call for impeachment: you're toying with treason, jonathan warns apc

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 62036

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013**

Mr & Mrs

COLUMNIST:•P.17

Continues on Page 6

•P.45

You're toying with treason,Jonathan warns APC

LES LEBA

—P.40

Senate'sill-advised$76.5 crudeoil benchmark

BY EMMANUELAZIKEN, POLITICALEDITOR, CLIFFORD

NDUJIHE, BENAGANDE, DAPO

AKINREFON,CHARLES KUMOLU,

LEVINUSNWABUGHIOGU &GABRIEL EWEPU

LAGOS —PRESIDENT Goodluck

Jonathan, yesterday,warned those opposed

Mandela buried inblaze of glory

Nigeria gets new nationalcarrier by end of year9 15

Doctors begin nationwidestrike Wednesday 8

A row of candles are seen as South Africa President Jacob Zuma speaks during the funeral ceremony of South African formerpresident Nelson Mandela in Qunu, yesterday. Below left: South African Minister of Public Service, Lindiwe Sisulu being com-forted as widow of Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel, and his ex-wife Winnie Mandela Madikizela, arrive for the funeral yesterday.Photos: AFP.

‘Those who are threatening fire and brimstone shouldbe ready for consequences of treasonable action’

•Says APC ganging up with Obasanjo against him

CALL FOR IMPEACHMENT:

CMYK

Oshiomhole's propagandafailing — Orbih•Orbih now a comedian — Idah

46-47

2—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013—3

CMYK


CMYK

POCKET CARTOON


TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways thatwon’t work. Murphy’s Law is much less sanguineabout it: If you never try anything new, you’ll missout on many of life’s great disappointments

— Thomas Edison

THE beautiful outcome of Thomas Edison’s experiments is the electricity we all enjoy today.

“Our lives are not so different. Of course we need toaccept ourselves as we are, but we can’t stop there.We also need to value ourselves enough to makeneeded changes. It’s a simple formula: If we want tolive fully we have to keep growing. If we want to keepgrowing we have to adapt. And if we want to adaptwe have to try on new ways of thinking and new waysof doing. For me it’s about making my life an activescience.”

I recall the story of Vincent Van Gogh, one the mostsuccessful impressionist artist of all times, he was notrecognized for his gifts and talents during his era. Hesays, “what am I in the eyes of most people — anunknown, an eccentric, someone to like or not, evenif that were absolutely true, then I should one daylike to show by my work what such an eccentric hasin his heart. That my creativity, based more on lovein spite of everything, based more on a feeling of se-renity than on passion. Though I feel life’s pain some-times, there is still calmness, pure harmony and mu-sic inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poor-est cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my heart isdriven towards these things with an irresistible mo-mentum.” Ironically this artist was way ahead of histimes and his work is most renowned today. Hold onto your dreams and do everything you can to realisethem; they do come true.

Never stop doing little things for others, you willbe surprised that those little things occupy the big-gest parts of their hearts.


Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno, signing condolence register at the Abujaresidence of former Military Administrator of Borno, Retired Col. Augus-tine Aniebo in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

Continues on page 42

to his administration,including former politi-cal allies trading allega-tions of his sponsorshipof a terror squad thatthey were treading thepath of treason.

The strong word of cau-tion from the Presidentfollowed the call for hisimpeachment by the AllProgressives Congress,APC, in which he alsodebunked the allegationof training a snipersquad raised by formerPresident OlusegunObasanjo. President

Jonathan rebuked theAPC for allegedlyganging up withObasanjo against him.

The demand for thepresident’s impeach-ment also drew mixedreactions.

The Peoples Demo-cratic Party, PDP, in asharp reaction flayed theAPC, saying the opposi-tion party’s real inten-tion was to derail thecountry ’s democracy,having failed in its origi-nal aim of decimatingthe PDP as a way of win-ning the 2015 elections.

Reactions to the call

also came from geopo-litical organizations in-cluding Ohaneze,Afenifere, Arewa Con-sultative Forum, ArewaYouth Consultative Fo-rum, New Northern Po-litical Frontiers, NNPF,and some members of theNational Assembly.Alhaji Balarabe Musa,the first governor to beimpeached since the ad-vent of the presidentialsystem of government onhis part said there werestronger reasons to im-peach the President thanthose raised by the APCas he cited multiple al-legations of corruptionraised against the ad-ministration’s top offi-cials.

The APC’s call for im-peachment of the presi-dent was contained in astatement issued by theparty’s Interim NationalPublicity Secretary,Alhaji Lai Mohammedwho said the request wasthe only way to sustainthe unity of the country.

"Our country is driftingdangerously and ourpeople are divided nowperhaps more than atany other point in ourhistory, with the excep-tion of the civil war pe-riod. There is a total fail-ure of leadership, evenas insecurity, unprec-edented corruption, pal-pable impunity, massiveunemployment andhunger stalk the land.”

“Since the raisond’etre of any govern-ment is the security andwelfare of the citizenry,and the present admin-istration has failed to liveup to the justification ofits existence, there canbe no other definition ofgross misconduct thanthat,” the APC deposed.

“Therefore, the timehas come for the head ofthat government, onwhose desk the buckstops, to be removedthrough the provisionsstipulated in the 1999Constitution of the Fed-

eral Republic of Nigeria.This is the patrioticthing to do,” the APCsaid as it warned theNational Assembly thatfailure to impeach thepresident would make italso culpable in what-ever fate befalls the na-tion.

The APC alluded to therecent court action insti-tuted by the PDP to re-move five of the gover-nors that recently left theoffice as one of the pos-sible triggers that couldprecipitate the dooms-day for the nation.

"One such scenario isthe present challenge incourt by the PDP of thedefection to the APC offive state governors. ThePDP has gone to courtfully aware of the rulingof the Supreme Courtafter the party (PDP) at-tempted to make thenVice President AtikuAbubakar lose his seatand to also strip him ofhis privileges followinghis defection to the ACN.

"What then can be thesole motive behind thePDP’s action: To plungeNigeria into chaos! Thisis why we issued astrong warning in ourstatement of Dec. 5ththus: ‘We wish to stateunequivocally thatshould the PDP goahead with this plan,there will be widespreadrepercussions as theAPC has resolved thathenceforth, every act ofimpunity of the PDP andthe Presidency will bemet with stiff resistancein the form of a vocifer-ous telegraphing of peo-ple power, the likes ofwhich have not been wit-nessed in these parts’.

"We reiterate thosewords today, and makebold to say that not eventhe revelation by formerPresident OlusegunObasanjo, that snipersare being trained se-cretly and that 1,000people have been placedon political watch, willdeter us from saving thisdemocracy, which waswatered by the sweatand blood of many pa-triots, long before thisgeneration of opportun-ists stormed the politicalscene,’’ it said.

“The talk out there nowis that Nigeria has neverhad it so bad. But thegovernment may notknow because it has dis-tanced itself from thepeople. Therefore, forembracing corruption somuch and providing suc-cour to corrupt public of-ficials; for threateningthe country ’s fragileunity through divisivepolicies and politics, forfrittering away the na-tion’s resources throughunprecedented cronyismand clannishness, andfor a total failure of lead-ership, this Presidentdeserves to be slammedwith the cudgel of im-

peachment,’’ it said.In his reaction to the

allegation, PresidentJonathan in a statementissued on his behalf byhis Special Adviser onMedia, Dr. Rueben Abatiwarned the APC spokes-man that he was playingwith treason.

Noting the allegationthat President Jonathanwas training a terrorsquad to harass his po-litical opponents whichwas first raised by formerpresident Obasanjo,Abati said it was evidentthat the two were now incahoots against theJonathan administra-tion.

The statement read:“We have noted with

utter disdain, the reck-less and irresponsiblecall by the APC on Sun-day for the National As-sembly to commence im-peachment proceedingsagainst PresidentGoodluck Jonathan.

“Ordinarily, we wouldnot have dignified AlhajiLai Mohammed’s latestvituperations in the serv-ice of his paymasterswith a response, but wethought it necessary towarn that the FederalGovernment will notstandby idly and let thenation be plunged intounnecessary crises andpolitical instability be-cause of the desperationand apparent readinessof the APC spokesmanand his gang of power-seeking desperadoes tosacrifice the well-beingof the country on the al-tar of their selfish per-sonal ambitions.

"The Presidency totallycondemns the decisionby Alhaji Mohammedand his party to movefurther beyond thebounds of honourableand acceptable politicalconduct with the sense-less call for the impeach-ment of a President whocontinues to sincerelydevote himself to thedischarge of the sacredmandate freely given tohim by Nigerians.

"The APC, which re-mains a minority partywith doubtful credentialsin the National Assem-bly, knows fully well thatits attempts to hectorand blackmail a Parlia-ment dominated by loyal

members of the Presi-dent’s party, the PDP,into an impeachmentprocess, will come tonothing.

But it has cavalierlyembarked on this outra-geous gambit, with scantregard for peace, order,security and political sta-bility in the country, infurtherance of its das-tardly and heinous strat-egy of over-heating thepolity and working tocause public disaffectionagainst the JonathanPresidency with lies,false accusations andunjustifiable indictmentsahead of the 2015 gen-eral elections.

The emptiness and hol-lowness of the APC’scall for PresidentJonathan’s impeach-ment will be obvious toall objective and discern-ing Nigerians who readthrough the statementissued by Alhaji Mo-hammed today. It waslong on self-servingrhetoric and falsehoods,but lacked a singleclearly defined chargeon the basis of whichany plausible impeach-ment proceedingsagainst the Presidentcan be initiated.

"All that the APC couldoffer in justification of itsabsurd and hare-brainedimpeachment call was arehash of its well-wornlitany of baseless accu-sations against thePresident, includingsome for which culpabil-ity should be laidsquarely at the door-steps of its own leadersand some of their newfriends.

"The Presidency alsoconsiders it utterly de-plorable that the APChas, in its Machiavel-lian desperation to seizecontrol of the FederalGovernment, recklesslyassailed the integrityand honour of the Nige-rian Judiciary in a cal-lous attempt to pre-emptthe outcome of the caselegitimately broughtagainst it and some ofits new friends by thePDP.

"Alhaji Mohammed’sunscrupulous effort todrag the nation’s judici-ary into its murky politi-cal warfare and his

Continues from page 1

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013 — 7

Chieftaincy title: Village heads beat upOgun monarch

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA — PANDEMONIUM broke out in Ayetoro,

the political headquarters of YewaNorth Local Government Area ofOgun State, when at least 10 vil-lage heads allegedly beat theAlaye of Ayetoro, Oba AzeezAdelakun and destroyed his tra-ditional beads.

The fracas whichoccurred,weekend, shortly be-fore the embattled monarch in-stalled a village head of Ago-Imala, Olayiwola Ajibola,prompted the state Commissionerof Police, Mr Ikemefuna Okoye,to personally supervise his menwho stormed the place in fourHilux vans to restore normalcy.

The installation was billed totake place at Isale-Agboro multi-purpose hall before the crisis es-calated.

When our correspondent vis-ited the place, there were eightbonfires in various places whichwere reportedly made by theyouths in the area in protestagainst the assault on their mon-arch.

It was gathered that, there hadbeen bad blood between the mon-arch and the aggrieved villageheads following the refusal of themonarch to merge two villageheads in Saala village.

An eyewitness told our corre-spondent that some village headshad demanded to hold a meet-ing with the monarch on the needto jettison the installation of thenew village head, and when themonarch entered the palace, theaggrieved village heads refusedto pay homage to him, sayingthey did not recognise him.

Speaking on behalf of the mon-arch, Baale Ayobo-Ayetoro,Ezekiel Ogundele said: "ThoseBaales have vowed to dethronethe Kabiyesi and they have beenplanning against him for long.

They said until they dethronehim they will not rest.

"They alleged that theKabiyesi disgraced them inAbeokuta and they would re-taliate by removing him asthe oba of the town. They saidthe two village heads in Saalashould be merged, butKabiyesi told the governmentnot to allow them merge thetwo offices. This did not godown well with the aggrievedBaales who vowed to dealwith the Kabiyesi by remov-ing him as Oba.

“This development led tothe confusion to the extentthat, these aggrieved villageheads wrote the Kabiyesi tomeet them at his palace, De-

cember 16.“But, Kabiyesi wanted to install

Baale Ago-Imala and when theygot to the palace they did not payhomage to him and when themonarch asked them why theyfailed to pay the homage, theysaid the Kabiyesi had been re-moved as the Oba,

“They vowed that they will notremove their caps and shoes asthe culture demanded and theycarried out the threat. They wereabout 10."

Confirming the incident, thePolice Public Relations Officer inthe state, Muyiwa Adejobi, said19 Baales were involved, addingthat one of the Baales assaultedthe oba by removing his tradi-tional beads.Oba Azeez Adelakun

Pastor stabs wife over refusal toattend church activities

By DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA — MEN ofOgun State Police Com-

mand have arrested a 45-year-old man, Pastor Daniel Samuel,for stabbing his wife over the lat-er’s refusal to attend church ac-tivities.

Daniel, an Apostolic Churchpastor, was reported to haveused a cutlass to inflict a deepcut on his wife, Patience's, neckin Owode-Egba in IbafemiOwode Local Government Areaof Ogun State.

Vanguard gathered that theoffence of the 42-year-old Pastor'swife was because she gave pref-erence to her work over thechurch programmes.

It was further gathered thatshortly after the man attacked hiswife with cutlass, he alerted theneighbours that his wife wasmatcheted by some unknownmen, urging the people to help

him take her to the hospital.But when the victim was taken

to Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba in Abeokuta, because of thelevel of the injury, the doctor, in-sisted that the case should be re-ported to the Police as she com-menced the treatment.

The pastor was said to havequickly rushed to Owode-EgbaDivisional Police headquarters toreport the case but, reportedlylied to the police that the womanwas wounded by some unknownmen.

The Police after investigationsdiscovered that the man was re-sponsible and subsequently de-tained him.

Confirming the incident, thePolice Public Relations Officer inthe state, Muyiwa Adejobi, saidthe pastor would soon becharged to court.

Adejobi further explained thatthe pastor had confessed to the

crime after an interrogation, add-ing that he would be charged forfalse information and wounding.

“The Pastor is with us, he ini-tially lied to the Police that the wifewas attacked by some men butlater confessed after interrogation.As such he will soon be chargedto court for false information andwounding,” the PPRO said.

When newsmen visited the hos-pital, Mrs Samuel was still in avery critical condition as her bedsheet was soaked with blood butmanaged to utter some few wordswhich were incoherent.

The Consultant of Orthopaed-ics and Trauma who was incharge of the patient, DoctorOjeblenu told our correspondentthat the woman would still beunder close observation becauseof the depth of the injury and thepsychological trauma she mightbe going through.

Mother of 4 kills husband over N100 in IlorinBY DEMOLA AKINYEMI struck her bricklayer husband to

death with a stick following al-tercations between them overN100.

Vanguard reliably gatheredthat the woman, a mother of four

all late, had recently returnedinto her matrimonial home af-ter she parted ways with herhusband following irreconcil-able differences.

The incident which occurredyesterday, had since thrownthe community into mourningas sympathisers thronged thedeceased’s compound.

An eye-witness told Van-guard that their relationshipwent sour again yesterdaymorning, leading to a hot ar-gument between them overN100 which the woman wassaid to have demanded fromthe husband.

The deceased,the sourceadded, was said to have toldthe wife that he had no moneywhich did not go down wellwith the wife thereby degen-erating into a hot argumentbetween them.

During the process, the wifewas said to have picked a stickand hit the husband on hishead and he fainted.

He was immediately rushedto a nearby private hospitalwhere he was pronounceddead.

As the news of the man’sdeath filtered in,the woman onrealising the gravity of the inci-dent was said to have lockedherself up in a room and in-flicted wounds on her body us-ing a razor blade.

To avert another tragedy, resi-dents of the area, according tosources, forced the door openand dragged the culprit out na-ked before the police were in-vited to effect her arrest.

When Vanguard visited thedecease ‘s familycompound,family members andresident of the area maintainedsealed leaps.

ILORIN — TRAGEDY struck,yesterday, at Oloje area of

Ilorin when a housewife simplyidentified as Mariam allegedly

Police nab Perm Sec, 7 others while performing rituals

ADO-EKITI — THE EkitiState Police Command has

arrested eight persons, includ-ing a serving Permanent Secre-tary in Ondo State over the raidof a commercial bank in IkereEkiti last Thursday.

The Police Public RelationsOfficer, Mr. Victor Babayemi,who gave the hint in Ado-Ekiti,the state capital on Saturday, saidthe Permanent Secretary and oth-ers were arrested in a bush atIjare, a border town between Ekitiand Ondo states.

The Branch Manager of the

bank, Ikere was also reportedlyarrested following the incident.

According to the police, the Per-manent Secretary and three oth-ers were arrested while perform-ing rituals at night in the bushthrough which the robbery ban-dits escaped.

The armed gang had stormed afirst generation bank at about 5.30p.m killing two persons and in-juring two others during a gunbattle with the men of the SpecialAnti-Robbery Squad.

The PPRO said the PermanentSecretary and the three others

were arrested at about 3 a.m bythe police.

Babayemi said the men werearrested with a live goat and otherfetish materials, adding that theywould have been mistaken for rob-bers.

“During the operation, we sawthe Permanent Secretary andseven others in white apparel per-forming rituals, so we had to ar-rest them to explain their missionat the place at that unholy hour”.

The PPRO said those arrestedare being interrogated with vitalinformation being obtained.

Tenant incourt forissuing N1mdud cheque

BY INNOCENTANABA

ABUJA — AN Abuja-based contractor, Akin

Olusina, has been ar-raigned before an AbujaChief Magistrate Courtover allegations of breachof trust and cheating byissuing a dud cheque to hislandlord, Chineme Ume-Ezeoke.

The accused person is fac-ing a one-count charge ofcheating and breach of trustunder Sections 310 and 320of the criminal code.

He pleaded not guilty tothe charge and was admit-ted to bail, while furtherhearing in the matter wasadjourned to December 17.

NHRCintervenes inalleged fraudcase againstPastor

BY VINCENT UJU-MADU

AWKA — THE National Human Rights

Commission, NHRC,has stepped into a caseof alleged duping of ahouse wife, Mrs.Maryrose Okeke Ozude,by Pastor Samson Otis ofRhema DeliveranceMinistry, Abagana inAnambra State.

The pastor allegedlytricked the woman intobringing her car to himas bait for his prayersthat would facilitate therelease of her husbandserving a jail termabroad.

The intervention of thecommission followed apetition by Mrs. Ozudealleging that her life indanger as a result ofthreats by the pastor andone Chinyere Nwamabecause she had de-manded her car backsince her husband didnot return as promisedby the pastor.

CMYK


LAGOS AWARDVanguardreporteremergesBest HealthCorrespondent

ARMY SPORTS: Chief of Army Staff, Lt-.Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika (left) and Maj.-Gen. Garba Wahab at the GOC 1Division, Nigerian Army open sports tournament in Kaduna, Saturday. NAN PHOTO.

Obasanjo's letter to Jonathan splits Reps

Doctors begin nationwide strike December 18

FOR the thirdconsecutive time,

Vanguard healthcorrespondent, ChiomaObinna, has emergedwinner of Lagos StateGovernment FamilyHealth Merit Award asthe Best HealthCorrespondent of theYear 2013.

Obinna had earlieremerged winner of thelast two editions of thekeenly contested awardheld in 2008 and 2009.

This year’s edition ofthe award, 10th in theseries, with the themePatient-Centred Care,was held in Lagos torecognise and celebrateworkers in the healthsector for excellentservice delivery tocitizens of the state.

While presenting theaward, GovernorBabatunde Fashola saidthe award was presentedonly to deservingindividuals andcorporate organisationsfor their involvement,activities, andachievements in healthservice delivery anddevelopment.

Fashola emphasisedcommitment toprovisions of qualityhealth care to citizens ofLagos State, adding that“patient-centred caredoes not replace gooddiagnosis or excellentmedication, but rathercompliments clinicalexcellence andcontributes to thoroughand effective healthservice delivery.”

Fashola noted that thegovernment was awareof numerouscomplaints fromLagosians about thepoor attitude andu n c o m p l i m e n t a r yservice being providedin the state hospitals.

He said: “It has beenattributed to patientload, an excuse that istotally unacceptable.

“As much asgovernment appreciatesthe efforts of eachindividual in the healthsector, it is importantthat there be a change inall we do, in line with theservice charter initiativeof this government.”

BY ESTHERONYEGBULA

ABUJA— THE controversial letter by former President,

Olusegun Obasanjo, toPresident Goodluck Jonathanis causing a sharp division inthe House of Representatives.

Vanguard learnt that whilelawmakers sympathetic toJonathan wanted the letter tobe formally tabled anddiscussed in plenary and tocaution Obasanjo fordisparaging the President,legislators opposed toJonathan do not want thematter brought up.

Findings showed that theletter by Obasanjo hadrekindled the bitter feudbetween loyalists of Jonathanand those opposed to him inthe House.

A source told Vanguard thatwhen the anti-Jonathanlawmakers heard that the letter

might be discussed at plenary,they quickly mobilised toforestall the move, arguingthat since the missive was froma former president to anincumbent, there was no needto dissipate energy on it sinceit was not officially addressedto them.

The anti-Jonathanlawmakers, however, drew theattention of the leadership towhat they termed ‘germaneissues’ raised by Obasanjo inhis communication toJonathan and the need for himto address them in the interestof the nation.

A lawmaker's wordsOne of the lawmakers said:

“What Obasanjo wrote toJonathan clearly vindicates theposition of the House ofRepresentatives that Jonathanneeds to wake up and tacklethe myriad of challenges facingthe nation, particularly

corruption and insecurity.“We must tell the President

the bitter truth and enable himto take steps to move thenation forward instead ofplaying to the gallery.”

Pro-Jonathan meetIt was, however, learnt that

pro-Jonathan lawmakers,who had been strategising onhow to humiliate the formerpresident for writing what theyconsidered ‘an offensive anduncouth letter ’ to anincumbent President, met onSunday and decided on howto effectively tackle him for his‘indiscretion’.

A crucial meeting of somepro-Jonathan lawmakerstook place, yesterday, inAsokoro, Abuja, during whichthey discussed the Obasanjoletter in detail and decided onwhat step to take.

A lawmaker, who is close toJonathan, however described

Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathanas an insult and an attempt byhim to distract the Presidentfrom focusing on his mandateto Nigerians.

“We will insist that the matterbe tabled and action taken, atleast to caution the formerpresident against his wantonvituperations against thePresident of Nigeria,” onelawmaker threatened, lastnight.

House Media C'tteeHowever, Chairman, House

Committee on Media andPublic Affairs, Mr. ZakariMohammed, said that themembers were notconsidering discussing thecontroversial letter, since it wasnot addressed to the House.

Mohammed said that thematter could not be listed forconsideration since Obasanjodid not direct the missive to thelawmakers in the first place.

BY SONI DANIEL,Regional Editor, North

FOLLOWING expirationofthe December 14

ultimatum to the FederalGovernment by the NigerianMedical Association, NMA,doctors in public healthinstitutions across the countryare withdrawing their serviceswith effect from 8a.m. onWednesday, December 18.

Making the developmentknown in a communiqueissued after its NationalExecutive Council, NEC, inMinna, Niger State, NMAPresident, Dr. OsahonEnabulele, and Secretary-General, Dr. Akpofuoma

Pemu, said the decision wasbased on the extremely poorprogress in the resolution ofNMA's demands.

Noting that the associationwas constrained to declareindustrial action with effectfrom Wednesday, theyexplained that in recognitionof the Yuletide and appeals ofwell-meaning Nigerians, thewithdrawal of services inthe first instance would befor a period of five days butwould recommence after theYuletide.

They said: “We call onmembers of the public andthe media to bear with theassociation during this period

of withdrawal of services.“For over five months,

NMA has engaged theFederal Governmentthrough the Federal Ministryof Health, Head of the CivilService of the Federationand the Secretary to theGovernment of theFederation on issuesbordering on some healthsector challenges, workplaceconditions and the conditionsof service of doctors.”

Stating that the associationhad extended her ultimatumtwice, they noted that theirefforts to further engage theleadership of the FederalMinistry of Health (following

the invitation of the Ministerof Health to a meeting) evenat the 11th hour, ultimatelycollapsed.

NMA accused thegovernment of reneging ontheir agreement as they hadfailed to implement thereport of the PresidentialCommittee.

The statement said: “Sincethe report of the PresidentialCommittee was submitted tothe Secretary to theGovernment of theFederation, only the re-constitution and inaugurationof the Medical and DentalCouncil of Nigeria, MDCN,has been realised.”

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

CMYK


19 die inSokoto roadaccident

S O K O T O —N I N E T E E N

persons died, yesterday, inan accident at Gidan-Sandaga village, alongSokoto-Illela village,Sokoto State. TheChairman of Illela LocalGovernment, Alhaji GarbaSabon-Gari, disclosed thisto newsmen in Sokoto ina telephone interview.

Thirteen people wereearlier reported to havedied in the Sunday middayaccident, which involvedtwo articulated vehiclesfrom Fura-Girke andInwala villages.

The two vehicles, withplate numbers LLA 22 XAand ABJ 801 XE,respectively, were going toIllela market when theaccident occurred.

“Six more persons diedsome hours ago at theIllela General Hospital,”Sabon-Gari said.

Twelve had died on thespot, while one victim diedat the hospital. 32 others,who were injured in theaccident, were rushed tothe same hospital fortreatment.

Sabon-Gari said the stategovernment and the IllelaLocal Government hadmobilised additional medi-cal personnel that wereassisting the hospital staff.

He said the Secretary tothe State Government,Alhaji Sahabi Gada, hadmoblised more medicaldoctors from Sokoto andGada local governmentsin the same direction.

“Gada is here, over-seeing the emergencyoperations to save the livesof the remaining injuredvictims.”

SEMINAR: From left— Deputy President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr. Steve Ayorinde; Minister of State, Industry,Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, at thethird annual seminar for trade and investment correspondents and editors in Abuja, Saturday.NAN PHOTO.

Mandela goes home in blaze of glory

SONGS, speeches, militaryparade and the booms of 21

gun salute rented the air,yesterday, as anti-apartheid hero,Nelson Mandela, took his restingplace in Qunu, to mark an endto 95 years of struggle forfreedom and dignity of blackman in South Africa.

It was the end of a journey thatbegan on December 5, when hedrew his final breath after aprotracted lung infection.

With his family and SouthAfrican leaders coming to termsthat Madiba is gone forever,tears, frustration and dancing,accompanied the eulogies thatcame from internationaldignitaries, world leaders andstatesmen that came to say finalgoodbye to the man thatreconciled the country in its mostvulnerable period.

The burial brought an end to10 days of ceremonies thatincluded a massive stadiummemorial in Johannesburg andthree days during whichMandela’s body lay in state in thecapital, Pretoria.

The funeral service began withan emotional rendition of thecountry’s national anthem, whilethe body was placed in a hugetent at the family compound ofthe anti-apartheid leader.

Mandela’s portrait looked overthe assembly in the whitemarquee from behind a bank of95 candles, representing eachyear of his remarkable life. Hiscasket, transported to the tent ona gun carriage and draped in thenational flag, rested on a carpetof cow skins below a lecternwhere speakers deliveredeulogies.

The traditional ruler of Qunu,Mandela's tribal family, ChiefNgangomhlaba Matanzima,draped in animal skin declared:

“A great tree has fallen. He isnow going home to rest withhis forefathers.”

Mandela’s widow, GraceMachel, and his second wife,Winnie Madikizela-Mandela,were dressed in black and saton either side of South AfricanPresident Jacob Zuma.

After the funeral ceremony,a smaller group of guests wasallowed to attend Mandela’sburial at a family grave site onthe estate in Qunu, a ruralvillage in Eastern CapeProvince.

‘He had no shoes’Nandi Mandela said her

grandfather went barefoot toschool in Qunu when he wasboy and eventually becamePresident and a figure ofglobal import.

“It is to each of us to achieveanything you want in life,” shesaid, recalling kind gestures byMandela “that made all thosearound him also want to dogood.”

In Xhosa language, shereferred to her grandfather byhis clan name: “Go well,Madiba. Go well to the land ofour ancestors, you have runyour race.”

‘67 years ago’Mandela’s friend who was

with him in prison at RobbenIsland, Ahmed Kathrada,brought the audience to tearswhen he recounted his lastmoments with Mandela. Hesaid it was painful when hesaw Mandela for the last time,months ago in his hospital bed.

He said: “He tightly held myhand. It was profoundlyheartbreaking. How I wish Inever had to confront what Isaw.

“I first met him 67 years agoand I recall the tall, healthystrong man, the boxer, theprisoner who easily wielded

the pick and shovel when wecouldn’t do so.”

Mourners wiped away tears asemotional Kathrada spoke.

Roll callGuests included Britain’s Prince

Charles, Monaco’s Prince AlbertII, U.S. television personalityOprah Winfrey, Rev. JesseJackson, Richard Branson andformer Zimbabwean PrimeMinister, Morgan Tsvangirai.

There were also veterans of themilitary wing of the AfricanNational Congress, the liberationmovement that became thedominant political force after theend of apartheid.

South African television, whichshowed Mandela’s casket at thefamily gravesite, was stoppedfrom broadcasting the intermentat the request of Mandela'sfamily.

AtikuA statement from former Vice

President, Atiku Abubakar’soffice, yesterday, read: “FormerVice President Abubakar wason Sunday honored by theSouth African leadership withfront row seat at both the statefuneral and private burialceremonies of global icon,Nelson Mandela.

“Atiku was selected to beamong the few luckypersonalities to see Mr.Mandela’s final burialceremonies in the land of hisancestors in accordance withthe Xhosa culture by the SouthAfrican leadership, with whichhe has maintained an excellenttype of relationship since thedays when he, as VicePresident and the then DeputyPresident Zuma co-chaired theNigeria-South Africa Bi-national Commission.

“That was a period marked byimportant trade and investmentrelations between the twocountries.”

OBJ'S LETTER: SERAP petitionsUN over alleged training of snipers

SEQUEL to a letter fromformer President, Chief

Olusegun Obasanjo toPresident Goodluck Jonathan,alleging that the FederalGovernment is habouringsnippers, a nongovernmentalorganisation, Socio-EconomicRights and AccountabilityProject, SERAP, has petitionedthe UN Special Rapporteur onExtrajudicial, Summary andArbitrary Executions topressurise the Nigeriangovernment to halt any allegedtraining for political purposes.

In the letter written toProfessor Christ of Heyns and

signed by SERAP ExecutiveDirector, Mr. Tokunbo Mumu-ni, the group called for theinvestigation of the allegtionand for whoever is involvedto be brought to justice.

SERAP’s petition followedallegation last week by formerPresident Olusegun Obasanjo,who accused the governmentof President GoodluckJonathan of “training snipersand other armed personnelsecretly and clandestinelyacquiring weapons to matchfor political purposes likeAbacha, and training themwhere Abacha trained his ownkillers.”

The petition read: “We areseriously concerned that the

allegation, if true, amounts toa grave breach of internationallaw, and directly underminesthe government’s responsibilityto safeguard the safely andsecurity of the citizens.

“It also constitutes an assaulton the rule of law, and isentirely inconsistent with thepractice of a democratic society,which Nigeria strives tobecome.

“The legal right to life andprotection against extrajudicialexecution is recognised by theInternational Covenant onCivil and Political Rights towhich Nigeria is a state party.

“Article 6 of the Covenantstates that ‘No one shall bearbitrarily deprived of his life'.”

BY ABDULWAHABABDULAH

BY HUGO ODIOGOR &HENRY UMORU, with

agency reports

CMYK


Body of Nigerian killed inIndia arrives homeABUJA — THE body

of Mr. SimeonObodo, the 35-year-oldNigerian killed in Goa, In-dia, on October 31, ar-rived Nigeria, Saturdayand has been depositedin a mortuary in PortHarcourt.

A representative of thefamily, Mr. EjikeEsinkonye, confirmed thearrival of the corpse in atelephone interview withthe News Agency of Ni-geria, yesterday, inAbuja.

He said the corpse ar-

rived Port Harcourt Inter-national Airport at 7p.m.,Saturday, via an AirFrance commercial flight.

Esinkoye said that somefamily members travelledto India to accompany thecorpse home.

The family representa-tive said that about N6.5million was spent to fly thebody to Nigeria, includingfuneral and mortuary costsin India.

He said the family andthe community membersfelt abandoned by the In-dian and Nigerian govern-ments, claiming they hadreceived no financial assis-tance till date.

Esinkoye was part of adelegation of the Ohaji Eg-bema community in Imothat met with the ActingMinister of Foreign Affairs,Professor Viola Onwuliriafter Obodo was killed.

He appealed to the Fed-eral Government to im-press on the Indian gov-ernment to respond to thefamily's demands.

“Our brother is survivedby an aged mother, wifeand children; who will takecare of these responsibili-ties?" he queried.

He said the burial ofObodo had tentativelybeen fixed for December28, in his community inImo.

Congestion looms asnew policy takes off

BY GODWIN ORITSE

LAGOS —PORTS inthe Lagos area may

become congested soon fol-lowing hiccups currentlybeing experienced in theimplementation the ofPre-arrival AssessmentReport, PAAR, a new car-go policy initiated by theNigeria Customs Service,NCS.

The scheme, according toauthoritative sources, raninto troubled waters whenthe Customs discoveredthat over 99,000 Risk As-sessment Reports were is-sued by the scanning ser-vice providers few hoursafter Customs took over theprocess.

The Customs manage-ment in a bid to managethe situation sent a circularto its commands to imme-diately commence exami-nation, scanning and re-leasing processes of car-goes that came in beforethe handing-over.

Besides, the Customsmanagement has also de-ployed some AssistantComptrollers-General tothe Commands to ensurecompliance with the direc-tive.

Islam is not against westerneducation —Femi Okunnu

Why we established LawEnforcement Training Institute— LASG

BY OLASUNKANMIAKONI

LAGOS — LAGOSState Government

has commenced opera-tion of the states law en-forcement training insti-tute for officials of LagosState Traffic Manage-ment Authority, LAST-MA and Kick Against In-discipline, KAI, as partof the on-going reformsin the sectors.

Governor BabatundeFashola of Lagos State,formally unveiled thetraining institute alongwith Senior Special As-sistant on Transport Ed-ucation, Dr. Mariam

Masha, weekend.Speaking at the launch,

which was also attendedby the state's first civil-ian Governor, AlhajiLateef Jakande and thestate's first military Gov-e r n o r ,B r igad ie r -Genera l ,Mobolaji Johnson, thegovernor explained thatthe institute which hadbeen on-going in the lasttwo years, was part ofmeasures aimed at im-proving traffic manage-ment and environmentalsanitation in the state.

He added that the re-form was alsofashionedto re-develop and fur-nish all the 30 LASTMAand KAI offices.

Even though stakehold-ers have described the de-velopment as a deliberateattempt by the three serviceproviders: Cotecna, SGSand Global Scan System totruncate the efforts of theCustoms in running desti-nation inspection effective-ly, the Comptroller Gener-al of Customs, Dikko IndeAbdullahi, weekend, is-sued a circular directingprovisional release of the99, 300 containers.

Addressing maritimestakeholders at the ApapaCustom Command yester-day, a high powereddelegation of custom topbrass led by ACG TahirMusa took turns to updateoperators on the challengesfacing the customs in im-plementing the PAAR.

LAGOS—A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Alhaji

Olufemi Okunnu, yesterdaycame hard on groups or indi-viduals killing their fellow Ni-gerians because of Westerneducation, stating that they areonly deceivers as Islam is notagainst Western education.

Okunnu who is the National

President of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria saidthis at the 90th anniversary ofthe Islamic organization andfootball competition final be-tween Ansar-Ud-Deen HighSchool, Liberty, Ibadan (KolaDaisi Babes) and AUD Sec-ondary School, Ikere Ekiti(WaleBabalakin Babes) held at theObafemi Awolowo Stadium,Ibadan.

He said, “Islam is neveragainst Western education.Though we did not have West-ern education in the past, whenyou go into history, you willdiscover that we have vast ex-perts in engineering, medicine,to mention but few, and weregiving advice.

“Those killing people be-cause of Western education areonly deceivers and are notmeant to be humans. I will say itanywhere in the world that Is-lam is not against Western ed-ucation; it tells us to ‘seek forknowledge’”.

Okunnu maintained that oneof the primary aims of the or-ganisation is to encourage peo-ple to get education; both West-ern and Islamic, adding that thisis because Islam says ‘seekingfor knowledge is compulsoryfor all men and women.

CMYK


Tinubu, Daniel clash over Amosun’s performanceBY DAUD OLATUNJI

Ogun LP leaders go into hiding,shun Mimiko's meeting

ABEOKUTA — THEcrisis rocking the

Labour Party, LP, in OgunState has taken a newdimension as theexecutive members of LPin the state have gone intohiding, claiming thattheir lives are in danger.

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

UNVEILING: Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (3rd left); his SpecialAdviser on Federal Matters, Mr. Idiat Babalola; Senior Special Assistant to theGovernor on Research, Planning and Policy Implementation, Prince Olusegun Bada(left); Personal Assistant to the Governor on Political Matters, Alhaji Bisi Oyoosun(right); Engr. Abdulkareem Ojutikun (2nd left), and Mr. S.J. Samuel, during theunveiling of late Chief Awolowo statue, at Osun Lodge, Abuja, weekend.

ABEOKUTA — FORMERgovernor of Lagos State, Asiwaju

Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the immediatepast governor of Ogun State, OtunbaGbenga Daniel, weekend, disagreedover the level of performance by theIbikunle Amosun-led administration inOgun State.

Tinubu, who fired the first salvo at theinstallation of the interim Chairman ofthe All Progressives Congress, APC,Chief Bisi Akande as Baba-Oba ofImoru-Ijebu by Oba MunirudeenAdeposi Bashorun claimed that OgunState in the past was on the wrong sideof politics.

Tinubu said: "Once upon a time, Ogun

State was on the wrongful corner ofpolitics, in the opposition, but as wecontinue to develop and demolishvarious illegal structures across thecountry, so is the Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, destroying democraticstructures.

"Ijebu-Ode is already a giantconstruction site with the dualisation ofroads going on and the overheadbridge. Thank you, Governor Amosunfor your dedication and commitment toduty which made the transformationpossible."

Reacting to Tinubu's claims, Danielsaid whatever achievement Tinubu waslaying claim to for his eight years inoffice in Lagos with huge resourcesavailable could not be compared to his

achievement with smallresources available toOgun State.

Daniel, who spokethrough his media aide,Steve Oliyide, said:“Asiwaju Bola Tinubudoes not have the moralstanding to give a fairassessment on thepolitical and economicadministration underOtunba Gbenga Daniel,especially if you look athis own achievement inLagos and succeedingAmosun in Ogun Statewhich Tinubu is the soleprogenitor.

“Tinubu's achievementsin eight years in terms ofcost and values and hugemoney in Lagos cannot becompared to OGD’sachievements. Tinubuserved himself rather thanthe people of LagosState.”

Meanwhile, Tinubu hassaid that the party wouldnot relent in its struggleto rescue Nigeria from"the cruel and rudderless"administration of thePDP-controlled Federal

Government.He said the struggle to

rescue Nigeria had beenon for a long time sincehe was alone in thestruggle, expressingdelight that no fewerthan 16 progressive

governors had joinedhands with him in thecrusade for a betterNigeria.

Commending APCgovernment in theSouthwest and other partyof the country, Tinubu

Ajasin varsity's lecturetheatre named after Mandela

AKURE — THEAdekunle AjasinU n i v e r s i t y ,Akungba-Akoko, OndoState has named its newlycompleted 500-capacitylecture theatre, 'NelsonMandela Lecture Theatre.'

The Vice Chancellor,Professor Femi Mimiko,unveiled the name,weekend.

The embattled membersof the executive alsoshunned thereconciliation meetingcalled by the governor ofOndo State, Dr. OlusegunMimiko to reconcile themwith the former governorof Ogun State, OtunbaGbenga Daniel and hisloyalists who have justjoined the party.

The party state executiveled by Olabode Simeonhad expelled GbengaDaniel for allegedlyengaging in anti-partyactivities.

To worsen the situation,the party also announceda serving member of theHouse of Representatives,Abiodun Akinlade as itsgovernorship candidatefor the forthcoming 2015general elections.

But in his reaction,Daniel described hispurported suspension asinapplicable, saying, hewas still being persuadedand lobbied to join LabourParty in Ogun State andprovide effectiveorganisation/ leadershipaccordingly.

Daniel said this in astatement by former Steelminiter, Tunji Ishola,e x - g o v e r n o r s h i pcandidate of the PeoplesParty of Nigeria, GboyegaIsiaka and formerI n f o r m a t i o nCommissioner, SinaKawonise.

Vanguard gathered that,Mimiko conveyed themeeting scheduled tohold in Ondo State, toresolve the logjam in the

party in the state, but wasboycotted by theChairman, OlabodeSimeon, the Secretary,Sunday Ogini, thefinancial Secretary, BayoArabanbi, among others.

Speaking from theirhide-out, the statesecretary of the party,Ogini told Vanguard thatthey decided to go intohiding after theyannounced the partygubernatorial candidate inthe state because of thesecurity report which hesaid, did not favour them.

Professor Mimiko said:"Our duty here thisafternoon is to simplyunveil a name that theUniversity Council hadgraciously approved,several months ago, to giveto this edifice that has justbeen delivered.

“This is our little way ofdemonstrating how muchbelief we have in the lifeand times of a very greatman, Nelson Mandela."

BY DAYO JOHNSON

UCH's elderly patients laudAnenih for N100m donation

IBADAN —THOUSANDS of

elderly people at theGeriatric Centre in theUniversity CollegeHospital, Ibadan,weekend, were full ofgratitude to Chief TonyAnenih for keeping theirhope alive with adonation of N100 million.

The Geriatric centre wasinitiated by the ChiefMedical Director of the

BY OLA AJAYI hospital, ProfessorTemitope Alonge for thetreatment of elderlypeople at subsidisedcharges.

Anenih, represented byMr. Matthew Urhoghide,Chairman, ObafemiAwolowo UniversityTeaching HospitalComplex, Board ofManagement said, “Icannot think of a noblerservice to mankind than aproper attention to thehealth needs of theelderly.”

Ondopromotes6,000teachers

AKURE — ONDOState government

said, weekend, that over6,000 primary schoolsteachers across the statehad been promoted tohigher grade levels.

State Commissioner forInformation, KayodeAkinmade in a statementin Akure, saidbeneficiaries of theexercise hd been issuedtheir letters of promotion.

Akinmade said theletters had beendistributed to theteachers on behalf of thestate Government by theChairman, StateUniversal BasicEducation Board,SUBEB, Otunba AdeAdeniyi.

expressed delight at whathe described as massivei n f r a s t r u c t u r a ldevelopment in OgunState which he describedas second to none in thehistory of the state.

CMYK


CORRUPTION: Nigerians may revolt,Oshiomhole warns

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

Olejeme condoles with Amori

BENIN—GOVERNOR Ad-ams Oshiomhole of Edo

State, weekend, warned that Ni-gerians might revolt against lead-ers sooner than later, if govern-ment continued to pay lip serviceto the issue of corruption.

While expressing shock that no-body had been jailed as a result ofcorruption despite the persistentalarm from the Federal Govern-ment about oil theft and severalother corrupt practices, he warnedthat Nigerians were tired of excus-es and might decide to take theirdestinies in their hands.

The governor, who was the guestlecturer at the 2013 convocation ofBenson Idahosa University, Ben-in City, spoke in a lecture entitled:Education and National Develop-ment.

Represented by Secretary to theState Government, Professor Ju-lius Ihonvbere, Oshiomhole not-ed that Nigerians spent over N80billion annually on medical toursand treatment overseas “just as weput our kids in foreign and other

African universities and thisis with over N2 trillion lost tothe fuel subsidy cartel, not tomention how much is lost an-nually to oil thieves.

“The list of imperfections,failures, problems and contra-dictions can go on and on. Theimportant issue today is howwe can relate these issues tothe importance of educationand therefore national devel-opment. Fleetingly, aboutpeople, it is, in the first in-stance, about cars, skyscrap-ers, money in the bank, hugebureaucracies and thosethings that may be symptomsof growth rather than devel-opment.

“Our idea of developmentrevolves round interest andexchange rates, import-exportratios, GNP per capita, evenGDP and foreign reserves.These may show that growthand maybe accumulation areoccurring; they do not showthat development that is peo-ple-focused, people-basedand people-driven is occur-

ring.“Major companies like Uni-

lever and Dunlop are closingdown, setting up shop in Gha-na and throwing thousands offamilies into unemployment,hunger and social pressures.I believe we should just leavethe issue of power for anotherday after we fully understandwhat the GENCOS,DISCOS,and TRANCOS aredoing.

“Until leadership in Niger-ia changes from the arroganceof power, perpetual infighting,accommodating corruptionand impunity and finding ex-cuses for failure to meet pop-ular expectations, I am afraid,most of our educational insti-tutions, private and public,would never meet worldstandards.

“With an unstable and un-reliable state, frequent policychanges, an economy in cri-sis, and leaders that use pow-er and public funds for per-sonal aggrandizement; theuniversity must prepare toengage the negative forces ina changing global order anda reforming Nigeria."

CONDOLENCE: From left: Chief Ighoyota Amori, Senior Political Adviser to Delta StateGovernor and Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, Chairman, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, during acondolence visit to Amori in Mosogar, Delta State.

CHAIRMAN, Ni-geria Social In-

surance Trust Fund,NSITF, and ChairmanU & I DevelopmentFoundation, Dr. Ngo-zi Olejeme, has de-scribe the late motherof Chief IghoyotaAmori, Senior PoliticalAdviser to Delta StateGovernor, as a greatwoman who im-mensely contributedto the political activi-ties of the nation, say-ing that Amori'sachievements in thestate would not havebeen possable withouta great woman of sub-stance who gave her

children the condusive en-vironment to thrive. Dr. Olejeme said herfoundation had alwaysbeen part of the Urhobo na-tion through various em-powerment packages to up-lift the status of the lessprivileged in the society aswell as the vulnerable anddisabled. She thanked Chief Amorifor his efforts in ensuringthat the mission of the foun-dation is achieved. She alsoadmonished widows inMosogar to be steadfastand dedicated to the serv-ice of God and put theirtrust in Him who is the hus-band of widows.

THE Ovie of IdjerheKingdom, HRH Er-

hiekevwe I, in Ethiope WestLocal Government Area ofDelta State, has been urgedto revoke the chieftaincy titleconferred on the member rep-resenting Ethiope West Con-stituency in Delta State Houseof Assembly, Mr. John Nani,in the interest of generalpeace of the kingdom.

Chief John Ogude, the Un-ugbrogodo of Idjerhe King-dom, who made the assertionwhile speaking to newsmen,said there was an agreementon April 30, 2013 by theEguedion (Council of Chiefs)that honorary chieftaincy titlesshould no longer be conferredon any indegene.

According to him, the issuewas also discussed with theOvie in his palace during acrucial meeting he held withthe chiefs some months ago,during which the Ovie en-dorsed the decision.

Flood victims,widows, getsuccour

ASABA—AN outreachpartnership pro-

gramme anchored by Rev-erend Samuel Akpan-Isongof Champions for ChristChapel Asaba and ArchitectOputa Ajie, has brought suc-cor to bear to widows, less-privileged and victims oflast year’s flood in Aboh,Ndokwa East Local Govern-ment Area of Delta State.

Bags of rice and otherfood items and writing ma-terials were donated to thewidows and school childrenincluding victims of lastyear’s flood.

Edo APC toPDP: Showproof of SURE-Pemployments

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

BENIN—ALL Pro-gressives Congress,

APC, Edo State chapter, haschallenge Peoples Demo-cratic Party, PDP, to publishthe names of the 3,500 per-sons purportedly employedso far in Edo State underthe Subsidy Reinvestmentand Empowerment Pro-gramme, SURE-P.

In a statement in Beninyesterday, by the party’sState Publicity Secretary,Mr. Godwin Erhahon, theparty alleged that each ofthe 3,500 persons who wereto be drawn from the thou-sands of unemployed grad-uates was to earn a month-ly allowance of N18,000.

“SURE-P is funded fromthe money saved from theremoved petroleum subsi-dy and purportedly chan-neled to provide short-termapprenticeship employ-ment for unemployed grad-uates during which theywould learn skills to en-hance their employabilityand reduce their vulnera-bility.

“It is supposedly target-ed at alleviating the pov-erty and hardship of youthand poor women,” he said.

Comrade Erhahon al-leged that over N30 billionof SURE-P fund had beendiverted by PDP leaders inEdo State alone through fic-titious names.

Monarch urgedto revokelegislator'schieftaincy title

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

CMYK


Dickson suspends 9 teachersfor dereliction of duty

Call for Kuku’s resignationuncalled for —AKPOCHA

BY SAMUELOYADONGHA

YENAGOA—NINEteaching staff of

Community SecondarySchool, Aleibiri, in Eker-emor Local GovernmentArea of the state, were,weekend, suspended bythe state governor, Mr.Seriake Dickson, for der-eliction of duty. The affected teacherswere not at their dutyposts during the gover-nor unscheduled visit tothe school, in the courseof his thank you tour tolocal government areasof the state. The suspended teach-ers are Tenkiri Pere, Cor-net Akpoaresine, Folor-unso Funso, BerepigiTiko, Ebenibo Richard,Zuokumor Erica and Lo-bia Clara. Dickson, who ex-pressed dismay oversome teachers’ attitudeto duty, ordered theirimmediate suspension. He said the affectedteachers would appearbefore a disciplinarypanel for negligenceand leaving the schoolbefore closing hour.The present administra-tion, the governor, saidwould not condone any

act of indiscipline, dueto the premium it placedon the education sector. According to him,“anybody found wantingin the discharge of his orher official function willbe shown the exit door.The suspension of theaffected teachers willput their likes on theirtoes regarding this ad-ministration’s serious-ness and resolve to ad-dress the rot in our edu-cational system. Too of-ten, teachers in our var-

ious schools, especiallythose in the communi-ties, have a record of notshowing up in class-rooms to carry out workfor which they are beingpaid. ”The same is true fornurses and doctors whoare employed to providemedical services in ourcommunities. We will nolonger condone thiswanton negligence ofduty in the state’s civilservice.”

2015: Group proposes Obi asDelta gov

AS the search forDelta State gover-

nor, Dr. Emmanuel Ud-uaghan’s successor, in2015, intensifies, agroup, Delta Vision, hasdeclared that the formergovernor of the state,Prince Sam Obi, will bethe best candidate for thejob.

A statement by thepresident-general of thegroup, Mr. MondayEdemivweye, noted thatObi is a good choice be-cause of his performanceduring his short stay inoffice.

The declaration was

made at Sapele,during aparley attended by peo-ple of Delta Central andDelta South.

According to the state-ment, “Obi is a blessingto Delta State. Duringhis three months stay asgovernor of the state, hedemonstrated his capa-bility by paying all con-tractors and making surethat the Asaba interna-tional airport was com-pleted.”

Those present at thecrucial meeting, includ-ed Mr. Richard Senibefrom Delta South, andMr. Glory Christopherfrom Delta Central.

Okobah dumps Delta APC,returns to PDP

DIRECTOR-GEN-ERAL of Center

for Democratic Govern-ance in Africa, CDGA,Dr. Dafe Akpocha, hascondemned calls for theimmediate resignationor removal of the Chair-man, Presidential Am-nesty Committee andSpecial Adviser to thepresident on Niger Del-ta Affairs, Mr. KingsleyKuku, saying the callwas malicious and un-democratic. He described peoplemaking the call as ene-mies of good govern-ance, saying the callslacked merit and shouldbe discountenanced.

In a statement, Ak-pocha affirmed that Ni-ger Delta had witnessedmore positive transfor-mation since Kuku’s as-sumption of office.

He contended that theallegation of unequalspread in the handlingof militants was nothingbut the fabrication andevil thoughts of thoseagainst President Good-

luck Jonathan’s giantstrides and efforts totake the country to agreater height.

Akpocha said: “Today,many of our militantswho wouldn’t have hadthe opportunity of goodeducation and skills are

fortunate because of theexcellent leadership ofKuku and his team at thehelm of affairs. Many ofour militants are under-going training in vari-ous institutions andtraining centres acrossthe globe.”

IKA Federal Constit-uency standard

bearer of the defunctAction Congress of Ni-geria, ACN, into theFederal House of Repre-sentatives in the 2011general elections, Dr.Isioma Okobah, hasdumped All PeoplesCongress APC, alongwith over 7,000 of hersupporters and returnedto the ruling People’sDemocratic Party, PDP.

Okobah told newsmenat a forum at Agbor thather decision to return toPDP followed wide con-sultations among politi-

cal leaders, a wide spec-trum of the politicalclass, various shades ofopinion, supporters andmajor stakeholders inIka Federal Constituen-cy.

The US-based medicalpractitioner who is wellknown for her yearly freemedical programme forthe rural populace, dis-closed that she could notbut succumb to theyearnings and aspira-tions of her constituentswho have consistentlymounted pressure onher to return to her orig-inal party, PDP.

CMYK


CLOSURE OVER TAX: Tension in Imo asbanks begin sympathy strike

Orji chargeslandlords overinsecurity

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

Igbo leaders backreferendum onconfab

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

Jonathanshould ignoreObasanjo—UMEH

BY ANAYO OKOLI

OWERRI—COMMERCIALbanks operating in Imo State

have shut their doors against theircustomers in what Vanguardgathered to be “sympathyprotest.”

At least eight banks were shutby the state government last weekover alleged tax evasion.

The current development hasnow forced hapless citizens tomove to either Rivers, Abia orAnambra states to transact theirbanking businesses.

Some concerned citizens whospoke to Vanguard on the issueweekend, decried government’saction, pointing out that theadministration should be heldresponsible for whatever resultedfrom the closure of banks.

Former chairman of AbohMbaise local government area,Dr. Ikay Njoku, described thetiming of the closure as “verybad.”

He said: “The problem we areall facing now is a classicalexample of government’sinsensitivity towards the plight ofthe governed. The timing of theaction is extremely very bad.”

A widow, who simply identifiedherself as Nkechi, lamented thatshe was a widow and only wentto the bank to withdraw part ofthe little money in her savingsaccount to feed her children butwas disappointed on arrival at oneof the first generation banks.

“Where do I go now for help?How will I feed my children?Whosoever caused this sufferingon the poor masses should havea rethink,” she said.

A soldier, who spoke ongrounds of anonymity, lashed outat government for causing what

he called “untold hardship onthe people.”

CP Katsina warnsMeanwhile, the state police

command has said it would nottolerate unlawful solidarity byother banks not affected bygovernment’s sledgehammer.

The state Commissioner ofPolice, Mr. Mohammed MusaKatsina, read the riot act whileaddressing journalists inOwerri.

Katsina said: “The sympathystrike commenced by the banksthat were not originally affectedby government’s action is not

only unlawful but has also broughtuntold hardship on the people ofthe state.”

According to the Imo police boss,all efforts made by his commandto meet with officials of the banksproved abortive.

He said it was disheartening andstrange that some banks notaffected by the court order coulddeny law abiding and crediblecustomers access to their accountswithout considering the obviousconsequences.

UMUAHIA—AS away of strengthening

security in the state,Governor Theodore Orji ofAbia State has called onlandlords to screen andmonitor the people theygive their houses astenants, saying criminalsdo not come from themoon but live in theirmidst.

According to him,though incidences ofarmed robbery andkidnapping have reduceddrastically in the state, theyhave not gone completely.

Addressing Umuahialandlords at OkparaAuditorium, weekend,Orji told them that theycould help in eliminatingcrime completely.

He said: “What I wantyou to do for me is to knowthe characters of those wholive in your houses. Youshould monitor thecharacters of your tenant.Those people whoperpetrate these crimeslive somewhere.”

A W K A —REACTIONS

have continued to trailthe controversial letterwritten to PresidentGoodluck Jonathan by hispredecessor, ChiefOlusegun Obasanjo, withthe national chairman ofAll Progressives GrandAlliance, APGA, ChiefVictor Umeh, urgingformer to ignore the latter.

Speaking weekend inAwka, Umeh saidObasanjo should notmisinterpret thePresident’s humility asweakness, arguing thathe, Obasanjo, ought to bein jail for sundry crimesagainst humanity, citingOdi and Zakibiammassacres as examples.

Umeh said Obasanjo’sletter was a confirmationof the heavy blow hisadministration dealt ondemocracy when electionrigging andmanipulations were usedto muscle out oppositionparties.

He recalled that APGAsuffered the same terriblefate in 2003 when itsvictory was given to PDP,adding that it took threeyears of legal battle toreclaim the mandate.

CP Katsina reads riot act to banks

ENUGU—CONCERNED Igbo leaders ofThought, led by Professor Ben Nwabueze

have thrown their support behind the call tosubject the outcome of the proposed nationalconference to a referendum before it couldform the new constitution of Nigeria.

The Igbo leaders said their position washinged on the premise that many nations ofthe world that evolved new constitutions toedthe referendum process before implementingtheir new constitutions.

Another reason canvassed by the Igbogroup in favour of the referendum was that,it was only logical and a way of democratisingthe new constitution, adding that over 85 percent of countries of the world adoptedreferendum in bringing into being theirconstitutions.

“So the position of Ndigbo is that the constitutionmust be approved through a new referendum,”said the secretary of the group, Prof. ElochukwuAmucheazi, who addressed newsmen shortly aftertheir meeting in Enugu, weekend.

BY TONY EDIKE

BRIEFING: From left: Mr. Paul Asemota, Marketing Manager, Larger, Mr. Sesan Sobowale,Corporate Communication Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Austin Ufomba, Marketing andInnovation Director, Guinnees Nigeria Plc, and Mr. Afeez Ajibowu, Regional Sales Director,during the briefing on the relaunch of new Harp Premium Cool Lager in Lagos. Photo: KehindeGbadamosi.

CMYK

Vanguard, M0NDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013—15

THE MANDELA BURIAL

Mourners: US talk show host Oprah Winfrey, centre, her husband Stedman Graham,left, and English businessman Richard Branson, left, watching the state funeral serv-ice

Celebration of life: Men in tribal Zulu warrior dress perform ritualdances on the area overlooking the burial ceremony.

US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson (l) with Zambia'sPresident Kenneth David Kaunda (R) during the statefuneral.Members of Mandela's family attending the burial in Qunu. PHOTOS: AFP

Jonathan has right to contest in 2015—OGBEH Says there ‘ll be no bloodshed

BY LEVINUS NWABUGHI-OGU

ABUJA—A chieftain of AllProgressives Congress,

APC, Chief Audu Ogbeh, saidweekend that President

Goodluck Jonathan, had therights to contest elections in 2015.

Ogbeh, who was former chair-man of ruling Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, also appealed to Ni-gerians to desist from makinginflammatory statements, follow-

ing threats of bloodshed bysome eminent persons overPresident Jonathan’s 2015 am-bition.

He said: “There are thosewho said that if PresidentJonathan contests in 2015, therewill be bloodshed. I don’t thinkwe should talk that way.

“If the court says he is free tocontest and the constitution al-lows him, no one of us has theright to stop him.

“On the other hand, the op-position can prepare and con-test against him, provided thereis a free and fair election. That’sall we need to work on.”

On threat of bloodshed,Ogbeh said Nigeria had wit-nessed so much of bloodshed

already, stressing that such com-ments were not in the best in-terest of the people.

He spoke exclusively to Van-guard against the backdrop ofa statement credited to aNorthern leader and SecondRepublic lawmaker, Dr. JunaidMohammed, who recently de-clared that blood would flow inthe country should PresidentJonathan seek re-election in2015.

Ogbe urged Nigerians to cul-tivate the virtues of patienceand perseverance, irrespectiveof any frustrations.

Ogbeh said: “I will like to ap-peal to all politicians and lead-ers in this country to watch their

language. When youhear somebody say-ing there will bebloodshed or thatblow will flow in2015, it is not the wayto speak in a countrythat is seeking peaceand progress.

“No matter whatthe frustrations are,we must not wish ourcountry doom anddamnation.”

New nationalcarrier ‘ll debutbefore 2014—ODUAH

ABUJA—THE much-expected national carrier

would be unveiled before the endof the year, Aviation Minister,Princess Stella Oduah, declaredat the weekend.

Oduah, who spoke at the Avia-tion Workers Awards Night or-ganised by Joint Consultativeand Negotiating Council, JCNCas part of activities to mark avia-tion workers’ week, also said thatwhen the newly designedaerotropolis project was com-pleted, it would provide jobs forat least 150,000 Nigerians.

Oduah explained thatthe project was designed to of-fer businesses located near orhaving good access to the air-port with speedy connectivity totheir suppliers, customers andenterprise partners nationallyand worldwide.

She stated that the aerotropoliswould contain a full set of com-mercial facilities with support forairlines and aviation-linked busi-nesses as well as millions of busi-ness and leisure travellers pass-ing through the airport annually.

BY OKEY NDIRIBE

CMYK

OPINION

16 Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

BY KELECHI NWAGWU

*Hon. Nwagwu, wrote from Owerri, ImoState.

I READ with much pain in my bones,heartache and running stomach the

interview granted by a second Republicmember of House of Representatives anda Russian trained medical doctor JunaidMohammed, captioned 2015: there’ll bebloodshed, if Jonathan runs, warnsJunaid Mohammed.I have watched and listened with keeninterest to see or hear reactions fromNigerians or security operativescondemning this interview but to no avail.It is imperative and instructive fordiscerning Nigerians to rise up againstthis treasonable and unwarrantedincitation. For a man like JunaidMohammed to openly and on the pagesof Sunday Sun Newspaper of December1st, 2013 on page 61 incite our Northernbrothers and sisters to declare waragainst the Federal Republic of Nigeriaand the Southerners if Jonathan runs in2015. It is very unfortunate andirresponsible of a man of his standing as,this act amounts to a crime against theState and a call for a civil war.He also opined that the President and theCommander in Chief of the Armed Forcesof Nigeria is irresponsible, incompetent,a nincompoop and also lacks integrityand accountability. This is the height ofmadness and irresponsibility for a citizenof a country to describe the President ofhis country in that manner not even in thecomfort of his house but on a nationaldaily. I have travelled round the worldand have not read on any newspaperwhere a citizen of a country disparages

Re:2015 presidency-Blood will flow...their president in a very crude manner. Iam not holding brief for Mr. President butas a Nigerian, I roundly condemn ingreatest terms this irresponsible, wicked,callous, hallucination and desperation ofa senile man.What this man poured out is sacrilegious.What did General Buhari and AsariDokubo say that everyone was calling fortheir heads? In fact, the causation ofattack on Odi was a child’s play to whatJunaid Mohammed has vomited. I haveno doubt in my mind that responsiblepatriots and discerning Nigerians afterreading his nauseating and heartwrecking interview will assume that he isa suicide bomber and if not a sponsor ofdreaded Boko Haram sect.The President of a country is the imageand mirror of its citizens and should betreated as sacred. When you demean anddemonize the occupant of that office, youhave directly demeaned, demonized,dehumanized yourself, and other innocentcitizens before the outside world. I amconstrained because of my training to rainabuses on Junaid but permit me to saythat all he said about the President of mycountry is what he no doubt represents inmillion folds. People like him do notbelong to a decent society and should beconsigned to Rwandan zoo for habitation/rehabilitation.What is he talking about PresidentJonathan running in 2015? Is he of theview that the president is not a Nigerianor not qualified to run, on what ground orplatform does his jaundiced posturing

come from. We should always reflect onour history. It is people like Junaid thattruncated the second Republic when hewas a member of the House ofRepresentatives, shouting wolves whilethere was none. On his assertion thatthere is more agitation in the South-westis a figment of his false imaginal amnesia.I understand his mindset, calculation anddeceptive permutation. What happenedin 1993 cannot repeat itself, the Northwanted to form government of Nigeriawith the South-west, without carrying thecash cow of the nation along. It isobvious; Junaid Mohammed is ignorantof the reason behind General Babaginda’sreason to annul that electioncharacterised by the Moslem – Moslemticket.

Junaid has not realised thatdemography has changed where other

citizens of other zones criss cross andsettle more in different parts of Nigerianand command if not more in number thanthe indigenous population. Has he notalso realized that the north is no longerhomogeneous and cannot speak with onevoice again. What is good for the gooseis also good for the gander.It is pertinent to warn Junaid Mohammedto refrain from unstatesmanly, unpatrioticdivisiveness, fanning the ambers ofdiscord, selfishness, tribalism, fanatismand political suicide bombing.With altruism, people like him who arefastidious should laud Mr. President’sgiant strides as encapsulated in his

Transformation Agenda, such asAgricultural revolution, the economygrowing at 6.5%, unbundling the powersector , you win programme, success insports, confab, road constructions,railway line reinvigoration, airportsinfrastructural development, fight againstterrorism and many other resoundingsuccesses.I am convinced beyond doubt that thiswar drum by Junaid Mohammed is forour innocent youths as it is evident thathe cannot walk up to 100metres withoutcollapsing. Our youths are wiser now andwill not listen to a dying warhorse.Even if Mr. President decides not to run,it will not be because of JunaidMohammed threats or individuals likehim. Mr. President is a bonafide citizenof Nigeria and deserves to be treated asone. We urge him in unequivocal terms torun in 2015.Most importantly, any insult on him orhis office is a complete insult on everyNigerian. I do not accept in any logicalterm that my President is a nincompoop,incompetent, lacks accountability andintegrity. To all Nigerians, Mr. Presidentis a man of honour, very credible, decent,a PHD holder and loving president.Every Nigerian should rise up andcaution Junaid Mohammed and his likesas this is a slap on our faces and insultmeted to all Nigerians.

THE inconclusive journey of the PetroleumIndustry Bill, PIB, began in 2000 whenconcerns about more transparentmanagement of the oil and gas sectorresulted in the bill. It has remainedcontroversial since then.Among the aims of the bill are to -· the exploitation of oil and gas in Nigeria· Commercialise the government’s interests

in the industry· Deregulate and liberalise the downstream

petroleum sector· Optimise gas supplies to the domestic gas

market (especially for power generation andindustries)· Reform the fiscal regime· Promote openness and transparency in the

industry· Encourage the development of Nigerian

contentNoble as the objectives are, key issues for

the oil majors are government’s control ofthe industry with the role the bill created forthe Minister of Petroleum Resources andpossibilities of new tax regimes. The moststrident oppositions however appear to belocal.The bill has polarised the National

PIB: WPIB: WPIB: WPIB: WPIB: We Need Te Need Te Need Te Need Te Need To Po Po Po Po Pass Itass Itass Itass Itass ItAssembly along sectional lines, hence itslong neglect. There appears to be moreconcern with how provisions for a fund forthe host community would affect theresources that would remain in the commonpurse.It would have been expected that with all

the devastation of oil and gas explorationsin their host communities, the proposed hostcommunity fund that would be utilised inprovision of economic and socialinfrastructure in the areas, would haveenjoyed the support of the rest of the country.The National Assembly is more fixated on

the uses of special funds for the oil producingareas. Instead of dealing with the issue onits own imperatives, mismanagement of the

funds is considered a reason for opposingthe bill.Economic benefits of the bill that includes

government’s divestments, moretransparency in the industry’s operations,and the protection of the environment shouldbe bigger considerations than the immediateeconomic benefits of more money to operatethe economy.Oil and gas is so central to the operations

of the economy that the over-dependence onit should not be the main issue in decidingthe future of the industry. We expectmanagers of the economy would diversify,using resources from oil and gas.Governments have fallen into the easieroption of waiting for shares of oil revenuesfor their activities.Those opposed to the passage of the PIB

are neglecting the impacts of delay in itspassage on the oil and gas industry.Investors have remained tentative in the 13years of the bill’s journey, keeping newinvestments in the industry on hold.We ask the contending parties to place the

interests of the country in context and passthe bill. Delays in its passage are hurting theeconomy and endangering its prospects.

CMYK


CMYK

Continues from page 6



readiness to intimidateand blackmail membersof the bench so as to se-cure a favourable out-come for his party in thepending case clearlyshows that nothing isbeyond the pale for himand the APC in pursuitof their quest for power.

"The Jonathan Admin-istration does not needLai Mohammed or theAPC to remind it of itsconstitutional responsi-bility for the security andwell-being of Nigerians.The President will con-tinue to do his utmostbest to achieve positivenational transformationin all areas in spite ofefforts by the oppositionto thwart or disparagethe work of his adminis-tration.

"In this regard, we havenoted the undisguisedthreat by the APC to fos-ter public insurrectionagainst the Federal Gov-ernment if pending legalcases go against it. Weurge Nigerians to takespecial note of this boast-ful indication of an inten-tion to resort to lawless-ness.

"The Presidency warnsthat the APC and anypersons who make them-selves its willing tools forthe breach of public or-der and safety will bemade to face the fullsanctions of the law.Those who are threaten-ing fire and brimstoneshould be ready for con-sequences of treasonableaction.

"The APC’s false copy-cat allegation that 1, 000snipers are beingtrained by the JonathanAdministration clearlyshows that they are nowin cahoots with someother elements who arebent on discrediting this

administration and incit-ing the public against it.

President Jonathan isrunning a people’s gov-ernment. He does notneed any snipers. Hislegitimacy comes fromthe people. Those whoare alleging the exist-ence of snipers shouldstep forward and providethe evidence or shut upforever and go down inhistory as spineless cow-ards, driven by sheergreed and indecency.

"We dismiss the APC’scall for the President’simpeachment as oppor-tunistic, partisan and ill-motivated.

"We call on patriots tomake the necessary dis-tinction between suchreckless violations ofcivic duty and the urgentneed to protect the integ-rity of the Nigerian na-tion against those whofor selfish reasons havedeclared their readinessto stop at nothing."

PDP reactsThe PDP in a sharp re-

action described the callas irresponsible, imma-ture, self-seeking and partof their larger agenda totruncate democracy inNigeria.

“Upon their realizationthat they will not win inthe 2015 general electionsfollowing the failure oftheir plans to break theranks and strength of thePDP, they now seek to useall means to cause confu-sion in the land. The APCknows the implication ofthe call which is to causemassive turmoil and de-stroy the unity of our dearnation,” the PDP said in astatement issued by itsNational Publicity Secre-tary, Chief Olisa Metuh.

Metuh concluded that“the PDP is ready, willingand able to stop them in

their track.”

There’s a sinistermove for regimechange—Odumakin

Reacting to the develop-ment, Afenifere, theYoruba socio-cultural or-ganization described theAPC’s call as part of anorchestrated and sinisterplan against the adminis-tration’s plan for a na-tional conference.

Afenifere’s spokesper-son, Mr Yinka Odumakinin a telephone interviewsaid:

“Well, they are lettingthe cat out of the bag.There is a co-ordinatedassault to have a regimechange in order to abortthe national conference.Look at this point: Lastweek Monday, Tambuwalmade his own comment,by Tuesday, they releasedLamido’s letter, byWednesday, they releasedObasanjo’s letter and bySunday, APC is calling forJonathan’s resignation.They have not heard thePresident out to hear hisown side.”

“The lawyers said hearboth parties, why don’tthey wait for his(Jonathan’s) response be-fore they begin to call foraction? How can you holdObasanjo’s word withouthearing his (Jonathan’s)own word and then ask forhis resignation? I thinkthey are jumping the gunand they are showing thatthere is a sinister agendathat is being coordinatedby forces that want toabort the national confer-ence by calling for a re-gime change.”

They're talking trash— Ohaneze

Ohaneze, the Igbosocio-cultural group on its

part said impeachingJonathan would lead tothe end of Nigeria.

Speaking through itsSecretary General, Dr JoeNwaorgu, he said that thecall arose from inequity inthe structure of the Na-tional Assembly.

Warning, he said: “Im-peach Jonathan, impeachNigeria,” he said: “That isarrant rubbish. How doyou impeach the manwhen he has not beenfound guilty of anything?Have you investigatedhim? That is why we wantthis country restructure.They are talking trash be-cause of the structure ofthe National Assembly. Ifthere was justice in thestructure of the NationalAssembly will they sayso?”

Caution should beapplied on theissue —ACFspokesperson

In his own reaction, theACF through its PublicitySecretary, Mr. AnthonySani, called for cautionsaying that he was not inpossession with the factsthat instigated the call.

“I do not know the factswhich APC has in its pos-session that informed itscall on the National As-sembly to commence im-peachment proceedingsAgainst PresidentJonathan. I cannot com-ment from uninformedposition. But if it is basedon the letter PresidentObasanjo wrote to Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan,I would advise in favourof caution because the is-sues raised in the letterare still at the level of al-legations.’’

He further said, ‘’Someof the issues raised borderon security which may re-quire thorough investiga-tions. Regrettably the let-ter by the former Presidenthas attracted different

kinds of comments thattend to generate moreheat than the neededlight, which is not help-ful. That is why I wouldplead with the presidency,the media, spirited indi-viduals, groups includingpolitical parties to concen-trate on issues raised, withutmost caution for publicgood. And in doing so,they must avoid generali-sations and stick to whatthey know.’’

Due processshould befollowed—ArewaYouths

National President ofArewa Youth ConsultativeForum, Alhaji YerimaShetima on his part calledfor due process in what-ever action is takenagainst the presidenteven as he flayed recentagitations against theJonathan administrationby former PresidentObasanjo.

In a chat with Vanguard,Shetima said “well, theyare entitled to call forJonathan’s impeachment.But there is due processto this, the National As-sembly will carry out itsown investigations and ifhe is found guilty, then hecan be impeached.”

He nevertheless, ob-jected to linking the callto the allegations madeagainst the president byObasanjo.

“Obasanjo was presidentfor eight years and he wasalso the Minister in thePower sector, has anybodyprobed him? On the issueof insecurity, does hewant Jonathan to do whathe did in Zaki Biam orOdi? Or what exactlydoes he want him to do?On corruption, is thereany government that ismore corrupt thanObasanjo’s government?No one has asked him togive account of his stew-ardship.”

“APC can call for hisimpeachment, but then,let there be due processand if found wanting, lethim face the law becausenobody is above the law,but Obasanjo’s allegationsare baseless, there is noth-ing about his allegations.”

‘Senate not heed-ing APC's call’

In his reaction SenatorIta Enang, PDP, AkwaIbom North East said theSenate would neitherheed the call of the APCnor pay attention to theletter from PresidentObasanjo.

“Former PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo’s let-ter was not addressed tothe National Assembly.The issue of impeachmenthas not arisen. The issueof impeachment of thepresident has not at allarisen.

“APC should know thatthey are part of the gov-

ernment of this countryand by being part of thegovernment by headingsome states, they shouldnot think that by invent-ing some lies and usingcronies, they will be ableto overheat the polity andcreate an unnecessarychange in the governmentof this country.

“They should know thatthere are some nationalleaders of APC who wereformerly heads of govern-ment of this country andnobody did what they aredoing now to the govern-ment of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan.”

‘APC lacks credibil-ity to make the call’

Reacting to the call yes-terday, Rep. SamsonOkwu, Oji/Odu FederalConstituency, Benue Stateflayed the APC saying theparty lacked the credibil-ity to make the call.

“APC as a party lacks thecredibility and the consti-tutional power to ask forthe impeachment of Mr.President because fromwhat they have lined upthere, it is only the Na-tional Assembly that isempowered; they cannoturge the National Assem-bly to start off impeach-ment process because it’sonly the membership ofthe National Assembly,that is the Senate and theHouse of Representatives,that will come up with is-sues of any misconduct onMr. President.”

Rep. Nkoyo Toyo,Calabar Municipal/Oduakpani Federal Con-stituency, Cross RiverState on her part said theAPC’s call was within thescope of freedom ofspeech

“All forms of views re-main essential for a de-mocracy and such a callis at best a call for a de-bate and engagement ofthe issues by the rulingparty not necessarily Mr.president. I have nodoubt that at the appropri-ate time reactions will fol-low.”

NNPF condemnscall

The New Northern Po-litical Frontiers, NNPF, onits part condemned thecall saying the call couldnot be linked with what itdescribed as mere allega-tions raised against Presi-dent Jonathan byObasanjo.

The NNPF in statementsigned by its Chairman,Dr. Abdul Isiaq, describedthe call by the APC as ca-pable of unnecessarilyheating up the polity.

“We condemn the recentstatement by the AllProgressives Congress,APC, calling on the Na-tional Assembly to imme-diately kick-starting theprocess of impeachingPresident GoodluckJonathan for gross mis-conduct.

WEDDING—Firstlady Dame Patience Jonathan (4th left; Malawian President, Mrs Joyce Banda(3rd left); with the newly wedded Dr. Kambe, daughter of President Banda and her husband David,during the Malawian President's daughter's wedding in Malawi.


CMYK


From left: Mrs Felicia Essang-Oludare, President, Oron Union, LagosBranch; Prof. Atim Antai, Commissioner for Education, Akwa Ibom Stateand and Mrs Eka Ebiefie, Eke-Oro during the 13th Oron Annual Cul-tural Festival and special civic reception in honour of Prof Atim Antai, inLagos, weekend.

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State (2nd right); his wife, Mercy (1st right);Lady Victoria Aguiyi Ironsi, President General, Ibeku Egwu ASAA DevelopmentAssociation (IEADA); Chief Onwularuwa Onuoha and Professor Joshua Ogbonnaya,when the governor's kinsmen honoured their son as the Grand Patriot of Ibeku atIbeku High School, Umuahia, yesterday.

EFCC regrets courtclearance ofGeorge, El-Rufai...to appeal el-Rufai’s acquittance

BY SONI DANIEL, REGIONAL EDITOR,NORTH

ABUJA — THE Economic and Financial CrimesCommission, EFCC, yesterday, bemoaned the

clearance of two former key players in Obasanjo ad-ministration over graft-related charges.

The Supreme Court, last Friday, cleared formerChairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, ChiefBode George and the former Minister of the Fed-eral Capital Territory, Nasir el-Rufai of allegationsbordering on graft.

While George was cleared of contract-splittingcharge, el-Rufai was discharged and acquitted ofland grab charges instituted against them by theEFCC.

George was cleared along with five other accused,who had already served prison terms but later ap-proached the apex court to quash their imprison-ment.

The EFCC, through its acting Head of Media andPublicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said it was con-cerned over the aquittance of the seven men by thecourts.

The commission noted that while it would not dab-ble into the merit or otherwise of the jurists’ deci-sions, it was unfortunate that the apex court disa-greed with the lower courts’ verdicts on the mat-ters.

Wilson said: “The Economic and Financial CrimesCommission notes with concern two separate deci-sions by court on December 13, 2013 in cases inves-tigated by the commission.

“The first was the acquittal of former Chairman ofthe Nigerian Ports Authority, Chief Olabode Goergeand five others by the Supreme Court. The otherwas the acquittal of former Minister of the FederalCapital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and twoothers by a Federal Capital Territory High Court."

While disagreeing with the trial judge in the caseof the el-Rufai matter, the commission indicated itsresolve to appeal against the judgment, saying thatit adduced enough evidence to show that the formerminister had a case to answer over land grab inAbuja.

“On el- Rufai and others, the trial judge, JusticeSadiq Umar, believes the commission failed to es-tablish a prima facie case against the accused per-sons.

“This is against the weight of the evidence pre-sented by the Commission in court. Consequently,the EFCC has resolved to pursue an appeal againstthe ruling at the Court of Appeal.”

CMYK


OPINION

,

,

Social media and OBJ’s letterBY MOSHOOD ISAH

THE media, especially newspapers, online and socialmedia are feasting on what is now referred to as

famous letter sent to President Goodluck Jonathan byerstwhile former president now elder statesman, ChiefOlusegun Obasanjo. The ex-president wrote an 18-pageletter to President Goodluck Jonathan accusing him offailing Nigerians in his position as the President of thecountry. The thought provoking and insightful letter,amongst other things accused the president of nepotism,lying about his second term ambition and condoningcorruption. The former president also spoke bitterly aboutthe issue of insecurity and how it’s gradually ravagingthe entire system.

As expected the letter has generated a lot of comments,and criticisms. Of note is the response from Mr.President’s Spokesperson, Dr. Reuben Abati who rose indefense of his boss.

According to Abati, President Goodluck Jonathan hasdismissed as most reckless and unjustifiable a fiercelyscathing letter he received from former PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo, in which Mr. Obasanjo accused himof lying, condoning corruption, and leading Nigeria tothe brink of collapse. The statement further said theallegations by the former president were baseless andindecorous. Abati claimed that, many patriotic, objectiveand well-meaning Nigerians have already condemnedthe leaked letter as self-serving, hypocritical, malicious,indecent, and very disrespectful of the highest office in

the land.Many wonder if this same Chief Obasanjo is the very

president who tried unsuccessfully to perpetuate himselfin power through the unpopular third- term project.Nigerians are now wiser and the events between 1999and 2007 when Obasanjo was President are still fresh.

If the truth be told, given the unenviable manner heconducted the affairs of this country while in office,former President Obasanjo has lost the moral right tooffer advice to others on how the ship of State should besteered.

Some writers also argued that the much touted waragainst corruption during his administration was a grandplot to crush those who dared to challenge his stlye ofgovernance. Others also pointed out that anti-graftagency were sent after state governors who chose to deferin views or go against President Obasanjo’s ‘order. Otherarguments against Obasanjo’s administration were thatState House of Assembly members, not minding theirnumbers, convened sessions even in hotels and impeachtheir governors. The case of state-sponsored thugs thatinvaded the Anambra state Government House andcaptured a sitting duly elected governor where no onewas arrested or prosecuted, also capture the argument.

Basically, from other reactions of the people especiallyon twitter, most didn’t doubt the objectivity of the letter.As a matter of fact many lauded the genuineness and

credence of the letter. More so, well-meaning Nigerianswere even happy that all the criticism is coming from thesame man singlehandedly enthrone Jonathan as thepresident of the country. But the main issue critics raisedagainst the former president is that, whether he (Obasanjo)has the moral right to send such letter to the president.This is in the sense that the administration of the ex-president is not far better than this current administration.

But be that as it may, many will say Obasanjo’sadministration wasn’t as factional and sectional asJonathan’s. Furthermore, even though there wascorruption in both administrations, it is gradually risingto the level of impunity in this current administration.But come to think of it, who amongst the ex-leaders ofthis country shares the same ideology with ChiefObasanjo. I mean who amongst them is in good termswith the ex-president.

If you remember at the end of the letter, Obasanjo cravedindulgence of the president to share the content withformer heads of state such as Ibrahim Babangida, andAbdulsalam Abubakar. I still cannot comprehend therationale behind this. Perhaps the former president istrying to bring Babangida, whom everyone knows is notin good terms with him, into the scenario for reasons bestknown to him. In this vein, the sincerity of the letter canalso be questioned.*Mr Isah, a commentator on national issues, wrote fromGarki, Abuja

IN my years of watching current affairs inNigeria, particularly the role that former

president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has beenplaying in it, I have developed a profile ofhim that never fails to click each he makeshis public outings. He has perfected thechicken approach to foraging. As I noted inan earlier write-up, there is an Igbo adagethat says: “ihe okuko na-erigh, ya abosaa”.Whatever the chicken cannot eat she scatterswith her feet. I have also long identified hispropensity to engage in what the Englishpeople call “the kettle calling the pot black”,or as put more graphically by musician,Sound Sultan in local parlance: “ole deshout ole” (a thief is always first to shout:“thief”!)

I agree totally with a former Speaker ofthe House of Representatives, Hon. UmarGhali Na’Abba, who once told Obasanjo tohis face: “Your Excellency, if you are lookingfor the trouble with Nigeria, just look intothe mirror. You will find it there”. After hisover-trumpeted role in the civil waremerging as the only Nigerian who has ruledthe nation twice, with the longest years inpower, Obasanjo seems to believe he ownsNigeria. He, in fact, seems to believe in hisheart that he has become a “god” of Nigeria.

OBJ’s hypocritical outburst

His recent 18-page letter to PresidentGoodluck Jonathan is riddled with essentialObasanjoism. He accuses Jonathan ofliving in denial over the so-called one-termpact and whether he will run in 2015.Obasanjo did exactly the same things whenhe was plotting his defeated third termagenda. Till date, he continues to deny heever wanted a third term, though it is now aknown fact of Nigeria’s history.

Based on unsubstantiated “allegations”,rumours and “loose talk”, he accusesJonathan of “training snipers” and otherarmed personnel, “for political purposes likeAbacha...!”. Jonathan may be everythingelse, but what I have never heard anybodyaccusing him of menacing the lives ofpolitical opponents. On the one hand, he isperceived as a “weak” president partlybecause all comers call him all sorts ofnames and get away with it.

On the other, it is a fact of history thatduring Obasanjo’s presidency, his Ministerof Justice, Chief Bola Ige, was assassinatedby operatives just before he resigned fromthe cabinet to go and revive his Alliance forDemocracy (AD) to deny Obasanjo access

to the South West, the home base hedesperately needed to make certain hissecond term in power. Chief MarshallHarry, Chief Aminasori Dikibo and manyothers were murdered, and the killers werenever found. Obasanjo ordered theabduction of Governor Chris Ngige and theburning of the Government House andpublic offices in Awka, the Anambra Statecapital. The kettle calls the flask black!

Obasanjo accuses Jonathan of supporting

non-PDP candidates for governorshipelections in Ondo, Edo and Anambra forhis personal political purposes. I ask, whatabout Obasanjo, who pulled PDP out of therace in the 2007 Imo governorship electionbecause the winner of the primaries in thePDP, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, was not hisanointed candidate. He went ahead tosupport Chief Ikedi Ohakim of theProgressive People’s Alliance (PPA) to clinchthe seat. Ohakim continues to paypilgrimages to Obasanjo’s house hoping hewill swing another magic wand to enablehim return to power. Has he forgotten sosoon? Well, we have not!

Obasanjo also wails that Jonathan isplotting a “third term”! Well, the courts havesaid he still has the constitutional right torun for a second, not third term in 2015. Thekettle is calling the flask black becauseObasanjo suffered the most humiliatingdefeat when his third term agenda was nixedon the floor of the Senate on May 16th 2006.Where was the “morality” then whichObasanjo now preaches? What about hisrefusal to abide by the rumoured pact he

had with the North to run for only one termas a precondition for his being selected tostand in place of the murdered ChiefMoshood Abiola, to whom Nigerians gavetheir mandate on June 12th 1993?

Obasanjo, at that time, was expected tocopy the good example of Dr. NelsonMandela, who voluntarily stepped downfrom the presidency after only one term togive his country a chance to move forwardunder a younger blood. Obasanjo hadblatantly rejected the call for him to “do aMandela”, saying: “I am no Mandela”!That was the cause of his fights with AtikuAbubakar, his Vice.

He accuses Jonathan of deploying Ijawsto abuse Nigerians. But he has

forgotten how he employed a troubled FemiFani-Kayode as his spokesman specificallyto abuse anyone who criticised him or hisgovernment. He went ahead to elevate Fani-Kayode to the post of Minister of Aviation,the disastrous outcome of which is stillreverberating in the aviation industry andthe courts when he is facing graft charges.

What is Jonathan’s presidency, if not forObasanjo? In his usual self-serving mannerof regarding Nigeria as his personal estate,Obasanjo carefully selected a terminallysick northerner, Governor Umaru Yar’Adua, to succed him. He went to the creeksto fish out Governor Goodluck Jonathanwho, at that time, was a great benefactor ofmembers of the Obasanjo family.

There were brilliant, healthy andcredible Nigerians serving in

Obasanjo’s cabinet. There were soundgovernors fit for the job. The rotationalprinciple favoured the North with either anIgbo or South-South Vice President.Obasanjo side-stepped all the credible,healthy options in the North for president.He avoided the Igbos like the plague forVice President. In fact, he abandonedGovernor Peter Odili when his “Igbo” factorwas being played up by Chief Edwin Clarkand gave it to an Ijaw man perceived asgentle and easy to manipulate. Obasanjo’scalculations were obvious. Yar’ Adua wouldsoon die, and Jonathan would becomepresident. When his calculations came topass, Obasanjo was the first to urgeJonathan to run for president in 2011.

He needs to come out and apology toNigerians if indeed, he believes Jonathan isa failure. He should ask God for forgivenessfor playing “god” in ensuring the emergenceof Jonathan. But he will not do so, being theObasanjo we all know so well. Instead hewill write a disingenuous letter to thepresident and leak it to the media to createthe maximum sensation, which is part ofhis well known plot to bring down the manhe made because he has lost out (as usual).What the chicken cannot eat, it will scatter.

People often say we should take themessage and forget the messenger. As far asI am concerned, there is little in the letterObasanjo wrote to Jonathan that is worthtaking. It is a windy, convoluted, hypocriticalhogwash! In any case, as a professionalcommunicator, I am a believer in thereasoning of Canadian communicationphilosopher, Marshall McLuhan, who wrotea book and titled it: “The Medium Is TheMessage”. If you send a well known armedrobber to go and preach against the vices ofrobbery, you will not be able to pass themessage successfully for people to learn therequired lesson. The message is lost.

Obasanjo wrote and leaked this letter tothe media to raise a mob action againstJonathan; a crafty follow-up to the rebellionhe used the governors he planted in the statesto stir in their party, all in efforts to stopJonathan in 2015.

It is up to Jonathan to react to the threatas he deems fit. He does need to clean up hisact, especially in arresting the Boko Haramterrorism, tackling corruption and findsolution to oil theft in the Niger Delta. Theseissues may mar his chances in 2015 if hedoes not wake up. It won’t be the comicalantics of an expired president that will undohim. Jonathan will be the one to take thesteps that will allow Nigerians to re-electhim or transfer power to another hand come2015.

HI, FOLKS! I REST IT HERE FOR THEYEAR! AM OFF ON VACATION. SEEYOU AGAIN IN THE SECOND WEEKOF 2014, GOD WILLING!

People often say we should take the messageand forget the messenger. As far as I amconcerned, there is little in the letter Obasanjowrote to Jonathan that is worth taking. It is awindy, convoluted, hypocritical hogwash!

*Obasanjo

CMYK

46 —46 —46 —46 —46 — V V V V Vanguardanguardanguardanguardanguard, MOND, MOND, MOND, MOND, MONDAAAAAYYYYY, , , , , DECEMBER 16,DECEMBER 16,DECEMBER 16,DECEMBER 16,DECEMBER 16, 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013

Why did youpoliticise the issueof the widow, Mrs.

Joy Ifijeh who wasreprimanded by the governorfor trading along the walk-way?

I believe the governor wasthe one who politicised theissue. When the incident tookplace, we waited for close totwo weeks for the governor toact before we decided to releasethe clips, and it may interest youto know that even when wereleased it, the governor did notsee anything wrong with it.

In fact, he was trying toexplain it away at a ceremonywhere he received a MoslemWomen group and he offered anapology that was not evendirected at the woman inquestion and he thought thatthat was going to bring the issueto a rest.

It was the public outcry of thisaction that brought about thegovernor’s apology and offer ofN2 million and a job to Mrs. JoyIfijeh. I must confess thatpolitical participation is not allabout being in government; allpeople have a role to play toensure that we protect theinterest of the people we workto serve. For me, I feel highlyaccomplished on the issue ofMrs. Joy Ifijeh, starting from thelong period of time we gave thegovernor to respond to thatissue until we made it publicand posted the video clip on thesocial media to the first feebleattempt at offering an apologynot directly to the womanconcerned but to a Moslemgroup who came to his office ona pre-arranged visit to the lastepisode of the drama thatculminated in a “Tea Summit”.

I feel highly accomplishedthat God has used me as aninstrument to impact on the lifeof the victim of this uglyincident. I must also come outvery clearly to say that offeringher N2 million and a job thatshe did not solicit for, andprobably not well equipped forand ill-equipped to carry out isnot the solution to the enormousproblem that his administrationhas brought to bear on thepeople of Edo State. Make no

Oshiomhole’s propaganda isnow failing him — Orbih

mistakes about it; there areseveral Mrs. Ifijehs who havesuffered hardship brought uponthem by the government. Twomillion Naira cannot wipe awaythe tears of widows who weretraumatized watching the videoclips of what the governor didto Mrs. Ifijieh. It is my prayerand hope that through thisincident, God will touch theheart of the governor and makehim a better person

Are you worried that the ladyin question rejected the moneyyou offered and asked you togive it to another widow?

I want to plead with membersof the public especially, fellowwomen and differentorganizations who have shownsupport and sympathy over theincident that what Mrs. Joy Ifijehrequires at this point in time is ourprayers and understanding. Shehas suddenly found herself in asituation that she has no controlover.

She has suddenly foundherself in the hands of thegovernor and his lieutenantswho are desperate to dodamage control for the

governor’s blunders which theentire world have come out tocondemn and reject.

What is the situation as faras the Esan North-East

local government electionpetition is concerned?

The party has gone to theelection petition tribunal, wehave filed our petition in thetribunal and we are hopeful thatvery soon the tribunal willcommence sitting and it is our

It has been five years ofunprecedented propaganda,deceit, hypocrisy and above all,gross misappropriation ofresources. From records, he hasreceived well over N200 billionfrom the federation account andinternally generated revenue.What he has received so farplaced side by side with theprojects that he had embarkedupon; you will agree with methat his propaganda has failedwoefully.

CHIEF DAN ORBIH is the chairman of the Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. In this interview, he reviews theactions of the Edo State government and affirms that the government is deceitful and thrives on propaganda.

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE, BENIN

prayer that at the end of the dayjustice will be done.

Last November, theadministration of ComradeAdams Oshiomhole was fiveyears in office. What is yourassessment of thegovernment?

And more recently even theworkers who for no just reasonexcept their past sentimentalrelationship with him, whoorganized and mobilisedworkers in his support prior tothe last general elections havenow come out forcefully to tell

,

,It has been five years of

unprecedented propaganda,deceit, hypocrisy and aboveall, gross misappropriation ofresources

the world that his administrationhas failed woefully in the areaof enhancing the welfare of theworkers and meeting up withagreed conditions of servicebetween the government andthe workers. Little wonder thatthe workers have since rolled outtheir drums for a general striketo express their totaldisappointment.

The leader of the Edo StateHouse of Assembly said youwere confused when youclaimed that the stategovernment was indebted up toN200 billion. What is yourcomment?

My statement was notdirected at the Majority Leader;I made those revelations withevery sense of responsibility.And what I expect from theircamp is for the governor andgovernment to react to what Isaid, not the Majority Leader.

I did not direct the issues atthe Majority leader or the StateHouse of Assembly. Thoseissues were situated at the Ogaof the executive arm ofgovernment.

ASSESSING OSHIOMHOLE

•Orbih: Even workers are now dissapointed

CMYK

VVVVVanguardanguardanguardanguardanguard, MOND, MOND, MOND, MOND, MONDAAAAAYYYYY, , , , , DECEMBER 16,DECEMBER 16,DECEMBER 16,DECEMBER 16,DECEMBER 16, 2013 — 2013 — 2013 — 2013 — 2013 — 47 47 47 47 47

Orbih has turned a comedian– Idah, Edo APC Chairman

•Idah: Oshiomhole has performed well

The issue of Mrs. Joy Ifijieh has been politi-

cized by both the PDP andyour party, the APC. Why?

Well, it is very unfortunatethat the PDP had to politicisea very simple matter. Definite-ly, the Comrade Governor waspushed to the wall. For a gov-ernor that has spent billionsof naira of the peoples’ mon-ey and only gets insults andharassment simply for askingthat people should performtheir civic duties, that is, paytheir taxes and once the tax-es are paid, he deploys themoney positively for the willof the people only for him tosee people blocking the walk-ways, trading on thewalkways, and whatever isleft of their wares they pourinto the gutters, blocking thedrains and thus making theentire city so dirty!

I think that what the gover-nor is trying to do, is to makepeople see reasons. It hasbeen so difficult making thesetraders to see reasons; if youdrive them from one spot,immediately you turn yourback, they are back to thesame spot again. That is notthe best for our society.

They have cried out thatthey have no market stalls butthat is not true. For instance,if you go to the Oba Market,there are so many stalls un-occupied but they will tell youthat they prefer to trade alongthe streets because that iswhere they can easily attractcustomers. And at the end ofthe day, the whole city lookscrazy, dirty and it is thisfrustration that made theComrade Governor to reactthe way he did. I don’t knowwhat he said, but what hesaid is not enough for us tobegin to politicize the issue.

If we must look at the truth,this woman’s husband, Mr.Ifijieh was a policeman, hedied in active service. It is onrecord that the police has notpaid the woman her hus-band’s benefit; if they hadpaid her she would have rent-ed a store somewhere insteadof trading by the roadside. So,the PDP should have askedtheir people why that wom-an’s husband benefits has not

CHIEF Osaro Idah is the Interim state chairman ofthe All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State. Inthis interview, he reviews recent developments inthe state and concludes that the PDP in the state isliving in dreamland.Excerpts

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

been paid? Why the womanbecame a destitute until theComrade Governor came toher rescue by providence be-cause God ordained that to beand that is why that incidenthappened.

How would you assess thecharacter of the ComradeGovernor after his publicapology to the widow?

That is the unique humani-ty in him because it is not ev-ery leader that will do whathe did. Some will just walkaway when they discoveredthat they made mistakes andsay, go to hell. But ComradeOshiomhole is such a humbleperson and he has confessedthat he knows hisbackground, from a humblebackground too, and heknows where the shoe thewoman is wearing pinchesher. So, because of his singu-lar act of apologizing to thewoman, I see him as a greatman, otherwise, some leaderswill keep quiet until the mat-ter fizzles out. He has shownthe man he is by coming outpublicly to apologize to thewoman and I think we shouldcommend him.

Still on the issue of peoplenot obeying government’s di-

Oshiomhole Police has comeagain. Everybody will criticizethem. So, if you want to im-plement rules and laws here,everybody comes out to criti-cize them and in our type ofdemocracy here, every bodyhas become a social crusader.There is a mobile court at-tached to the committee butonce someone is arrested, the

of his background as a labourman, he takes all sorts ofinsults from people and if theCommittee sends one personto the prison, you will besurprised at the criticism thatwould follow. And most ofthese people are not doing itgenuinely and most of thecritics are particularly comingfrom one Senatorial district;because of their quest for thegovernorship of the state inthe future, they don’t see thesocial benefit of the provisionof the social infrastructures.

The PDP has gone to theElection Petition Tribunal onthe outcome of the EsanNorth local governmentelection. How prepared isyour party?

Oh, lovely. We are very, veryready and ready to defend ourcase. We are a party that cameinto government through thejudiciary, canvassed our po-sitions very well and we arenot averse to their going to thecourt.

If they have the facts theyshould present it and we willalso present our facts and thejudiciary will take a positionas to who is right. I cannotcomment further on this, butI can assure you that we areready to defend our case andthe judiciary as an unbiasedumpire will come out with itsdecision.

How would you describethe journey so far in the last

five years of theadministration of ComradeAdams Oshiomhole?

It could not be better. Mybrother, you are here and youknow better how the state wasbefore the coming of the Com-rade Governor into office andtoday you know how the stateis. Is it in the area ofeducation, is it in area of hu-man capital management anddevelopment, and is it in thearea of road construction orelectricity? In all facets of in-frastructural development, Ithink this government hasdone very well, extremelywell and our people appreci-ate this. But our brothers inthe PDP and especially theirstate chairman cut in the garbof a comedian comes everydayon the television and wants tobe seen. Why I say that he isa comic is that when peoplelook at what he is commentingon, they simply shake theirheads and wonder if he isliving in Utopia and not EdoState.

The same PDP State chair-man has accused the govern-ment of indebtedness up tothe tune of N200billion andborrowing money for non-existing projects?

You see in politics, there isone item which they call pro-paganda but propagandamust be defined to what wecall responsible propagandaand irresponsible propagan-da. What my friend is doingis what they call irresponsi-ble propaganda; without get-ting his facts right, withoutdoing investigations, he justcomes out to make allegationsthat the state is owingN200billion. For God’s sake,can the state go the capitalmarket to borrow such fundwithout the federal govern-ment’s approval? Theyshould have gone to the fed-eral government to find out ifthe state owes such an amountof money. They are just in-volving themselves in black-mail and unnecessary propa-ganda and we are not readyfor that. To tell you the truth,the state has not and will notborrow anything near that fig-ure; but again, the state hasthe right to borrow and I amsaying the state has not bor-rowed N200 billion and thisis another way of expressingtheir propaganda. Let me saythis. I don’t know my friend,the chairman to be a smokeror drunkard, but anybody thatsays this must be under influ-ence. It is totally exaggerat-ed and untrue.

rective to stop trading alongthe street s and walkways,don’t you think that a mobilecourt should be set up to tryoffenders?

My brother, our people’sdisobedience to obeying sim-ple instructions is what iscausing this. There is a WarAgainst Indiscipline Commit-tee and a mobile court at-tached to the committee. Itwill surprise you to know thatif Traffic Wardens arrest adriver who violates traffic law,you will hear them saying that

social crusaders will come outto start crucifying them, say-ing, Oshiomhole has comeagain.

It is very unfortunate thatthese social critics travel outof this country and even inLagos State; they obey simpletraffic rules and regulations.They cannot try even in Lagoswhat they are doing in Benin.They cannot spit or eventhrow pieces of papers on thestreets of Lagos, but here,they will say Oshiomhole hasdone this or that. But because

,

,I think this government has done

very well, extremely well and ourpeople appreciate this. But ourbrothers in the PDP and especiallytheir state chairman

ASSESSING OSHIOMHOLE

CMYK


CMYK

50 50 50 50 50 — V— V— V— V— Vanguardanguardanguardanguardanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

BRIEFS

I'm not a Marxist, says Pope Francis

which has thrilledprogressives and alarmedsome conservatives.

Ex-PM wants CAR conflict seen as war

FRENCH and Africanforces intervening

in Central AfricanRepublic must wage waragainst the Selekarebels and not just aimto restore security, aformer prime ministersaid.

Anicet Dologuele,who plans to run forpresident in the nextelection, said interimauthorities needed to domore to prevent theescalation in religiousviolence to help restorethe people’s faith in thecountry’s politicians.

“This is a war. This isnot just a mission todisarm a few who arewilling. This is a war ofFrench forces and theMISCA against theSeleka forces,” he saidon Saturday on thesidelines of the WorldPolicy Conference inMonaco.

“We can’t contentourselves with justremoving their weapons

and saying ‘ciao’,because they will comeback with new weapons.Everything that is anuisance needs to bedestroyed,” he said.

Central African

UN troops find more arms in Congo DR

U.N. peacekeepersfound an arsenal of

weapons, including heavycaliber arms and enoughammunition to last a year,at the site of the last standby M23 rebels in easternDemocratic Republic ofCongo, U.N.peacekeeping chief HerveLadsous said at theweekend.

Congolese troops and theU.N. peacekeepingmission - which includes aunique InterventionBrigade mandated toeliminate armed groups -last month defeated M23,which signed a peace dealwith the Congogovernment on Thursday.

The Tutsi-led M23 rebel

group ended its 20-monthrebellion, the most seriousin Congo in the lastdecade, after Congolesesoldiers and U.N.

peacekeepers, known asMONUSCO, captured itslast hilltop strongholds inChanzu, near theRwandan border.

Bombing overshadows Malian vote

MALIANS beganvoting yesterday

in the second round ofparliamentary electionsintended to cap thenation’s return todemocracy, butovershadowed by thedeaths of two UNpeacekeepers in anIslamist attack.

The polls mark thetroubled west Africannation’s first steps torecovery after it wasupended by a military

coup in March last year,finalising a processbegun with the electionof its first post-conflictpresident in August.

Turnout looked low aspolling stations openedin the capital Bamako,sparking fears thatvoters would be scaredaway by an upsurge inviolence by Al Qaeda-linked rebels againstAfrican troops taskedwith election securityalongside the Malianarmy.

•Michelle Bacheletshows her ballot duringthe run-off election

Two women battle for Chile's presidency

Mussa urges reconciliationbefore Egypt’s referendum

THE head of a panelwhich has drafted a

new Egyptian constitutionurged the government andits Islamist opponentsyesterday to reconcileahead of January’sreferendum on the charter.

The two-day referendumstarting on January 14 isexpected to ratify the newconstitution and usher inelections for a parliamentand president to replacepresident MohamedMorsi, ousted by themilitary in July.

Morsi’s MuslimBrotherhood movement,which has led persistentprotests despite a bloodycrackdown, has yet todecide on whether toboycott the referendum orcampaign for a no vote.

Tunisian parties agree oncompromise PM

TUNISIA’s rulingIslamists and

opposition parties agreedat the weekend to namethe country’s currentindustry minister as primeminister of a caretakertechnocrat cabinet togovern until elections nextyear.

The appointment is thefirst step in an agreementthat will see moderateIslamist party Ennahdahand over power in the

next few weeks to end acrisis that threatenedTunisia’s transition todemocracy after its 2011uprising.

Three years after itsprotests against autocratZine el-Abidine Ben Aliinspired Arab uprisingselsewhere, Tunisia hasbeen struggling toovercome disputes overthe role of Islam in one ofthe Arab world’s mostsecular countries.

Saudi Prince accuses UK of notassisting Syrian opposition

OPPONENTS of Syrianpresident Bashar al-

Assad have been at animpossible disadvantagesince the start of the Syrianconflict because the UnitedStates and Britain refusedto help them, an influentialSaudi Arabian prince saidat the weekend..

The United States and

Britain suspended non-lethal aid to northern Syriaon Thursday after reportsthat Islamic Front - a unionof six major rebel groups -had taken buildingsbelonging to the FreeSyrian Army’s (FSA)Syrian Military Council onthe border with Turkey.

•Pope Francis

Amr Mussa andMohamed Monsur

POPE Francis said heknew a lot of “good”

Marxists but was nocommunist himself,following criticism of hisdiatribes againstunfettered capitalism fromc o n s e r v a t i v ecommentators in theUnited States.

“Marxist ideology iswrong. But in my life Ihave met a lot of Marxistswho are good people, so Ido not feel offended,”Francis said in aninterview with the Italiandaily La Stampa publishedon Sunday.

He said hiscondemnations of theinequality caused by thecurrent global economicsystem were not intendedto be an expert analysisand were only a reiterationof the social doctrine of theCatholic Church.

“That does not meanbeing a Marxist,” he said.

Pope Francis who wasnamed Time magazine’sPerson of the Year, but hehas come under scathingcriticism from a growingnumber of traditionalistCatholics for crackingdown on a religious orderthat celebrates the oldLatin Mass. The case hasbecome a flashpoint in theideological tug-of-wargoing on in the CatholicChurch over Francis’revolutionary agenda,

The matter concerns theFranciscan Friars of theImmaculate, a small but

growing order of severalhundred priests,seminarians and nuns thatwas founded in Italy in 1990as an offshoot of the largerFranciscan order of thepope’s namesake, St.Francis of Assisi.

Then-Pope Benedict XVIlaunched an investigationinto the congregation afterfive of its priestscomplained that the orderwas taking on an overlytraditionalist bent, with theold Latin Mass beingcelebrated more and moreat the expense of theliturgy in the vernacular.

CHILEANS went to thepolls Sunday for a run-

off vote between Socialistformer president MichelleBachelet and conservativeEvelyn Matthei, anunprecedented race for thetop office between twofemale candidates.

Pre-election surveys giveBachelet, who waspresident from 2006-2010,an overwhelming marginof support over Matthei, aneconomist and formerlabour minister.

Voter turnout, however, isa big unknown. While morethan 13 million Chileansare eligible to vote, thisyear’s race marks the firsttime that voting in a

presidential election wasvoluntary.

In the first round onNovember 17, whichresulted with Bacheletwinning 47 percent of thevote to 25 percent forMatthei, more than half ofall voters did not castballots.

Bachelet, the former headof UN Women, expressedconfidence as she cast herballot under the hotsummer sun. “I amconvinced today will be avery important day,” shesaid, echoing remarks fromher closing rally Thursdaythat she could be on thebrink of making history

again.“I had the honour to be

Chile’s first womanpresident, and it will be agreat honour once again tobe the president of everyChilean man and woman,”Bachelet told cheeringsupporters.

Bachelet could draw upto 66 percent of the voteagainst 34 percent forMatthei, according to arecent Universidad deSantiago-Ipsos poll.

Republic (CAR) hasbeen paralyzed bycycles of violence sincemainly Muslim Selekarebels ousted PresidentFrancois Bozize inMarch.

Iran to keep nuclear talks on-going

TEHRAN said yesterdayit will keep talking with

world powers on its disput-ed nuclear programme de-spite a US move to blacklistIranian companies forevading sanctions. “We arepursuing the negotiationsseriously and of course wewill give a well-considered,purposeful, smart andproper reaction to any in-appropriate and uncon-structive move,” ForeignMinister Mohammad Ja-

vad Zarif wrote on his Fa-cebook page.

This was despite theAmericans having made“inappropriate moves towhich we gave the appro-priate response by consid-ering all aspects of the is-sue”. “The negotiations andachieving a result are a dif-ficult task and will definite-ly have a lot of ups anddowns. We have predictedthat from the very begin-ning.”

Thai military sees role in poll

THAILAND’s militaryoffered yesterday to

help the politically polar-ized country hold a “fairand clean” election nextyear, suggesting thearmed forces may play arole in a vote aimed atending protests seekingto topple the government.

The idea was raised ata forum organized by thecaretaker government ofPrime Minister YingluckShinawatra, who lastweek called an election

for February 2 to try todefuse protests targetingher brother, ousted ex-prime minister ThaksinShinawatra, and his in-fluence on Thailand’spolitical system.

The protesters, backedby Bangkok’s elite, haverejected the proposedelection and want to setup a “people’s council”that would eradicate theinfluence of the “Thaksinregime” and introducereforms.

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013—————5151515151

,

,

,

,

Five days that changed a life

BY OKECHUKWU NWOBU

BY SUNNY IKHIOYA

Mandela's nobility and the‘dwarfishness' of theNigerian counterpart

*Mr. Ikhioya, a commentator onnational issues, wrote fromLagos.

*Mr. Nwobu, a pubic affairscommentator, wrote from Lagos.

WATCHING the reports andtributes pouring out from

CNN and other global media, Iwas overwhelmed by the hugeimpact, a simple philosophy of 'humility and forgiveness' can haveon the human race. It was sotouching, to capture the noble traitsof a man, who did not allow thecircumstances of his birth andbackground, diminish hisgreatness.

He worked his way to the top,through a determined struggle forjustice and equity; was preparedto pay the supreme price for hisbelief and indeed, suffered greatlyin the hands of his apartheidoppressors. A man that wasbrutalised for 27 years in prison,came out and forgave all of histraducers; such display could onlybe found in the realm of thespiritual, especially as it concernsthe activities of Jesus Christ.

At the height of his reign aspresident, Mandela wore his garbwith simplicity and nobility; henever failed to acknowledge thefact that the success of the strugglewas a collective one, praising theimpact of his fellow freedomfighters. He will also claim, withhumility, that he was human likeevery one of us and subject to the

usual human frailties.The icing on the cake was his

decision to run for only a term aspresident when no pressure wasbeing put on him to relinquishpower.

For every view Mandelaexpressed, he did according to hisconscience and not what the superpowers want - the Palestinian/ Israelconflict, Gadaffi and Castro - werecases of note.

His carriage highlighted the factthat it is in humility that greatnessis achieved. At his death bed,Mandela was arguably thegreatest, single individual alive,enjoying the status reserved onlyfor cult heroes and spiritualleaders. The turn-out of worldleaders to honour him in death isa testament to this fact.

The world has taken note. Manyleaders - Obama taking the lead -have promised to let Mandela'slegacy guide them but have wetaken note in Nigeria?

Those of us, like Mandela, whocame from poor backgrounds andnow in positions of leadership,with all the perks of power, havewe taken note? That it is not thearrogance or brutish display ofpower that brews greatness butsimplicity and humility?

Those of us who have, throughshort cuts and the aid of

government agents and machinery,found themselves in position ofwealth and captains of industries,have we learnt anything fromMandela? That it is not theamount of money you accumulateor properties you pile up, that willbring you greatness but thesincerity of purpose?

Those of us, who have beenprivileged to enjoy government/community support scholarships,throughout their educationalpursuit and are now in positionsto impart knowledge to up-cominggenerations, have we learnt thatwith the right message, you canachieve greatness and not byintellectual intimidation?

Those of us who have beenfortunate to be pioneers in

our various professional bodies,through the opportunitiesprovided by our society, have welearnt the lessons of sacrifice as

exemplified by Mandela's legacy?It goes on and on.

The legacy of Mandela, whenplaced and put in perspective withhis Nigerian counterpart, dwarfsall of our own combined. It is likecomparing an elephant to an ant.

Why do our leaders perform sobadly? We have always attributedethnic factors as the reason for poorperformance, especiallyleadership at the national level. ButMandela's South Africa is not onlymulti-ethnic but also multi-racial.Mandela was able to unite all ofthese diverse groupings withoutdiminishing himself. He was ableto accomplish this throughleadership of example andselflessness.

The house that Mandela built inhis village is a modest one, herefused the temptation to usegovernment resources, even whenhe was prompted to do so.Everything about him was modest,both in his dress sense and taste.

How many of our presentleadership, especially our politicalclass can come up today and say:"I was offered government moneyto do so and so thing, and I know itis not ethical, therefore, I amturning down the offer".

How many of our members ofthe National Assembly can comeout today and say: "All theseallowances we are getting are notin tune with realities on ground,our people are suffering, let usinstead, channel these funds tomore beneficial projects likeuniversity education projects".How many can come out to say:"This foreign tour we areembarking on will not add anyvalue to our legislative abilities

and so the money should bechannelled to-say-youthempowerment"?

How many of our presentministers, can come out and say:"Look, the cars in my garage aretoo many, I do not need more thantwo, send the remaining ones to thepool"? How many of them can dothis?

Can our President come out andsay: "look, I do not need more thanone or two aircraft for officialbusiness, the rest should be sent tothe fleet of our soon-to-beestablished national carrier". Canhe?

Why can't they do it likeMandela? It lies in the nature ofman - selfish, wicked and brutish.Man's character is only temperedby culture and culture is theaggregate of what a society wantsor live by.

If a society is the lazy kind, withno desire for struggle and onlywaiting for miracles to happen, itwill continue to produce suchleadership like the ones we havenow at all levels of government.On the other hand, if a society isconscious of the dignity of fellowcitizens and what is sacred to theover all interest, it will resist theimposition of deviant leaders.

We have been a spoon-fed society.It is time for us to come to therealisation of what is expected ofus, when we do that, our leaderswill sit up. For now, they will beplaced in the categories of dwarfs,when discussions are centred onthe likes of Nelson Mandela andtheir contributions to mankind.

FIVE days in the life of mortals is a verytrivial amount of time but so

much could happen within that seeminglyminiscule speck of time to change thedirection of our lives for good. Coming upagainst her state governor, Mrs Ifijeh’sworld had considerably buckled onNovember 28 but by the end of that day, itmust have been clear to her that she was notalone. She may never have heard ofYouTube or social media network or whatit means but at the end of that first or secondday, she would have realised that with theEdo State PDP announcing a donation ofN250, 000 and people she does not knowand will never meet asking to know how todonate money to her, that her encounterwith Governor Oshiomhole would have apositive ending for her. Her cries andpleading tugged at hearts, including that ofGod and it worked miracles. It reminds meof the Word of God that‘Weeping mayendure for a night, but joy cometh in themorning,’ as it did for Mrs Joy Ifijeh.

We tend to believe that miracles happenonly when the blind see and the deaf hearbut I now know that when we all rise up asthe people did for this widow, we causemiracles to happen, move physical, mentaland emotional mountains. GovernorOshiomhole’s act of restitution is sufficientproof that we can and it changed the life ofMrs Ifijeh and those of her children forgood.

We all know that when God wants to blessus, we will not wake up in the morning andfind millions of Naira on our beds; instead,God engineers the right circumstances andpersons to come into our lives. I recall onechurch service in House on the Rockchurch, Lagos, when they were still atMUSON Center. That Sunday morning,about four, five years ago, the first serviceuncharacteristically ended quite early andPastor Paul Adefarasin found himself withabout 15 to 20 minutes to deal with. Helooked around casually and focused on a

drummer in the Church choir and told thecongregation that the drummer waspreparing for his wedding. Pastor Paul thenwalked down memory lane, recountinghow faithful that drummer had been andannounced he would support the weddingwith,if I remember correctly N200, 000 orN250, 000. Then Pastor Paul asked thecongregation to join him in supporting thedrummer’s wedding because he wantedeverything taken care of and for him andhis bride to just show up at the wedding, sealand begin their marital union. And many inthe congregation lined up to financiallysupport this drummer’s wedding. Hadchurch service run down the clock as isusually the case, that drummer’s weddingwould not have become an issue thatmorning. That day, I could not helpthinking that God had engineeredeverything that Sunday morning just tofavour that drummer.

This is why when I recall the analysis ofMaupe Ogun on Channels Television’sSunrise Daily programme of what happenedthat day between Governor Oshionmoleand Mrs Ifijeh with the video footage tosupport it, I believe the Hosts of Heavenorchestrated events and conspired tochange her life and Governor Oshiomholewas an instrument in God’s hands becauseGod wanted to bless MrsIfijeh. The videoclip we have all watched endlessly showedclearly that as Maupe Ogun pointedout,Mrs Ifijehcould not have been hawkinggoods on the street as widely speculatedbecause her wares were in cartons andbags, neatly arranged like she was waitingfor a commercial vehicle to take her to herdestination. Social media connected all ofus and people wanted to know how todonate money to her as a result of thatencounter with Governor Oshiomholebecause we shared her pain and cried withher. The Bible tells us that:“Eye has notseen, nor ear heard, nor have entered intothe heart of man the things which God hasprepared for those who love Him.” True tothese Words of God, I believe Mrs.Ifijeh

never saw, heard or imagined any of thepositive dramatic things that happened toher life after her encounter with GovernorOshiomhole.

Like in the case of the Biblical Josephwho was sold into slavery and

went to prison for a crime he did notcommit, the circumstances engineered byGod may sometimes be very inconvenient.While Mrs Ifijeh wept, knelt and pleadedwith Governor Oshiomhole, she wasoblivious of the cameras recording hermoment of utmost anguish but it was allpart of God’s plan for her. Think about it,how come a woman who was not hawkingon the street was ‘apprehended’ by no otherthan her state governor and her lifechanged dramatically from a very troublingexperience from which at the time ithappened, she saw no possibility ofrestitution? It is even possible that as sheheaded to Government House five dayslater to meet with Governor Oshiomhole,she thought her situation would take a turnfor the worse with arrest and the prison keysthrown away.

Governor Oshiomole is a man given tomaking mistakes like all men but with thecourage to say, “I am sorry,” and I think ithas made it easier for some of us to usethose three powerful words to ask forforgiveness from those we have offended. Isuspect too that it is not only the life of MrsIfijeh that has changed but also those of

Governor Oshiomhole. Many parents andchildren who heard Governor Oshiomholesay publicly that his children had alsopitched in to tell him he got it wrong, to dothe right thing and he did. GovernorOshiomhole gave MrsIfijeh N2 million,instant employment and scholarship forher son but most importantly his apologyadded much more to the moral wealth ofthe nation.

Governor Oshiomhole’s words of apologyspoken face-to-face with Mrs Ifijeh andwidespread acceptance shows in graphicways the kind of redemption that comeswith asking for forgiveness, because a hugechunk of aggrieved people accepted himback as one of their own, a prodigal soncoming back home.

I want to add that it is easier for so manyto forgive Governor Oshiomhole becausehe is known to be working very hard andeffectively to transform Edo State and hisverbal bomb does not and should not definewho he is. It is not the size of a man or thesize of his political party, it is the size of hisheart and humanity in him that matters themost. Governor Oshiomhole stumbledvery, very badly but landed firmly on hisfeet because of his acts of contrition, a suresign of the size of his heart. He has left MrsIfijeh better than he met her and it isreflective of the size of the humanity in him.

I am sure God is not done yet with MrsIfijeh and I will not be surprised if she andher children spend Christmas withGovernor Oshiomhole and his children inGovernment House, Benin City as friendsof the Oshiomole family. I will equally notbe surprised if Africa’s richest man, AlikoDangote rightly makes Mrs Ifijeh adistributor of his many products like flour,noodles and tetra packed drinks.

The danger is that from this time,anytime Governor Oshiomole goes out oninspection, market women will rush outwith their wares to the road, hoping that theGovernor will stop, seize their goods,unchain the cutting edge of his tongue andhope that it will become a fast-track ticketto breakfast with the Governor andmillions of Naira.

Mandela's SouthAfrica is not onlymulti-ethnic butalso multi-racial;Mandela was ableto unite all ofthese diversegroupings withoutdiminishinghimself

GovernorOshiomhole gave MrsIfijeh N2 million,instant employmentand scholarship forher son but mostimportantly hisapology added muchmore to the moralwealth of the nation

CMYK


CMYK

54 — Vanguard, MONDAY DECEMBER 16, 2013

CRISTIANO Ronaldo might be

favoured to win worldsoccer’s prestigious Bal-lon D’Or, but the Portu-guese forward says he isnot sure if he will attendthe awards ceremony.

The Real Madrid starhas told Europa Pressagency “there are stillsome days to go. I amstill talking about it withthe club and I will see ifI go”.

Ronaldo was speakingat the opening of a mu-seum in his honour onhis home island of Ma-

THE Borussia Dort-mund striker feels that

the Frenchman should berecognised for his superiorwork-rate and the role heplayed in Bayern Munich’streble triumph.

Robert Lewandowski be-lieves that Franck Riberywould be a more deservingrecipient of this year’s FIFABallon d’Or than CristianoRonaldo.

The pair have been short-listed for the prestigiousprize along with Barcelonasuperstar Lionel Messi, whois bidding for his fifth titlein a row.

However, many punditssuspect that it will be astraight fight between Rib-ery and Ronaldo, and Le-wandowski feels that theFrance winger has the edgeon account of his superiorwork-rate and treble successwith Bayern Munich lastseason. “I’d vote for Ribery,”the Borussia Dortmundstriker told PrzeglademSportowym.

“Cristiano Ronaldo’s sta-tistics are impressive - indi-vidually, he’s doing greatthings and setting newrecords. “However, Riberyoffers more in defensive ar-eas and helps the team alot all over the pitch. Andlast season he won every-thing there was to win.”

Ronaldo unsure of attendingBallon Dior

•Ronaldo •Ribery

Lewandowski: Ribery deserves Ballond’Or more than Ronaldo

deira.He is having an out-

standing year and istipped to end LionelMessi’s four-year run ofclaiming the award andbeat out fellow finalistFranck Ribery when thewinner is announced onJanuary 13.

He says “it is only atrophy - we’ll see whathappens”.

In October, FIFA Pres-ident Sepp Blatter saidhe preferred Messi,while making fun ofRonaldo’s attitude andhaircut.

FOLLOWING Saturday’s 6-3 victory

over Premier Leagueleaders Arsenal,Fernandinho has insistedCity should fear nobody.

Fernandinho feels Cityhave now proved they canbeat anyone after their 6-3 thrashing of PremierLeague leaders Arsenal.

City moved within threepoints of the Gunners atthe top of the standingsas they tore into ArseneWenger’s men at the Eti-had Stadium, maintain-ing their free-scoringform and 100 per homerecord in some style.

Coming just four daysafter a victory over Euro-

Fernandinho: City can beat anyone!

pean champions BayernMunich, it was anotherperformance which sentout a strong statement

about City’s ambitions.Midfielder Fernandin-

ho was at the heart ofmost of City’s good play,capping a man-of-the-match display with hisfirst two goals since his£30million move fromShakhtar Donetsk.

The Brazilian said: “Iam really happy to scoretwice but it is not justabout the goals, (it’sabout) the performance ofthe team.

“We showed we are agreat team, a very goodteam. We showed we canbeat any team. Weshowed very good foot-ball. The performancewas incredible.

•Fernandinho

LIVERPOOL surgedback up to second in

the Premier League tableafter producing a pulsatingperformance to thrash Tot-tenham Hotspur 5-0 atWhite Hart Lane.

Brendan Rodgers’ sidemade light of the absenceof injured captain StevenGerrard as the irrepressibleLuis Suarez scored a goalin each half and the im-pressive Jordan Hendersonalso weighed in with agoal. The Reds had alreadyhad a couple of shouts fora penalty when Suarezgave his team the lead on18 minutes with his 16thleague goal of the season.

Philippe Coutinho hit the

Rampant Reds smash Spurs

bar in between Hugo Llor-is twice denying Suarez asLiverpool were rampantand the second goal arrivedfive minutes before half-time when Hendersonscored at the second at-tempt.

Spurs midfielder Paulin-ho was sent off on 63 min-utes for catching Suarez inthe ribs and Liverpoolcapped a humiliating after-noon for their hosts withthree goals in the last 15minutes.

•Suarez in ecstatic mood.

VanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardCLASSIFIED

OKEKE—I, formerly

know an addressed as

Christiana Okeke, now

which to be known an

addressed as

Christiana Okafor. All

former documents

remain valid. General

public please take note.

OKIKI—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Okiki ErheriadaElohor, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs. ElohorOghenerioborue Patrick.All former documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

O J O G B A N E — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissLadi Ojogbane, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Ladi Okpe. All formerdocuments remainvalid. Federal Ministryof Science &Technology andgeneral public pleasetake note.

A M O M A N — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissOmasanjuwa MargretAmoman, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Omasanjuwa MargretOyediran. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

GODWIN—I, formerlyknown and addressed asMr. Alexander Godwin,now wish to be knownand addressed as Mr.Okereke AlexanderChukwuma. All formerdocuments remain valid.UBA, Corporate AffairsCommission, UkaroConcept Company andgeneral public pleasetake note.

AGALI —I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss EvangelOzioma Agali, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Evangel OziomaOkoye. All formerdocuments remainvalid. Skye Bank Plcand general publicplease take note.

OYAMEDA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss RebeccaOyameda, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Rebecca Amromanoh.All former documentsremain valid. UBA Plcand general publicplease take note.

OKEY-OKOJI—I,formerly known andaddressed as MissUzoma Joyce Okey-Okoji, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs. Uzoma JoyceObi Obanye. Allformer documentsremain valid.University of Port-Harcourt and generalpublic please takenote.

I B E A G W A — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissJoy IfeyinwaIbeagwa, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Joy IfeyinwaAnyigbo. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

GIRIKPA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Girikpa SeibeOluwadare, now wishto be known andaddressed asWilliams SeibeOluwadare. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

ANEKE—I, formerlyknown and addressed asMiss Aneke ChinyereDoris, now wish to beknown and addressed asMrs. Chigbo ChinyereDoris. All formerdocuments/certificatesremain valid.Organisations andgeneral public pleasetake note.

LANA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss AbosedeAdeola Lana, now wishto be known andaddressed as Mrs.Elizabeth AbosedeAdeola Omotosho. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

E Z I E C H I — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissBlessing UgochiEziechi, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Blessing UgochiChinedu. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

N W A N K W O — I ,formerly known andaddressed as NwankwoRaphael Ikechukwu,now wish to be knownand addressed as UdefiRaphael Ikechukwu. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

OSO—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Oso OluwabunmiOluwaseun Elizabeth,now wish to be knownand addressed asBabatunde PetersO l u w a b u n m iOluwaseun Elizabeth.All former documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

OCHIBA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas PatienceOcheinehi Ochiba,now wish to be knownand addressed asMrs. PatienceOcheinehi George.All former documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takesnote.

01- 8737025

ADVERTHOTLINE

YOU CAN B O O K Y O U R A D V E RT S AT OU RL A G O S I S L A N D O F FI C E — VA N G U A R D

M E D I A L I M I T E D ( L A G O S O F F I C E ) K I O S K4 8 E A S T PAV I L I O N T B S , L A G O S .

VANGUARD'S LAGOS OFFICE

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY DECEMBER 16, 2013 — 55

Emenike

Akhisar Belediyesporon Friday.

And Emenike believesif he is to prove he is oneof the best strikers inAfrica he has to show itat the World Cup in Bra-zil.

“Next year will be a bigone for the Super Eaglesbecause the World Cupis football’s biggeststage,” Emenike toldBBC Sport.

“Brazil is that placewhere I hope to makemy mark and prove my-self as a striker that canperform at major tourna-ments.

“I will be doing every-thing for the team as usu-al. I am confident as ateam Nigeria will bestronger in Brazil.

Emenike is also deter-mined to shine at club

CHAN•Continued from BP

Solomon Kwambe,Gambo Mohammed,Benjamin Francis andAzubuike Egwuekwe aresure of shirts as Keshimade it clear that only thefittest and the best asshown in training andpractice matches will bepicked for the tourna-ment.

The team will from to-day train twice daily asbattle for the final squadto the 2014 CHAN gath-ers momentum.

The home-based Eaglestrained once a day lastweek, but coach Stephen

•Continued from BP

Cardiff City, PeterWhittingham headedhome the winner in the65th minute to condemnWest Brom to a fourthconsecutive defeat andend Steve Clarke’s ten-ure as manager at theHawthorns.

Odemwingie cameclose to scoring as hisfree-kick forced a finesave from Boaz Myhillinside the opening 10minutes.

The 32-year-old waslively on the night and

Odemwingie also had a valid penaltyappeal turned down byHoward Webb, after aWest Brom player ap-peared to pull his shirtwhen he was about totake a decisive finaltouch inside the box.

The Nigeria interna-tional was taken off forBo-Kyung Kim in the90th minute, with thegame already won.

The win lifted CardiffCity up to 14th place onthe English PremierLeague table with 17points from 16 games,while West Bromslumped to 16th placewith 14 points from thesame number of games.


first half.On 50 minutes,

Okaeme broke deadlockbefore Sunday strength-ened the lead 60 secondslater. Uchechi completedher hat-trick with strikesin the 76th and 86th

Falconetsminutes to seal victory ingrand style.

However, Nigeriacoach Peter Dedevbowas the least convincedabout the striking abili-ties of his team despitethe huge scoreline.

“I am very disappoint-ed in my team; theycould have played bet-ter. The Tunisians arenot a bad side and wehave to work on ourloopholes before the sec-ond leg,” he told themedia in a post-matchinterview.

The return leg will takeplace in a fortnight inTunis with the winneradvancing to the finalround of the continentalqualifiers.

Two teams will repre-sent Africa at the 2014FIFA U-20 Women’sWorld Cup scheduled for5-24 August in Canada.

second period the Nige-rian team showed theirclass as they scored 3goals in 5 minutes tosend their teeming sup-porters into a wild fren-zy.

Senegal pulled oneback to make the score4-2. But the Nigeriansrestored their two-goaladvantage through themost valuable player,Abu.

Supersand



level in Turkey.“With Fenerbahce

there’s confidence in thesquad. We think we cando something good thisseason by winning theTurkish League title.

“We are top of theleague, we lead theteam in second by elev-en points but we are inDecember and can’t re-lax.”

Nigeria have beendrawn in Group F at the2014 World Cup along-side Argentina, just asthey were in 2010.

The Super Eagles willface Iran before takingon Bosnia-Herzegovinaand will finish againstArgentina in a bid toreach the last 16, whichthey achieved in both1994 and 1998.

“Every player is look-ing to the World Cup. Ithink we’ve got everychance of doing better

than our previous out-ings,” said Emenike.

“We’ve gone unbeatenin Africa in two yearsand the players know wecan use that as a bigmotivation to do well inBrazil.

The three-time Africanchampions have not wona match at the WorldCup since beating Bul-garia in 1998, which isthe last time the SuperEagles made it to theknock-out stages.

But the Fenerbahcestriker is confident theywill travel to the SouthAmerican country withthe hope of changingthat trend.

“This is a big chancefor us. Our fans arehopeful and everyone issolidly behind us, so wecan do it first by gettingout of the group. Afterthat we can then take itstep by step.”

Keshi said there was lit-tle time left to prune downthe present squad from30 players to 23, hencethe need to intensifytraining and get the bestout of the players in camp.

It’s expected that by theend of the week the teamwould have been pruneddown in preparation fordeparture to South Africain the first week of Janu-ary.

The team have also shift-ed their training site fromthe FIFA Goal Project are-na to the training pitch ofthe Abuja National Stadi-um, to get used to natu-ral turf which organisersof CHAN 2014 will usefor the tournament.

ONE time tennisqueen Rolake

Olagbegi Kassim haslost her mum, Mrs Eu-nice Olagbegi, one ofthe wives of the late ObaOf Owo Olateru Olag-begi.

Eunice Passed on justas Rolake joined herhusband in the burialrites of her mother in-law last Tuesday. Sameday, former ace sportswriter Dan Ikpecukwulost his darling wife,Chinwe in far away At-lanta, Georgia, USA.

Eunice was 85 andChinwe just over 40.

“It’s devastating,” Dansobbed over the death ofhis wife who will be bur-ied in Nigeria beforeend of February, 2014

Rolake Olagbegi’smum passes on asIkpechuikwu loseswife

THE National YouthGames which de-

buted last week in Abujahave ended with CrossRivers State as the over-all winner, Akwa Ibom asthe first runner up, andDelta as the second run-ner up.

Speaking at the closingceremony, the SportsMinister, Bolaji Abdulla-hi, urged Nigerians notto see the event, consist-ing of fourteen games, as

NYG 2013: 370 new talents discovered — Ministera medal event but anevent for talent discovery.

“The game is not aboutmedals but to provide theplatform for athletes todemonstrate their poten-tials. We have witnessedthe spirit of sportsamongst people at thelength and breadth of thiscountry. We have seenyoung people compete in14 sports ,” the ministersaid.

Abdullahi also said that

over 300 fresh talentswere discovered.

“I have been told thatmore than 370 talentswere discovered, a dem-onstration of why it isgood to work togetherwith a common objective.We are excited about thedetermination and thetrue spirit of sportsman-ship that all athletes dis-played throughout theevent. Important lessonshave been learnt and webelieve that the next onewould be a lot better.”

The minister assuredNigerians that all the fed-erations were ready towork with the new talentsthat were discovered.

“Already the federationsare ready to invite the tal-ents discovered into theirgames to prepare for thenext Olympics. You maynot see them competingimmediately at the nextcommonwealth gamesbut some of them willsurely rise later.” •Semi-final male volleyball event of the first National Youth Games between

teams FCT (White) and Abia in Abuja.

BY SOLOMONNWOKE

THE main auditorium of the Samson

Siasia Stadium in Yane-goa is wearing a new lookas it hosts this year’s Gov-ernor Dickson SeriakeWrestling Classic whichbegan yesterday andruns through December21st.

About 400 wrestlersfrom across the nation arevying for honours in thisyear’s classic which dou-bles as the end of the yearchampionship and com-petition for the selectionof the country’s represen-tatives in the 2014 Com-monwealth Games inGlasgow, Scotland. The

400 wrestlers for Gov Seriake Classicclassic

Speaking with SportsVanguard, the Presidentof the Nigeria WrestlingFederation (NWF), DrDaniel Igali, said allhands are on deck tomake this year’s event acolourful one because ofits importance in the fed-eration’s calendar.

Dr Igali said the Seri-ake Classic would attracthigh profile sports digni-taries like Minister ofSports and Chairman ofthe National Sports Com-mission (NSC), Hon. Bo-laji Abdullahi, the presi-dent of the Nigeria Olym-pic Committee, Engr SaniNdanusa, Chairman ofthe Commonwealth Wres-tling Association, JosipMrcosl as well as theGovernor of the state,Dickson Seriake and hisentire cabinet

An elated President ofNWF enthused that theClassic promises to be amemorable one the wres-tlers as there would becash prizes for the first,second and their placewinners apart from theoverall all winners tro-phy.

•Dr Igali

CMYK

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-8944295. Advert Dept: 01-7924470;Hotline: 01-8737028; Abuja: 09-2341102, 09-2342704. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Advert:[email protected]

Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: MIDENO BAYAGBON. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

How to Play Sudoku

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line canhave two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (alsonine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within abold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1through 9. This means that no number can appear twicein any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, divisionor multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

YESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSTODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLE

Sudoku

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

VANGUARD,VANGUARD,VANGUARD,VANGUARD,VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013 MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013 MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013 MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013 MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

Across1 Cease (4)4 Weep (3)6 Irritation (4)8 Uproar (6)9 Excursion (6)10 Novel (3)12 Pulsate (5)14 Stream (5)15 Canoe (5)18 Respect (6)20 Introduce (6)24 Giant (5)26 Utter (5)28 Showy (5)30 Encountered (3)32 Courteous (6)33 Beg (6)34 Present (4)35 Fixed (3)36 Sketched (4)

Down2 Veracity (5)3 Incite (7)4 Observed (4)5 Gust (4)6 Bury (5)7 Frankness (7)11 Epoch (3)12 Hill (3)16 Lever (3)16 Still (3)17 Equipment (3)19 Burst (7)21 Horse (3)22 Broke (7)23 Attempt (3)25 Wrath (3)27 Living (5)29 Hang (5)30 Muddle (4)31 Acid (4)

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

Across: 2, Civil 7, Shear 8, Voter 10, Box-er 12, Led 13, Basin 15, Massage 17,Opened 19, Vat 20, Delayed 23, Seem 25,Rise 26, Dappled 30, Sea 31, Detest 34,Robotic 37, Array 38, Don 39, Rifle 40,Heart 41, Enter 42, Beard.

Down: 1, Cheap, 2 Cabin 3, Ironed 4, Item5, Bolster 6, Wedge 9, Tea 11, Ravaged 13,Boast 14, Sewed 16, Say 18, Despair 21,Diver 22, Hefty 24, Masonry 27, Pet 28,Dealer 29, Rodeo 32, Trend 33, Saver 35,Boa 36, Cite

IN FLIGHT: Emenike eyes Brazil 2014 glory.

Continues on Page 55

NIGERIA strikerE m m a n u e l

Emenike has outlinedhis ambition to achievesuccess at club and in-ternational level in2014.

Emenike was joint-topscorer when Nigeriawon the Africa Cup ofNations in South Africain February and scoredthree goals as theysealed a place at nextyear’s World Cup in Bra-zil.

At club level, hescored his sixth goal ofthe season in Fener-bahce’s 4-0 thrashing of

2014 World Cup: I’ll prove myworth in Brazil — Emenike

OSAZE Odemwingie had the last

laugh after being booedby the travelling WestBrom supporters inCardiff City’s 1-0 winover his former employ-ers.

After a winless streakof five matches for

Odemwingielaughs last


NIGERIA thrashedTunisia 4-0 on

Saturday in the first legof the second round ofthe 2014 FIFA Women’sU-20 World Cup qualifi-er in Abuja.

Striker Uchechi Sun-day netted a hat-trickwhilst Patience HelenOkaeme was also on tar-

Falconets pound Tunisia 4-0get to give the Falconetsa resounding victoryahead of the second legin a fortnight.

A spectacular secondhalf performance fromthe Nigerians saw themunlock the Tunisian de-fence which remainedimpregnable during theContinues on Page 55

SUPER Eaglescoach, Stephen

Keshi has left his play-ers guessing on who canmake the final cut in the

CHAN: Keshi leaves Eagles guessing23-man squad for theAfrican Nations Cham-pionships holding inSouth Africa.

At the moment not

even the establishedplayers like ChigozieAgbim, Sunday Mba,

Continues on Page 55•Keshi

crowd including formerFIFA Executive Commit-tee who was also the DGof the National SportsCommission, Dr AmosAdamu saw the Nigeri-an who won last year’stournament scoring thefirst goal through Cap-tain Isiaka Olawale inthe opening minute ofthe first period. But theSenegalese respondedin a quickfire mannerthrough their captainNdiaye Diame to silencethe partisan homecrowd.

On resumption of the

Supersand Eagles retain Copa Lagos


BY JOHN EGBOKHAN

SUPERSAND Ea-gles yesterday de-

feated Senegal 5-2 towin the 2013 Copa La-gos Beach Soccer Cham-pionships in Eko Atlan-tic.

The final which waswatched by a packed

•Odemwingie

CMYK

call for impeachment: you're toying with treason, jonathan warns apc

Documents