immigration tragedy:labour, nhrc demand sack of moro, nis boss

Sanusi hits back as FGplans to probe him

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 62101

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014**

Mr & Mrs

COLUMNIST:

•P.17

LES LEBA

Labour, NHRC demandsack of Moro, NIS boss

Continues on page 8

•P.40

From left: Engr. Tom Allen, Chief Operating Officer; Dr. ErnestAzudialu Obiejesi, Chairman, both of Smile CommunicationsNigeria Limited and Mr. Kamar Abass, Managing Director,Ericsson Nigeria at a special press conference announcingrollout of 4G broadband internet services by Smile Communi-cations, in Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

IMMIGRATION TRAGEDY:

TRAGEDY: Interior Minister, Abba Moro, with one of the victims of Nigeria Immigration Service aptitude test tragedy, atthe National Hospital, Abuja, yesterday.

10

National Confab: FG insists onno-go areas 15

By INNOCENT ANABA,VICTOR AHIUMA-

YOUNG,JOHNBOSCOAGBAKWURU&

VICTORIA OJEME

OUTRAGED byweekend's tragedy

which claimed at least 16job applicants, includingfour pregnant women whoturned up for the aptitudetest for employment into theNigeria Immigration Serv-ice at various centres acrossthe federation, National

•It will be better to be alive and remain unemployed than todie unemployed — Survivor

•P.11Mass burial for Kaduna attack victims

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014 — 3

POCKET CARTOON8—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014

Continues from page 1

RECEPTION: From left: Kwara State Interim Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Hon. Ishola BalogunFulani; former Minister of Sports, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi; Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State; Speaker,Kwara State House of Assembly, Hon. Rasaz Atunwa and Deputy Speaker, Prof. Mohammed Gana Yisa during areception in honour of the former minister at Government House, Ilorin, weekend.

Human RightsCommission Chairmanand 54 other eminentNigerians as well as labourunions, yesterday, calledfor the resignation of theMinister of Interior, Mr.Abba Moro andComptroller General of Im-migration, Mr DavidParradang.

Former Presidentialcandidate in 1993 generalelections, Alhaji BashirTofa, Malam Nasirel-Rufai, former FTCMinister; Dr. ChidiOdinkalu, Chairman, Gov-erning Council of theNational Human Rights

Commission; Ayo Obe,former President, CivilLiberties Organisation and53 others, said in a jointstatement in Abuja, “OnMarch 15, thousands ofjob-seekers attendedjob-seeking examinationsorganised by the NIS, indifferent centres in Nigeriato fill 4,556 vacancies.

“The ministry and theNIS had compelled eachjob-seeker, as an eligibilitycondition for participatingin this hire process, to payN1,000. There is noevidence that these sumswere remitted to theFederation Account asrequired by law. In most

places, these job-seekingexaminations took place instadia, suggesting that theorganisers anticipatedlarge turn outs.Inexplicably, they failed tomake adequate or anyarrangements for crowdmanagement and control.

“At different centresaround the country,including Abuja, Benin,Kano, Minna, andPort-Harcourt, manyjob-seekers, includingpregnant mothers, werekilled and lots more wereinjured in stampedescaused by grosslynegligent and uncaringground arrangements.This tragedy was needless,foreseeable, andavoidable. The failures ofthe Ministry of the Interiorand NIS to adequatelymanage the process andsafeguard the safety andsecurity of the jobseekersis inexcusable. The deathsthat resulted from thesefailures, therefore, wereunlawful. If the lives ofNigerians mean anything,the leadership andmanagement teams in theMinistry of the Interior andthe NIS must be held toaccount for these deaths.

“In his reaction to thedeaths, Moro accused thevictims of 'impatience,'claiming that the deathsresulted because 'they didnot follow the laid downprocedures spelt out tothem before the exercise.'The effort by the ministerresponsible for citizenshipin Nigeria to blame thevictims rather than take re-sponsibility shows a callousdisregard for the lives ofNigerians incompatiblewith his high Ministerialbrief. It brings publicservice into disrepute.

"In the circumstances, wethe undersigned, ascitizens of Nigeria,respectfully demand thatMoro; and the Controller-General of Immigration,

Mr. Parradang, beimmediately relieved oftheir positions. TheAttorney-General of theFederation and theInspector-General of Policetogether with theDirector-General of StateSecurity, should launch ajoint criminal investigationinto the deaths of thesejobseekers. Anindependent audit shouldimmediately be institutedinto the monies made bythe Ministry and the NISfrom the job seekers andcriminal investigationsshould be commenced asappropriate.

Problem of youthunemployment

“Government shoulddemonstrate a readiness toaddress the problem ofyouth unemployment as anational security prioritythrough a partnershipinvolving the agriculturalsector, public sector,private sector, voluntarysector, and multi-laterals.To the families across thecountry bereaved as aresult of these and other ongoing challenges in ourcountry, we take this oppor-tunity to transmit heartfeltcondolences and pray forthe peaceful repose of thesouls of our deceasedbrothers and sisters.”

The multitudes ofapplicants who came forthe test were said to haveoverwhelmed both the co-ordinators and the securitypersonnel a situation thatdegenerated intostampede. In Abuja, eightpersons were reporteddead while in Niger State,three persons died. InRivers State four personswere said to have diedeven as one person diedin Benin. Many otherswere also injured and wererushed to hospitals just asoriginal certificates of manyof the applicants were lost

during the stampede.Amidst condemnations of

the incident from thelabour, the Senate,Speaker of the House ofRepresentatives and the AllProgressives Congress,APC, some families of thosewho died during theexercise besieged theNational Hospitalyesterday demanding theimmediate release ofcorpses of their relative forburial according toreligious rites.

Among the dead was oneMiss Oyiza Yusuf, amother of one. Accordingto Oyiza's brother, Engr.Mohammed Hakeem, "Iwas informed of my sister'sdeath and I came to verify.I regretted that my sisterwho was defrauded lastyear of N150,000 for thesame job had to finally paywith her life. A situationwhere people were madeto suffer and die for jobsthat probably have beenallocated to the children ofhighly placed individuals,is lamentable, thegovernment should besensitive to the plight ofordinary Nigerians.".

Vanguard investigationsat the National Hospital,yesterday, revealed that ofthe 40 injured brought infor treatment only 11 are stillon admission. Thehospital's Head ofInformation, Mr TaiwoHaastrup said "out of theforty persons that werebrought in with differentinjuries, many have beendischarged and onlyeleven persons are still onadmission, and are doingvery well."

Stampede at Elekahiastadium

In Port Harcourt, some ofthose who survived thestampede recounted theirexperiences describing itas horrible. Blessing Uzorand Chinemen Isaac whowere recuperating atBraithwaite MemorialSpecialist Hospital,BMSH, and GloryHospital Ogbunabali saidthe stampede at theElekahia stadium wascaused by the directive of

the immigration officers toforce applicants to squat.Uzor who wasrecuperating atBraithwaite MemorialSpecialist Hospital saidshe could recall when someMilitary officers told themto squat on the floor whichlater led to disaster whenthose standing at their backfell on them.

She said, "The only thingI can remember now iswhen Army officers whowere assisting theImmigration officers or-dered some of us to squatand while we were doingthat a crowd of candidateswere standing at our back.Five minutes later thecrowd fell on us, and thatis the only thing I can tellyou now. I regained myconsciousness at 4:45 amon Sunday, that was whenI started to ask about mybag and other writingmaterials I took to therecruitment exercise, Ithank God that I can talknow."

Also at Glory Hospital,Isaac, who is stillstruggling with the shocktold Vanguard that it willbe better to be alive andremain unemployed thanto die unemployed. Hiswords: "I didn't know whenthey fell on me, I wassquatting as directed byofficers, because they weresharing question papersand some persons wantedto grasp it when it was notyet their turn, that was whythe Army came to maintainorderliness. The next thingthat happened was thatsome people startedpushing to make way forthemselves and they fell ontop of one another. About15 persons were on top me,I was later rushed toBMSH but later my parentcame and took me away towhere I am now.

Responding, Mr. AbangBisong, the PublicRelations Officer, PRO,Nigeria ImmigrationService, Port Harcourtcommand, said it is untruethat the order for someapplicants to squat led todeath of five persons. Heexplained that there was

Labour, NHRC demand sack of Moro, NIS boss

Continues on page 47

The more you see yourself as what you’d like tobecome, and act as if what you want is already there,the more you’ll activate those dormant forces thatwill collaborate to transform your dream into yourreality —Wayne W. Dyer

Let go of your need to have more. The languageof the ego is more. It is never satisfied. No matterhow much you achieve or acquire, your ego willinsist that it isn’t enough, you find yourself in aperpetual state of striving, and eliminate the possi-bility of ever arriving. Yet in reality, you alreadyhave arrived and how you choose to use this presentmoment of your life is your choice.

Ironically, when you stop needing more, more ofwhat you desire seems to arrive in your life. Sinceyou are detached from the need for it, you find iteasier to pass it along to others, because you real-ise how little you need in order to be satistified andat peace.

The universal source is content with itself, con-stantly expanding and creating new life, never try-ing to hold on to its creation for its own selfishmeans. It creates and let go. As you let go of ego’sneed to have more, you unify with that source. Youcreate, attract to yourself, and let it go, never de-manding that more come your way.

As an appreciation for all that shows up, you learnthe powerful lesson that St Francis of Assisi thought"“...It is in giving that we receive.”

By allowing abundance to flow to and throughyou, you’ll match up with your source and guaran-tee that this energy will continue to flow.

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

A dreamer is one who can only find his way bymoonlight and his punishment is that he sees thedawn before the rest of the world—Oscar Wilde.

Always have a way to look ahead.


KIDNAP:I atebiscuits for10 days,says freedlawmaker

Pipeline vandals engagepolice in shootout

BY PETER OKUTU

Ex-council boss kidnapped in Ebonyi church

BY EVELYN USMAN

SEIZED:Vandals'boatsloaded withjerry cans.INSET:AbbeyDaniel,arrestedsuspect.PHOTO:EVELYNUSMAN.

PANDEMONIUM brokeout, weekend, along

Ikate-Akute area of OgunState following a shootoutbetween operatives of theInspector General of PoliceSpecial Task Force on AntiPipeline Vandalism Unit andpipeline vandals.

A suspected pipelinevandal was arrested, whileothers reportedly escaped,abandoning five of theiroperational speed boats with4,000 empty 50-litre jerrycans.

The vandals, said to benumbering over 12,reportedly stormed the spotapparently to vandalise aNigerian NationalPetroleum Corporation,NNPC, petroleum pipelineon Saturday morning, whenthe operatives swooped onthem.

During interrogation, thearrested suspect, whoidentified himself as AbbeyDaniel, said he indulged invandalism to save Nigeriansfrom fuel scarcity.

He said: “I am terriblysorry. But we did it in anattempt to help Nigerians toget fuel, which has becomescarce.

“Since the scarcity,Nigerians have beensuffering, particularlyartisans. And since there ishigh demand for fuel inLagos and the buyers arepaying good money, we

I wanted to reduce fuel scarcity, says arrested suspect

decided to venture into it. Weeven sell to owners of petrolstations.

“On Saturday, we came asusual to siphon petroleumproduct after we receivedinformation that NNPC werepumping fuel through thechannel. We knew quite wellthat before the police wouldget across to the other side wewould have disappeared.

How police got us“What I did not know was

that the Police also had gotwind of our escapade. Whenmy colleagues started shootingon sighting the policemen, Ihid because I was not armed.

“They all jumped into theriver and swam to safety. Iremained in the bush becauseI cannot swim. When it wasmorning, I discovered that myphone was not in my pocket.

“I was arrested as I was

leaving the scene. All I amasking is for them (police) tohave mercy on me.”

Assistant Commissioner ofPolice in charge of the TaskForce, Friday Ibrahim, saidthe Unit got a tip-off thatvandals were operatingalong Ikate-Akute axis ofNNPC right-of-way at 1am.

“Policemen, led by thenewly-posted Lagos SectorCommander, DeputySuperintendent of PoliceSamson Olawoyin, cordonedoff the area and the vandalswho realised that thepolicemen were on their trailopened fire.

“The vandals abscondedwhen they realised that theirgame was up and fled. Theboats containing countlessnumbers of 50 litres gallonshave been destroyed, whileone of the suspects wasarrested.”

Monarch,brotherdocked overN40m fraud

A B A K A L I K I —S U S P E C T E D

kidnappers, weekend,abducted the former Co-ordinator of OkposiDevelopment Centre,Ohaozara Local GovernmentArea of Ebonyi State, Mr.Ihebunandu Okorie.

He was abducted inside thepremises of the ReformedPresbyterian Church, Obioha

ABUJA— THEtraditional ruler of

Ipupe community inUbalaka Umuahia SouthLocal Government ofAbia State, Eze ChimaUbiaru and his brother,Patrick Ubiaru, a soldier,have been docked beforean Abia State High Courtsitting in Umuahia overalleged misappropria-tion of N40 million.

Independent CorruptPractices and OtherRelated OffencesCommission said themoney was part of theN60 million released bythe Federal Government,through the Niger DeltaPower Holding CompanyLimited, to thecommunity ascompensation for therelocation of shrines inthe sacred forest ofOkota.

BY CALEBAYANSINA

BAUCHI— THEmember of Bauchi

State House of Assemblyrepresenting Jemaconstituency under AllProgressives Congress,APC, Yusuf Nuhu, thatwas kidnapped in ToroLocal Government Areaof the state has said thathe was fed biscuits all thedays he was in captivity.

Nuhu stated this whilespeaking, yesterday, atBauchi State Policecommand shortly after abriefing on his rescue bythe State Commissionerof Police, MohammedLadan.

The lawmaker, who waskidnapped on March 3,was rescued by the policeafter a gun battle betweenthe abductors and thepolice, a situation that ledto the death of a 10-year-old girl that was hit by astray bullet.

Nuhu said: “It was aterrible experiencebecause I have neverfound myself in such asituation before.”

BY SUZAN EDEH

Police foilN50mrobberyattempt inShagamu

ABEOKUTA— THEOgun State Police

Command, yesterday,said it killed twosuspected armed robbersand arrested one, whilethey attempted to rob aman of his N50 million atSagamu in the state.

The Police PublicRelations Officer, PPRO,in the state, MuyiwaAdejobi, in a statementsaid: “A Special Anti-Robbery Squad in thestate led bySuperintendent of PoliceMohammed Tijani onFriday, March 14,engaged some suspectedarmed robbers, whocame from AnambraState, in a fierce gun duelin GRA Area Sagamu,Ogun State at 8pm.”

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

Okposi at 1pm after attendinga church service.

It was gathered that thegunmen, who were heavilyarmed, waited for him in thepremises and promptlywhisked him away in his car,a Toyota four runner, withplate number, NCA 94 AA.

An eyewitness said thekidnappers came with agreen-coloured Mercedes 230Benz, V boot, with a Lagosnumber plate, BS 559 KJA.

He said: “As Okorie wascoming out of the church, theybegan shooting into the air,sending members of thechurch scampering for safety.

“Before escaping, they shotat the tires and fuel tank of theBenz in an attempt to set itablaze.”

Police spokesman, AssistantSuperintendent of Police,Chris Anyanwu, said he wasyet to be briefed on thedevelopment.

10—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014

Sanusi hits back as FG moves toprobe himA B U J A — S T R O N G

indications emergedyesterday that PresidentGoodluck Jonathan may sooncommence a probe into thetenure of immediate pastgovernor of Central Bank ofNigeria, CBN, MallamLamido Sanusi Lamido.

This comes as ruling PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, in astatement by its NationalPublicity Secretary, ChiefOlisa Metuh, yesterday, calledfor a detailed forensic audit ofall the accounts and financialactivities of the Central Bankof Nigeria from 2009 till date,stressing that in carrying outthe probe, the audit mustestablish and publish allmovement of monies from theCBN accounts, such as contractsums, donations and otherextra budgetary spendingunder the suspended CBNgovernor, Sanusi LamidoSanusi.

The party, reiterated byalleging that a fraudulent N48billion contract was awardedto a leader of the APC, whileN5 billion was further paid toanother stalwart of the partyas consultancy fee.

But the suspended CentralBank governor weekendreacted to the 35 allegationslevelled against him by theFinancial Reporting Councilof Nigeria, FRCN, saying hesaw the FRCN Briefing Notefor the first time when it wasattached to his suspensionletter.

It will be recalled thatfollowing the suspension ofSanusi as CBN governor lastmonth, the Presidencyexplained that his suspension was not related to witch hunt,but alleged cases of impunity,incompetence, non-challance, fraud, wastefulness, andgross abuse of and non-compliance with provisions ofthe Public Procurement Act2007.

Senior Special Assistant tothe President on Public Affairs,Dr Doyin Okupe, had in astatement explained that Sanusi’s sack by PresidentGoodluck Jonathan was alsonot a deviation from the anti-corruption drive of the presentadministration.

He added that the issues thatculminated in the suspensionof the CBN governor datedback to April 2013, followingthe submission of the CBNaudited accounts for the yearthat ended on December 31,2012, and which wassubmitted to the President bythe apex bank.

PDP calls for forensic auditThe PDP, while calling for

Sanusi’s probe, said: “Factsavailable to it, some of whichhave already been publishedby the Financial ReportingCouncil, show that within theperiod, the apex bankengaged in reckless award of

inflated contracts throughwhich over N680 billion CBNmoney was frittered away.”

“The audit must expose thetrue beneficiaries of over N150billion doled out asdevelopmental donationsespecially as some of theinstitutions listed asbeneficiaries such as theBayero University Kano, BUK,have denied receiving thesums recorded against theirnames by the CBN. It notedthat BUK was widely reportedto have announced that itreceived only N1billion asagainst the N4 billion claimedby the apex bank.

Meanwhile, Sanusi furtherstated that each of theallegations was false,unfounded, malicious andfabricated to mislead thePresident, adding that if theCBN had received the FRCNBriefing Note prepared inJune 2013, all misconceptions,misrepresentations, erroneousinferences would have beencleared.

Sanusi, also called onPresident Goodluck Jonathanto revisit and redress hissuspension, urging thePresident to apply samerationale and rigour to otheragencies of government withserious allegations andqueries against them.

The suspended CBNgovernor called on thePresident to ask otheragencies that had beenqueried of financialimpropriety to provideresponses and explanationwith the same level of clarityand transparency as he haddone.

In his defense, according tothe report made available toVanguard, Sanisi said: “Indeed, it will be impossiblefor me to review almost fiveyears of revolutionary changemade possible by the work ofthousands of employees inthe CBN, in collaborationwith other regulators, banksand other financial institutionsand government ministries inthis press statement. However,I will mention a few of the keyhighlights.

“The highlight include :improvement of theinstitutional framework forpolicy-making, localcurrency and maintenance ofstability; Establishment ofAssets ManagementCorporation of Nigeria ,AMCON; monetary policyamongst others.”

On Briefing NoteAllegation that there is weakcorporate governance at theCBN on account of the fact

that the office of the governoris fused with that of theChairman of CBN’s Board ofDirectors, Sanusi said theallegation ignored the fact thatglobal best practice was thatthe governor of the centralbank is the chairman of theBoard of Directors of thecentral bank.

On alleged fraudulentactivities; that the CBN’sbreakdown of “Currency IssueExpenses” for 2011 and 2012indicated that it paid theNigerian Security Printingand Minting Plc, NSPMP,N38.233 billion in 2011 forprinting of banknotes,whereas the entire turnover ofNSPMP was N29.370 million,Sanusi said the expense itemof N38.233 billion to NSPMPwas made up of N28.738billion payment to NSPMP in2011; N6.587 billion accruedliability in 2011 but paid in2012 when deliveries werereceived; and N2.829Billionaudit adjustment journal entryinto the account at the end of2011 in respect ofprepayments to NSPMP.

He said the differencebetween the numbers in thefinancial statements of CBNand NSPMP was a simplereflection of timing differencesbetween recognition ofexpenses by the CBN andincome recognition by theNSPMP, with both entitiesapplying conservativeaccounting policies.

He said with respect to

Associated Air Limited, theCBN did in fact pay a total ofN1.025 billion to AssociatedAirlines Limited but noted thatthe CBN was not responsiblefor how the company reportedits turnover.

On Akingbola’s petition andthe N40bn loan waiver;

Sanusi said Akingbola wasa man found by a finaljudgment of the Courts inEngland to have been liablefor financial improprieties inthe management of the affairsof ICB.

He said: “In his self-servingpetition, Mr. Akingbolaalleged that the CBN, on mywatch, wrote-off a loan infavour of Dr. Bukola Saraki.This is untrue. The CBN wasat no time involved in thedecision of ICB (or any otherbank for that matter) to write-off its loans.

“The CBN never gave priorapproval to the Managementand Board of ICB to write-offany particular loan. It isimportant to state up-frontthat all the non-executivedirectors on the Board of ICBwere appointed by itsshareholders, whileAkingbola was CEO and theywere the majority on theBoard that approved thewrite-offs.”

In his conclusion to theresponse, Sanusi stated: “It is now clear that each ofthe allegations made by theFRCN in the briefing notecould easily have been

...Says each allegation false, malicious and fabricated

BY HENRY UMORU &PETER EGWUATU

...PDP calls for forensic audit of CBN account from 2009 till date

WORKSHOP: Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal (2nd right); GovernorRauf Aregbesola of Osun State (2nd left); President, Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS),Mr Murtala Aliyu (centre); Member, House of Representatives, Kamil Ajibola (left); President,African Association of Quantity Surveyors, Michael Frimpong (right) and others during a 2-dayinternational workshop of the Institute at Leisure Spring Hotel, Osogbo, Osun State on Saturday.

resolved upon a simplerequest to the CBN forclarification or a little morecareful review.

“There is no doubt that ifthe CBN had received thebriefing note, which wasprepared in June 2013, allthe misconceptions,misrepresentations anderroneous inferencescontained therein wouldhave been cleared, and themisleading of His Excellencywould have been avoided.

“It is now my sincere hopethat, having painstakinglyprovided detailedexplanations, backed byverifiable documents, HisExcellency, Mr President willf ind the responsesatisfactory, and in line withhis adherence to fairness andjustice, revisit and redressthe issue of my suspension.

“Furthermore, it is my wishthat His Excellency, MrPresident, will apply thesame rationale and rigour toother agencies of the FederalGovernment that have hadserious allegations andqueries levied against them,and presume upon them toprovide responses andexplanations with the samelevel of clarity andtransparency.

“In closing, I would like toplace on record the doggedprofessionalism and patriotismof the staff of the CBN. Theyhave, over the years, servedthis country creditably, loyallyand diligently.”


BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

BY ABDULWAHABABDULAH

BY INNOCENT ANABA

LAGOS—THE Lagos Stategovernment yesterday

urged users of Dopemu andIyana-Ipaja bridges undergoingrepairs to endure the temporarypains the exercise will causethem.

Kayode Opeifa, the state Com-missioner for Transport who wasin the area yesterday to assesstraffic situation, admitted that itwas challenging, but stressedthat it was a temporary painwhich, in 10 days time, wouldallow for a more comfortable rideon the bridge which takes traf-fic from the Lagos-AbeokutaExpressway to Alimosho/Egbeda, densely populatedarea of the state.

He said the decision to repairthe bridge was to ensure freeflow of traffic and lessen thepain motorists often go throughon the bridges, which for some-time had been in bad shapethereby, causing traffic gridlock.

When asked on modality putin place to manage traffic dur-

Dopemu bridge maintenance: Thetraffic is challenging —OPEIFA

O S O G B O — S T R O N Gindications emerged last night that the first

executive governor of Osun State, Alhaji IsiakaAdeleke may have formally joined the governorshiprace in the forthcoming August 9 governorshipelection on the platform of the Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP.

Sources close to Alhaji Adeleke, told Vanguardthat the former chairman, Senate Committee onIndependent National Electoral Commission,INEC, took the decision after meeting withcommunity leaders in his home town, Ede.

Ex-Gov Adelekejoins Osun guber race

FirmapproachesSupremeCourt overcase withNIMASA

IJEBU ODE—JUSTICE S. A.

Olugbemi of an Ogun StateHigh Court sitting in Ijebu-Ode has removed the nameof the Awujale of Ijebuland,Oba Sikiru Adetona from asuit filed by theFusengbuwa Ruling Houseof Ijebu-Ode againstOtunba Subomi Balogun,Otunba Olu Adebanjo andAlhaji A.O. Sote.

The court’s order wassequel to an applicationfiled by the plaintiffs’counsel on February 14praying the court toexpunge the name of theAwujale from the suitasking for a perpetualinjunction restrainingOtunba Subomi Balogun“from parading himself orholding himself out as OloriEbi Funsengbunwa rulinghouse of Ijebuland.”

Courtstrikes outAwujale’sname fromfamily suit

LAGOS—HENSMORNigeria Limited has

appealed at the SupremeCourt, the judgment ofAppeal Court in Lagos,which awarded N6.4billion in its favouragainst NigerianMaritime Administrationand Safety Agency,NIMASA.

The Appeal Court hadon Friday, upturned thejudgment of JusticeOkon Abang of a FederalHigh Court, Lagoswhich earlier mandatedNIMASA to payHensmor N6.4 billionover alleged unlawfuldetention of its vesselnamed M T Aigbomen.

Hensmor in the appealwants the apex court toretain the judgment sum,which is currently in thecustody of the DeputyChief Registrar of theFederal High court in afixed deposit interestyielding account in FirstBank.

Mass burial for Kaduna attackvictims

BY LUKA BINNIYAT

KADUNA — THE remainsof about 150 Southern

Kaduna citizens, were, yester-day, buried in a mass gravein Unguwan Gata, MoroaChiefdom of Karua Local Gov-ernment Area of the state, ac-cording to a local chief fromthe area.

Sankwai, Tekum and Ungu-wan Gata villages in MaroaChiefdom were, Saturday, in-vaded by what villagers saidwere Fulani gunmen, killingno fewer than 200 natives andburning the three villages, af-ter plundering them.

It was gathered that allSouthern Kaduna villageswere sombre, over the attacks,as special prayers were offeredfor the deceased in all church-es.

Meanwhile, the SouthernKaduna Peoples Union,

SOKAPU, the umbrella bodyfor ethnic nationalities in thesouthern part of Kaduna State,has said that the people of thearea, have no choice than todefend themselves againstthe frequent attacks and kill-ings by the Fulani gunmen.

Addressing newsmen, yes-terday, in Kaduna, Presidentof SOKAPU, Dr. EphraimGoje, said that the persistentattacks and massacres of theirpeople was a clear indicationthat the government and thesecurity agencies were notcapable of protecting them.

He said the people were be-ing pushed to the wall as theywere being killed and theirhomes and property de-stroyed, adding that it hadbecome imperative for themto defend themselves bywhatever means necessary.

Goje said, “the Fulanis haveunofficially declared war onour people. No community has

the monopoly of violence, soour people are being pushedto a level that we may take cer-tain actions aimed at defend-ing ourselves and our land inorder to put an end to this im-punity and senseless kill-ings.”

He added that over 5,000people had been displaced inthe 40 attacks on communitiesin the southern part of thestate since 2011.

“We have identified the per-petrators as Fulani herdsmenas responsible for the attacksand killings, but each time weraise this observation, the Fu-lani socio-cultural organisa-tions within the state haveout-rightly denied the in-volvement of their people,asking for proofs.”

He added that two Fulaniyouths in Manchok led Sat-urday’s attack, during which219 people were killed, not-ing that the Fulani youthsdied in the process and theircorpses were identified by thelocals.

“The recent attack was ledby two well known young Fu-lanis resident in Manchocktown, who died in the pro-cess. Their dead bodies hadclearly and unambiguouslybeen identified by the nativesand their corpses are now keptby the Joint Task Force, JTF,Command in Kafanchan forfurther forensic screening.

“This has clearly vindicatedus and confirms our earlier po-sition that the Fulanis have de-clared a jihad on the people ofSouthern Kaduna and Nigeria,evidenced by this genocide inBondong, the murder in Katsi-na State, Birnin Gwari, Plateau,Zamfara, Taraba, Benue, amongothers.

“In some of these attacks, sus-pects had been arrested andhanded over to security agen-cies for prosecution, only for theculprits to be seen working free-ly on the streets the next day.

"What comes to our minds nowis that, truly, the Fulanis haveunofficially declared war on ourpeople. Let it be placed onrecord that no community hasthe monopoly of violence, so ourpeople are being pushed to thewall and we may take certainsteps aimed at defending our-selves and our land in order toput an end to this impunity,”Goje warned.

He lamented the lack of col-laboration between securityagencies in Kaduna and Pla-teau states, noting that the at-tackers often come in from thePlateau axis to attack Atakarand Marwa chiefdoms, whichare bordering Plateau State,adding that each time they arechased by security agents fromKaduna State, they run to thePlateau where they walk freelyto celebrate their so-called vic-tories.

ing the period, Opeifa, saidover 20 personnel from LagosState Traffic Management Au-thority, LASTMA, officers ofNigeria Police Force, FederalRoad Safety Corps, SpecialTraffic Marshals have beendeployed to the area and wouldresume as early as six o’clock

in the morn-ing and worklate into thenight whilethe repairwork on thebridge willlast.

The com-m i s s i o n e ralso appealedto motoristsand the resi-dents to coop-erate with thetraffic offi-cials, espe-c i a l l y ,L A S T M Amen.

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI


BY OLA AJAYI

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

COMMISSIONING: From right: Founder, FCMB Group, Otunba Olasubomi Balogun,Awujale of Ijebuland,Oba Sikiru Adetona, and Olori Abimbola Balogun, during thecommissioning of the Oba Adesimbo Tunwase Museum and Hall constructed by OtunbaOlasubomi Balogun, at Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.

IBADAN—FULANI herdsmenoutnumbered awaiting trial

inmates in a congested prison atAbolongo in Oyo town,according to the Chief Justice ofOyo State, Justice BadejokoAdeniji.

They are awaiting trial in thefacility for offences bordering onmurder, armed robbery andstealing.

Adeniji said: “Most of them areanswering for capital offenses andmost of those cases are fatal. Wehave to wait until the cases aredisposed of.”

The prison that shouldaccommodate 160 inmates nowhouses 327.

The way the prison iscongested, according to the Chief

Fulani herdsmen congest Oyo prison —CJ

ADO EKITI—FORMERgovernor of Ekiti state and

PDP governorship aspirant,Mr Ayo Fayose, has said thathe would not be part of anyconsensus arrangement.

Fayose who stated thisthrough his spokesman, Mr.Idowu Adelusi in Ado Ekitiyesterday, said consensus isanother form of impositionespecially when not allaspirants consented to it.

Fayose stated further;“Everybody who believes indemocracy and in generalelection must believe inprimary.

“I don’t want to be aconsensus candidate,everybody must be given aright to exercise as a memberof the party.

“ I have obtained my form, Ireturned it, I was screened andthe last leg is primary.

“If an aspirant has paidN11million for primary, heshould have courage to facethe electorate to elect him ascandidate.

Ekiti guber: No to consensus arrangementin PDP —FAYOSE

“ I reject consensus in totality,I am ready to face all otheraspirants. After all, there will

be no consensus at generalelection.

“I believe in party

supremacy based on equityand fair play.”

Justice there could be jail breakanytime.

She said this during a visit tothe Medium Security Prison inthe ancient town at the weekend.

Though, she wanted todecongest the prison, she wasable to release just one prisonerout of the 327 in the facility aftergoing through their files.

Explaining what prevented herfrom releasing more prisoners,she said their offences were capitaloffences like armed robbery andmurder.

“This prison is not expected tohave more than 160 inmates butlook at what we have here, 327inmates! I tell you, if not for goodmanagement, there would have

been jail break. So, I reallycommend the Deputy Controllerof Prisons who is in chargehere,” she said.

The inmate she set free,Adamo Kazeem, was said tohave been standing trial foralleged “unlawful carnalknowledge” for the past one yearand three months.

Omisore wants killers of octogenarianPDP stalwart arrested

O S O G B O — Ag o v e r n o r s h i p

aspirant of the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, inOsun State, Senator Iyiola

Omisore has charged thepolice to fish out the killer ofthe octogenarian stalwart ofthe party, Pa Taiwo Ogundelewho was assassinated at Okitiarea of Ile-Ife.

Senator Omissore gave thecharge yesterday, after hevisited the residence of thedeceased to commiserate withthe family over the gruesomemurder of the late Politician.

He stressed the need for thelaw enforcement agencies inthe country to investigate thematter and bring the culpritsto book.

Omisore also warnedGovernor Rauf Aregbesolaand other members of theruling All ProgressivesCongress, APC, in the stateagainst violence, just as hecalled on the presidency tocall the Governor to order inthe interest of peace in thestate.

He hinted that a legalaction would be taken againstthose found culpable in thealleged killing of his

supporter.Ogundele who was until

his death, a leader of the PDPin Ife East Local GovernmentArea of the state was said tohave been dragged to ahidden location at the backof his house by peoplesuspected to be politicalthugs before he was shot inthe stomach.

According to the son of thedeceased politician, AdelekeOgundele, the late Ogundelewas lured out of his residenceat 11.30 pm by somepoliticians who had earlierthreatened him in the daywhile the voters’ registrationexercise was going on at hisOkerewe ward 02.

Also, the chairman of thePDP in the council area, MrOmololu Olusegunexplained that somepoliticians in the area hadthreatened to kill him for hisloyalty to a chieftain of thePDP in the state, SenatorIyiola Omisore.

ABEOKUTA—THE actingChairman of the Labour

Party in Ogun state John Laleyesaid yesterday that erstwhilegovernor of Ogun State, OtunbaGbenga Daniel remains a leaderof the party.

Laleye while reacting to amedia report credited to theNational Publicity Secretary of theparty, Ikpe Etokudm in astatement said the nationalleadership of the party hasproclaimed the former governoras the leader of the party.

The acting chairman, however,disclosed that, he had reported

Daniel remains Ogun LP leader—ACTING CHAIRMAN

the suspended members of theexecutive in the state led by BodeSimeon to the security agenciesover their activities.

He accused the suspendedmembers of being sponsored bya “known opposition in the stateto cause chaos and confusion inour party."

He said: “Upon myappointment as the actingChairman of the party, I have metwith the leadership of varioussecurity agencies in the statenamely; the Police, SSS, INECand others to intimate them of theinterim restructuring in theparty."

ABEOKUTA—OGUNState governor, Senator

Ibikunle Amosun hasapproved the careeradjustment of 1,345stagnated teachers in thestate’s Teaching ServiceCommission withimmediate effect.

According to the approvaldated March 6, 2014, thebenefitting teachers, whohave been stagnated on aparticular grade-level dueto the disparity in the yearsof obtaining their NCE anddegree qualifications,would now be harmonisedthrough career adjustmentto their appropriate grade-levels

In the career adjustment,grade levels of 83 teacherswho have been stagnatedsince 2008 on grade 16would now be adjusted tograde 17, 758 teachers on15 to 16, while 504 teacherswould be harmonized from14 to 15.

The commission’sChairman, Ms.Olubukunola Onabanjoexpressed her appreciationto the governor for the gesture,noting that this has broken anage-long jinx in the lopsidednessin the career progression ofteachers in the state.

Amosunapprovescareeradjustmentfor 1,345stagnatedteachers

ADO EKITI—EKITIState governor, Dr.

Kayode Fayemi, hasmourned the passage of theformer President-General ofthe Ohaeneze Ndigbo,Ambassador RalphUwechue.

The Governor in astatement, said the death ofUwechue has robbedNigeria of one of itscommitted patriots,peacemakers anddistinguished statesmen.

Governor Fayemidescribed the late Uwechueas an outstanding pan-Africanist, who was anembodiment of selflessservice.

He described the lateUwechue as one of thepacesetters of the Nigeriadiplomatic circles who helpedcement the nation’s foothold inthe international community.

Fayemimourns formerOhanaezepresident,Uwechue

CMYK


Johnny’sdetentionpolitical,sayspro-Jonathangroup

Confab: UPC decries poor representationof Urhobo

BY FESTUS AHON

Rebuild our town, ravagedcommunity begs Akpabio

UGHELLI—NATIONALChairman of Urhobo Po-

litical Congress, UPC, Obari-si Ovie Omo-Agege, week-end, decried the poor repre-sentation of the Urhobo eth-nic nationality at the forthcom-ing national conference.

Omo-Agege, in a statementby the National Publicity Sec-retary of UPC, Dr. EbenezerOkorodudu, said: “We con-demn in its totality, the obvi-ous plans to deprive the goodand peace loving people ofUrhobo nation of effective rep-resentation at the nationalconference.

“UPC commends the Gov-ernor of Delta State, Dr. Em-manuel Uduaghan, for ac-cepting the nomination ofUrhobo Progress Union, UPU,Prof. G. G Darah, an eruditescholar of international re-pute. UPC takes exception tothe fact that as it is now,Urhobo nation, which is thefifth largest ethnic group inNigeria and second largestethnic group in the South-South, is only represented byone person.

“It is sad to note that despitethe vast array of resourceful

persons amongst the Urhobo,who have made their marks invarious walks of life, nonecould be considered for nomi-nation. More pathetic is the factthat despite being the secondlargest ethnic nationality in theSouth-South, we were not alsoaccommodated in the 15 slotsgiven to the zone.

“We make bold to state that theessence of the national confer-

ence is to address the inher-ent injustice in our country.A conference built on a foun-dation of injustice cannotdeliver on the mandate ofaddressing injustice in ourpolitical system.

“This nomination has fur-ther compounded the painsof the Urhobo people occa-sioned by the political struc-tural defects of the Nigeri-

an state, where with a pop-ulation strength of aboutthree million people, whichis more populous than somestates of the federation, theUrhobo nation has only eightlocal governments, threemembers of the House ofRepresentatives and one inthe Senate while other small-er ethnic nationalities havemore.”

AS the governor ofAkwa Ibom State,

Chief Godswill Akpabio,holds a town hall meet-ing with Ikot Abasi fed-eral constituency,Wednesday, the VillageHead of Ikot Akpan Udoin Ukpum Ete clan, Etei-dung Oscar Abel, yester-day, urged the governorto rebuild the communi-ty that was devastatedby the Amazaba mili-tants of Eastern OboloLocal Government Areaof the state in August2008.

Eteidung Abel, whospoke with Vanguard,said the governor hasbeen silent on the IkotAkpan Udo crisis for al-most six years, addingthat his visit to Ikot Aba-si will offer him the op-portunity to fully under-stand the issue and takenecessary action.

The village head saidmore than 500 houseswere burnt in Ikot AkpanUdo by the Andonis ofEastern Obolo Council,adding that the govern-ment should rebuild

these homes to enablethe internally displacedpeople to resume theireconomic activities sincethey have been scatteredin several villages ofUkpum Ete clan and IkotAbasi Local GovernmentArea.

He said that while thestate government hasdecided to release awhite paper on the judi-cial commission of en-quiry into Nkari crisis inIni Local GovernmentArea, inaugurated afterthe murder of threebrothers by gunmen in2013, the governmenthad refused to releasethe white paper into theEastern Obolo inducedannihilation of Ikot Ak-pan Udo, which led to thekilling of 13 Ikot AkpanUdo citizens and de-struction of the commu-nity in August 2008.

Eteidung Abel said thestate government had,despite appeals, alsofailed to provide reliefmaterials to the dis-placed people of IkotAkpan Udo, adding that

the people have becomemendicants owing to nofault of theirs.

On the resettlement ofAmazaba villagers ofEastern Obolo on IkotAkpan Udo land, Etei-dung Abel said his peo-ple would never allowthe Amazabas to livewith them again, stress-ing that given the pen-chant of Eastern Obolopeople to shed blood oftheir neighbours, theonly solution that wouldbe acceptable was the re-location of the AmazabaAndonis to Otunene orEmemen, which is aboutseven nautical milesfrom Ikot Akpan Udomainland, to stem futurecrisis.

He noted that since theinitial attack on Ikot Ak-pan Udo in 2008, theAmazaba Andonis haveinvaded the conurbationup to five times, in theprocess abducting andkilling more than 10 per-sons in Ikot Akpan Udoand five persons inneighbouring Nda Ukovillage.

A pro-Jonathangroup, the Nigeri-

ans Project for GoodluckJonathan, NPGJ, hassaid that the arrest andcontinued detention ofits founder and nationalcoordinator, ChiefMichael Johnny, overunproven allegations ofthreat to the life of ChiefGovernment Ekpemupo-lo, aka Tompolo, was po-litical and anti-Jonath-an’s re-election.

Spokesman of thegroup, Mr. Musa Yaku-bu, in Abuja, yesterday,described as shameful,the arrest and prosecu-tion of Chief Johnny, alaw abiding and peaceadvocate for crime henever committed.

He said the arrest ofJohnny was hatched byenemies of PresidentJonathan to frustrateYakubu’s efforts towarddelivering his Gbarama-tu area to the Presidentin 2015.

PRESENTATION: From left: Mr. Uyi Igbe, Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly; Mr.Victor Edoror; Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and Prince Tony Omoaghe, at thepresentation of All Progressives Congress, APC, flag to Edoror, after his defection to theAPC from Peoples Democratic Party, at a rally in Irrua, weekend.


Anambra: Obi hands over toObiano today

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

AWKA — THE eight years of Chief PeterObi’s regime as the governor of Anambra State

comes to an end today, with his formal hand-over to ChiefWillie Obiano.

The famous Alex Ekwueme Square in the heart of Awka,the state capital, has been decorated for the hand-overand Obiano’s oath-taking ceremony is expected to attractpeople from all walks of life.

The hand-over committee, headed by Prince ChineduIdigo, who was one of the governorship aspirants, as wellas the office of the Secretary to the State Government,SSG, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, also a former governorshipaspirant, have been working hard to ensure a smoothhand-over.

Similarly, the Commissioner for Local Government, Mrs.Azuka Enemuo, had been liaising with the chairmen ofthe 21 local government areas of the state to ensure theparticipation of the people at the grassroots in the epoch-making ceremony.

Bill-boards bearing photographs of the new governorand his deputy have been mounted in strategic places inthe state, just as tailors had been making brisk businesssewing various types of uniforms to be worn by groups.

Today’s event will be the first of such a hand-over cere-mony in the history of Anambra State as the out-goinggovernor, Obi, is the first to complete two tenures andhand-over to a governor elected on the same politicalparty.

Activities for the hand-over began last Thursday with adedication service at the Cathedral Church of Saint Faith,while the church service for the swearing-in took placeyesterday at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, both in Awka.

By last Friday, most of the political appointees, who

in Anambra State, on Sat-urday, conferred on himchieftaincy title of Okwute(the rock), while his wife,Margaret, was conferredwith the title of Ona (thering) of her husband.

The Obi of Onitsha, whoplaced the traditional redcap on Obi, said the RoyalFathers decided to honourhim because of the wonder-ful work he did for Anam-bra State.

Gov Orjimourns Amb.Ralph Uwe-chue

BY ANAYO OKOLI

Confab: S/E govs urge Igbodelegates, Ohanaeze to cooperate

BY ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA —Chair-man of

South East Governors’Forum, Chief TheodoreOrji, of Abia State, hascalled on Igbo delegatesto the national confab towork in harmony with Oha-naeze to achieve a commongoal for Ndigbo.

Orji, who spoke whenthe leadership of Oha-

RECEPTION: From left, Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia State, his wife, Mercy; DeputyGovernor, Sir Emeka Ananaba, and his wife, Nene, at a grand civic reception, organ-ised by government and people of Abia State, in honour of former Chief of Army Staff,Lt. Gen. Azubike Ihejirika (rtd), in Umuahia.

naeze led by its Presi-dent, Chief Garry Igari-wey, paid him a visit inUmuahia, weekend, saidIgbo delegates shouldnot work in isolation withOhanaeze.

His advice came just asa member of OhanaezeYouth Wing, Mr. ChuksIbegbu, warned Ndigboat the conference not tospeak in discordant voic-es.

According Ibegbu, ifthe representatives ofNdigbo do not speak withone voice, the entire Igbonation will be the losers.

He also decried the ex-clusion of Ohanaezeyouths from the Nation-al Confab list.

Governor Orji assuredthat as chairman ofSouth East Governors,he would ensure therewas peace, harmony andmutual respect amongthe governors, eldersand Ohanaeze, assuringthat that Ohanaezewould be carried alongby the governors for thegood of Ndigbo.

The South East Gover-

nors’ chairman also dis-closed that they agreedthat each state wouldtake care of its delegatesand also collectivelysponsor a secretariat ofdelegates of Ndigbo.

He said: “Ohanaeze isours, it is for all Igbo. Iagree that Ohanaeze isnot in competition withthe governors. We don’texpect any conflict be-tween them. If therewere any conflicts at all,now that I am South EastGovernors' Forum chair-man, I will try to resolvethem.

“I urge you to continueto work hard. I knowyour constraints, it is noteasy to run Ohanaezeempty-handed. With myemergence, let us seewhat we can do to beable to carry you along.

“As governors, weknow our responsibility.It is not our wish thatOhanaeze should die.

“If we don’t protect andfortify you, there is thetendency for politiciansto hijack you. Be strong,don’t be deterred.”

achievements in all sectors,warning that the regimecould, therefore, not affordto disappoint the people.

According to the cleric,with the solid foundationlaid by Obi, the new admin-istration will not find it dif-ficult to chart the rightcourse for itself so as to con-tinue to put smiles on thefaces of Anambra people.

As a parting gift to Gov-ernor Obi, traditional rulersfrom the 177 communities

UMUAHIA — ABIAState governor,

Chief Theodore Orji, hasdescribed as shockingnews of the death of formerPresident-General of Oha-naeze Ndigbo, Ambassa-dor Ralph Uwechue.

Ambassador Uwechuedied last Thursday at theNational Hospital, Abuja,at the age of 80.

Governo Orji, in a state-ment by his Chief PressSecretary, Charles Ajunwa,described Uwechue’sdeath as unfortunate.

served during the regimeof Chief Obi had movedout of their official residenc-es and cleared tables intheir offices, except forthose whose duties wouldbe required for smoothtransition from Obi to Obi-ano.

At the Governor’s Lodgein the state capital, massivetents have been mountedin almost every availablespace for dinner party thatwill take place today.

Preaching a sermon at thespecial church service, yes-terday, the Catholic Bish-op of Awka Diocese, MostReverend PaulinusEzeokafor, enjoined thenew governor and his dep-uty, Dr. Nkem Okeke, tostrive to perform, notingthat Obi, the out-going gov-ernor, did the state proudthrough his remarkable


AWARD: From left, Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, CON; Presi-dent, AES Excellence Club, Dr. Ausbeth Ajagu, MFR, and Governor elect,Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, at the Silverbird 2013 Man of the YearAward, in Lagos.

BY SONI DANIEL, Regional Editor,North

THERE WERE indicationslast night that the Federal Govern-

ment was serious about enforcing theno-go area clauses contained in the re-port of the Presidential Committee onNational Conference, as many of the del-egates began to arrive Abuja, yesterday,for the confab inauguration today.

Vanguard learnt from competent Pres-idency sources that the government wasworking hard to ensure that the dele-gates did not discuss any issue that

could lead to the dismembering of Ni-geria.

While unfolding the details of the Na-tional Conference in Abuja, the Secre-tary to the Government of the Federa-tion, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, listedthe indivisibility and indissolubility ofNigeria as the areas that the delegateswere not expected to deliberate on.

Vanguard learnt from authoritative sourc-es that the government was bent on ensur-ing that the delegates kept to the issuescanvassed by majority of Nigerians whenthe Femi Okurounmi-led Presidential Ad-visory Committee on National Dialoguewent round the country to collate their views

on what should form theissues for discussion at theconference.

It was gathered that theFederal Governmentthrough the ConferencePlanning Secretariat hadalso developed a set of rulesand regulations to guidethe delegates’ deliberationsand to ensure that they donot go outside their briefduring plenary.

One source said that itwas in recognition of theneed to ensure that thedelegates conform to whatNigerians had already pin-pointed as the main areasof interest, that each dele-gate would be given a setof rules and regulationsupon arrival in Abuja.

“While the governmentwould not gag the dele-gates on what to discuss, itis also clear that the gov-ernment will not allow any-thing that could lead to thebreak-up of Nigeria.

It is important to say thatthe committee planning theconference had outlinedthe major areas of interestto Nigerians based on theviews expressed by themwhen the committee wentround the six geo-politicalzones of the country.

“There is no doubt thatthe submission of the com-mittee will help immense-ly in shaping the agendaof the meeting eventhough the secretariat willnot in any way try to gagthe delegates on what tosay.

“It is also pertinent to saythat anyone who wants todeviate from the views ofthe majority of Nigerians atthe conference will have totest the superiority of theirargument by winning by atleast 75 per cent votes,” thesource explained.

Vanguard also gatheredthat in a bid to ensure thesuccess of the exercise, thesecretariat might adopt amodified version of theVotes and Proceedings ofthe National Assembly forits work.

.Delegates arrive, accredited by security agents

National Confab: FGinsists on no-go areas

BY CHRIS OCHAYI

ABUJA — NIGERIAhas earned over $50

billion as proceeds fromexportation of liquefiednatural gas in the last 15years, Managing Directorand Chief Executive Of-ficer of Nigeria LNG Lim-ited, Mr. Babs Omotowa,has said.

Omotowa, who dis-closed this at the celebra-tion of Nigeria’s mile-stone 3000th LNG ExportCargo, weekend, in Abu-ja, explained that thehuge earnings sproutedfrom a meagre $2.5 billioninvested in the firm at itsinception in 1999.

He recalled that the eventof January 2014, when the

Nigeria earns $50bnfrom gas exportationin 15 years

Nigeria LNG Limited ex-ported Nigeria’s 3000thcargo since the companybegan operations on Bon-ny Island in 14 years,would ever remain indeli-ble in the life of the nation.

Amplifying the profile ofthe company, Omotowasaid: “Nigeria now owns$14 billion of assets on Bon-ny Island; the country hasearned $13 billion in divi-dends, another $11 billionearned in feed gas salesrevenue, over $10 billionexpenditure in local econ-omy on goods, services andsalaries of thousands of staffemployed.

“Corporate income taxwill exceed N220 billion perannum by far the highestin Nigeria and sub-Sahar-an Africa.

BY HENRY UMORU

PDP's owing me —Atiku

ABUJA — FORMERVice President,

Atiku Abubakar, yester-day, took a swipe at hisformer party, the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP,saying it was owing hima great debt of gratitude.

He also urged the lead-ership of PDP to concen-trate on improving livesof the people, redressingthe parlous state of thenation’s economy andstem the state of insecu-rity, rather than distort-ing history.

Atiku, who boasted thathe owed the ruling partynothing, said those cur-rently enjoying the par-ty were not there whenthe PDP was formed.

Apparently reacting toa statement by PDP Na-tional Publicity Secretary

of PDP, Chief OlisaMetuh, recently thatAtiku owed a debt ofgratitude for providinghim a political platformthat saw to his emer-gence as the former VicePresident, Atiku said ina statement that contraryto the claims by the lead-ership of PDP, it was, in-deed, his erstwhile polit-ical party that owed hima debt of thanks.

Atiku, who dumped thePDP recently for the AllProgressives Congress,APC, said Metuh wasdistorting history by say-ing he was ungrateful tothe PDP.

The statement read:“Neither Metuh, nor any-one currently in positionof authority in the PDPtoday was there when thePDP was being formed.

OPINION


BY TOCHUKWU EZUKANMA

*Mr. Ezukanma, a public affairscommentator, wrote from Lagos

Sanusi: Whistleblower or hypocriteTHE feverish disputation over the

suspension of the Governor of theCentral Bank of Nigeria, CBN, SanusiLamido Sanusi, by President GoodluckJonathan, dramatises a major problem ofNigerian politics. Nigerian political partieslack ideological and philosophicalanchors. Without ideological andphilosophical differences between theparties, Nigerian politicians skirt profoundpolitical discourse. They bicker over pettypolitical questions and politicise everyissue, no matter how trivial. The suspensionof Sanusi is an example of a nationalconcern politicised to a nauseating extreme.To the main opposition party, the AllProgressives Congress, APC, Sanusi is ananti-corruption crusader who has beenexposing and challenging the corruptactivities of the Jonathan administration.And as such, his suspension from office bythe President was to punish him for hisrecent allegation that $20 billion oil moneyis missing, and also to make it impossiblefor him to testify in the probe of the missingmoney. On the other hand, the Presidencyinsists that he was suspended because of hisfinancial recklessness, fiscal misconducts,waste and fraud.Again, the opposition contends that hissuspension is unlawful because it violatesthe Central Bank of Nigeria Act of 2007.The Act stipulates that both the President’sappointment and dismissal of the Governorof the Central Bank require the approvalby two-thirds majority in the Senate. To thePresidency, the suspension is nottantamount to removal from office. He was

suspended so as to facilitate aninvestigation into the allegations againsthim, after which he can still be reinstatedas the Governor of the Central Bank.However, despite the contending views onthe suspension of the CBN Governor, it isimportant to note that as far back as June7, 2013, the Financial Reporting Councilof Nigeria, FRC, recommended to PresidentJonathan to dismiss Sanusi and investigatethe operations of the Central Bank becausehe has reduced it to “a cesspool ofcorruption and unbridled waste”. Inaddition to incompetence, accountingsloppiness and tardiness in submittingfinancial reports, the FRC accused theSanusi’s Central Bank of tax evasion by itsstaff, billions of naira spent on “spuriousitems” and additional billions of naira paidto an unregistered airline company.Therefore, before the need to removeSanusi, the whistleblower, arose there wasalready an indisputable need to removeSanusi for alleged corruption andirresponsible behaviour. So, despite thePresident’s other considerations indismissing him, he deserved to be relievedof his duties at the Central Bank. The CBNAct is silent on the authority of the Presidentto suspend a CBN Governor. In section11(1)(d), the Act states that the Governorcan be removed when he or she isdisqualified or suspended from practisinghis or her profession in Nigeria. However,whether the President bent the rules orexploited a lacuna in the CBN Act tosuspend a reckless and irresponsible CBN

Governor, it is all still fine and I applaud it.This is because as (according to BarryGoldwaters) “extremism in defense ofliberty is no vice”, extremism in upholdingthe responsibilities and the obligations ofthe office of the President is no vice.The distinguishing features of the GoodluckJonathan administration includeineptitude and corruption. Therefore, manyNigerians believe the rumor mills that thePresidency sequestrated the missing $20billion to be used to finance the President’sre-election campaign. They are alsoinclined to believe that the suspension ofthe CBN Governor was purely for politicalexpediency: to remove a whistle blower andimpede the probe into the missing billionsof dollars. But then it was Sanusi that, byhis moral and ethical lapses, armed thePresidency, and thus, made it possible forthe President to suspend him and dissemblehis real motives.Undoubtedly, Nigerians need whistleblowers. With the gutlessness and cowardicethat are the hallmarks of our belovedcountry, it is most refreshing to see theplucky few that have exhibited some gutsand courage in exposing and confrontingthe power class for their corruption andabuse of power. Nigerians should applaudand admire Sanusi for his boldness andintrepidity. But he should havedemonstrated some decency in hisprofessional conduct at the Central Bankbefore demanding same from the otheragencies of the government. It is hypocrisyfor a man basking in “a cesspool of

corruption and unbridled waste” to lectureother government agencies onaccountability and incorruptibility. As thetrite but very instructive saying goes: “Whatyou do not have you cannot give”. And toparaphrase Philip Massinger: He thatwould direct others should first directhimself.Nigerians need moral and social crusadersthat can denounce official corruption,grasping avarice, arrogance of power andthe other excesses of the evil oligarchy thatpresides over this country. However, it isimperative that these crusaders upholdelevated moral and ethical standards intheir own conducts, especially publicconducts, before demanding them fromothers. Already, Nigerians are sick and tiredof the hypocrisy of the Nigerian power elite.They posture as democrats, but cling todictatorial and undemocratic methods.They desire to be esteemed asdemocratically elected leaders but rigelections. They pretend to be sentinels ofthe public good, but then steal, share andsalt away billions of dollars budgeted forthe public good.Despite his posturing as an anti-corruptioncrusader, Sanusi is not, in anyway, differentfrom the other hypocrites that suffuse theprecincts of the Nigerian power elite.Essentially, he is just one of them.

A MAJOR lesson the political class refus-es to learn is that politics that excludes in-terests of the people would never work. Theseasonal need for national conferences likethe one that commences today confirms thatpast efforts failed to address issues that hurtNigerians, yes majority of Nigerians.

The issues are basic – justice, equity, re-flected in the rights to life, security, and ac-cess to education, employment, health serv-ices, housing and infrastructure like elec-tricity, rails, roads and other means of trans-portation to support them.

Nigerians do not have drinking water; itis no little surprise that there is hardly wa-ter for industrial, commercial and agricul-tural uses. Even where there is a fire out-break, we evince wonderment that firetrucks arrive without water. Failure to attendto these matters in sustainable mannersleaves the country under-developed.

Millions of Nigerians are living throughgrinding poverty from childhood to adult-hood. The political class in its hurry to suc-ceed itself skips gloomy statistics that paintpictures of Nigeria’s poverty in bold, fright-ening hues.

Here WHere WHere WHere WHere We Go Ae Go Ae Go Ae Go Ae Go AgaingaingaingaingainThey speak about leadership, changes in

the structure of governance, constitutionalamendments, and most importantly, alloca-tion of resources. Rights of the individual tolife and the prosperity that our country holdsare merely thrown in to complete the works,since modern constitution parade humanrights credentials.

None of these suggests the unimportanceof the gathering that commences today inAbuja with 496 men and women looking atmaking Nigeria work. If anything, the ur-gency of this undertaking is one that shouldbe stated. Nigeria is hardly working; pre-tences to the contrary worsen the situation.

What is important is ensuring that the cur-rent attempt is made with more attention onthe welfare of Nigerians. Past efforts con-centrated on state and local government cre-

ation, system of government, revenue allo-cation: all of them centre on sharing power,not the welfare of the people.

Issues before the National Dialogue arebroadly expected to be on the structure ofgovernment—presidential or parliamenta-ry system, fiscal federalism, devolution ofpower, resource control, derivation and rev-enue sharing formula. They are not differ-ent from the blighted past.

Others are citizenship right, security oflives and property, state/local governmentcreation, the federating units – two or threetiers and whether it should be states or geo-political zones, regional autonomy, immu-nity for elected officials, state and regionalpolice.

Would creation of more States make Ni-gerians more productive? Would a new rev-enue formula result in better managementof our resources? Would the National Dia-logue improve the circumstances of our chil-dren?

Nigeria is in dire need of practical ideasfor its future. Expectations are that the Na-tional Dialogue should find those ideas in asetting where interests of Nigerians prevail.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014 — A1

A2— Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014


CMYK


,

,

,

,

BY MICHAEL OBERABOR

BY SUNNY IKHIOYA

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

*Oberabor, a medical practitioner, wrotefrom Warri, Delta State.

Give service, getsupport

Clark’s crossClark’s crossClark’s crossClark’s crossClark’s cross

EDWIN CLARK is many things to manypeople. To some, he is a quarrelsome

old man, cantankerous, bombastic, a bigotand an ethnic irredentist. He is short-fused,a wily fox, abusive and quick to go to presswhether or not his pronunciation is right orwrong. They may be correct. To others he isan elderly statesman, a senator of theFederal Republic, a leader of his people. Hewas a former commissioner in the Midwest,later becoming the Federal Commissionerfor Information under Yakubu Gowon. Hehad his property seized during Murtala’sinquisition, a position reversed byBabangida. This school of thought is alsocorrect. Clark comes from a privilegedbackground with a father who saw theimportance of education at a time when yourposition in society was determined by thenumber of wives you had and the size ofyour farm. One brother, John Pepper, is thefamous poet and emeritus professor of theUniversity of Ibadan; another, Akporode wasNigeria’s Permanent Representative at theUnited Nations; and Henry UdumebrayeClark was a General in the Army whoestablished the elite corps of paratroopers;Peter recently disengaged from the Army, aGeneral himself and Grade One as his namesuggests is a cerebral wizard any day.Between these two extreme views lies a widevacuum of the personality of Edwin Clark,discoverable only by those quite close to him.This middle ground is the sum total of hispersonality. It is also his cross, which hemust bear. Edwin Clark, or simply EK,reminds me of a portion of a story I gleanedfrom Professor Stephen Hawking's book,The Grand Design. Hawking himself isanother remarkable man. He held the chairof the Lucasian professor of Mathematicsat Cambridge for 30 years- a position onceoccupied by Isaac Newton, father of gravity,despite suffering an incurable motor neurondisease, an ailment that crippled him. Inthe book, Hawking tells of a time in Viking

mythology when the earth was flat and twowolves, Skoll and Hati, were always afterthe sun and moon. And whenever the wolvesclutched any of the celestial bodies, therewould be an eclipse of the sun or the moon.Then the people would rise as one and makea cacophony, banging and clanging on everyavailable drum and plate. Hawkingobserved that after a time, the people wouldhave realised that the sun and moonrecovered from the grip of their nemesiswhether they made noise or not. And theywould also have realised that these eclipsesoccurred with a repeated regularity. Whatthe people missed at that time was the imagethe earth cast on the moon during an eclipse.It was always spherical; a clue that earthwas indeed a sphere and was not flat.This is what people miss in Edwin Clarktoday. It is the cross he carries for the entirelong suffering minorities of the South ofNigeria, a people impoverished through thediscovery of oil in their terrain and itsattendant litany of woes. The minorities ofSouthern Nigeria today can never againhave their pre-oil era environment. Aremediation would take 30 years in a globaleconomy that seeks a bypass of the cheapenergy from oil. The reversal of theenvironmental degradation would also taketonnes of money from the Nigerian purse, atreasury empty at most times, no thanks toofficial profligacy and bare-faced daylightrobbery and pillage of resources, theft ofthe commonwealth and misappropriationof the heirloom. Many years ago, in Calabar,Clark and his army threw down the gauntlet:it is the Presidency of the country at the nextcount or we all die! Succour came the wayof the minorities when Dr GoodluckJonathan came on board as a Vice Presidentand Clark settled for second best, a positionaccepted by the people in order for peace toreign. As things turned out Jonathanbecame President and all hell broke loose.Reparations to the people of the Niger Deltawere started by his predecessor and wereexpected to be completed by a son of thesoil. Suddenly, and from nowhere, the dread

of Boko Haram emerged, becoming themost important single factor distracting thesimple gentle son of the canoe carver fromOtuoke from carrying out his duties. Froma religious commune, the Boko Haram hastaken on a larger than life image, wantonlydestroying and killing, unchallenged by thepeople. From Abuja to Kano, Biu toMaiduguri, Damaturu to Bauchi, BokoHaram would not let peace reign. I watchedAzazi make his famous speech in Asabawherein he declared that the politics of thePeoples Democratic Party that decides theeligibility of presidential candidature basedon geographical origin was the single causeof this sectarian insurgency.

Azazi was removed from office for thisassertion. He later died in a Navy

chopper crash while returning fromOronto’s father’s funeral with Yakowa,Kaduna’s governor. The North and theAmericans together with their allies wouldalso not agree with Azazi’s assertion,preferring to lay the blame at the doorstepsof the perceived long years ofmarginalisation of the Northerners with anattendant large army of unemployed,illiterate and poor youths and have pitchedtheir tent with a perceived redeemer despitethe fact that the North has long held on topower at the centre. Day after day, the sectstrikes friend and foe alike, tethering to areligious ideology and in spite of thepresence of huge military formationsbattling them, and all avenues of reachinga deal and placating them has failed.In Clark’s South, hope has vanished and long

gone. The people yearned for roads,railways, motorways, bridges, employmentlike the rest of Nigeria. They sought regularpower supply, security, food and shelter. Theonly arterial road in the region linking thetwo oil points remains largely uncompletedand abandoned. The youth have resorted tokidnappings to make ends meet, a result ofthe underdevelopment that has become thelot of the region. Even the President’s cousinwas kidnapped by unknown gunmen. Clarkwas once revered as the arrowhead in thefight against corruption. His silence at thebrazen plunder of scarce resources is louderthan the clapping of thunder. A lady boughttwo cars for nearly a billion in a societywhere universities were closed for fivemonths for lack of teaching material; aprobe into the fuel subsidy scam remains anillusion till this day; pension funds werelooted by their keepers; bankers left withdepositors monies; the stock exchangebecame a casino with its regulator a regulargambler; the minister coordinating theeconomy regales us with statistical data thatmust include the decimal point andpercentage everyday without commensurateachievements on ground; the NationalAssembly takes a quarter of our earnings.The list is unending with each new daybringing another tale. To cap it all, there isthe $20 billion heist! Where is Clark? Therewas a time Clark was the leader in the fightagainst injustice. He was silent in the Salamisaga; he watched Suntai’s deputy shove himaside; Mustapha visited him after his prisonspell and questionable release that is stillsub judice; ministers with questionableloyalty were shown the way out ofgovernment unceremoniously; fraudstersand politicians and men of questionableintegrity surround him; he saw Sanusi go!These sum up the totality of Clark’s cross. Across he must bear until equity and justicecome to both North and South; a cross hemust shoulder until probity andaccountability in public office become thenorm and default option.

NIGERIANS are a good people- no matter what the critics

say. They are law abiding, hardworking and obedient. That is thetrue characterisation of theaverage Nigerian man, amongstour various ethnic groups. Thiswas the situation, until the Whiteman introduced extreme deviancyinto our culture - armed robbery,pen robbery,drugs, lust for money,betrayal, looting and so on.

Recently, the Ogun Stategovernment announced aprogramme for land/ houseowners in the state, giving themopportunities to legally own theirproperties at very discounted ratesand without recourse tobureaucratic bottlenecks. A lot ofthese houses have been builtdecades ago, many withoutapproved building and surveyplans. The response from thepeople was overwhelming, so muchso that the government had toextend the date for registration byanother one month.

If the government had attemptedthis programme about two yearsago, I am very sure the responsewould have been, at best,lukewarm. What has given theimpetus is the massivereconstruction works going onacross various towns and cities inOgun State - from Sango Ota toIjoko, Lambe, Akute, Abeokutaand the rest.

Many of the towns listed herehave not enjoyed governmentpresence for as long as one couldremember. It was so bad thatpeople coming to Ijoko fromAgbado had to do an Israelitejourney through the Abeokutaexpress toll gate, through SangoOta. For those who are not familiarwith the description that I havegiven here, it is like a 360 degreesjourney, very draining, bothphysically and financially.

Now, construction works havestarted, despite the massivedestruction of properties along theright of way; the people are happybecause such project will bringbenefits to the greatest number ofpeople, compared to the fewdisplaced ones. Unfortunately,most of the properties that faceddemolition lacked genuine papers,and therefore, not properlycompensated. That is why theopportunity offered now, toregularise particulars, must not bemissed.

The people have rushed toregister their properties becausethey perceive in the presentgovernment, a genuine intentionto reduce the burden oftransportation affecting all theneighbouring towns. We cannotover flog the values of good roadsto the development of a place.

The Sango Ota roads, peoplethought would take a considerableamount of time to complete, arenearing completion. The benefitsare so obvious that you can see

hope on the faces of the people.If the programme was not people

oriented, there is no way it wouldhave gotten the support of thepeople. All of the border towns withLagos that fall under Ogun Statejurisdiction had no governmentpresence, apart from the localgovernment touts, that usuallymount road blocks to extort moneyfrom smugglers and drivers ofcompany vehicles.

What am I trying to say? Youdo not need the use of force

or propaganda to get the peopleto approve and support yourprogrammes; show them throughperformance. I am sure that therating of Amosun has gone upamongst the residents of the areasand if elections are to be called uptoday, he will get rewarded, despitethe many challenges facing himfrom his fellow APC colleagues inOgun State.

Some of our leaders in

government will continue tocomplain about inadequatefunding. My response: Use thelittle you have, even the muchtalked about security vote, to makea positive impact and the peoplewill be happy with you. ChrisNgige proved, when he wasgovernor of Anambra State, thatit is not the amount that isallocated to a state governmentthat determines their developmentperformances, but the prudent andfocused use of resources. This hasbeen replicated in Oshiomhole'sEdo State. Edo State allocationfrom the Federal Government isvery little compared to the big oilstates like Delta, Rivers, Bayelsaand Akwa Ibom. But in terms ofvisible development, you will rateEdo State very high. This is a statethat did not witness any tangibleproject on ground during the eightyears of Igbinedion's rule. I am notsaying that Ngige and Oshiomholeare saints, but they ruled withconscience.

Serve the people and you will gettheir support. When Tinubu camein as governor of Lagos State, thechallenge of Lagos filth was sooverwhelming. When Tinubu triedto belittle Marwa's contribution toLagos State development, thecritical Lagos press directed himto face what is on ground andforget about Marwa.

Tinubu went to work, got the jobdone and embarked on major roadreconstructions which were visiblefor all to see. As he did so, hemounted road signs telling thepeople that their paid tax is atwork. The people believed becausethey saw action on ground; incomefrom tax improved tremendously,so much so that Lagos was able to

hold their own when Obasanjoattempted to stifle them by withholding their allocation from thefederation account.

Fashola built on Tinubu'sfoundation and today in Lagos,people do not have to be cajoled topay their taxes. In fact, they do ithappily. That is the beauty ofservice; the ordinary Nigerian willsupport you as long as you areadding value to their lives, notdeceit.

The government agencies are allused to cheating the people, eventhose of them that have beenprivatised like the varioussuccessors to PHCN.

They want to count their chicksbefore they are hatched. Givepeople service, they will supportyou. Work seriously for power tobe stable and let the people enjoyit uninterrupted for only threemonths, you will see theirresponse. The power companiesmust first concentrate on givingservice, the market is huge.Whatever they are losing in theinterim will be recouped on thelong run.

When the people enjoy a service,they are ready to pay. It happenedin telecommunications, it will alsohappen with power and othergovernment-owned or privatisedcorporations as long as they offerservice.

The average Nigerian is a goodman. Let our leaders not turn us tocriminals.

People do nothave to be cajoledto pay their taxes,they do ithappily; theordinaryNigerian willsupport you aslong as you areadding value totheir lives

The only arterial roadin the region linkingthe two oil pointsremains uncompleted;the youth have resortedto kidnappings, a resultof theunderdevelopment ofthe region

VanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardCLASSIFIED

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Centenary celebration adistortion of history—Ntisong

BY TONY NYONG

UYO – THE Ntisongof Ibibio 111,

Engr. Essien Ekidem,has the said the nation’scelebration of hundredyears of independenceand the amalgamation ofthe Southern and North-ern protectorates of Ni-geria was a distortion ofhistory because rel-evance was not given tocertain historical placesof importance that wouldhave served as referencepoints to the future gen-erations in the country.

The monarch, who oc-cupies the highest tradi-tional stool in Ibibio landconsidered to be thefourth largest ethnicgroup in the country saidthe event should havetaken cognizance of his-torical places like the‘point of no return’,‘Amalgamation house’ inIkot Abasi, and other rel-ics and artefacts of his-tory in Akwa Ibom State.He aded that part of thecentenary celebrationshould have been con-ducted at such points todirectly replay the his-tory to the present gen-eration.

The Ntisong 111, whosaid the nation alsofailed to bestow honourto such great heroesfrom the State who hadplayed pivotal roles inbringing about func-tional change in thecountry has strongly ad-vocated for true federal-ism, repeal of repressiveand obnoxious laws, mas-

sive infrastructural de-velopment of the NigerDelta region, fiscal fed-eralism and resourcecontrol during the na-tional conference that iscoming up.

The monarch whomade available copy ofthe position of the AkwaEsop Ima Isong Ibibio, asocio-cultural organiza-tion in Ibibio land part ofwhich read, ‘thereforeon grounds of fairnessand equity, historicalantecedents and prevail-ing practices in majorworld democracies,which have built soundeconomies around thetime-tested practice offederalism, fiscal feder-alism, resource controlmust be restored to theNigerian federalism’.

The royal father urgedPresident GoodluckJohnathan to seriouslytackle the issue of unem-ployment in the countryand address other issuesthat may have led to theinsurgence witnessed inthe Northern parts of thecountry.

He said since the na-tion has had the experi-ence in the past, weshould not be afraid to goback to the practice eventhough the nation is nolonger having the re-gions again, adding, ‘letthe oil- producing areasbenefit more than otherareas from the royaltiesand from the taxes whichaccrue from the oil whichGod has given them fortheir own development.’

ASUP decries political tension in the country


From left, Mrs Adebisi Ibironke, secretary, Comforter's Companions Fellowship; Mrs. Grace Monye,vice chairman and Mr. Bimbo Ajayi, chairman during the Comforter's Companions Fellowship freemedical outreach for the residents of Anthony Village, Lagos, weekend. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele

Mugabe accusesNigerians ofcorruption

PRESIDENT RobertMugabe has accused Ni-

gerians of soliciting for briberybefore they perform their civic re-sponsibilities.

A report published in a Zimba-bwe newspaper, Bulawayo24said Mugabe took the swipe atNigeria during his 90th birthdayluncheon recently.

Mugabe, the paper noted, saidZimbabweans were almost nowbehaving like Nigerians “whohave to be corruptly paid for ev-

BY UDUMA KALU withagency report

ery service.”He said, “Are we now like Ni-

geria where you have to reachyour pocket to get anythingdone? You see we used to go toNigeria and every time we wentthere we had to carry extra cashin our pockets to corruptly payfor everything. You get into aplane in Nigeria and you sit thereand the crew keeps dilly dally-ing without taking off as they waitfor you to pay them to fly theplane,”the president said, and hewas immediately supported withraucous laughter from his dele-gates."

Statistics say that Zimbabwe ismore corrupt than Nigeria. Ni-geria is 163 on the internationalcorruption list, with Zimbabweranking 170, which is third mostcorrupt country from the bottom. However, last year, it is report-ed that Nigeria was corruptly in-volved to the tune of $3 billion,while Zimbabwe was at $2 bil-lion. It is in this context that Ni-geria may be considered morecorrupt than Zimbabwe.

JOS—THE Academic StaffUnion of Polytechnics,

ASUP, decried the growing po-litical tension in the countrywarning politicians not to endan-ger the unity of the country.

In a communique at the end ofits National Executive Council,NEC, held at Yandev, BenueState and made available to jour-nalists in Jos, the union advisedthe political class to weigh thepossible consequence of the ac-tions and utterances on the uni-ty and future of the country.

The communique signed by theNational Publicity Secretary,Comrade Clement Chirman, de-cried the culture of impunityamong politicians urging them

to be more statesmanly and ma-ture in their activities.

The union expressed deep con-cern over the level of insecurityin the country especially in edu-cational institutions and called ongovernment and other stakehold-ers to demonstrate genuine com-mitment to guaranteeing the se-curity of lives and property ofNigerians. It again vowed to con-tinue the ongoing strike by itsmembers until government ad-dresses issues tabled by theunion because of what it called“the culpable insensitivity of gov-ernment towards resolution of the13 core outstanding issues thatprecipitated the on-going ASUPstrike.”

It listed the issues to include,

BY TAYE OBATERU the non-establishment of Nation-al Polytechnics Commission, thedelay in provision of policy frame-works for the elimination of HND/Degree dichotomy, re-negotia-tion of the 2009 FGN/ASUPagreement and non-implemen-tation of CONTISS 15 migrationfor the lower cadres.

tervention projects and also theongoing Needs Assessment ofpublic polytechnics. It added thatthe appointment of rectors shouldbe done from within the poly-technic system to promote the re-alization of self-actualizationgoals among academics withinthe system.

The commu-niques taskedgovernment tourgently in-clude mono-technics andcolleges of tech-nologies as ben-eficiaries of thetertiary educa-tion trust fund,TETFUND, in-

THE National Emergency Management Agency,NEMA, yesterday, confirmed a fire incident on

the pipeline network of the Nigerian NationalPetroleum Corporation, NNPC, in Ijegun area ofLagos State.

Mr lbrahim Farinloye, SouthWest, NEMAspokesman, however, told the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on telephone that nobody died in the incident.Farinloye said the explosion was as a result ofunderground spillage through previous points ofvandalism, and that there was no fresh act ofdestruction to the facility.

The Director of Lagos Fire Service, Mr RasaqFadipe, also told journalists on telephone that theexplosion at Ijegun was reported to have occurred ataround 7.15 am on Saturday. According to Fadipe,several fire incidents occurred at the weekend in thestate and the agency responded appropriately.

NEMA confirms fire incident atNNPC pipelines in ljegun

RELEVANT agencies have beenurged to treat the ongoing threat

posed by the Boko Haram sect as a civilwar situation and the problems betweenherdsmen and local farmers in the northeast as a security risk and deal decisivelywith both as treating them with kids’ gloveare at the peril of the country.

Similarly, the North has been advised toborrow a leaf from Senegal andabolish the almajiri systemwhich has turned out to be anational security challengewhere children are forced intothe theatre of battle and may-hem unleashed on the nation.

In a public lecture titled:“Population Dynamics, Securi-ty and Humanitarian Challeng-es in Central Nigeria” deliv-ered in Jos by Prof. Dakas Da-kas at the 70th birthday of thePlateau State Governor, JonahJang, the lecturer also stated agreater percentage of evil donein the nation is carried out bythe youths hence issue of un-employment should be ad-dressed as denial of such is atthe nation’s risk.

Prof. Dakas said, “Security is

development not military hardware,weapons of mass destruction are notin Nigeria but manipulation of reli-gion, ethnicity, corruption and diseas-es are the weapons of mass destruc-tion killing us. Security issues in Ni-geria should be adequately addressedbut if the country fiddles with the is-sues of central Nigeria, it does so at itsown peril because once you take awaycentral Nigeria, the South is not con-nected to the North”.

BY TAYE OBATERU & MARIE-THERESE NANLONG

Don cautions Northern govs on Boko Haram

We are giving peopletheir sight back — HASSAN


WHAT is special about usis that we operate a so-

cial enterprise system wherebywe use the private sector to payfor the public sector. We did somuch work in Lagos State thatthe then Governor gave us aplace in Sobo Arobiodu where westill have the facility to cater forpatients who ordinarily cannot af-ford to pay for the service. Theypay as low as N1000 and we per-form cataract surgery for as lowas N15,000. The place has beenrunning for long. We also lookedat our entire operation and real-ized that 40 percent of our pa-tients are from Benin, Akure,Abeokuta and Ibadan, we de-cided that we needed to train notonly with private patients in pri-vate establishments but also withpublic patients in public estab-lishments.

Partnership with the MTNFoundation: It all began in 2013when we signed a Memoran-dum of Understanding withMTNF. In the first phase, we wereto do 12,000 surgeries and westarted in Ogun State. Theproject team visited those areas,assessed the need and furnishedus with the data. In Osun state,about 1,000 people benefited fromit, and we moved to Minna inNiger State where about 1,450people benefited. We were evenaccused of having been paidN80,000 per patient because forcataract surgery you spend noth-ing less than N80,000.

We had to convince them thatno one paid us a dime for whatwe were doing because we weregiving our services free with sup-port from the MTN Foundationwho paid for the consumables.We also explained that the freeglasses being given are also as aresult of the collaboration be-tween us and MTN Foundation

vive. A cataract surgery ofN15,000 is done for N350,000with high-tech, so you see, thereis a big difference but the mini-mum people need so they cansee is what we are trying to putout there. Everybody has a rightto what they can afford and thatis the basic principle.

Cost of surgeryIt has to do with the technol-

ogy applied and the material. Thelenses we use in the eyes rangefrom $2 to $1,000, the materialwe use for surgery varies from$2-$300 and then the machine.We do manual surgery but ad-vanced cataract surgery is donewith laser and the machine gofor between $80,000 to $170,000.This however doesn't mean thatpeople still can't have safe sur-gery. It is what you can afford andwhat is out there but at the endof the day, everybody is happy.

Preventable blindness :Thereare many causes of blindness butthe commonest cause is cataract.It is due to the ultra-violet rays ofthe sun but the cataract backlogis more in the Northern part inthe sense that, the availability ofOphthalmologists in the North-ern part is not as much as we havein the Southern part. Awarenessis more in the South than in theNorth and also the attitude andunderstanding of what is hap-pening.

The other one is glaucoma. Thisone is a silent thief because youdon't have pain or any signs andthe pressure inside the eye ishigh, and when the pressure in-side the eye is high, it is higherthan the pressure of the bloodvessels carrying nutrients to thenerve, it stops the flow of bloodand because the pressure goesup and down twice a day, itmight just be two hours a day thatyou get to that critical level, itdamages the nerves.

Cataract in childhood: Cataractat childhood is very common butrequires more attention and moresophisticated surgery. We don'toperate on one child alone. Weusually group all the children to-

An experienced ophthalmic surgeon, and Chief Medical Director, EyeFoundation Hospital, Lagos, Dr. Adekunle Hassan, speaks to SOLAOGUNDIPE on the Eye Restoration Intervention Scheme, EYERIS, aninitiative of the MTN Foundation to reach an estimated 33,364 underprivi-leged Nigerians. Excerpts:

• Dr. Adekunle Hassan

for the benefit of the people. Fromthere we moved to Delta State andended up doing about 1,000 sur-geries.

Eye care: A country with agood comprehensive health sys-tem must have eye care system.These days, we talk of the eyehealth system as part of the wholehealth system. The eye care sys-tem is usually specialized and itis made up of teams. Within theteam, we have the Eye doctor whois the Ophthalmologist.

The Ophthalmologist is a doc-tor who is specialized, after be-ing a medical doctor, in carryingout corrective surgeries on theeye. It takes between five to sevenyears to specialize and becomean Eye Doctor. When you becomean Ophthalmologist, it meansyou can operate on the eye, youcan treat medically and you cangive glasses. Next are the Op-tometrists. They prescribe glassesand basic things like that but theywork with the Ophthalmologistsas a team. Next to them are theophthalmic nurses. These are reg-istered nurses who have decidedto go and do ophthalmic nurs-ing. After them, we have themiddle manpower level, the oph-thalmic technicians, communityophthalmic technicians and dif-ferent people at those levels thatcontribute to the system.

Ideally within that team, you

• Helpiing children protect their sight

have the primary eye care wherefrom childhood, children aretested and their eyes checked.When we were growing up be-fore you begin primary school,we had our eyes tested, even insecondary school and before youattend the university, you hadyour eye tested as part of yourmedical checkup so they candetect any eye defect. A lot ofchildren don't see far, so you cancorrect their defect to enable themsee and some don't see near andit also has to be corrected. Yousee children seating at the backof the classroom or they put themnear the door. This team is allmeant to take care of the eyehealth system.

Awarenesscampaign

We went to Abia State wherewe were supposed to do 2,000surgeries, we ended up doing2,010. The Governor and his wifewere present. We were givenmaximum cooperation. In Sokotowe carried out about 1,000 sur-geries. In Jigawa, the story wasthe same. Doctors came in fromKano State, we carried out over2,500. Some of their doctorscame and learned from our doc-tors and we in turn picked some-thing from them, like the bestways to mobilize in some areas

and so on. It is asynergy and ev-erybody is im-portant.

Before, peoplethought it wasnot possible todo what we aredoing and haveachieved so far.But when youdeliver, peoplewill begin to rec-ognize you andwhat you can of-fer. We in the pri-vate sector don'tneed more that2,000 cataractsurgeries to sur-

gether, take them to our Ijebuhospital branch where we havethe high technology to do thesurgery.

Our success rate for cataract sur-gery is between 98 - 100 percent.We do have complications but wemanage those complications,those are basic. The advantageof these surgeries is that the doc-tors themselves that are doing thesurgeries are not doing the pa-tients any favours, they are alsolearning and having knowledgetransfer. The patient is getting hisvision back, the doctor is gettingbetter skilled at his job and MTNFoundation is meeting its objec-tives to enrich lives of people incommunities it operates in.

Primaryhealthcare

Even with the EYERIS project,we have the complete record ofthe beneficiaries even up to photoidentification so that we canproperly analyze the distributionand the various local governmentareas from where they comefrom. We are looking at the eyesystem. The eye health care sys-tem can be part of the primaryhealth care system, and the pri-mary eye care can be graftedaround the primary healthcare.They can have vision centers inthe entire primary healthcare cen-ters.

Success story: It has been phe-nomenal. I got calls from friendsin the UK and the US. Our staffin IT posted some of the photo-graphs on Facebook and peoplewere seeing them and callingme, asking what we were doingin Sokoto and Jigawa where theysaid people were being killed. Ianswered that infact, the peoplewere very nice to us, gave uspresents and even took us out tolunch. Because of this, a gyne-cologist friend of mine from theEast who comes home once in ayear from the UK, asked me ifwe could do something togetheron eye care.


Focus turns to pilots as huntfor jet widens

Crimea exit poll: Around 93% backRussia union

A high turnout was reported at some pollingstations

Anxious relatives of the victims missing aircraft

ATTENTION isfocusing on the pilots

of the missing MalaysiaAirlines flight after thecountry’s leader announcedfindings that suggestsomeone with intimateknowledge of the Boeing777’s cockpit seized controlof the plane and sent it off-course.

Police are said to becombing through thepersonal, political andreligious backgrounds ofpilots and crew of themissing jetliner, a seniorofficer said on Sunday.Investigators have alsostepped up their scrutiny ofthe 239 crew members andpassengers.

No trace of the plane hasbeen found since itvanished on March 8, butinvestigators believe it wasdiverted by someone whoknew how to switch off itscommunications andtracking systems.

“We are not ruling out anysort of motivation at themoment,” a senior policeofficial with knowledge of theinvestigation told Reutersnews agency.

Malaysia’s governmentsaid police had searched thehomes of the two pilots andwere examining the

captain’s home flightsimulator, but cautioned itwas “normal” procedure.

In a press release,distrubuted on Sunday, thecountry’s ministry oftransport also said policewere investigating all crewand passengers on board,as well as engineers whomay have had contact withthe aircraft before take-off.

Prime Minister NajibRazak revealed the firstdetailed findings onSaturday in the more thanweek-long investigation intothe missing plane.

Najib said satellite datasuggest it flew for at least7.5 hours and that it couldhave reached as farnorthwest as Kazakhstan ordeep into the southernIndian Ocean.

At least 25 countries werenow involved in the searchfor the plane, Malaysia’sdefence minister saidyesterday. Indian officials,quoted by AFP newsagency, said on Sundaythat New Delhi suspendedits search for the plane amidthe new information andwas waiting for newrequests from Malaysia.

Experts say that whoeverdisabled the plane’scommunication systems andthen flew the jet must havehad a high degree oftechnical knowledge andflying experience.

One possibility they haveraised was that one of thepilots wanted to divert theplane for some reason -possibly even to commitsuicide.

AROUND 93% ofvoters in Crimea

have backed joiningRussia and seceding fromUkraine, according to exitpolls quoted by Russiannews agencies.

Polls closed at 18:00GMT and officials haileda “ record” turnout.Preliminary results areexpected within hours.

Many opponentsboycotted the vote, whichhas been rejected by theUS and the EU asillegitimate.

Pro-Russian forces tookcontrol of Crimea in

February after Ukraine’spro-Moscow presidentwas overthrown.

On the ballot paper,voters were askedwhether they would likeCrimea to rejoin Russia.

A second questionasked whether Ukraineshould return to its statusunder the 1992constitution, which wouldgive the region muchgreater autonomy.

There was no option forthose who wanted theconstitutional situation toremain unchanged.

Ethnic Russians make

up 58.5% of the region’spopulation, and many ofthem were expected tovote for joining Russia.

There are 1.5 millioneligible voters.

Sergeis Aksyonov, whowas installed as Crimea’sregional governmentleader after Russia’smilitary takeover, said thepeople were voting freely.

“There are no problemsat polling stations. I don’tfeel or see that anypressure is beingapplied,” he told Interfaxnews agency.

One voter, Olga Koziko,told the BBC that she wasvoting for secessionbecause she did not wantto be governed by “thoseNazis who came to powerin Kiev”.

“Russia will defend usand protect us,” theschoolteacher said.

Away from the Crimearegion, unrest continuedin the south-eastUkrainian city ofDonetsk.

Missing Malaysian Airline


The mammoth crowd at National Stadium, Abuja.

...in Owerri.

An official of the Nigerian Immigration Servicecarrying a fainted female applicant, on his back inIbadan.

...in Jos

Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment tragedies

Officials of FRSC, attending to victims of a stampede during the Nigerian Immigra-tion Service recruitment exercise, at the National Stadium, Abuja. About 23 peoplewere killed around the country at different recruitment centres.

no such order but blamed thestampede to impatient by theapplicants who started pushingone another." He, however,regretted that the crowd at theElekahia stadium was biggerthan the stadium, adding that fivepersons died. Abang said one ofthe corpses has been depositedat Military Hospital, while theother four were kept at BraithwaiteMemorial Specialist Hospital. Headded that four of the applicantswho were admitted at the RiversGovernment owned BraithwaiteMemorial Hospital have beendischarged.

NLC demandsprosecution of NIS

National Union of Textile,Garment and Tailoring Workers ofNigeria, NUTGTWN, said deathof close to 20 applicants includ-ing pregnant women wasunacceptable development thatran against the best employmentpractices as contained inNigeria’s Labour Act and relevantconventions and resolutions ofInternational Labour Organiza-tion ( ILO) guiding decent workas subscribed to by Nigeria.

The union in a statement by itsGeneral Secretary and a VicePresident of Nigeria LabourCongress, NLC, Issa Aremu,called for the prosecution of theNIS for industrial murder. It alsourged the Federal Government todeclare a state of emergency onunemployment in the country.

It also advised the NationalAssembly to spend substantialtime today to discuss the issue ofunemployment in the country as

Continues from page 8 members resume today.According to the statement, “as

at the last count, 19 applicantsreportedly died in notable centres,namely Benin, Abuja, Minna andPort Harcourt. When we considerthe pregnant applicants, we haveinvariably also killed unbornapplicants. For a country that justmarked International Women Daywith fun-fare, the deaths of femaleapplicants do gross violence to theFederal and states’ governmentclaim to respect human andwomen rights. These nation-wideunprovoked deaths havenegatively dented the notoriousimage of Nigeria as a country inwhich lives are being casuallywasted in the communities, on theroads and now at recruitmentcentres."

TUC demands fullinvestigation

Trade Union Congress ofNigeria, TUC, in its reactioncalled for full investigation intothe circumstances that led to thedeaths, saying such deaths wereunacceptable. In a statement byits President and SecretaryGeneral, Bobboi Kaigama andMusa Lawal respectively, TUCsaid: "It is extremely grieved bythe death of young Nigerians.While the congress demands animmediate investigation into thematter, We are also of the opinionthat government should probe thereported sums of money collectedfrom these young Nigerians witha promise to give thememployment.

“Needless talk about those thatare daily killed by the Boko Haramsect in the North-East. How long

are we going to continue to watchthe lives of the youths of thiscountry waste? Whilecommiserating with the familiesof the deceased, the congressprays for the speedy recovery ofthe wounded and charges theMinistry of Interior and all rel-evant agencies of government toimmediately swing into action tounravel the remote andimmediate causes of thestampede. We also charge allgovernment agencies andparastatals as well as all itselected and appointed officials atall levels to redouble their effortsin curbing unemployment in thecountry. “

FG pledges to compensatevictims families

Meanwhile, the FederalGovernment, has promisedcompensation for families of thedead.

Minister of Interior, Abba Moro,who spoke during a visit to theNational hospital also hinted thatgovernment will look into thepossibility of automaticemployment to those injured inthe Saturday aptitude teststampede.

Moro who pleaded forunderstanding of Nigerian overthe incident, said governmentwould foot the medical bills ofthose receiving treatment atvarious hospitals across the coun-try. While blaming the stampedeon "people who didn't evenapply," he noted that people whowere not shortlisted for theexercise turned up includingpregnant wome, noting that it wasunfortunate.

Explaining the choice of the useof stadia nation wide for therecruitment exercise, Moro said,it was due to physical exerciseswhich are "very vital componentof any enlistment requirementinto the Nigerian ImmigrationServices, and so we didn't expectthat what happened, yesterday,was going to happen. Weexpected orderliness based on thelogistic arrangement that hasbeen put on ground.

Senate to probeimmigration job tragedy

The Senate will today meet todeliberate on the unfortunateincident that happened onSaturday where about 16applicants were reported deadand several others woundedduring the immigration jobrecruitment test in different partsof the country.

Tambuwal describesincident as unfortunate

Speaker of the House ofRepresentatives, Hon AminuWaziri Tambuwal, has describedas unfortunate, the stampede thatled to the death of some Nigeriansat various employment screeningcentres of the NigeriaImmigration Service (NIS). Hesaid the death of the innocentyouths was sorrowful andregrettable considering the factthat they were at the screeningcentres in search of jobs that willbetter their lots and that of theirloved ones.

In a statement issued by hisSpecial Adviser on Media andPublic Affairs, Malam Imam

Imam, Tambuwal asked the au-thorities concerned toinvestigate the remote andimmediate cause of the tragedy,and advised them to map outstrategies to prevent futureoccurrence.

NIS job stampede deaths,a direct consequence ofPDP’s misrule - APC

The All Progressives Congress,APC, has said it is greatlydistressed at the deaths of 19 jobseekers at the venues of theNigerian Immigration Service,NIS, job test on Saturday, callingit a direct consequence of 15 yearsof misrule by the PDP-led federalgovernment.

In a statement issued in Lagoson Sunday by its Interim NationalPublicity Secretary, Alhaji LaiMohammed, the party said theMinister of Interior must beardirect responsibility for theneedless deaths by immediatelystepping down from his post, ifhe has any honour left, or be fired.

It said, however, that the overallresponsibility is that of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, who nowseems to be bent on leaving adubious legacy of bad leadershipthat has led to a grim harvest ofdeaths from insecurity,widespread violence and now jobstampede, among others.

APC commiserated with thefamilies of the victims and wishedthose who were injured a speedyrecovery.

‘’Despite huge yearly budgetsrolled out since 1999, the PDP-ledfederal government has failed tocreate jobs for our teeming youth,and the number of those who arejobless has now reached such analarming rate that a job emergencymay have to be declared to avertan impending cataclysm.

Labour, NHRC demand sack of Moro, NIS boss


FOR his campaign slogan inhis 2003 gubernatorial

campaign, Obi, at every forum,asked the question, “Is Anambracursed or are we the cause?”Initially, many people did nottake him serious as they felt thatbecause he had not carried bagfor the professional politicianswho held sway in the state then,he was only wasting his time. Itwas these professional politiciansthat indeed held the statehostage from the beginning ofthe fourth republic in 1999 to theemergence of Obi. However, hiscarriage and humanenessdisarmed most people who camein contact in with him whichexplained why heoverwhelmingly won the electionwithout the big names behindhim.

After being sworn in, in 2006,Obi was to face a hostile Houseof Assembly dominated by PDP.He suffered the truncation of histenure but eventually returnedthrough the courts and won asecond term in the January 2010gubernatorial election.

Massivesupport

During his eight –year reign,Obi succeeded in putting manypoliticians and some vociferousgroups, that had hitherto madethe state very insecure into thecooler. Also, the frequent bankrobberies occurring during histenure completely disappearedduring the last four years, asituation that was attributable tohis massive support to thesecurity operatives.

During his era, Obi did someunimaginable things. Forinstance, he returned schoolstaken over from the missionariesafter the Nigerian civil wardespite opposition from theNigeria Union of Teachers, NUT,

Anambra: A new era beckons

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

EVENTS marking the exit of Mr. Peter Obi as governor of Anambra State after eight years in office willclimax today in Awka where he will hand over the reins of power to his successor, Chief Willie Obiano. Itmay be a new era, but many do not expect a truncation of the culture incoporated by Mr. Obi

•Gov Obiano flanked by former Governor Obi: Wearing Obi's cap

and other powerful individuals.His argument was that it was theonly way to reinstate confidencein the public school system.

To assuage the various groups,Obi agreed with the stakeholdersthat the state government wouldcontinue to pay the teachers andgave the missionaries moneydirectly to rehabilitate the schoolsthat were in dilapidatedconditions. Furthermore, he setout to computerize the secondaryschools and provided money forbuilding and equipping thelibraries and laboratories. At thelast count, the over 500 secondaryschools in Anambra State hadbeen fully equipped and they allhad buses bought for them by thestate government. The result isthat the standard of educationappears to be improving such thatAnambra State came first inNECO examinations in thecountry last year. Also, he

introduced a reward mechanismwhereby all Anambra indigeneswho bag first class in their degreeexaminations receive N1 million.Only last Thursday, 160 first classgraduates from variousuniversities received N1 millioneach.

Perhaps one area where heexcelled most was in roadconstruction which has madeAnambra as one of the states withthe best road networks in thecountry. Though a small state, ittakes just about one hour for oneto drive from one end of the stateto the other. Obi, it must beconfessed took off from where hispredecessor , Chris Ngigestopped. The industrial sectoralso benefitted from his largesseas the once moribund HarbourIndustrial Estate in Onitsha hasbounced back with most of themanufacturing companiesresuming operation.

As Obi was rounding up histenure, he presented what hecalled his administration’sscorecard for the eight years onthe saddle at the WomenDevelopment Center, Awka. Atthe ceremony put together by theAnambra Elders’ Forum to allowGovernor Obi give account of hisstewardship as governor sinceMarch 17, 2006, it wasencomiums galore as speakerafter speaker praised him forwiping tears out of the eyes ofAnambra people after a long

period of uncertainty and nearhopelessness.

Former Commonwealthsecretary general, Chief EmekaAnyaoku, who chaired theceremony, said it was an occasionto celebrate cognitive success ingovernance.

“The most impressive legacyObi is leaving is making theMillennium Development Goal,MDG, the focus of his

Going down memory lane, Obinarrated how he was able toweather the challenges despitethe initial hiccups. He said thathis administration attracted N60billion outside the state’sstatutory allocations andInternally Generated Revenue,IGR, of about N620 billion.

He also said that hisadministration has invested N27billion in property and stock,adding that Anambra did notborrow money during his tenure.

Though Obi is leavingAnambra State as its chiefexecutive, his party, APGA, hasentrusted its fate in him as he wasrecently appointed the party’snational leader and chairman ofBoard of Trustees, BOT.

Politicalsuccess

With this, Obi steps into theposition last held by late DimChukwuemeka OdumegwuOjukwu who led the party untilhis death. The NationalChairman of the Party, ChiefVictor Umeh attributed thepolitical success of APGA toGovernor Obi’s consistency, hardwork and landmarkachievements, which he notedmade the state a reference pointin the country and explained thathis appointment as the NationalLeader was necessary to give himmore responsibilities in the party.

However, with the allegedmove by the federal governmentto engage Obi in its activities afterleaving office, the question iswhether his party, APGA, still hasa future. How the events willunfold will be seen during the2015 general elections duringwhich he must be seen, as thenational leader of the party, toensure that APGA makes inroad,

FOR THE RECORD

•Obi is leaving behind more than N70billion for his successor•Was a frugal governor and oftentravelled without aides•Attracted more than N60 billion in FDIs•Did not conduct LG elections until histwilight•Beyond the simplicity shown, Obi was asmooth political operator

administration and I am sure thatwhen the history of this state iswritten, it must be stated that Godused Obi to make a difference,”the erstwhile Commonwealthscribe said.

Speaking in the same vein, theminister of finance andcoordinating minister for theeconomy, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala said Governor Obi came,saw and conquered, adding thatshe was proud of the governor’scontributions to the nation’seconomic management team ofwhich Obi is a member.

Africa’s richest man, AlhajiAliko Dangote said the privatesector where Obi came from isvery proud of him and hopes thatthe incoming governor, ChiefWillie Obiano would follow hisfootsteps.

in other states, especially someof the states in the South East geopolitical zone.

Obiano who is stepping in asthe new governor of the state isexpected to continue from whereObi stopped. Obiano emergedafter he was heavily supportedby Obi against other favouredaspirants in the race, mostnotably, the immediate pastgovernor of the Central Bank ofNigeria, CBN, Prof. CharlesSoludo.

Obi’s decision to back Obianowas seen in some circles as a self-centered action given the fact thatthe latter was at the time of theparty primaries, a seniorexecutive of Fidelity Bank, abank widely alleged to besubstantially owned by Obi.

Obi’s decision to back Obiano was seen insome circles as a self-centered action giventhe fact that the latter was at the time of theparty primaries ,

NNPC pumps additional956m litres of petrol


THE Nigerian National Petroleum Cor-

poration, NNPC, week-end, said it has pumpedadditional 956, 501,315 mil-lion litres of premium mo-tor spirit, petrol, to the mar-ket as part of efforts to re-store normalcy to the fuelsituation in the country.

Acting Group GeneralManager, Group PublicAffairs Division of theNNPC, Dr. Omar FaroukIbrahim, said in a state-ment, yesterday, that thecorporation currently has24.4 days sufficiency ofPMS, otherwise known aspetrol.

Ibrahim said,“The nationhas 956,501,315 million li-tres of petrol which isequivalent to 24.4 days suf-ficiency and this will con-

tinue to increase to over 30days sufficiency before theend of March."

He reassured Nigeriansthat the NNPC, as the na-tion’s supplier of last resortwas working round theclock to wet the nation withpetroleum products to mit-

igate the hardship encoun-tered by motorists on fuelqueues.

The NNPC spokesmancalled on motorists to avoidpanic buying, assuring thateverything was being doneto restore sanity to the sup-ply of petrol.

Poor electricity, tariff: UNqueries FG

BY ABDULWAHABABDULAH

TWO United Nationsspecial rapporteurs

have queried the govern-ment of President Good-luck Jonathan “over the im-pact of the Multi-Year Tar-iff Order II (MYTO II) andits potential detrimental im-pact on the realisation ofhuman rights of people liv-ing in extreme poverty inNigeria.”

The rapporteurs are: Ms.Magdalena SepúlvedaCarmona, Special Rappor-teur on Extreme Povertyand Human Rights andMs. Raquel Rolnik SpecialRapporteur on AdequateHousing as a Componentof the Right to an AdequateStandard of Living, and onthe Right to Non-discrimi-nation.

Their intervention fol-lowed a petition last yearby a coalition of humanrights activists, labour,journalists and lawyers ledby Socio-Economic Rightsand Accountability Project,SERAP.

In the joint letter datedNovember 26, 2013, Ms.Carmona and Ms. Rolnikasked the Nigerian gov-ernment to explain why“there is no functioningmetering system in thecountry,” and expressed“grave concerns that theabsence of functioningmetering system limits theability to accurately setprices for electricity andleaves electricity bills vul-nerable to mismanage-ment and arbitrary deci-

ASABA—THEREwere indications,

yesterday, that the Speak-er of the Delta State Houseof Assembly, Mr. VictorOchei, may have resignedas Speaker of the House.

Ochei, who representsAniocha North constituen-

cy in the state Assembly isone of the governorship as-pirants in the state in 2015.

Sources told our report-er that he decided to resignfollowing alleged reportthat no fewer than 19 mem-bers of the 29-memberHouse have signed an im-peachment notice againsthim pending the resump-tion of sitting tomorrow(Tuesday’s), which is theHouse’s next sitting.

Reasons for the im-peachment move were stillsketchy at press time. Al-though, there is no officialconfirmation to theresignation, a highly-placed Peoples Democrat-ic Party, PDP, member toldour reporter on phone, yes-terday that “what confir-mation are you waiting for?He has resigned.”

It was also gathered thatthe embattled Ochei hadcalled his aides and ad-dressed them on the de-velopment. None of hisaides volunteered to speakat press time.

Ochei was, however, re-ported to have dismissedit as a rumour, saying thathe would be attending thesigning of this year’s bud-get at Government House,today to be performed bythe governor.

Anxiety over Delta Speaker,Ochei's resignation

Kuku seeks jobs for amnestytrained pilots

By SONI DANIEL,Regional Editor, North

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

sions, disproportionatelyaffecting people living inpoverty.”

The two special rappor-teurs also stated that “Cer-tain groups already vul-nerable to poverty and so-cial exclusion, includingwomen heads of house-holds and persons living ininformal settlements and inrural areas, may be espe-cially affected by the rise intariffs under MYTO II en-acted by the Nigerian Elec-tricity Regulatory Commis-sion (NERC) on June 1,2012.”

Last week SERAP re-ceived information from theoffices of the special rap-porteurs that “the govern-ment has chosen not to re-spond or engage with theconcerns raised by them.”

JORDAN— The Presidency has asked for-

eign aviation institutionscurrently training Nigeri-an pilots under the Amnes-ty programme, to offerthem employment uponthe successful completionof their training.

Special Adviser to thePresident on Niger DeltaAffairs and Chairman ofthe Presidential AmnestyOffice, Mr. Kingsley Kuku,made the call at the grad-uation of 18 pilots trainedat the Royal Jordanian AirAcademy in Amman by the

Amnesty Office.Kuku, who was excited

by the feat recorded by theNigerian pilots, said, how-ever, that it was importantfor the institutions trainingthem to offer employmentto them so as to empowerthem and reduce the num-ber of jobless people in thecountry.

The Presidential aideexplained that the specialattention being paid by thegovernment to the devel-opment of the traineesthrough aviation was tostrengthen the sector andto enable the trainees toactualise their dreams ofbecoming pilots.


Eagles: Manager, coach,trainer, who? The Agbamupuzzle,

,

HENRY Agbamu is the chairman SCOA NigeriaPLC.

His knowledge of football is uncanny, so muchthat he is quick to tell you “ I am in the wrong pro-fession. I should have been a coach, not sellingcars…..”

Henry Agbamu has always planned his vacationto fall on major FIFA football tournaments and tohim, it does not matter whether it is Under 17, 20 orSuper Eagles. As long as it is Nigeria playing, ex-pect Henry Agbamu to find his way there.

“…….Forgive me, I have a marked passion forfootball. I can read it, talk it and sleep it all daylong. I know it more than my professional job, trustme…….”

These are the traits that got him invited to lastTuesday’s meeting of the Association Of sports Vet-erans Nigeria, an opportunity he seized with bothhands to “talk sports” given the caliber of membersin attendance.

In a pre meeting discussion, Mr Agbamu wantedto know the structure of the Eagles set up. Who, heasked, was the Manager, who was the coach andwho, the trainer?

The question took all of us by surprise. Then alleyes were on me. As member of the NFF TechnicalCommittee, I was expected to provide answers.General Gregory Adebiyi retired, former TechnicalCommittee Chairman of the NFA attempted to an-swer, but members were not very convinced.

I said under the present disposition, Stephen Kes-hi was the manager, the coach and sometimes thetrainer and that Amokachi was the assistant coachwith Ike Shorunmu as the goalkeepers trainer.

They were not impressed.The debate that followed hinged on the definition

and job content of the positions so mentioned withexamples given in Europe and in the Westerhoffera. They suggested that Coach Keshi should bethe manager, there should be a coach (es), with atrainer(s) in tow.

I reminded them of the rested controversy sur-rounding the need for an assistant coach for the

Super Eagles. Rested in the sense that Keshi cameout to say he did not need any assistant and Nige-rians asked that his views be respected.

Henry Agbamu was not done. He now wanted toknow which player was the team leader. He citedinstances in the past, especially in the Keshi eraand before when there was need to have a strongpersonality as a players leader, one that will be ableto galvanise the players to action, on and off thefield.

He also dug into Nigeria's football history whenthe country has benefitted from such an arrange-ment when the leader was also the skipper of theteam “……But when you end up with a team leaderand spokesman who is not the captain of the team,then disaster lurks….” He argued.

In the present dispensation, he wanted to know

who the team leader was. Some said Enyeama, oth-ers said Mikel Obi. As the discussion progressed itappeared the Super Eagles lacked an authoritativeand influential player who can be called upon bythe coach to either transmit a decision or help toconvey the general opinion of his colleagues to theauthorities.

Henry Agbamu was not done. Is there a naturalleft footer or two in the Super Eagles? None that weknew of. He recounted a piece of advice he gave toCoach Hamilton several years ago, to go look forplayers who are naturally gifted with the left leg.

“ …..We that use right hands and right legs aretoo many. Those that are left inclined are very fewand with due respect more intelligent than weare….Bill Clinton, Haruna Ilerika, ….Robben,….Obama, Raji Fashola. Every team needs a play-er that can effectively use his left leg, one that thecoach can use to good effect when it comes to effec-tive wing play, split second change of direction andso on…..

We were pressed for time. The meeting was to riseand pay its last respects to Alhaji Demola Ali aliasFireman the late PRO of the veterans, Nigerian andWest African table tennis champion, longest serv-ing image maker of the Nigerian Olympic Commit-tee who was lying-in-state at his residence that af-ternoon.

It was therefore decided to set up a strong threeman committee made up of Generals Okaro andAdebiyi and Henry Agbamu to put the thoughts ofthe Veterans on paper and submit to the NFF as acontribution towards the country’s successful out-ing at the mundial.

OF DZEKO AND OSAZE……An in law, called me last Saturday to confirm

whether I saw Osaze’s fantastic 79th minute goalagainst West Brom, I said I did.

He wanted to confirm that Man City’s Edin Dze-ko plays for Bosnia Herzegovina. I said yes.

See you next week

They suggested thatCoach Keshi should be

the manager, thereshould be a coach (es),with a trainer(s) in tow

IN readiness for theW o r l d

Championship in Japannext month, OjoOnaolapo claimed thesingles title as well asaided Sunshine to winthe club title at theNigeria Table TennisFederation (NT TF)pilot league.

The seven-daytournament ended atthe weekend withOnaolapo amassing100points to be crownedthe overall winner aswell as the highestearning player in thec o m p e t i t i o n . To beat Nigeria CivilDefence Service Corpsteam one to the title,Sunshine also garnered157 points to emerge asthe club champion. Also, KazeemMakanjuola, who willbe making his WorldC h a m p i o n s h i pouting for Nigeria inJapan finished secondbehind Onaolapo in thesingles

Onaolapo, Sunshine win NTTF pilot league Farah collapses after NY half-marathon

DOUBLE Olympicchampion Mo Fa-

rah collapsed after cross-ing the finish line in theNew York half-marathonon Sunday, having recov-ered from a fall earlier inthe race to finish secondto Kenyan Geoffrey Mu-tai.

Farah fell to the groundshortly after completingthe race and was takenaway from the finishingarea in a wheelchair butlater took to Twitter to al-

lay fears for his health.“Hi guys... I’m doing

ok... thanks for the con-cern... disappointed withtoday... I gave 110%...couldn’t do any more...sorry guys....,” he said onhis Twitter account.

The Briton, who won thesame half-marathon in2011, endured a tough runafter taking a painful fallafter five miles. He recov-ered to finish in 61 min-utes 50 seconds - 18 sec-onds behind Mutai.

Medics attend to Mo Farah in New York yesterday.

NIGERIAN midfielder, Michael

Olaitan collected hisfirst Greek champion-ship medal with Olym-piacos on Saturday asThrylos wrapped up thetitle with five games tospare.

Olympiacos defeatedPanthrakikos 2-0 at Sta-

Olaitan wins Greek title with Olympiacosdio Georgios Karaiskákiafter goals from NelsonValdéz and David Fus-ter sealed the win on amemorable night.

Olaitan was not listedin the game but his ef-forts earlier in the sea-son and contribution tothe cause will be great-ly appreciated by the

club’s supporters, histeammates and manag-er, Jose “Michel” Cam-po.

The 25-year-oldscored eight goals in 16league appearances forthe club until he wasinvolved in a scary in-cident that saw himsidelined from action.

•Onaolapo

CMYK


wrong. But we gath-ered that he may havepleaded Mea cupa andKeshi is also set to wel-come him back by invit-ing him to the team assoon as possible.

A very dependablesource informed us thatOsaze who appears inform in his new club,Stoke City has apolo-gised to the Eaglescoach and told him toforgive him of his tan-trums.

“Keshi is human andwas touched by thechange of heart of Osazein asking for forgive-ness. He(Keshi) wantsthe best for the SuperEagles. Since Osaze isdoing well in his cluband has shown remorse,

OdemwingieContinues from BP he will soon open the

doors for the ‘’prodigalson’’, our source said.

The Super Eagleswould be glad to wel-come Osaze who hit abrace against West Hamat the weekend as hisclub won 3-1.

While Osaze’s come-back remains a cheerynews, our source was si-lent on the fate of Villar-real hotshot, Ike Uchewhose chances of com-ing back to Eagles afterhis last outing in the Af-rican Cup of Nationswin in South Africa arestill unclear. Keshi hadfrowned that Ike Uchelacked tactical disci-pline, an accusationthat shocked both play-er and keen watchers offootball.

win over Osasuna.The Argentina interna-tional already becamethe top goalscorer in theclub’s history in officialmatches two years ago,erasing Cesar Rodrigu-ez from the recordbooks, but Paulino Al-cantara’s number hadstayed out of Messi’sreach until this week-end’s encounter.Alcantara, born in thePhilippines, scored 369goals in 357 games as aBarca player between1912 and 1927, but the

Moyes

Continues from BP Blaugrana legend hasnow been overtaken byM e s s i .The 26-year-old hasbeen in sublime form in2013-14, netting 18goals in 21 La Liga en-c o u n t e r s .The prolific attacker ’snext objective is becom-ing the top goalscorer inthe history of the Cham-pions League.That honour is currentlyin the possession ofReal Madrid icon RaulGonzalez, who hasscored 71 goals againstMessi’s 67.

penalties either side ofhalf-time to put the Kopon their way while LuisSuarez capped off therout late on.

But Liverpool’s cap-tain marvel could andshould have had a hat-trick.

Gerrard hit a THIRDspot-kick of the after-noon on to the post af-

Messi

Continues from BP ter Daniel Sturridgedived in the box.

His tumble - after Ne-manja Vidic lunged in -saw the Serb sent off forhis second bookable of-fence.

It’s the FOURTH timeVidic has seen red ingames against Liver-pool and capped off amiserable afternoon forthe Old Trafford faithful.

Arsene Wenger’s sidebegan the weekend sev-en points behind Chel-sea, but they moved towithin four points of theleaders — with a gamein hand — thanks to Ro-sicky’s winner after just72 seconds.The Czech midfielder’sgoal, and the gritty de-fensive display that fol-lowed it, secured Arse-nal’s first league win at

RosickyContinues from BP

FORMER Nigeriacoach, Austin

Eguavoen is not pre-pared to align with thosecalling on Super Eagleshead coach, StephenKeshi to be flexible in hisstance on Villarrealstriker Ikechukwu Uche.

Eguavoen who was atAstroturf, Ikoyi duringthe final of the 2014Road to Anfield 5-A-Side soccer champion-ship said he would notsay anything on the IkeUche issue because atthe moment it is difficultto advice Keshi on theissue. He explained fur-ther, “it is a little bit dif-ficult for anybody to sayanything or do anythingfor now because up tillnow, whether you like itor not Keshi has suc-ceeded and is still suc-ceeding and by thegrace of God I still wanthim to succeed.

“The only thing is thatbefore a coach takes de-cision on any issue, hemust have looked at itfrom various angles andthought about it overand over again. What Ihave to say is let us tryto understand, acceptand respect his decisionand back him because atthe end of the day, he

It’s difficult to advice Keshi on Ike— Eguavoen

STORIES BY JACOBAJOM

can be held responsiblefor his decisions. Let usnot force him into takingdecisions.”

Eguavoen said the Ea-gles have improved andlook good enough togive Nigeria, indeed Af-rica a good representa-tion at the WorldCup..”Before now, I wasa little bit uncomfortablewith our defence whenwe were playing thequalifiers. But afterwatching them againstthe likes of Chicharitoduring the friendlyagainst Mexico I am alittle bit comfortable nowcoupled with the factthat they are going tostay together for aat

least three weeks beforethe World Cup, I believethey will gain more in

terms of confidence anddo well at the tourna-ment..

•Ike Uche

SOCCER star Rivaldo, the 1999 world

player of the year anda key member of Bra-zil’s 2002 World Cup-winning squad, hassaid that he is retiringfrom the sport at age41.Rivaldo, who had beenplaying this season forlowly Mogi Mirim Es-porte Club in the thirddivision of the Brazilianleague and also serv-ing as the team’s pres-ident, said on Insta-gram that he made thedecision “with tears inhis eyes” and thankedGod, his family andeveryone who support-ed him throughout hiscareer.“Today I’m announcing

Rivaldo quits

to my fans around theworld that my history asa player has reached itsend,” Rivaldo, namedFIFA’s world player ofthe year while a mem-ber of FC Barcelona,said.

•Rivaldo

FORMER Super Eagles midfielder,

Mutiu Adepoju has in-sisted that controversialEagles forward, Ikechuk-wu Uche deserves aplace in the World Cup-bound Super Eaglessquad.”The best shouldrepresent Nigeria andIkechukwu Uche hasbeen doing well for hisclub,” Adepoju said.

He said that for Niger-ia to do well at the Mun-dial, Coach Stephen Kes-hi should take the bestplayers the country

We need the best — Adepoju insistsboasts of, players who aredoing well in their clubsand Ike Uche and Osazeare doing well for theirvarious clubs. Their cur-rent form and experiencewill be helpful to the team

at the World Cup.”Mutiu believes the Su-

per Eagles will do well inBrazil. We won the AfricaCup of Nations and havebeen doing well since wequalified for the World

Cup. But I know theWorld Cup is a differentplatform. With the com-mitment and dedicationon the part of the playersand the technical crew, Isee them doing well.”

IMPRESSED withthe performance of

Bendel Insurance in theirquest to return to the elitepremier league, ViceChairman of Edo StateFootball Association, FrankIlaboya dolled out N20,000to the team for their 1-1 withMFM Fc at the AgegeStadium.

Ilaboya had promised theEdo Arsenals N50,000 fora win but had to still rewardthem when held theMountain of Fire Miracles

Ilaboya hails Bendel Insurance!team to a draw. ‘’This is thefirst time that the team aredrawing at away and Ithink they deserve all thesupport to come to thepremier league which iswhere they belong’’,Ilaboya said as the playershailed him for hisunflinching support to thedarling team of Benins.

Ilaboya who has beenconsistent with his supportand keen interest inwatching all their awaymatches also appreciated

Mike Itemuagbo, coachShuaibu Amodu forstanding solidly behind theteam in thick and thin.

NIGERIA U17 starstriker Isaac

Success is expected atSpanish La Liga clubGranada CF today.

Success, who clocked18 in January, is on loanat Granada from Italianclub, Udinese.

His sporting rights arenow owned by aninvestment company.

Isaac Successhits Granada

White Hart Lane since2007 in Wenger’s 999thmatch in charge.The third placed Gun-ners feared their titlechallenge was fadingafter a defeat at Stoke,but they are firmly backin the race and a titanicencounter against JoseMourinho’s Chelseaside looming at Stam-ford Bridge next week-end.

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: 01-4544821; 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 SudokuPlace a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can

have two of the same number).Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also

nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block withina bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1through 9. This means that no number can appeartwice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction,division or multiplication, just plain logic and yourimagination.

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, MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDACROSS11 Instruct (5)5 Sooner (6)8 Wireless (5)10 Erase (6)11 Divide (4)14 Fur (6)15 Ration (7)18 Golf-peg (3)19 Sorrowful (3)21 Cart (4)23 Enjoyed (5)24 Otherwise (4)27 Number (3)29 Finish (3)31 Commissionaire (7)32 Sour (6)34 Drug (4)35 Consuming (6)38 Sweetmeat (5)39 Anticipate (6)40 Strayed (5)

DOWN2 Stretch (3)3 Make (6)4 Headgear (3)5 Tether (4)6 Called (6)7 Cure (6)9 Lodge (7)12 Skill (3)13 Rank (4)16 Gemstone (4)17 Nude (5)20 Signified (7)22 Atmosphere (4)24 Infuriate (6)25 Remit (4)26 Encipher (6)28 Author (6)30 Immerse (3)33 Adroit (4)36 Era (6)37 Born (3)

ACROSS: 1, Sudden 5, Emit 8, Shame 9,Arc 10, Cute 11, Ease 12, Yearn 13, Cursed16, Dell 18, Edit 20, Ate 22, Fee 23, Den 24,Mien 25, East 28, Select 30, Cured 32, Poor33, Nigh 34, Tan 35, Peace 36, Reed 37,Bridge.

DOWN: 1, Scarce 2, Decorate 3, Exceed 4,Cheerless 5, Emerged 6, Mean 7, Tied 8,Sty 14, Deference 15, Tin 17, Lea 19,Deserted 20, Ail 21, Ensured 26, Tether27, Stance 29, Spar 30, Cope 31, Die.

Odemwingie apologises to Keshi•Set to re-join Eagles

THERE are verystrong indications

that out-of-favour SuperEagles player, OsazeOdemwingie may like-ly re-join the StephenKeshi-led Eagles intheir remaining friend-ly games before they hitBrazil for the World Cupin June.

Strong-headed Osazewas left out of the Ea-gles in 2012 when he

BY TONY UBANI took offence for beingsubstituted after a verypoor outing in a NationsCup match in Rwanda.When Keshi wanted torecall him he expressedmisgiving about his sub-stitution and Keshi feltthat he was not yet readyto play for Nigeria andgive his all. Keshi lookedaway. Osaze took totweeters to ease his frus-tration, blasting Keshiand the Eagles crew forwhat he reasoned was

•Messi

Continues on Page 54

Moyes’ misery deepens asLiverpool crush Man U

L I V E R P O O Lshowed off their

title credentials by tear-ing apart shambolicManchester United asDavid Moyes’ miserydeepened.

Steven Gerrard netted


Messi becomes Barcaall-time top scorer

LIONEL Messi hasbecome Barcelo-

na’s all-time top goals-corer in all games - in-cluding friendlies - as hehas taken his tally to 370goals following his hat-trick in yesterday’s 7-0

Rivaldo quits— Pg 54

Rosicky sinksSpurs


•MoyesContinues on Page 54

•Osaze

•Gerrard celebrates with Suarez

TOMAS Rosickyfired Arsenal back

into the Premier Leaguetitle race as the Czechmidfielder’s quick-firestrike clinched a crucial1-0 win over north Lon-don rivals Tottenhamyesterday

EPLMan Utd 0 Liverpool 3Tottenham 0 Arsenal 1

NPLGombe 0 Bayelsa 0Sharks 1 Lobi 0Pillars 2 Sunshine 2Enyimba 2 Rangers 1Crown 1 Heartland 2

RESULTS

immigration tragedy:labour, nhrc demand sack of moro, nis boss

Documents

immigration tragedy

kwara state interim

interior minister

kwara state house of

minister of sports

mr davidparradang

mr mrscolumnist

nhrc demandsack of moro