NJC INVESTIGATIONS:: Axe dangles over six corrupt judges

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 61845

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013**

Mr & Mrs

Axe dangles over sixcorrupt judges

LES LEBA

•P.32

DELESOBOWALE

•P.40

COLUMNISTS:

•P. 41

OCHEREOMENNANNA

•P.9

Continues on page 5

•Affected judges lobby for soft-landing

BLESSING THE PALMS—Assistant Parish Priest, Sacred Heart Catholic Church Gwagwalada, Rev.Fr. DominicUduak (L) blessing palm fronds during the Palm Sunday celebration in Abuja, yesterday to mark Triumphal Entry of Jesus intoJerusalem. Inset: Pope Francis blesses the palms before a papal mass at St Peter's square at the Vatican. Photos: NAN/AFP.

NDIC pays N90.13bn to depositors of failed banks •P.49

NJC INVESTIGATIONS:

BY SONI DANIEL,REGIONAL EDITOR,

NORTH

ABUJA—THE daysof six judges, con-

sidered to have fallenshort of the standard re-quired of them in thetemple of justice, appearto be numbered as theNational Judicial Coun-cil, NJC, has concluded

investigations into alle-gations of graft and otherinfractions levelledagainst them. They werefound quilty.

Although names of theaffected judges were notmade public, Vanguardgathered that no fewerthan two of them werefrom appellate courts in

US raisesalarm overkidnap ofexpatriatein Lagos

•Dickson, Okorocha, Akunyili, others pay tributes

ACHEBE: We 've notbeen informed — Kinsmen

•P.8•P.14

East West Roadawarded withoutdesign, financial plan— Orubebe

PALM SUNDAY

2—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013—3


CMYK

POCKET CARTOON

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE


LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

Continues from page 1

You may not control all the events that happen toyou, but you can decide not to be reduced by them— Maya Angelou.

NJC: Axe dangles over six corruptjudges

The best love is the kind that awakens the souland makes us reach for more, that plants a

fire in our hearts and brings peace to ourbeingness — Nicholas Sparks

Joel Osteen’s take on harmonious relationshipbrings to light some virtues that call for beautifullove between people in relationships.

“It is important for a spouse to understand thathis words have tremendous power in his wife’s life.He needs to bless her with words. She’s given herlife to love and care for him, to partner with him, tocreate a family together. If he is always findingfault in something she’s doing, always putting herdown, there will be consequences that are very un-pleasant. One of the leading causes of emotionalbreakdowns among married women is the fact thatthey do not feel valued.

One of the main reasons for that deficiency is be-cause husbands are wilfully or unwittingly with-holding the words of approval women need to helpthem unfold. If you want to see God do wondersin your marriage, or relationship, start praisingyour spouse. Start appreciating and encouragingher.

Every single day, a husband should tell his wife,“I love you. I appreciate you. You’re the best thingthat ever happened to me.” A wife should do thesame for her husband. Your relationship would im-prove immensely if you’d simply start speaking kind,positive words, blessing your spouse instead of curs-ing him or her.”

PDP—Vi ce-President Namadi Sambo (4thR)with PDP National Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur (3rdR)and other members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC)), cutting the cake to celebrate theNWC 1st Year Anniversary at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, yesterday. State HousePhoto.

the country.A source familiar with

the matter said: “The pe-titions that resulted inthe investigation of thejudges were lodged andlooked into even beforethe appointment of thecurrent Chief Justice ofNigeria.

“The truth is that noaction was taken in thedifferent submissionsmade by the panels thatprobed the allegationsuntil now.

“What it means is thatthe different reports pre-pared by the panelshave just been pre-sented to the NJC, whichis expected to announcea verdict soon."

But some of thoselikely to be hit by thedevelopment, are said tohave made spirited ef-forts to see the CJN andplead for soft-landingwithout being exposedto the public, as was re-cently done to two cor-rupt judicial officers.

However, the efforts ofthe affected officers weresaid to have hit the brickwall, as the CJN has notgiven them or their em-issaries any attention todiscuss their problemwith her.

Affected judgeslobby for softlanding

One source said: “Themain problem for thosetrying to lobby the CJNis that she does not re-ceive people particu-larly political-leaningpersons so as not to beaccused of taking sidewith any individual orgroup.

"Have you ever heardthat the CJN receivedany body either in heroffice or residence"? thesource asked.

It was not, however,clear as at last nightwhen the meeting of theNJC would be held asthe one slated for thismonth was called offduring the week.

Last month, the Na-tional Judicial Councilannounced the compul-sory retirement of JusticeC. E. Archibong of theFederal High Court La-gos and Justice T. D.Naron of the PlateauState High Court overallegation of corruption.

The council also an-nounced the setting upof a ‘fact-finding’ com-mittee to probe the con-duct of Justice AbubakarTalba of the FCT HighCourt on the controver-sial John Yusuf’s PolicePension case judgment.

A statement signed byMr. Soji Oye, the NJC’sAg. Director of Informa-tion said the councilwhich took the decisionat its emergency meet-ing chaired by the ChiefJustice of Nigeria, Jus-tice Aloma MariamMukhtar has askedPresident GoodluckJonathan and the Gov-ernor David Jonah Jangof Plateau State to imme-diately send the twojudges on compulsory

retirement for theirmisconducts.

Justice Archibong wasrecommended for com-pulsory retirement pur-suant to the ‘Findings”by the Council on thefollowing Complaintsleveled against him:"That the Judge dis-missed the grievouscharges against an ac-cused without taking hisplea, that he refused torelease the CertifiedTrue Copy of his Rulingto the Lawyers."

Justice Archibong wasalso said to have issueda bench warrant on someofficials of PeoplesDemocratic Party for con-tempt even when thecounsel who was di-rected by the Court toserve them filed an affi-davit that he had notbeen able to serve thecontempt application.

He also made un-founded and caustic re-marks on professionalcompetence of some Sen-ior Advocates of Nigeria.

Justice T. D. Naron ofHigh Court of Justice,Plateau State was rec-ommended for compul-sory retirement sequelto the ‘Findings’ by theCouncil that there wereconstant and regularvoice calls and exchangeof mms and sms(text)messages between himand one of the LeadCounsel for one of theparties to the Suit in theOsun State Gubernato-rial Election Tribunalcontrary to the Code ofConduct for Judicial Of-ficers of the Federal Re-public of Nigeria videSection 292(1((b) of the1999 Constitution of theFederal Republic of Ni-geria as amended.

APC: ACN replies Jega, saysmerger plans on course

BY EMMANUELAZIKEN, POLITICAL

EDITOR

LAGOS—THE Action Congress of

Nigeria, ACN, has as-sured that plans towardsthe formation of the AllProgressives Congress,APC, were still on courseirrespective of reserva-tions expressed by theIndependent NationalElectoral Commission,INEC that a change ofname would be re-quired.

While assuring that theparties were on course,the party said that it andother parties in themerger plans were fullyconscious of the legalprocesses involved andadhering to same.

The party’s assurancewas on the heel of sug-gestions by INEC chair-man, Prof. Attahiru Jegaat the weekend that themerger parties would be

required to adopt a newname upon the fact thatthe APC acronym hadbeen adopted by an-other party seeking reg-istration.

Jega had also said thathe received the notice ofintention of merger fromthe parties only lastweek.

Plans by three opposi-tion parties includingACN, the Congress forProgressive Change,CPC and the All NigeriaPeoples Party, ANPP tocollapse into the AllProgressives Congress,APC, have lately beenchallenged by the aspi-ration of two other politi-cal associations seekingregistration with thesame acronym. The twoother associations arethe African Peoples Con-gress and the All Patri-otic Citizens.

ACN National Public-ity Secretary, Alhaji Lai

Mohammed, however,disagreed, yesterday,with Jega’s claim thatthe ACN only wrote toINEC of its plans for amerger last week. Mo-hammed said that theletter claimed by Jega asa notice of merger wasactually a letter invitingthe commission to theirnational conventionwhere the merger proc-ess was expected to beratified.

Asserting that the proc-ess was wholly in con-formity with the require-ments of the law, Mo-hammed said that therewas no reason to doubtthe progress of the op-position parties towardstheir merger.

“So, if you want yourapplication to be consid-ered, go and changeyour name because it isnot possible to registerthree groups with thesame name."


Generator fumes kill 2inside a well in Bauchi

Man, 6 children feared deadin Delta boat mishap

OKADA HARVEST: Truck-load of motor bikes (Okada) impounded by the Lagos State Governmenstop, Ejigbo, Friday. Photo: Adekunle Aliyu.

BY EMMA ARUBI

WARRI — A MIDDLE agedman, Mr. Mike Oleke, and

six children of different parentswere feared dead following a boatmishap involving two speedboats conveying passengers andfoodstuff at the Warri river inDelta State, yesterday afternoon.

One of the boats was said to betransporting passengers to someGbaramatu communities in WarriSouth-West council area when theother boat said to be carrying

foodstuff allegedly ran acrosstheir boat and sank it around theNigeria Navy Base waterfront,injuring many of the occupants.

One of the occupants, Mr.Victor Mala lost three of hischildren to the accident whileMrs Ebobra Newman and herhusband, Ometan, fromOkerenkoko with their five kidsalso lost three of them whosecorpses have since beenrecovered.

Mr. Mike Oleke who lost hislife had just completed the

introduction ceremony of hispregnant wife two weeks earlierand was said to have sustainedserious injury in the boatcollision.

The incident which wasreported at the Marine PoliceUnit in Warri is beinginvestigated by the unit whoseboss, Mr. Prest Udieyin said hewas not competent to speak onthe matter but promised that theheadquarters would brief thepress at the completion ofinvestigation.

BY SUZAN EDEH

BAUCHI— RESIDENTS of Yelwa Makaranta, a suburb ofBauchi metropolis, yesterday, were thrown into mourning

following the death of two middle aged men who died whileworking inside a well.

It would be recalled that in February 12, 2012, three people losttheir lives in Jahun quarters, a community in Bauchi State capital,bringing the number of victims of poisonous gas in wells to five.

Vanguard gathered that the incident took place at the residenceof one Alhaji Nuhu Dalhatu.

According to sources, Alhaji Nuhu gave the contract of cleaningthe well to one 37-year-old Ibrahim Jibrin because the well wasdirty and had not been in use for two years.

It was further learnt that Ibrahim called his friend, Usman Ali,age 35, to assist him through the use of a pumping machine thatremoves dirty water.

Tragedy, however, struck when Ibrahim decided to take into thewell a generator to power the pumping machine.

An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity said when Ibrahimstarted the generator, he began to loose consciousness graduallybecause of its fumes and later fainted inside the well.

It was further said that tension began to mount when there wasno movement inside the well.

The situation prompted his friend, Usman, to go inside the wellto save his dying friend, despite warning from neighbours.

The matter took another dimension when Usman Ali who wasalready bringing out Ibrahin on his shoulder, also lostconsciousness and fell back into the well, which resulted to thedeath of the two of them.

One Dan Asabe Shehu who was lucky to survive the incidentalso attempted going inside the well, but when he discoveredthat he was losing consciousness, came out swiftly and was rushedto the hospital for treatment.

Men of the Bauchi Fire Service who got wind of the incidentevacuated the two corpses to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa TeachingHospital.

Kidnapped NTA reporter released BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE — A NURSINGmother and broadcaster

with the Nigerian TelevisionAuthority, NTA, Akure,Ondo State, Mrs OlubunmiOke, who was kidnappedlast Thursday has beenreleased by her abductors.

This, however, waspossible after her familycoughed out N1 millionransom to the kidnapperswho dropped her along theBenin Ore Expressway atabout 11 p.m, Saturday.

Bunmi, as she is fondlycalled by her colleagues, hassince re-united with herbanker husband and six-month-old baby girl.

She has, however, beenbarred from grantinginterviews on her ordeal inthe hands of her captors.

But findings by Vanguardrevealed that she was drivento one of the Niger Deltastates and kept in the creeksby her kidnappers.

Her friends whovolunteered information saidshe was not maltreated bythe kidnappers who alsosympathised with her thatshe is a nursing mother.

Investigations had it thatthe kidnappers initiallyrequested N30 million asransom but later went downto N6 million and eventuallysettled for N1 million.

Vanguard gathered thatthey settled for N1 millionfollowing appeals from thefamily of the nursing motherthat the baby had beendeprived of breast feeding forthree days.

It was learnt that during thenegotiation, the kidnappers

heard the cry of the baby andwere moved.

The kidnappers, accordingto investigation, asked thehusband of the journalist tobring the ransom to Owo andwhen he got there, he wasasked to return to Akure.

The husband was latercalled about 30minutes afterto go to Ore where they saidhe would find his wife.

Some security personneland the husband later wentfor her only to be told byBunmi that she was droppedin the bush and was helpedby a truck driver to theexpressway.

Her friend said that Bunmitold them the kidnappersused her phone all throughthe negotiation and that theyslapped her when herhusband was negotiating theransom downwards.

3 policemen, 2 otherskilled in Tiv/Fulaniconflict

BY PETER DURU

MAKURDI — THREE police officers and two othershave been reportedly killed in a bloody conflict

between Fulani herdsmen and native Tiv farmers atAnguwah village in Gwer West Local Government Area ofBenue State.

Vanguard gathered from sources that the crisis eruptedin the community on Friday afternoon after a Fulaniherdsman allegedly stole the honey of a bee farmer in thevillage.

According to our source, “unknown to the herdsman, oneof the children of the bee farmer was watching him as hestole the honey from the pot and he alerted his father whoconfronted the Fulani man.

“And because of the prolonged animosity between bothparties, the situation escalated leading to killings anddestruction of property and farmland,” he said.

When contacted on the issue on telephone, the councilchairman, Mrs Eunice Mbajwa, confirmed that the issuewas initially resolved amicably but the Fulani man latermobilised his kinsmen who attacked the village around 6pmsame Friday.

Mbajwa who said she informed the Benue State policecommand of the incident, however, regretted that while themobile policemen were on their way to the village in anHilux vehicle in company of the security officer of thecouncil, they were ambushed by the herdsmen who killedall the occupants of the vehicle including the threepolicemen.

When contacted, the Benue State Police Public RelationsOfficer, DSP Daniel Ezealo said the police had confirmedthe death of two police officers, adding that the third mighthave been abducted.

Ezeala said the command had beefed up security in theaffected community while the search for the missing officerwas still ongoing.


nt Environment and Special Offences Enforcement Unit at Jakande Bus

Okonjo-Iweala’s mother:Police arrest palace guard

BY EMMA AMAIZE

ASABA — POLICE have seized a 36-year-old palace guard and suspected kidnap

kingpin, alleged to have facilitated theabduction of Prof. Kamene Okonjo, motherof the Minister of Finance, Dr. NgoziOkonjo-Iweala, last December, in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State by kidnappers.

Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr.Ikechukwu Aduba, who confirmed the arrestof the suspect, Chiejine, to Vanguard,yesterday, said: “While the police in DeltaState were after him, the Lagos State PoliceCommand was also after him for somecriminal offences, so we have handed himover to them.”

He said the police did not have a hand inthe Okonjo-Iweala mother kidnap until hewas arrested by the police, last week, aftera shootout in Edo State in connection with

the death of 71-year-old Mrs. Regina Obiafter collecting N2 million ransom from herfamily.

Police shot dead one of the suspectedkidnappers and arrested four others inseparate operations in Benin City andOgwashi-Uku

Aduba said the suspect, who worked in thepalace as a guard, confessed he was the onethat brought the kidnappers to the palace tokidnap Prof. Okonjo.

He said Chiejine’s house in Ogbe-Ofuquarters, Ogwashi-Uku was demolishedwhen it was confirmed he was a kidnapper.

Aduba stressed the need for people to becareful of the kind of people they employ asguards, saying: “This is the problem we havenow, for practically every kidnap, there isan inside factor. Chiejine is very close tothem in the palace and he is the one thatbrought the kidnappers.”

after N1m ransomAccording to them, the

kidnappers claimed that shewas taken to Delta State andthat when the ransom couldnot be raised, they asked herto contact the national body ofthe Nigeria Union ofJournalists,NUJ, and the stategovernment to augmentwhatever the family was ableto raise.

In desperation, they equallycalled Bunmi's mother tocontribute to the safety of herdaughter if she didn’t wanther dead.

Contacted, the Police imagemaker, Wole Ogodo, confirmedthe release of the broadcasterbut said no arrest had beenmade, adding that he was notaware that any ransom waspaid by the family of Bunmi.

He assured that the policewere on the trail of thekidnappers and would soon

apprehend them.It would be recalled that four

gunmen kidnapped Bunmiwhile coming from work atabout 9.30p.m. around Oba Ilearea of Akure metropolis.

Mrs Olubunmi Oke

11 inmates break jail in DeltaPolice re-arrest 2, difuse bomb

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

ASABA —ELEVEN inmates atGovernment Remand Home, Sapele in

Delta State have escaped after successfullycutting the iron bars, even as a bomb wasdifused from a residential building.

State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr.Famous Ajieh, confirmed the two differentincidents in a release in Asaba, yesterday.

According to him, “on February 24, 2013 atabout 0830 hours, one Lucky Egbelughe,male, a senior staff of Sapele Remand Homereported at Sapele police station that on thesame date at about 0100 hours, 11 inmatesescaped from the Remand Home by cuttingthe iron bars fence.

“However, on March 18, 2013, at about1700 hours, two of the escapees, one JuniorAkudo, male, and Green Glory, male, allaged 20 years were re-arrested at Warri bypolicemen from ‘A’ Division, Warri.

“The suspects were members of a notorious

criminal gang terrorizing Warri and environsand were remanded at Sapele RemandHome by a magistrate court, Warri beforetheir escape."

On the bomb scare, the PPRO said: “OnMarch 19, 2013 at about 0900 hours, a femaleresident at New World City UgbuwangeWarri reported at ‘A’ Division police Station,Warri that on the same date at about 0845hours her son noticed an object suspectedto be Improvised Explosive Device, IED,planted by unknown persons in one of therooms on the first floor of her four-storeybuilding.

“On receipt of the report, a team of anti-bomb squad from Area Command andpolicemen from ‘A’ Division Warri rushed tothe scene. The said object was confirmed tobe IED and was successfully difused by theanti-bomb squad.

"Meanwhile, the area has been placedunder close surveillance with a view totracking down the culprits,” the statementadded.

3 kids die over alleged waterpollution in Bayelsa

BY EMMA AMAIZE

YENAGOA — THREE teenagers havedied in Lotugbene community in Bayelsa

State after allegedly drinking water from ariver polluted by the rig operation of an oilcompany in the area.

The affected children, Osumayin Eniye, 7years; Kpegbolo Oyadonbenfa, 5 years andBoroyegha, 10 years, supposedly died ofcholera after vomiting and stooling for awhile.

The river is the only source of drinkingwater to the community.

Irate chiefs, elders and youth leaders ofthe community have consequently handeddown a seven-day ultimatum to the companyto quit the area.

A source said the quality of water inLotugbene was affected since October 6, 2011when the oil company started drilling a rig

and allegedly polluted the entire river in theprocess.

Leaders of the community, Chief NoelBabazouwei, Wilfred Ikere and Isaaclamented that efforts to reach the oilcompany, which they accused of forcefullyencroaching on Tinpa AOPL282 locationproved abortive, as the company hadremained incommunicado.

They said they had written to thePresidency, National Assembly, GovernorHenry Dickson of Bayelsa State and theMinistry of Niger Delta Affairs on theirplight, but no respite yet.

The community, however, said it wasdisposed to dialogue with the companywithin the seven days, but if the companyignored the ultimatum, then, it could notguarantee the safety of the firm's officials inthe area.

Driver docked for attemptedmurder of Lagos judge

BY ONOZURE DANIA

LAGOS — A COMMERCIALbus driver, Mr. Kasali Quadri,

was arraigned, weekend, forattempting to kill a Lagos HighCourt judge, Justice E. Adebajo.

Quadri, who has been in prisoncustody since March 2012, wasarraigned before JusticeChristopher Balogun of anIgbosere High Court sitting inLagos.

The defendant is facing a one-count charge of attempted murderproffered against him by the state.

However, when the charge was

read, Quadri pleaded not guiltyto the charge.

The defendant’s counsel,Oludare Falana and SolomonKehinde, both of the Falana andFalana’s Chambers, told the courtthat the defendant has been indetention for the past one year fora mere traffic offence.

Falana said he had a bailapplication for Quadri and thathe was prepared to argue it.

Justice Balogun, however,adjourned the bail application toApril 18, 2013 on the ground thathe had to attend a meeting withthe Chief Judge of Lagos State.


Achebe: We've not been informed— Kinsmen

BY OUR REPORTERS

Dickson, Okorocha, Akunyili, Senators, ACN, NLC, others pay tributes

OGIDI, the headquarters ofIdemili North local govern-

ment area of Anambra State andhome town of deceased literarygiant, Professor Chinua Achebe,was quiet, yesterday, even as mem-bers of his kindred said they wouldconvene a meeting this week toformally announce his death to thepeople.

Achebe’s country home, whichwas under lock last week, wasopen, yesterday, and few peoplewere seen in mournful mood.

According to one of the elders inthe area, Achebe was a member ofthe traditional cabinet of the town,adding that though they believedwhat they read in the media thathe was dead, they were still wait-ing for his children to formally in-form them of their father’s deathas the custom of Ogidi demandedto kick-start the burial ceremony.

Meanwhile, a large stream oftributes continued to flow for thelegendary author and poet, whodied on Friday in Boston, UnitedStates of America.

Bayelsa State Governor, SeriakeDickson said he and Bayelsa citi-zenry would continue to draw in-spiration from Achebe, whom hedescribed as an acclaimed writer,activist, unblemished and strongadvocate of a better Nigeria

Commiserating with the govern-ment and people of Anambra Stateas well as the immediate family ofliterary icon, Dickson, in a tribute,eulogized Achebe for his toweringlegacies and accomplishments asa world acclaimed writer and ac-tivist.

“Through his creative and intel-lectual disposition as epitomizedin his many literary presentations,many people around the worldhave come to recognize the repu-tation of Nigeria as not only a gi-ant in itself, but also a nation ofgiants in many fields of human en-deavour. As a government, as astate and as a people, we will con-tinue to draw inspiration from yourwonderful legacies, accomplish-ments and deep-rooted convictionand vision for an egalitarian Ni-geria,” he said.

Anambra State Chairman ofOhanaeze Ndigbo, Chief ChrisEluomuno said Nigeria and theliterary world had lost a great man.He said Ohanaeze would issue astatement on the death of Achebeafter due consultations.

The senator representing Anam-bra South, Dr. Andy Ubah, in a trib-ute said Nigeria had lost a greatmind, adding that his life and timewould continue to be a source ofinspiration to humanity.

Chairman of the Board of WoleSoyinka Centre for InvestigativeJournalism,WSCIJ, Prof. Ropo Se-koni, said the death of Achebe is amajor loss to humanity. “Achebewas a man who brought colonialAfrica into the consciousness of themodern world. He was a man ofhis words, who stood for the truthand by his race. He did his best toshot the Igbo race into the intel-lectual limelight. The books hewrote: ‘Things Fall Apart’ and ‘Ar-row of God’ are the kind of masterpieces generations will read for so

many centuries.”

Immortalise his legacywith democracy, goodgovernance – Ikokwu

Second Republic politicianand one of the founders of thePeoples Democratic Party, PDP,Chief Guy Ikokwu, describedAchebe as “an African literaryand arts icon of great reputa-tion. He is one of the few blackwriters whose works had beentranslated into over 50 languag-es and read by the young andold generations in countries withdifferent cultural backgrounds.

“As a renowned author andnovelist his first work in 1958was Things Fall Apart which isread in schools and homes tothis day. Leaders who want tounderstand the cultural trans-formation in Africa read thisbook and his other works. Amer-ican Presidents and BritishPrime Ministers like Carter,Clinton, Wilson and Blair readhis works to understand Africabetter. African leaders likeNnamdi Azikiwe, Nelson Man-dela, Sedar Senghor, Nyerereand Kenneth Kaunda and mil-lions of African children areabreast with his works whichinclude No Longer at Ease andArrow of God, while his latestwork an auto biography withthe background of the BiafranCivil War in Nigeria – Therewas a Country – re-launchedhim into the diversity of pastand present day Nigeria.

“Like Soyinka and other dis-tinguished writers and intellec-tuals Achebe was noted overthe decades for his odious ofmilitarism and bad governancein Nigerian and Africa. He re-jected several offers by the Ni-gerian government for nation-al honours and awards. He willbe physically missed but hisworks will continue to enrich theAfrican culture and academy,but the greatest tribute to hislegacy will be democracy andgood governance.

"The Federal and state gov-ernments should immortalizeAchebe for his glorious achieve-ments for Africa and Nigeriansshould mourn his demise.”

Okorocha, Imo speaker,cleric speak

Governor Rochas Okorocha,Speaker Benjamin Uwajumo-gu, and Catholic cleric, Mon-signor Theophilus Okere, saidAchebe’s death was not only ablow to Ndigbo and the coun-try but also the internationalcommunity of writers and aca-demics.

Okorocha said: “Achebe’s

death has created a wide vac-uum in the literary world”, add-ing that his internationally ac-claimed literary works, con-structive criticism and uncom-promising war against socialmalpractices would not be for-gotten in a hurry.

Monsignor Okere saidAchebe was a trail blazer whoprobably did not know the epiclevel his Things Fall Apartwould hit.

Similarly, the Speaker of ImoState House of Assembly, Mr.Benjamin Uwajumogu, saidAchebe’s death was a huge lossto lovers of knowledge.

“Professor Chinua Achebewas the professor of professorsand a foremost social crusaderof our time. With his death,things have finally fallenapart,” Uwajumogu said.

I’ve lost a personal hero– Akunyili

Former Minister of Informa-tion, Prof. Dora Akunyili, saidshe had lost her hero. In astatement by her special assist-ant (Media), Mr. Isaac Umun-na, she said: “Chinua Achebewas not only from my state An-ambra, he was also one of myheroes and role models rightfrom my days at the Universityof Nigeria Nsukka where hetaught.

“I therefore feel a deep senseof personal loss by his death. Itis like losing a part of me. Prof.Achebe’s death leaves a voidnot only in Nigeria and Africabut globally because he is oneof the best novelists the worldhas ever produced,” she said.

Let’s imbibe his virtues– Ashafa

Senator Gbenga BareehuAshafa, (ACN, Lagos East),

Late Chinua Achebe and Shehu Sani, at the Achebe colloquium held at Providence, RhodeIsland, on December 8, 2012.

said the death of ProfessorAchebe is a colossal loss to Ni-geria, in particular, and theworld in general, saying thatthe best way to immortalize himis to imbibe his great virtues.

In his condolence, Ashafasaid: “Achebe was an embodi-ment of great values most Ni-gerians crave for, an exempla-ry character. Let us celebratehim. The best way to immortal-ize him is to imbibe his virtuesand what he stood for. He diedwhen he was most needed infortifying the Nigeria project.Achebe could be put in theclass of Williams Shakespeare,former President of US, J.FKennedy, among other greatmen of the world”.

NLC, NUTGTWN paytributes

The Nigeria Labour Con-gress, NLC, said the world hadlost a global literary and culturalicon, a foremost nationalist andfather of African literature.

In a statement by its ActingPresident, Comrade PromiseAdewusi, the NLC said Chin-ua Achebe “set the tone anddirection of African literature,capturing in the process the to-tal African experience: from pre-colonial and colonial periodsthrough decolonisation and itsdiscontents to national fer-ments, disillusionment and al-ienation. Although betterknown for his novels, Achebewas an unusual master crafts-man who distinguished himselfin all the genres of literature.He was an essayist, poet, play-wright and critic, who was un-relenting in his criticism againstinjustice, oppression, corrup-tion and other vices in the soci-ety. He captivated the worldwith his simple narrative as well

as inspired generations of Afri-can writers who took pride intheir cultures".

Also, the National Union ofTextile, Garment and TailoringWorkers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN,described the late Achebe as anupbeat patriot and a pan-Africanoptimist at a time it was risky andunpopular to do so, sayingChinua Achebe almost single-handedly liberated Africa cultur-ally.

Achebe is a global icon— ACN

Also the ACN paid a glowingtribute to Achebe, describing himas a global icon for all time andan outstanding Nigerian brand.

In a statement by its NationalPublicity Secretary, Alhaji LaiMohammed, the party describedAchebe’s death as a monumen-tal loss not only to Nigeria butalso to the entire world.It said that apart from his rare-fied achievements in the literaryfield and his scholarly excel-lence, Prof. Achebe was a nation-alist, not minding the controver-sy generated by his last book,"There was a country,’’ hence theprominence given to the newsof his death by newspapers andother media organisations acrossthe country.

"Prof. Achebe’s nationalist anddemocratic credentials were un-assailable. He loved Nigeria witha passion and used the platformoffered by his global exposureto call attention, time and again,to the years of misrule in hishomeland, which must have lefta gaping hole in his heart till hebreathed his last.

"Prof. Achebe stuck to his call-ing all through his life, and yetachieved a global acclaim. Less

Continues on page 52


NMA raises alarm over risingcases of TBExpatriate kidnapped in Lagos

VISIT—Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN (2nd right) withmembers of the Lagos State Government Nollywood Upgrade Project, MrKunle Afolayan (left), Deputy Chief of Staff, Ms Moji Rhodes (2nd left),Nigerian Movies Producer and Internationally Acclaimed Filmmaker, TundeKelani (right) and Managing Director, National Film Development Corpo-ration Limited, NFDC, Nina Lath Gupta (middle) during a visit to the IndianNational Film Development Corporation in Mumbai, India.

AN expatriate has beenkidnapped in Lagos,

the US consulate said yes-terday, but no further de-tails were immediatelyavailable.A US consulate spokes-woman did not reveal thenationality of the victim.

Such incidents are rare inLagos, though kidnap-pings for ransom occur reg-ularly in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta re-gion and Islamist extrem-ists have carried out abduc-tions in the north.

“The US Consulate Gen-

eral in Lagos received areport that an expatriatewas kidnapped on VictoriaIsland on Saturday, March23 at approximately 11pm,” the consulate said ina message to US citizens,referring to an upscale areaof Lagos.

“Nigerian law enforce-ment confirmed this inci-dent.”

Police in Lagos, the eco-nomic capital of the nation'scould not be reached forcomment.

Victims of kidnappings inthe Niger Delta and otherareas of the south are usu-ally released unharmed af-ter payment of ransoms.

Abductions in Nigeria’snorth have however haddeadly results.

Islamist extremist group,Ansaru, recently claimed tohave executed seven for-eign hostages.

In addition, a British na-tional and an Italian werekilled during a botched2012 rescue operation, aswas a German the sameyear.

Nigerian Islamist extrem-ist group Boko Haram isbelieved to currently beholding seven members ofa French family abductedover the border in Cam-eroon.

Sack of workers: NLCthreatens Aero Contractors

BY CHIOMA OBIN-NA & VICTORIA

OJEME

NIGERIA Medical Association, NMA, yes-

terday, raised alarm overthe rising cases of Tubercu-losis, TB, in the country,saying that Nigeria had thehighest population of peo-ple living with tuberculosisin Africa.

This came as the WorldHealth Organisation,WHO, alerted on the pos-sible widespread of Multi– Drug Resistance Tubercu-losis.

The President of theNMA, Dr. Osahon Enab-ulele, in a statement to markthis year’s World Tubercu-losis Day, said Kano, Oyoand Benue states had thehighest prevalence whileEkiti and Bayelsa stateshad the least number of TBcases in the country.

According to WHO Glo-bal Report on TB in 2012,Nigeria also has the high-est burden of multi-drug re-sistant tuberculosis in thecontinent.

The report further showedthat 27,000 out of 190,000Nigerians who were diag-nosed with the disease in2011 died while 84,263new cases were reported in2012.

According to Enabulele;“Government and otherstakeholders must wakeup to the reality that Niger-ia has the highest TB bur-den in Africa and 10th larg-est in the world. TB deathsare unacceptable. The painis further aggravated by therealisation that TB is a pre-ventable and easily curabledisease if simple publichealth regulations, hy-giene practices and treat-ment guidelines are strict-ly adhered to.”

BY VICTOR AHIU-MA-YOUNG

NIU elects Ojukwu as chairman

NIGERIA Labour Congress, NLC, weekend,

threatened to confront man-agement of Aero Contrac-tors Airlines should it fail torecall purportedly sackedworkers of the company.

NLC in a statement by itsActing General Secretary,Emma Ugboaja, said “Weare surprised that despiteopportunities provided bythe existence of vibrant, wellinformed, mature and re-sponsible trade unions inthe aviation sector, the man-agement of Aero Contrac-tors decided to ignore allavailable industrial rela-tions mechanisms by dis-missing over 655 employ-ees of the company andlocked out the workforce

since March 13, 2013. Be-fore the management car-ried out these ill informedactions, they had ap-proached the National In-dustrial Court for an in-junction that will providethe management an oppor-tunity to take anti-workersdecisions without consulta-tion with the unions, theNational Union of AirTransport Employees andthe Air Transport SeniorStaff Association of Niger-ia.

“The intention of themanagement is to circum-scribe workers rights to be-long to the unions as wellas casualise the workforce.These are totally unaccept-able to us and we will doeverything possible to de-fend the rights of the work-ers".

NNEWI ImprovementUnion, NIU, Lagos,

has elected Chief Debe Syl-vester Odumegwu Ojuk-wu, the custodian of Ojuk-wu family estate, its newChairman.

He is also the President-General of Umudim NnewiDevelopment Association.

In his acceptance speech,he promised to actualizethe Nnewi multi-purposehall project, improve uponthe scholarship scheme,empower the widows andurged citizens of Nnewi in

diaspora to think home inall they do.

Others elected alongwith him in a recent elec-tion were Mr Ogochuk-wu Austin Okafor (Vice-chairman), Ik Okoye,(Secretary), Emma Uzo-chukwu (Assistant Sec-retary), ChristopherOkonkwo (Financial Sec-retary), Geoffrey Nwo-su (Social Secretary),Mr.Ononuju Okeke(Treasurer) and IfeanyiOkeke (Publicity Secre-tary).

Ogun govtdelists TaiSolarinvarsity

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA—INDICATION has emerged

that Ogun State govern-ment may have delisted thefirst University of Educa-tion, Tai Solarin Universityof Education, TASUED,from the list of its tertiary in-stitutions.

Vanguard gathered thatthe government removedTASUED from the list ofstate-owned tertiary insti-tutions as contained in the2013 diary of the state.

In the diary, the State gov-ernment listed six state-owned tertiary institutions;Olabisi Onabanjo Univer-sity, Ago-Iwoye; MoshoodAbiola Polytechnic, Ojere,Abeokuta; Ogun State In-stitute of Technology, Igbe-sa, Tai Solarin College ofEducation, Omu, College ofHealth Technology,Ilese and Gateway Indus-trial and Petro-Gas Insti-tute, Oni.

It would be recalled thatthe state government hadlast year announced itsplan to convert TASUED,Ijagun, to an institute un-der the Faculty of Educa-tion at the Olabisi Onaban-jo University, Ago-Iwoyewhich was widelycondemned by stakehold-ers.


CELEBRATION of the26th coronation anni-

versary of the Olu ofWarri, Ogiame AtuwatseII (CON), begins May 1.

In a statement after ameeting at the Olu’s pal-ace in Warri, Dr. E.Tetsola, Oluebajaje ofWarri, Chairman, Coro-nation Anniversary Plan-ning Committee; and Mr.Emmanuel Okotie-Eboh,Chairman, Sub-Commit-tee on Publicity, said allarrangements for the cel-ebration were in top gear.

Ogiame Atuwatse II.

LAUNCH: From left— Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, Oba FolagbadeOlateru-Olagbegi, Olowo of Owo, and Oba Okunade Sijuade, Ooni of Ife, at the presenta-tion and launch of Olowo's autobiography entitled The Wilderness of Life, in Owo.

Anniversary

Mainstreetgetsultimatumon staffentitlements

PDP debunks report ofObasanjo/Tukur feud

ABUJA—ASSOCIA-TION of Senior Staff

of Banks, Insurance andFinancial Institutions,ASSBIFI, has given one-month ultimatum to themanagement ofMainstreet Bank Ltd, tosettle the entitlements ofits sacked workers, warn-ing that failure to do sowould attract the wrath ofthe association.

Federal Government,through the CentralBank of Nigeria, CBN,in August 5, 2011, hadnationalised AfribankNigeria Plc, Bank PHBand Spring Bank Plc andsubsequently set upthree bridge banks,Mainstreet Bank, Key-stone Bank and Enter-prise Bank with all assetsand certain liabilitiesduly transferred to thenew banks, respectively.

ASSBIFI, in a statementissued in Abuja, week-end, claimed as thenewly set up banks wereharmonising and con-solidating their func-tions, the management ofMainstreet Bank ration-alised some of its seniormembers without follow-ing the due process asset out by the industry-wide Collective Agree-ment.

BY JOHNBOSCOAGBAKWURU

Daniel mourns Obadare, Adegbite, Akinnola

FORMER Governor of OgunState, Otunba Gbenga Daniel,

weekend,has said with the demiseof Pastor Timothy Obadare, Dr.Samuel Adegbite and Chief BayoAkinnola, Yorubaland had lostthree illustrious sons, who hadcontributed immensely to the de-velopment of Yorubaland, Nigeriaand humanity.

Daniel, who spoke in Sagamu,said: “Dr Adegbite was a distin-

guished banker, who nurtured dif-ferent generations of bankers, whileAkinnola was a committed industri-alist, who sat on the board of sev-eral companies and promoted indig-enous entrepreneurship.

“Pa Obadare was a fine example ofthe doggedness of the human spirit.

"He carried the gospel of Christ todifferent parts of the world andshowed that a leader could riseabove bigotry and discrimination.”

IBADAN—SOUTH-WESTzone of Peoples

Democratic Party, PDP,weekend, dismissed growinginsinuations of feud betweenformer President OlusegunObasanjo and the NationalChairman of PDP, AlhajiBamanga Tukur, saying therumoured misunderstandingbetween the duo was a mereruse.

PDP South-West, in astatement by its ZonalPublicity Secretary, WaheedLawal, said: “The allegedfeud between Tukur andObasanjo is a figment ofpeople’s imagination.

"We visited former PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo beforethe town hall meeting heldwith the national chairman ofthe party in Ibadan.

“Obasanjo welcomed usand provided us dinner. Itwas after this that we plan-ned the zonal meeting. Thenotification that we gave forthe meeting was three days.”

He maintained that themeeting was fixed for Ibadanand not Obasanjo’s residencebecause some membersmight not find it convenient.

OBJ's busyThe party said: “Obasanjo

hardly attends meetings ofsuch nature as a result of histight schedule andinternational engagements.We used to hold suchmeetings in his house. But

this time, we wanted to bringeverybody together so thatsome would not say that theycould not come.

“We can give those whodid not attend benefit of the

doubt. Perhaps, the noticewas too short, perhaps, theyhad other engagements. It isa continuous process. Peoplethat were hitherto not beentalking are now coming

together to talk.”As part of the reconciliation

efforts, the statement addedthat after the town hallmeeting, the committee wouldbegin senatorial meeting.

BY OLA AJAYI

FG, health workers reach agreement

FEDERAL Government andworkers in Federal hospitals

and other institutions have re-solved the protracted industrialdisputes between the workersand government, thereby avert-ing the sector’s looming indus-trial unrest.

Five unions in the health sec-tor, operating under Joint HealthSector Unions, JOHESU, onMarch 18, issued a 15-day ulti-matum to Federal Governmentover non-implementation of May10, 2012 Collective Agreement,among others.

However, at a meeting calledby the Minister of Labour andProductivity, Mr. Emeka Wogu,and attended by officials of the

Federal Ministry of Health, Na-tional Salaries, Income and WagesCommission, and JOHESU, agree-ment was reached.

According to the agreement, “onnon-implementation of May 10, 2012Collective Agreement, the meetingnoted that JOHESU had declared anine-point trade dispute.

“Four of the points in disputewere referred to the National In-dustrial Court of Nigeria, NICN,while the remaining were to be im-plemented by the Federal Minis-try of Health.

“It was noted that while NICNhad accorded due diligence andimportance to the case by consti-tuting a three-man panel, the Fed-eral Ministry of Health Legal rep-resentatives were not keeping upwith the expectation of JOHESU onthe speedy prosecution of the case."

BY VICTORAHIUMA-YOUNG


Fresh crisis rocks Psychiatric Hospital in Edo

Rivers House wades into RSUST crisis

JTF, Police nab 12 suspected cultistsin Delta

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

BY EGUFEYAFUGBORHI

DESOPADECboostssanitation inWarri South LG

BY FESTUS AHON

UGHELLI—MEN ofthe Joint Military Task

Force, JTF, and the Police inUghelli, Ughelli North LocalGovernment Area, DeltaState, weekend, arrested 12suspected cult members inthe area.

The police said theyswooped on the suspectsduring their meeting, follow-ing a tip off. When inter-viewed, one of the suspects,(name withheld) said theywere not members of secretsociety, adding; “The NeoBlack Movement of Africa,NBM, which we belong to,is a registered and recog-nised non-governmental or-ganisation in Nigeria andbeyond and is not a secretsociety. We were meeting inview of the forthcoming East-er."

Briefing newsmen, theUghelli Police Area Com-mander, Mr. AwosolaAwotinde, said the operationwas jointly carried out by thePolice, JTF and the local vig-ilante, adding that the sus-pects were rounded up at

their meeting venue.Noting that there was no ex-

change of gun fire between thesuspects and security agents, he

said: “We got a call that cultmembers were meeting, somy men, in conjunction withthe JTF and our local vigilan-

We're not cult members —Suspects

te immediately swung intoaction and the suspects werearrested and brought to thepolice station.”

BENIN—FRESH crisisis brewing at Uselu

Psychiatric Hospital in Ben-in City, Edo State, as theSenior Staff Association ofthe hospital, weekend, ac-cused the Chief Medical Di-rector, Dr. Sunday Olotu, ofalleged refusal to give a writ-ten approval to some officialsof the union, who were in-vited by Department of StateSecurity, DSS, in the state.

Legal Adviser to the union,Mr. Kelvin Okafor, in a state-ment, alleged that the CMDhad refused to grant permis-sion to the chairman and sec-retary of the union, Mr.

Kennedy Oriakhi and Mr. The-ophilus Osifo, respectively, inorder to paint them in bad lightbefore the DSS.

But reacting, spokesman of theCMD, Mr. Efe Stewart, de-scribed the allegation as untrue,adding that the management ofthe hospital had not receivedany formal letter from the unionmembers for permission, neitherhad it received any letter fromDSS.

He described the union offi-cials as “mischief makers,” who,he said, want to make things dif-ficult for the management ofhospital.

The union, however, insistedthat Dr. Olotu only gave a ver-bal approval and had declined

a written permission despitethe written request sent tohim by the union leaders.

“Members of the union arelaw abiding citizens withoutskeleton in their closets andare, therefore, prepared tohonour the invitation if onlythe management will issuethem requisite written ap-provals to do so.

“It is, therefore, curious thatthe management of the hos-pital is refusing or neglectingto issue the aforementionedmembers of the union the req-uisite approval to honour theinvitation by the securityagency in line with the Pub-lic Service Rules,” the unionsaid.

BY DANIEL GUMM

WARRI—IN his effort toboost environmental

sanitation in the council,Transition Committee Chair-man of Warri South LocalGovernment Area, Dr. Au-gustine Uroye, has taken de-livery of two waste disposalvehicles and a one-wheelloader, donated by DeltaState Oil Producing AreasDevelopment Commission,DESOPADEC.

The Warri South councilchairman described the ges-ture as a glaring example ofwhat government should belike.

Uroye promised to alwayspartner DESOPADEC andthanked the state govern-ment for establishing thecommission, adding that eve-ryone in Warri South coun-cil would be positively affect-ed in the area of environ-mental sanitation as a resultof the waste disposal vehi-cles and wheel loader.

Handing over the wheelloader on behalf of the Chair-man of DESOPADEC, Mr.Oritsua Kpogho, the com-mission’s Director, Industri-al Promotion and Invest-ment, Toju Emiko, explainedthat the wheel loader was toassist authorities of the coun-cil in their waste disposalefforts.

PORT HARCOURT—RIVERS State House of

Assembly has intervened inthe crisis rocking Rivers StateUniversity of Science andTechnology, RSUST, Port Har-court, following the allegedhard stance of the manage-ment of the university overlate tuition fees payment bystudents.

It will be recalled that ten-sion had risen when the schoolauthorities insisted that stu-dents who defaulted in earlypayment of school fees wouldrepeat the 2011/2012 academ-

ic session to deter growing pref-erence for late payment by thestudents.

Following last Thursday’s pro-test by the students, the stateHouse of Assembly had called forcalm, assuring of its resolve tosettle the matter amicably.

Chairman, House Committeeon Education of the state Assem-bly, Mr. Austin Ngor, told Van-guard, weekend, that apprecia-ble progress had been made inresolving the matter.

A meeting was hosted by theVice Chancellor of the universi-ty, Prof. Barineme Fakae and othertop management with leader ofthe House, Mr. Chidi Lloyd, wholed a delegation of lawmakers.

Ngor said: “Already, man-agement has set up a commit-tee to revisit the matter. We alsoresolved to get all affected stu-dents listed and their com-plaints categorised, so thatmanagement could open itsregistration portal on its web-site for those with genuine cas-es to register and get their re-sults to avoid having some stu-dents repeating an entire ses-sion. “Not all the students weresatisfied with the outcome ofthe meeting. Some needed tohear a quick fix measure, likeassuring that the registrationsite had been opened with im-mediate effect, but I think wecan build on it gradually to re-solved the matter in the inter-est of the students.”

FUNERAL AND THANKSGIVING SERVICE: From left: Obong Rita Akpan, a former min-ister of the federation; Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Lady Valerie Ebe; the formerSecretary to the Government of the Federation, Obong Ufot Ekaette, and wife, Senator EmeEkaette, at the funeral and thanksgiving service for late Chief Bassey Ndiokho, at Mkpok,ONNA L.G.A, weekend.

PONTIFF of the over1.2 billion-strong Cath-

olic Church, Pope Francisand the newly commis-sioned Archbishop of Can-terbury, Archbishop JustinWelby who heads about 77million Anglicans in theworld, yesterday flaggedactivities marking the be-ginning of the Holy Week.

While Pope Francis cele-brated the occasion at theSt. Peter ’s Square at theVatican urging Christiansto lead simple lives, hisAnglican counterpart whowas inaugurated lastThursday marked his firstPalm Sunday at the Canter-bury Cathedral where heenjoined Christians to loveone another.

Joined by an overflowingcrowd waving palm frondsand olive branches compris-ing about 250,000 tourists,pilgrims and other faithful,Pope Francis told an off-the-cuff story from his child-hood growing up in Argen-tina. “My grandmotherused to say, ‘children, bur-ial shrouds don’t havepockets,’” the pontiff saidin the report, conveying themessage that “ you can’ttake it with you.”

Wearing bright red robesover a white cassock, Fran-cis touched on his Jesuitbackground as he spoke ofPalm Sunday. He presidedover the mass at an altarcovered by a white canopyon the steps of St. Peter ’sBasilica, the report said.

The Sunday before East-er marks Jesus’ entry intoJerusalem which, Francissaid, “awakened so manyhopes in the heart, aboveall among humble, simple,poor, forgotten people,those who don’t matter inthe eyes of the world.”

Since his election earlierthis month, Francis has fo-cused his papacy ’s mes-sage on the downtroddenand poor. Also keepingwith his semi-unscriptedstyle, he left his preparedhomily several times to ex-hort the crowd to embracesimple living.

Christian joy “isn’t bornfrom possessing a lot ofthings but from havingmet” Jesus, the 76-year-oldpontiff said in his homily.

Similarly, hundreds ofAnglicans defied the bittercold to besiege CanterburyCathedral as a smiling newArchbishop Welby enteredthe west door accompaniedby the Dean of Canterbury,the Very Revd Robert Wil-lis and the Bishop of Do-ver, the Rt. Revd TrevorWillmott for the Palm Sun-day service.

The service was entitled‘Our Journey into Holyweek’, and several personsgave their individual testi-monies of what the weekahead would mean forthem. Archbishop Justinsaid that Holy Week was atime “to journey together”and to “say yes to the invi-tation” to be partners inChrist’s mission and planfor the world.

Pope Francis,ArchbishopWelby flag offHoly Week


CMYK



From left: Mrs. Busola Oduntan, Mrs. Olufunmi Akinnola, wife of the deceased and Mrs.Gloriastiene Agboola, during the visit of sympathisers to the family of late Chief Bayo Akin-nola, in Ibadan, yesterday. Photos: Dare Fasube

Mr. Muyiwa Ige, Osun State Commissioner for Works, sign-ing the condolence register

From left: Mr. Muyiwa Ige, Chief Bamidele Aiku, SAN; Chief Kola Bamgbeluand Prof. Jide Desalu, during the condolence visit.

From left: Mrs. Kate Delano, Prof. O. O. Oyeniran and Mrs. Stella Mar-inho.

Condolence visit to late Chief Akinnola's family, in Ibadan

Lawyers give INEC 30 daysultimatum to register APC

BY JOHNBOSCOAGBAKWURU

A B U J A —MINISTER of

Niger Delta Affairs, ElderGodsday Orubebe,weekend shocked Houseof Representatives JointCommittee on PetroleumResources (Down-stream), Finance andState & and Local Gov-ernment with a revela-tion that the East-Westroad was awarded with-out design, due processand financial plan.

He made this declara-tion at the concludingsession of the joint com-mittee’s investigativehearing into the mandateand implementation ofSubsidy Re-investmentand Empowerment Pro-gramme SURE-P.

Dakuku Peterside,Chairman of the Commit-tee, described the entireprocess as not only ill-conceived but alsowondered if the FederalGovernment actuallyintended to execute theproject in the first place.

According to Peterside,the East-West road is themost important road inthe region but unfortu-nately, the governmentchose a poor response to

the urgent infrastructuralneed of the people of theSouth-South.

”The road has, therefore,not made progress because itis not properly funded,”Peterside said.

However, the ministerdebunked insinuationsthat government wasplaying politics with theroad, disclosing thatgovernment planned tocomplete the project but

was hindered by pauci-ty of funds.

He explained thatwith the intervention ofSURE-P, the ministryquickly did a design anda financial plan that hadsignificantly improvedwork on the road.

So far, SURE-P hasreleased a total of N21.7billion to the Ministry ofNiger Delta Affairs forthe project.

ABUJA — A group of legal practitioners, under

the umbrella of Lawyers inDefence of Democracy andConstitutionalism, has givena 30-day ultimatum to the In-dependent National Elector-al Commission, INEC, to reg-ister African Peoples Con-gress as a political party in thecountry or face legal action.

The legal practitionersclaimed that African PeoplesCongress, which is one of thepolitical associations claimingownership of the acronym,APC, had fulfilled all the con-stitutional requirements to berecognised and registered byINEC.

In a solidarity visit to theleadership of APC at itsheadquarters in Abuja,yesterday, leader of thelawyers, Mr. Kevin Nnadi,said going by the investi-gations of the group, Afri-can Peoples Congress hadcomplied with the provi-sions of Section 78 of theElectoral Act and Section222 of the 1999 NigeriaConstitution as amended.

Nnadi said it was thestand of his group that ifthe African Peoples Con-gress were denied registra-tion after 30 days, “It is ourposition that lawyers gath-ered here today will renderour services pro bono toAPC.”

East West Road awarded withoutdesign, financial plan — Orubebe

BY EMMAN OVUAK-PORIE

CMYK


PALM SUNDAY ACROSS THE COUNTRYChristians across Nigeria joined the rest of the world in celebrating Palm Sunday in

commemoration of Jesus Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, yesterday.PHOTOS: Abayomi Adeshida, Olu Ajayi, Biodun Ogunleye & Lamidi Bamidele.

ASO CHAPEL: From left— President Goodluck Jonath-an, Guest Preacher; Ven. Obioma Onwuzurumba, Chaplain,Aso Villa Chapel; Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Minister for Power, atAso Villa Chapel, Abuja.

KADUNA: Bolaji Fasawe riding on a donkeyat St. Michael's Cathedral, Kaduna.

KADUNA: From left— Rev. James Fadason,Rev. Joseph Adeniyi, Mr. Elijah Fasawe, PeoplesWarden; Very Venerable Samuel Nwaeze, Cathe-dral Provost, and Mr. John Baba, at The CathedralChurch of St. Michael, Kaduna.

LAGOS: Celestial Church of Christ, MannaParish, celebrating in Mushin.

LAGOS: All Saints' Anglican Church, Ojueleg-ba, Surulere.

ABUJA: Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Gwag-walada.

PAPAL: Pope Francis celebrates Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Square, Vatican. APPHOTO.

LAGOS: Saviour's African Church Cathedral,Agege.

ENUGU: Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Awkwunan-aw, Enugu.

CMYK

OPINION

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

*Mr. Garba , a commnetator on nationalissues, wrote from Abuja.

BY ABDULLAHI GARBA GEJ: Down to earth, up and doingPRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, like

any leader, means different things todifferent people but there is one view thatwe all share: He is not a chip off the oldblock of Nigerian leaders. Hisbackground in scholarship and service aswell as his humble disposition in highoffice combine to give him a fresh anddistinct presidential personality like noneof his predecessors in power. After a seriesof past leaders from the military changedthe character of and perception ofgovernance from civil to martial, a lot ofpeople tend to associate a president withthe so-called no-nonsense bone-facedarrogance of an army general. Or theboisterous bellicosity of an eccentricretired general. Our previous presidentshave generally come on board withbaggage of reputations.

Like the unforeseen nature of hisemergence as President, Jonathan hascome to personify the supremacy of divinewill over human machinations in thejourney of life. His humble backgroundattracted low public perception while hisapparent aloofness to the exigencies ofpower politics contrasted with theambitious posturing and plotting offormer presidents in the making. This wastruly not the typical Nigerian politicalleader we have known. PresidentJonathan did not make any bones abouthis “local” origins and the poverty of his

childhood to which he often referred. Hismost remarkable personal feat has beenhis ability to ward off the perverseinfluence of the perks of power anddevious courtiers.

He has maintained functional cordialitywith his Vice, Namadi Sambo and hiscabinet members by consistently actingcontrary to the cynical expectations ofdetractors and keeping a very cool headunder his “resource control” bowler hatlong after others have lost theirs tooverheating. Even as Commander-in-Chief, you won’t catch President Jonathanflaunting authority or engaging inpompous excesses of speech and conduct.He is also quite at home with relentlesscriticisms from jaundiced journalists andprejudiced politicians, among othernuisances, preferring to let everyone bewithout succumbing to the tempting urgeto “show dem”. Freedom of expression andassociation reigned unhindered during hispresidency with positive impact on thebustling democratic dispensation in thecountry.

Such an unprecedented environment forhuman rights to thrive has, however, notbeen sustained at the expense of theunambiguous authority and high sense ofresponsibility for public good, nationalstability, peace and progress of Nigeria

vested in the President. All themischievous murmuring about thePresident’s capacity to govern effectivelyand assert his authority boldly have beenmuted in the face of a confident andcompetent containment of the explosivelydestabilizing insurgency launched by theBoko Haram group. This nationalsecurity initiative was progressivelyexecuted by the military forces followingthe full empowerment strategy directedand supported sufficiently by MrPresident. It was a uniquely seamlessoperational onslaught that broughttogether all wings of the security andarmed forces to engage and overwhelmthe insurgents. The unassuming but firmand focussed stance of the President isconsidered pivotal to the unflinchingloyalty of the military high command asit was accorded top priority in funding,equipment and modernization foroperational efficiency and high morale.

The President has also tirelesslyventured out to make the country’s

presence felt in the international arenaand to make the case for increasedcooperation and vigilance in halting thewidespread organised and armed threatsto the peace and security of sovereignstates now raging in Africa. President

Jonathan has repeatedly drawn attentionto the worrying influx of small arms andother weapons through clandestinesupply chains involving internationaloutlaws and advocated concerted actionto deal with the menace. At the same time,the President spared no effort to maintainNigeria’s influential status in Africa andthe sub-region as well as its partnershiprole in several international programmesand operations.

We must now factor in the steady andsystematic tackling of the nation’s long-standing problems in the power,petroleum and infrastructure sectors inparticular where we are at last witnessingsignificant positive transformations suchas the increased electricity generationand supply, resuscitation andmodernization of national rail networks,enhancement of emergency managementcapacity, upgrading of aviation facilitiesand reconstruction of federal roads,among others. We realise that PresidentJonathan is comparatively more effectivein overseeing the affairs of the countrywithout turning himself into a powerconscious emperor. We now have welcomeevidence of a better and more beneficialapproach to leadership coming from thebest president Nigeria should have hadlong ago.

THIEVES have taken over parts of Kaduna,Katsina and Zamfara States. The police andgovernments of those States have concededthat part of the country to marauders and theyhave no shame in confessing there is nosolution to a situation that shows that plays upthe insecurity in the country.Each time the marauders strike, they operate

without let. They arrive on time, the peopleknow them, the traditional rulers are in mortalfear of them. When they are operating theytake anything they want, including food andmoney.The group that comprises about 100 armed

men has become a feature of Birnin Gwariwhose emir Alhaji Zubairu Jibril II, ran toKaduna for succour. He got none. Policemenhave been killed, their stations burnt, inmatesreleased and ATM machines blown up.Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Mukhtar

Ramalan Yero, listened to the emir’s cries,“The entire Birnin Gwari Emirate has beenovertaken by armed robbers. Unless the stategovernment takes a drastic step towardsarresting the situation, it will come to a point

where the villagers will be forced to abandonthe community. The armed bandits have takenover our land.”These cries of desperation would have been

unnecessary if governments were fulfillingtheir obligations to the people. The mostimportant of these is security. Without security,it is more challenging to tackle other areasthat can improve the lives of the people.How were the people supposed to take the

reaction of the governor? “This is a seriousproblem indeed. But it is a responsibility ofthe three states that share boundaries withBirnin Gwari. I want to assure the Emir thatthis administration would do everything

humanly possible to assist the community. Iurge you to enjoin your subjects to pray to Godfor a lasting solution”.Hours after the emir laid his pleas, Birnin

Gwari was raided, visited with the same venomthat the marauders unleash whenever theyarrive. Would the governor blame the peopleof Birnin Gwari for not praying enough? Whendid prayers become the substitute forgovernment’s constitutional role of providingsecurity?Birnin Gwari, like so many outer parts of the

country where presence of security agenciesis minimal, and governments’ indifference tothe security of areas that do not produce coreminerals on which the economy runs, makesthe case for state police stronger.If states that harbour Birnin Gwari had their

own security arrangements, they would havebeen in a better position to deal with the matter.Authorities in Kaduna sound like theconstitution-promised welfare and security ofthe people as the primary purpose ofgovernment excludes the peoples of BirninGwari. It is bizarre.

Where Thieves Reign

CMYK


,,

OPINIONBY AGHOGHO ETAKIBUEBU

*Mr. Etakibuebu, a petroleum engineering student,wrote from Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State

The way out for Nigeria

AN old adage says when the mothergoat chews the cud her kids

always watch. They know that one daysoon they will no longer be fed onmother’s milk. To survive as goats theywill have to forage and chew the cud.Leaders in Nigeria either do not knowor care whether they are beingwatched by us followers. They thinkwe are fools or can be fooled forever.Even a fool soon gets wise when fooledseveral times. As Dr. Michael Okparawould say: “First fool no be fool. Nasecond fool be proper foolish”.

I used to live in a small estate ofeighteen apartments. The landlord wasold and retired to his hometown,Abeokuta. Majority of the tenants fellinto the stupid habit of refusing to paytheir monthly maintenance fees.Because of this, the security guards(mai gad) were always owed theirwages. Many of them left withoutnotice. One day, the mai gad of theday boldly walked up to us in one ofour monthly compound meetings andstarted a high-pitched torrent of abusein Pidgin spiced with Hausa becausehe was being owed for two months.

He blasted us for owing him hispaltry salary while most of us ownedtwo to three cars all parked inside thecompound. Then he angrily walkedaway. I applauded. Needless to say,most of the chronic debtors neverattended our meetings. They simplyfed off the sacrifices of the fewresponsible tenants. This mai gadcould have been a fearless writer orsocial critic if he were educated. Thefollowing day he left, but not beforedeflating the tyres of all vehiclesbelonging to the chronic debtors!

Last week we read the story of oneGarba Sani, a mai gad who was not ascharitable. He was paid N12,000 amonth to guard a car dealership facilityin Lagos worth millions of naira. Beingof criminal mindset, he invited someaccomplices at night and they cartedaway goods worth N28 million! Whenhe was caught and paraded at theLagos Police Command headquarters,Ikeja, Garba said the very thing thatmade me write this piece. A newspaperquoted him as saying:

“I’m not an armed robber. I was onduty and I called them (other suspects)and we took the goods. We did notcarry guns. We have a lot of senatorslooting and we also need money.There are many thieves in Nigeria andmost of us are jobless youths, we havenothing. I earn N12, 000 a monthwhich is too small. We are all criminalsin Nigeria and we have criminal blood

The children are watching

in our body so nobody shouldpretend.”

A smartypant, eh?But look at that drivel about all

Nigerians being criminals, withsenators taking a direct hit. Criminalsalso watch television and readnewspapers, so they are watching theleaders. They have moral alibis tojustify their life of crime, but it does

not stop the fact that Garba and hisaccomplices will say goodbye to theirfreedom for a long time to come, whilethe “senators” (leaders) he refers tomay yet have their own day ofreckoning to atone for their sins againstsociety.

Corruption in Nigeria is graduallyassuming the proportions that MobutuSese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa ZaBanga took it to in former Zaire (now

Democratic Republic of Congo).According to Martin Meredith in hisbook: The Fate of Africa, A History ofFifty Years of Independence, “Mobutuhimself relied on corruption to hold thesystem together and to keep himselfin power. Moreover, he publiclycondoned it. “If you steal do not stealtoo much at a time, you may bearrested”, he told party delegates.“Yibana mayele – steal cleverly, littleby little”.

Even though the brazen corruptionin the National Assembly during theOlusegun Obasanjo years (oftenfuelled by frequent briberies from thePresidency) has apparently dropped,the legislators are still seen as theflagship of bribery and corruption. It

projects in their constituencies, whichappears to justify the perception thatthe “stealing” is still going on.Otherwise, where do they get themoney from? At the same time, Ibelieve that there is a lot morecorruption in the Executive and theJudiciary than the Legislature, and theawareness of this is responsible for thevolatility in society manifesting interrorism, kidnapping, violentrobberies, oil thievery, pipelinevandalism, killings for money ritualsand cultism among the youth.

We need someone who will restoreconfidence in leadership.

Singapore legendary leader, LeeKuan Yew says: “if I have to chooseone word to explain why Singaporesucceeded, it is CONFIDENCE”. Weneed someone who will know that thepeople are watching his every step andlistening to everything he says to knowwhether we should resume investingour hopes in the system and thecountry at large. Not people who willleave some of us loudly proclaimingthat we are all criminals and no oneshould pretend. We ALL aren’tanything of the sort.

We need leaders who will know thatpaying a worker a minimum wage ofN18,000 per month amounts toencouraging him to steal, since thatamount is probably not enough to takehim to work and home, let alonepaying other necessary bills. Socialinjustice, whereby the system is builtto benefit those at the top whiletrampling underfoot the weak andhelpless only breeds the violent crimeswe see everywhere we look. Whywould the system allow some slimycriminals in public offices to dip theirdirty fingers into the till where thepension of our policemen and womenis kept and steal them in billions?They are now beyond the Mobutumantra of yibana mayele.

We need to learn from those whohave succeeded in transforming theirsocieties. Yew made it clear all youneed for a society to be stable fordevelopment is fairness. Never offenda society ’s sense of fairness. InNigeria, everybody is complainingabout real or imaginedmarginalisation. When the civil warended the country leviedmarginalisation against the Igbopeople. Now, everybody else is cryingand hurting.

Who will heal this country?

It is not uncommonto see federallegislators spendinghundreds of millionsof naira on “givingback” projects intheir constituencies,which appears tojustify theperception that the“stealing” is stillgoing on. Otherwise,where do they getthe money from?

President Goodluck Jonathan

WHEN I saw the Failed State Index done by the UnitedStates Think-Thank Fund for Peace and which

ranked Nigeria as 14th under the alert section, I wasoverwhelmed with sadness as this shouldn’t be so for thegiant of Africa. Under the surge of emotion I was promptedto write this little piece on what I feel should be the best wayout of Nigeria’s challenges.

Prominent and most troubling of these challenges is theBoko Haram terrorism presently afflicting the nation. Theactivities of this extremist Islamist sect have seriouslyundermined the peace and tranquillity of this great nationand it is my belief that if nothing is done urgently, we shallsoon see the rise of more terrorist groups. Not only isterrorism threatening the continued existence of thenation, the rate of robbery and other violent crimes is onthe increase. We can’t go about our business without thefear of our lives.

It is obvious that we need good leaders who have adifferent set of values. We need leaders of impeccablecharacter and integrity. Enough is enough of leaders usingwhat belongs to the nation for their personal use. One thingthat is prominently lacking in Nigeria is integrity. Ourleaders have failed to show and exhibit this quality, so thecitizens have no choice but to follow the examples of thoseleading them. That is the reason for the increase in fraudcases. Everybody now wants to have a share of the“national cake” and this should not be so. We need leaderswho will deliver their agenda for the nation and not just use

it for campaign purposes only. Until our leaders begin tolive in transparency and integrity, true democracy cannever be practised.

God said whoever desires to be great must first learn toserve. Greatness is not about how much wealth you canamass for yourself but in how much you can give out. Thatis another thing we are missing in this nation. Everybodywants to amass wealth but very few people are willing tolive for the betterment of others. I believe very strongly thatif the mind-set of the youth is changed toward true serviceto the nation and her people, Nigeria would be out of theturmoil in no time. This mind-set will help reduce the stinkof corruption as public servants will no longer occupyoffices just for their own benefit, but will use everyopportunity to empower their followers in every way. Let usnot forget that Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. Weneed to learn that being the president or governor doesn’tmake you the number one citizen but the number oneservant. Service is one of the fundamental keys to greatnessand a nation built on service to its people will alwaysprosper.

Also, I believe that the issue of amnesty being given toterror groups shouldn’t be one up for debate. Amnestygiving will only lead to more terror groups who have seenthat being a terrorist will only lead to wealth with little orno consequences. I believe that the state should carry outher responsibility properly and secure its citizens and fish

out those who are responsible for the violence within. Ibelieve that the Boko Haram violence was influenced bythe perceived reward accorded the militant group MENDwhose members went scot free after killing so manyinnocent citizens.

The best this nation can do for the innocent that havebeen lost is to let justice prevail by jailing every identifiedand arrested member of the group. The security agenciesshould be empowered to carry out their job diligently andend this nightmare of terrorism in this nation.

Nigeria should never negotiate with terrorists as doing socan only but encourage more terror groups to spring up.

Lastly, we are all Nigerians and as such everyone shouldbe charged with the responsibility of looking out for theother. If we do not create language barriers orgeographical barriers, we would be on our way tobecoming the giant of the world. Let us not dim thepotential that we have in this nation with unnecessaryethnic and religious battles. Every Nigerian should beviewed as a brother and in our entire endeavour let us worktowards making Nigeria as a better place to live in. Weshould develop love toward one another, as love covers amultitude of sins. Just like our anthem says, “peace andunity” remain the basis for moving Nigeria forward. Godbless Nigeria!!!

is not uncommon to see federallegislators spending hundreds ofmillions of naira on “giving back”

CMYK


CMYK



,

,BY MEDINAT UMAR

,

BY AMAH LAWAN

,Protected lives

*Mrs. Umar, a commentator onnational issues, wrote fromAbuja.

*Mr. Lawan, a commentator on nation-al issues, wrote from Kaduna south,Kaduna State.

Jonathan was bold in Borno,Yobe

THE media, as an institution, is one offew organs that have specific functions

spelt out for them in the 1999 Constitutionof the Federal Republic of Nigeria(asamended). Chapter one, section 22 providesas follows:-

“The press, radio, television and otheragencies of the mass media shall at all timesbe free to uphold the fundamental objectivescontained in this chapter and uphold theresponsibility and accountability of theGovernment to the people”.

The chapter referred to deals withvirtually all operations of government,including “fundamental obligation of thegovernment” to the people.

For the media to carry out thisresponsibility diligently, it, itself, must andshould be accountable to its own ethicalstandard and practice. The Code of Ethicsfor Nigeria Journalists says, in Section 2(ii) among others: “A journalist shouldrefrain from publishing inaccurate andmisleading information-- -“. Subsection iiiadds: “In the course of his duties, a journalistshould strive to separate facts fromconjecture and comment”.

The Nigerian Broadcasting code (2002)on its own part says: “News stories-- - shallbe factual, presented accurately andimpartially”.

Many impartial observers of our mediascene are agreed that while members of themedia always impress on the governmentneed to discharge its responsibility to thepeople, they hardly discharge their ownduties to the same people, as they rush tojudgement without the basic facts andoftentimes indulge in public trial of publicinstitutions and officials without, in theleast, focusing on their own grossinadequacies in the discharge of their ownresponsibilities, sometimes arrogating to

themselves the functions of the courts.The fact cannot also be denied that some

indulge in the infamous brown envelopsyndrome also used to slant stories in favourof the giver, contrary to their ethics whichsays in Section 7 (i) that: “A journalist shouldneither solicit nor accept bribe, gratificationor patronage to suppress or publishinformation”.

Regrettably, this has become the standardpractice among a few journalists, who, nomatter how few they are, have earned forthe noble profession a very dented image.Members of the public perceive some reportsfrom this angle, as fortunate as it is.

Take, forinstance, the publication in somemedia regarding the alleged dumping ofharmful toxic materials by KRPC, Kaduna,a subsidiary of the NNPC, at Rido, where itwas reported that about 700 birds (chickens)and five people died as a consequence of thedump. Almost all the papers that went totown with the story reported from this anglewithout in the least finding out the truth orotherwise of the incident. Indeed, somereporters even refused or failed to reflect theKRPC version of what actually happenedfor reasons best known to them. Had theyshown professionalism and demonstratedethical standard in their reportage of theincident, they would have discovered thatthe story was and is a plant by someinterested parties to dent the public imageof the company and set it against one of itshost communities, Rido, in Chikun LocalGovernment, Kaduna State.

The core substance of the report, as earliernoted, was that KEPA dumped toxic wasteat Rido leading to the death of five peopleand 700 birds at a poultry farm owned by amilitary officer.

Following the report, experts from theFederal Ministry of Environment and theKaduna State Enviromental Protection

Authority, KEPA, took prompt action bypersonally visiting the alleged dump site andtook with them samples for laboratoryinvestigation. After a thorough professionalanalysis of the samples, KEPA wrote: ”Theconfirmatory test shows that result obtainedare within acceptable limits; therefore, therefuse dump is not harmful to theenvironment and public health”.

The Kaduna State House of Assembly alsolooked into the matter through itsappropriate Committee on Enviroment,Natural Resources and Solid Mineralsheaded by Haruna M. A. Inuwa.

It was to ascertain (a) whether waste wasdumped and if it was actually toxic and

(b) to find out how it affected the community.Some of its findings were as follows:

(a) “The laboratory results, EP/141/Voliii/412 dated 10 July, 2012 and a liquideffluent/ waste analysis results conducted byKRPC, June 2012, both KEPA and KRPCpresented laboratory evidence to confirmthat the waste dumped at Rido was not toxicso had no health or environmental hazards.

(b) “Biams Intergrated Firm did notpresent any evidence to support its claim of(700 chiken)” and the alleged death of five

persons as a result of the equally allegedtoxic waste dump turned out to be that ofone Liberty Monday Madaki and even this“ was not supported by any medicalevidence”.

The report of the Kaduna State of Assemblyactually blamed the contractor for dumpingnon-toxic waste at sites not designated byKEPA as required by law. What is more, theVillage Head of Rido told investigators thatno one died as a consequence of the allegeddump.

The company in question, ChinbacheInvestment (Nig) Ltd, in a letter to KRPCaccepted full responsibility for whathappened. It says: “We understand andacknowledge the mistake—which causedthis unpleasant experience: we are able tosee where we went wrong”.

There are some questions here regardingthe role of some of the journalists who wereinvited by the KRPC to visit the dump sitebut refused to. Why did they so refuseparticularly that this would have offeredthem the opportunity to balance their report?

Interestingly, even the owners of the poultryfarm did not cooperate with the KRPC whenit sent a team to investigate the claim of 700dead birds. Worse still, there was no evidencethat any single bird was lost at all. Whatwas their role in spreading this false claim?

These questions are vital to understandingsome aspects of their reports. Whatever, it isimportant for media practitioners not toallow themselves to be tempted by one partyto a story, in filing their reports. At all times,they must act as an impartial judgeinterested only in finding out the facts orotherwise of a matter. Rushing to judgementwithout availing themselves of the basicfacts, in such a matter, does not lend weightto professional practice. False reportagemust never be allowed to intrude into thepractice of the noble profession ofjournalism. Indeed, journalism should be afactual history of the moment and notfictional concoction.

WHEN President GoodluckJonathan was campaigning

for the highest office in the land in2011, he easily came across to theelectorate as a humble individual,a sincere and trustworthy person.There was this straightforwardmien about him that you do notoften see in politicians. Politicians,especially in our clime, are definedby double speak, playing to thegallery and always on the lookoutfor a cheap political point to score.Indeed a classic definition of apolitician in Nigeria appears to beone who takes the right turn whenhe or she trafficates left. ButPresident Jonathan all through hispolitical career – from the time hewas elected deputy governor inBayelsa to this time – has shownthat politics does not really haveto be a dirty game where there areno rules and no honour.

The recent visit of the Presidentto Borno and Yobe states North-East of Nigeria afforded manyNigerians the opportunity to onceagain see the forthrightness andcourage in the man they trustedwith their mandate. In spite of thedistracting comments and theobvious moves of the oppositionto politicise the visit of thePresident to the two troubledstates where the dreaded BokoHaram sect has made life verycheap, President Jonathan stuck toreason and statecraft. He wouldnot be drawn into any infantiledebate over what was clearly a

provocation by the oppositiongovernors’ circus show stagedearlier in Maiduguri. Not donewith their ambushing of thePresident with their melodramaticvisit, the opposition taunted thatthe President would not pass anight in Maiduguri. But thePresident made all the sceptics notonly eat their words but alsoshowed them what a great leaderhe is.

Once in the troubled towns, thepresident went straight tobusiness. He visited importantplaces to see the level ofdevastation that Boko Haram hadunleashed on the innocent peopleof Borno and Yobe states. In theeyes of the President, it was notdifficult to see his compassionatefeelings for the people of the twostates whose loved ones have beenmurdered by this satanic group,and for whom every day is livedunder fear and uncertainty. ThePresident saw first-hand how theeconomy of an important part ofthe country has been destroyed bya faceless group and what lookslike complicity of the elite. Inshort, the President saw enough tostrengthen his resolve to doanything within his powers tostamp out the Boko Haram groupand rebuild the confidence of thepeople in the ability of the state toprotect them.

The high point of the visits wasthe town hall meeting PresidentJonathan held with stakeholdersin Maiduguri. In that meeting,many issues ranging from the

immediate and remote causes ofthe Boko Haram insurgency,strategies for containing themenace, the rebuilding of theeconomy of the region as well asthe process of demilitarizing theKanem-Borno axis were discussed.Indeed, the President put up aperformance the Nigerian peoplewho elected him knew he wascapable of. He did not come to themeeting like a politician thinkingabout the next election. Instead,President Jonathan turned up likea statesman worried about the nextgeneration. He was brutally frankwith the people and the elders ofthe state as he looked them in theeyes and told them not what theywould want to hear but what thetruth is. And the truth is that itappears that the elders of Bornofor a long time played the ostrichwith the Boko Haram insurgency.Like Nero, they fiddled while Romeburnt.

For a long time the elders whosuddenly found their voices

at the meeting have buried theirheads in the sand while the state

burned. They are too quick tocondemn any perceivedindiscretion by the Joint TaskForce (JTF) stationed in the stateto protect the people but tooreluctant to speak up against themassacre, which the Boko Haramsect has been unleashing on thehapless citizens of the state. Withthe way the elders vehementlywant the JTF out from Borno, onewould think that the latter and notthe Boko Haram are theaggressors in the State.

Another President, perhaps morepolitical and wily would probablyhave gone along with the elders ofBorno and play to the gallery byendorsing all their proposals justto be in their good books with aneye fixed on the next election.President Jonathan would havenone of that. He stood by the oathhe swore to defend and protect thelives and property of the people.He was well aware that many ofthe people who suffered daily fromthe attacks of the Boko Haramand who live in continuous fearcould not possibly find their wayto that town hall meeting. For thispeople, the presence of the JTF inBorno remains a source ofconfidence in the ability of theNigerian state to protect them.Therefore any talk about pullingthe JTF out of Borno and Yobe nowcannot be in the interest of thesepoor masses. Even the Governorof Borno himself did hint thePresident that while the insurgencyhas declined in neighbouringstates like Bauchi, Gombe andAdamawa, there is still no let-upin Borno and Yobe. Moreover, thePresident is in a better position toknow; he has the benefits ofsecurity reports and intelligence,which the elders do not have inreaching their own conclusions.

Howver, unknown to many of

them, pulling out the JTF wouldbe a far more easier decision forhim to take both in terms of costand scoring cheap a political goal!

It is very important to appreciatethe point President Jonathanmade in defending the JTF. One ofthe features that makes a stateunique from other non-state actorsis the possession of the monopolyof the instruments of coercion.Once any group succeeds inbreaking this monopoly, whichonly the state should have, the stateis as good as dead. The military,together with the police and otherlaw enforcement agencies (in thiscase the JTF), embodies thisfeature of the monopoly of the useof coercion in the state. While notencouraging the JTF to discard itsrules of engagement, it must benoted that what the Borno eldersare demanding of the JTF willaxiomatically lead to it being runover by the Boko Haram. And ifthis happens, this will emboldenother dissident groups to challengethe authority of the Nigerian state.When a single soldier or policemanis gunned down in the street byarmed groups and dissidents, thesignal that is being sent out tosociety is that the state is too weakto protect the citizens because thesesoldiers and the police are agentsof the state. And when such a signalis out, not only the people areendangered, even the state itself isat risk. Is this too abstract for ourBorno elders to understand?

The visit of the President needsnot create any unnecessarycontroversy. Instead it shouldprovide the roadmap to findinglasting peace not only in Borno andYobe states, but all over the North.

He was brutallyfrank with theelders of thestate; the truth isthat it appearsthat the elders ofBorno for a longtime played theostrich with theBoko Haraminsurgency

It is important formedia professionalsnot to allowthemselves to betempted by one partyto a story, in filingtheir reports; at alltimes, they must actas an impartialjudge interested onlyin finding out thefacts of a matter



CMYK

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French troops arrive CAR as rebels sackPresident Bozize

EMBATTLED PresidentFrancois Bozize fled to

neighboring DemocraticRepublic of Congo,yesterday even as over150French troops arrive inBangui to secure the capitalfrom the rebels.

Mr Bozize arrived withhis family in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo, aCongolese official said.

The rebels, involved in anon-off rebellion sinceDecember, say Mr Bozizefailed to honour a peacedeal. Witnesses andgovernment officials

confirmed that they hadtaken control of Bangui.South Africanpeacekeepers in CAR tosupport government troopssuffered casualties butfailed to stop the rebeladvance.

At least six South Africansoldiers were killed inclashes with the rebels, aReuters witness said. AUnited Nations source saidthe force, in the country totrain the army along withhundreds of regionalpeacekeepers, waspreparing to leave.

Justin KomboMoustapha, secretary-general of Seleka,appealed for calm andcalled on citizens to“welcome the revolutionaryforces of Seleka”. “Central

African Republic has justopened a new page in itshistory,” he said in astatement.

The Seleka rebel coalitionresumed hostilities thisweek in the mineral-richformer French colony,vowing to oust Bozize,whom it accused ofbreaking a January peaceagreement to integrate itsfighters into the army.Witnesses reported gunfireas the Seleka rebel coalitiontook the presidentialpalace, followed by chaosand looting in the citycentre.

Kerry arrives Baghdad on M/East shuttle

U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry on an

unannounced visityesterday to Baghdadurged Iraq’s leaders tohalt Iranian overflightsof weapons and fightersheading to Syria and toovercome sectariandifferences that stillthreaten Iraqi stability10 years after theAmerican-led invasionthat toppled dictatorSaddam Hussein.

Kerry met Israeli PrimeMinister BenjaminNetanyahu in Jerusalemon Saturday after earliertalking to PalestinianPresident MahmoudAbbas in Jordan in a bidto revive stalled peacetalks. Kerry’s back-to-back meetings followedup on U.S. PresidentBarack Obama’s visits toIsrael and thePalestinian Territoriesthis week in which hecalled for fresh

Islamists threaten to kill hostages as Seven die in Mali

CLASHES betweenthe Malian army

and Islamists killedseven people includinga soldier and twocivilians yesterday innorthern Mali’s largest

city, as Al-Qaeda’s northAfrican branchthreatened to kill itsFrench hostages.

The fighting in Gaotook place as the Malianarmy carried out what it

called a “clean-up”operation in Gao afterIslamist militants fromthe Movement forOneness and Jihad inWest Africa (MUJAO)infiltrated the

northeastern city andopened fire on an armycamp overnight.

Al-Qaeda in theIslamic Maghreb(AQIM), an alliedextremist group, for itspart renewed a threat tokill its French hostagesand called on theirfamilies to pressureFrance’s government toend its military operationagainst radical Islamistswho had seized controlof northern Mali.

The Al-Qaedafranchise is currentlyholding at least fiveFrench hostages in theregion. It announced lastweek that it had killed asixth, business travellerPhilippe Verdon, thoughParis has not confirmedthe report.

diplomatic efforts butoffered no new peaceproposals of his own.

Kerry, who hadaccompanied Obama onhis trip and then stayedon in the region, metprivately for two hourswith Abbas in Jordan’scapital of Amman, aPalestinian source toldReuters.

In meetings with IraqiPrime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other senior

officials Kerry wastelling them to stopIranian aircraft fromusing Iraqi airspace tofly military personneland equipment tosupport the Syriangovernment as it battlesrebels. Iran and Iraqboth say the flights areladen with humanitariansupplies, but the U.S.and others believe theyare filled with weaponsand fighters to help theAssad regime.

S/Korea envoy calls for peace with N/KoreaBY VICTORIA OJEME

ABUJA — SpecialEnvoy, Ministry of

Foreign Affairs andTrade, Republic of SouthKorea, Mr Chung Eui-Yong at the weekendcalled for Nigeria’s assistance to broker peacebetween it and the

Democratic People’sRepublic of Korea (NorthKorea).

Mr Eui-Yong made thecall when he visited theMinister of ForeignAffairs, AmbassadorOlugbenga Ashiru inAbuja.

Eui-Yong said thatNigeria’s relations with

both North and SouthKorea would be of benefitto the promotion of peacebetween both countries.

“Nigeria is one of thefew countries in the worldthat maintains goodrelations with both theNorth and South of theKorean Peninsula.

“We believe that thegovernment of Nigeriawould take advantage ofthe good relations topersuade our brothersand sisters in North Koreato come out of its self-inflicted isolation andembrace peace.

“The minister hasspecial experience withour brothers and sisters inNorth Korea and we hopewe can rely on your goodoffice to reconcile us andfind a way to establishpeace in our part of theworld.

Musharraf returns to Pakistan amid Taliban threats

PAKISTAN’s formerPresident, Pervez

Musharraf, returnedhome yesterday afternearly four years of self-imposed exile to contestelections despite thepossibility of arrest anddeath threats from theTaliban.

The Pakistani Talibanvowed to assassinateformer President PervezMusharraf if he returns to

the country as plannedSunday, a spokesman forthe terrorist group said ina video message online.

Tehrik-i-Taliban willsend out a “death squad”to kill him, EhsanullahEhsan said Saturday.

One of the squadmembers addressedMusharraf in English,demanding the formerpresident surrender

himself. After resigning in2008, Musharraf spentfive years in self-imposedexile in London andDubai. Musharraf hopesto regain influence so thathis party can win seats inthe general electionscheduled for May 11,when he will face fiercecompetition, includingfrom the man he ousted ina military takeover.

•President Bozize


BY HENRY UMORU

DEDICATION: President Goodluck Jonathan flanked by his ADC, Lt. Col. Ojogbane Adeg-be (2nd right) and the wife of the ADC, Mrs.Olubukola Adegbe, while the Chief SecurityOfficer to the President, Mr. Gordon Obua (left); the SSA Domestic and Social Events to thePresident, Hon. Dudafa Waripamo-Owei and the Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke (right) watch, during the dedication of Baby Sarah Patience Adegbe at the Presi-dential Villa, State House, Abuja. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

Non-performing parties can be voted out —Tukurpower. We acknowledge and re-spect the rule of the electoralpractices and recognise that aparty that does not perform wellcan be voted out of power as eas-ily as it was voted into office.

“In a democracy, political par-ties are not anti-system and anti-constitution in their mode of op-eration. National interest medi-

ABUJA — AHEAD of 2015, the National

Chairman of the Peoples Dem-ocratic Party, PDP, AlhajiBamanga Tukur, yesterdaypredicted that non-performingparties would be voted out byNigerians.

Speaking yesterday in Abu-ja on the occasion of one yearanniversary of the present Na-tional Working Committee,NWC, Tukur noted that thesole purpose of the oppositionmerger was to grab power byall means, even as he warnedopposition parties that PDPwas prepared to ensure thesurvival and success of de-mocracy in Nigeria.

In his remarks, Vice Presi-dent Namadi Sambo warnedthose working against the in-terest of the party to stop itand unite for the interest of theparty, adding, “once we haverestructured and rebuilt, weare ready to face any opposi-tion party. We advise opposi-tion parties to join PDP.”

Meanwhile, the Chairman,Board of Trustees, BoT, ChiefTony Anenih disclosed thatPDP Governors’ Forum, Na-tional Working Committee

(NWC) of the party and theparty BoT have no contend-ing issues and that the par-ty organs were intact.

Represented by the BoTSecretary, Senator Walid Ji-brin, Anenih said: “Our par-ty is not afraid at all of APCand I want to assure you thatPDP will beat the mergerparty hands down.”

At the event, majority ofthe PDP governors were ab-sent as well as PresidentGoodluck Jonathan. Threegovernors who attended theevent were that of AkwaIbom, Kogi and Kwarastates, while others sent rep-resentatives. PresidentGoodluck Jonathan alsosent his Vice, Arc NamadiSambo to the anniversary.

Speaking further, Tukursaid: “The sole purpose ofthe gang-up of chauvinistsmasquerading as so-calledprogressive democrats in or-der to confuse the masses isto stop PDP at all cost, andgrab power by all means, toserve their narrow irreden-tist agenda.

“We want it to be on recordthat our party acknowledg-es the right and entitlementof all political parties to ex-ist and compete for political

ates all their engagementsand actions.” The Chairmanof the party’s forum and AkwaIbom state governor, GodswillAkpabio, who represented thePDP governors at the occasiondismissed the story makingthe round that eight PDP gov-ernors were making moves todefect to opposition party,

saying it was not true.He said: “I want to dispel

the rumour making the roundthat eight governors fromPDP move to defect, I havespoken with them and noneof them is making suchmove, it is a lie. Rather weare going to surprise the par-ty, we will win more states in2015.”

Ajibola urges amnesty for Boko Haram

FORMER judge of Inter-national Court of

Justice, ICJ, The Hague,Prince Bola Ajibola,SAN, has called on theFederal Government torevisit the issue of am-nesty for Boko Haram inorder to create an atmos-phere of peace in thecountry.

Prince Ajibola also ar-gued that it is high timethe office of the Attorney-General was separatedfrom the office of theMinister of justice to en-gender more efficiencyand independence.

He spoke at the pres-entation of Law E-prod-ucts by Law Pavilion and

launch of a book titled,The Attorney General:Chronicles and Perspec-tives, which was writtenin his honour by Mr.Olumide Babalola, inconjunction with the LawPavilion to mark Ajibola’s79th birthday.

On Boko Haram, theformer judge said: “Ihave always advocatedfor dialogue, even whena war is fought. At theend of that war, the win-ner will still need to dis-cuss with the loser tofind settlement to the dis-pute.

“I think there is stillneed for the governmentto come together withthe Boko Haram insur-gents to get them under-stand that enough isenough. Because if gov-ernment refuses to grant

them amnesty, they willstill come back and con-tinue with the attacks,and I think that will nothelp the nation.”

He said granting ofamnesty to the groupwill help put an end toits renewed onslaught oninnocent Nigerians.

“The granting of am-nesty to militants in theNiger Delta has broughtrelative peace and stabil-ity to the area. If the gov-ernment refuses to grantamnesty to Boko Haramthey will continue theirattacks which is not goodfor the nation,” Ajibolasaid.

Meanwhile, Chieftainof the ruling PeoplesDemocratic party andfour times Federal Min-ister, Alabo Tonye Gra-ham-Douglas hasaligned himself with theposition of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan thatamnesty could only begranted to members ofBoko Haram when theyunmask their identity.

BY ABDULWAHABABDULAH & JIMITO-

TA ONOYUME


Gang-rape: Abia Govt threatens to sue rumour mongersBY ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA — OLLOWING the un-

raveling of the celebrat-ed gang-rape casewhich allegedly tookplace at the Abia StateUniversity, ABSU, thestate government haswarned that it would nolonger watch rumourmongers deliberatelytarnish its image.

Senatedecriesbombings,vandalisationof telecomfacilities

BY TONY EDIKE

E N U G U — T H ESenate has

expressed concern overthe spate of bombingsand vandalisation ofte lecommunica t ionfacilities across thecountry, saying thedevelopment hadbecome a majorchallenge for the sector.

Chairman, SenateCommittee onc o m m u n i c a t i o n s ,Senator Gilbert Nnaji,made the observationduring the NigeriaC o m m u n i c a t i o n sCommission’s day at theon-going EnuguInternational Trade Fair.

He applauded NCCfor the growth of thetelecoms industry, butexpressed regrets thatsuch effort was stillbeing sabotaged bybombers operating insome northern states.

Stop beatingdrums of war,CNPP tellsPDP.... Askssecurityagencies toquiz Tukur

BY TONY EDIKE

ENUGU—THE Conference of Nigerian

Political Parties, CNPP,yesterday, expressedconcern over what it de-scribed as the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP’sdrum of war ahead of the2015 elections, with acall on security agenciesto quiz the party’s na-tional chairman, AlhajiBamanga Tukur, over hisalleged inciting com-ments.

A statement issued bythe CNPP National Pub-licity Secretary, ChiefOsita Okechukwu, de-scribed Tukur’s predic-tion of “war” ahead of2015 elections as un-democratic, saying theCNPP was outraged bythe comment which wassimilar to that made dur-ing the 2007 electionthat threw the nation intoviolence since then.

The governmentwarned that henceforthit would take legal actionagainst any person orgroup dragging its thename or those of its in-stitutions into baselessrumours aimed at tar-nishing its image.

Reacting to the revela-tion by the Police in Riv-ers State that the gangrape actually took placeat Obite in Etche local

government area of Riv-ers State, Chief of Staffto the state governor,Mr. Cosmos Ndukwe,warned that the statehad had enough of theembarrassment.

He said the state gov-ernment would no long-er take kindly to politi-cally-motivated badpress directed against it.

“Henceforth, the stategovernment would un-dertake extreme legalactions against any per-son or group of personswho trade in spreadingdangerous rumouragainst it,” Ndukwe saidat a media briefing.

According to him,those who linked the in-cident to Abia State Uni-versity were hasty andto say the least, madewith so much bad blood.

He said they alreadyformed their opinionwithout any investiga-tion, noting that theyalso refused to listen toAbia State Police Com-mand which preliminaryinvestigations showedthat the incident did nothappen in the state.

Ndukwe said: “Thisvindication coming twoyears after, is thought-provoking as it is utterlygratifying.”

BY TONY EDIKE

ENUGU—THE NigeriaDeposit Insurance Cor-

poration, NDIC, has paid a cu-mulative sum of N90.13 billionto depositors of 48 DepositMoney Banks (DMBs) in liq-uidation as at December 31,2012.

It also doled out N2.50 bil-lion to insured depositors of103 closed Microfinance Banks(MFBs).

Managing Director\CEO ofNDIC, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahimwho made the disclosure,weekend, during the NDICDay at the on-going 24th Enu-gu International Trade Fair,also stated that the corporationhas a crucial role to play to-wards the safety, soundnessand stability of Nigeria’s finan-cial system.

Ibrahim disclosed that be-tween 2011 and 2012, NDICmade cumulative liquidationdividend payments of N373.04million, N620.0 million andN293.0 million to shareholdersof Alpha Merchant Bank, Ni-geria Merchant Bank and PanAfrica Bank, respectively thatare in liquidation.

He said that the feats werein addition to the settlement ofall the depositors and creditorsof the three banks for whichthe corporation establishedbridge banks in 2011.

The NDIC boss emphasisedthe seamless introduction ofthe three bridge banks to saveover 3.7 million depositors of

NDIC pays N90.13bn to depositors of 48failed banks

the erstwhile Afribank Plc,Bank PHB and Spring Bankalong with preservation ofover 6600 jobs in August 2011.

The regulatory authorities,he further said, recentlyplanned to introduce the pro-motion of financial inclusion

initiatives in Nigeria throughthe agency banking and mo-bile banking, among others.

“The exercise was meant toenhance the economic condi-tion of our rural dwellers thathave all the while been exclud-ed from formal economy,” said

APGA: Former NWC members dump UmehBY VINCENT UJUMADU

Ibrahim.He noted that NDIC has cre-

ated help desk that works 24hours to enable customers re-port cases as arbitrary bankcharges, account balances andfraud.

AWKA — THE crisis rocking the All Progressives

Grand Alliance, APGA, took

another dimension, weekend,as 18 former members of theNational Working Committee,NWC, of the party sacked byan Enugu High Court, disso-

ciated themselves from theappeal filed by the NationalChairman of the party, ChiefVictor Umeh.

The court had on February

8, 2013, nullifiedthe national con-vention of the par-ty held in Awka onFebruary 10, 2011,a decision that au-tomatically dis-solved the NWCorgan of the party.

Deputy NationalChairman (South)of APGA, ChiefChris Ejike Uche,who read the com-muniqué at the endof the marathonmeeting.

The communi-qué, among otherthings read: “We,therefore, furtherresolve that ourformer nationalchairman, ChiefVictor Umeh, whounilaterally ap-pealed the judg-ment of EnuguHigh Court withoutconsulting all of uswho were affectedby that same judg-ment, is on his ownand no longer en-joys our confi-dence.

From left: Michael Porter, co-founder, AllWorld Network and Professor, Harvard BusinessSchool; Tony Elumelu, Chairman, The Tony Elumelu Foundation and Engr. Femi Akintunde,MD, AMFacilities, at the Nigeria Fast Growth 50 Awards, at the Eko Hotel & Suites.

50—VANGUARD, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

Continues on page 51

,

,

•Ajibola: We are progressing backward

WHAT is your response toPresident Jonathan's

reluctance to grant amnesty tothe members of the BokoHaram sect?

Let me start introductorilythat whatever may be the causeand the grievances of thesepeople, it cannot be solved byforce. If you look at it, eventhe First World War, afterfighting for so long from 1914to 1918, it was still resolved onthe table. The Second WorldWar saw the extinction of over70 million people and it wasstill a matter that wasresolved.

Even there was a time that theFrench and English peoplefought the war of roses for 100years. They are now allmembers of the EuropeanUnion and they liveharmoniously together.

So, whatever may be thedisagreement and the problemwith regard to Boko Haram, agood government will try to seethe cause of the whole matter,then find the solution to it and

PRINCE Bola Ajibola (SAN), former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, was livid last December when PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, called his former boss, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha his political benefactor. The retired jurist of the InternationalCourt of Justice thought it an insult to Nigeria that the President would call an ex-convict and fugitive his benefactor. In this interview withVanguard, Ajibola is further incensed by the presidential pardon now granted the former governor even as he lampoons the administration'sactions on the state of insecurity in the land. Ajibola debunks the president's assertion that he could not negotiate with ghosts saying thePresident should go out and look for the insurgents and make peace. Excerpts:

BY BASHIR ADEFAKA

government to find out and toresolve it. That is the reasonand the essence of any systemcalling itself a government.

Good governance willeffectively do that. You do notneed to go and tell them thatthey should come out and tellyou what is wrong with them.

No. You should find out whattheir problems are by yourself. Even after the Second WorldWar, they set up a court andbrought all those peopleinvolved to that court and thosewho had wronged the wholeworld were dealt with there.

The government should takethe pre-requisite steps in orderto ensure that these things donot happen any longer and donot continue.

Cases of terrorism anddisturbances will continue to

erode the peace of any nationand no nation can developunder a situation of instability,under a situation of war, undera situation of civil unrest and

nation in the world that one canattribute progress to while ithas problems of instability onits hands. None.

Why did they go all out, like

civil disturbances. No nationcan progress that way.

As I said once, we areprogressing backward. That isa kind of euphemism to say thatwe are not going on as weshould. We are just on thethreshold of this chaos and wecannot continue that way. Wemust do something that willbring about peace. Tell me any

of the country! That isthe essence andobligation that thegovernment of acountry owes to itsp e o p l e . T h e s epeople are not rulingus; the governmentmust see to thepeace, stability andsecurity of thenation. That is whatthe government isthere for. They, theBoko Haram people,can go on with theirdestruction; they arenot running anygovernment; they arenot part of thegovernment. Theyjust have somegrievances againstthe government,against some peoplein government orsome people atlarge!

It is for that

then find peaceful solution tothe matter. It is for thegovernment, itself, to go all outto find out what are thegrievances and how can thesebe resolved? That is thecivilised and modern approachto solving any problem.

Civilised people do not go bywar. They have learnt thetruth that it is not a matter offorce but a matter that could beresolved harmoniously and inthe sense and spirit of give andtake. These Boko Harampeople we are talking about,they must have their problems;they must have theirdifficulties; they cannot befighting for nothing. We haveseen that done in Niger Delta. The problem was on, for manyyears but why did we decide tosolve it that way? Why shouldthis be an exception?

But the President is insistinghe cannot negotiate withghosts?

He should go to them! It isnot for them to come to him. Itis the other way round! It isthe government that must findout what is wrong with any part

Alamieyeseigha's pardon, an internationalembarrassment — Ajibola•Says Jonathan should go and look for Boko Haram if...

•Ajibola

I said, to even set up a Ministryof Niger Delta in order to beable to resolve the civil unrestin the Niger Delta? Have theyset up ministry now to take careof the Boko Haram worries if itis giving them that type ofproblem? A Ministry of SpecialPurpose seeking peace in thenation? Even call it a research

It is the government that must find outwhat is wrong with any part of thecountry! That is the essence and theobligation that the government of acountry owes to its people

VANGUARD, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013—51

centre where you look for thepeace of the nation and try toredress mishaps. It isimportant. That is what youcall the social contract.

It is you, who have beengiven that mandate to run thegovernment that must run itproperly, efficiently andwithout any corruption. Youmust run it well. Otherwise,you will continue to have suchproblems that will plague thenation and will not give youany peace, stability or anythingthat could help to develop thatnation. We cannot develop thisway.

Only last week or so, therewas the case of six people fromdifferent nationalities killed inthis country. What have theydone? What is going on? Doyou not think that, that is oneof the serious things that thegovernment should look into? It is the other way round.

It is the government’s placeto go round to see to the peaceand development of a nationand ensure that social justiceis maintained and sustained inevery part of the nation. Notalways thinking of election andcorruption and ways of stealingand siphoning money from thenation.

Maintenance ofsocial justice

You see, people now equateelection to things that you winto enjoy part of the booties. Itis sad. It is regrettable. It is!It is!!

What is your reaction to thepardon granted the formerGovernor of Bayelsa State,Chief DiepreyeAlamieyeseigha?

The implication of this is inour nation’s position andstatus. If you leave here nowon your way to say, Washingtonor New York, once you getthere and they notice that youare a Nigerian, they will justask you to go and sit down insome cases and you will beinterrogated and interviewedfor over an hour before they canpossibly allow you to leave.

That is a problem of being apariah from a rogue state. They subject you to all sorts ofquestioning: What are youhere to do? Where are yougoing to get the money? Whatare you spending the moneyfor? Who are you and what isyour status?

What is your position? Areyou going to buy propertyhere? Are you going to livehere? How long are you goingto stay? When are you leavingback to your place?

These are the things thatpeople do face when they getout. Wole Soyinka wasexposed to this type of thing

,

,

Alamieyesiegha's pardon, an embarrassment — AjibolaContinues from page 50

too. You see what I mean? What nation will encouragestealing? What nation willencourage corruption? Whatnation will encouragesiphoning the money of thestate into another place in orderto use it personally for one’sbenefit?

What state is that, that willkeep people in squalor, ruined,impoverished, and pennilessand then you are enjoyingthese illegal benefits all aroundthe world?

You see what I mean? Iboriis still serving his prison termover there. The next thingthat will happen will be thatwhen he gets here, he will bepardoned. Are we soreckless? Are we soirresponsible? Are we soendemic in our attitude towardsbad, illegal, immoral acts? Why are we dong that? It isvery, very pathetic because anindividual needs a name in hiscountry and outside thatcountry. An individual needsrespect in his country andoutside the country. What is

the worth of anybody who is aman of prestige, who is a manof integrity here beingregarded as rogue or someonefrom a rogue state outside thecountry?

I have just told you the storyof Wole Soyinka, who wasdisgraced, rough-handled atthe airport all because hehappened to be a Nigerian. So, we have to take all theinternational content intoconsideration before we takeany action or any step here. It

is important that we should notbe only satisfied with ourpolitical and national interestsbut we also must take care ofour international status,international position,international integrity. Wemust get a good name forNigeria. We need that goodname for Nigeria.

You see, the consequences ofit will be our being disregardedand put to shame in most ofthose countries all around theworld.

It is sad. It is really, really,really sad and we must work

out our way. Actions are stillpending left, right and centrein many parts of the world:South Africa, Britain and somany other countries and yethere we are granting pardon.

Before the pardon youflayed the President for callingChief Alamieyeseigha hispolitical benefactor…

(cuts in) You see, theconnotation is very clear at thistime. It is true that we have aperson within a nation grantedpardon and one has to look atthe procedure before it is done. One must look into the law.

Now, the law itself must notbe abused and it must not bemisused. If a man has beenincarcerated, imprisoned,sanctioned because of whathappened politically like thecases of people like GeneralOladipo Diya, GeneralTajudeen Olanrewaju andothers, that is quiteunderstandable. They werenot accused of any heinousimpropriety like stealing,siphoning our money out of thiscountry.

But to equate that withAlamieyeseigha, who is stillwanted as a criminal, as anaccused person in places likeGreat Britain, South Africa andin so many other countries ofthe world, what are the benefitsor the consequences of suchpardon being granted here?

You now say Alamieyeseighahas been granted pardon here,

you can say that again whenhe gets on his way to SouthAfrica or to any part of the worldfor that matter.

Extradition could take placeimmediately and he will befound in the right place forbeing accused of corruption,siphoning money or moneylaundering.

That is the chaotic situationthat we have created forourselves. That is theembarrassment that we havenow, not only, given toAlamieyeseigha but also to ournation, Nigeria.

The Presidency says thepardon is to enable him fullycontribute to naitonal life. Buthow did you handle issues ofpardon during your time ingovernment?

You see, to say it broadly andgenerally, we had a procedurethen that was established bysetting up a committee forpardon in which each andevery case was looked into.

And if there was adequateevidence to show that it was justa matter of political sanctionthat had no element of being aculprit in any way, such peoplewere in most cases granted thepardon and amnesty granted tothem.

Misappropriationof money

But not cases ofmisappropriation of money; notcases of being accused in manycountries outside Nigeria ofthis type of stealing,siphoning, misappropriation,money laundering and thingsof that nature.

It does not happen at all. Those are cases that are beyondpardon. That was exactly theposition in our time, regardlessof the length of time involved.

So, this is a case that will putus in dilemma and in more timeto come will put us in very badlight not only in Nigeria butoutside Nigeria. I was onceasked in Paris, France to givea lecture and at that time wehappened to be one of thepariahs in the world.

Introduction was made aboutme and what I had been doingand all that. But at the end ofthe whole story, once they weretold that I am a Nigerian, theyall walked out. That is thenature of this type of thing.

Nobody will be interestedlistening to you or hearinganything from you, a Nigerian,because of their perception ofcitizens of a rogue state. Oncewe turn ourselves into a roguestate, all of us will bear theconsequences of it.

It will not be a matterrestricted to even officials alonebut even the ordinary citizensof the state. that is theproblem.

•Ajibola: We must get a good name for Nigeria

Extradition could take placeimmediately and he will be found in theright place for being accused ofcorruption, siphoning money or moneylaundering, that is the chaotic situationthat we have created for ourselves

52— Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

told a friend that the moment they steppedon that turf, they should have known thatthey were also being given an opportunityto display their wares in an internationalmarket. You cannot say because your emol-uments have not been paid or promises notkept, you will go out there and dish out substandard stuff.

They were not just good enough on theday.

The negative tactics and antics of the Ga-bonese necessitated seven minutes addedtime, yet even if the referee had given themthirty minutes, there was no how that teamwould have scored. They were tactically un-disciplined in front of goal while the de-fenders were a sorry sight as the Gabonesecame forward.

At the end of ninety minutes with the scoreat 2-1, the Gabonese jubilated. As far as theywere concerned, they need only one goal toproceed. Football is not always like that. Ican see Heartland shocking their host if theyget the “ motivation and lack of governmentsupport phenomenon” out of their system.

I wish I had had the opportunity of talk-ing to them before the match, to tell themthat after beating the Gabonese, they

Heat break in Owerri …heart attack in CalabarContinues from Page 54 progress not only in the competition but in

their quest for better football fortunes in thecontinent.

I want to believe that the team is ready forthe massive war this week end that will in-volve all sort of antics. They should not besurprised but prepared. And you need fundsto be ready. Funds to check into anotherhotel different from the likely bad one thatthe host will provide. Funds to hire alterna-tive buses and cars. Funds to buy and pro-vide your own meals. When Heartland landin Libreville, they will be transported by airto another city, from there they should braceup for a 100 kilometre drive to Bitam…..they should be prepared and not allowANYTHING TO WEAR THEM DOWNAND MAKE THEM LOSE FOCUS.

After that, they should go into the fieldand target that away goal that will restartthe match from scratch and come back vic-torius.

This message is also for all our teams inAfrica, especially Pillars who will be tempt-ed to rest on their 4-1 oars ( Ask Heartlandtheir experience last year) and Rangers whomust guide against their opponents scor-ing an away goal here. Good luck Nigeria.

See you next week.

Achebe: We 've not be informed—Kinsmen

Continues from Page 8

er beings would have leveraged theirachievements to join the fat cats on theboards of huge companies, smiling to thebank all the way. Lesser beings wouldhave curried favour from the governmentof the day, irrespective of its record.

ACN said the best tribute that can bepaid to Prof. Achebe is not just in namingmonuments after him or tarring the roadthat passed through his hometown. It said:"He can best be honoured andremembered by those who hold powerusing it for the common good of thegreatest number of people, and by makingNigeria a country that every black manon earth will be proud of. There can be nogreater honour.’’

His demise is great loss to literaryworld – Ogon

The Founding Director of Ijaw Councilfor Human Rights, ICHR, Patterson Ogon,said Achebe’s demise was a great loss tothe literary world.

“The death of Prof Chinua Achebe is agreat loss not just to Nigeria but the literaryworld. A man of letters, his death for meis only physical as he has left a lot on theminds and heart of people not to beremembered. The controversy stirred byhis 2012 publication, There was a Countrydemonstrates his deep thoughts and sadreflections on the opportunities we havefailed to explore to remake Nigeria. TheTrouble with Nigeria remains one of themost concise, analytic and thoughtprovoking literature on the challenge ofgovernance in Nigeria. Achebe is deadbut he remains a man of the future.”

Give him national burial – BNCThe Benin National Congress, BNC, a

Benin socio-cultural organization,appealed to President Goodluck Jonathanto give Achebe a national burial inrecognition of his uprightness and patri-otism to the nation.

In a statement by its President,Aiyamenkhue Edokpolo, the BNCreasoned that a befitting burial for Achebewould help build a legacy of effectivereward system for Nigeria, so that theyounger generations will be inclined topatriotic service and pursuit of excellencein their chosen professions or business.

It called for ‘A Chinua Achebe’s Day’

where public institutions will be on dutyfor half day “in honour of this rare intellectand genius of all time. This is aside anational burial that will embellish his soulafter selfless, tireless, relentless andunwavering commitments to the liberationof the minds of the average African fromcultural and economic imperialism of someconflict-oriented western elites.”

He will live on in our hearts—OATUU

The Organisation of African TradeUnion Unity, OATUU, in a statementby its Secretary General, ComradeOwei Lakemfa said the passing awayof the famous writer, essayist and pro-people activist has left the Africanworking people in grief.

The statement said the union“mourns the loss of this literarycolossus and great African mind whotold the African story, laced with richproverbs, in beautiful, flowing prose.

“A pioneer of the African novel andof the rich African Writers Series,Achebe promoted African culture, andrejected colonial and neo-colonialconstructs to tell the Africanexperience from the prism of theAfrican people themselves.

“A master story teller and wordsmith,Achebe was, and is, a huge iroko treein the forest of African and worldliterature. That he was not awardedthe Nobel Prize for Literature despitehis monumental works, includingThings Fall Apart which has beentranslated to over 50 languages, is aminus for that prize.

“Achebe had a strong fighting spirit,was a fearless spokesperson for thepoor and courageously, spoke thetruth. Despite his monumentalachievements in literature, heremained humble; did not wear hisfame like pips on his shoulder or asmedals on his chest.

“Professor Achebe will never die thehearts of people; over the generations,people who read his books willcontinue to be educated about Africa,and young Africans will continue tolearn that in our continent, “Proverbsare the palm- oil with which words areeaten”.

Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH MONDAY, MARCH MONDAY, MARCH MONDAY, MARCH MONDAY, MARCH 25,25,25,25,25, 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013—53—53—53—53—53

Insufficient sleep affectsgeneral wellbeing — Expert

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

Wellcare Home Medicals makes case for the elderly, chronically ill

•Dr. Jumoke Odunsi, Managing Director, Wellcare Home Medicals, MrAkinmade Akinrolabu, General Manager, and Ms Tosin Adewale, GeneralManager, Admin/Operation, all of Wellcare at a media briefing to sensitisejournalists on the contribution of the company in providing homecare supportservices to the old and frail in Lagos recently. Photo by Kehinde Gbadamosi

SLEEP has been described by different people in different ways. Some

see sleep as the golden chain that tieshealth and bodies together while somesay it is a common experience that a prob-lem difficult at night is resolved in themorning after the committee of sleep hasworked on it.”

How much do you know about sleep?Are you the types that just work allthrough the night without sufficienthours of sleep? Then you have to havea rethink. This is because experts whogathered at Mouka Limited World SleepDay with the theme: “Good Sleep,Healthy Aging” in Lagos last week sayinsufficient sleep reduces quality of lifeand affects general wellbeing ofindividual.

An Associate Professor and ConsultantNeurologist, College of Medicine Uni-versity of Lagos, Dr. Njideka Okubadejoin a lecture during the seminar lamentedthat estimated 63 million Nigerians areaffected by sleep problems. Accordingto Okubadejo, “Sleep problems threatenhealth (physical and mental health),quality of life and are more profound inour modern society.

Why do we sleep? She said: “Sleep isa natural process controlled by the hu-man brain and restores body functions.Many major restorative functions in thebody (e.g. muscle growth, tissue repair,protein synthesis, and growth hormone

release) occur mostly, or only, duringsleep.”

Okubadejo who noted that sleep pro-motes energy conservation added thatindividuals sleep because it helps thebrain development and improves abil-ity to learn and perform variety of tasksas well as boosts immune system.

Regretting that many Nigerians donot get enough sleep, she said insuffi-cient sleep generally results in in-creased sleepiness, poor performanceand increased health risks even mor-tality.

Describing sufficient sleep as sleepduration that is followed by a sponta-neous awakening and leaves one feel-ing refreshed and alert for the day, shestated: “Good quality sleep is essen-tial for day to day functioning and goodquality of life while poor quality sleepis characterised by frequent interrup-tions and lighter sleep. The consultantneurologist, recommended sleep du-ration for infants 14 to 15 hours a day,toddlers – 12 to 14 hours, school – agechildren 10 to 11 hours and adults 7 to9 hours respectively.

She further identified factors such aspoor sleep hygiene, lifestyle, psycho-social/emotional stress, stimulants anddrugs amongst others as things that in-terrupt good sleep. On sleep tips foradult, she advised individuals to es-tablish a regular bedtime and wakingtime. “If taking siestas, don’t exceed45 minutes of daytime sleep. Avoid

•Managing Director, Mouka Limited, Mrs. Peju Adebajo, Associate Professor andConsultant Neurologist College of Medicine University of Lagos, Dr. NjidekaOkubadejo and Head of Commercial Mouka Limited, Mr. Jude Abonu, at the 2013Mouka World Sleep Day held in Lagos last week.

excessive alcohol 3- 4 hours before bed-time, and do not smoke. Avoid caffeinesix hours before bedtime. Avoid heavy,spicy, or sugary foods four hours before

UNDOUBTEDLY, palliative careservices and adequate care for the

elderly and frail have provided the muchneeded succour for several families inNigeria and the world at large.

Unfortunately, these services have beenlacking in the Nigeria society.However stakeholders in homecare serv-ices say lack of state provision foreldercare in Nigeria has made it almostcompulsory for families to provide theneeds for the survival of the older peo-ple. Managing Director of WellcareHome Medicals, a pioneer professionalhome-based caregiver in Nigeria, Dr.Mrs. Jumoke Odunsi, who noted that

Home Medicals is mak-ing effective contributionsto the wellbeing of olderpeople through homecareservices. We offer a vari-ety of medical and non-medical related servicesthrough our trained care-givers (trained with theUK Care Modules) thatallow older persons tocontinue to enjoy their in-dependence and livehappy and dignifiedlives”, shesaid. Accord-ing to her, the WHO KeyFact 2011 indicates that,

most elderly people including thechronically ill in the country die due tolack of proper care.

Odunsi who dropped from medicinepractice after 10 years said she ven-tured into the service to ensure thatthese categories of Nigerians get thebest of care. She lamented that the de-cline in the economy, gradual disinte-gration of the extended family system,unemployment, increasing female em-ployment, as well as urbanisation allhave contributed to the noticeable de-cline in the level of care provided bythe family in recent times.

“It is in this regard that Wellcare

Lay on your back with lumbar rollunder lower back. Lay on yourside with knees slightly bent. Donot sleep on side with kneesdrawn up to chest. Avoid sleep-ing on your stomach. Select afirm mattress.

On her part, the ManagingDirector, Mouka Limited, Mrs.Peju Adebajo, while highlightingthe theme said people spend onethird of their lives sleeping toshow significance of sleep in life.

the world’s population ofpeople 60 years of ageand older has doubledsince 1980 and is forecastto reach 2 billion by 2050.Around 4-6 per cent ofelderly people have ex-perienced some form ofmaltreatment at homewhich can lead to seriousphysical injuries andlong term psychologicalconsequences and eldermaltreatment is predictedto increase as many coun-tries are experiencingrapidly ageing

populations. She hintedthat Wellcare HomeMedicals provides homesupport services to theold and frail, chronicallyill, terminally ill, post hos-pitalisation, nursing care,personal aides/care giverservices, doctor’s visit,physiotherapy servicesand hospice care. Whileadvocating provision ofsome form of care for theelderly in the society, shehinted how its serviceshave been helping toameliorate the plight ofthe elderly.

bedtime amongst others. On tips forbest sleeping position, she advised: “Tryto maintain the curve in your back. Layon your back with pillow under knees.

CMYK

CMYK

54 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

Heat break in Owerri…heart attack in Calabar

Outside the match, I believethose who called for a

Nations Cup postmortem arenow vindicated.

LET me quickly say this morning that I willpre-tend nothing happened in Calabar. In far

away Ghana, I could not watch the match live, soI had to depend on second hand information.

My kids at home were filing me in every tenminutes……even as I was starring at the trau-matic Livescore internet service that does not tellyou much apart from the blinking timing.

When I saw something like a Kenya Goal, Iquickly remembered colleagues that were in Cal-abar and frantically tried to reach them. GotGeorge Aluo and he confirmed that the Kenyanswere truly leading! Despite George’s belief thatthe Eagles were playing well enough for an equal-izer and subsequent victory, anguish has an ago-nizing meaning.

As the match progressed and the minutes tickedpainfully towards stoppage time, I did not justknow what was happening. I have spoken to quitea couple of people including the President of theNFF, yet I am not in a position to comment au-thoritatively on the match.

Outside the match, I believe those who said theNations Cup honeymoon is over, are now beat-ing their chest with “ I told you so” expressions.Outside the match, I believe those who called fora Nations Cup postmortem are now vindicated.That we needed to come home, analyse and re-view our success as it were and plot a forwardgraph.

That, we did not do, wasting time instead onunnecessary bickerings that has now set us back-ward. If the Kenya draw is a wake up call, I thankthe Harambee Stars. I was at the Babayara Stadi-

,,

um in Kumasi when it was finally confirmed thatwe had forced the Kenyans to a draw and unbe-lief reigned. For the President of the GFA, it wasan opportunity to remind the Black Stars that foot-ball can be stupid. That if Kenya can go to Niger-ia and be forced to a draw by the Champions ofAfrica, then they should be careful against Su-dan the next day!

Much as I wished we were as emphatic in ourpost Nations Cup performance like the Ivoriensand the Burkinabe’s I did say I was not going to

write about that match until I have the opportuni-ty of seeing a video of it.

Let me talk about a match in which I was phys-ically present, the CAF Confederations Cup en-counter between Heartland of Owerri and UnionSportive Bitam of Gabon.

The moment I landed in Owerri, I knew thingswere not well. The body language of the officialssaid it all. Confidence was lacking in the teamcamp and the ambience and atmosphere was thatof despair.

Twice, I have seen Governor Rochas in Lagos,come to cart away the Federation Cup, and twiceI have been tempted to clap as he spoke glowing-ly about the team that has helped to re empha-sise the history of Imo in Nigeria’s sports circles,five trophies in two years to boot. To get to Owerri and discover that the team lacksexecutive support was disheartening. Bless thosegovernors who will seize this opportunity with bothhands to highlight the prowess of their state!

On match day, thirty minutes to kick off the sta-dium was virtually empty. The stadium itself wasnothing to write home about. Chalk was used towrite the names of the teams on the score boardwhile the key to the referee’s dressing room isbad.

The team’s dug out is a row of plastic chairswithout any protection from the elements andmissiles from a disenchanted crowd….this, wascertainly not an atmosphere for a continental com-petition.

Then the team. I have no sympathy for them. IContinues on Page 52

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013 — 55

Kanu

The Nigerians whomust now win theirremaining matches inorder to pick the solequalifying ticket to thethe final round, wherethe winner of the poolwill square up againstanother group winnerin a winner takes alltwo-legged battle.

Speaking after thematch in Calabar,Kanu, said that all hopewas not yet lost for theEagles to rescue theirWorld Cup dream,pointing out that whathappened in the

Continues from BP Canaan Land, was oneof those things thatmake football anunpredictable game.

The former Arsenalforward said that theHarambee Stars cameto Nigeria with a gameplan to frustrate theEagles, who he noted,did not play theirgame, allowing theKenyans to have a fieldday and run away witha point.

“I believe that we canbounce back from thisdraw and qualify for theWorld Cup”, said Kanu.

payment of the cashprize of $1.5 million forwinning thecompetition. In the meantime, theAkwa Ibom StateGovernment feted theAfrican champions onSunday in UyoAkwa Governmentrewarded the team withKeshi pocketing twomillion Naira, while hisassistants received halfthat sum.

EaglesThe 23 players on thefinal AFCON squad gota 1 million Naira, whilethe 17 backroom staffwere 500,000 Nairaricher. The team presentedGovernor GodswillAkpabio with thenational team No.9 shirtas well as the AFCONtrophy. The Eagles have thusfar received over $9million in cash gifts forwinning a third AFCONtitle.

Continues from BP

that the victory overCongo ensured the team’squalification to the FIFAU-20 World Cup inTurkey, but the unfinishedbusiness remains thesuccessful defense of thetrophy he won in SouthAfrica two years ago.

“You know in football,after one issue comes thenext. Yesterday’s(Saturday) victorydelighted everybodyespecially me because Iset two major targets formyself and the team – toqualify for the World Cupand return our trophy toNigeria. So 50 percent hasbeen achieved and we arelooking forward to thenext one”, he said.

Nigeria face Egypt, theGroup A champions in

F/EaglesContinues from BP Tuesday’s semi final and

Obuh said his players areready. During a re-tournament training tourof Egypt, the FlyingEagles defeated Egypt 3-0 in their first warm-upmatch, two day’s later,they drew 0-0 and Obuhsaid the result of thosefriendly matches will nothave bearing of his plansin the match.

“No two matches are thesame. After defeatingthem in their first match,they went back fortifiedtheir team hence thegoalless draw in thesecond match. Though weexpect much changes inthe match on Tuesday. Weare not going to allowthose previous encountersdetermine our approachfor Tuesday’s Semi final.We are ready”, Obuh said

Kenya storm Warri

World Junior crown lastyear ahead of Ethiopia’sHiwot Gebrekidan(9:09.27) and Great Brit-ain’s Emelia Gorecka (9:09.43) who both ran per-sonal bests but had to set-tle for silver and medalrespectively.She will be thefavourite to add the Afri-can Youth Championshipsto hercollection.Jepkemei,whopicked the steeplechase ti-tle in Barcelona with a the9:47.22 World Junior Leadis also expected to emergechampions in Warri withStella Jepkosgei Rutto,whowon a bronze medal inBarcelona expected to beher fiercest rival for theg o l dmedal. Meanwhile,the

Continues from BP Team Nigeria contingentfor the Championshipsmade up of 59 athletes and15 officials will arrive War-ri today from their trainingcamp in Port Harcourt.Theteam will be lead by EseBrume,the jumper whopicked a pair of gold at thetrials for the champion-ships two weeks ago inLagos.Brume won thelong jump (6m40) andhigh jump (1m70) gold atthe competition to lay aserious claim to the inau-gural gold medals that willbe awarded at thechampionships.As manyas 15 countries have ar-rived for thechampionships.The LocalOrganising Committee re-veals that Botswana, Na-mibia, Gabon, BurkinaFaso.

THE LeagueM a n a g e m e n t

Company has said that ithas commenced theprocesses of restructuringthe Nigerian ProfessionalFootball League (NPFL)to enable it meet FIFAand global standards offootball and deliver itsmandate to have aLeague for Nigeria, run bycompetent Nigerians andclubs for the benefit of bothlocal and internationalfootballers and fans.

Disclosing thisyesterday, the Chairmanof the LMC, Hon. NdukaIrabor said that the bodywas in the process ofdeveloping a corporate

LMC will transform Nigerian League— Hon. Irabor

•Irabor

governance model for theLMC, the clubs and theleague, even as he notedthat the body was

reworking the TitleSponsorship Agreementas well as the BroadcastRights Agreement inorder to make the leaguemore viable and profitablefor all.

While noting thatfollowing an exhaustiveexamination of the legaland financial issues thathad paralyzed the footballleague (resulting in thedissolution of the formerboard), Irabor said that“the committee decidedthat the interest of allstakeholders, especiallythe teeming millions offootball lovers in Nigeria,would be best served bymapping out a newdirection in the structureand management of thelocal premier footballleague”

“Based on legal adviceand in line within ourmandate, themanagement committeein conjunction with theNFA opted for a new

management body for thelocal league that will bestructured on corporategovernance, transparencyand meets the unfulfilledexpectations of localfootball fans.

“The new entity, theLeague ManagementCompany (LMC), hastaken off unencumberedby the baggage ofillegality, absence of dueprocess and insolvencythat has bedeviled thegrowth of the local league.

“We have already set outto work. The LMC hascommenced the processesof restructure by puttingin place machinery todeliver its mandate. Weare preparing for instancea new league rulesframework which includesnew rules for thequalification andlicensing of clubs withinthe league to bring ourlocal clubs in line withinternational standards.

THE LocalO r g a n i s i n g

Committee for the AfricaYouth AthleticsChampionships hasplanned a five starreception for the Nigerianteam that will arrive Warritoday (Monday) for thecontinental event.’’The NigerianSupporters’ band will beamong the groups thatwill receive the team atthe DSC Junction in Warriand with their drums andhorns we will herald theentry of the team intoWarri,’’ Amaju Pinnick,Chairman of the LOCs a i d .LOC members and top

AYAC WARRI 2013: Oduduru is emerging starofficials of the WarriSouth Local Governmentwill be among those whowill receive the Nigerianteam who will be arrivingfrom the IAAF HighPerformance Centre inPorthacourt where theyhave been camping for amonth now.In the team are twoveteran Nigeriancoaches, Seigha Porbeniand Brown Ebewele whoare optimistic thatNigeria will present asolid squad for thechampionships. Up to 15coaches trained the 59a t h l e t e s .The Nigerian team willstay at Excel Hotel, oneof the best hotels in Warri.

’’We have a crack team.We have trained well andI’m sure that most of theathletes we have in thisteam will turn to stars inthe near future,’’ Porbenis a i d .Prominent among theemerging stars is DivineOduduru, a 15 year SS 3student who has run 10.5in camp.

’’When a 15 year old

runs 10.5 you canimagine what he will dowith good training in ayear or two ,’’ Porbenis a i d .Athletics Federation ofNigeria TechnicalDirector, OmatseyeNesiama said that someof athletes in theNigerian team maymature before the RioOlympics in 1016.

AGONY.....Obafemi

CMYK

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

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

e-mail: [email protected] to Play Sudoku THE VIGILANTE

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

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

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

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

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

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDACROSS1 Enquired (5)5 Meaning (6)8 Clear (5)10 Summer-house (6)11 Orient (4)14 Reach (6)15 Protection (7)18 Fish (3)19 Finish (3)21 Trade (4)23 Chose (5)24 Entrance (4)27 Number (3)29 Horse (3)31 Revolved (7)32 Gregarious (6)34 Border (4)35 Evaded (6)38 Viper (5)39 Fiery (6)40 Species (5)

DOWN2 Ocean (3)3 Team (6)4 Name (3)5 Notion (4)6 Mailed (6)7 Burrow (6)9 Thought (7)12 Consumed (3)13 Story (4)16 Therefore (4)17 Go in (5)20 Signified (7)22 Pain (4)24 Abandon (6)25 Formerly (4)26 Invader (6)28 Ripe (6)30 Silence (3)33 Precede (4)36 Limb (3)37 Bird (3)

ACROSS: 1, Madcap 5, Spur 8, Sober 9,Dim 10, Oven 11, Vote 12, Ended 13,Retard 16, Disc 18, Arid 20, Cos 22, Lit 23,Lee 24, Rant 25, Item 28, Damage 30,Greet 32, Boat 33, Next 34, Due 35, Peace36, Eked 37, Bridge.

DOWN: 1, Modern 2, Demotion 3, Aboard4, Connected 5, Several 6, Prod 7, Rued 8,See 14, Diligence 15, Tie 17, Sit 19,Rewarded 29, Cab 21, Started 26, Master27, Delete 29, Able 30, Gape 31, Tee.

Eagles World Cuphopes not over — Kanu

Kenya storm Warri with reigningworld junior champions

Eagles get $25,000each AFCON bonus

F-Eagles celebrate World Cupqualification•We’ve achieved 50% mission — Obuh

BY JACOB AJOM in Algeria

NIGERIA’S Under -20 team coach, John Obuhhas said that part of his mission to Algeria

has been achieved.Looking relaxed and self-assured a day after his

wards dispatched Congo DR from the African YouthChampionship in Algeria, the sweat merchant said

Continues on Page 55

BY PATRICKOMORODION who

was in Calabar

FORMER EaglesC a p t a i n ,

Nwankwo Kanu hastipped the Africanchampions to bounceback from the 1-1 drawthey got against theHarambee Stars ofKenya in a 2014 WorldCup qualifying race.

The Coach StephenKeshi-tinkered Nigerianside, weekend at the U.JEsuene Stadium inCa;abar, needed a last-gasp NnamdiOduamadi eqaaliser toavoid an embarrassinghome defeat against theKenyans, who before thegame, had not won in 11previous meetings.

The draw allowedMalawi to join Eagles atthe top on five points.


THE Super Eagles were on Sunday morningpaid a bonus of $25,000-a-man for beating

Burkina Faso to win the AFCON in South Africa.The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) could notcome up with the cash to pay the team after theywon the continental tournament on February 10 inJohannesburg courtesy of a Sunday Mba goal.A source close to the Eagles confirmed toMTNFoootball.com that the team have now beenpaid.

It was further gathered that this payment couldwell have been possible after the NFF received the


REIGNONG IAAFworld junior

3000m and 3000m stee-p l e c h a s ec h a m p i o n s , M e r c yChebwogen and DaisyJepkorir will lead a

strong Kenyan squad offive boys and five girlsto Nigeria today for theinaugural edition of theAfrican Youth Champi-onships in Athleticsstarting this Wednesdayin Warri,Deltastate. Chebwogen ran anew 9:08.88 personalbest to win the IAAF

Continues on Page 55 •Mercy Chebwogen

BACKFLICK••• Super Eagles’ midfielder John Mikel Obi (L) watches asKenya’s Mulinge Ndeto kicks the ball during their FIFA 2014 World Cupqualifying match on March 23 in Calabar. It ended 1-.1. PHOTO: AFP

CMYK

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