of 

honour through their 

enduring career and 

contributions to the 

propagation of the Yoruba 

culture. 

“Honour to whom honour is 

due” is our tagline for this 

campaign, and by it, we sought to 

extol the virtues of people who 

have displayed the qualities of an 

Honourable. In the light of this, it 

wasn’t difficult to decide to 

celebrate those who have been 

integral to the success of the 

Nigerian film industry and have 

continued to entertain us with 

their craft many decades later,” 

she said. 

A fan favourite, Taiwo Hassan 

who commended the initiative from 

Trophy described the Waa Gbayi 

experience as a laudable 

celebration of culture. “I feel 

honoured that a reputable brand 

like Trophy deemed it fit to come 

all the way to celebrate me, and I 

am grateful to the Trophy team for 

this experience,” the thespian 

said. 

Yinka Quadri, Dele Odule, 

Adebayo Salami, and Jide Kosoko 

also expressed gratitude to Trophy 

and International Breweries Plc for 

the gesture.



Appointment, promotion and remuneration of 

judges in Nigeria: The need for a change 

AS the strike action called 

by JUSUN entered its eight 

week and following reported breakthrough 

between the Union and State 

governments in talks aimed at ending 

the said strike, it is imperative to comment 

on some paramount issues affecting 

the Nigerian judiciary, particularly 

with regards to the appointment, 

remuneration and promotion of Judges 

Ṫhe Appointment of Judicial 

Officers 

In the sixties when I began the practice 

of Law, appointment to the Bench 

was strictly on merit. At that time, appointments 

were by invitation, after, 

at least, 10 years in practice. Sitting 

Judges were always quick to identify 

legal practitioners who possessed sterling 

qualities suitable for appointment 

to the Bench. Aside from sound knowledge 

of the law, integrity and honour 

marked out and propelled many Judges 

appointed in those days to the Bench. 

However, this was made possible by 

the 1963 Constitution which was in 

force at the time. Under this Constitution, 

the procedure for the appointment 

of the Justices of the Supreme 

Court, as well as a Judge of the High 

Court of Lagos, are similar – the President 

appoints, acting on the advice or 

recommendation of the Prime Minister. 

Though this procedure seems simple, 

it was yet effective and notorious 

for producing the most qualified and 

best-suited judges on the Bench. This 

system effectively obviated a recourse 

to political affiliation, nepotism or 

favouritism in the appointment of judges 

which, no doubt, has characterised 

the appointment mechanism today. 

Undoubtedly, the provision of the 1999 

Constitution as to the appointment of 

Judges and Justices deeply encourages 

the politicisation of this hallowed 

position. A Justice of the Supreme 

Court now has to be appointed by the 

President on the recommendation of 

the National Judicial Council, subject 

to the confirmation of such appointment 

by the Senate; thereby making 

the process more politically inclined 

and easier to manipulate to suit the 

whims and caprices of the political 

class. 

Comparatively, in some states in the 

United States of America, the appointment 

of judges is not totally in the hands 

of either the Governor or the legislature, 

but in the hands of the electorates. 

For instance, in Pennsylvania, an 

election was held on May 18, 2021 

whereby judicial hopefuls were elected 

into office through partisan, statewide 

elections, rather than being selected 

on merit by the Judicial Commission, 

or by the governor or legislature. 

At the moment, appointment to the Nigerian 

Bench is seen by many as an easy 

way out from the demands of private law 

practice. Some even aspire to the Bench 

to enjoy the perquisites of judicial office 

without giving adequate thought to the 

demands and responsibilities of the position. 

It is for this reason that I advocate for 

the appointment of judicial officers from 

Senior Advocates of Nigeria, just like in 

the United Kingdom where members of 

the Queen’s Counsel may be appointed 

as judicial officers. This reminds me of 

Mrs.SafiyaBadamasi Umar of Katsina 

State who was conferred the rank of Senior 

Advocate of Nigeria in 2019, and was 

sworn in as a Judge of the Katsina State 

High Court in 2020. The Nigerian Judiciary 

certainly needs more judges to be 

appointed from Senior Advocates. However, 

for this to be so, there needs to be the 

conferment of more Senior Advocates and, 

in addition, more has to be done with regard 

to the remuneration of judicial officers. 

I will discuss more on the subject of 

remuneration shortly. 

The fact that 

appointments of 

High Court Judges 

are made by the 

Governor upon the 

recommendation of 

the National Judicial 

Council is one 

capable of abuse 

and therefore 

further eroding the 

independence of 

the Judiciary 

The Elevation of Judges into the 

Higher Bench 

In similar terms, it is time to shift the 

paradigm of elevation of judges from the 

official Bar alone. There should be room 

for the appointment of judges and justices 

straight from practice to all levels of Courts. 

This is the practice in England where some 

distinguished lawyers have been appointed 

to the Bench. However, this will engender 

the conferment of the rank of SAN 

on more legal practitioners and better remuneration 

for judges to make the position 

more lucrative. In addition, there 

needs to be a review of the process of appointing 

High Court Judges from the magistracy. 

Magistrates should be encouraged 

to stay at the Lower Bench and not necessarily 

seek elevation to the High Court. 

This will create a whole lot of stability in 

the appointment, retention, and performance 

of Magistrates in Ekiti State. However, 

there is a need to increase the salaries 

and entitlements of magistrates in order 

to make the position more lucrative; 

and, of course, to ensure that their entitlements 

are promptly paid. 

Generally, the age of appointment of 

judges in Nigeria calls for great concern. It 

is not only economically counterproductive 

but equally unreasonable to appoint 

judges who are close to the official age of 

retirement. There is no point in waiting till 

a person has attained the age of 55 before 

appointing him to the Bench. Younger 

Judges should be appointed in order to 

spend more years on the Bench and to 

allow that they develop the requisite skills 

and knowledge which will permit them to 

have longer, more productive years on the 

Bench. 

Remuneration of Judges 

Remuneration and employment condition 

of judicial officers, as we may know, is 

nothing to write home about. To put this 

in proper perspective, I will consider the 

position in South Africa. The South African 

legislature enacted a Judges’ Remuneration 

and Conditions of Employment 

Act. Under this law, South African High 

Court, Constitutional Court and Supreme 

Court of Appeal judges have a 15-year 

tenure and where a judge who has attained 

the age of 70 years has not yet 

completed his 15 years’ active service, he 

must continue to perform active service as 

a judge till he attains the age of 75 years. 

In addition to ensuring the payment of 

attractive salaries and benefits to serving 

judges, there is a provision for continuous 

payment of salaries and gratuities to judges 

after discharge from active service. Also, 

there is a provision for payment of lifetime 

salaries to surviving spouses of judges, and 

gratuities for such spouses. 

By way of comparison, the pay of Nigerian 

Judges compares poorly with their 

foreign counterparts. At the rate of about 

N475 to a Dollar, the following table demonstrably 

shows that Nigerian Judges 

are the least paid: 

In 2013, the then Lord Chief Justice 

of England, in his final annual report 

as Lord Chief Justice, expressed the 

fear that unless the pay of Judges was 

raised from its average of £175,000 

(N43,750,000) per year - at the then 

exchange rate of N250 to a pound) 

many top lawyers will reject the opportunity 

to become Judges. In his report 

on the matter, the MailOnline in 

its edition of 31st August 2014 stated 

as follows: 

“Britain’s top judge has launched a 

scathing attack on the decision to slash 

his colleagues’ pay, warning it has destroyed 

morale in the profession and 

risks compromising the quality of future 

recruits. Lord Chief Justice, Lord 

Judge, who is standing down from the 

role later this year, says sweeping salary 

cuts of as much as 60 per cent since 

2011, allied to an increased workload, 

is seriously affecting judges’ state of 

mind. And he fears that unless pay is 

raised from its current average of 

£175,000 per year, top lawyers will reject 

the chance to become judges. In 

his final annual report, he said there 

was a growing gap between senior lawyers’ 

pay and that of Judges. Judges 

are also working harder, he said, no 

longer presiding over trials and hearings, 

but also involved in administrative 

and other duties. This combination 

of changes has lowered morale, 

which raised doubts about the ability to 

‘recruit, retain and motivate sufficient 

high-quality people to the judiciary’.” 

Furthermore, the fact that appointments 

of High Court Judges are 

made by the Governor upon the recommendation 

of the National Judicial 

Council is one capable of abuse 

and therefore further eroding the 

independence of the Judiciary. From 

the clear wordings of Section 271 of 

the Constitution, the appointment 

of judges is made by the Governor. 

All that the National Judicial Council 

does is to recommend based on 

factors such as vacancies and suitability 

of candidates. Where the Governor 

proceeds to make the appointment 

based upon the recommendation 

of the Council, the appointee 

may feel a sense of loyalty to the 

Governor who appointed him. 

Conclusion 

It is clear, from the foregoing, that 

the time is ripe for a departure from 

the old way of doing things. In order 

to ensure a corruption-free, wellmotivated, 

and justice-driven court 

system, a whole lot has to be done 

to reform the judiciary in its entirety. 

Government must particularly 

act in a manner that suggests it is 

serious about independence of the 

judiciary. A situation in which the 

judicial arm of government yearly 

gets pittance in terms of budgetary 

allocation is not one that will portray 

government in good light. Government 

may be perceived as punishing 

the judiciary for any perceived 

wrong doing and this will never augur 

well for the polity. 

To be concluded 

:Vanguard 

News 

Cybercrime: Schneider alerts 

institutions on preventive 

measuress 

By Prince Okafor 

LAGOS—AS a move to mitigate the 

rising incidents of ransomware, 

phishing, and malware attacks, 

among others, Schneider Electric has 

urged energy companies, financial 

institutions, large industries, as well as 

micro, small and medium sized 

companies to be extra vigilant, and to 

deploy proven cybersecurity measures 

especially as the perpetrators of 

cybercrime have become more 

sophisticated. 

The energy company made this 

during a webinar organised by the 

Franco-Nigerian Chamber of 

Commerce and Industry with the 

theme: “Cybersecurity and process 

automation in today’s business 

:@vanguardnews 

DPM alleges plot to destabilise 

Delta govt 

By Festus Ahon 

ASABA—THE Delta Political 

Monitors, DPM, a group of 

eminent detribalized Deltans from 

the 25 local government areas of 

Delta State, has alleged that certain 

political elements in the state are 

deliberately out to heat the polity 

and cause confusion to distract the 

governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa from 

continuing with his good program 

in the state. 

The group in a communique at 

the end of its meeting at the 

weekend, said the reactions of some 

political groups, socio-cultural 

groups, certain eminent Deltans 

and the main opposition political 

party, the APC to the statement 

credited to the Governor on the issue 

of rotation of political power 

amongst the three Senatorial 

Districts in Delta State, were 

unfortunate and disturbing. 

The group in the communique 

signed by three of its leaders, 

Samuel Mariere, Chief Otimiyen 

Adams and Daniel Goddey, stressed 

that Governor Okowa was being 

quoted out of context in respect of 

the contentious issue. 

“Besides keenly following the 

reactions to the said statement, the 

Delta Political Monitors has been 

monitoring the Political 

temperature in the State pre and 

post the said statement and has 

Edo community denies 

enchroachment into neighbour's land 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

ENIN CITY—THE people of 

BOkhuoromi in Oredo local 

government area of Edo State 

have denied allegation by their 

neighbour, Egbiri and a private 

company of annexing their land 

and in the process destroying 

economic trees running into 

millions of naira. 

The people of Egbiri have 

recently accused Okhuoromi of 

contravening existing court 

orders in regard to the disputed 

areas and also threatening to 

harm them. 

But reacting to the allegations 

yesterday, counsel to Okhuoromi, 

Prince Peter Uwadiae said: “The 

fundamentals are that there are 

two matters in respect of 

Okhuoromi and Egbiri; 

Okhuoromi and Shalom Jare 

Venture. These two matters were 

going on simultaneously in Court. 

One was in Court 1, and the other 

in Court 3. 

“The issues that were before 

the two Courts stem from the fact 

that for the one in Court 1, Egbiri 

Community and Okhuoromi 

Community had land dispute 

which had lingered for a very 

long time as far back as 1998, 

1999. That issue was not resolved 

until 2017 when HRM Oba 

come to the irresistible conclusion 

that certain political elements in the 

state are deliberately out to 

unnecessarily heat the polity and 

cause confusion in order to distract 

His Excellency from continuing with 

his good program in Delta State”. 

“The Delta Political Monitors is 

sure footed in her belief that the 

governor was quoted out of context 

in respect of the contentious issue of 

rotation of political power amongst 

the three senatorial districts of Delta 

State. It is obvious from the 

statement of His Excellency, that 

what he meant is that there was no 

time the political class either in the 

PDP and or the opposition parties in 

Delta State met to formally reach a 

agreement that political power 

should shift from one senatorial 

district to the other, rather at the end 

of the eight year tenure of each 

Governor, the political class usually 

meet to determine which senatorial 

district will take over on the basis of 

Justice, equity and fairness”. 

“The Delta Political Monitors wish 

to state in categorical terms that His 

Excellency didn’t say political power 

will remain in one senatorial district 

and or that political power will be 

rotated on the basis of ethnicity. His 

emphasis in the said statement is that 

he was not God to determine who 

will be the next Governor of Delta 

State, meaning that he can’t as a 

person singlehandedly produce the 

next Governor”. 

Ewuare II who is the sole authority 

that determines traditional 

boundaries between communities, 

adjudicated on the issue between 

Okhuoromi and Egbiri. 

“Consequent upon the 

judgment of His Royal Majesty, 

his representatives popularly 

known as 'Avbiogbe' were 

designated to create a permanent 

boundary between these two 

communities. On the day of 

enforcement of this directive, 

representatives of the two 

communities were present. 

“What Okhuoromi people are 

doing today is that they are giving 

effect to the judgment delivered 

by Justice Edigin, the then Chief 

Judge of Edo State retired; to 

which there is no stay of 

execution. 

“The law is very apt. If a party 

gets a judgment, and there is no 

stay of execution of that judgment, 

from either the Court that delivers 

the judgment or a higher Court, 

the judgment shall be executed. 

“So, what is now being done in 

the eye of the law, when there is 

no injunction in Shalom Jare's case 

subsisting, when there is a 

judgment saying that portion of 

land form part of the larger portion 

of land owned by Okhuoromi, can 

it now be held to be in violation of 

any order of Court? 

environment”. 

In his presentation, Obukohwo 

Obukonise, a Senior Systems and 

Cybersecurity Engineer at Schneider 

Electric, said: “An attack is any 

attempt to expose, alter, disable, 

destroy, steal or gain information 

through unauthorized access to, or 

make unauthorized use of an asset in 

computers and computer networks.” 

Citing AV-Test.org May 2021 

reports, Obukonise said that malware 

attacks in the last seven years rose from 

470 million in 2015 to 1.2 billion in 

2021. Also, between 2020 and 2021, 

he said that the number rose from 1.1 

billion to 1.2 billion. He attributed this 

rise to successes in previous year’s 

attacks where attackers made a 

fortune and are now investing the 

monies into developing more 

sophisticated malware.

Continues from Page 5 

declaring open the public 

hearing on the review of 

the constitution, said the 

National Assembly can 

only achieve the task after 

getting the inputs and 

support of the citizens. 

Participants at the twoday 

public hearing 

included the Deputy 

Governor of Lagos State, 

Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, who 

represented Governor 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu; 

members of the House of 

Representatives Special 

Committee on the Review 

of the Constitution; 

members of the Nigerian 

Union of Journalists 

(NUJ); Nigerian Labour 

Congress, NLC; 

representatives of political 

parties, Civil Society 

Organisations, CSOs, 

youth organisations and 

market women. 

In response to the 

doubts expressed in some 

quarters about the 

exercise, the speaker said: 

“The foundational 

constitution of the United 

States of America deemed 

people of colour to be ‘less 

than’ and denied women 

the right to vote. It did not 

include any limits on the 

President’s term of office 

and allowed for citizens to 

be denied the right to vote 

for failure to pay the ‘poll 

tax’. 

Naira stable at N412/$ in I&E 

window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

The naira yesterday was stable at N412 per dollar 

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

as the volume of dollars traded declined by 20 

percent. 

Data from FMDQ showed that the volume of 

dollars traded (turnover) in the window fell to 

$125.44 million from $156.06 million on Monday. 

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 



‘No perfect 

constitution’ 

“27 reviews and 

amendments, over one 

hundred years cured 

these and other defects. 

No nation in the world 

has a perfect constitution, 

but we need a near-perfect 

constitution in Nigeria 

and we can achieve that 

through substantive 

amendments that 

significantly alter the 

character of our nation. 

“Therefore, the task 

before us now is to use this 

process of review and 

amendment to devise for 

ourselves a constitution 

that resolves the issues of 

identity and political 

structure, of human rights 

and the administration of 

government, resource 

control, national security 

and so much else, that 

have fractured our nation 

and hindered our 

progress and prosperity. 

“Our job is to produce a 

constitution that turns the 

page on our past, yet 

heeds its many painful 

lessons. It is not an easy 

task, but it is a necessary 

and urgent one. We will 

not be able to deliver on 

this historic assignment if 

we restrict ourselves to 

tinkering around the 

edges of the constitution 

or by imposing upon 

ourselves artificial red 

lines that restrict honest 

conversation. 

“All of us in the House 

of Representatives will 

work conscientiously and 

in good faith so that it may 

be said of us in this 

process that we made an 

audacious attempt at 

creating for our nation a 

constitution that 

recognises our diversity 

and draws strength from 

it, and addresses once 

and for all, the fault lines 

that distract from nationbuilding.” 

Tyranny of low 

expectations 

“It is all too clear that 

many of our citizens have 

come to expect too little of 

our politics and 

•Says insecurity won’t define his legacy 

government. We are 

suffering from the tyranny 

of low expectations and 

the cynicism that causes 

us to believe that the 

political process cannot 

produce anything worthy 

or worthwhile. 

“I understand the 

causes of this cynicism, 

but I refuse to share in it. 

I still believe that politics 

and government in 

Nigeria can be a force for 

good and that by our 

common endeavour, we 

can achieve the vision of 

a just, peaceful, and 

prosperous society. 

“However, beyond these 

public hearings, you still 

have an opportunity to 

make submissions that 

will be considered and 

that will help this process 

achieve the best 

outcomes. Please, by all 

means, participate. Let 

your voice be heard, and 

let your vision also inform 

the direction of this 

process. 

“I urge all who have 

come to participate here 

today to do so with 

decorum and respect for 

one another. Let our 

deliberations be wellintentioned, 

wellinformed 

and reflect our 

patriotism. In this way, we 

will have a most 

productive engagement 

over the next two days.” 

Sanwo-Olu 

restates special 

status for Lagos 

In his remarks at the 

opening of the South- 

West Zonal public 

hearing of the House of 

Representatives Special 

Committee on the Review 


of the 1999 Constitution of 

Nigeria, held in Ikeja, 

Lagos, Governor Sanwo- 

Olu insisted that a special 

status for Lagos State, 

with a huge population, 

must be a concern not 

only for residents alone 

but also for all Nigerians. 

Sanwo-Olu, who was 

represented by his 

Deputy, Dr. Obafemi 

Hamzat, said: “The 

continuous request for a 

special status for the state 

is by no means a selfish 

one, but actually in the 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

interest of every Nigerian. 

“The need for this 

special status has been 

sufficiently articulated 

and justified. It suffices for 

me at this point to restate 

that this request is by no 

means a selfish one, but 

one that is actually in the 

interest of every Nigerian 

and of Nigeria as a 

nation. 

“The progress and 

prosperity of Nigeria are 

inextricably linked to the 

progress and prosperity of 

Lagos State.” 

Buhari has done what other Nigerian presidents 

ports development, 

have not —LAI MOHAMMED 

By Soni Daniel, 

Abuja 

AS 

President 

Muhammadu 

Buhari marks six years 

in office, Information 

and Culture Minister, 

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, 

boasted yesterday that 

no Nigerian president 

has ever accomplished 

what the current 

administration had 

achieved since coming 

into power in 2015. 

He also said the 


confronting the country 

will not define President 

Buhari’s legacy. 

The minister, who 

spoke while addressing 

the media to mark the 

sixth anniversary of the 

Buhari administration, 

announced that 

government had decided 

to make a deliberate and 

conscious effort to 

• Lai Mohammed 

publicise the catalogue of 

achievements, using 

every available media 

tool in order to set the 

records straight and 

shame those who accuse 

it of doing nothing over 

the years. 

Mohammed said: 

“Never in the history of 

our country has any 

administration done so 

much with so little as 

Buhari’s has done. 

“It’s easy to forget now, 

but when this 

administration came into 

office in 2015, the price 

of crude oil, which 

provides 80 per cent of 

Nigeria’s budgetary 

revenues and 95 per cent 

of foreign exchange 

earnings, dropped 

drastically and, along 

with it, the funds 

From left: Deputy Chief Whip, House of Representatives Chairman, Lagos, 

Ogun and Oyo Centers, Hon. (Barr) Nkeiruka Onyejeocha; Lagos State 

Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat; Speaker, House of 

Representatives, RT. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and Member, House of 

Representatives ,Hon. Jimi Benson during the South West Zonal Public Hearing 

Lagos Center (Lagos, Oyo and Ogun states) held at the Marrriot Hotel, Joel 

Ogunnaike Street; GRA Ikeja Lagos. 

available to the 

government. It is, 

therefore, monumental 

that this administration 

has achieved so much, 

despite the paucity of 

funds. 

“I want to state 

emphatically that while 

more attention has been 

given, especially in 

recent times, to the 


facing our country, those 

challenges are fleeting 

and will not define the 

legacy of President 

Muhammadu Buhari. 

“Let me say that 

President Buhari’s 

legacy is assured, and 

will be defined by his 

massive achievements in 

office. The roads, rails, 

bridges, mass housing, 

improvement in power 

supply and other 

massive infrastructural 

development will last for 

generations to come and 

will help propel 

economic growth and 

national development.” 

According to him, 

Buhari’s myriads of 

achievements are in the 

areas of roads, rail, 

housing, power, 

aviation, agriculture, 

ports, bridges, health, 

fight against COVID-19, 

water resources and the 

economy generally, 

which are on the ground 

for Nigerians to see. 

Mohammed, however, 

regretted that some 

mischievous elements 

are claiming that the 

administration had done 

nothing, despite the 

clear evidence of strong 

performance with little 

funds at its disposal. 

“In spite of our best 

efforts, the naysayers 

have continued to say 

they have not seen what 

this administration has 

achieved. They have 

continued to deny the 

obvious by pretending 

that these achievements 

are not real. 

“Even when they have 

travelled on the new 

standard gauge rail from 

Abuja to Kaduna, Lagos 

to Ibadan, and Itakpe- 

Ajaokuta-Warri, they still 

deny that any progress 

has been made in 

modernizing the 

country’s rail 

infrastructure. They 

travel through the ultramodern 

airport terminals 

in Abuja and Enugu, yet 

they deny any progress 

has been made in 

modernizing 

airports,” he said. 

Firm to commence loan disbursement 

September 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

SPARKLE, a lifestyle 

and financial digital 

platform providing 

seamless solutions to 

Nigeria’s retailers, Small 

and Medium Enterprises 

(SMEs)and individuals, 

has said that it will 

commence loan 

disbursement to small 

businesses and individuals 

at the beginning of 

September this year. 

The Chief Executive 

Officer of the company, Mr. 

Uzoma Dozie, who 

disclosed this in Lagos, 

said the company plans to 

make the processes for the 

loan disbursement faster 

and the rate cheaper than 

that of the traditional banks. 

Dozie, who explained 

that Sparkle exists to 

resolve issues around 

business support systems, 

said its customers would be 

provided with coaching on 

modalities to lower the cost 

of borrowing. 

He stated that Sparkle 

our 

has forged strategic 

partnerships with 

institutions like Visa, 

Microsoft, Google and 

PricewaterhouseCoopers 

(PwC) to build trust and 

provide more value to its 

customers. 

“We want to make digital 

banking completely simple 

from how transactions are 

done. We want to provide 

banking services to small 

businesses, help them save 

as well as help them to be 

compliant with tax laws in 

Nigeria.


Nigeria vs Cameroon: 

17 Eagles in Austria ready for Lions 

The Super Eagles camp came 

alive with many arrivals 

despite the spate of withdrawals 

that have affected their 

preparations for the big clash 

Six new players, including 

Kelechi Iheanacho, have arrived 

at the Super Eagles camp in 

Austria ahead of the international 

friendly clash against Cameroon 

on Friday. 

Aside from Iheanacho, 

Oghenekaro Etebo, John Noble, 

Abraham Marcus, Emmanuel 

Anayo, and Abdullahi Shehu were 

the other players to arrive in 

Austria yesterday. 

The six players joined William 

Troost-Ekong to increase the 

Carlo Ancelotti has sealed a 

sensational return to Real 

Madrid, leaving his post as 

Everton manager after only one 

full season at Goodison Park. 

Ancelotti managed Real from 

2013 to 2015, leading them to 

their 10th European Cup triumph 

against Atletico Madrid in Lisbon 

in 2014. 

Now the 61-year-old has taken 

over for a second spell after 

number of players in camp to 17. 

Ekong is the first player to land at 

the team’s base on Monday. 

Others in camp are Maduka 

Okoye, Alex Iwobi, Wilfred Ndidi, 

Chidozie Awaziem, Jamilu 

Collins, Terem Moffi, Peter 

Olayinka, Samson Tijani and 

Valentine Ozornwafor 

Their arrival is a massive boost 

for Super Eagles manager Gernot 

Rohr, who has been forced to deal 

with many withdrawals. 

Six players, including Victor 

Osimhen, have already pulled out 

of the 24-man squad, leaving Rohr 

with just 18 players. 

Nigeria take on Cameroon in a 

doubleheader friendly encounter, 

Ancelotti returns to Real Madrid 

Serena wins first ever French Open 

night match 

•backs Osaka after withdrawal 

American Serena Williams 

survived a scare in the first 

ever night session match at the 

French Open as she edged out 

Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 7- 

6(6) 6-2 in the first round. 

Organisers have introduced 

night matches under the Philippe 

Chatrier Court lights this year - 

emulating the US Open and 

Australian Open - to provide some 

late drama for the fans but the 

match was played in an empty 

stadium because of a COVID-19 

9pm curfew in the French capital. 

The flat atmosphere hardly 

helped the 39-year-old Williams 

who squandered a 5-2 lead in the 

first set against a tricky opponent 

who battled back to move into a 

tiebreaker. 

Begu then led 6-4 and Williams 

got lucky with a return that 

Zinedine Zidane’s own second 

tenure came to an end last week. 

Ancelotti quits Goodison Park 

after leading the Toffees to an 

underwhelming 10th place finish 

in the 2020-21 campaign. 

Spanish paper Marca reported 

broke the news earlier on Tuesday 

that Ancelotti is ‘the chosen one’ 

for the Spanish giants and on the 

brink of a dramatic return to 

LaLiga. 

with the first match taking place 

on Friday before the second game 

on Tuesday. 

The Super Eagles have met their 

arch-rivals 22 times, winning 11 

times and losing just four games, 

with the rest ending in draws. 

Alexander-Arnold in, Lingard,Watkins out 

ENGLAND'S 26-MAN EUROS SQUAD 

GOALKEEPERS: Dean Henderson 

(Manchester United), Sam 

Johnstone (West Bromwich Albion), 

Jordan Pickford (Everton) 

DEFENDERS: Trent Alexander- 

Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell 

(Chelsea), Conor Coady 

(Wolverhampton Wanderers), Reece 

James (Chelsea), Harry Maguire 

clipped the tape, before rattling 

off four points to win the opener 

with a drive volley she celebrated 

with a roar that echoed around the 

empty stands. 

(Manchester United), Tyrone Mings 

(Aston Villa), Luke Shaw 

(Manchester United), John Stones 

(Manchester City), Kieran Trippier 

(Atletico Madrid), Kyle Walker 

(Manchester City) 

MIDFIELDERS: Jude Bellingham 

(Borussia Dortmund), Jordan 

Henderson (Liverpool), Mason 

Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips 

(Leeds United), Declan Rice (West 

Ham United) 

FORWARDS: Dominic Calvert- 

Lewin (Everton), Phil Foden 

(Manchester City), Jack Grealish 

(Aston Villa), Harry Kane 

(Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus 

Rashford (Manchester United), 

Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Jadon 

Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), 

Raheem Sterling (Manchester City). 

Leicester, Chelsea fined over Stamford 

Bridge melee 

L 

eicester City and Chelsea have 

been fined £22,500 each after 

admitting an FA charge. 

The two clubs were punished 

following an injury-time incident 

at Stamford Bridge in the 

penultimate Premier League 

match of the season. 

After Ricardo Pereira’s late 

challenge on former team-mate 

Ben Chilwell prompted Antonio 

Rudiger to shove the Portuguese 

full-back, both sets of players and 

a handful of staff from the clubs’ 

benches charged in, resulting in a 

melee near the touchline. 

No red cards were shown during 

the ruckus – Ricardo, Daniel 

Amartey, and Edouard Mendy 

receiving yellow cards – the FA hit 

both clubs with a charge for failing 

to control their players. 

On Tuesday, it was announced 

that both clubs had accepted the 

punishment, and had each been 

fined £22,500. 

Two more players pull out of 

Cameroon squad 

•17 Lions train for Eagles 

Two more players have pulled 

out of the Cameroon squad 

before their friendlies against 

the Super Eagles. 

Indomitable Lions manager 

António Conceição will not be 

able to count on Shanghai 

Shenhua striker Christian 

Bassogog and Philadelphia 

Union fullback Olivier Mbaizo 

for the international matches 

this month. 

Bassogog has not been 

released by Shanghai Shenhua 

because he would be 

quarantined upon his return to 

China after the international 

break, while Mbaizo has not 

traveled to Austria due to a visa 

issue. 

Lille midfielder Jean Onana 

earlier pulled out of the squad 

as a result of injury and has since 

been replaced by Royal Excel 

Mouscron winger Serge 

Tabekou. 

Seventeen invited players 

participated in the Indomitable 

Lions first training session on 

Austrian soil on Monday 

afternoon, a workout that lasted 

for approximately two and a half 

hours. 

ITTF confirms Aruna’s 

qualification for Tokyo 2020 

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) yesterday 

confirmed the eventual qualification of Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna 

for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. 

According to a letter addressed to the President of the Nigeria 

Olympic Committee (NOC) and President of the Nigeria Table Tennis 

Federation (NTTF) and singed by ITTF Competition Director Gabor 

Felegyi, Aruna who is the first African in the history of the Olympic 

Games to make it to the quarter-final stage of the singles event is 

expected to join 85 others across the globe to compete in the men’s 

singles event at Tokyo Olympic Games next month. 

“It is with great pleasure, I advise the qualification of Quadri Arena 

to compete in the table tennis Men’s Singles event at the Tokyo 2020 

Olympic Games, on the basis of World Ranking allocation according 

to the June 2021 ITTF Olympic Qualification Ranking,” Felegyi 

stated. 

He however, stated that NOC is expected to confirm Aruna’s 

participation on or before June 16. 

With this development, Aruna will be making his third appearance 

at the Olympic Games having featured in London 2012 and Rio 2016 

and he will join his compatriots - Olajide Omotayo, Olufunke 

Oshonaike and Edem Offiong to compete in the singles event at Tokyo. 

Inter not prepared to sell Lukaku at any price 

helsea have been dealt a 

Ctransfer blow as Inter Milan 

have ruled out a sale for prolific 

striker Romelu Lukaku. 

The Blues are said to consider a 

move for the Belgium 

international their most realistic 

chance of signing a world-class 

attacker this summer. 

Lukaku scored 24 goals and set 

up 11 more in 36 Serie A 

appearances in 2020-21 to help 

fire the Nerazzurri to their first 

Scudetto triumph in 11 years. 

However, the Italian champions 

are under pressure to raise around 

City to offer Sterling, Jesus for Harry Kane 

MANCHESTER CITY are 

offering Raheem Sterling 

AND Gabriel Jesus to Tottenham 

in a bid to land Harry Kane. 

The Premier League champions 

are so desperate to beat 

neighbours United and Euro 

conquerors Chelsea to the 

England skipper that they will let 

both stars go in part-exchange. 

It is the latest twist in this 

summer’s biggest transfer saga 

after Kane, 27, told Tottenham he 

wants to leave in his pursuit of 

trophies. 

City is his preferred destination 

and he recently revealed the topflight 

star he would most like to 

play alongside is Etihad ace Kevin 

de Bruyne. 

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, 

under fire from their own fans after 

yet another season without a 

trophy and his involvement in the 

botched European Super League 

•80m (£69m) through player sales 

as they attempt to balance their 

books. 

Former Chelsea ace Lukaku, 

who failed to make the grade in 

his previous spell at Stamford 

Bridge, was therefore expected to 

be available to purchase ahead of 

next season. 

According to Italian media 

agency ANSA, though, that is not 

the case as Inter know just how 

important Lukaku is to the team, 

and no amount will make them 

change their mind. 

bid, is determined to keep his most 

prized asset, who still has three 

years remaining on his current 

contract.


C 

M 

Y 

K 

38— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021


Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION 

Sudoku 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER 

ACROSS 

1 Competent (4) 

3 Absurdity (8) 

9 Renovation (7) 

10 Subsequently (5) 

11 Raw, inexperienced (5) 

12 Serviette (6) 

14 US coin (6) 

16 Leeway (6) 

19 Handsome Greek god (6) 

21 Sedate, solemn (5) 

24 Simple song (5) 

25 Cloth made of jute (7) 

26 Put up with (8) 

27 Border (4) 

DOWN 

1 High-handed (8) 

2 Joustling weapon (5) 

4 Rectangular but not square (6) 

5 Skin of the head (5) 

6 Nil (7) 

7 Republic of Ireland (4) 

8 Momentary pain (6) 

13 Way in (8) 

15 Excellent (7) 

17 Help (6) 

18 Formal headgear (3,3) 

20 Stratum (5) 

22 Sightless (5) 

23 Prepare for publication 

How to Play Sudoku 

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

two of the same number). 

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

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

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

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

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

multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination. 

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

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

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

02062021 - Attacks on INEC offices won’t stop 2023 polls —BUHARI

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