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Vol. 9 No. 40 Friday, October 5, 2012 Zhul-Qadah 18, 1433 AH N150. . . putting the people first

Land grab:Jonathan’s aide,

FCT minister sued

CBN approves INECvoters’ card for

bank transaction>> PAGE 3 >> PAGE 3

Robbery gangsponsors memberto police college>> PAGE 4

Senate to ban wardsof public officers

Overseas education

By Richard Ihediwa

There are plans in the Senateto insert a new provision inthe constitution that would

effectively bar serving politicaland public office holders includingthe President, vice president, stategovernors, ministers, members ofthe National Assembly as well as

Yobe state Governor, Malam Ibrahim Gaidam (middle) listing to Commissioner for Lands,Barrister Bala Haladu (right), during the governor's visit to the site of the proposedDamaturu Ultra-Modern Market to be built by the state government, yesterday in Damaturu.With them is the Deputy Governor, Engineer Abubakar D. Ali (left).

others at the state and federallevels from sending their childrenand wards to schools outside thecountry.

Already, a bill to that effect haspassed through second reading inthe Senate and has been referredto the Senate ConstitutionAmendment Review Committeefor listing for furtherconsideration.

The bill sponsored by SenatorBasheer Garba Mohammed seeksto bar public office holdersincluding heads of publicinstitutions and directors inagencies from sending theirchildren to schools abroad exceptfor specialisation at post graduatelevels or for courses not offered inNigerians schools.

To achieve its objective, the billseeks to amend the fifth scheduleof the 1999 constitution by

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Contd on Page 2

At last, Jonathan appointsnew service chiefs

Contd on Page 2

Retains Ihejirika as Army chief

At last, President GoodluckJonathan has announcedthe appointments of new

service chiefs following theexpiration of the tenure of thecurrent service chiefs since lastmonth.

The President named outgoing

By Abdularahman Abdulraheem& Joy Baba

Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), ViceAdmiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim, asnew Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)while Rear Admiral Dele JosephEzeoba is named new Chief ofNaval Staff (CNS).

Jonathan named Air ViceMarshal Alex Sabundu Badeh asthe Chief of Air Staff (CAS) whileLt.-Gen Onyabor AzubuikeChief of Defence Staff (CDS),

Vice Admiral Ola Sa’ad IbrahimChief of Air Staff (CAS), ViceMarshal Alex Sabundu Badeh

Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), RearAdmiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba

CONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSNews 2-11

Editorial 12

Op.Ed 13

Letters 14

Opinion 15

Metro 16-18

Business 18-19

S/Report 24

Islam 26

Woman 40

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‘I am the most seniorfemale Northern officerin the Nigerian Navy’,

Page 40

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FROM YOU

Inter’l 31-34

Digest 36

Politics 37-39

Sports 41-47

Columnist 48

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012PAGE 2

Senate to ban wards of public officersContd from Page 1

At last, Jonathan appoints new service chiefsContd from Page 1

providing for a new section 15which is proposed to prescribe that“a public official shall not send hischildren or wards abroad forstudies on course offered byinstitutions in Nigeria except forspecialisation at postgraduatelevel”.

In the lead debate on the billyesterday, Senator Mohammedsaid such is the only way toguarantee commitment ofpolitical and public office holderstowards the revamping ofeducation in the country.

He said allowing public officeholders to send their children toschools abroad was largelyresponsible for the neglect of the

education sector adding that thepractice had also led to massivecapital flight and brain drain. Heaverred that such adverselyaffects the economic and sociallives of the nation.

Mohammed urged the Senateto pass the bill saying it is onlywhen public officials identify withNigerians schools that the sectorwill receive the requiredattention.

“My President, mydistinguished colleagues, Isincerely believe that the remedyfor this sad situation is the needfor a sacrifice by Nigerian publicofficials, both appointed andelected. Let us directly identifywith the Nigerian school system

by training our children andwards in our private and publicinstitutions,” he said.

Noting that he has beensaddened by the deplorable stateof Nigerian schools, Mohammedurged the Senate to imagine whatthe nation would be in the futureif a drastic measure was not takento salvage the situation.

“Today, in this digital age, thepupils sit on bare floor. You thenask; what manner of leaders oftomorrow are we producing? Youmay also ask: where are thechildren of the senators,honourable members, ministersand governors. If our childrenattend such schools, can we affordto leave them in such a sorry

state? The answer is No”, he said.Statistics provided in the lead

debate showed that Nigerians intertiary institutions in the UnitedKingdom had hit 22,190 withannual remittance of N328 billionas at 2010 which is far beyondannual federal yearly budget foreducation. The number is expectedto get to 30, 000 students by 2015.

Similarly, the statistics showedthat Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)indicated that over 71,000Nigerians are in Ghanaianinstitutions with annualremittance about N160 billion.The same trend is applicable toother countries especially China,United States, Singapore, India,among others.

Ihejirika was retained as the Chiefof Army Staff (COAS).

The appointment wascontained in a statement issuedby Special Adviser to the Presidenton Media, Dr. Reuben Abati inwhich he said the President alsothanked the former service chiefsfor their service to the nation.

The delay in theappointment, which is coming amonth after the expiration oftheir tenures, is speculated to havebeen caused by ethnic politicscoupled with intensive lobbyingby some influential groupsputting pressure on thePresidency.

Appointment of service chiefsusually reflects consideration forprofessionalism and geo-politicalzones for balance.

It was gathered that thePresidency delayed inannouncing the names as the listwas subjected through thoroughchecks to meet the requirements.It was gathered that the Presidentwas bent on choosing trustedofficers with good track records.

The delay in theannouncement of the new servicechiefs had however, caused somedisquiet as it was learnt thatJonathan quietly extended theirtenures to yesterday thoughsources later hinted that such wasto enable them to celebrate the52nd independence anniversaryin active service.

PROFILES OF THE NEWSERVICE CHIEFS

Vice Admiral Ola Sa’adIbrahim (CDS).

57 year old Naval officer andgraduate of the Nigerian DefenceAcademy Kaduna and the ArmedForces Command and StaffCollege, Jaji respectively,Ibrahim is also trained with theRoyal and Indian Navies.Ibrahim is a Navigation andDirection Specialist. He also holdsa Bachelor of Laws Degree fromAhmadu Bello University. He wasat the Royal College of DefenceStudies, UK as a member in 2002,where he, in addition obtained aMasters Degree from theDepartment of War Studies and

Public Policy at the Kings College,University of London.

Ibrahim is decorated with theCommand of Sea Badge forsuccessful command at Sea onvarious Nigerian Naval Ships. Hewas a Directing Staff and a ChiefInstructor at the Department ofMaritime Warfare, Armed forcesCommand and Staff College Jaji,Secretary to the Chief of theNaval Staff before being appointedto command the naval operationsbase, Nigerian Naval ShipBEECROFT in 2001.

In 2003, Admiral Ibrahimserved as Commander NavalTask Group. OperationHARMONY in the Eastern Navalcommand, Calabar before hewent to the National DefenceCollege Nigeria as a Directing Stafflater same year. He left theNational Defence College for theNaval Headquarters as NavySecretary in August 2005. Hereturned to the College as DirectorCurriculum and ProgrammesDevelopment in May 2006. It wasfrom this appointment that heheaded back to the NavalHeadquarters as Chief ofAdministration and subsequentlyChief of Training and Operations.In February 2009, he wasappointed Flag OfficerCommanding Western NavalCommand, the appointment heheld till his elevation as the Chiefof the Naval Staff on 8 September2010. He was subsequentlyelevated to the position of Chief ofDefence Staff on 4 October, 2012.

Rear Admiral Dele JosephEzeoba (CNS)

Rear Admiral Dele JosephEzeoba was born on 25 July 1958in Jos, Plateau state, although hehails from Ibusa in Oshimili-North Local Government Area ofDelta State. He is a graduate ofthe Nigerian Defence AcademyKaduna, Regular Course 22, theArmed Forces Command and StaffCollege, Jaji and trained atvarious times with the UnitedStates, Royal and Indian navies.He is a Navigation and DirectionSpecialist and holds a Master ofScience Degree in StrategicStudies from the University ofIbadan.

Ezeoba has had tours of dutyon board several Nigerian NavalShips in various capacities andsuccessfully commanded differentclasses of Nigerian Naval Shipsincluding the nation’s flagship,Nigerian Naval Ship ARADU. Hewas a Directing Staff at the ArmedForces Command and StaffCollege, Jaji and the NationalDefence College, Abuja. He wouldlater return to the Defence Collegeas Director Curriculum andProgrammes Development.

He also served as the Directorof Operations and later as the Chiefof Training and Operations at theNaval Headquarters. It was fromthis appointment that he wasappointed as the DeputyCommandant of the Armed ForcesCommand and Staff College, Jaji.Thereafter, he was appointed asthe Chief of Administration at theDefence Headquarters, theappointment he held till hiselevation to the presentappointment of the Chief of theNaval Staff on 4 October 2012.

Air Vice Marshal AlexSabundu Badeh (CAS)

Air Vice Marshal AlexSabundu Badeh was born inVimtim, Mubi North LocalGovernment area, Adamawastate on 10th January 1957. Heattended the Villanova SecondarySchool, Numan, Adamawa state,where he obtained SchoolCertificate in June 1976. He was

admitted into the NigerianDefence Academy as a member ofthe 21 Regular Course on 3rdJanuary 1977, and wascommissioned pilot officer on 3rdJuly 1979. He was promoted AVMon 3rd January 2008.

He started his flying career atthe 301 Flying Training Schoolon the Bulldog primary traineraircraft in 1979. Between 1981and 82, he attended theUndergraduate Pilot Training atVance Air Force Base in theUnited States Air Force betweenJanuary 1981 and September1982. The senior officer is aQualified Flying Instructor andhas accumulated over 6000flying hours on the Bulldog 123,Do 128-6, Do 228, Hawker 125,Hawker 1000, Falcon 900 andGulfstream 5 airplanes. AVMBadeh has extensiveInternational Flight Operationsexperience.

AVM Badeh attended theJunior Division course at ArmedForces Command and Staff Collegein 1988, and the senior divisioncourse at same institutionbetween 1995 and 1996. Heattended the National War CollegeNigeria as a member of course 14and graduated in August 2006;the University of Ibadan for hisMasters degree.

AVM Badeh has held severalappointments, among which areStaff Officer 2 Operations atTraining Command, COAdministration, OperationsSupport and Operations Wings,and then the office of FleetOperations Officer all in thePresidential Air Fleet and thenCommander Presidential AirFleet from June 2002 to 25October 2004. He also held theoffices of Command Trainingofficer at Training Command,Deputy Director Training andDirector of Research at theDefence HQ. AVM was a DirectingStaff and Director NationalMilitary Strategy and theNational Defence College, Chief ofPolicy and Plans HeadquartersNigerian Air Force. Presently heis the Air Officer CommandingTraining Command Nigerian AirForce Kaduna.

Chief of Army Staff,Lt.-Gen Azubuike Ihejirika

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012 PAGE 3

CBN approves voter’s cardfor bank transactions

Adamawa toassist survivorsof Mubi killings

By Lambert Tyem

Fuel subsidyscam: EFCCto arraignnew suspects

The Adamawa stategovernment has pledged toprovide relief for victims of

last Monday’s killings in Mubi,even as it appealed for calm, sayingthe security agencies are on top ofthe situation.

Speaking in Mubi yesterday,deputy governor of the state, BarriJames Ngilari, said the stategovernment would do everythingpossible to provide balm for the painoccasioned by the senseless killings.

Speaking to the Emir of Mubi,Alhaji Isa Ahmadu, after visitingthe scene of the massacre, Ngilarisaid it was unfortunate that thedastardly act took place.

Meanwhile, most offices at themain campus of the FederalPolytechnic, Mubi, remainedunder lock and key yesterday.

From Blesing Tunoh, Yola

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

President Jonathan’sadviser on political matters,Ahmed Ali Gulak, and the

Minister of the Federal CapitalTerritory (FCT), Senator BalaMohammed, have been draggedbefore an Abuja high court formisappropriating a plot of land.

Joined in the suit filed by AdiAli International Limited are: NaAllah Properties Limited, a firmbelonging to Mr. Gulak, Alhaji

Awwal Mphammed, and theFederal Capital TerritoryAdministration (FCTA).

The plaintiff, in an originatingsummons filed on his behalf by hiscounsel, Aliyu Musa Yauri, prayedthe court to order the return of theownership of the disputed land toAdi Ali, among other reliefs.

Adi Ali claims that the disputedpiece of land located at No 8Cadastral Zone DO1 KarsanaDistrict, Abuja was originallyallocated to him but later

unilaterally transferred by theFCT Minister having been misledby Gulak without adhering to duepromise.

Adi Ali asked the court to,among other things, declare thatthe transfer of the right ofoccupancy of the land to Gulak’scompany, vests no proprietaryinterest in Gulak’s company andthat he remains its beneficialowner.

The plaintiff seeks “amandatory order compelling the

FCT Minister to cancel thepurported offer of the right ofoccupancy of the said land and aconsequential order returning theownership of the land to him”.

In a 6-page affidavit deposed toby Aliyu Salihu, the owner of AdiAli International, stated thatownership of the disputed land wasissued to his company by the FCTin 2011 but was later reallocatedto Mr. Gulak.

According to a Statement ofClaim, Alhaji Awwal Mohammed,

a staff of Duhu Guest Inn, Wuse,Zone 4, Abuja, asked for the originalletter of acknowledgement fromthe plaintiff under the guise thathe would help him process thecollection of the title deed of theland.

The plaintiff later learnt thatAwwal had collected the originaldeed and refused to return theacknowledgement letter to him.This prompted him to petition thepolice and also file a criminalcomplaint.

Land grab: Jonathan’s aide, FCT minister sued

The Economic and FinancialCrimes Commission (EFCC),yesterday, said it has

concluded arrangement to arraignfresh suspects in the ongoing trialof persons and organisationsimplicated in the fuel subsidy scamtoday.

The commission said barringany hitches, 10 suspectscomprising four companies and sixindividuals will be arraignedtoday, Friday October 5, 2012before Justice Habeeb Abiru of theLagos High Court.

Spokesman of EFCC, WilsonUwujaren said among theindividuals to be prosecuted areIfeanyi Anosike, Emeka Chukwu,Ngozi Ekeoma, Alhaji AdamuAliyu Maula, George Ogbonna andEmmanuel Morah.

The companies involved areAnosyke Group of CompaniesLimited, Dell Energy Limited,Downstream Energy SourcesLimited and Rocky EnergyLimited.

These suspects are amongseveral suspects scheduled forarraignment by the commissionover the theft of N10.6 billion indubious subsidy claims.

From Ayodele Samuel &Yusha’u Alhassan, Jalingo

Several persons were feareddead with scores of othersinjured when a bomb

explosion rocked Jalingo, thecapital of Taraba state lastnight.

The bomb went off at about8.00pm at Dorawa Quartersalong Ganye Road.

An eyewitness, KabiruUmar, said he saw three deadbodies and many people wererushed to the Federal MedicalCenter. “I was just near the placewhen I heard heavy sound andthick smoke coming from a localdrinking joint; I took off myshoes and ran for my dear life,”he said.

Police Public RelationsOfficer of the Taraba statecommand, Amos Olaoyeconfirmed the incident saying“we are yet to know thenumber of causalities but ourmen have swung into action bytomorrow (Friday) I will be ableto furnish you with details”.

As at press time, details werestill sketchy as police cordonedoff the scene of the incident.

L-R: Managing Director, Media Trust Limited, Alhaji Isiaq Ajibola, Chairman, Jaiz Bank, Dr.Umaru Abdul Mutallab, and Managing Director, Infrastructure Bank of Nigeria, Mr. AdekunleOyinloye, during the 2nd National Conference on Shelter and Urban Renewal, organisedby Daily Trust Newspaper, yesterday in Abuja. PHOTO: JUSTIN IMO-OWO

By Abdulwahab Isa

The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), has included voters'registration card as means

of identifying bank customers forbanking transactions including itsacceptance for account opening.

In a related development, theapex bank has also approved auniform account opening forms foruse by banks and other financialinstitutions for the purpose of

opening accounts for theircustomers.

The latest information wascontained in a circular posted atCBN website addressed to all banksand other financial institutionstitled ‘Inclusion of IndependentNational Electoral Commission(INEC) Voter’s Registration Cardas a means of customeridentification.

“Further to our circular onAML/CFT Regulation 2009 on

acceptable means of identificationfor the purpose of account openingand transaction of banking businessin Nigeria, it has become necessaryas a result of the need to enhancefinancial inclusion, to extend theacceptable identification options.

The circular signed by AmugoK. N for the CBN Director, FinancialPolicy and Regulation Department,directed that “all banks and otherfinancial institutions are herebyadvised to accept INEC Voter’s

Registration Card duly issued byINEC, bearing the holder’sparticulars such as name,photograph, date of birth andaddress as valid additional meansof identification of natural personsfor the purpose of conductingbanking business in Nigeria.”

The adoption of voters'registration by CBN, is to enlargeidentification items by whichbanks can certify customers fortransactions.

Manydead,scoresinjured asblast hitsJalingo

Some soldiers attached to theJoint Military Task Force,(JTF) were yesterday

accused for the extra-judicialkilling of two men of the samefamily in Gamborou Millionaires’Quarters of Maiduguri, the Bornostate capital.

Late Isa Abubakar Umar, 25and his brother, Isa Umar, 24,were allegedly shot and killed bysome JTF operatives, who stormedtheir residence in search ofsuspected members of the BokoHaram sect.

The slain brothers wereallegedly killed when the soldierswere reportedly found a registereddouble barrel gun inside the roomof their father, Malam LawanUmar.

Narrating the incident toPeoples Daily, a cousin of thedeceased persons, Alhaji YakubaGoni, alleged that on sighting thegun, the rampaging soldiersrefused to entertain anyexplanation from the brothers,instead turned their rifles and shotat their direction, killing them onthe spot.

According to Goni, when theduo were shot nobody came out

to rush them to hospital due tothe heavy presence of soldiers,who cordoned the entire area.

The man condemned theaction of the JTF operatives as“unprofessional” for rejecting theexcuse of the victims so as toascertain the veracity or otherwiseof their claim.

He said the slain brothers wereburied according to Islamic rites,while complain on the matter waslodged at the Lamisula policestation.

Spokesman of the JTF, Lt-Col. Sagir Musa could not bereached for comment as at presstime.

From Mustapha Isah Kwaru,Maiduguri

JTF accused of killing 2 brothers in Borno

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012PAGE 4

President Goodluck Jonathan (right), Senate President David Mark (left), Speaker, House ofRepresentatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal (2nd left), and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu,after a meeting with stakeholders on the review of the Bakassi Peninsular judgment, yesterday atthe State House, in Abuja. Photo: Joe Oroye

Robbery gang sponsormember to police college

After undergoing training forover one year at the PoliceCollege, Kaduna,

authorities there have fished outtwo armed robbers among therecruits.

The College Commandant,Sanusi Rufa’i, who briefedreporters in Kaduna, said that oneof the recruited armed robberswas sponsored into the school by agang of armed robbers based inAbuja.

He explained that the identity

of the second robber-recruit wasblown during a court process inKebbi state.

According to theCommandant, a total of 25recruits were dismissed from thecollege, for other offencesincluding, certificate forgery, age

Taraba deputy governor impeached

It was drama and politicalintrigue yesterday, when theTaraba State House of

Assembly, impeached the stateDeputy Governor Sani AbubakarDalandi for “gross misconduct.”

This followed the adoption of areport by the panel set up by theActing Chief Judge of the stateJustice Josephine Tukur, toinvestigate allegation of grossmisconduct leveled against him.

The panel indicted Dalandi forgross misconduct after closing itshearing on Wednesday.

Danlandi has been atloggerheads with his boss,

Governor Danbaba Suntai whoaccused him of disloyalty, beforehe was served with notice ofimpeachment last month.

The Majority leader of theHouse, Charles Maijamkai whomoved the motion forimpeachment was seconded byJosiah Sabo Kente representingWukari Constituency 1, after theHouse accepted the threerecommendation of the panel andvoted unanimously for theremoval of the embattled deputygovernor.

Submitting the report of thecommittee to the Speaker IstifanusGbana, chairman of the panelNasir Dangiri said the panel foundthe embattled deputy governor

The Rotary ClubInternational has urgedNigerians to contribute in

the eradication of polio in Nigeriaby donating to the course.

The District Governor of 9125,Rotarian Felix Ayo Obadan whocalled Nigerians to sacrifice part oftheir wealth to humanitarian jobsduring a press briefing in Ilorin saidNigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistianwere three countries where thedisease was reported sighted.

He said, acitizens of thesenations are in danger if polio wasnot tackled.

He explained that the club withover 1 million members in 250countries was administeringvaccines to children across theworld, stressing that its challengesin Nigeria includes inadequatemembers.

Obadan disclosed that fewpeople that voluntarialy joined thehumanitarian service laterabandoned it.

“That is why we need wealthyNigerians, vocational citizens whoare people like me and you to joinus in fighting this scourge. Manychildren were missed during theadministration of the vaccinesbecause of tradition and culture.

“If all of us can contribute ourlittle efforts sincerely, our children’slives would not be in danger”.

guilty of all the allegations.The speaker immediately

directed the Clerk of the HouseIsmalu Tentason to communicatethe impeachment to the stategovernor, commissioner of police,director of the State SecurityService for further action.

Meanwhile, Peoples Dailygathered that the impeacheddeputy governor has howeverheaded to a High court in Jalingochallenging the impeachment andpanel.

The court is schedule to hearthe case today (Friday), while thestate government has announcedGarba Umar as the new deputygovernor.

A source at the government

Rotary cluburges Nigeriansto fight polioFrom Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

falsification and pregnancy,among others.

He accused politicians andtraditional rulers of complicity inthe admission of some of therecruits, noting that, “these bigpeople bring their candidates andinsist that such candidates mustbe admitted whether they arequalified or not.”

On the armed robbers whowould have concluded theirtraining in December, Rufa’i said,“what brought about theirdismissal is because I got a reportfrom my colleague, the AreaCommander, Kubwa, that one ofthe recruits undergoing traininghere is an armed robber.

“The police arrested his gangand they mentioned that theysponsored him to come andreceive training here.

“And about three months ago,from Kebbi state, we receivedanother letter and we detectedanother armed robber. This onewas from a court.

“ I do not know what willhappen if these people pass out ofthe college as policemen.

“During screening, you findout that some of them come withforged certificates, some cannotread and write, some are over-aged, while some of them claim tobe drivers but cannot move a car.”

He dismissed as untrue,reports that prospectivecandidates pay various sums ofmoney to policemen to facilitatetheir admission.

told Peoples Daily that plans havebeen concluded for the swearing ofUmaru today (Friday) at the Dometent Taraba Motel.

Dalandi was accused ofdiverting a MillenniumDevelopment Goals project to hisprivate school, Yagai Academy,which houses his other businessventures like Yagai Water, YagaiPrinting Press and YagaiRestaurant, acts which the Houseof Assembly described as “grossmisconduct.”

Earlier, Abubakar speakingthrough his counsel, Barr. YunusaUsman (SAN), said the panel wasnot properly constituted and wasincompetent to investigate theallegations against his client.

* Big men force us to bend admission rules ––CommandantFrom Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

The Minister of state forHealth, Dr. Mohammed AliPate has warned that as

Nigeria population undergoes ademographic transition withincrease in ageing, the burden ofCardiovascular Diseases (CVDs)will likely shoot.

The minister stated thisyesterday in Abuja at the pressbriefing to mark 2012 World HeartDay with the theme ‘One World,One Home, One Heart’ focus onwomen and children.

According to Pate, CVDs areresponsible for a third of globaldeaths irrespective of gender or age,while 79% of them are found in bothlow and middle income countries.“Nigeria is no exception, accordingto WHO report, fifth of total burdenof diseases was accounted for by noncommunicable diseases,” he said.

He however warned people todesist from risky behaviors likesmoking, alcoholism and excessintake of cholesterol, which gives“rise to high blood pressure and highblood cholesterol which are factorsleading to CVDs.”

CVDs claim 17.3 million lives ayear globally which is as many asHIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malariaand diabetes plus all forms of cancer,respiratory diseases and otherchronic diseases.

He however called for passageof tobacco bill, especially to protectnon smokers.

Cardiovasculardisease mayincrease inNigeria – PateBy A’isha Biola Raji

From Ayodele Samuel & Yusha’uAlhassan, Jalingo

ABU @50: Nigeria’s education need radical changes, says DonFrom Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

A former dean of students affairof the University of Ilorin andretired Professor of Education

Psychology, Prof. Shehu Jimoh hassaid that the Nigerian educationalsystem needs radical changes inorder to move the nation forward.

The don who stated this in Ilorinyesterday in a paper presented at oneof the activities organised by theAhmadu Bello University (ABU)

(Kwara state branch) to mark the50th anniversary of the institution,noted that if education sector wasproperly reformed, citizens wouldnot have any course to suffer.

He said “Our educational systemat all levels has not achieved theobjectives for which they were setup. It has not changed radically fromthe type we inherited from thecolonial era. It remains bookish withvery minimal attention paid to theraining of the hands in addition to

the training of the head.“Standards are falling and

today’s university graduate cannotcommunicate effectively in Englishnor can he demonstrate any otherskills and competence relevant tothe world of work outside school.This situation is aggravated by thetrend of examination malpracticewhich permeates all levels of oureducational system. Thus, whenyou interact with somebody whoclaims to be a graduate, you begin

to wonder if he actually earned adegree.

“ While the number ofuniversities and student enrolmentare increasing rapidly, there are nocorresponding quality-assurancemeasures put in place. This is whywe turn out thousands of graduatesevery year without equipping themto find their way through theconceptual landscape of theknowledge-driven economy of the21st century.”

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012PAGE 6

L-R: Representative of the Inspector General Police, DIG, Sulaiman Fakai, Chairman, Civil SocietyPanel on Police Reform in Nigeria, Mrs Ayo Obe, and Technical Adviser, Innocent Chukwuma,during the panel’s meeting, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Joe Oroye

Reps committee tasks FG on NDLEA fundingThe Chairman of the House

of RepresentativesCommittee on Drugs,

Narcotics and Financial Crimes,Mr. Jagaba Adams Jagaba hasurged the Federal Governmentto improve funding for theNational Drug Law EnforcementAgency.

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

Harmonise workers' pension, Attah tells FG

The first Minister of WomenAffairs and SocialDevelopment, Ambassador

Judith Attah has called on thefederal government toharmonize retired civil servantspension to enable them live adignified life.

Attah, who made the callyesterday in Abuja at a summitand special luncheon to markthis year's International Day ofOlder , urged the government toappreciate the elders whocontributed to the developmentof the nation, by paying theirpension as at when due addingthat the new pension policy

adopted by the government,would be the foundation for theleaders of tomorrow.

Attah commended thepresent minister for addressingissues related to elderly personsin the country,

In her key note address, theMinister of Women Affairs,Hajiya Zainab Maina said, theworld is facing a frighteningphenomenon of increased ageingpopulation who currently livelonger.

She said, their sacrifice,wisdom and experiences haveremained the pillars of supportand stability in the nation.

Zainab promised that nextyear, some select aged persons

will be taken to a place of theirchoice to celebrate the day as theFederal Government hasapproved the purchase of twobuses for that purpose.

In his speech, the nationalVice Chairman, Public ServiceRetirees, Chime Geoffrey,lamented that retirees' pensionsfor the month of August is yet tobe paid.

Senior Special Assistant to thePresident on SocialDevelopment, Mrs. Sarah Pane,said the welfare of the aged is notonly the responsibility of thefamily members but of socialinstitutions adding thatNigerians have refused to maketheir pathetic lives better.

Speaking during anoversight visit to the Agency,Jagaba lamented the poor stateof infrastructure in the anti-narcotic Agency and called foran urgent intervention.

"We are here on oversightassignment but there is no workfor us because of lack of fund. Inthis year's budget 100millionnaira was approved for the NDLEA

out of which only 18.7 million hasbeen released. Nothing could bedone with the money releasedbecause the deficit of the previousyear is about 23 million naira. TheFederal Government needs toprovide funds for the Agency toenable it perform optimally"Jagaba stressed.

He said, "this committee hascarried out an independent

investigation on the Agency andour findings are worrisome.NDLEA offices across the countryare all in dilapidated condition, indire need of renovation. TheAgency lacks operational vehicles,sniffer dogs, training and evenarms and ammunitions. In the past5 years, 20 officers have lost theirlives in active service. This is verysad".

Funding for the NDLEA is veryimportant and must be so treatedby all stakeholders. "Acts ofmilitancy, terrorism, armedrobbery and violent crimes arerooted in drug abuse. If we mustfight crime in this country weneed to control drugs. If we mustcontrol drugs, NDLEA must befunded by the FederalGovernment" Jagaba stated.

By Maryam Garba Hassan

Following a peaceful proteststaged by members of theNasarawa state chapter of

the Nigerian Union ofPensioners, the Nasarawa stategovernment yesterday, orderedthe immediate payment of anoutstanding N71 million topensioners for September.

Addressing the aggrievedpensioners in front of the LafiaGovernment House, statecommissioner for finance, Prof.Mohammed Mainoma, disclosedGovernor Umaru Tanko Al-

makura's order for theimmediate payment of theoutstanding pension forSeptember, adding thatgovernment was also reviewinggratuity claims and pensionarrears, with a view to effectingpayment.

He urged the pensioners, whoare all retired civil servantsdisengaged from the state civilservice, to remain patient asgovernment would sort outperceived discrepancies in bothclaims.

Members of the NUP earlyyesterday, marched from the

state pension board and pitchedtent at the entrance gate of theGovernment House,demanding to see Governor Al-makura.

Treasurer of the union, Mrs.Christiana Elayo, whileaddressing the press earlier,outlined the grievances of thepensioners to include amongothers; inability of governmentto pay gratuities to retiredworkers since 1997, lack ofprocedures for the payment andthe instalmental payment ofgratuities, with pensionerscollecting as low as N100,000.

Nasarawa agrees to payN71m September pensionFrom Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

Witness’ security concernstalls Atuche’s trial

Perturbed by the allegation,Atuche's counsel, Chief AnthonyIdigbe (SAN) expressed shock bythe prosecution's commentsaying they did not disclosewhere the threats came from.

According to Idigbe, theallegation was a ploy to delaytrial as about 15 witnesses havetestified without any allegationof threat "on a day we areprepared to cross-examine thewitness".

"I urged the court to orderthat police security be providedfor him so that he can come andcomplete his testimony".

Further hearing of thematter has been adjourned tillOctober 9, 2012 for the crossexamination of the witness.

Ogunsola had at the lasthearing of the matter said thathe was aware that funds weretransferred from some companyaccounts in Mortgages Bank PHBto some individual accounts,companies and churches inother banks.

The companies accordingto him, includes Clearmount,AFCO, Commercial Trading,Clearview, Noel, ConsolidatedBusiness Support, ArabianProbity and Gazali Yakubu.

He also stated in histestimony that to hisknowledge, nobody in thecompanies complained abouttheir funds being transferred.

From Francis Iwuchukwu, Lagos

The trial of sackedManaging Director of thedefunct Bank PHB,

Francis Atuche, alongside aformer director of the bank, Mr.Funmi Ademosu, who arecurrently facing trial at anIkeja High Court could not go ondue to the safety concern of aprosecution witness.

The cross examination ofBolaji Ogunsola, yesterday wasstalled over disagreement onalleged safety concern of thewitness.

Ogunsola, a formerManaging Director of MortgagesBank PHB, was at the lasthearing of the matter led inevidence by the prosecutioncounsel, Mr Kemi Pinheiro(SAN) before Justice LateefaOkunnu.

But at the resumed hearing,the prosecution counsel,Kamarudeen Adebola whostood in for Pinheiro, away forthe International BarAssociation (IBA), Conferenceat Dublin, informed the courtof the absence of the witnessover allegation of threat to hislife.

Adebola, who displayed atorn e- mail sent by the witnesssought for an adjournment inorder to make arrangement forhis security.

Expert advocates Moringafor African homes

as Vitamin A, Vitamin C,Calcium, Iron, Potassium andProtein".

He added that, "the productsupports a healthycardiovascular system andpromote normal blood glucoselevels in the body."

"Take one teaspoonful ofMoringa leaf powder into acup of hot water , s t i r anddr ink , pre ferably a f termeal . A l ternat ive ly , youcan add one teaspoonful in ag lass o f f ru i t ju ice , " heexplained.

Meanwhi le , the DaysahVentures Director whodecr ied the low turnout atthe fair ground, attr ibutedit to relocation of the venueto ABCCIMA permanent sitea long a i rport road, Abujafar from the c i ty centre aswell as inadequate publicityfor the event , say ing "ourconcern i s the preva lencehigh rate respiratory diseasesand HIV/AIDS in Africa."

By Mohammed Kandi

Ghanaian Director atDaysah Ventures,manufacturers of food

and beverages in the country,Mr. George Amissah, hasrecommended Moringaingestion for every Africanhome to boost body immunesystem and combatmalnutrition.

He made this knownyesterday, at the ongoing 7thAbuja International Trade Fairorganized by the AbujaChamber of Commerce,Industry, Mines andAgriculture (ABUCCIMA).

Amissah, saidMoringa(zogale) "increasesnatural defenses for the body,promotes normal function ofthe liver and kidney, aidsdigestion, acts as anti-oxidantsand beautifies the skin…contains an extraordinarywide variety of nutritionalproperties and compounds such

PAGE 7PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Northern group set to tackleJonathan on alleged misruleThe Coalition for Social

Justice (CSJ), an o n g o v e r n m e n t a l

organisation, says it is set toconfront the FederalGovernment over what thegroup described as cripplingsocial injustice in the polity aswell as on the tissue of lies andunfulfilled promises to thepeople.

“The era of docility is overbecause we cannot continue toattribute everything to theWill of God”, the coalition’sspokesman and formermilitary administrator ofKaduna state, Col. Hameed Ali,said yesterday at a pressconference in Kaduna.

He lamented that the northhas been so quiet for a long timeeven in the face of injusticeleading to perverse poverty in

the area and in the country atlarge.

Citing the issue ofgovernment’s promise ofcushioning the effects ofincrease in pump price of fuel,through palliative measures,Ali queried, “several monthsafter, where are thepalliative buses and othergoodies?

“That means thegovernment is not sincere and

From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

Dangerous animals,including crocodiles,snakes and hippos, have

found their way into homes andcommunities in Benue state incentral Nigeria after devastatingfloods occasioned by the overflowof the River Benue.

A report monitored by ourreporter on the BritishBroadcasting Corporation (HausaService) noted that the creatureswere carried along by flood-swollen rivers.

According to Wuese Jirake, aBenue state resident, “there is nowa hippopotamus in my house, “Ihope that when it is tired, it mayleave my home.”

“This morning I visited myhouse. It is still inundated with theflood waters above my waist.There is now a hippopotamus inthe house”, he said.

Similar situations have beenreported in the towns of Makurdi,Agatu, Logo and Adoka, says theBBC’s Ishaq Khalid.

However, NationalEmergency ManagementAgency (NEMA) says it is workinghand in hand with the Benue stategovernment and other relevantagencies to ensure the floodvictims return to their homes.

The co-ordinator of the agencyin north-central Nigeria,Abdussalam Muhammad, toldthe BBC that it was not safe forpeople to go back to their housesbecause of the presence of thedangerous animals.

L-R: Group Managing Director of NNPC, Engineer Andrew Yakubu, Minister of Petroleum Resource, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, andMinority Whip. House of Representatives, Hon. Samsun Osagiu, during the opening ceremony of an investigative hearing on oil bloc, yesterdayat the National Assembly, in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

The Vice-Chancellor of theAhmadu Bello University,Zaria, Prof. Abdullahi

Mustapha, has approved theappointment of Dr. Ahmed M.Falaki of the Department ofAgronomy as the Director of theInstitution’s Institute ofAgricultural Research (IAR).

A statement issued yesterdayby the Media Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor, Malam Waziri IsaGwantu, said Falaki’sappointment, which is withimmediate effect, followed thesudden death of the Institute’sformer Director, Prof. TanimuBalarabe and in recognition of hisadministrative and academicleadership qualities.

“By this appointment, youwill be responsible to the Vice-Chancellor for the day-to-dayoperations of the Institute” theletter reads in part.

Falaki, who is an indigene ofKano state was born on the 13th ofJune, 1951, attended DandagoPrimary School, finished in 1964from where he proceeded toGovernment College, Keffi wherehe graduated in 1969.

Before his present appointmentas the Director of the Institute,Falaki was the Assistant DirectorExtension Monitoring andEvaluation.

it is not serious. Nigerians aretoo docile but we cannotcontinue to remain like thatbecause if you do not raiseyour hands and fight for yourrights, you will never getwhat is due to you.

“We are ready to mobilisethe people to demand for theirrights and if we talk and thetalk does not work, then wethink of an alternative actionto take”.

Falakiappointeddirector of IAR

By Muhammad Nasir

Alaibe denies prior knowledge of anniversary day blaststhe venue for the IndependenceDay anniversary in 2010.

Alaibe denied the allegationsthat he received informationfrom the one of the suspects linkedto the incident.

The former Niger DeltaDevelopment Commission(NDDC) boss, had been fingeredin the course of the trial of havingfirst-hand information before thebomb blasts.

During cross examination,Alaibe said the only time he camein direct contact with the suspectwas when he helped the AmnestyOffice in the disarmamentprocess of some ex-militants\ in

Former Special Adviser to thePresident on Amnesty, Mr.Timi Alaibe, yesterday,

denied having prior knowledge ofthe multiple bomb blasts whichrocked the Federal CapitalTerritory on October 1, 2010 andclaimed the lives of no fewer than12 persons.

Standing in the witness boxbefore a Federal High Court inAbuja, Mr. Alaibe insisted thatthe third accused person in thetreasonable case, EdmundEbiware never informed him ofthe ploy to bomb Eagle Square,

Ogbotebe community of Deltastate.

He added that he had courseto caution the accused personagainst his campaign on thepolitics of geo-political zoningbefore the 2011 presidentialelection.

Shortly after the prosecutionclosed its case with Alaibe as itslast witness, the defence openedits case with the accused person,Edmund Ebiware as its onlywitness.

Ebiware told the court that hehad course to meet with Mr.Alaibe in his office over threatson his life by the alleged

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin mastermind of the October 1bombing, Henry Okah and on theneed to disarm ex-militants in theNiger Delta.

Ebiware who said hisrelationship with Okah hasalways been on the phone, saidthe MEND leader had threatenedhim because he felt he was aninformant of the governmentand that Okah never told him ofhis intention to stage an attackon 2010 independence day.

The court gave the parties inthe matter 14 days to file theirwritten addresses which areexpected to be adopted onNovember 12, 2012.

By Maryam Garba Hassan

Fuel subsidy bribe: MD, oil firm, others arraignedFrom Francis Iwuchukwu, Lagos

The Integrated Oil and GasLimited, its ManagingDirector, Mr. Anthony

Ihenacho, the Assistant GeneralManager Supply, Mr. HumphreyOkoh, and the FinancialController of the company, Mr.Akinwusi Julius were onWednesday arraigned before aTapa Magistrate’s Court over analleged bribe offered to membersof the Presidential Committee on

Fuel Subsidy Verification.Others arraigned with them

are three members of thePresidential Committee on FuelSubsidy Verification namely;Alalade Abioye (f), BuhariGaniyu and Oni Oluwasola (m).

They were alleged to have onAugust, 30 2012 at IntegratedOil And Gas Ltd, 190 MarineRoad, Apapa, Lagos, in the LagosMagistrate District, conspiredwith others (now at large) andoffered the sum of N1.5 million

to members of the PresidentialCommittee for the performanceof their duties an offencepunishable under Section63(1)(a)(b) of the Criminal Lawof Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

Addressing the court, policeprosecutor, SuperintendentEffiong Asuquo of the SpecialFraud Unit, told the court thatthe alleged bribe was offered tomembers of the PresidentialCommittee namely AlaladeAbioye (f), Buhari Ganiy (m),

Oni Oluwasola (m) andChukwujekwu Nneka Akabueze(f).

When the charge was readto them, all the defendantspleaded not guilty and weregranted bail by MagistrateMatins Owumi in the sum ofN500, 000 with two sureties inlike sum.

One of the sureties must be acivil servant whose office andhome addresses must be verifiedby the court.

Flood: Crocodiles,hippos threatenhomes in Benue

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012PAGE 8

L-R: National President, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Micheal Alogba,National Treasurer of the Union, Dr. Nasir Mohammed, and representative of the Minister of Education, Mrs Clara Eminue, during the inauguration of federal wing ofNigeria Union of Teachers, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

NITEL National Secretary, Senior Staff Association, Mr Emmanuel Adu (left), nationalPresident, NITEL Staff Association of Nigeria, Mr Elias Kazzah (right), and others protestingover non-payment of NITEL workers salary, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: NAN

President/Chief Executive, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote (left), with CEO, Tiger Brands Limited, Mr. Peter Matlare (right), and COO, Dangote Group, Mr. Olakunle Alake(middle), during the signing ceremony of the divestment of shares of Dangote Flour Mills Plc (DFM) to Tiger Brands at Dangote Group corporate head office, yesterday in Lagos.

L-R: Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Federal Character, Hon. BabatundeOsoba, Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Ahmed Idris, and Executive Chairman,Federal Character Commission, Professor Shuaibu Oba, during the Committee’soversight visit to the commission, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

R-L: Minister of State for Education, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, Special Assistant(Political) to the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Jacob Beredugo, and DirectorGeneral, National Teachers Institute (NTI), Dr. Ladan Sharehu, during the presentationof report of the study tour on Kenya Strengthen Mathematics Science Education,yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOGER 5, 2012PAGE 10

NAFDAC impounds N15.37m drugsThe National Agency for Food

and Drug Administrationand Control (NAFDAC) in

Edo State has taken delivery ofunregistered drugs worth N15.37million impounded by the NigerianCustoms Service, FederalOperations Unit, Zone ‘C’.

A truck containingunregistered pharmaceuticalproducts worth N14.8 millionand another carryingunregistered animal drugs worthN237,500 were intercepted onthe same route by the Customs.

From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin Assistant Director andCoordinator of the Agency in Edostate, David West who made thedisclosure in Benin City, said,“the truck laden with drugs wasintercepted by men of NigerianCustoms Services on routinepatrol along Benin–AsabaHighway and on closeexamination discovered that theconsignment containunregistered drugs.”

He however said that noarrest was made as the driver ofthe truck absconded on sightingthe uniformed men.

According to him, the

pharmaceutical products , whichconsists of Ampiclox (ampicillincloxacillin) 250mg/ml, Nilstat(Nystatin) oral drops drops 30ml,Aeroline Evohaler 100mg,Optalidon (prophenazone +caffaome) tabs, Cicatrin Powder(Neomycin Sulphate + BactracinZin), Ibrumol capsules, Diclofenforte didofenac sodium caplets,Disprin Soluble Aspirin tablets,Augmentin syrup in powderform156.25mg/5ml and Dettol100ml were all without NAFDACregistration number and wereostensibly heading to Onitshabefore they were intercepted.

West further said that thepharmaceutical products borePakistan, India and China ascountries of manufacture.

“They include Citriaxone –sodique, Invomec’O – Ivermectininjection 1% and Ox bull – Oxtetracycline HCL Injection 1%with Germany and China as thecountries of manufacture”, hesaid.

He called on the public toalways report cases ofunregistered drugs to the agency,adding that the impounded drugswould be moved to NAFDAC’sEnforcement Directorate, Lagos

The governor of Niger state,Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyuyesterday put smiles on the

faces of civil servants in the statewhen he proclaimed thatgovernment will pay bonuses tothem for the celebration of Eid-el

From Iliya Garba, Minna Kabir (sallah) festival.He instructed the

Commissioners for Finance andthat of local government andchieftaincy Matters to ensurepayment of the October salaries toall workers not less than one weekto this year’s Sallah festival.

Speaking after inaugurating

the Niger state Justice SectorReform committee andpresentation of the Niger stateHigh Court Civil Procedure rulesat Government House Minna,Governor Aliyu warned that hewould not tolerate the purchase ofmaterials for the civil servantssaying “:everything should be

monetized and allow workers todecide what they want with themoney”.

Governor Aliyu also directedthe Commissioner for Finance andthe Attorney general of the stateto work out modalities that wouldsee government assisting judicialofficers to purchase their vehicles.

Gov Aliyu approves Sallah bonus for workers

EFCC arraignscompany staffover fraudBy Lambert Tyem

for further investigation.Meanwhile, NAFDAC has told

sellers of beans, grains and relatedfood products in Edo State to desistfrom using harmful chemicalsthat can result in food poisoning.

The warning came fromNAFDAC in the state, during asensitisation exercise at thevarious markets in Beninmetropolis for Northern traders.

Addressing the traders, Mr.West urged them to always useapproved pesticides in the rightproportion to avoid foodpoisoning, and to properly storethe food items.

The governor of Niger State,Dr. Muazu Babangida AliyuWednesday inaugurated

the Niger state Justice SectorReform Committee saying thejudiciary can no longer continueto estrange itself from othermembers of the society.

Inaugurating the committeeat Government House Minna,Aliyu said the practice whereby

judges and other judicial officersdo not relate regularly with othermembers of the society hasdistanced them from realities inthe society.

The governor also stated thatthe nation is right in adopting thealternative conflict resolutionprinciple so as to reduce the delayin passing judgements and reducecourt and prison congestions.

He said the justice sector reformhas become necessary because thecountry practices the UnitedStates of America presidentialsystem of government whereasthe laws of the land still revlvesaround the conservativeparliamentary system.

Governor Aliyu howeverassured his government’s supportfor policies and programmes that

would lead to the respect offundamental rights of the peopleand quick dispensation of justice.

The governor also presentedthe new Niger state High CourtCivil Procedure rules which waslast produced in 1987 at theoccasion and directed that allcommissioners Special Advisers,Local government Chairmen andtheir secretaries as well asPermanent Secretaries be given acopy each of the document.

Responding, Chairman of thecommittee and Chief Judge ofNiger state, Justice Jibrin Ndajiwoannounced that Niger state hasbeen picked as one of the states inthe country where the AlternativeDispute Resolution programmewould commence.

…inaugurates justice sector reform committee

The Economic and FinancialCrimes Commission, EFCCyesterday arraigned one

Mr. Felix Walbe before JusticeNimpar Yar'gata of the FederalHigh Court Jos, on a two countcharge of fraudulent conversion ofN450, 000 and giving falseinformation to the Commission.

According EFCC Spokesman,Wilson Uwujaren, the offence ispunishable under Section 315 ofthe Penal Code and Section 39 subsection 2 of the EFCCEstablishment Act 2004.

Walbe allegedly made falsestatement to officers of the EFCCwhen he claimed that oneAthanasius Danbaba, an employeeof Lower Benue River BasinDevelopment Authority is alsoemployed by, and receiving salaryin Natco Nigeria Limited and hadalso corruptly enriched himself aswell as bought several propertiesin Jos.

One of the charges against theaccused person reads: “that youFelix Walbe, being a formeremployee of Natco Nigeria Limitedbetween June 2011 and June,2012, in the Jos Judicial Divisionof the High Court of Plateau State,and in such capacity entrustedwith certain property, to wit:N450,000 (four hundred and fiftythousand naira) committedcriminal breach of trust bydishonestly converting the saidsum to your own use, and therebycommitted an offence punishableunder section 315 of the Penal Code,CAP 89, Laws of NorthernNigeria,1963”.

Walbe pleaded not guilty.The prosecution counsel,

Ibrahim Audu, thereafter prayedthe court for a short adjournmentfor hearing and pleaded that theaccused be remanded in prisoncustody.

Justice Nimpar Yar'gata, in hisruling remanded the accusedperson in Federal Prison, Jos andfixed October 25, 2012 for definitehearing.

A middle-aged man identifiedas Alhaji Bila is among fivepersons that were yesterday

confirmed dead at a rehabilitationcentre for displaced victims of floodin Edo State.

Alhaji Bila reportedly slumpedand died at Ekperi rehabilitation

From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

camp located at Ekperi Grammarschool,Ughepe Azukhalu,in EtsakoCentral local council area of Edo State,triggering anxiety in the camps.

The incident occurred duringan on-the-spot assessment of thedisplaced persons by the Nigeria

Medical Association (NMA) forpresentation of relief materialsincluding drugs worth millions ofnaira, bottled water and repellents.

NMA President, Dr. OsahonEnabulale, shortly before thepresentation yesterday called on

the federal government andNigerians to be more proactive indisaster management to minimizethe risk associated with flood andother natural disasters.

Enabulele said their visit to therehabilitation camps was necessaryto save lives, particularly women andchildren who are most vulnerable topreventable epidemic like malaria.

Five Edo flood victims die

L-R: Durbin Zazzau, Alhaji Ali Bamali, Niger state Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, and former military President,General Ibrahim Babangida, during the third-day Fida’u prayer of the late Dallatun Minna, Alhaji Usman Abubakar, atthe deceased's residence, on Wednesday in Minna.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012 PAGE 11

Be awful nice to ‘em goin’up, because you’re gonnameet ‘em all comin’ down. - Jimmy Durante

Quote

Nine strong tips on savingand managing your finances

of endless abundance, but thereality is that at any given pointin time, our resources have limits.Whether it's oil in the ground, ourtime here on Earth or the cash inour pockets, there's only so muchavailable to be spent.

People who ignore this realityare the ones who run out ofpaycheck before they run out ofmonth, or who extend theirunsustainable spending by relyingon credit cards, home equity loansand other reckless borrowing.Their refusal to make thesometimes-hard choices needed toresponsibly manage money meansthat they will have even fewerchoices in the future. The moneythey spend on stuff and on interest

Some understanding ofeconomics and personalfinance doesn't mean you

won't make mistakes or facefinancial disasters. But you canlessen the odds and repair thedamage faster if you know therules of the game.

Here are the economic andfinancial concepts everybodyshould know:

1. The difference betweenneeds and wants

Our actual needs are prettylimited: food, shelter, clothing,companionship. Just abouteverything else is a "want," and ourwants are essentially endless.Because our resources are limited(see "scarcity," below), we have tomake choices about which wantsto fulfill.

Also, the way we fulfill ourneeds involves a lot of choice.Shelter, for example, can be a bedat a mission for the homeless or aN250 million mansion. Our foodchoices offer a similar range, frombeans and tap water consumed athome to steak and beer at anexclusive restaurant.

I've discovered many peoplebelieve they have to spend moneyin certain ways or in certainamounts, when in reality theirspending is a choice -- or is at leastbased on choices they made earlier.If you're facing a monstermortgage payment, for example,it's because you chose to buy thathome and selected that particularmortgage.

Taking responsibility for ourchoices can be scary, but it shouldalso be empowering. After all, if youhave choices, you're not just avictim of circumstance.

2. Scarcity makes yourchoices for you

It's lovely to believe in a world

can't be invested in other goals, likeretirement, so odds are pretty goodthey'll wind up old and broke.

3. The pointlessness of thehedonic treadmill

This isn't the latest workoutdevice at your gym. The hedonictreadmill means that we quicklyadjust to improved circumstances.A raise at work or a new possessionmay make us happy for a littlewhile, but we soon take oursituation for granted. Ourexpectations continue to rise: If onlyI could get another raise, or a bettercar, or a bigger house. Should thoseexpectations be satisfied, again we'dadjust and quickly want more.

This has a lot of implications forpersonal finance and the economy,

but here's something to consider:Maybe we need to look beyond ourwallets for true happiness.

4. Every money decisionhas a cost of its own

"Opportunity cost," verysimply, means what we give up toget something else. In everychoice, there's an opportunity cost.If you decide to go to college, forexample, you're giving up theincome you could have earned byworking full-time during thoseyears plus whatever you couldhave purchased with the moneyused to attend school. You also maytake on loans to pay for school,which will have to be paid backwith future income that couldhave gone for other purposes.

Investment mistakes to avoid (II)Failure to rebalance

portfolio: Rebalancing isthe process of returning

your portfolio to its target assetallocation as outlined in yourinvestment plan. In view of the factthat this contrarian action is verydifficult for many investors, theyfail to capitalise on the benefitinherent in it. Though rebalancingis difficult because it forces you tosell the asset class that isperforming well and buy more ofyour worst performing assetclasses, it should still be undertakento facilitate reaping long-termbenefits.

Rebalancing must be guidedby a well-structured investmentblueprint, and not carried out forthe sake of a price movement inthe market.

Trusting absolutely onhindsight It is often assumed thatbecause you can see the pastclearly, you think you have asimilar ability to tell the future.Hindsight error is common at themoment, because many people areconvinced they saw the crashcoming in 2007. In reality, theymay have thought a crash was

possible, but they also thought themarket might continue to trendupwards.

Now, investors are convincedthey actually saw the problem in2007, but just did not act on it. So,they believe wrongly that they canact correctly today. They thinkthey know enough to sell at theprecise moment the market is highand buy when the market is low.

People also expect that trendsthat existed in the recent past willcontinue in the future. The stockmarket is dynamic and it requiresrequisite commitment to studyand follow the trends in themarket.

Spending the principal:Some investors fail to set somemoney aside in a savings or moneymarket account for smallerexpenses like furniture, vacations,hobbies, computers, car repairs,and babies. When an urgent needarises they are forced to break theirinvestment plan to address theirimmediate needs.

A well thought out week,monthly and even yearly budgetis a prerequisite for investors whowish to make investing a veritable

tool for growing their wealth.Overconfidence: Unrealistic

mental frame has led many tobelieve without justification thatthey have the ability to pick stocksthat will have above averagereturns. This more often than not,is a set up for an accident causedby an error of judgment fosteredby the emotional belief thatinvestors have an all knowingability. Balance can be achievedby applying fundamental andanalytical benchmarks tomoderate extreme cases ofinvestors' overconfidence.

The wisest of investors treatevery investment decision with acertain amount of caution and thishas served many well because themarket will always remain anunpredictable entity. Internalconflict

When confronted withinformation that contradicts theirbelief in a hypothesis, investorsdisregard it, preferring to look forinformation that confirms theirhypothesis. From the print tobroadcast media, investmentexperts provide more often thannot constitute postulations on what

the market will do, therebymisleading many investorsthrough hype and generation ofgroup think solutions.

Having an investmentblueprint in place is a sure meansof safeguarding against beinginternal conflict arising fromcontradicting investmentinformation.

Illusionary ability tocontrol: You may believe in yourability as an investor to ride themarket when in actual fact youmay just be pulling a tiger by itstail. This has led many investorsto believe that they can make themarket go up or down. If you thinkyou have a trick that can get themarket to go your way, you betterthink twice.

They are sitting on the side-lines in cash earning no return.Given the valuable prices of stockin the Nigerian market, thememories of previous losses haveheld many investors captive frominvesting, forgetting that "Risk andreturn go together."

Mastering emotion of any kindis a perquisite for any investorwilling to excel in the market.

You don't need a formalstrategy role to help shapeyour organization's

strategic direction. Start bymoving beyond frameworks andcommunicating in a moreengaging way.

1. Understand whatstrategy really means in yourindustry

By the time executives havereached the upper echelons of acompany, almost all of them havebeen exposed to a set of core strategyframeworks, whether in an MBAor executive education program,corporate training sessions, or onthe job. Part of the power of theseframeworks is that they can beapplied to any industry.

2. Become expert atidentifying potentialdisrupters

Expanding the group ofexecutives engaged in strategicdialogue should boost the odds ofidentifying company or industry-disrupting changes that are justover the horizon-the sorts ofchanges that make or breakcompanies.

But those insights don't emergemagically. Consider, for example,technological disruption. Formany executives, the rise up thecorporate ladder requires a deepunderstanding of industry-specifictechnologies-those embedded in acompany's products, for example,or in manufacturing techniques-but much less knowledge of cross-cutting technology trends, such asthe impact of sensors and theburgeoning "Internet of Things."

3. Develop communica-tions that can break through

A more adaptive strategy-development process places apremium on effectivecommunications from all theexecutives participating. Thestrategy journey model describedby our colleagues, for example,involves meeting for two to fourhours every week or two to discussstrategy topics and requires eachexecutive taking part to flag issuesand lead the discussion aboutthem.

In such an environment, timespent looking for better, moreinnovative ways to communicatestrategy-to make strategic insightscut through the day-to-day morassof information that any executivereceives-is rarely wasted. Thisrequires discipline, as it is alwaystempting to invest in furtheranalysis so that the executive hasa deeper grasp of the issues ratherthan in communications design toensure that everybody has a goodgrasp of them. It also may requirebuilding new skills; indeed,developing messages that canbreak through the clutter isbecoming a required skill for themodern strategist.

Becomingmore strategic:Three tips forany executive

PAGE 12 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Saudi Arabia’s deportationof our female pilgrims

The ongoing deportation of Nigerianwomen pilgrims not accompaniedby male guardians (maharam)

from Saudi Arabia by that country'sauthorities must rankle as a huge blow tothe pride of every patriotic Nigerian. As ofMonday, when a batch of 52 womenpilgrims was turned back from the holyland, the number of the deportees hadreached 1000. Before the deportationsbegan, the Saudi authorities had detained400 of our women pilgrims at KingAbdulaziz Airport in Jeddah underinhuman conditions for three daysimmediately after their arrival fromNigeria last week.

When news of the women's detentionbroke, the reaction of Nigerian officialswas, understandably, one of outrage eventhough some officials of the National HajjCommission of Nigeria (NAHCON) triedto downplay the gravity of the situationby describing the cause of the incident asa communication gap, which would bequickly sorted out. And when the 52 weredeported on Monday, NAHCON'sspokesman, Uba Mana, blamed thewomen, saying some of them had expiredpassports while others had false visas, asif the commission had no hand in theacquisition of both.

The Sultan of Sokoto, MuhammaduSa'ad Abubakar, who is the Amirul Hajj,said the action of the Saudi authoritieswas "an insult to Nigeria and to thiscountry's millions of Muslims." He addedthat the Saudis "never raised this issueand never demanded that the femalepilgrims must have a 'maharam.' Theydid not make this a requirement for

“the deportation of theNigerian women pilgrims

must be seen for what it is- the willful failure of some

officials at home to dotheir job well

issuing visas".And the minister of foreign affairs,

Olugbenga Ashiru, who had protested theshabby treatment meted out to the femalepilgrims at a meeting with Saudi Arabia'sacting minister of foreign affairs, PrinceAbdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Abdul Azizin Washington last week, fumed that "theaction of the Saudi authorities was notonly unfortunate but did not truly reflectthe historic friendly ties between the two

nations".However, the fact that the Saudi

authorities singled out Nigerian womenpilgrims for this sordid treatment meansthat Nigerian officials associated with the2012 pilgrimage exercise have a question ortwo to answer. Why were some of thetravelling documents of the womenpilgrims filled with false information? Anddidn't the officials have any inkling of whatawaited the pilgrims?

It is our position that the NAHCON andthe states' pilgrim welfare boards, as the

organizers of the annual pilgrimage to theholy land, must take the blame for thisavoidable diplomatic slap on Nigeria.

Although in the past women had beenallowed to perform the annual hajjpilgrimage without the presence of amaharam, the Saudi authorities haveevery right to now insist on compliancewith that requirement because it isreligious. And because ours is a culturethat delights in breaching the law does notmean other nations must tolerate ourlawless ways of doing things on theirshores.

After all, Nigerians of all genders arenot noted as the most saintly of people onearth, as some have the unfortunatenotoriety for engaging in all manner ofunsavoury practices even while on tripsthat are supposed to be wholly religious.Also, in not a few cases have someabsconded while on holy visits to SaudiArabia, Italy (Rome) and Israel(Jerusalem). Besides, many of the illegalimmigrants in Saudi Arabia areNigerians. Even here at home, the illtreatment foreign missions mete out toNigerians seeking visa suggests that somecompatriots can go to any length todepart our shores.

But after all is said and done, thedeportation of the Nigerian womenpilgrims must be seen for what it is - thewillful failure of some officials at home todo their job well. The deportees must notbe allowed to pay for that failure,especially if the Saudi authorities insistthat they only be allowed back into SaudiArabia to perform the Hajj rites in thecompany of their maharam.

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5 , 2012 PAGE 13

The problem with our claim andcelebration of independence isthat Nigerians as a people are

still very much dependent. Whilethe poor are dependent on their“rich” relatives, the rich aredependent on foreign markets fortheir shopping. The governmentpersonnel are completely dependenton approval by foreign authoritiesclaim to performance andacceptance. They depend oninternational workshops, meetingsand conferences to speak about issuesat home and tell the world how wellinformed and hardworking theyare. Their progress reports andgovernance scripts are only valid forexternal examinations. They willfail woefully if marked by internalexaminers or ordinary Nigerians.

Still it is a great feeling to knowthat your leader is one of you. Hisorigin can be traced to one villageor the other in your country orlocality. There is no disconnectbetween you and your leader andhe is expected to know andunderstand your feelings andpeculiarities. Hopefully hisbackground may be the similar toyours and he must surely knowhow it is down here. Hence he is

expected to come over for abrotherly chat on how to surmountthe challenges facing us. He willtrust us to have the best of intentionsfor our communities and country.He should address problems withpractical solutions rather thanpalliative statements, concepts andplans for the future. He should striveto correct the injustices of the pastand restore our lost glories becausehe is one of us and should know.

Unfortunately, we appreciateourselves more abroad than athome. We are a very orderly peopleabroad and quite disorderly at home.We confess to crimes (committed athome) abroad and deny them withthe stout defence of lawyers at home.We seek and win more scholarshipsto go abroad than to study in ourcountry. We even organiseworkshops and training for our localleaders abroad! Our statistics are onlyvalid when quoted from a foreignreport or another. At home there areno statistics of whatever type, evenour population census figures are notacceptable to all. Our elections mustfeature foreign observers and theirreports if favourable will become an

anthem for years to come.Meanwhile the people have adifferent opinion altogether. But formobile phones, telephoneconversation would have ended inNigeria long ago. Today we have oneof the most expensive internet andmobile phone network coveragewhich can be sabotaged at anymoment.

We depend totally on foreigncars, petrol, oil and internationalair travels. Our sportsmen can onlybe stars if they can go abroad andperform well. We organisebirthday parties abroad and shopfor wedding and other occasionsabroad. Our leaders depend onforeign hospitals and schools forthemselves and their families. Theybuy houses abroad and spend moretime abroad than in their villages.Some even have permanentresidency overseas and willimmediately leave Nigeria as soonas their tenure is over. All theirthinking and strategizing is gearedtowards leaving Nigeria with theirfamilies. So while new appointeesor elected officials are busy planningon how to desert Nigeria the

Our dependent independenceBy John Igoli

Nigeria must be among theworld’s most batterednations, and Nigerians

among the most psychologicallybrutalized citizens. The dangerousgame the Nigerian elite play iscoming to a head and it is time tobring this needless brinkmanship toa stop. The two years since October1, 2010 have ushered in one of themost divisive and self-destructiveeras in our history since the civilwar. We have witnessed the firstbombing of Abuja, the nation’scapital, hitherto considered the mostsecure city in the country; anelection that was bitterly foughtalong sectional, ethnic and religiouslines because politicians could nothonour their word; communalwarfare bordering on genocide andsectarian insurgency which has, sofar, claimed thousands of innocentlives; not to talk of mind-bogglingcorruption, the intensity of whichhas not been experienced anywhereelse in the world. We have broughtmore misery to this long-sufferingnation and its people, in these twoyears than other countriesexperience in an entire lifetime.There is only so much any onecountry can take at any given time.

To be sure, we have not comeclose to being a Somalia yet but fora nation blessed with enormoushuman and material resources,Nigeria has no business being at thelower rung of the ladder ofdevelopment. In 2011, the UNDPHuman Development Reportranked Nigeria 157th out of 187countries, with lower lifeexpectancy rate than the Republicof Benin. 20% of our newborn diebefore they attain the age of five.According to our own NationalBureau of Statistics, one out of everyfour Nigerians is unemployed while70% of the population, or 119million Nigerians, live below thepoverty line. The cumulative value

of our national debt has hit the $42billion mark while we continue toborrow at the rate of roughly$1billion a month. We have beentold that our economy is growing atbetween 6 - 7% over this period butthis growth, taking the abovestatistics into account, must bebenefiting only a handful ofNigerians or else, is taking place onplanet Mars.

Overwhelmed by unspeakablelevel of corruption and brutalization,Nigerians have resorted to turningon themselves. Rarely a day passesby without an eccentric academic,an attention-seeking politician or apseudo socio-cultural group hurlingvirulent invectives against fellowcitizens from other ethnic groups,who may practice a different faithor who live in parts of the countrythey consider unfit to share the samenationality with. There is much talkof fossil oil, cotton, groundnut andother agricultural products and, inextreme show of intolerance, thereis the stereotyping of citizens alongreligious lines. Elder “statesmen”breathe fire and brimstone while theyounger ones, taking a cue fromthem, have become hate-mongerson the Internet. For those who gettheir information from the web,reading news and commentaryfrom and about Nigeria by Nigeriansis like watching the Hobbesian stateof nature unfolding before your veryeyes.

The raw passion Nigeriansdisplay and the uncivil languagethey deploy against each other is unfitfor animal consumption, not to talkof consumption by human beings.We disrespect and vilify each otherwithout a proper illumination of theissues and, therefore, withoutaddressing the real problems. Inmajority of the cases, what passesfor a discourse on the state of thenation by members of the Nigerianelite generates more heat than lightand could, if stripped of allpretensions, pass for hate-mongering

and base sentiment. The net effectof all these is that uninformedNigerians, who constitute the bulkof the citizenry, have becomevictims of two types of crimes: theircriminal debasement by the elitethrough unbridled corruption, inaddition to deliberate and criminalincitement. Little wonder ordinaryNigerians are prepared to visitmayhem on each other at theslightest provocation even as theirelite-patrons continue to plunder ourcommonwealth. When it comes totheir favourite pastime, theNigerian elite speak with aunanimous voice, completely blindto section, religion and tribe.

For some of them, the solution tothe problems Nigeria face is to breakthe country up into North andSouth; or to give every one of thenation’s over 250 ethnic groups“autonomy”, whatever thatmeans; or to divide the countrybetween Muslims and Christians,regardless of how absurd andimpractical this may seem. Thefalse logic in this proposition is thatthe problems of Nigeria are to beblamed on either the North or theSouth, or on ethnic groups otherthan the one to which we belong, oron either Christians or Muslims,each as a whole. The other false logicis that these problems will disappearonce the presumed guilty party isexcised. The more pretentious of theelite have resorted to blaming our

laws, insisting that once theconstitution is created anew,corruption will be stopped dead in itstracks, equity and justice will reignand Nigerians, or whatever varietyof them that may emerge from theexercise, will begin to live inheavenly peace.

It is truly aggravating thatthese self-serving propositions arecanvassed by those who benefitfrom Nigeria the most, the samegroup largely, if not solely,responsible for the nation’spredicament. Never mind that the70% of Nigerians, who eke out amiserable existence below thepoverty line, the truly neglectedand marginalized have, by thevery fact of their marginalization,been denied the voice to canvassfor a position of their own. It is, inthe event, most dishonest andabsurd for those who impoverish apeople and strip them of decenthuman existence to turn roundand claim to be speaking for them.So, for who do these attention-seeking agitators speak? Why is itthat, as a rule, their agitation isabout the sharing of ourcommonwealth? When are theygoing to begin to agitate for an endto poverty, corruption and badgovernance and all the evils thathave made Nigerians prone toviolence while reducing thecountry to a universal laughingstock? If these pretentious elite are

Time to stop this brinkmanship (I)By Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim

recycled ones are busy fundingtheir families who have been“successfully” or are being settledabroad. This vicious cyclecontinues as no one who has theopportunity wants to be termed afailure for not being able to arrangefor the relocation of his familymembers in a foreign country.

Our Ministry of Educationboasts of sending lecturers abroadfor training and to acquire higherdegrees. No one tells you that over70% of Nigerians who go abroadon educational sojourn do notreturn home to help salvage theeducational sector for which theywere supported. While othernationals return home promptlyto serve out their bonded periodsor years in the research sector orUniversities, Nigerians stay backbusy studying the immigrationpolicies and begin a steady planto have their families abroad andto be nationals of other countries.By the time a Nigerian hasobtained a master’s degree in anyacademic discipline he hasobtained a PhD or has become aprofessional in exploiting

truly committed to the welfare ofthe people as they claim, why arethey unable to stop corruption andbad governance in their own statesof origin or in the local councilsclosest to them? Or is it by breakingthe country up into ethnicenclaves or by writing new lawsthat these crimes they, themselves,perpetrate against the people theyclaim to represent will come to anend?

Let us put a few popular fallaciesto rest. The first is the claim thatNigeria’s current predicament isrooted in the nature of its diversityor, specifically, is to be blamed onparticular sections, ethnic orreligious, other than our own. Thisis an elite contraption which is notsupported by the facts. Recent eventshave shown that when ordinaryNigerians are able to free themselvesfrom elite manipulation, especiallyin the face of existential threats, theyclose ranks, regardless of section,ethnicity and faith. This has beendemonstrated during the fuelsubsidy protests in early Januaryin both the North and South,specifically in Lagos, Abuja, Kanoand Kaduna, where young people,Muslims and Christians, took turnsto protect each other from possiblebrutality by agents of the State, toenable each to practice their faith.In the same vein, we are witnesses tothe spectacle in the House ofRepresentatives which lasted forweeks, during which oil marketersfrom the North and South, Muslimsand Christians, from differentethnic backgrounds, were beinginvestigated for mind-bogglingfraud, in concert with agents of theState. Which of Nigeria’s sections,ethnic groups or religions isresponsible for the fraud which theoil marketers and their collaboratorsallegedly perpetrated on the rest ofus?Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim may bereached atbashiryusuf@gmail.com

immigration guidelines for hisbenefit to remain abroad. TheNigerian who will not go to workuntil 10.00 am at home will reportfor duty promptly at 04.00 am.A Nigerian does not miss animmigration appointment or hisflight to a foreign destination.

In the light of the presentreality, it will be difficult for theordinary Nigerian to “celebrate”our independence no matter howold we claim to be. Theanniversary years will make nodifference either as the adversaryyears are still very much with us.For us to celebrate we must showthat in one aspect of our life, be iteconomic, academic, political,health, petroleum products or evenfood, we are truly independent ofother nations providing them forus. I believe we can achieve this ifwe depend more on ourselves andour people at home. As it standstoday our independence is almosttotally dependent on other nationswilling to provide our basic needsas a country and people.John Igoli can be reached onigolij@yahoo.com

“In the same vein, we are witnesses to thespectacle in the House of Representatives whichlasted for weeks, during which oil marketers from

the North and South, Muslims and Christians, fromdifferent ethnic backgrounds, were being

investigated for mind-boggling fraud, in concertwith agents of the State

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012PAGE 14

A tale of three generations

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WRITE TO US

By Anthony A. Kila

At today’s IndependenceAnniversary declaration, we are compelled to analyse the

history of Nigeria once again. Thefirst imperative is that although alot of people try to make it appear acomplex and peculiarly incredibleseries of events and situations, thehistory of Nigeria is in reality just atale of three generations. Those threegenerations, in all their actions andinactions, are the key tounderstanding everythingNigerian and therein also lie possiblesolutions to the woes of the country.The troubles of the country aremany and obvious for all to see; therewill be no awards for predicting thatmany analysts and commentatorswill be understandably delving intothose woes this week.

On my part, I would like to makeit clear that I am firmly convincedthat there is nothing wrong withNigeria that cannot be cured; allwe need is the personal courage tomake eye contact with reality,regardless of what it looks like, andto have the collective ability to livewith the consequences of our actionsand inactions.

The three generations to befollowed in the tale of Nigeria arethe generation of dreamers andinspirers; the generations ofsquanderers and survivors, and thegenerations of redeemers. Thelatter generation is yet to come andwith them lies all our hope as apeople. Yes, civically speaking, thebeautiful ones are yet to be born.

The first generation of

dreamers and inspirers are those werefer to as our founding fathers.Conventional wisdom in Nigeria usesthe names and images of the trio ofChief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr NamadiAzikiwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello plusthat of Sir TafawaBalewa to symbolisethat generation. Abetter list, even ifminimal, shouldalways include thenames of HerbertMacaulay, Eyo Ita,Alvan Ikoku, UdoUdoma, AminuKano, AnthonyEnahoro andMichael Okpara.

A major trait ofthe generation ofdreamers andinspirers is theirvisions for theircountry andAfrican continent.They all had grand ideas and idealsfor their country and people; theywanted both to be free and great. Intheir minds, they were not just inpolitics to administrate power, theysaw themselves on a mission to rescuetheir race. They communicatedtheir visions and aspirations withtheir speeches and writings. Theirrhetoric was always grand and theynever shied away from challenginginjustice, rather they seemed to enjoythe confronting of power.

Once in power, this generation of

Nigerians put the masses at the heartof the actions. They knew they hadto build institutions andinfrastructures and they went aboutit diligently. Awolowo led the wayand others swiftly followed suit in a

creative competitive way thatbecame a win-win situation for all.From the free education programme,to the establishments of IkejaIndustrial Estate, Aba and PortHarcourt Industrial layouts andKaduna and Kano Industrial areas.The fruits of their labour were real,clear and are still yet to be surpassed.International analysts saw them atwork and predicted that Nigeria wasdestined for greatness. There is still alot to be learnt from and about thatgeneration.

The second generation, thegeneration of squanderers andsurvivors, came into office wearinguniforms and seized power with theuse of boots and bullets. These werebullets and boots that we gave them

to defend thec o u n t r ya g a i n s te x t e r n a lthreats; keepan eye on your“maiguard” ifyou have one.They neverbothered toinspire orconvince, theysimply scared,tortured andsubdued theirfellow citizens.With theirdecrees andd i s m i s s i v eorders they

ruined the institutions they metand annihilated the middle classthat could check them.

After they had wrecked all theycould and utterly disgracedthemselves, they eased their ilk intopower to continue their misdeeds.While the squanderers weredestroying the country, the otherpart of that generation, save for avery few, did not fight back. Most ofthem who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, orsimply didn’t stand up to leaders,turned looters. They simply

Before embarking on adisinterested scrutiny of FemiFani-Kayode’s published

essay on the Nigerian condition atthe 52nd independenceanniversary, which heforegrounded with a denunciationof his former British classmate LordAspley’s characterization of Nigeriaas a fecal space with the repulsivesmell of horror, it is important toremark the phenomenon of cheekyabout-turns routinely exhibited bypolitical office holders no sooner thanthey are out of office.

While in government, theseguys exuberantly defend and neversee anything wrong in thegovernment in which they served.It’s just as though the scandalousappurtenances of office oftenimpair their sense of reasoning andperpetually thwart the luxury ofunbiased critical assessment of theadministration that employs them.But once they are out, the scalesbegin to fall from their eyes. Theysuddenly don the toga of activism –something they had spent almost alifetime denigrating – and launchinto an overstated revivalistcampaign of a new order for whichthey had previously vilifiedgenuine activists who are alreadylaying down their lives for goodcause.

How then, shall we describe thiscreeping attitude? Despicable? Yes.And if nothing else, it is an assaulton a people’s intelligence. It speaksnot just to the stark debasement ofmorality in the society, but also animpetuous exhibition of sheeropportunism fueled by a telling

deficit of honour among a growingband of young educated elites whoironically are beginning to positionthemselves as potential leaders of thiscountry.

It is not known yet if Femi has bynow left the People’s DemocraticParty, (PDP) the ruling party since1999. But it is well known that hewas in PDP when he diligently servedin President Olusegun Obasanjo’sadministration, first as one of thespokespersons and later as cabinetminister. In both portfolios he wasvery visible and vocal, taking on asmany eminent citizens of thiscountry that attempted a mostbenign critique of the Obasanjoadministration. Some of the victimsof his cutting tongue were ChinuaAchebe, Wole Soyinka and YakubuGowon, all highly regarded patriotswith measured contributions to thegrowth of humanity in Nigeria andbeyond.

Nothing personal though, one isby no means a supporter of the kindof leadership the PDP has offered thiscountry till date. However, theproblems listed in Femi’s jeremiadcertainly antecede PresidentGoodluck Jonathan’sadministration. And any honestobserver of the scenes on the politicallandscape since this pretenddemocracy began some thirteenyears ago should be quick to hold theObasanjo administration responsiblefor watering and nurturing thesurviving seed of decay at a periodwhen a unique opportunitypresented itself for the deployment ofhis vast public service experience atthe highest level towards satisfyinga burning necessity for nationalrebirth.

For the reason stated earlier,which is undeniably self-serving,Femi and a handful of bright youngminds like him who served inObasanjo’s government could, sadly,not find the nerve to speak the truthwhile in service. Deliberately, theyskirted around facts, advancednauseating propaganda, encouragedwillful filibustering, fosteredextraordinary impunity, insultedthe intelligence of the Nigerianpeople and coordinated vicious verbalattacks against anyone, especiallythe civil society, who dared criticiseglaring negative actions of theadministration.

Granted, all of this is within theirright. There are many Nigerianswho would today ask why Femiwould not find the courage toarticulate his objection in whateverform when Obasanjo brazenlyparceled out a resource-rich portionof his country to a neighbouringcountry. More than a few would alsoask where he was when his boss wasbusy cobbling together strategies foractualising a third term in office. Heneither raised a voice against it nordid he do anything to demonstratehis aversion for that atrociousagenda. If he claims he advisedagainst it but his boss did not listen,did he make a personal sacrifice byresigning to show his commitmentto decency and integrity in publicservice? Of course not. So where nowis the moral platform on which hecan stand to argue for a better futurefor this country?

It is also both amusing andstrange that he is now proposingeither a people’s revolution or asovereign national conference as theonly avenues through which the

unity of Nigeria can be guaranteed.Meanwhile, the Obasanjoadministration frowned seriouslyupon the mention of these options(no matter how nicely presented),let alone consider them. Because heso relished the comfort of being ingovernment at the time, Femi couldnot see the urgent need for backingany of the two innocuouspropositions. Indeed, he and a fewother colleagues were at theforefront of arrogantly squashingthese proposals he now doggedlypushes for in his essay. For the record,it’s worth pointing out that at theheight of the hostility, they stoppedshort of advocating a charge oftreason for anyone who called for asovereign national conference, notto talk of a people’s revolution. Howtimes change!

But what should really be moreworrying is that he is comfortablysettled in a time warp,unquestionably trapped in the clubof Nigerians who keep blaming theBritish colonialists for the tragedywhich this country has become. Yetevents seem to have overtakenwhat appears to be an endlesslamentation. Time to stop blamingthe colonialists, please. For God’ssake, these invaders left in 1960.Since then, successive local leadershave had not one, but two goldenchances to end residual iniquitiesand remold the country with thevision of a just, egalitarian andunited society that would be abeacon for the Black Race.

But what did the leaders do?Lacking foresight, imagination andunable to imbibe the necessaryqualities ascribed to enduringstatesmanship, they fluffed every

begging chance on the altar ofignorance and self-absorption.Therefore, Femi should ratheranchor the blame for Nigeria’sfailure to develop to its full potentialnot on the British, but on this cycleof visionless leaders in military andcivilian attires of which he himselfhad been a key part and animplacable apologist in very, veryrecent past. So whenever Nigeriansbemoan failed leadership in theircountry, they would do well to recallthat Femi, a top delegate of thedisastrous ruling party, PDP, is oneof them.

His treatise also enunciated thebanal theory of “poor husband” and“rich wife” to illustrate the reality ofan indigent northern region, aidedby the British, that continuouslylords it over a more prosperoussouthern region. He contended thatanyone who had a functional brainand a brave heart to confront thetruth was always rubbished andwiped out, citing Obafemi Awolowoand MKO Abiola as examples.

He may be right. But since hementioned Awo, it would servehistorians and political scientistsbetter if Femi could shed some lighton the role his aristocratic father,Remi Fani-Kayode, the great “FaniPower,” an illustrious politician ofpre and post-independence Nigeria,played in the politics of that era. Towhat extent, for instance, did FaniPower share in Awo’s vision and howfar did he go to help realize it? Caseclosed.

With due respect to Femi, thispiece ends with the same prayer thatended his: May God deliver us.

Godwin Onyeacholem is ajournalist based in Lagos

A response to Femi Fani-Kayode’s Nigeria treatiseBy Godwin Onyeacholem

resorted to finding means ofsurviving. Many left the country toseek greener pastures; the ones thatstayed became beggars and hustlers.Rather than being proud of theirideas, dedicated to their professionsand be protective of their ideals,they, in the name of survival,became accommodating to rascals.Just to survive they lowered theirstandards, wasted their knowledgeand allowed mediocrity to thrive.

Terms like dignity, duties andrights have been trashed by manyin this generation; fathers of familyare proud to identify themselves assomeone else’s boy, professionals begfor appointment, contractors andsuppliers beg and bribe to be paid.Rather than protect their schools,they look for private schools for theirchildren; rather than campaign forgood roads, they buy jeeps; ratherthan insist on stable electricity, theyqueue to buy generators.

The generation that will save thecountry from all this rot will be thegeneration of redeemers. They havea strong battle in their hands for theyhave few examples at hand tosupport them. Yet they have nochoice but to find their voices andchart their own course. They willhave to face reality, see wheresurvival mode has gotten thecountry and they will need to realizethat only dignity and dedication canlead to greatness.

Anthony A. Kila is reachableon Facebook.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012 PAGE 15

Last week, I did a deepcommentary on the deceitfulpublication by the Jonathan

government on what they termed“Sure and Steady Transformation”.I dismissed the book as nothing, andparticularly stated that thepresident and his team wouldn’tneed to write books to show us theirworks which, ultimately, areexpected to be visible on our roadsand in our homes. I was clear on myassertion that the president is abumbler, and that that book wasanother needless waste of ourmoney by Mr Jonathan and hishandlers.

Well, such is the fate of the critic.You don’t rail on the president of 160million people, especially on a projecthe considers key to his public rating,and expect everybody to rise ininstant praise of you. Those whoparticularly see President Jonathanas a performer simply because ofwhere he hails from were the mosthurt. They had thought that theminor – actually, quite negligible –improvement in electricitygeneration, in the last two monthsor so, was significant enough to hushus up. They must have beenquaffing expensive wines in theirclosets in celebration of what shouldamount to the eternal silence of thetwittering children of anger, astanding member of which I am. It

was shocking to them, therefore,that I made attempts, and I was thefirst person who did, to reduce their‘performance’ book to what it is:nothing.

Here’s a notice I wish to serve mycritics: I will not be stopping mycritical analysis of the Jonathanadministration any time soon; notuntil he addresses the one and onlyreal issue holding Nigeria on theground. For now, Mr Jonathan is thechief promoter of that killer: sleaze.

In one of my essays, I wrote onThe Time Value Of Corruption.Those who claim I have neverproffered any solution to mycriticisms were blind to that piece.Well, that article was celebratedeverywhere, in churches, mosques,the academia, corporate circles andamongst civil society organizations,as a clear blueprint to any seriousgovernment on the reason why thefight against corruption shouldcommence now and be sustained.Of course, the only place it wasn’tseen must have been in governmentcircles; the bakery of corruption.

In that piece, I proved, inquantitative terms, using the basicconcept of finance, how a kobo stolentoday becomes naira tomorrow, andhow we will be jeopardizing our 20

years from now if we keep quiet onthe massive stealing of our oil subsidyfunds. I equally showed in clearterms, using a steady exchange rate,how much the Gulf windfall stolenby Babangida’s regime was worththis year. If you want to read or re-read the article, search for it on thehome page of www.ekekeee.com.

Our case against Jonathan iscorruption. I am convinced – andthis is one conviction I hold stronglyto – that once we take the fightagainst corruption as seriously as weshould, more than half of ourproblems as a nation will be solved.Unfortunately, in every way,President Jonathan hasdemonstrated his love for corruptionand the corrupt, and his desire to putthose fighting them in check. I haveheard several arguments againstmy conviction on corruption. Butnone of those arguments isconvincing enough.

We have tried all manner ofthings, and they have all failed: wehave zoned the presidency and otherpolitical offices, we have createdmany states and local governments,we appoint at least a minister fromeach state, we appoint two ministersto handle some ministries, we haveuncountable parastatals and

agencies, we have set upinnumerable committees, we haveset up probe panels, and we havecoined up acronyms that neverworked: FDRI, MAMSER, SAP,FEAP, NEEDS, SURE-P. We havedone many things which neverreally sent any criminal to jail. Inall these, we have not demonstratedto anybody the powers of theNigerian state in upholding thatwhich is fair and just. Everythingwe have done has been to, in truth,avoid the real work which is to jailthieves and deter others fromstealing what belongs to all of us.

We have tried every otherthing, and they failed us. Why don’twe try fighting corruption and seeif we won’t get this solution that haseluded us for decades? There areproofs that the corruption rate inany country has an inverserelationship with development anda sound economy. The higher therate of corruption, the more sicklythe economy and the higher the lackof development. In other words,corruption and development cannotshare the same room.

Our case against Jonathan isthat he supports corruption, and haslaid a firm foundation for its growth,even as the monster has already

Our case against JonathanBy Chinedu Ekeke

As Nigerians express growingdisquiet and utterdisappointment over the

alleged uncharitable treatmentmeted out to the country’scontingent to this year’s holypilgrimage in Mecca by the Saudiauthorities, and as governmentofficials strive to put up anappearance of actionable responseto rehabilitate the country’sinternational image andreputation, it has become pertinentto add some flesh to the dry bones ofthe ongoing debate regarding themistreatment of Nigerian femaleson pilgrimage to Mecca.

In doing so, I do not intend to getentangled in the dialectics of “who isright or wrong,” or in the proprietyof the Saudi government’s stern andbelligerent disposition towards theNigerian contingents. On thecontrary, I posit that our inclinationto become wholly absorbed in suchtangential debates have led us toignore and possibly camouflagewhat could be described as “aperfidious scandal” regarding thevery question of pilgrimageoperations in Nigeria, unmindful ofits deleterious repercussions on theeconomy and polity.

Here, I am referring to theculture of state-sponsorship ofpilgrimage in Nigeria - a practicewhereby federal, state and localgovernments appropriate andexpend huge sums of taxpayers’money to ferry some privileged andpolitically-connected individuals toMecca, Rome and Jerusalemostensibly to enable them fulfill theirreligious obligations.

On the face value, the activeinvolvement of the government insponsoring such religious jamboreeswould seem quite permissible sincethe intending pilgrims could alwaysbe saddled with the altruisticmandate of going to the holy land topray for the oneness of the countryand for value-orientation. However,

such a puerile excuse flies in the faceof logic and empirical reality. For allpractical purposes, it would seemthat while government-sponsorshipof pilgrimage in Nigeria has grownin arithmetic progression, the spateof social disequilibrium occasionedby elite-corruption, mindless mis-governance, ethno-religiouspolarization, systemic and deep-seated moral decadence especiallyamongst the youth population haveall proceeded in geometricprogression.

It is troubling that the Nigerianstate is deeply and profoundlyenmeshed in the illogic of sponsoringpilgrims to foreign countries. Suchan anachronism becomes evenmore egregious when one considersthe question of who is beingsponsored and for what purpose. Asone commentator rightly observed,“the whole twist to pilgrimage inNigeria is that many now see it aspatronage, and governmentsponsorship has now become acampaign tool and a means ofdemocratizing the culture ofcorruption and settlement in thesystem.”

Nothing better illustrates thisentrenched absurdity than thecomments credited to the formergovernor of Oyo State, Alao Akala,when he seized the opportunity of asend-forth organized for the state’sHajj contingent to announce asfollows: “If these 1,500 and another1,500 that will be going to Jerusalembring along 10 persons each to votefor us, then we will be here againnext year (new tenure) to do thiskind of programme for another set.”As if to be assured that his credulousaudience was properly schooled onthe significance of his politicalarithmetic, he further added, “Asyou are going to the holy land, youwill pray. Pray for the peacefulcoexistence of the country and that

of the state. Pray for us to return topower in the next election, andencourage another 10 people to votefor us in the election.”

With such an overdose ofpolitically-laden exhortationhanging on their necks like the swordof Damocles, there was no doubt thatthese political captives re-branded aspilgrims and sponsored withtaxpayer money would havebesieged Mecca and Jerusalem withonly one paramount supplicationuppermost in their minds, namely:lobbying God’s endorsement of theirprincipal’s re-election andprayerfully soliciting His talismanicpowers in raising “stones’ to vote fortheir party during the election (acliché for rigging).

Unarguably, state-sponsorship ofpilgrimage has become highlyproblematic on account of the factthat the process of selectingparticipants for such exercise isfraught with much arbitrarinessand nepotism. Often, the basis forsuch selection is not transparent andis hardly advertised. In fact, it is myconsidered opinion that a greatmajority of those who enjoy suchpatronage have no businesswhatsoever straying beyond theshores of Badagry beach in the guiseof performing pilgrimage. Yet, thegovernment spends colossal sums foran exercise meant to be a personal

spiritual obligation.According to figures turned in

by the Presidential Committee onthe Restructuring andRationalization of FederalGovernment Parastatals,Commissions and Agencies, thegovernment spent over N4.706bnfor the maintenance of thepersonnel of the National HajjCommission and the NigerianChristian Pilgrims Commissionfrom 2009 to 2011. The committeealso noted that the practice ofgranting concessionary foreignexchange rates for pilgrimages wasexerting serious distortions on theFOREX market to the detriment ofthe economy. Additionally, whenthe cost implications for the 36states and the innumerable localgovernments are factored in, themagnitude of fiscal hemorrhagebecomes even more stupefying.

In a society like ours wherepoverty literally looms large like theproverbial “ghost of Banquo,” theidea of state-sponsorship ofpilgrimage would have become lessrepulsive and more seductive if itwere consciously utilized as a tool ofmoral empowerment for theindigent members of society. For thevery idea of sponsorship connotes themarshaling of resources (both incash and in kind) by the state, anorganization or even an affluent

individual in aid of an individual’sdesire to fulfill certain legitimateaspirations for the overall good ofsociety, especially where the latteris hamstrung by his or herprecarious material circumstance.

Paradoxically, the corruptionand patronage system immanentin pilgrimage operations in Nigeriahas invariably become a means ofreinforcing the already ominoussocial inequality and the economicmarginality of ordinary Nigerianswho have become terriblymarooned in material poverty thattheir eligibility for pilgrimage isconstrued as utopian imagination.For the political leaders, deployingthe resources of the state insponsoring pilgrims have become apotent weapon in their arsenal forthe purpose of prodding their pliantbeneficiaries to remain subservientto their benefactors’ politicalinterests and hegemony.

Hopefully, the recent debaclewhich culminated in the massiverepatriation of the country’s femalesojourners to Mecca offers us anopportunity to pull the chestnut outof fire by critically reappraising theentire architecture of pilgrimage inNigeria. In this regard, thegovernment should restrict itselfonly to the provision of consularservices and vaccines to intendingpilgrims. The National HajjCommission and the NigerianChristian Pilgrims Commissionshould be abolished and theirfunctions transferred to adepartment under the Ministry ofForeign Affairs. Accordingly, theenabling statutes of the twocommissions should be amended.Government should also stopgranting concessionary foreignexchange rates to pilgrims.Ugochukwu RaymondOgubuariri is reachable onUgoray2010@yahoo.co.uk

Nigeria’s problem with HajjBy Ugochukwu R. Ogubuariri

attained a troubling peak in Nigeria.The only way we will drop this caseagainst him is if he immediatelyconfronts the criminals who havestolen Nigeria empty. He can beginby granting them amnesty – whichis to ask them to surrender all theystole peacefully. If they fail tosurrender within the set timeframe,then the force of the state will beapplied in bringing them to justice.

He must equally tackle thecriminal elements in the nation’sjudiciary because those have shownhow well they want to sustain thecurrent misnomer in the polity.Those who run organized scams invarious sectors of Nigeria’s economycannot continue to be in the goodbook of any president who works forNigeria’s progress. Those are thepeople President Jonathan must facesquarely. Ironically, those are thesame people he likes to see as hisfriends. This is why his supportersclaim the task is tough, anotherlaughable argument.

There’s nothing difficult aboutthis task for a president whounderstands patriotism and the needto return his country to a pridefulplace in the comity of nations.Follow Chinedu Ekeke@ekekeee on Twitter

“It is troubling that the Nigerian state is deeplyand profoundly enmeshed in the illogic of

sponsoring pilgrims to foreign countries. Suchan anachronism becomes even more

egregious when one considers the question ofwho is being sponsored and for what purpose

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012PAGE 16

Mother narrates how pastorimpregnated 15-year-old daughter

The Secretary of LocalEducation Authority(LEA) in Gwagwalda Area

Council of the Federal CapitalTerritory (FCT), MallamAbubakar Garba Alhassan, hasinspected on-going projects insecondary and primary schoolsin the area.

Alhassan, who led adelegation in the inspection tour said that the currentadministration of the councilwould provide an enablingenvironments for teachers andpupils to enhance learning.

He further said that hisadministration would continueto provide instructionalmaterials for the schools as wellrecruiting the qualified teachersin Gwagwalada.

He appealed to both teachersin secondary and primaryschools to consider the students/pupils as their biologicalchildren and inculcate moralvalues in them.

Alhassan maintained thatthe on-going projects would becompleted before the end of thisy e a r

The schools visited were L.E.Aprimary schools at Zuba, Giriand Gwako respectively.

GwagwaladaL.E.A inspects on-going projects

A house help, James Joshua,21, of Life Camp, Abuja,appeared before an Abuja

Senior Magistrates’ Court in LifeCamp yesterday, charged withtheft.

Prosecutor Sergeant PhillipApollus told the court that oneErnest Uguagu of Life Campemployed the accused as hishouse keeper.

“The accused dishonestlyentered his master’s room andstole his N188, 000", he said, adding that Uguagu reported thematter at the Life Camp PoliceStation on September 25, 2012.

Joshua pleaded not guiltywhen the charge was read tohim.

The prosecutor objected to hisbail, saying the case was stillunder investigation.

He said that if the accusedwas released on bail, it wouldjeopardise the investigation.

Senior Magistrate AbdullahiIlellah said that he used thediscretion of the court to grantthe accused bail in the sum ofN200, 000 with two reliablesureties each in like sum.

Illelah said that the suretiesmust have known and definedaddresses within the court‘sjurisdiction.

He adjourned the case toOctober 15, 2012 forhearing.(NAN)

House helparraigned forallegedly stealing master’smoneyThe mother of a 15-year old

girl has told the chiefmagistrate court in Karu,

Abuja how her pastor had serialcanal knowledge of her daughteron the pretence that he wascarrying out deliverance on her.

Mrs Ngozi Iwuoha told thecourt that her pastor, ApostlePrincewill Basil lied to herdaughter that there was a “dirty foundation that definedher life” and that he will castaway from her.

Apostle Basil who runs‘Mountain Mover Fire Ministry’church in Nyanya an outskirtsof Abuja city asked the girl in hisoffice to remove her dress inother to cast away the dirtyspirit in her.

After she removed her dress,the pastor started pouring androbbing certain oil on her body,Mrs Iwuoha, who was testifyingin the trial of the pastor by the

By Usman Shuaibu

The Police yesterdayarraigned three personsbefore an Abuja Senior

Magistrates Court for allegedintimidation and mischiefagainst Mr Moses Matthew.

The accused persons wereErnest Nwankwo, Ejike Ezeji andChika Okpara, all of Karmajijivillage, Airport Road, Abuja.

Prosecutor Andrew Aichenedetold the court that the case waslodged at the Lugbe Police Station

by Matthew of the same addresson October 2, 2012.

He explained that at about1:00 a.m of the same date,Matthew was sleeping with hisfamily in his house when theaccused persons and others nowat large, came to his premises.

Aichenede said the accusedpersons came with cutlasses, sticksand other objects to Matthew’shouse and cut down three pawpawtrees within the premises.

He said that they dumped allsorts of waste at the frontage ofMatthew’s house, screaming andthreatening to burn down thebuilding.

The prosecutor said that theaccused persons also threatened tokill Matthew and other membersof his family, an offence thatcontravenes Section 397 and 327of the Penal Code.

The accused persons,however, pleaded not guilty to the

Police arraign three for threatening to set building ablazeallegations against them whiletheir counsel, Mr Johnson Musa,urged the court to grant thembail.

Senior Magistrate Aliu Shafagranted bail to each of the accusedpersons in the sum of N100,000and a surety each in like sum.

He ordered that the suretiesmust be civil servants.

Shafa adjourned the case toOctober 23, 2012 for furtherhearing. (NAN)

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin police, said even when the girlasked the pastor whether one doremove ones dress fordeliverance, the pastor slappedthe girl.

The pastor, she said also toldthe girl after robbing her withoil that there still remaincertain spirit in her body whichcan only be removed by herhusband and since she is notmarried, he was going to do itfor her.

Consequently, he asked herto close her eyes and by the timeshe opened her eyes, the pastorhad removed his dress.

At this point, the pastorremoved a handkerchief androbbed her face which made herunconscious.

By the time she regained herconsciousness, she noticed therewas blood all over her privatepart.

The pastor, she said cleanedher and brought a knife andthreatened her never to reveal

the encounter to anyoneincluding her mother otherwisehe would kill her.

Mrs Iwuoha told the courtthat from the deliverance recordshe got from her daughter, thepastor first had canal knowledgewith her daughter on July 27,2011 and carried on the dastardact until her daughter missedher menstrual period inDecember 2011.

“When the pastor discoveredthat my daughter was pregnant,he took her to Mararaba andaborted it for her.

But it was when I found outthat my daughter wasceaselessly bleeding and that itwas no longer looking likemenstrual period that I began toask her questions”.

The police has howeverarraigned the pastor forunlawfully having canalknowledge, impregnating andaborting Mrs Iwuoha’s daughter,Favour Iwuoha and for having

sexual intercourse with oneother girl of 15 years old calledAmarachi Onuha.

The police charge stated inparts, “that you ApostlePrincewill Basil had severalunlawful canal knowledge withone Favour Iwuoha 14 years oldand Amarachi Onuha 15 yearsold who are all students andmembers of your church, inyour church office on thepretence that you are carryingout deliverance on them, andyou impregnated FavourIwuoha.

“When you discovered such,you conspired with Pauline OkohOdey and took her to Fantamihead medical center Mararabaand you falsely impersonatedyourself as her father andaborted her pregnancy withouther consent.

Chief magistrate ShuaibuAhmed however adjourned tillNovember 13 for continuationof pastor’s trial.

A refuse collector fiddling with his phone, in Garki 2, Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012PAGE 18

An orange hawker out for business, at Area 1 in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

The police have arraigneda 24-year-old man, PaulFedelis of Angwan Fulani,

Jikwoyi, Abuja, before a KaruMagistrates Court over analleged defilement of a 14-year-old girl.

Police prosecutor, GloryIheanacho said that the offencecontravenes Section 282 of thePenal Code.

Tenant, 24, defiles landlord's14-year-old daughter

"On October 2, 2012 whenRichard Goodness of AgwanFulani, Jikwoyi, went to work,Fedelis, a bakery worker and atenant in the house ofGoodness, came into his houseto meet his 14-year-olddaughter under the pretext ofcollecting rent receipt.

"Fedelis forcefully hadcarnal knowledge of the girl.

When the girl ran out of thesitting room to a neighbour'sroom with blood stains, Fedelisfollowed her," she said.

The accused pleaded notguilty, saying: "It was in theirsitting room; I only used myfingers on her before she fellasleep. When she woke up, shestarted shouting and ran outof the room.

"When she ran out, Ifollowed her to calm her down,''he said.

The Magistrate, ChristopherOba, denied the accused bail,saying: "The accused should bereminded in prison custodypending a bail application".

He adjourned the case toOctober 15, 2012 for hearing.(NAN)

Mothers in PipelineExtension, KubwaDistrict in the Federal

Capital Territory (FCT) havedecried the absence of immunizationservices in the area.

Some of the women, who spoketo Peoples Daily lamented thatimmunization that ought to cometo the area to immunize theirchildren against preventablediseases, were often not availableduring routine immunizationexercises.

According to them, they haveoften had to take their children tohospitals or out of the area beforeaccessing the immunizationservices.

A mother of four, Mrs Bose Ojo,said officials rarely come to the areato immunize her children, asituation she described asunfortunate.

“Those of us residing in this areausually carry our children to thecity centre in Kubwa, such as Phase4, PW, Phase 3 etc before we see thesehealth workers, as if we in these areanot human beings, “ she said.

Another woman, Mrs. JanetOkoro said that since she relocatedto the area in the past six months,she has never seen any of theimmunization officials in the area,adding that she normally goes to thehospital to vaccinate her children.

She pointed out that: “This is notsupposed to be so. They should begoing from houses to houses to giveout these vaccines because ourchildren need it”.

She appealed to the Area CouncilChairman in charge of Kubwa andalso the FCT minister and otherrelated agencies to come to their aidby providing them with theimmunization services to protect their children from polio and other diseases.

It would be recalled that theWorld Health Organization (WHO)recently, advised the Federal CapitalTerritory Administration (FCTA) onthe provision of immunizationservices against vaccine-preventablediseases be carried out more often torealize the desired impact of shoringup the immunity level of children inthe FCT.

WHO’s FCT State Coordinator,Pharmacist Soji Taiwo emphasizedthis at the flag off ceremony of LocalImmunization Days, noting that theimmunization coverage in theFederal Capital Territory (FCT) hasnot been very impressive in therecent times.

He explained that before theintroduction of Penta-valentvaccine, the cumulative FCT DPT3coverage was 39% in May, 2012:with 24,358 un-immunizedchildren.

According to her, the challengesto reaching every child with vaccinein FCT include funding, logistics andnon-compliance by some caregivers,poor social mobilization and weaksupport supervision, among others.

The FCT Minister of States, OloyeOlajumoke Akinjide had assuredthat about 250 health facilitieswithin all the area councils and quitea number of outreach sites will beinvolved in providing services.

Mothers decrypoorimmunizationservices in KubwaBy Adeola Tukuru

The Chairman of RoadTransport Employers’Association of Nigeria

(RTEAN) Dei-Dei Chapel 1 inBwari Area Council of theFederal Capital Territory (FCT),Mallam Mohammed Awwal, hasappealed to the FCT Minister,

Senator Bala Mohammed toreposition the trailer park in thearea to avoid accident along theAbuja-Suleja Expressway.

He said this if done wouldreduce the risk that drivers facewhen parking their vehicles.

Awwal, who made theappeal in an interview withPeoples Daily in De-Dei

emphasised that the associationwas facing the problem of apermanent motor park in thearea.

He said his administrationwould liaise with the FCTAdministration to bring all theusers of road-side motor parksto the main park.

He advised drivers in the

association to obey the trafficrules and regulations whileembarking on journey andurged them to maintain cordialrelationship with theircommuters always.

The chairman alsocommended the FCT ministerfor providing urban masstransit buses for the association.

RTEAN appeals to FCT minister to reposition trailers parkBy Usman Shuaibu

An Abuja Magistrates’Court on yesterdaysentenced Jamilu Hassan,

25, of no fixed address, to two yearsimprisonment for theft.

Magistrate Musa Jobbo, whosentenced the convict, did not givehim an option of fine.

Earlier, the Police Prosecutor,Mr Ude David, told the court that,Danladi Ude, a security guardattached to Amigo supermarket,reported the theft at the Wuse policestation on October 1, 2012.

David said that the convict andanother man, who is now at-large,

broke into Amigo supermarketthrough a window and attemptedto steal a laptop computer.

He said, during policeinvestigation, the convict admittedto have stolen three laptops andsome money in a previous burglaryin the same supermarket, for which

he was given N130,000 by hisaccomplice.

He said the offence contravenesthe provisions of Sections 79,95,287 and 348 of the Penal Code.

The convict, who pleaded guiltyto the charges, however, begged thecourt for leniency. (NAN)

Applicant burgles Amigo Supermarket in Wuse 2

A scavenger, Awali Aliyu ofBanex junction, Abuja hasbeen sentenced to three days

imprisonment by an Abuja SeniorMagistrates Court for stealing adrainage cover.

Senior Magistrate JosephineObannor, however, gave the convictan option to pay N1,000 fine.

Police prosecutor, EmmanuelAdikwu had told the court that Aliyuwas arrested on October 3, 2012 atabout 5:30 a.m. by InspectorMohammed Hussani and his team.

He said that Hussani and histeam who were manning theFarmers’ Market junction,Maitama, caught Aliyu in possession

of the cover.Adikwu told the court that Aliyu

could not give reasonableexplanation of how he came by thecover, adding that the offencecontravenes the provisions ofSection 319 (A) of the Penal Code.

The convict pleaded guilty to theallegation and begged for mercy.

“I picked the drainage cover bythe road side; I am begging the courtto forgive me as I will not commitsuch an offence again,’’ he said.

Magistrate Obannor saidalthough the convict was a firsttime offender, he must bepunished to serve as a deterrentto others. (NAN)

Scavenger bags three days imprisonment for stealing drainage cover

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012 PAGE 17

1. Young men selling engine oil in bottles, yesterday in Bwari,Abuja.

3. Two young men loading bags of cement in a wheel barrow,yesterday In Durumi, Abuja.

2. A young man carrying meat in an unhygienic way fromabattoir to Garki market, yesterday in Abuja.

4. A middle-aged woman hawking local bathing soap, yesterdayin Area 1, Garki, Abuja.

Photos: Justin Imo-owo

12

3

4

5 5. A man taking nap inside his SUV, yesterday in Area 3, Garki,Abuja.

PAGE 19PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Management Tip of the DayMake sure you’re solving the right problem

INSIDE

It may be obvious that youcan’t solve a problem that’snot well defined, but many

people neglect this detail. Nexttime you think you’re ready togo into problem-solving mode,consider the following:·Establish the basic need for asolution. Why does the problemneed solving?· Justify the

CIPM annualconference to enhance

delegate’s learningexperience – Jonathan

- Pg 20

Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk Mob: 08033644990

BBBBBUSINESSUSINESSUSINESSUSINESSUSINESS

need. Make sure it’s worth yourtime. Is the effort aligned withyour company’s strategy?What do you, your team, or thecompany stand to gain from asolution?· Give itcontext. What approaches haveyou already tried? What haveothers done? Are thereconstraints on the solution?·

Nigeria loses N99bn to gas flaring in 6 months

Gas flaring has caused thenation to lose a total ofN99 billion in monetary

terms in the last six months,according to an industry report.

According to the NigerianNational Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) in its quarterlypetroleum information bulletin,the nation flared 222.8 millionstandard cubic feet (mscf) of gas,during the period under review,which if processed and exported,would have fetched the countryabout N99 billion andminimised the health andenvironmental hazards of gasflaring.

A breakdown of the reportshowed that Chevron,ExxonMobil and Shell, accountedfor 67 percent of total gas flaredin the first six months of year2012. This is equivalent to N67billion ($424) in monetaryterms, using the currentinternational price of $2.83.

Of that, Chevron topped thelist, flaring 59.7 millionstandard cubic feet (mscf) out of130.2 mscf produced, whileExxonMobil flared 56.6 mscf, outof 212.9 million. These areequivalent to N27 billion ($169million) and N25 billion ($160million) respectively.

Leading operator, Shell,which runs Nigeria’s liquefiednatural gas (LNG) plant, flared33.9 mscf, a relatively smallpart of the 414.3 mscf itproduced. This is also equivalentto N15 billion ($96 million) ofthe N99 billion.

The remaining 73 mscf of gasflared, was accounted for byother Joint Venture Companies(33 mscf); production sharingcontract (33bscf); servicecontract companies (5 mscf),indigenous companies andmarginal fields (2 mscf).

Considering the scenariopainted above, alongside whatthe newly drafted oil bill says,“Natural gas shall not be flaredor vented after 31st December,2012, in any oil and gasproduction operation, block orfield, onshore or offshore, or gasfacility,” except underexceptional and temporarycircumstances and that “Anylicensee who flares or vents gaswithout the permission of theMinister in (special)circumstances ... shall be liableto pay a fine which shall not beless than the value of the gas.”

Experts believe that themandate given to oil firms tostop gas flaring by the end of thisyear is unrealistic.

According to OstenOlorunsola, director,

Write the problem statement.Take your answers to thequestions above and lay outthe problem. Indicate thescope, the requirements of asolution, and who will beinvolved.

Source: Harvard BusinessReview

Department of PetroleumResources (DPR), oil firmsoperating in the country areflaring 1.4 billion cubic feet perday (Bcfd) out of 8.0Bcfd. Thebreakdown shows that 5.20Bcfdof Associated Gas (AG) isproduced, and the balance of2.80Bcfd being Non AssociatedGas (NAG).

This wasted (flared) gascould comfortably have beenused to generate electricity, ifgovernment’s gas programmehad been effectively co-ordinated and executed.

“We are only utilising6.6Bcfd of the total volume ofgas, as a result of the inabilityof Nigeria to realise very early,

that gas has very high value,”he pointed out.

Though Nigeria, beingAfrica’s top oil producer, has longpledged but failed to end flaring,claimed officially that thevolume of gas flared has reduced.Nigeria comes second to Russia,in terms of volume of gas flaringworldwide.

NEPC grants N236bnto 420 exporters

He, however, said thatgovernment had to review thescheme due to series ofcomplaints received on it fromcompanies and otherstakeholders with a view toencouraging local exporters.

The NEPC boss said theimportance of EEG could not beover-emphasised in a growingeconomy like Nigeria.

“It is evident that only fewmultinational companies cansurvive exporting from Nigeriawithout government supportthrough incentives like EEG,”he said.

He said that the FederalGovernment in a bid to supportthe growth in the non-oil sectorhad put in place several exportincentives as veritable tools forproviding some compensatorybail-out for exporters.

The Nigerian ExportPromotion Council(NEPC) on Wednesday

said 420 exporters hadbenefited from the N236billion Export Expansion Grant(EEG) Scheme between 2004to date.

NEPC Executive Director,Mr David Adulugba disclosedthis to newsmen in Abuja.

Adulugba explained that“EEG is a Federal Governmentinitiative aimed at encouragingexporters, especially those thatadd value to their products.”

“The grant ranges from 5 percent to 30 per cent of the Freeon Board (FOB) value of theitem exported, depending on thedegree of processing the itemwent through in Nigeriabefore exportation.

“The EEG scheme isprocessed in Nigerian ExportPromoting Council (NEPC) andadministered in conjunctionwith the ImplementationCommittee inaugurated by thegovernment.

“The grant is issued in formof a Negotiable Duty CreditCertificate (NDCC). This is soldas a discounted instrument toan importer who then uses it topay their import duties,”Adulugba said.

FG to ban export of charcoaltechnical committee was set upin April to review the currentEEG product categorizationfollowing complaints receivedfrom beneficiary companies andother stakeholders.

This was with a view tocorrectly situate each productgroup in the appropriatecategory in line with global bestpractices.

The committee believed thatif urgent measure was not takenagainst deforestation, thecountry will suffer itsenvironment consequences.

It therefore recommendedthat the three tiers ofgovernment should be advised toembark on aggressiveaforestation programme.

The Federal Government hasproposed to prohibitexportation of charcoal.

The Assistant Comptroller-General of Nigerian CustomsService (NSC), Gabriel Aliu stated in Abuja on Wednesdaywhile presenting the report ofthe technical committee onproduct adjustment ofcategorization on ExportExpansion Grant (EEG) scheme.

Aliu who is the chairman ofthe committee presented thereport to the Executive Director,Nigerian Export PromotionCouncil (NEPC), DavidAdulugba.

It would be recalled that a

“We are not saying thecharcoal export should beprohibited alone but felling of thetrees for the this purpose.”

The chairman of thecommittee said the current EEGproduct categorization wasadjusted to encourage non-oilproducts exportation, adding thatthis will also increase non oilrevenues accrued to the country.

He believed that if therecommendation was effectivelyimplemented, it would give morestrength to the nation’s currencyas well as provision of jobs for thepopulace.

“We will have more foreigncurrency and the naira will bestronger, not only that there willbe more employment for the peoplebecause if you expand your factoryyou will employ more people”.

He explained that thecategorization of the products whichwas in three bands before has beenrecategorised into four.

He said the new categoryincluded category ‘A1’ comprised ofmanufacturing products; category‘A2’made up of semi-manufacturedproducts; category ‘B’ made up ofprocessed/intermediate productsand category ‘C’ made up ofprimary products/agriculturaland mineral products.

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

L-R: Director Banking and Payment System Department of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. OluAdaramewa, Director of Communications, CBN, Mr Ogochukwu Okorafor, Deputy Manager, Bankingand Payment Department, CBN and representative of CBN Governor, Mr. Tunde Lemo, during theopening ceremony of an investigative hearing on the involvement of the Federal Government,Shell/Agip Companies and Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in respect of oil bloc, yesterday at theNational Assembly, in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

By Muhammad Nasir with agencyreport

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

PAGE 20 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Etisalat

Etisalat Nigeria hasannounced the biggestairtime offer yet of a monthly

N1 billion free credits for hercustomers as the ambitious telcomoves to consolidate its marketshare and chalked up moresubscribers.

The offer is to commemorateher fourth anniversary andcelebrate the loyalty of her 14million strong subscribers.

The 9ja free credit promoinitially launched last year as theSim registration campaign has sinceevolved into a reward platformwith airtime, devices and cash fortheir loyalty to the network.

VodacomBusiness

Telecommunicationssolution provider,Vodacom Business Nigeria,

has partnered with Rack CentreAfrica, a data centre serviceprovider, to provide a neutraldata facility in the Nigerianmarket.

Rack Center Africa willprovide Vodacom BusinessNigeria with carrier neutral datacenter infrastructure enablingthe first premium collocationfacilities in Nigeria.TheTier3colocation data center,according to Vodacom Businesswill have a fully redundantsystem, provide 99.995 per centuptime and 96 hours PowerOutage Protection.

Rack Centre Africa is a part ofthe Jagal Group, a leadingNigerian conglomerate withoperations across a number ofdifferent industries.

First Bank

Nine stocks, includingFirst Bank Nigeria Plc,Nestle Nigeria Plc, Access

Bank Plc and Union Bank Plc, arescheduled to join the NigerianStock Exchange (NSE) marketmaking initiative today.

Others are Academy Press;Custodian & AlliedInsurance; Dangote Sugar Plc;NASCON and AIICO InsurancePlc.

The development hasincreased to 25 the number offirms in NSE’s market makingprogramme.

The initiative commencedSeptember 18, 2012, with 16stocks- PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc;Nigerian Bag ManufacturingCompany Plc; Presco Plc;International Breweries; LafargeWapco and Fidson Healthcare Plc.

NIMASA

The Nigerian MaritimeAdministration andSafety Agency (NIMASA)

has unsealed Integrated Oil andGas petroleum products tankfacility whose operations weresuspended by the agency lastweek due to its alleged involvement in a cartel thathijacked vessels and stealing ofpetroleum products along thecountry’s coastal waters.

COMPANYNEWS

NNPC unveils Africa’s biggest publicsector system application product

A major milestone in thedrive to transform theNigerian National

Petroleum Corporation, NNPC,into a first grade national oilcompany was attained onWednesday with the official cut-over (launch) to the SystemApplication Products also knownas SAP, to effectively launch theCorporation into the league ofmajor globalcompanies that runthe SAP business solution.

The Solution which came onlive after rigorous useracceptance tests, internal andexternal quality assurancereviews is designed to help the

Corporation standardize andstreamline its systems andprocesses in line with global bestpractices.

Speaking at the occasion, theGroup Managing Director of theNNPC Engr. Andrew Yakubuexplained that after test-runningthe SAP in parallel with theexisting SUN System for over 14months, the Management isconvinced that the Solution willhelp the Corporation achieve aseamless integration of its

processes and systems.“In addition, the philosophy

of the SAP solution compels theadoption of a centralprocurement organization toenable seamless Process-to-Pay,engender transparency, drivevalue for money and processefficiency,’’ the GMD said

To midwife this process, Engr.Yakubu announced theformation of a supply chainorganization for the NNPCCorporate Headquarters on a

pilot basis. He also stated thatprocurement of goods andservices in all NNPC StrategicBusiness Units and CorporateService Units must be routedthrough the Supply ChainOrganization.

Engr. Yakubu called on staffmembers to brace up for theminor teething problems whichare expected in majortechnology initiative of thismagnitude.

Aptly described by SAPAfrica, representatives of thePatent owners in Africa, as thebiggest public sector SAPdeployment in the continent, thesystem will also help NNPCaccess information real time,maintain a single data source,facilitate integration andcollaboration across operatingcompanies, compare and analyzedetailed financial performanceacross the organization, achievevisibility of hydrocarbon valuechain, seamless reporting withinternational oil companies, skilldevelopment of NNPC amongother benefits.

The Cut-Over to SAP eventwhich also coincided with the 100days in office of the current NNPCManagement provided anopportunity for the Corporationto take stock of some remarkablemilestones within the period.

President Goodluck EbeleJonathan yesterday commended the

Chartered Institute ofPersonnel Management ofNigeria (CIPM) for staying trueto its mandate as the apexregulatory body for the practiceof human resourcesmanagement in Nigeria.

The President statedyesterday while declaring openthe 44th annual nationalconference of the institute whichheld at the InternationalConference Centre, Abuja.

The President, who wasrepresented by the Head of theCivil Service of the Federation,Alh. Sali Usman, said hisadministration ‘considers theinstitute and indeed other similarprofessional’s bodies as the FG’sstrategic partners whose inputs

into the Transformation Agendais not only essential but alsocritical’.

“Coming a few days after ournation’s 52nd IndependenceAnniversary, this year’sconference with the theme:‘Restoration of Values forNational Development’, affordsus another opportunity to espouseour vision for our country and togain seek and buy-in of allstakeholders without whichsuccess cannot be guaranteed.

President Jonathan, inaddition, approval was given tothe Tertiary Education TrustFund (TETFUND) to disburseN5m each to some deservingprofessional bodies as assistanceand intervention to producequality professional journals foruse in tertiary institutions. Intoday’s knowledge-driveneconomy, government at alllevels cannot but partner with

strategic institutes like CIPM.In his welcome address, the

president/ chairman of the NIPMcouncil, Mr. Abiola Popoola said,“Contrary to the high hopes thatheralded our attainment ofindependence some 52 years ago,the dismal poor rate of ourdevelopment remains a cause forgrave concern for professionalsand other stakeholders alike.

“However, rather thandespair and relapse to theunproductive mode of ‘country-bashing and self-pity’, we areseizing the gauntlet by focusingon this serious challenge ofdecadence in our value systemat this annual conference with aview tp engaging in progressivediscuss towards identification ofpragmatic ways forward”, hestated.

The conference is billed to holdfrom October 3rd to Friday 5th,2012.

CIPM annual conference to enhancedelegate’s learning experience – Jonathan

. . .as Yakubu raises red flag on renewedkidnap, harassment of staff members

By Muhammad Nasir

President/chairman of Nigerian Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM), Mr. Abiola Popoola, Dr.Christopher Kolade and Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Bishop Mattew Kukah at the second dayof the 44th annunal conference of NIPM yesterday.

By Aminu Imam

Bonds trade belowinflation rate

Yields on FederalGovernment bonds have come down below

inflation rates , putting pressureon real return on investment government securities.

Investigation shows that10.50 % Federal Governmentbond due for maturity inNovember 2013 traded at ayield of 11.12 % while 3 year10.50 FGN bond closed at theyield of 11.55 %. The 10.75percent 7 year bond traded at ayield of 11.60 %.

With August inflation at11,70 %, investors in these bondsare in for negative return oninvestment.

However, investors mayhave to shift interest in 9.35% FGN August 20 17 bondwhich attracted yield of 13.48% and 16 % FGN June 2019 bondwith yield of 13.04 %. The 4percent 5 year FGN April 20115bond and the 9.35 % FGNAugust bond with 13.48 % arealso attractive being well aboveinflation.

The decline in yields in thebond market is partly due to increased foreign investment inbond which have put pressureon the fixed income market withexpectation by dealers that bondyield may reach single digitlevel early next year.

PAGE 22 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Post-privatisation: Reps cmttee tasksSheraton hotel on post acquisition planBy Abdulwahab Isa

The Chairperson,House Committee onCommercialisation

and Privatisation,Hajiya Khadijat Bukar-Ibrahim taskedManagement of AbujaSheraton Hotel and Towersto liaise with the Bureau ofPublic Enterprises(BPE) for a revised PostAcquisition Plan (PAP)with timelines whichwould enable the hotelmeet with its covenants.

A statement issued byBPE Head, PublicC o m m u n i c a t i o n s ,Chukuma Nwokoh quotedHajiya Bukar as sayingwhile leading members ofthe committee on its 2ndleg of enterprise visits in thecountry, said that thereview had becomeinevitable as result ofchanges in governmentpolicies which haveimpeded the successfulexecution of the covenantsby the investor.

She directed that thereview should begin from2010 to 2017 so that theinvestor could re-strategise to tackle the

challenges inimplementing thecovenants.

Hadjia Ibrahim statedthat the committee wasnot out to witch-hunt butdetermined to accelerateeconomic growth inNigeria through itsoversight duties.

The General Manger ofthe hotel, Robert Itawa,told the lawmakers thatsince take over, theManagement had put inplace innovations to meetthe Sheraton world-widestandards. He added thata team of experts fromSheraton Internationalwas already on ground toredesign the hotel to giveit good aesthetics.

“As part of our effort toremodel the hotel tointernational standards,we have ordered 2,000chairs, 240 sets of plasmaTV and swift sleeper beds.We are also redesigningthe rooms and we havetimelines to achievethese”, he said.

The General Managersaid in the postprivatisation period, theinvestor had paid N391.7million taxes to

government as against theN33.5million pre-privatisation.

Itawa called forconsistency ingovernment policies tomove the hospitalitybusiness forward in thecountry, sayingmultiplicity of taxes byMinistries, Departmentsand Agencies (MDAs) wasa major challenge.

Earlier, the ActingDirector in charge of PostPrivatisation Monitoring(PPM) from the BPE,Malam Sanusi Sule, hadtold the lawmakers thatthe compliance level of theinvestor to the PAP waspoor.

He said the coreinvestor had proposed itsPost Acquisition Plan(PAP) in three phases ontakeover in 2002 tocommence from the thirdquarter of 2003 to June2006.

Sule said though thefive year lock-in period hadlapsed, the Bureau wouldcontinue to monitor theenterprise to ensurecomplete implementationof the Share PurchaseAgreement (SPA).

Following the on-goingreshuffle in thevarious parastatals of

the Aviation ministry bythe Federal government,the Federal AirportsAuthority of Nigeria(FAAN) is now having ninedirectorates. This is aimedat fine-tuning the sector tobe more proactive andresult-oriented.

In a statement releasedby FAAN revealed anestablishment of three newDirctorates, which are:Legal Services, Projects andCargo Developmentdirectorates, with aliquidation of the erstwhiledirectorate of Environmentinto a department theDirectorate of AirportOperations.

With this newdevelopment, FAAN is nowhaving the followingdirectorates: AirportOperation under Mr. HenryOmeogu, Human Resourceand Administration withHajiya Salamatu Umar-Uluma as the Head, Legaland Services under Mr.Mark Jacobs and Projectsdirectorate to be headed bySaleh Dunoma.

The rest includeMaintenance andEngineering under OlufemiOgunode, Security Servicesunder Wendell Ogunedo,Commercial and BusinessDevelopment to be headedby Dr. Adeniyi Balogun,the new CargoDevelopment directorate is

headed by Mr. Uche Ofulueand Finance and Accountswith Mr. Austin Tadafera asthe Head.

Moreover, the PublicAffairs Department of theagency has now been splitinto two separatedepartments: CorporateCommunications andProtocol and Passages, withMr. Yakubu Datti, as theGeneral Manager,C o r p o r a t eCommunications, while theformer General Manager,

Public Affairs, Mr. AkinOlukunle, is now theGeneral Manager ofProtocol and Passages.

Managing Director ofFAAN, Mr. George Uriesi,while reacting to thechanges, said: “The newstructure of theorganisation reflects amodern airport company’sadministrative structureand focuses theorganisation properly onexecuting its strategicobjectives.”

FAAN gets additional three directorates, now has nineBy Ibrahim Kabiru Sule

Bharti Airtel appointEzekwesili as board member

Nigeria’s FormerWorld Bank VicePresident for Africa

and an expert on economicreforms and economicgovernance, ObiageliKatryn Ezekwesili joins theBharti Airtel board.

The new board memberhas a strong track record inthe transparency,accountability, goodgovernance, and anti-corruption movementworldwide, having been oneof the co-founders ofTransparency Internationaland served as one of thepioneer Directors of theglobal anti-corruption bodybased in Berlin, Germany.

Her appointment intothe mobile operator’s boardis part of a long-termrestructuring programmethat would culminate in an

Initial Public Offering (IPO)of Bharti , which is a leadingprovider of passive telecominfrastructure in the Indiansub-continent.

A statement signed byEmeka Oparah,communications director,Airtel Nigeria and madeavailable to PeoplesDailyNewspaper glowinglyeulogized Ezekwesili’sappointment.

It will be recalled that asthe vice President of theWorld Bank in charge of theAfrica region, Ezekwesiliwas responsible foroperations in 48 countries inSub-Saharan Africa andsupervised a lendingportfolio of over $40 billion.

She previously served asdirector of the Harvard-Nigeria Economic StrategyProgramme in Boston,Massachusetts, UnitedStates and Abuja, Nigeria.

By Chris Alu

PAGE 24 PAGE 25PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Nigeria’s Marikanamoment (yet another one)

South Africa President, Jacob Zuma

Another month, another massacre in Nigeria. The violence in Africa’s othersuperpower makes Marikana look tame in comparison, and the Nigeriangovernment’s response has been similarly lacklustre. With both South Africa andNigeria competing for continental pre-eminence and international recognition,the two countries need to find a way to stem the tide of violence, and quickly.

Forty s ix . That ’s anumber that shouldbe engraved on the

already-scarred hearts of allSouth Africans after a coldMarikana winter turnedinto a bleak, bitter spring.When al l the corpses arecounted together, that ’swhat it comes to: the minerskil led in self-defence, thewildcat strikers massacredby pol ice , the pol icemenki l led by angry unionistsand the ANC councilwomancaught in a crossf ire ofrubber bul lets . I t is ,commentators agree, thebiggest failure of our publicorder s ince the end ofApartheid and a chi l l ing,fr ightening insight intowhat the state has becomeand who it exists for.

South Afr icans areright ly concerned, andpessimistic about what ourfuture holds. But it could beworse. It could be so muchworse. It could be Nigeria.

Far north of our borders,the continent’s other majorsuperpower - the one threatto our dominance of theAfrican Union and our claimto a permanent seat on theUnited Nations SecurityCounci l , the one countrywhose industr iouspopulat ion and stunninggrowth chal lenges oureconomic supremacy - isalso deal ing with thenumber 46.

Again, the number is abody count. “It was a blackIndependence Daycelebrat ion for theinhabitants of Mubi town,Adamawa State , asunknown gunmen,suspected to be members ofBoko Haram, massacred atleast 46 persons, most lystudents of three tert iaryinstitutions in the town, onMonday night .” Thus ranthe report in Nigeria ’s

widely-respected ThisDaynewspaper. IndependenceDay - Nigeria’s 52nd - wasMonday.

Off ic ials c laim thedeath toll was much lower,“only” 25, and suggest theinvolvement of theIslamist mil i tant groupwas unl ikely in thisinstance. “Boko Haramopen f ire sporadical ly ,”said Adamawa State Policespokesperson IbrahimMuhammad. “In this case,the attackers called theirvictims by name and leftother people in the roomalone. This is not themodus operandi of BokoHaram. It is the work ofinsiders.” Another officialblamed the massacre onstudent politics gone very,very wrong, after a heatedcampus election. This isnot improbable in Nigeria,where some col legefraternit ies havedeveloped into armedgangs.

Over the next fewweeks, a confirmed deathtol l wi l l emerge and wemight have a bit moreclari ty on who wasresponsible. But, in starkcontrast to South Africa,there is unlikely to be a

commission of inquiry, oreven much of a publ icoutcry. Nigerians are jadedafter years of massacres andattacks on this level.

“While the families of thevictims try to come to termswith this brutal murder oftheir beloved innocentchi ldren, they may getscant comfort from theexpected vacuouscondemnation from officialsof government at all levelswhich is the tradit ionalresponse to the seeminglylong serial (sic) of mindlesski l l ings of innocentNigerians in recent time,”wrote Vanguardnewspaper.

Here are just a few

samples: 25 killed last weekin an army operat ionagainst Boko Harammilitants; 40 killed in Aprilwhen ThisDay’s Abujaoffices were bombed; 180killed in January in a seriesof coordinated attacks onchurches and securityforces by Boko Haram;another 40 ki l led onChristmas Day last year inan attack on Cathol icchurches; 37 ki l led in anexplosion at the UnitedNations Abuja offices. Thelist goes on and on, eachincident i ts own l i t t leMarikana; taken together,it becomes clear that theproblem is far more serious.

Boko Haram is of courseat the heart of much of theviolence. In January,Human Rights Watchest imated the Is lamistgroup was responsible forthe deaths of nearly 1,000people since 2009. But itisn’t solely at fault, as themost recent incidentdemonstrates. The effectivebreak-down in the rule oflaw over much of thecountry means that aculture of violence has beenallowed to take root, andthere ’s l i t t le thegovernment has been ableto do about it, despite theirprotestat ions to thecontrary .

“Fel low Nigerians, inrecent t imes, we havewitnessed serious securitychallenges in parts of ourcountry. We have takenpro-act ive measures tocheck the menace,” saidPresident GoodluckJonathan in hisIndependence Day addressto the nation. “Our securityagencies are constantlybeing strengthened andreposit ioned for greaterefficiency. Many Nigerianshave acknowledged thatthere has been a significantdecl ine in the spate ofsecurity breaches.” Justhours later , 46 studentswere dead, making thepresident look more than al i t t le out of touch withreal i ty (a look he shareswith our own leader.

In fact , hisadministration is helplessto stem the violence. “Wehave a serious problem inNigeria and there is nosense that the governmenthas a real grip,” a seniorofficial close to thegovernment told theGuardian on condition ofanonymity, shortly beforethe muted IndependenceDay celebrations. “Thesituation is not remotelyunder control. It is just amatter of time before we seemore large-scale attacks

that pose a significantthreat to national security,and now Nigeria’s economicgrowth is also at risk.”

Despite the frighteningheadlines, it is important toremember that l i fe inNigeria goes on. Just like it’sa mistake to define SouthAfrica by Marikana alone(as so much of theinternational media hasdone), so it’s mistake to letthe violence define Nigeria.Most of the 162-mill ion-strong population has notbeen affected by theviolence, after all, and thecountry remains anexciting economic prospectwith lots going for it. Thingscan’t be too bad if SouthAfrican companies l ikeMultiChoice, MTN andShoprite continue to operatein (and take huge profitsfrom) the Nigerian market.

Sti l l , these aredisturbing times in both ofAfrica’s superpowers, sooften in competition witheach other. How eachcountry confronts its uniqueproblems could welldetermine who dominatesthe continent in the long-term.

The Daily Maverick isbased in Johannesburg,South Africa, and can be readon dailymaverick.co.za.

“In this case, the attackerscalled their victims by nameand left other people in theroom alone. This is not themodus operandi of BokoHaram. It is the work of

insidersPresident Goodluck Jonathan

PAGE 26 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Death: Whatever time is timely (I)Allah says: “O mankind! if

ye have a doubt about theResurrection, (consider)

that we created you out of dust,then out of sperm, then out of aleech-like clot, then out of a morselof flesh, partly formed and partlyunformed, In order that we mayManifest (Our power) to you; andwe cause whom we will to rest Inthe wombs for an appointed term,then do we bring you out As babes,then (foster you) that ye may reachyour age of full strength; and someof you are called to die, and someare sent back to the feeblest oldage, so that They know nothingafter having known (much), and(further), Thou seest the earthbarren and lifeless, but when wepour down rain on it, it is stirred(to life), it swells, and it puts forthevery kind of beautiful growth (inpairs).” [al-Hajj: 5]

In the name of Allah, theBeneficent, the Merciful. AllPraise is due to Allah! We praiseHim and we seek help from Him.We ask forgiveness from Him. Werepent to Him; and we seekrefuge in Him from our evils andbad deeds. Anyone who is guidedby Allah, is indeed guided; andanyone who has been left astray,will find no one to guide him. Ibear witness that there is no deityworthy of worship but Allah, theOnly One without any partner;and I bear witness thatMuhammad is His servant andfinal messenger to mankind. Maythe peace and blessing of Allah beupon His last and final Apostle,his Household, his companionsand all his followers until the endof time.

No believer, sincere, fake, ordoubtful, in any religion that hasan iota of originality, who does

ISLAMISLAMISLAMISLAMISLAMEXPLAINEDEXPLAINEDEXPLAINEDEXPLAINEDEXPLAINED

By Husain ZakariyyaYawale

+234-8052952900 (sms only)islamexplained35@yahoo.com

not believe in the Lordship ofAllah on all creations, as well theexclusive control of theirownership, command andcontrol. In fact the Qur'an told usthat Arabpagans andp o l y t h e i s t sbelieved in thecreation of theheaven andearth, as welltheir ownershipto be exclusiverights andfranchise ofAllah (SWT)!Allah says:

“If indeed Thou ask them whohas created the heavens and theearth and subjected the sun andthe moon (to His law), They willcertainly reply, "(Allah)". How areThey then deluded away (from thetruth)?” [al-Ankabut: 61]

Allah, indeed is the originalCrafter and Controller ofeverything, from the smallestfragment of an atom to the mostgigantic heavily bodies of thegalaxies; those known to man orany other creation or thoseundiscovered or ever to beimagined. He is the Founder andOwner of everything, high orlow, other than His Being orAttributes. Any propositions byany mind's eye as to the natureand outlook appearance of Allah,will remain deficient andinconclusive because ourthoughts are incompetent ofcomprehending Him. Allah hasmade our nature with impairedand limited capability toundertake certain tasks andcalls; one of them is how to avoiddeath from occurring.

However, every sensible

human being is at least aware ofthe inevitability of death, even ifhe does in it and the life after it.In Islam especially, it iscompulsory upon every Muslim

to believe in the eventuality ofdeath as true and unavoidableevent signifying all creationsincluding the Angels! In fact willescape death, even the deathitself. This is part and parcel ofthe Muslims' doctrines. It wasnarrated that when Allah whenAllah revealed this verses:

“Every soul shall have a tasteof death: and only on the Day ofJudgment shall you be paid yourfull recompense. only He who issaved far from the Fire andadmitted to the Garden will haveattained the object (of Life): for thelife of This world is but goods andchattels of deception.” [al-Imran:185]

And: “Every soul shall have ataste of death In the end to us shallye be brought back.” [ al-Ankabut: 57]

The Angels bowed down inadoration and praised of Allah onthe ground that they will not diefor they are not souls as in thecase of human beings. Then Hesent another verse specifically tothe dwellers of the planets bellowHis Majestic Throne, thus: “All

that is on earth will perish.” [ar-Rahman: 26]

They all celebrated the namesand the Attributes of Allah,thanked Him and said, 'we are

not dwellers of theearth andplanets, so we willendure death. ButAllah finally sentrevealed thefollowing verse,they all cried intotal praise andsubmission to thesupremacy ofAllah, subhanu wata'ala!

“But will abide (for ever) theface of Thy Lord,- full of Majesty,bounty and honour.” [ar-Rahman:26-27]

The entire Angels, on hearingthis revelation, cried loudly insupplication to the interminableglory and existence of Allah Whois without beginning or ending!

Thus, when the timeappointed by Allah alone of anyof His creation, individually oren masse, death will overcomethem without a second delay. Andon the Day of Judgement, at theconclusion of all judgements,Allah will command the death,in front of all creations to take itslife, so that there will never bedeath again in the life beyond!Allah at that moment willannounce to hearing of allcreations: “O the mates of heaven,live forever therein! And o inmatesof hell-fire, live therein forever!”

Allah, in order that no onewill blame Him taking his or lifeat any moment of his or her life,He gave several notices andreminders, as well as sent clearadmonishes, directly and

indirectly. This, is intended tomake us alert and ready to expectthe occurrence of death toanyone that has time has expiredregardless of age, gender or socialstatus.

“Nor can a soul die except byAllah's leave, the term being fixedAs by writing. if any do desire areward In This life, we shall give itto him; and if any do desire areward In the Hereafter, we shallgive it to Him. and swiftly shall wereward those that (serve us with)gratitude.” [al-Imaran: 145]

This write-up intends toremind and educate my teamingreaders on the inevitability andthe rightness of time of everydeath that paid an anticipated orawaited visit due to the conditionof the dying person. No one diesand any type of circumstancesbut at the right appointed time.Allah says:

“Say: ‘The angel of death, putin charge of you, will (duly) takeyour souls: then shall ye be broughtback to your Lord.’” [as-Sajdah:11]

Hence, age, gender or socialstatus can prevent, delay orrepulse death when its timecomes. It does not matter whereyou are, what you are doing orwhatever condition you are thatcan deny death access or stop itfrom perfuming its statuaryassignment. Allah says:

“Wherever ye are, death willfind you out, Even if ye are Intowers built up strong and high!" ifsome good befalls them, They say,‘This is from Allah.’ but if evil, Theysay, ‘This is from thee’ (OhProphet). say: ‘All things are fromAllah.’ but what hath come to thesepeople, that They fail to understanda single fact?” [an-Nisa'i: 78]

He says again: “And Allah didcreate you from dust; then from asperm-drop; then He made you Inpairs. and no female conceives, orlays down (her load), but with Hisknowledge. nor is a man long-livedgranted length of days, nor is a partcut off from His life, but is In aDecree (ordained). all This is easyto Allah.” [al-Fatir: 11]

This ayah serves us anotherimpressive admonishing that lifeof every creation comprises ofstages and phases, starting fromalmost nonbeing to corporeal,and then to oblivion; completestupefaction, never to be seen inthe world again! Thus, to bereminded of your past, means toprepare you for the future. So alsois when you are reminded of yourbeginning, entails to reprove youof your predestined demise!

The next ayah testifies to this,Allah says:

“How can ye reject the FaithIn Allah.- seeing that ye werewithout life, and He gave you life;then will He cause you to die, andwill again bring you to life; andagain to Him will ye return.” [al-Baqarah: 28]A faithful died while prostrating in Salah at Ka’abah, Saudia Arabia.

PAGE 30 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Nigeria president to revisitCameroon Bakassi disputeNigeria's President Goodluck

Jonathan on Thursdayordered a review of an

international ruling that handedthe oil-rich Bakassi peninsula toits neighbour Cameroon a decadeago.

His decision came a week after

Men of a militant group in the area, Bakassi Self Determination Front

Sudan’s deal with South will not end conflict - oppositionSudan and South Sudan will

remain locked in conflictdespite reaching a border

security deal last week because theydo not trust each other enough toresolve their biggest disputes, leadingSudanese opposition figure Hassan al-Turabi said.

The two African countries havebeen wrangling over contested areasalong the border and other issuessince breaking apart last year undera peace deal that ended decades ofcivil war.

Under pressure from the UnitedNations and African Union, the twoagreed last Thursday to set up ademilitarized border zone andresume oil exports from thelandlocked South after Juba shutthem down in a row with Khartoumover transit fees.

But the deal failed to resolveproblems like where to draw the finalborder, what to do with the disputedAbyei area and how to end rebellionsin two Sudanese border states which

Khartoum says Juba is backing,Turabi said.

"If we conclude a marriage wehave to see to it that the bride and thegroom trust each other ... There is notrust, and then serious problems arenot settled," he said.

"They wanted to please the worldonly, because they are underpressure, and they can't stand thepressure from inside and the pressurefrom outside."

Turabi, one of Sudan's mostinfluential politicians throughoutthe 1990s, dismissed the suggestionthe deal was a boost to thegovernment of President OmarHassan al-Bashir, which has facedsmall protests over rising prices.

The government scaled backcostly fuel subsidies in June to helpplug a budget gap left when SouthSudan took three-quarters of thecountry's oil output atindependence, stoking alreadydouble-digit inflation.

A n t i - g o v e r n m e n t

demonstrations erupted acrossSudan when the spending cuts wereannounced, but petered out after asecurity crackdown and the start ofthe Muslim fasting month of

Desmond Tutuawarded $1mMo Ibrahimprice

Veteran peace campaignerArchbishop DesmondTutu has been awarded

$1m (£620,000) by the MoIbrahim Foundation for"speaking truth to power".

The London-basedFoundation called the cleric "oneof Africa's great voices for justice,freedom, democracy andresponsible, responsivegovernment".

He won the Nobel Peace Prizein 1984 for his campaign againstapartheid.

The foundation also offers anannual $5m prize to a formerAfrican head of state for goodgovernance.

The most recent recipient ofthat award was Cape Verde'sformer President Pedro VeronaRodrigues Pires in 2011.

Winners must have beendemocratically elected andagreed to leave office.

In some years the prize hasnot been awarded because no-one has been deemed a worthyenough winner.

Archbishop Tutu, who will be81 on Sunday, remainsoutspoken on internationalaffairs.

The South African cleric hasbeen a fierce critic of Israel'streatment of the Palestinians aswell as China's treatment ofTibetans.

In August, he pulled out of aleadership summit inJohannesburg because herefused to share a platform withformer UK Prime Minister TonyBlair.

Archbishop Tutu said MrBlair and former US PresidentGeorge W Bush should be triedat the International CriminalCourt in The Hague for lyingabout Iraq's weapons of massdestruction in order to justifyinvading the country.

Mr Blair issued a stronglyworded defence of his decisions,rejecting the archbishop'sallegations as "completely wrongas every single independentanalysis of the evidence hasshown".

Nigeria's Senate called on him toappeal the 2002 ruling made bythe International Court of Justicethat Bakassi belonged toCameroon. The appeal periodexpires in a few days, thestatement from the presidencysaid.

Nigeria finally gave upBakassi in 2008, after years ofpolitical disputes, legal skirmishesand violence that killed dozens ofpeople.

"The president has set up acommittee to look at the option ofreviewing the ruling," the

Libyan protesters storm congress over government line-upwould look at experience. Zawiyahproposed candidates for oil minister,but he's brought in someone who isnot well known."

Abushagur's line-up includesmany unknown names, includingthat of proposed oil minister,Mabrouk Issa Abu Harroura.

The line-up is said to includeseveral members of the political armof the Muslim Brotherhood. Thereare no candidates from the liberalNational Forces Alliance, Ibrahim al-Gharyani, head of the liberalcoalition in congress said.

Libya"s Prime Minister MustafaAbu Shagour

Ramadan.Turabi said he expected more

protests. "It was a good experimentfor us ... and the next time we do it,we want it to be continuous," he said.

Desmond Tutu

statement said, adding that thishad been concluded after talkswith Vice President NamidiSambo and Senate PresidentDavid Mark.

Nigeria has dozens ofcommittees, which often to do notlead to significant action.

Senators had argued that thejudgment was unfairly based onan agreement between the Britishand local chiefs in 1881, and itshould therefore be subjected to areferendum monitored by theUnited Nations.

The two African countries,which nearly went to war overBakassi on several occasions,seemed to have put the issuebehind them of late, and had evenagreed to work together to explorefor oil in the region.

Around 90 percent of thepopulation of the peninsula,estimated at 200,000 to300,000, regard themselves asNigerian fishermen and theirfamilies who do not want to beCameroonians.

A movement called the BakassiSelf-Determination Front inAugust declared independencefrom Cameroon, hoisting a flagand setting up an FM radiostation. It is not clear how big themovement is or what it is capableof.

Opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi of the Popular CongressParty (PCP)

for his transitional government.Abushagur nominated his cabineton Wednesday for approval by thenational congress, presenting a line-up that excluded the leading liberalcoalition.

"After we heard the list,everyone in Zawiyah was angry.Some even began protesting inZawiyah's main square last night,"said Nuri Shambi, who travelled the50 kms (30 miles) from Zawiyah tothe capital Tripoli to voice his anger.

"Abushagur said he would forma coalition government, that he

Protesters stormed theheadquarters of Libya'snational congress on

Thursday angry about the newprime minister's proposedgovernment line-up, saying it wasnot fully representative of the NorthAfrican country.

Between 100 and 150demonstrators from the westerntown of Zawiyah walked into themain room where congress meets,forcing the cancellation of a specialsession to study Prime Minister-electMustafa Abushagur's nominations

PAGE 31 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Turkey strikes back at SyriaTurkey stepped up

retaliatory artillerystrikes on a Syrian border

town on Thursday, killing severalSyrian soldiers, while itsparliament debated authorizingfurther military action in theevent of another spillover of theSyrian conflict.

Syria's staunch ally Russia saidit had received assurances fromDamascus that the mortar strikehad been a tragic accident andwould not happen again andSyria's Information Ministerconveyed his condolences to theTurkish people.

But Turkey's government said"aggressive action" against itsterritory by Syria's military hadbecome a serious threat to itsnational security and soughtparliamentary approval for thedeployment of Turkish troopsbeyond its borders.

"Turkey has no interest in a warwith Syria. But Turkey is capableof protecting its borders and willretaliate when necessary,"Ibrahim Kalin, a senior adviser toPrime Minister Tayyip Erdogan,said on his Twitter account.

"Political, diplomatic initiativeswill continue," he said.

In the most serious cross-borderescalation of the 18-month uprisingin Syria, Turkey hit back afterwhat it called "the last straw" whenthe mortar hit Akcakale, killing amother, her three children and afemale relative.

The Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said several Syriansoldiers were killed in the Turkishbombardment of a military postnear the Syrian town of Tel Abyad,a few miles across the frontier fromAkcakale. It did not say how manysoldiers died.

"We know that they havesuffered losses," a Turkish securitysource told Reuters, without giving

Europe andAmericas

Eight held in USover ‘Russianhi-techsmugglingplot’

Police officer search a Syrian as he tries to gain access into Turkey

Police ‘foil plot to bomb Spain’s Balearic university’

Police displayed the ingredients seized

Spanish police have arresteda 21-year-old man in Palmade Mallorca on suspicion of

plotting to bomb the University of theBalearic Islands.

The suspect was seized as hereceived 140kg (310lb) of ingredientsfor explosives, apparently to be usedfor a Columbine-style massacre, policesaid.

He reportedly kept a diary wherehe wrote about hating society and thathe was ready to die in his attack.

The suspect is believed to havebeen planning to plant pipe bombs oncampus.

He was identified only by hisinitials, JMMS.

Montserrat Casas, the rector of UIB,as the university is known, said shewas relieved that a tragedy had beenavoided thanks to police action.

There was no evidence, she said,

Boxes of files being removedfrom Mr Fishenko's company inHouston

that the detainee had ever studied atUIB or had had any other connectionto it, nor had the university everreceived any threatening letters.

Police began investigating fivemonths ago after finding commentsonline about the Columbine HighSchool massacre in the US, when twoformer pupils murdered 12 studentsand a teacher.

The suspect expressed sympathyfor the killers, teenagers Eric Harrisand Dylan Klebold, Spanish policesaid.

"In his blog he included sections inwhich he spoke about having identicaltastes in music, a liking of weapons,clothing and even the social isolationwhich led him to be marginalised inschool," a police statement said.

"In his personal diary and otherdocuments seized at his home, thedetainee showed his hatred of society,

especially university students, and hisdecision to strategically placeshrapnel-filled pipe bombs in the

Eight people have beenarrested in Houston, Texas,on charges of illegally

exporting hi-tech components toRussian security bodies.

Alexander Fishenko, who ownscompanies in Texas and Moscow,was charged with operating in theUS as an unregistered agent of theRussian government.

The indictment names 11suspects, all of whom are due incourt in Houston except for threewho are in Russia.

There was no immediatecomment on the charges from thosedetained.

However, a Russian foreignministry spokesman, SergeiRyabkov, quoted US officials assaying the charges were "of acriminal nature".

They bore "no relationwhatsoever to any intelligence-gathering activities", he toldRussia's Ria-Novosti news agency.

Mr Fishenko, 46, a naturalisedUS citizen and owner of Houston-based company Arc Electronics Inc,was also charged with launderingmoney.

The US keeps strict controls onthe export of cutting-edgemicroelectronics, which could beused in radar and surveillancesystems, weapons guidancesystems and detonation triggers.

A Houston FBI statementnames six men and five women assuspects, ranging in age from 31 to58.

Under US sentencingguidelines, Mr Fishenko faces morethan 12 years in prison if convictedon all of the charges.

Federal prosecutors, who laidtheir charges in a court in Brooklyn,New York, said Mr Fishenko andhis co-accused had "engaged in asurreptitious and systematicconspiracy" since October 2008 toobtain the technology from USmanufacturers and export it toRussia.

Mr Fishenko has been describedby Business analyst as an"American success story... animmigrant from Kazakhstan who

Argentine security forces protest pay cutsThousands of Argentina's

coast guard and militarypolice have held

unprecedented wage protests acrossthe country after their pay wasslashed by 30 to 60 per cent.

Wednesday's protests promptedthe government to fire the heads ofboth services and force their top 10commanders to retire.

A senior government officialsaid the pay cuts were a mistake.

"The pay reduction was theresult of a disastrous administrativeaction," Juan Manuel Abal Medina,the cabinet chief of staff said, addingthat most officers would receivetheir missing pay immediately.

Strikes over wages are commonin Argentina, where inflation isrunning at more than 20 per centannually, according to privateeconomists.

But this was the first time inmemory that uniformedArgentine military forces havetaken to the streets over wages.Talks aimed at ending the disputereached late into the night.

The government promised torevise the measure that sparkedthe protest and congress issued astatement calling on the strikingofficers to conduct the protests"within the confines ofdemocracy".

university grounds, admitting to apossible suicide in the carrying out ofthe massacre."

further details.The observatory also reported

clashes between Syrian rebels andthe Syrian army at the militarypost, and said the rebels had killed21 elite Republican Guards onThursday in an ambush on anarmy minibus in a suburbnorthwest of Damascus.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used force of arms to try to

crush a peaceful pro-democracymovement when it erupted inMarch 2011.

He now faces a full-scale armedrevolt that has brought rebels intothe suburbs of Damascus andshows signs of becoming asectarian conflict that coulddestabilize neighboring statesincluding Turkey, Iraq andLebanon.

Argentine Police officers with flags in protest

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012 PAGE 40

‘I am the most senior female Northernofficer in the Nigerian Navy’Can you introduce

yourself?I am Navy Captain

JamilaAbubakarSadiqMalafa.Presently, I am the Deputy DirectorCivil Military relation (Law support)in the Nigerian Navy. I am in chargeof law department at theheadquarters.

Can you please give us abrief history of your life?

I am from Gombi localGovernment area of Adamawa state,precisely Whona by tribe. I had myprimary education in St. TheresaSchool, Luggere in Adamawa. Aftermy graduation from GovernmentSecondary School Hong, I went toYola School of Nursing andMidwifery for my national certificatebut because nursing was not exactlywhat I wanted to be, I thought offurthering my education.

Unfortunately, I had an accidentbefore that and had a broken jaw andwas in the hospital for months. WhileI was on admission at the hospital, Ideveloped interest in the nursingprofession again, because of the waythe doctors and nurses who were onmy case treated me. I later applied forUniversity of Maiduguri TeachingHospital, while I waited for myadmission at the University ofMaiduguri, a friend came to meet meone day and said the Nigerian Navyare recruiting and that she wants toapply and asked me if I would wantto, but I said no because I knewnothing about Navy. All the same, sheencouraged me to go with her and wewent there to join the Navy. While wewere waiting under a tree, a beautifulfemale officer neatly dressed in heruniform came and asked us what wewere doing there and we told her thatwe came to join the navy and sheencouraged us to join.

On the first day, I reported at thecamp, I went with many boxes, a setof TV, a refrigerator and a sound setbecause I did not understand thesystem. The officers I met at the gatewelcomed me and took my luggageto a room and gave me a pair ofshorts and t- shirt to wear which Irefused and ran away as fast as Icould because during my schooldays I was running for my schoolbut the officers ran after me andbundled me. They cut my hair andkept me in a room. I was the onlyfemale northerner among all thenewly recruited officers that time,though another female officer fromthe north joined towards the end ofthe course but I was the first.

At the end of the course I wasposted to Ojo in Lagos, later Iinformed my employers that I wantto go back to school as a nurse and Iwas allowed because I was the onlyqualified officer, I went to School ofNursing and got my Mid Wiferycertificate. In 1995, I applied for LLBat the University of Lagos but couldnot gain admission because I had noJAMB result, so, I enrolled myself ina school and sat for JAMB and gotthe cut off marks and was givenadmission. I Went back again toUniversity of Lagos as a lawyer formy Masters in 2004 in Constitutionand Criminal Law. Then I proceededto Malta for my Masters inInternational Maritime Law

institute University, Malta in 2009and presently I am doing my PHD.

You can say that destiny play arole in my choice of career, becauseI never knew anything about navybecause while I was growing up, Iremember we see the navy on thetelevision during Independence Dayparade.

How do you juggle thedemands of your job as aprofessional and a mother?

It is all about planning. The Navyis like any other profession. For me,my day starts from 4am after sayingmy morning prayers; I read theQur’an and begin preparing for theday. The profession can take youanywhere at any time so, eachmorning I wake up ready for anyassignment at any time of the dayand anywhere in the country.

Who is your role model? Rear Admiral Itunu in the

Nigerian Navy is my role model andincidentally she is my godmother.She is a woman who has maderemarkable achievements in theprofession. I look at her as a rolemodel to me and to every Nigerianwoman. I admire her and I amaspiring to become like her or evenmore than she is.

What is your take on thelaw in some uniformprofessions that don’t allowfemale officers to marry orconceive without takingpermission?

The law still exists and I supportit. The reason for that law is that thesystem wants young officersundergoing training to grow withoutdistraction of any kind before gettingmarried so that they can have astable home once they settle down. Ialso seek for permission from theChief of Naval Staff before I gotmarried.

Having come this far doyou have any regret for notachieving something whichyou wish to before coming thisfar?

No. I don’t have any regret whatso ever. I am happy with theprofession and what I have achievedso far, because the military is anorganization where you can bewhatever you want to be if you workhard and provided you know therules and regulations and you abideby it. I joined the profession as anurse and today I have two Master’sdegree in Constitutional andInternational Maritime Law and theopportunity was given to me by themilitary and we have a lot of officerswith PHD today.

What are those challengesyou face as a female officer ina male dominated institution?

Well, we are given the sametraining with the men and we areexpected to do whatever they can do.I was among the first set to becommissioned as Mid Ship Men.

Navy Captain Jamila J.S Malafa

Honestly, I never saw the professionas a male dominated institution orany of it activities as challenging thatwill make me have a change of mindbecause I love what I am doing.

What is your advice to theyoung generation of femaleofficers?

They should be dedicated totheir jobs and love what they aredoing. Strive hard to get to the topand have confidence in themselves.Again, because of the regimentalnature of the job, they have to do theright thing and you will get to thepeak of your career.

How would you assess therole of female officersespecially now that we have awoman as Rear Admiral in

the Navy? Female officers are doing very

well. Like I said before we take partin the same kind of training with themale officers, the only thing is thatwe have different branches, we havethe executive, logistic, account,budget, education, legal , medicaland each department has itsresponsibilities and you do exactlywhat is expected of you. There isnothing that differentiates us fromthe men, we do parade together, sitfor the same kind of exams, and dothe same kind of exercises etc.

What was the mostchallenging task you haveever been assign to do?

My most challenging task as anofficer was when I was posted to

Borokiri in Port Harcourt duringmilitant days. I was posted there asthe Chief of Command of theMedical Centre Port Harcourtbecause my Executive Officer wentto Darfur. On the first day, I reportedduty, the militants had taken overPort- Harcourt and were pursued byour officers and there was fireexchange that lasted for some time.

I attended to all the woundedofficers and the militants withoutany discrimination. It was not easybut Alhamdulillah we made it backhome safely.

How do you spend yourleisure time?

We have what is called Messactivities. On Wednesdays we closefrom office by 2.oclock toenable, officers go and playgames. Whenever we go to the Messwhere we relax, we sit down, talkwith our superiors, and tell themwhat we feel about them and certainissues.

What is your take on thewrong perception of theprofession by femalenortherners?

It is sad because now I am theonly female officer from the corenorth and the most senior in theNavy profession. I understand thatsome female northerners do not likejoining the profession because of theuniform but now we have option. Itis either you wear short skirt or longtrouser.

In 2009 when I returned fromMalta where I went for my LLM inInternational Maritime Law, thethen Chief of Naval Staff, RearAdmiral I. I. Ibrahim, included myname with the then Navy Secretary,Rear Admiral Jibrin, to go to Sokoto,Kebbi, Katsina, Zamfara and othercore northern states to encourageyoung women to join theprofession. I even went to theSultan’s palace and the office of thestate’s Commissioner of Informationfor their support for the initiative tono avail. I had to extend my staywhen I was told that a woman fromZamfara was interested and wascoming over to Sokoto for the examsand I was ready to allow her to writethe exams alone but she never turnup.

I also went on air to call on ourwomen to join but that did notchange that perception up till date.

The military is profession youcan join and still have a life, a homeand a family.

Would you have joined theprofession back then if thenation were still facing thekind of security challenge wehave now?

Yes. I still would have joinedbecause I love my country and I amready to serve it in whatever way Ican. As a citizen it is also myresponsibility to protect my countryregardless of my sex.

08050639900

Navy Captain Jamila Abubakar Sadiq Malafa, is the most senior female Northern officer in the NigerianNavy and the first Lawyer from her village. A nurse by profession, she has risen to the rank of Navy Captainin the Nigerian Navy. In this interview with Maryam Garba Hassan, she talks about how destiny played arole in her becoming a naval officer, the role of female officers in the Nigerian Navy and the negativeperception northern women have for the profession among others.

“ My most challenging task as an officer was when Iwas posted to Borokiri in Port Harcourt during militantdays. I was posted there as the Chief of Command of

the Medical Centre Port Harcourt because myExecutive Officer went to Darfur. On the first day, Ireported duty, the militants had taken over Port-

Harcourt and were pursued by our officers and therewas fire exchange that lasted for some time

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012 PAGE 31

Polls show Romney wonTV debate with Obama

US Republican candidate MittRomney won the first ofthree televised debates with

President Barack Obama, polls andanalysts say.

After the 90-minute duelcentring on taxes, the deficit andhealthcare, polls gave Mr Romney a46-67% margin with Mr Obamatrailing with 22-25%.

Commentators said Mr Romneyappeared in command while MrObama was hesitant.

Mr Obama has led national pollsand surveys in the swing states thatwill decide the 6 November election.

Journalist Mark Mardell says ifthe gap narrows or Mitt Romneystarts moving ahead of Mr Obama,that will be a huge boost for hiscampaign, and suggest he could winthe White House.

However if they hardly budge,then the Republican challenger willbe in deep trouble, the NorthAmerica editor adds.

President Obama appearedhesitant, occasionally askingmoderator Jim Lehrer, of US publictelevision network PBS, for time tofinish his points.

The two candidates attackedeach other’s economic plans, withMr Obama describing his rival’sapproach as “top-down economics”and a retread of Bush-era policies.

“If you think by closing [tax]loopholes and deductions for thewell-to-do, somehow you will notend up picking up the tab, thenGovernor Romney’s plan may workfor you,” he said.

“But I think math, commonsense, and our history shows usthat’s not a recipe for job growth.”

Mr Romney derided MrObama’s policies as “trickle-downgovernment”.

“The president has a view verysimilar to the one he had when heran for office four years ago, thatspending more, taxing more,regulating more - if you will, trickle-down government - would work,” MrRomney said.

“That’s not the right answer forAmerica.”

Mr Romney pledged not toreduce taxes for wealthy Americans,and said Mr Obama hadmisrepresented Mr Romney’s taxplans on the campaign trail.

US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2012

Other polls have shown the raceto be a little closer. Obama holdsclear leads in most of the politicallydivided states that are likely todecide the election.

Many pollsters expect Obama’smargin to shrink somewhat over thecoming month, but debates rarelyhave much of an impact.

Opinion polls have shifted by anaverage of less than 1 percent in thewake of the 16 presidential debatesthat have taken place since 1988,according to research by TomHolbrook, a political scienceprofessor at the University ofWisconsin at Milwaukee.

The biggest shift came in 2004,when Democratic challenger JohnKerry gained 2.3 percent points onRepublican President George W.Bush. Bush won the election.

People who have made up theirminds to vote against Romneywon’t change their minds no matterhow presidential he looks indebates, said Popkin, author of “TheCandidate: What it Takes to Win -

the most memorable events of anypresidential campaign, there is littleevidence that they can change theoutcome of an election.

Obama may haveunderwhelmed, but he avoided thesort of disastrous performance thatcan cause backers to reassess theirsupport.

“Nobody is going to switch sideson the basis of this debate,” saidSamuel Popkin, a political scienceprofessor at the University ofCalifornia at San Diego.

Standing on the same stage asthe president for the first time,Romney took full advantage of theopportunity to convince voters thathe is up to the task of leading thenation.

Speaking in crisp, bullet-pointed paragraphs, Romney camearmed with a quiver of “zingers”built for a long afterlife on cabletelevision and YouTube.

“You’re entitled to your ownhouse and your own airplane, butnot your own facts,” Romney told

Obama at one point.Obama, by contrast, looked

unhappy to be on stage.His answers were meandering

and professorial, laden with factsbut short on vision. He argued thatRomney’s tax and budget plansdon’t add up, but he steered clear ofother lines of attack that haveproven effective.

“Romney won. The real surpriseis that he won so clearly,” said PaulSracic, a political science professorat Youngstown State University.

Some 67 percent of thosesurveyed by CNN in a “flash poll”after the debate declared Romneythe winner. Obama’s re-electionprospects on Intrade, an onlineprediction market, fell from 74percent to 66 percent.

Obama maintains an advantagein opinion polls. On Wednesday, heled Romney by 47 percent to 41percent in the daily Reuters/IPSOStracking poll, a margin that has heldfairly steady since the middle ofSeptember.

praised and defended a plan hehimself had previously signed asgovernor of Massachusetts that iswidely hailed as the model for theObama law.

Mr Obama, meanwhile, said hisplan had kept insurance companiesfrom denying coverage to sickpeople.

The University of Denver debatewas the first in a series of threepresidential forums and one vice-presidential encounter this month.

Running-mates Joe Biden andPaul Ryan will meet in Danville,Kentucky on 11 October, before thesecond presidential debate on 16October.

After several difficult weeks,Republican Mitt Romneyfound his footing on

Wednesday night in a strong debateperformance against DemocraticPresident Barack Obama. Thequestion is whether it is too late tomake a difference.

Romney could see a burst offundraising, new interest fromundecided voters and a wave ofsupport from his fellow Republicansafter he appeared to have emergedas a clear victor in his first face-to-face confrontation with Obama.Romney likely will benefit fromfavorable news coverage as well.

Still, with the November 6election little more than a monthaway, Romney is running out oftime to seize the lead.

Voting has begun in some formor another in 35 states, and 6percent of those have already casttheir ballots, according to aReuters/IPSOS poll released onWednesday.

And while debates are among

Romney scores in debate, but will it be enough?

Both camps rushed to defendthe respective performances.

“The average person at homesaw a president who you couldtrust,” Obama adviser David Plouffetold reporters. “That’s what theAmerican people are looking for.”

But senior Romney aide EricFehrnstrom said the president hadspoken “only in platitudes”.

“If this were a boxing match, itwould have been called by thereferee,” he said.

Commentators largely agreedthat Mitt Romney had performedbetter.

New York Times columnist andNobel laureate Paul Krugman said,

Mr Obama “did a terrible job in thedebate, and Romney did well”.

“But in the end, this isn’t orshouldn’t be about theatre criticism,it should be about substance,” MrKrugman said defending MrObama’s statements whilst chargingthat “much of what Romney said waseither outright false or so misleadingas to be the moral equivalent of a lie”.

Democratic strategist DonnaBrazile was quoted to have said: “MittRomney did a lot of good... was a littlemore aggressive than the president.”

Washington Post conservativecolumnist George Will said MrRomney’s performance had “stopped[his slump in the polls] in its tracks”.

A CNN/ORC International pollof 430 people who watched thedebate showed 67% thoughtRomney won, compared with 25%for Obama.

A CBS News poll found a 46%support for Mr Romney, 22% for MrObama and 32% saying it was a tie.

And a Google survey gave MrRomney a 47.8% advantage against25.4% for Mr Obama.

On healthcare, Mr Romney saidthat Mr Obama’s “Obamacare”reform law of 2010 had increasedhealth costs and kept smallbusinesses from hiring.

Even as he pledged to repeal MrObama’s health law, Mr Romney

And Hold - the White House.”“If you think he’s a selfish

person who’s out for the rich, youcan still think he’s a confident,comfortable, genial executive whofires you with a smile,” he said.

And some voters may have beenactually focusing on the words thetwo candidates said, rather than themanner in which they said them.

While Romney played down hisconservative positions in an effortto reach out to centrist voters,Obama successfully emphasizedthemes like education and deficitreduction that appeal to this group,several observers said. His newemphasis on expandingopportunity, rather than ensuringfairness, also could help among themore ideologically moderate voterswho have yet to make up theirminds.

“Often voters are looking morefor substance than for style,” saidDotty Lynch, a professor ofcommunication at AmericanUniversity.

Obama (R) with moderator Jim Lehrer with Romney (L) during the debate in Denver

PAGE 40 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Amina to premier in London October 17sensibilities.

The film which was Written,produced and directed by ChristianAshaiku, an innovative Nigerianborn London based filmmaker;Amina tells a deeply emotional anddramatic story dealing with the

With Tobias Lengnan Dapam07036990957

themes of love, loss and redemption.Amina is told in flashback and

tells the life story of a gifted youngwoman (OmotolaJalade-Ekeinde)who, devastated by a series of lifechanging events suffered a totalbreakdown and finds herself

incarcerated in a mental hospital,but only one person could help; herdoctor (Wil Johnson), but he mustovercome his own demons before hecould help Amina confront her past.

Expectedly, UK moviepractitioners have described Aminaas the ace card that would placeNollywood more firmly in theinternational movie scene andgrant it more recognition than itcurrently has.

Doha Film Institute, theindependent culturalorganisation that brings

Qatar’s film initiatives under onebanner, has appointed Abdulaziz Al-Khater as its Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Hollywood reporter has said.

Al-Khater will now take over from acting CEO and DFI boardmember, Mansour Ibrahim Al-Mahmoud.

DFI chairperson and founder, her Excellency Sheikha Al MayassaBint Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thanisaid that “The all-encompassingapproach of DFI to promote a robustfilm industry in Qatar has helpedus to create a distinct identity notonly in the region but also globally.The appointment of Mr AbdulazizAl-Khater, who has a wealth ofmanagement expertise, will bestrong value addition in driving thefuture growth of the Institute.”

She also thanked Al-Mahmoudfor his work during what shedescribed as DFI’s Boredom and thefeeling that everything was a wasteof time, an illusion that nothing wasgood.

On his part, Al-Mahmoud saidthe incoming CEO “brings withhim extensive experience inleadership and businessmanagement, with a strong localand regional focus.”

Al-Khater, has wealth ofexperience in management,banking, information technology,operations, finance, and logistics.

He joined DFI from Al KhalijCommercial Bank, now establishedas one of the key financialinstitutions in the region.

Speaking about the prospects ofthe industry, Al-Khater said: “I amlooking forward to being part of agrowing cultural organisation thathad established itself both within theregion and internationally as anInstitute dedicated to developingArab talent and creativity.”

He added that the DFI is poisedfor an era of growth “as it continuesto evolve and foster thedevelopment of local and regionalfilm industries.”

Doha Film Institutehires new CEO

The much anticipated movie‘Amina’ is set for its world premièreat the Empire Cinema in LeicesterSquare on the 17th October, 2012,Pulse.com has revealed.

The movie which is a British/Nigerian production, is apsychological human drama,featuring Nollywood top shots like;Omotola Jalade – Ekeinde and Van

Vicker, alongside top British moviestars like; Wil Johnson, VincentRegan and Alison Carroll, aka LaraCroft.

Pulse.com further said thatAmina could be best described as aBritish film with Nollywood

The Hollywood Reporter haslearned that the cast ofArgo, the Ben Affleck-directed

drama about the 1979-81 Iranianhostage crisis, will receive theHollywood Ensemble Acting Awardat the 16th annual Hollywood Film

It said that the first awards showof the 2012 Oscar season and its galaceremony will hold on the 22ndOctober, 2012, at the Beverly Hilton.

Representatives of the cast whoare expected to attend the eventinclude Affleck, Oscar winner AlanArkin, Bryan Cranston and JohnGoodman.

The Hollywood Film Awards,which were determined byHollywood Film Festival founder andexecutive director Carlos de Abreuand his advisory team, recognizeindividuals for both careerachievement and work releasedwithin the calendar year.

Previous recipients of the

Hollywood film Awards to honour Argo castsHollywood Ensemble Acting Awardinclude Crash (2005), which wenton to win the best Oscar picture aswell as Bobby (2006), Hairspray(2007), The Secret Life of Bees(2008) and best picture Oscarnominees, the Social Network(2010) and the Help (2011).

Similarly, De Abreu tells THRthat “We are very proud to recognizethe actors who form the cast of Argofor their outstanding performancesin this special film.”

Argo, which premiered at theTelluride Film Festival in earlySeptember was one of the bestreceived films at the TorontoInternational Film Festival and willlater this month be releasednationwide by Warner Bros, on the22nd October, 2012.

THR recently revealed theidentities of several other films andpeople to be honored at this year’sHollywood Film Awards, including

the recipients of the HollywoodDirector Award, Hollywood ActressAward, Hollywood Supporting ActorAward, Hollywood SupportingActress Award, Hollywood ProducerAward, Hollywood AnimationAward, Hollywood Comedy Award,

New Hollywood Award, HollywoodBreakout Performance Award,Hollywood CinematographerAward, Hollywood Editor Award,Hollywood Production DesignerAward, and Hollywood Visual EffectsAward.

The new CEO of DFI,Abdulaziz Al-Khater

Sensational Nigerianmusician, Olu Maintain,has dumped his United State

lover, Natalie, for a Nigeriansinger, Mochedda, Nigeriafilms.com has revealed.

Sources close to the Yahoo zeecrooner told Nigeriafilms.comthat Olu was recently spottedgetting fond of Mocheddah, whomhe vowed to some friends to godown low with.

It was also learnt that both Oluand Mochedda are presentlyplanning to do a duet together.

The sources furthr said thatNatalie was not aware of the recentromance between Olu and thesinger, as she was always been toldby Olu and his friends thatMochedda is just a colleague.

Olu Maintaindumps US loverfor Mochedda

Super Eagles and ChelseaFC midfielder, John MikelObi has never hidden his

love for music as it ispractically seen whenever thefootballer is not on the field ofplay for both his country andclub, he listens to music fromhis devices with hisheadphone.

Mikel launches music label, signs four artistsNigeriafilm.com gathered

that the Jos, Plateau State-bredfootballer has taken his love formusic to another level byfloating his own music labelnamed Matured Money Minds(MMM).

The label which wasrecently established is fullyunder the control of his

younger brother, Patrick.MMM already has about

four artistes. They are; Splash,Kido, Edgar and Charass.

Sources also revealed thatthe artists who already havetheir own songs were workingassiduously to shoulder withthe biggest artists in the musicindustry in Nigeria.

Chocolate City artiste, IcePrince Zamani drops themuch anticipated video for his

latest single “Aboki”, Pulse.com hasrevealed.

This was his first single after hismuch acclaimed E.L.I album.

The song was produced byChopstix of the Grip Boiz City, andwas directed by the talented Phil Leein Los Angeles. Ice Prince looks to bepreparing for another album, as welook forward to more singles.

Ice PrincereleasesAboki album

Casts from the Argo movie

PAGE 32 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Nigeriafilm.com hasrevealed that life withLagbaja, the masked

man had been so terrible, asthe advent of hip-hop inNigeria actually led to hismusical misfortune.

It revealed that when the

Hip -hop artists forceLagbaja to remove mask

mask man started out, notmany people were disposed tohis kind of song then but due tothe fact that the competitionwas not stiff, Lagbaja wasreigning supreme until hip hopcame him through theRemedies.

However, despite all kindsof stunts displayed by him inhis videos, his relevance wasdropping by the day as theglobal acceptability of hip hopforced him to leave forAmerica, yet it didn’t get itright unlike before and life was

so unbearable for him.It further said that Lagbaja,

the Afro-beat singer, songwriter, instrumentalist thatinspired minds with hispowerful style of music since1993 finally reveals the facebehind the mask due topressure from other quarters.

According to Lagbaja, hismask is used as an icon of man’sfacelessness.

Lagbaja, is a Yoruba word thatmeans “nobody in particular”. Itdepicts the anonymity of the so-called “common man”. The maskand the name symbolize thefaceless, the voiceless in thesociety, particularly in Africa. Heis also known as “Omo babamu’ko mu’ko”

Often his music is purelyinstrumental- an interplaybetween traditional Yorubapercussion, drums, chants,western instruments, andespecially the saxophone.

When there are lyrics, theyare primarily sung in Yoruba,English or a blend of the two as iscolloquially spoken in Yorubacities. Many of his songs dwell onserious social issues, while otherssimply entertain.

Lagbaja, with and without mask Ex Nollywood actress,Juliet Agunwa who usedto be a darling of every

one then at NTA’s TV seriescalled ‘Twist Away’ and‘Memorial Hospital’ before shejetted out to America is due toreturn home from her base inAmerica as she continues hercampaign against breastcancer, Nigeriafilm.com hassaid.

It added that the beautifulmother of two daughters whosurvived the pangs of breastcancer when she was diagnosedof the ailment stage 3c in 2008is now preparing to stormNigeria to continue herawareness programme forunderserved Africansworldwide and the need to reachout to under-privileged Africanwomen who are undergoing thepainful trauma caused by breastcancer.

Through her ‘Courage toDare Foundation’, Juliet whoappeared as a presenter of a talkshow on NTA before shemigrated to the USA to furtherher studies, is looking forwardto launch her inauguralprogram, an educational BreastCancer Awareness later thismonth at the instance of ImoState’s First Lady, Mrs. NkechiOkorocha. The awarenessprogramme will be the first-everevent of its kind in the State.

Last year, Juliet’s awarenessgala event attracted over 300participants at Lagos StateUniversity and Lagos UniversityTeaching Hospital and she ishoping to make an even biggerimpression with her awarenessprogramme in Imo State.

Ex-NollywoodActress, fightscancer

About the 18-year agedifference between herand boyfriend Casper

Smart, Lopez said she is lookingfor true love and that she is notafraid of looking outside her agerange to find it, Hollywoodreporter has said.

It also indicated that KatieCouric and Jennifer Lopez Dish on‘American Idol’ Judges and thatLopez was not missing AmericanIdol.

The three-times marriedtriple-threat opened up about herdivorce from Marc Anthony onFriday’s Katie.

“You never want to break upa family,” Lopez told host Katie

Couric, in a conversation that alsomay have let the identity of thenew American Idol judging panelslip.

She continued: “That wasn’tmy dream. My dream was for usto always be together. But thingsdon’t work out and you feel it wasthe better choice. If I didn’t thinkit was the better choice I wouldn’thave done it.”

The music sensation saidthings were still warm withAnthony, whom she shares two4-year-old twins, Max and Emme.

“We are friends. We werefriends before and we are stillfriends now. Thank God thatdidn’t change,” Lopez said.

After pointing out that she’snow tried and failed to makemarriage work three times, Lopezlaughed, saying, “I keep trying!

Juliet Agunwa

Jennifer Lopez opens up about divorce, dating young SmartIt’s OK. It’s true. I believe in love. Ibelieve in marriage. I’m justtrying to get it right. I’m likeeverybody else.”

Rihanna, agreed to pay $1 millionto settle charges that it illegallycollected personal data from itsusers under the age of 13.

The unit, Artist Arena, didn’tadmit or deny any wrongdoingin the settlement, the Wall StreetJournal reported.

The Federal TradeCommission had filed charges

against the firm on Tuesday,citing alleged violations of theChildren’s Online PrivacyProtection Act, or Coppa. That lawforbids web sites from collectingpersonal information from usersunder the age of 13 withoutparental consent.

The fan sites in question wereB i e b e r F e v e r . c o m ,

S e l e n a G o m e z . c o m ,RihannaNow.com andDemiLovatoFanClub.net. A judgehas yet to approve the settlement.

In the proposed settlement,Artist Arena agreed not only topay the $1 million civil penalty,but also to delete any datacollected in violation of the lawand to display a link on its sites to

Justin Bieber, Rihanna fan club sites operator to pay $1 million in privacy settlementmore FTC information onchildren’s privacy protectionrules.

Warner Music, owned by LenBlavatnik’s Access Industries,acquired Artist Arena in late2010. The FTC said the firmcollected more than 100,000users’ personal data in waysprohibited by law.

Fans have given kudos tothe Academy for thinkingoutside the box and picking

a host for the 2013 Oscar cast thatnobody really saw coming.

Hollywood reporter hasrevealed that AMPAS justannounced emcee duties for SethMacFarlane, known for suchevents to host the Oscar.

It further revealed thatMacFarlane, created shows likeMacFamily Guy and AmericanDad; he directed the summerblockbuster Ted; he burned RyanLochte really bad on SaturdayNight Live; he is dating Daenerys;he did not know where to standor speak during the Emmys andother.

Seth MacFarlane to host Oscars

The sites owned by WarnerMusic’s Artist Arena werecharged by Doobie brothers,

Michael Mcdonald, for illegallycollecting personal data of usersunder the age of 13.

A unit of Warner Music Groupthat operates online fan club sitesfor such stars as Justin Bieber,Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and

R-L: Jennifer Lopez and Casper Smart

PAGE 33PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Amina to premier in London October 17British film with Nollywoodsensibilities.

The film which was Written,produced and directed by ChristianAshaiku, an innovative Nigerianborn London based filmmaker;Amina tells a deeply emotional and

With Tobias Lengnan Dapam07036990957

dramatic story dealing with thethemes of love, loss and redemption.

Amina is told in flashback andtells the life story of a gifted youngwoman (OmotolaJalade-Ekeinde)who, devastated by a series of lifechanging events suffered a total

breakdown and finds herselfincarcerated in a mental hospital,but only one person could help; herdoctor (Wil Johnson), but he mustovercome his own demons before hecould help Amina confront her past.

Expectedly, UK moviepractitioners have described Aminaas the ace card that would placeNollywood more firmly in theinternational movie scene andgrant it more recognition than itcurrently has.

Doha Film Institute, theindependent culturalorganisation that brings

Qatar’s film initiatives under onebanner, has appointed Abdulaziz Al-Khater as its Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Hollywood reporter has said.

Al-Khater will now take over from acting CEO and DFI boardmember, Mansour Ibrahim Al-Mahmoud.

DFI chairperson and founder, her Excellency Sheikha Al MayassaBint Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thanisaid that “The all-encompassingapproach of DFI to promote a robustfilm industry in Qatar has helpedus to create a distinct identity notonly in the region but also globally.The appointment of Mr AbdulazizAl-Khater, who has a wealth ofmanagement expertise, will bestrong value addition in driving thefuture growth of the Institute.”

She also thanked Al-Mahmoudfor his work during what shedescribed as DFI’s Boredom and thefeeling that everything was a wasteof time, an illusion that nothing wasgood.

On his part, Al-Mahmoud saidthe incoming CEO “brings withhim extensive experience inleadership and businessmanagement, with a strong localand regional focus.”

Al-Khater, has wealth ofexperience in management,banking, information technology,operations, finance, and logistics.

He joined DFI from Al KhalijCommercial Bank, now establishedas one of the key financialinstitutions in the region.

Speaking about the prospects ofthe industry, Al-Khater said: “I amlooking forward to being part of agrowing cultural organisation thathad established itself both within theregion and internationally as anInstitute dedicated to developingArab talent and creativity.”

He added that the DFI is poisedfor an era of growth “as it continuesto evolve and foster thedevelopment of local and regionalfilm industries.”

Doha Film Institutehires new CEO

The much anticipated movie‘Amina’ is set for its worldpremière at the Empire

Cinema in Leicester Square on the17th October, 2012, Pulse.com hasrevealed.

The movie which is a British/Nigerian production, is apsychological human drama,featuring Nollywood top shots like;

Omotola Jalade – Ekeinde and VanVicker, alongside top British moviestars like; Wil Johnson, VincentRegan and Alison Carroll, aka LaraCroft.

Pulse.com further said thatAmina could be best described as a

The Hollywood Reporter haslearned that the cast ofArgo, the Ben Affleck-directed

drama about the 1979-81 Iranianhostage crisis, will receive theHollywood Ensemble Acting Awardat the 16th annual Hollywood Film

It said that the first awards showof the 2012 Oscar season and its galaceremony will hold on the 22ndOctober, 2012, at the Beverly Hilton.

Representatives of the cast whoare expected to attend the eventinclude Affleck, Oscar winner AlanArkin, Bryan Cranston and JohnGoodman.

The Hollywood Film Awards,which were determined byHollywood Film Festival founder andexecutive director Carlos de Abreuand his advisory team, recognizeindividuals for both careerachievement and work releasedwithin the calendar year.

Previous recipients of the

Hollywood film Awards to honour Argo castsHollywood Ensemble Acting Awardinclude Crash (2005), which wenton to win the best Oscar picture aswell as Bobby (2006), Hairspray(2007), The Secret Life of Bees(2008) and best picture Oscarnominees, the Social Network(2010) and the Help (2011).

Similarly, De Abreu tells THRthat “We are very proud to recognizethe actors who form the cast of Argofor their outstanding performancesin this special film.”

Argo, which premiered at theTelluride Film Festival in earlySeptember was one of the bestreceived films at the TorontoInternational Film Festival and willlater this month be releasednationwide by Warner Bros, on the22nd October, 2012.

THR recently revealed theidentities of several other films andpeople to be honored at this year’sHollywood Film Awards, including

the recipients of the HollywoodDirector Award, Hollywood ActressAward, Hollywood Supporting ActorAward, Hollywood SupportingActress Award, Hollywood ProducerAward, Hollywood AnimationAward, Hollywood Comedy Award,

New Hollywood Award, HollywoodBreakout Performance Award,Hollywood CinematographerAward, Hollywood Editor Award,Hollywood Production DesignerAward, and Hollywood Visual EffectsAward.

The new CEO of DFI,Abdulaziz Al-Khater

Sensational Nigerianmusician, Olu Maintain,has dumped his United State

lover, Natalie, for a Nigerian singer,Mochedda, Nigeriafilms.com hasrevealed.

Sources close to the Yahoo zeecrooner told Nigeriafilms.com thatOlu was recently spotted gettingfond of Mocheddah, whom he vowedto some friends to go down low with.

It was also learnt that both Oluand Mochedda are presentlyplanning to do a duet together.

The sources furthr said thatNatalie was not aware of the recentromance between Olu and thesinger, as she was always been toldby Olu and his friends thatMochedda is just a colleague.

Olu Maintaindumps US loverfor Mochedda

Super Eagles and ChelseaFC midfielder, John MikelObi has never hidden his

love for music as it ispractically seen whenever thefootballer is not on the field ofplay for both his country andclub, he listens to music fromhis devices with hisheadphone.

Mikel launches music label, signs four artistsNigeriafilm.com gathered

that the Jos, Plateau State-bredfootballer has taken his love formusic to another level byfloating his own music labelnamed Matured Money Minds(MMM).

The label which wasrecently established is fullyunder the control of his

younger brother, Patrick.MMM already has about

four artistes. They are; Splash,Kido, Edgar and Charass.

Sources also revealed thatthe artists who already havetheir own songs were workingassiduously to shoulder withthe biggest artists in the musicindustry in Nigeria.

Chocolate City artiste, IcePrince Zamani drops themuch anticipated video for his

latest single “Aboki”, Pulse.com hasrevealed.

This was his first single after hismuch acclaimed E.L.I album.

The song was produced byChopstix of the Grip Boiz City, andwas directed by the talented Phil Leein Los Angeles. Ice Prince looks to bepreparing for another album, as welook forward to more singles.

Ice PrincereleasesAboki album

Casts from the Argo movie

PAGE 34 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Prisoners’ rehabilitationand crime reduction

On Sept. 18, the Chief Judgeof Lagos State, JusticeAyotunde Phillips, released

233 inmates from the KirikiriMedium and Maximum SecurityPrisons in Apapa, Lagos.

Phillips set the prisoners freeduring her visit to the prisons.

One hundred and thirty of thereleased prisoners were from themaximum security prison and103 were from the mediumsecurity prison.

Some of the freed prisoners,according to the prisonauthorities, had spent more than12 years in prison awaiting trial.

Phillips said that the prisoners’release was pursuant to theprovisions of Section 1(1) of theCriminal Justice Release fromCustody Special Provision Act CAPC40, 2007, Laws of the Federationof Nigeria.

She said the law empoweredthe chief judge to grant freedomto inmates who had been incustody for a long durationawaiting trial and those who hadshown genuine remorse for theiroffences.

According to her, the gestureis also aimed at reducing prisoncongestion.

“This is our own little way ofreducing congestion in ourprisons.

“Besides, there is a maxim wehave in law that it is better for 10guilty persons to go free than forone innocent person to be unjustlyincarcerated.

“For those of you who are luckyto be released today, I admonishyou to go and sin no more; I wantyou to go and make your markpositively in the society”, Phillipstold the inmates.

The chief judge, however,warned against the temptation ofreleasing prisoners arbitrarily,stressing that a thoroughscreening of the inmates ought tobe carried out before any releasewas affected.

She pledged to visit prisonsregularly to carry out similarexercises in future.

In his remark, Mr Tinu Oye,the Deputy Controller, KirikiriMaximum Security Prison,commended the chief judge forthe gesture, noting that some ofthe inmates had spent more than12 years in prison awaiting trial,even for minor offences.

Oye said that the Prerogativeof Mercy Committee, which wasset up by the FederalGovernment, should regularlyvisit prisons across the country toaddress such cases.

“A lot of our inmates arewriting their GCE (GeneralCertification of Education)examinations.

“Some of them are students ofthe National Open University ofNigeria and they needscholarships to enable them tocomplete their studies,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr TundeLadipo, the Deputy Controller,Kirikiri Medium Security Prison,described the number of inmatesreleased during the exercise asunprecedented.

Ladipo stressed that 2,370 outof the 2,502 inmates of the prisonwere awaiting trial, adding thatthe situation resulted in theprison’s congestion.

Sharing similar sentiments,

Mr Ade Ipaye, Lagos State’sAttorney-General andCommissioner for Justice, saidthat the inmates’ release wouldeffectively decongest the prisons.

“The release of the inmatessends a very strong signal notonly on the capacity of the chiefjudge but also on the excellencewhich Lagos State is known for,’’he said.

Ipaye noted that it was acommon principle in law that “aman is presumed innocent untilhe is found guilty by a competentcourt of law”.

He, therefore, said thatkeeping people in detention for along period without convictingthem of any specific offence wasbarbaric; stressing that suchpractice should be abolished in theinterest of justice.

All the same, Mr AdesinaAdegbite, the General Secretaryof the Ikeja branch of theNigerian Bar Association, kickedagainst the release of theinmates.

He said that the governmentreleased the prisoners withoutcarrying out a comprehensivedata capture activity on them.

Adegbite stressed that thepreparation of a computeriseddatabase of prisoners who wereparoled was desirable as part ofefforts to monitor the movement

By Solomon Asowata

and activities of freed prisoners.“These people have been

released into the society and wehave no way of checking theiractivities now.

“Some of them have nobodyto turn to in the outside world andmay, thus, be forced into criminalactivities again,’’ he added.

Mr Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem,the Director, Prisoners’ RightsAdvocacy Initiative (PRAI),shared a similar viewpoint,insisting that the stategovernment ought to havecaptured the inmates’ data priorto their release.

“It would have been better ifthe Lagos State Government hadmade efforts to rehabilitate thereleased inmates for the next twomonths, at least, and resettlethem properly.

“For most of them, the futureis bleak. I hope and pray that inthe coming months, Lagos Statewill not experience anunprecedented rise in armedrobbery cases,’’ Adetola-Kazeemsaid.

Two prisoners, WilliamsOwode and Azubuike Ossai, whoare serving life sentences at themaximum prison, told NewsAgency of Nigeria (NAN) thatmost of the released prisonersmight soon return to the prison.

Owode, who has so far spent

L-R: Mr Bello Sucess, Controller-General Nigerian Prisons Service, Zakari Ibrahim, and Ogun state Controller of Prisons, Mr AdamsBabatunde-Lawal recenty at Ibara Prison, Abeokuta, during the Controller-General's visit to Ogun state. Photo: NAN

18 years in prison for murder,noted that most of the releasedprisoners had not acquiredsufficient skills to enable them toearn a living.

Ossai, who said that he hadspent more than 10 yearsawaiting trial before hisconviction for murder in June2004, said: “We that have beenhere long enough to know thatsome of these people who arejubilating now will be back herein the next few months,” he said.

Ossai, nonetheless, concededthat some inmates of the prisonshad been learning trades such astailoring and shoe making.

“Some of us have evengraduated from the universitybut nobody is looking into ourcases,’’ he moaned.

Such cynical commentsnotwithstanding, the releasedprisoners were full of praises forthe chief judge, expressingprofound gratitude for theirrescue from prison.

Betram Anwagu, 54, recalledthat he was remanded in prisonon July 20, 2005, after he wasarrested over alleged armedrobbery.

“I was selling provisions at theCMS area; one day, I fought withanother trader and the policecame to arrest us.

“The next day, they brought

two other men to join us in the celland later took all of us to court onrobbery charges.

“That was how I found myselfhere and even the woman I wasplanning to marry has abandonedme,” he moaned.

Anwagu said that his majorpreoccupation now was how tosurvive in the society.

“When I was there (prison), Ilearnt how to make shoes. If I amable to raise some money, I willeke out a living as a shoe maker,”he said.

For 25-year-old KehindeArewa, who spent five years in theprison before his release, reunitingwith his family in Ilesa, OsunState, was his top priority.

“I want to go and see my familybecause it has been a long timesince I saw them last,” saidArewa, who claimed that he wasa tailor before his arrest andincarceration over allegedrobbery

Analysts believe that eventhough the prisoners’ release iscommendable, governments,individuals, groups and corporateorganisations should makeconcerted efforts to rehabilitateand resettle freed prisoners.

Such efforts would discouragethe ex-prisoners from going intocrime again, some say.

Source: NAN

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012 PAGE 35

Meals on wheels! the moment cheetahstry to peel open a three-wheel bubble car

latest incarnation of the reborn1960s Peel Car could ever hackit in the 21st century urbanjungle.

To be perfectly honest, there'snot much point trying to out-accelerate a cheetah when you'redriving a Peel Trident.

Casey and Max, both three-year-old male residents of the300-acre Wiltshire park, can do

Here's a question youprobably thought you'dnever have to ask: what

happens when the world's fastestcat meets the world's slowestcar?

Answer: it chases it, catchesit - and eats it.

That was the result of a catversus car challenge at Longleatsafari park to discover if the

Marijuana falls fromprosecutor's pocket in court

Jason Cantrell, 43,assistant city attorney,was issued a summons for

simple possession of marijuanaon Monday afternoon after amarijuana cigarette fell to thefloor in Orleans Parishmagistrate court, New OrleansPolice spokesman FrankRobertson said.

"Jason Cantrell is suspendedwithout pay pending furtherinvestigation," Ryan Berni, aspokesman for New OrleansMayor Mitch Landrieu, said onWednesday. "He was not actingin his capacity as assistant cityattorney when the incidentoccurred."

Cantrell's wife, a candidatefor New Orleans City Council,said on her Facebook page thatshe was "angry, embarrassed

A New Orleans city attorney was arrested for possession ofmarijuana and suspended from his job after a joint tumbled fromhis pocket in front of police in court.

and disappointed," with herhusband's actions.

"I absolutely do not condonehis actions," LaToya Cantrellwrote. "He will accept the legalconsequences as the judicialprocess takes its course."

She said Jason Cantrell hadsubmitted his resignation, butBerni said no resignation letterhad been received.

Cantrell has practiced lawin Louisiana for more than 16years, according to LouisianaState Bar Association. He ranunsuccessfully for juvenilecourt judge in 2009. He hasbeen with the city since 2009.

Jason Cantrell could not bereached for comment onWednesday. LaToya Cantrellsaid she will remain in the racefor city council.

0-70mph in a matter of seconds.The Trident - a whining,

three-wheel soap-bubble of abattery-powered car - strugglesaudibly when challenged byanything tougher than a gentleuphill slope.

So the only thing to do whenyou find yourself face to face withtwo high-speed cheetahs clawingat the bodywork is to stop. And to

keep very still.And perhaps to pray that

British engineering will proverobust enough against thevisibly sharp teeth of two farfrom happy cats.

Not to mention their ratherdisconcerting determination toaccess the meat inside thecuriously shaped can of cat foodthat has just trundled into theirkingdom.

On the plus side, there mustsurely be few drivers who canboast that their windscreen hasbeen licked clean by the raspingtongue of Acinonyx jubatus -which is useful, as it turns out,because the Peel boasts only asingle, hand-operated wiper).

Not so helpful is the fact thatMax is trying to unpeel the PeelCar by biting the lip of its Perspexdome roof, the perilously fragilebarrier that separates me fromhis open jaw.

'Good pussycat,' I say inreassuring tones, as Casey getsup on his hind legs to peer downat me.

He stands more than 6ft talland towers over the car with hispaws spread out on the roof.

I try not to make eye contact,despite the fact that his big,amber eyes are almost burninga hole through the Trident'srather flimsy glass-fibre panels.Inside, the windscreen is quickly

steaming up (can't think why).Outside, meanwhile, the big

cats at last appear to be losinginterest and are loping off toshelter from the rain.

Time to go. I turn on theignition, floor the stop/go pedaland take off at dodgem-car speedacross the grass.

Max gives me a disparagingglance. But where's Casey? Fiftyyards away, I spot him runningparallel with me. It's that long,low canter that you usually seeonly on David Attenboroughdocumentaries as a cheetahprepares to run down its prey.

Suddenly there is a massivethud from behind. Casey hasclearly had enough of thisnonsense and has raced up in myblind spot to attack.

Had I been a gazelle, it wouldbe lunchtime right now. Withthe car somehow surviving,however, he gives one tyre acasual chew and wanders off.

The Peel Trident is a newlydeveloped sibling of the P50, aPostman Pat-style oddity firstseen on British roads in 1962,and rarely since.

Only 50 were ever produced.Now Peel Engineering isremanufacturing them afterbacking from Dragons' Denentrepreneur James Caan, andhas added the equally bizarreTrident to the range.

Paul hopes the car's British engineering is strong enough to keep the big cat at bay

Paul: 'I try not to make eye contact, despite the fact that his big,amber eyes are almost burning a hole through the Trident'srather flimsy glass-fibre panels'

Men banned for life from U.K. buffetrestaurant for eating too much

Andy Miles and GeorgeDalmon, of the Englishcity of Brighton, were

banned for life from a Mongolianbarbecue joint that touted itsnever-ending buffet, theTelegraph reported.

The manager at Gobirestaurant accused the men ofregularly pigging out on five

bowls of stir-fry each and saidthey never left a single tip in twoyears. They ate so much, he toldthe Telegraph, that there wasn'tfood left for the other customers.

Miles and Dalmon blamedtheir big appetites on "smallbowls," and said the restaurantshould honor its promotion, theTelegraph reported.

Two friends found out the hard way that there can be a limit onall-you-can-eat buffets.

Pet Monkeybags housearrestA man's pet monkey was put

on house arrest after theanimal bit someone last

weekend near Cocoa Beach, FloridaToday reported.

Brad Berman said Mookie, his19-year-old white-faced Capuchinmonkey, had never bit anyonebefore. So Berman didn't thinktwice when a couple approachedhim Saturday near a conveniencestore on Merritt Island and askedto pet Mookie, according to FloridaToday.

But the monkey got startledand bit the man, identified as 32-year-old Justin Debree, on theshin, officials said. He was notseriously injured.

Berman claimed Mookie doesn'thave rabies and is registered withthe Florida Fish and WildlifeConservation Commission. Butofficials ordered a 30-dayquarantine of the animal at hometo be sure Mookie doesn't show anysymptoms, Florida Today said.

The Conservation Commissionhas not yet confirmed whetherBerman has a permit for Mookie.

Florida man said his 19-year-old Capuchin monkey neverbit before

PAGE 36 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Why does hair turn gray?Smallpox virus may help treatdeadly form of breast cancer

trial and actual application.’The findings were presented

today at the American Collegeof Surgeons’ Annual ClinicalCongress in Chicago.

Exposing mice with TNBCtumours to the virus led to“extensive destruction” of thecancer over a period of threeweeks, said the scientists.

‘Based upon pathology, wecould see that at least 60 per centof the tumours were completelyregressed and the other 40 percent had very little areas oftumour cells present with a lotof necrosis (die off), which is asign that the tumour wasresponding to therapy,’ said DrGholami.

As well as infecting andbreaking down cancer cells, thevirus also blocked the growth oftumour blood vessels.

Ultrasound imaging revealeda ‘significant reduction’ in bloodflow to tumours. The network ofblood vessels supplying tumourswith nutrients and oxygenshrank to half its normal size intreated animals.

The next step will be to designa clinical trial and assess thesafety of the virus in patients,Dr Gholami added.

Baroness Delyth Morgan,chief executive of the BreastCancer Campaign charity, said:‘This is one example of a newtype of therapy using viruses toattack cancer cells. The researchis currently at an early stage inmice so the findings should betreated with cautious optimism.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

A relative of the small poxvirus may be an effectiveweapon against one of the

deadliest forms of breast cancer,researchers say.

Laboratory tests showed thatmore than 90 per cent of triplenegative breast cancer (TNBC)cells treated with the vacciniavirus were destroyed within fourdays.

In mice with the disease, onestrain of the virus cleared away60 per cent of tumours while theextent of those left wasdramatically reduced.

Vaccinia virus is best knownas the basis of the vaccine thateradicated smallpox. Althoughclosely related to the variolavirus that causes smallpox, it isgenerally harmless to humans.

TBNC is difficult to treatbecause it lacks three types ofmolecular ‘receptor’ that can betargeted by existing hormonaland antibody treatments.

The disease mostly occurs inyounger women and isresponsible for 10% to 20 percent of all breast cancer cases.TBNC tends to be aggressive andoften recurs afterchemotherapy.

The virus targets a signallingprotein tumours use to promotethe formation of blood vesselsthat support their growth.

TBNC has high levels of theprotein, known as vascularendothelial growth factor(VEGF).

Lead researcher Dr SepidehGholami, from StanfordUniversity in California, US,said: ‘The reason we used thevaccinia virus is that it is amember of the small pox family,and, as we know, small poxvaccine has been given tomillions of people to eradicatesmall pox. So we thought itwould be safer and morepromising in terms of a clinical

“sandwich” years of 45-65 canbe stressful, especially forwomen. They are also when wenaturally start to look older.

In 2011, L’Oreal announcedit was in the early stages ofdeveloping a pill that wouldprevent melanin reduction,

Gray and glam

There is one thing mostpresidents have incommon at the end of

their first terms: more grayhairs. The graying of theCommander-in-Chief issymbolic of the stress associatedwith being top dog in the world’smost powerful nation.However, research shows thatpsychological stress does not, infact, impact the color of one’slocks.

For both presidents and therest of us, gray hair is simply apart of the normal agingprocess, and the rate you gosilver is geneticallypredetermined. Going gray isnot associated with earliermortality, and prematuregraying is not, generallyspeaking, a sign of a illness orill health in younger adults.There are, however, somespecific health conditions, suchas vitiligo (an autoimmunedisorder that causes unevenpigmentation) associated withgray or white hair, but for mostof us, going gray is just a fact oflife.

Hair colour comes from thepigment melanin, which hastwo hues, blackish brown andreddish yellow—the amountand mix of each determinesyour individual shade. Hairwithout any melanin is purewhite. The pigment is producedin cells called melanocytes,located at the base of the hairfollicle. The melanocytes injectpigment into the hair. At somepoint in everyone’s lifetime,these cells slow down andeventually stop producing colorall together in what’s called

apoptosis, or geneticallypredetermined demise.Scientists have yet to identifythe exact mechanism bywhich melanocyte cell deathoccurs.

Tips to make hair colourLast

A study of more than 4,000women and men from 20countries determined thatabout 75% of people betweenthe ages of 45 and 65 have somegray hair. In general, people ofEuropean descent gray earliestfollowed by Asians andAfricans. It’s interesting tonote that a lucky 1 in 10 has nogray hair by retirement age.Beginning at age 30, yourchances of having gray hair goup 10-20% per decade.

It may feel like you sproutmore grays in the wake of astressful event, but that’sprobably because middle age isbasically a series of anxiety-ridden events. Betweenworking, raising kids, andcaring for older parents, the

but at this point, there is stillno silver bullet to keep awaythe grays.

Source: Yahoo.com

Vaccinia virus: The virus that helped eradicate smallpox could also combat a type of breast cancerresistant to current treatments

“Based upon pathology, we could seethat at least 60 per cent of the tumours

were completely regressed and theother 40 per cent had very little areas

of tumour cells present with a lot ofnecrosis (die off), which is a sign thatthe tumour was responding to therapy

“Hair colour comes fromthe pigment melanin, which

has two hues, blackishbrown and reddish

yellow—the amount andmix of each determines

your individual shade. Hairwithout any melanin is pure

white. The pigment isproduced in cells called

melanocytes, located at thebase of the hair follicle. Themelanocytes inject pigmentinto the hair. At some point

in everyone’s lifetime,these cells slow down andeventually stop producingcolor all together in what’s

called apoptosis, orgenetically predetermined

demise

PAGE 37PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

What is your take onNigeria’s journeyso far as a

sovereign nation?The standard of education

has fallen because thegovernment has been unable tolook after lecturers very well;government has been unable todevelop the universities. Addedto that, we have cultism.Sometimes the President willcome and talk about beautifulthings that he is doing. I thinkall those talks aboutinvestments here and there aremere deceit. What hasdestroyed us in this countryand has still kept on destroyingus is corruption. Corruption iseverywhere in the society andthat is why we have not movedforward as a nation. Countriesthat are bound to move forwardare those that when youcommit offences of corruption,they just condemn you, hangyou, shoot and execute you. Buthere, people who are involvedin corruption are the righthand men of the President. Heeats and dines with them andthen gives them nationalhonors. And people who areappointed to fight corruptionas soon as they start doing well,these people will conspire andremove them. For a very longtime in this country, I havenever seen or heard thatsomebody has been arrestedand prosecuted for offeringbribe. It is only lip service. Wehave this case of (Farouk)Lawan and (Femi) Otedolawhich was a celebrated casebut security agenciesdestroyed it completely. IfGoodluck Jonathan issomebody who is out to fightcorruption, he could have dealtwith the security agencies thatdestroyed the case.

Is there any hope forNigeria?

There is hope; we should notlose hope because this is ourcountry. We don’t expect otherpeople to come and rule thiscountry for us. The only thingthat will save this country isthat we should imbibe the spiritof honesty, justice, rule of lawand the fear of God. If thismeans going out on revolution,not bloody revolution; not tokill people but like the one thatwas done in China where peoplestood on the road and stoppedarmoured vehicles frompassing.

Do you think that can

happen in Nigeria?Yes of course, but it will not

happen because people do notwant to die.

Is Nigeria better togetheror divided?

We cannot be dividedbecause we are inter-married.There will be a lot of quarrelsamong us if there isdisintegration. We have comea long way and we are alltogether. But these people, forselfish reasons, because theyare producing oil and becausethey think that they areeconomically viable and theywant to break away. Whoknows whether God Almightywho created those oil wells willcreate them somewhere else?After-all, many years back, wedid not know oil, we only knewgroundnut, palm oil, cotton,cocoa and so on yet we survivedwithout oil.

What do you think is theproblem with ourdemocracy?

All the political partiesbrought in this zoningarrangement which does notlook for the best candidates butmediocre who they will installso that they can be gettingmoney from them. I saw in thepapers where PresidentJonathan said that he alonecannot rule Nigeria. Already heis not ruling alone. TheCoordinating Minister is

already ruling with him; theminister of Finance NgoziIkonjo Iweala, the Primeminister, Chief EdmundClarke and the ‘DeputyPresident’ Patience Jonathanare ruling with him. IfJonathan is truly serious aboutgiving us dividends ofdemocracy, the first thing forhim to do is to deal withcorruption. This Boko Haramand other acts of insecurity inthis country all sprang upbecause of the injustices ofcorruption. If there is justice ofcorruption, we won’t have anysuch thing as Boko Haram. ThisBoko Haram is going on,soldiers say they are on top ofthe situation but many peoplehave been killed, many havebeen arrested and theworrisome part of it is thatpeople are arrested and we arenot told their involvement. Ifthese people are arrested andthey tell us their involvement;are leaders involved; are toppoliticians involved? Theydon’t tell us. They just arrestand keep quiet. We don’t know;we keep on speculating. A fewdays ago, we read in the papersthat a 24 year old boy wasarrested with over $20million. And he claimed thathe was taking the money outof the country for some people.Who are these people; let usknow but they will not tell us.

Jonathan not prepared togovern Nigeria, says Tsav

So, our situation is very badbut people who don’t know keepon singing and the governmentwill be deceiving us that theyare making progress. Whatprogress are they making?

What is your advice toJonathan as far as 2015 isconcerned?

The people who are workingfor Jonathan to come back areworking for their pockets; theyare not working because theylike you and me; they are notworking because they likeNigeria; they are working fortheir pockets. Maybe some ofthem have been able to acquireoil wells, some have been ableto make a lot of money; some ofthem have built houses andedifices and they want to retainthem. That is why they areasking Jonathan to contest in2015. Otherwise, the man isnot prepared to rule us. Hehasn’t got the stamina to ruleus. You can see that the man isfast losing weight. He is not likehe used to be before. So, thosewho are calling on him to re-contest in 2015 are not sayingthat because they love Nigeriabut because of their ownpockets.

You are the Almirul Hajjof Benue State and there hasbeen the worrisome issue ofdeportation of Nigerianwomen from Saudi Arabia,what is your opinion aboutthis?

You would notice that notall Muslim women in thecountry are being returned.Those who are being returnedcome from a particular part ofthe country. Are people fromthe south being returned? No.it’s only women from aparticular part of the north.And I think Saudi Arabia hasstanding order that a womangoing for Hajj or Umrah mustbe accompanied by her brother,her husband or her otherrelation. Why should thesepeople flout this order? Why?So, people who complied withthis order have gone there andthey have not been returned.But people who just went inthere without takingcognizance of the order havebeen returned. The Saudiauthority has taken this pre-emptive step becausesometimes when women gothere, they refuse to come back.Most of those who go without aguide, as soon as Hajj is aboutto finish, they run into the hills

and take shelter. As soon as wecome back, they will go andstart begging on the street.They take little children on thecold street and tie their handsbehind and cover it with veilsuch that when you see themyou would think that they areamputated. Three years agowhen I came back from Hajj, Idid a report on that and I sentit to all the 19 governors of thenorthern states. The governorof Niger State replied me; thegovernor of Kaduna State whois now the Vice President alsoreplied. They appreciatedwhat I did. Others did not replyme. So, if somebody goes witha guide and fails to return, theguide would be heldresponsible. So, these peopledecided to flout the law the waythey do in Nigeria and I amsure that must have beeninfluenced by corruption andignorance. I wouldn’t sayilliteracy but ignorance.

You would also see that youhardly find religious problemsin the South or East. We haveMoslems in the west; we haveMoslems in the East but youhardly find religious problemsin these areas because thepeople read, interpret andunderstand the Quran verywell so that they don’t makemistakes. But up north here,due to ignorance, joblessness,idleness and poverty, they gointo all these. So, I do not haveany sympathy for these peoplewho are being returned. But ifI were in government, I wouldhave recommended that thepeople who knew and allowedthose women to go to Meccashould be dealt with becausethey caused the whole thing.If the law says a woman whogoes to Mecca must beaccompanied by a guide, whydo you allow them to gowithout being accompanied?Why didn’t you obtain therelevant visa to cover her?These people should be heldresponsible.

When is Benuecontingent departing for theholy land?

We are hoping that withinthe next one or two weeks. Weare trying to avoid thesituation that happened tothese women in Saudi Arabia.We are trying to normalize ourvisas and very soon we willknow exactly when we aregoing. But it will not be morethan 10 days from now.

Alh. Abubakar Tsav

Alh. Abubakar Tsav, a social critic and a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, in this interview condemns President GoodluckJonathan for lacking the stamina and being ill-prepared to rule the country alleging that he has failed woefully to improve bothinfrastructures and human capacity development in the country. Our correspondent, Uche Nnorom, was there. Excerpts:

PAGE 38 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

A member of the House ofRepresentatives and aLabour Party stalwart from

Ondo state, Rep Iranola Akinlaja,yesterday alleged that the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) and itscandidate, Olusola Oke, are afraidof the incumbent governor, Dr.Olusegun Mimiko.

Akinlaja who undertook areview of ongoing gubernatorialelection campaigns ahead ofOctober 20th polls in the staterevealed that PDP has nothing tooffer the people of Ondo Statehaving failed to achieve any whenfirst given the opportunity.

He dispelled reports that hisparty, LP, is planning to use themachinery of government toensure second term of office for

Ondo: Oke, PDP, afraid ofMimiko, says Rep Akinlaja

Mimiko through rigging andactivities of political thugs.

According to Akinlaja whodoubles as leader of LP Caucus inthe House of Reps, the statementcredited to Chief Olusola Oke, thePDP candidate that LP wasplanning a massive clampdown onPDP few days ahead of the electionwas a mere indication of fear of theopposition and anticipated defeat.

“It is a lie that LP in Ondo Stateis planning to clamp down onleadership of PDP, or even theirsupporters. It is a figment ofimagination of Chief Olusola Okeand the inference we can draw fromthat is that, that was their stock intrade. He is probably afraid ofvengeance because what he saidwas exactly what they did toleadership and supporters of LPeven the electorates in 2007

By Lawrence Olaoye especially on the 14th and 21st ofApril 2007. Legs were broken,people were humiliated, somebodylike Tunji and Tunji was in legchains before the elections. Someof them were not released frompolice and military cells until weeksor months after elections especiallyin the North and Southernsenatorial districts “

“Oke probably thought thatGovernor Mimiko will revengewhat they have done. But Mimikohas proven over times that he’s notsomebody of the stuff. If he had donethat, most of the decampees fromPDP to LP would not have thechances to contest elections”

“For instance, a member ofHouse of Reps currentlyrepresenting Ilaje/Eseodo, Hon.Raphael Nomiye was a decampeeof PDP to LP where he contested and

Senate yesterday passed aresolution urging thefederal, states and local

governments to work harderto put the economy of thecountry on a part to greatnessso as to improve the livingconditions of majority ofNigerians.

Leading the debate overthe bill which seeks tocongratulate the President,Goodluck Jonathan andNigerians over the 52nd

independence anniversary,the sponsor, Itah Enang, saidthat though the country stillfaces numerous challenges inareas of unemployment andinfrastructural deficit, a lot ofprogress has been made so far.

He therefore demandedgovernment at all levels towork towards economic andinfrastructural developmentof the country, which will inturn create jobs for Nigerians.

Supporting the bill , thechairman, Senate Committeeon Information, EnyinnayaAbaribe, stated that Nigeriansare tired of hearing aboutproblems and criticisms.

While calling on everyNigerian to start makingefforts at individual levels tofind a lasting solution to thenumerous problems facing thecountry, he regretted thatmany Nigerians are stillliving below poverty line.

In his contribution, theDeputy Senate President, IkeEkweremmadu, said that lifeexpectancy of a country isinsignificant, calling foremphasis on achievementsand standard of living.

“Poverty indices areenormous, we should improveand provide infrastructures soas to create jobs”, he stated,pointing out that there is needfor synergy between the threearms of government to helpengender economic growth.

However, UcheChukwumerije, said that thegreatest challenges facing theeconomic development ofNigeria were federalcharacter and corruption,arguing that Nigeria is afailed state since it cannotmeet up with her mates in theAsian countries, includingMalaysia which is tops in redoil exportaqtion.

Chukwumerije, who notedthat Nigeria still has thepotentials to become a regionalpower in Africa, explainedthat this can only beattainable if the country isready to retrace its steps andresolve to do thingsdifferently.

Poverty:Senate urgesFG, states,LGs to workharder

From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina

Governor Ibrahim ShehuShema has dropped hisCommissioner of Justice

and Attorney General, BarristerBashir Yusuf.

A statement signed by the

Senior Special Assistant (SSA) tothe governor on Press Affairs,Lawal Ahmad Matazu noted thatBarrister Ibrahim

Dantsoho’s name has been sentto the House of Assembly asreplacement of the droppedCommissioner.

Similarly, the governor,according to the statement, hasalso approved minor cabinetreshuffle, where the commissionerfor Lands and Survey, AlhajiHussaini ‘Yammama was movedto the health ministry while thecommissioner for Health, Alhaji

Shema drops Commissioner, appoints 3 advisersNasidi Danladi was moved to thelands ministry.

The statement further saidthree special advisers wereappointed, they are Alhaji AliyuHaruna Jani, Alhaji AhmadDanbaba and Alhaji AbdulwahabSani Stores.

won his election. Even the StateAssembly member from OkitipupaLocal Government and anotherfemale commissioner are fromPDP. The governor allowed theparty to give everyone an equalright and level playing ground”

“Mimiko came out with apolicy of “room enough for all assoon as he came to office. He did notallow anyone to be victimiseddespite what they did to us in thepast”

“He has proven that he’s notfor vengeance. So if he did not dothat when he came to office newly,is it now that he’s extremelypopular that he will start?”

“So, PDP is not a threat to LP inOndo State, it is not a threat toambition of governor Mimiko forsecond term. How can we nowclamp down on anybody?

The Chief Orientation andMobilisations Officer of the National Orientation

Agency in Ebonyi, Mr MathewOdono, on Wednesday saidpatriotism and selfless service werekey to national development.

Odono made the remark in aninterview with the News Agency ofNigeria (NAN) in Abakaliki.

He observed that Nigeria hadenormous human and materialresources needed for its growth anddevelopment but that lack ofpatriotism and selfless service

among its citizens impeded therealisation of the dream.

Odono said that what wasneeded to fast-track development inthe country was genuine love forthe nation.

The officer also attributed thecurrent state of insecurity in thecountry to lack of patriotism, addingthat no one with genuine love forhis or her country could afford todestroy lives and property.

Odono, who commended thepatriotism, vision and selflessservice of the nation’s founding

fathers, advocated for moral andethical reorientation as a solutionto the present insecurity.

“Our founding fathers startedwell and meant well for the nation.They exhibited true patriotism andmanifested unparallelednationalism in the handling of theaffairs of the country.

“It was their vision and patrioticdisposition that kept us as oneindivisible entity. So, for us to growand develop as a nation, we mustimbibe the philosophy and ideal ofthe founding fathers,’’ Odono said.

Patriotism, selfless service key to national development — NOA officialHe expressed confidence in the

transformation agenda of theFederal Government, saying that itwould restore the hope of Nigerians.

“The transformationprogramme of the government is aright step in the right direction. It isinspiring and will ultimately restorethe hope of all Nigerians,’’ hesaid.

He said the journey togreatness was a gradual process,noting that the nation had madesignificant stride in its 52 years ofnationhood. (NAN)

L-R: Registrar, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Dibu Ojirinde, Chairman, House Committee onEducation, Hon. Rose Okoh, and member of the Committee, Hon. Abubakar Momoh, during the committee's visit to JAMB, onWednesday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

PAGE 39PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Senate President, DavidMark, yesterday distancedhimself from the alleged plot

to remove Senator Robert Borofficefrom office by its erstwhile party,Labour Party (LP) for defecting tothe Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN).

Responding to allegations by theopposition ACN that the Senateleadership has a hand in Boroffice’strauma, Mark in a statementreleased on his behalf by his SpecialAssistance on Media and PublicAffairs, Kola Ologbondiyan, stated

Defection: Mark disowns Boroffice“It is wicked and mischievous forthe ACN to allege that the Senateleadership has a hand in Boroffice’sfate when it was the Senator thatpersonally took himself to INEC.”

He recalled that the OndoSenator himself wrote to theIndependent National ElectoralCommission (INEC) notifying thecommission of his resignation fromthe Labour Party (LP) on whichplatform he was elected andrequested the Commission’s opinionon his decision to join the ACN whilealleging division in LP.

But the Commission, he added,in its response however declared

that “it (Commission) has no recordof any division in the Labour Partyto justify your (Boroffice)resignation from the Party”.

“The INEC response dated 13th

September, 2012 and signed by theSecretary of the Commission,Abdullahi A. Kaugama, furtherstated that “Section 68(1)(g) (of the1999 Constitution as amended)does not operate in your favour asthere is no division in the LabourParty,”’ he further said.

“It is therefore incongruous andsmack of sitting logic on its head forthe ACN or its spokesperson toconclude that Senator Mark- led

Plateau state chapter of theConference of NigerianPolitical Parties (CNPP)

yesterday endorsed the candidatureof Mr. Chris Giwa of the AllProgressive Grand Alliance (APGA)alleging that other candidates haveagreed to step down for him.

With the endorsement, only Col.John Dungs of the DemocraticPeoples Party (DPP), Gyang Pwajokof the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and Giwa of APGA arecandidates for the bye-election.

Bye-election: Confusion over Giwa’s adoption by CNPPHowever, the state Chairman

of the CNPP, Mohammed Kanam,has said allowing all candidates toface PDP is an acceptance of defeatand that the CNPP had under avery difficult condition come upwith a formula to present onecandidate to face the PDP candidatebecause their goal is win theelection.

To this end, the candidate of theAll Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)Dr. Danladi Atu, Labour Party (LP)Lumumuba Adeh and the ActionCongress of Nigeria (ACN) Barr.Yusufu Pam seized to be candidates

in the Saturday’s bye-election. Kanam said “a committee was

set up by the whole house to speak toour five candidates; a task which wasnot easy to handle. But since wehave to come up with just onecandidate, the committeerecommended Ambassador ChrisGiwa of APGA to be the candidate tobe supported by all members of theCNPP”.

He however clarified that Dungs(rtd) of DPP was not part of thearrangement the screeningexercise that endorsed Giwa.

However, Atu and Lumumba

A Federal High Court inAbuja has fixed December6, 2012 to deliver judgment

in the suit brought before it by afaction of the Congress for ProgressiveChange (CPC) in Katsina statechallenging the withdrawal of theirCertificates of Return by theIndependent National electoralCommission (INEC).

Two Senators and eightmembers of the House ofRepresentatives dragged theelectoral body, Senate President,Speaker of the House ofRepresentatives, the Clerk of theNational Assembly, CPC and tenmembers of the National Assemblybefore the court over INEC’s actionwhich sacked them from theNational Assembly.

The Plaintiffs, in the suit filed ontheir behalf by Yayaya Mahmood(SAN) prayed the court for an ordernullifying the certificates of returnissued by INEC to Senator AbubakarSadiq Yar’adua, Senator AbubakarHadi Sirika and eight other membersof the House of Representatives, whoare 5th to 14th Defendants in the suit.

They want the court to order thelawmakers to vacate their seats inthe National Assembly.

The Plaintiffs also want the courtto declare that INEC lacks the powerto cancel, nullify, review, withdraw,void, invalidate either directly orindirectly, the Certificates of Returnvalidly issued to them consequentupon their winning elections torepresent their respective FederalConstituencies and SenatorialDistricts in Katsina State, withoutan order of the court first sought andobtained.

Other reliefs sought by thePlaintiffs are: “A declaration that byvirtue of section 75(1) of the ElectoralAct 2010, as amended, INEC lacksthe power to issue certificates ofreturn to the 5th - 14th Defendants inrelation to the Federal Constituenciesand Senatorial Districts over whichthe Plaintiffs had earlier on beenissued with valid certificates ofreturn, when neither the Court ofAppeal nor the Supreme Court hadnullified the certificates of returnissued to the Plaintiffs.

“A declaration that the sealedcertificates of return issued to thePlaintiff upon their winning electioninto the National Assembly torepresent their various FederalConstituencies and SenatorialDistricts of Katsina state are still validand that the Plaintiffs are entitled toimmediately repossess their seats inthe National assembly to representtheir respective FederalConstituencies and SenatorialDistrict without hindrance from the2nd (Senate President), 3rd (Speaker)or 4th (Clerk of the NationalAssembly) Defendants or any otherperson”.

In an affidavit in support of theoriginating summon, the Plaintiffsaverred that INEC purportedlywithdrew their certificates of returnsand a fresh ones were issued to the 5th

to 14th Defendants without any orderof any court of competentjurisdiction.

Katsina CPC:Court sets Dec.6 for judgment

L-R: Acting Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Alhaji Kabir Mashi, in a handshake with Deputy Speaker,House of Representatives, Hon. Emaka Ihedioha, during the opening ceremony of an investigative hearing on the involvement ofthe Federal Government, Shell/Agip Companies and Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in respect of oil bloc, yesterday at the NationalAssembly, in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Senate has deployed ‘jackboot’strategies to declare the seat ofSenator Boroffice vacant.

”Why did DistinguishedSenator Boroffice write to INECwhen he knew that the decision tovacate his seat or otherwise lies withthe courts?” the Senate Presidentqueried.

Senator Mark noted that theimport of INEC’s letter is thatSenator Boroffice remains a Senatorof the Federal Republic elected onthe platform of the Labour Partyand therefore cannot be recognizedas a Senator of the ACN extraction.

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

candidates of LP and ANPP deniedknowledge of the endorsement anddescribed it as a kangarooarrangement. Lumumbadescribed the act as laughablesaying that the CNPP is an agent ofPDP and that Giwa is the leastamong all the candidates.

He recalled that Giwa who wasACN candidate in the lastgovernorship but later sold out toJang and that he is up to the samegame just as he urged theelectorates to disregard thekangaroo arrangement and votefor him.

By Richard Ihediwa

From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

The Lagos State LocalGovernment ElectionPetitions Tribunal sitting in

Ikeja yesterday declared BabajideObanikoro of the Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) as winner of the Ikoyi/Obalende chairmanship electionheld on October 22 last year.

The tribunal, presided over byretired Justice Dolapo Akinsanya,maintained that Obanikoro scoredthe highest number of valid votes

Tribunal declares Obanikoro’s son winner of Ikoyi/Obalendechairmanship election

in the election.Justice Akinsanya therefore

nullified the election of Mr. AdewaleAdeniji of the Action Congress ofNigeria (ACN) and ordered theLagos State Independent ElectoralCommission (LASIEC) to revoke theCertificate of Return issued to him.

The tribunal declared that thepetitioners had proven that electionresults were not collated at the unitand ward levels as shown in theLASIEC Forms 9A which wereadmitted as exhibits.

According to the tribunal,“Section 11(2) of the LocalGovernment Elections PetitionsTribunal Law 2011 empowers thistribunal to nullify any election thatdoes not comply with the laid downregulations.

“The petitioners have been ableto discharge the burden of proofvested on them as regards to thecollation of the results.

“It transferred the onus to therespondents who did not tender anyLASIEC Form 9A which is the firststage of any election.

“The petitioners have shown

that the non-collation of the resultsat the units and ward levelssubstantially affected the outcomeof the result declared by LASIEC.”

The tribunal held that from theavailable evidence before thetribunal, Obanikoro scored a totalof 3,770 valid votes while Adenijiscored a total of 3,248 votes.

“We order LASIEC to issue aCertificate of Return to thepetitioners with immediate effecthaving won the disputed election.We are also awarding N100,000as cost in favour of the petitioner”,the tribunal ordered.

From Francis Iwuchukwu, Lagos

PAGE 41PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

The Super Eagles will literarily ‘die on the pitch’ ifPresident Goodluck Jonathan were to personnallybe at the UJ Esuene Stadium Calabar on October

13 to watch the 2013 Nations Cup final leg qualifyinggame between Nigeria and Liberia.

Head Coach, Stephen Keshi vowed Wednesday thatthe presence of the President will raise the adrenaline inthe players to such level that they would practicallywant to spill their blood to ensure Nigeria snatch theNations Cup ticket even from the jaw the lions.

“No, we don’t need dollars to be motivated. What theEagles want is the morale support of Nigerians. Andindeed, there will be no greater support and motivatingforce than the presence of President Goodluck Jonathan

The Confederationof AfricanFootball has

announced thechange of dates for the2nd leg of the final ofOrange CAFChampions League2012.

CAF said that it hasbeen decided toreschedule the matchnumber 116 (2ND leg ofthe final) in CL2012, tobe played on theweekend of the 16th,17th or 18thof November2012 instead of the

initially designateddate in the fixtures (9th,10th or 11th of November2012).

This exceptionalchange was motivatedby the willingness toavoid clash ofcalendar with the

final of the AfricanW o m e nChampionship (heldon the 11th ofNov.2012) and willallow each finalistteam to have 2 weeksbetween each leg ofthe final.

CAF moves Champions League 2nd leg final date

in Calabar to watch the Eagles.“Look the players will practically want to spill their

blood on the pitch in Calabar. They will want to die onthe pitch rather than allow the Liberians to deny Nigeriathe ticket to the 2013 Nations Cup finals in South Africa,”he said in a veiled invitation of President to be the firstdemocratically elected Nigerian president to watch theEagles live in the stadium.

Keshi, who was in high spirited and quite ebullient,said the Eagles are raring to go and will not allow anyother nation to stop Nigeria’s quest not just to participateat the finals but emerg victorious.

“I know my squad. We have the materials, the burninghunger, the quality and the zest to compete and win inSouth Africa. But we need to jump the Liberian hurdleand we know we can do so.

“What the players want most is not dollars support,but the morale support, their presence in the stadium,their cheers and those things they do to motivate andginger them to want to die on the pitch to get the resultthat the nation so much desire,” he said.

Super Eagles will kill Lone Stars if Jonathanwatches them in Calabar, says KeshiBy Patrick Andrew

The Minister of State for theFederal Capital Territory(FCT), Oloye Olajumoke

Akinjide has directed the MandateSecretary of the Social DevelopmentSecretariat, Mrs. Blessing Onuh andthe Director of Sports in the FCTSports Counscil, Mallam Musa AlimMohammed to reconstitute thesports association boards in theTerritory before December ending.

Peoples Daily Sports recalls thatthe associations’ tenures expiredsome three years but the neither theFCT Sports Council nor theleadership of the SDS had botheredto consider reconstituting them untilthe FCT chapter of the Sports WritersAssociation of Nigeria (SWAN)publicly lamented the death of sportsin the Territory.

Giving the directive during a visitby the FCT SWAN executives,Akinjide said the associations mustbe reconstituted to re-jig sports in theterritoy stressing that unless theboards of the associations were inplace sports would hardly have theneeded policy drive.

“We need committed persons toserve on the boards of these SportsAssociations. People should applyand due diligence should beundertaken on them. All the SportsAssociations will be inaugurated byDecember 2012.”

She noted that the restructuringof Sports in the country had becomenecessary due to the dismalperformance at this year’s Olympicsin London.

“Our performance at the

Olympics was abysmal as we wonno medal. But our athletes at theParalympics made the nation proudand were deservedly rewarded byMr. President. We need to take ourSports to the next level to enable useffectively compete at domestic andinternational events,” he said.

The minister urged the SDS toorganise an annual Marathon racein the FCT where internationalathletes would be invited toparticipate.

The SDS Secretary stated that theSecretariat would build communitystadia in some Area Councils Kujeand Bwari as part of measures toencourage the growth of sports in theFCT.

Boards of the associations to bereconstituted are Basketball,Handball, Karate, Volleyball, Judo,Boxing, Taekwondo, Hockey, Golf,Badminton, Kick Boxing, SpecialSports, Traditional Sports,Wrestling, Weight Lifting,Swimming, Gymnastics, Tennis,Table Tennis, Shooting and Squash.

The Chairman of FCT Chapter ofSWAN, Mr. Kayode Adeniyi, statedthat the FCT had what it takes tocompete favourable with Lagos,Delta, Edo and Rivers States in theprovision of sports facilities andwinning laurels.

“There is need for adequateprovision of sporting facilities andrecreation centres in theneighbourhoods such as Maitama,Asokoro, Lugbe, Nyanya,Gwagwalada, Kubwa, Bwari, Kujeand Abaji,” he noted.

Akinjide directs Onu, Musa toreconstitute FCT sports associations

Jose

ph Y

obo

The Flamingoeswere againstopped at the

quarter-finals of theFIFA U-17 Women’sWorld Championshipin Azerbaijan afterlosing 5-3 on penaltyshoot-out to France.At the last edition, thePeter Dedevboturtored side were alsobeaten at the stage.

It was the firstpenalty shootout of

FIFA U-17: Again, thunder strikes Nigeria in quater-finalsAzerbaijann 2012 andMarion Romanellistrikes in the winnings p o t - k i c kfor France after a 0-0draw. The French girlswere in fine vein of formin the first half and it wasa surprise they were didnot take the lead in spiteof the several chancesthey had.

But Niger ia lookeddangerous on theb r e a k

b u t F r a n c e w e r econtrolling possessionand the play.Kadidiatou Diani wasnext to test Andy,with the No9’s headerfrom Declercq’s crosssending her sprawlingto her right.

It was Nigeria infact who had the ballin the net first, withtheir No9 Yakubuheading betweenRomane Bruneau’s

legs, but ChinwenduIhezuo had long beenflagged offside.

Ihezuo was gifted agolden chance on thestroke of half-timethough. The prolificforward latched ontoMbock Bathy’s weakback-pass butBruneau stood tall andsaved well.

The pendulumswung marginallyin Nigeria’s favour

after the break,w i t h h o l d i n gpossession muchbetter, thoughchances remainedscarce.

Declercq eventuallyjarred what hadbecome a stagnantgame back into life,charging into theNigerian area andcrashing a fierce driveoff the underside of thebar. It was then

cleared, but hercorner found the headMbock Bathy whoheaded narrowly widefor a second time.

The night took at u r nagainst Niger ia whencaptain Adielomonreceived only thesecond red card of thetournament for hersecond yellow of thenight. Her stand-inHalimatu Ayinde

almost snatched thegame on 84 minutesthough, but she slid hershot into the side-netting when baringdown on Bruneau’s goal.

With time up,Sandie Toletti, UgochiEmenayo andDeclercq exchangedefforts before SarahNnodim put horriblywide. It fell toRomanelli to tuckhome the winner.

Already, 21domestic leagueplayers have beensweating it out sinceon Monday. Thisweekend, the teamwill relocate toCalabar where the 15foreign-based playerswill join theird o m e s t i ccounterparts to putfinishing touches totheir preparations forthe October 13 duel. President Jonathan

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PAGE 42 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Alhaji Aminu Maigari, the President, NigeriaFootball Federation (NFF), has called for unityamong football stakeholders in the country in the

interest of the development of “the beautiful game’’.Maigari was speaking at a meeting with some

stakeholders in Baku, the Azerbaijan capital onWednesday, on the sidelines of the ongoing FIFA U-17Women’s World Cup.

He urged the stakeholders to partner with the footballbody in running the business of soccer and should not beleft to government alone.

“You are stakeholders in football business and as theowners of the game, we rely so much on you,’’ he said.

The NFF president urged those in attendance, mainlychairmen of football associations to talk to their variousstate associations on the need for unity within “thefootball family’’.

“Let’s work together and become one family day inday out. People expect so much from the football family,and it depends on us to meet their expectations,’’ Maigaristressed.

He said that the federations would not run well if therewere rifts within the ranks and if members haddisagreements among themselves.

Super Eagles Chief Coach Stephen Keshi has chargedthe Super Eagles to step up to the challenge andmake the difference in against Loner Stars of Liberia

on October 13.Keshi, who would desire nothing by the routing of

Liberia, said making a difference against the Lone Starswould effectively stem the tide of their decliningperformance in recent times.

Speaking during the usually weekly media parley,the Eagles Head Coach said that the return leg qualifyingmatch against the Lone Star of Liberia for the AfricaCup of Nations in South Africa in 2013, would beexplosive.

He acknowledged that the performance of the Eagleshad diminished over the past 10 years, but assured thateverything was being done to rekindle team spirit, depthand knack to deliver for which the Eagles were known.

“It is up to the players to wake up now. It is not me oryou. It is up to the players to stand up to the challenge,’’he said.

Keshi called on all Nigerians to rally behind the teamas that was all the team would need to get to South Africastressing that unhealthy criticisms would not help.

“I think that is the right thing to do now. Not just theFederal Government, but every Nigerian as well. Weneed to have confidence in the players. They needpositive talks. They need to know that the people believein them.

“We do not need to hear that they are useless playersand they can’t do anything. We need togetherness; weneed to come together in boosting their morale. We needall Nigerians to come to Calabar. Get behind the team,certainly they will do well,’’ Keshi said.

The coach said people should discountenance rumoursmaking the rounds that he was playing a 4-2-4formation. “No team in the world plays a 4-2-4formation.

“How can I play 4-2-4; what I play is 4-4-2 formation.I never played 4-2-4. But if you don’t understand thesystem, it is better to say you don’t understand thesystem. It is 4-4-2 formation that we play.

“Probably, the only problem you guys (newsmen) areobserving right now is that, the two flank players arenot coming in as mid-field players and winning balls.

“It happens mainly when I have my home-basedplayers, because we have been practicing that over andover and they know how it works. They know how toencroach in the mid field and block,’’ Keshi said.

The return leg match against the Lone Star of Liberiawill hold on Oct. 13 at the U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

Emmanuel Obafemi,Retired Nigerian referee

Aminu Maigari

The management ofNiger Tornadoes FCof Minna says it will

recruit a new technicaladviser following thesuspension of its technicaladviser, Mr Justine Tenge.

This is contained in astatement signed by MrSuleiman Isah, the club’sMedia Officer, in Minna onTuesday.

According to thestatement, the indefinitesuspension of Tenge is stilleffective while the club isfollowing the due processin recruiting a newadviser.

“We have opened ourwindow for recruitment oftechnical adviser and hewill continue to be onsuspension until themanagement clarifiessome of the observationsmade in his technicalreport.

“So, anybody who isinterested can apply,’’ thestatement said.

The statement statedthat 12 applications hadbeen received, noting thata committee wouldscrutinise and shortlist thesuccessful applicants forinterview.

He said the club took thestep because the nationalleague would start on Oct.28 and the new adviserwould be expected torecruit and groom players.

Eighty six match officials are currentlyparticipating in the 2012 FIFA MA Course for elitereferees, referee assessors and physical fitness

instructors, in Abuja.A total of 30 elite referees, 36 assessors and 20 physical

fitness instructors are participating in the one-weekprogramme, which debuted in 2011.

The course, organised by FIFA, was piloted by threeFIFA-leading retired referee instructors, Sidi BekayeMagassa from Mali, Felix Tangawarima from Zimbabweand Madembe Mbacke of Senegal.

Peter Edibe, the only Nigerian referee involved in the2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying race was among thereferees in attendance.

Alhaji Muazu Suleyman, member of NFF ExecutiveCommittee and Chairman of the NFF RefereesCommittee who represented Maigari, commended FIFAfor continuously supporting every programme gearedtoward the development of the Nigerian referee.

“Let me start by expressing heartfelt appreciation to

the world football-governing body, FIFA, for the keeninterest it has continued to show, unpretentiously aboutthe development of Nigeria referees and their profilesinternationally.

“It is this very special interest that informed the moveby the world body to approve the maiden edition of thiscourse.” “This same interest has manifested again withthe FIFA’s decision to send to Nigeria three of the verybest in the business, who have seen it all in the vocationof refereeing and have so much to teach our own people,”Suleyman said.

He commended the efforts of the Nigeria RefereesAssociation and the NFF Referees Committee, pledgingthat the NFA would continue to support its activities.

He expressed the hope that more Nigerian refereeswould soon participate in world football, going by thenature of support received from FIFA.

Retired Nigerian FIFA referees, Linus Mba, EmmanuelObafemi and Edikin Imiere, are also attending theprogramme.

Maigari calls for unity amongsoccer stakeholders

Nigeria goalkeeper,Chigozie Agbim isrelishing the

opportunity of reachingthe 2013 Africa Cup ofNations finals in SouthAfrica.

Liberia’s Lone Star standin between the SuperEagles and a place at nextyear’s edition of AFCON.

The Warri Wolves’goalkeeper said it will be “ahuge fulfilment” in hiscareer to be part of theAfcon next year shouldNigeria qualify.

“It will be a dream cometrue, and a huge fulfilmentfor me if Nigeria qualify forthe Nations Cup in SouthAfrica and I am also part ofthe team to thecompetition too,” said

Agbim.But he added that the

Nigerian squad will haveto defeat their Liberiancounterparts when bothsides clash in Calabar onOctober 13 in the decisive

leg of the 2013 Afconqualifying final round.

“Though I am lookingforward to being one of thosepicked for the Nations Cupbut we will have to beatLiberia first. We cannot

afford to let this slip off ourhands or else we would havefailed our country and thecoach,” he said.

Agbim, who is a nomineefor Best Goalkeepercategory in the 2012

Tornadoesshop for newtechnicaladviser

86 officials attend FIFA referees course in Abuja

Nations Cup qualifier: Agbim raring to goLeague Bloggers Awards(LBA), has been one of themainstay in the SuperEagles and has captainedthe side in warm-up gamesagainst Egypt and NigerRepublic this year.

Keshi charges Eaglesto make a differenceagainst Lone Stars

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PAGE 44 PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Six weeks to thecommencement of the18th National Sports

Festival in Lagos, the EdoState Sports Council says it isconcluding preparation forthe state athlete’sparticipation at the festival.

The state Sports Director,Mr Godwin Okutta, disclosedthis stressing that complaintsby the state athletes on thelack of training facilities inpreparation for the festivalwere far from the truth.

“The sports council is atpresent working round theclock for a hitch-freepreparation for the festival,”Okutta said.

Earlier, the athletes havedecried the absence oftraining facilities ahead of thefestival, but vowed to defendthe medals they won at thelast festival in Port Harcourtlast year.

Spokesman of the athletes,African Kick-Boxing championturned coach, JohnOsamwonyi, said that the lackof facility had slowed down theirpreparation for the festival.

Osamwonyi, however,added that the governmentneglect notwithstanding, theathletes would compete at thefestival and win medalspurposely for self pride.

“My heart bleeds to seetalented athletes beingneglected by the stategovernment. These areathletes who have won laurelsfor this state in previousfestivals and are still rearingto go,” Osamwonyi, a silvermedalist at the 2003 AllAfrica Games said.

“But the state governmentand the ministry are notencouraging then to do well.The athletes are determined toexcel and win medals at thefestival for self-esteem and asindigenes of the state,’’ he said.

According to him, theathletes are working hardand are targeting 15 medalsat the festival.

“That is our plan and thatis our dream and that is whywe are begging the stategovernment to quickly cometo our aid. We have lost fourof my medals hopeful to otherstates that enticed them withgood offer.

“But many others havedecided to stay back out ofloyalty for me as their coachbelieving that the stategovernment will come upwith something soon.

Serena Willaims

Venue Williams

Gov. Babatunde Fashola,Lagos

Edo SportsCouncilensuresathletesearlypreparation

The Lagos State Governmenthas postponed the closedcamping of its athletes for the

18th National Sports Festivalbecause of what it called “logisticsreasons’’.

The Director, (Technical), TeamLagos to the Games, BabatundeFatayi-Williams, disclosed this to

the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN)yesterday in Lagos.

Fatayi-Williams said that theathletes who were to have begunthe closed camping on Oct. 2 wouldnow commence training at a newdate next week.

“The closed camp for the sportsfestival has been postponed to nextweek, we have to tackle somelogistics problems to achieve theaims of the camping,’’ he said.

Fatayi-Williams also said that thepostponement would not affect themorale of athletes and urged themto always be prepared.

He expressed optimism that thefinal phase of the preparation forthe festival would bring out the best

and put athletes in good form to winmedals at the fiesta.

“I am confident that the closedcamp will help our athletes to perfecttheir techniques and be in top shapeto win medals at the sports festival,’’Fatayi-Williams said.

No fewer than 851 athletes in 25sports will be camped at eightcentres for 54 days.

The centres are Lagos StateEmergency ManagementAuthority (LASEMA), Ikorodu,which will host chess, scrabble,wrestling, judo, para-table tennis,power lifting and the fourtraditional sports — Abula, Ayo,Dambe and Kokowa.

Mayoung Baracks, Somolu, will

host hockey, handball, cricket,badminton and tennis, whileathletics, squash, deaf athletics,gymnastics, kickboxing andswimming will hold at TeslimBalogun Stadium, Surulere.

Table tennis and deaf table tenniswould be played at the Union BankSports Club, Surulere, whilevolleyball and basketball will be atthe Police College, Ikeja.

The National Youth ServiceCorps (NYSC) Orientataion Camp,Iyana Ipaja, will host football,taekwondo, weightlifting and para-athletics, while JaliscoGymnasium, Oshodi and EpeRecreation Centre host boxing andcycling respectively.

American tennis stars Venusand Serena Williams are setfor a three-day tour of

Nigeria later this year inNovember.

The sisters, who have won two ofthe four grand slam titles betweenthem in 2008, are expected to be inLagos and will play an exhibitionmatch - their first in Africa - as wellas host a tennis clinic for 1,000Nigerian youngsters. Speaking atthe Lagos Lawn Tennis Club,director of the International TennisAcademy, Godwin Kienka,explained the Williams werethrilled to be part of the project titled“Touching 1000 Lives at a Time”.

He said: “The world famoustennis siblings, Venus and SerenaWilliams, have accepted to come toNigeria to motivate and inspireNigerian youths with their storyand talent.

“Venus is especially excitedbecause it will be her first visit toAfrica. Their story is one of that of acombination of unwavering desire,determination, discipline, focus,good planning and sacrifice havebrought them to this point.

“There are thus no better sportsrole-models to inspire and motivateand re-orientate Nigerian youthsto pursue excellence and success inwhatever they choose to do, likethese two African-Americans.”

Apart from playing theexhibition game, the Williams’ willalso run a short clinic for the bestjuniors in the country and visitselected orphanages in and aroundLagos.

...Repair works stall swimmers training

18th NSF: Lagos postponesclosed camping

Williams excitedwith first Africa tripWilliams excitedwith first Africa trip

The ongoing repair works at theswimming pool of the TeslimBalogun Stadium, Lagos, has

hindered the training of the LagosState swimmers for the forthcoming18th National Sports Festival.

Eniola Omope, the Head Coach,Lagos Swimming Team for thefestival, said yesterday that theswimmers have not train for thepast three weeks.

According to Omope, the repairworks which began three weeks

ago was going at a ‘very slow pace’to the disadvantage of theswimmers.

“The slow pace of works at thepool may negatively affect theperformance of the swimmers atthe festival which is about sixweeks from now.

“The four-day a week trainingwhich my swimmers started sincethe second week of July had putthem in proper shape.

“However, the renovation work,

I am afraid, had slowed down theirtempo, because they had relaxedfor the past three weeks. In fact, weare about to begin our closecamping when the rehabilitationstarted,” she said.

The coach then appealed to themanagement of the facility todirect the contractor handling theworks to speed up the renovationto ensure her team resumesnormal training.

Moses Williams the pool

attendant, also confirmed that themajor repair works at the poolwhich he said were tiling andinstallation of water pumpingmachine, were yet to begin.

Williams said that although, therenovation would be ready beforethe start of the festival, theswimmers for now should look foralternative pool to train.

Swimming is one major eventTeam Lagos was banking its hopeto win more medals at the festival.

PAGE 45PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Seldom do theordinary citizenshave a close

encounter with theirpresident, at least in ourclimes. Indeed, rare issuch opportunity for thecommoner to rub palmswith the men thatdictates the deeds of state.

Not a few have cravedfor such chance but maynever have it till theyreturned to motherearth. For sports persons,as is the same withseveral artisans andother bookishprofessionals, such rareprivilege is dreamt of,craved for and in somerare moments, suchdream materialized.

And what lastingmemory such momentsare in the consciousnessof the privileged ones!

Early last month,

President GoodluckJonathan in seeminglyflash-like manner made arare appearance beforemembers of the SuperEagles at the NationalStadium Abuja. It washistoric in many respects.

Jonathan visited theteam's training sessionwith the retinue of hischoicest officers ingovernment. The vicepresident, NamadiSambo, Senate PresidentDavid Mark, GovernorRotimi Amaechi, andseveral others whorepresented core interestgroups were with him.

That singular visitsurely puts Jonathan inthe annals of Nigeriansports as the firstNigerian president to paya courtesy visit to theEagles. And were theplayers delighted?

Nothing could be moreaccurate.

Forget that the Eaglessomewhat failed to keeptheir side of the bargainin Monrovia where theLone Stars snatched thetwo points off their haul.The game ended 2-2.

Nonetheless, thatpresidential visit wasclearly affective andtherefore effective. Now,Stephen Keshi, the Eagleshead coach, wantsnothing better thananother presidentialpresence. But not a

return visit tothe trainingsession. He isspared of thenecessity ofthat pep talkwith theplayers.

Calabar is it!Yes, Keshib e l i e v e sn e i t h e rchurns dollarsnor mere telephoneconversation- somethinglate Gen. Sani Abachabrought into vogue, willdo the magic.

What will, he said, in amatter-of- fact isPresident GoodluckJonathan's physicalpresence in Calabar,cheering the team,giving half time pep talk

WATCH DOGBy

Patrick Andrewowoidoho_ng35@yahoo.com

and all that. Yes, Keshibelieves nothing else willmatter so long as thepresident leads his teamto the stadium.

He reasons that theJonathan's presence, likemagnet to mentalobjects, will necessarilybring a mammoth crowdto stadium. It could evenbe an avenue for anemergency 'rally'.

Of course, football- agrowing religion- with itshuge congregation of piouslargely youthful devoteescommands fetish,voracious presence in theconsciousness of itsenthusiasts. So doespolitics which a president

Will Jonathan acceptKeshi's challenge?

“Of course, football- a growing religion- with itshuge congregation of pious largely youthfuldevotees commands fetish, voracious presence inthe consciousness of its enthusiasts. So doespolitics which a president symbolizes in ademocratic setting such as we are said to practice.

Kayode Abdulwahab-Omotose, the President,Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), onThursday in Lagos commended the Christ

Embassy for contributing to the development of thesport in the country.

Abdulwahab-Omotose told the News Agency ofNigeria (NAN) on telephone that the federation wasdelighted that the church had for three yearssponsored the Reach Out Nigeria Table TennisChampionships.

The 3rd edition of the competition was held in Uyobetween Sep. 25 and Oct. 1. “I am excited that ChristEmbassy has chosen to identify with the progress oftable tennis in the country and I give kudos to thechurch,’’ he said.

He called on other churches and corporate bodies toemulate the gesture to enable the NTTF organise morechampionships and consequently, discover talents.

The NTTF boss also said that he was pleased withthe participation of clubs from Germany andPortugal, adding that the players’ performance wasimpressive.

“The participation of foreign clubs made the eventmore competitive and this also made our players to

put up some impressive display,’’ he added.The states that participated included Ondo,

Adamawa, Imo, Kwara, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta,Kaduna, Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital

Territory.The foreign clubs were GTV Club of Bremerhaven,

Germany; and Union Maritime Club of Portugal.The Nigerian clubs were Sheraton, Abuja;

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps; UnionBank, and the Nigeria Police Force.

Top seeds, Victoria Azarenka and MariaSharapova, reached the last eight of theChina Open yesterday after recording their

third consecutive straight-sets victories in Beijing.World No 1 and first seed Azarenka dispatched

Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-3 to set up aquarterfinal tie with Switzerland’s Romina Oprandi.

The 23-year-old from Belarus has yet to drop aset in the tournament, defeating France’s AlizeCornet 6-1, 6-0 in the first round and Sabine Lisickiof Germany 6-4, 6-2 in the second.

Second-seed Sharapova, No 2 in the WTArankings behind Azarenka, defeated Slovenianqualifier Polona Hercog, ranked 90th in the world,6-0, 6-2 at the capital’s National Tennis Stadium.

Sharapova, 25, had beaten Romania’s SimonaHalep 7-5, 7-5 in the first round and Sorana Cirstea,

also of Romania, 6-2, 6-2 in round two.“I had a long first round, even though it was two

sets, but today and yesterday was definitely a littlebit quicker,” Sharapova said.

“I played really well in the beginning and got alittle tense in the second set, but I felt like I reallyneeded that challenge. It’s nice to be in thequarterfinal stage of this tournament.”

Sharapova will face her first real test of thePremier Mandatory event in the next round whenshe takes on either fifth seed Angelique Kerber ofGermany or former world No 1 Caroline Wozniackiof Denmark.

The China Open is the fourth and finalcompulsory tournament of the women’s calendar,behind only the Grand Slams and season-endingWTA Championships in prestige.

Azarenka, Sharapova in China Open last eight finals

NTTF president commends church for promoting table tennis

“We are committedto making matches ofthe Super Eagles, andindeed other NationalTeams, moreexperiential, morememorable for thefans. We also want tobe able to show greatervisibility at matchesinvolving theNational Teams,” saidDr. Anyalebechi.

Receiving theGuinness team, whichalso included BrandManager, Guinness, Mr.Uche Onwudiwe, NFFGeneral Secretary,Barrister Musa Amadu,said the companyremained “one of NFF’sstrongest partners in thearea of the developmentof the game”.

Guinness also used

the forum to pledgetotal commitment tosupporting the SuperEagles at nextweekend’s 2013African Cup of Nationsqualifying matchagainst the Lone Star ofLiberia at the U. J.Esuene Stadium,Calabar.

Also at the meetingwere NFF’s Director ofTechnical, Dr.Emmanuel Ikpeme,Director of Marketing,Mr. Idris Adama,Chief Media Officer,Mr. Ademola Olajire,Principal Legal Officer,Barrister Okey Obi,Senior MarketingManager, Mr. AlizorChuks and SeniorSports Officer, Dr.Christian Emeruwa.

Guinness reiteratescommitment to EaglesGuinness Nigeria

PLC hasreaffirmed its

commitment to thesponsorship of thenational teams and thegeneral developmentof Nigerian football.

During a briefmeeting with theManagement of theNigeria FootballFederation, atthe Glass House,Abuja, the company’sMarketing Manager,Dr. ObinnaAnyalebechi saidGuinness is delightedwith the recentperformances of thenational teams andwill always be there tolend support for theteams to do evenbetter.

EaglesplayWater, FCAbuja today

The Super Eagleswill this morningat the practice

pitch of the NationalStadium Abuja tradetackles with Water FC ina test game that willafford the technical crewthe opportunity to seethe players’ physicaland mental shape.

Same thing will berepeated tomorrowmorning when theEagles will again tackleFC Abuja with a view tofurther assessing them.

The game will also allowthe technical crew thechance to trim thenumber of domestic leagueplayers in the team.

According to the MediaOfficer of the team, BenAlaiya, the matches willoffer the players to thechance to provethemselves and thus meritretention in the squad thatwill face Liberia.

Chris John will defend his WBA super-featherweight title in Singapore on November9. The champion will face Thailand’s

Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo.The undefeated John heads a card to be presented

at the Marina Bay Sands resort. On the same bill, hisIndonesian compatriot Daud Yordan will defend hisIBO featherweight title against Choi Tseveenpurevof Mongolia.

It is the second fight in Singapore for John, whoseprofessional record stands at 47 wins 2 draws and 22knockouts. He retained his title when he defeatedJapanese challenger Shoji Kimura on points in May.

John, 33, who wasvoted WBA fighter of thedecade earlier thismonth, will be making

his 17th title defence.Mexican Orlando Salido is one place above John

on the Ring Magazine’s rankings, with undefeatedAmerican Mikey Garcia third and another Mexican,Daniel Ponce De Leon, fourth.

Salido, who holds the WBO title, stopped MoisesGutierrez in the third round in July. WBC championDe Leon beat Jhonny Gonzalez in Las Vegas last month.

Chonlatarn boasts an impressive-looking recordof 44-0, including 27 knockouts. But he has notboxed outside Thailand and has fought few ratedopponents.

But the 27-year-old does boast two victories overcompatriot and formerbantamweight world championYoddamrong Sithyodthong.

Yordan (29-2; 23) will face afar more experienced opponent.Tseveenpurev, who is based inEngland and has a record of 36-5;24, is a former “world” champion.

The 25-year-old Yordan willmake the first defence of the titlehe won on the undercard of John’sfight in Singapore in May whenhe was knocked down in the firstround before stopping LorenzoVillanueva in the second.

Chris John to make 17th WBA title defence

Chr

is Jo

hn

symbolizes in a democraticsetting such as we are saidto practice.

Will President Jonathanaccepts the Super Eagles'invitation to go to Calabarto cheer them againsttheir Liberian opponentsjust like Ellen JohnsonSirleaf did last month?

It could be the turningpoint for a governmentstill grappling with imageissues in the eyes of thepublic. It may yet bridgethe gap between thegovernment and its youthand perhaps amelioratethe public conception ormisconception borderingon the state's apathy forits youth.

PAGE 47PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Quick CrossWord (41)

ACROSS1 Person who weepschildishly (3-4)7 Drab appearance (9)8 Irish Republic (4)10 Scorch (4)12 Aberrant (9)14 Incessantly (2,3,2)

DOWN2 Tier (3)3 Wicket part (4)4 Hardwood tree (5)5 Made sense (5,2)6 Normally (2,1,4)9 Disagreement (3-2)11 __ Laurel, comedian (4)13 __ de Janeiro, city (3)

Yesterday’s answer

The sky seems to be raining lightning as a freak storm lights up the horizon. Dozens ofspectacular bolts amazed residents in the Croatian city of Split. The powerful stormcrackled all night and left the city, the country's second biggest, bathed in an eerie glow.

* Author Hunter S. Thompson, who committed suicide recently, wanted to be cremated andhis ashes to be shot out of a cannon on his ranch.

* Sports Illustrated magazine allows subscribers to opt out of receiving the famous swimsuitissue each year. Fewer than 1% choose this option.

* There is a company that will (for $14,000) take your ashes, compress them into a syntheticdiamond to be set in jewelry for a loved one.

* The RIAA sued an 83 year old woman for downloading music illegally, even though a copy ofher death certificate was sent to the RIAA a week before it filed the suit.

* Two 1903 paintings recently sold at auction for $590,000 - the paintings were in the famous"Dogs Playing Poker" series. Source: Weird facts

FACTS

Source: Reader's Digest

Say what?

PHOTO OF THE DAY

SPORTS LALALALALATESTTESTTESTTESTTEST

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Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza,Utako, Abuja. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos,Tel: +234-09-8734478. Cell: +234 803 606 3308. e-mail: contact@peoplesdaily-online.com;pmlnewsdesk@gmail.com ISSN: 2141– 6141

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

QQQQQUOUOUOUOUOTTTTTABLE QABLE QABLE QABLE QABLE QUOUOUOUOUOTETETETETEThe benchmark (price of $75 a barrel of crude)doesn’t necessarily give you more revenue. Youcan increase it to $100 if you like, but does that

bring money.— Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Gov.

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

I borrowed this title fromMichael Moore, theAmerican movie producer

and relentless critic of thePresident George W. Bushadministration. His book of thesame title, published in 2003, wasadapted from a movie 'DudeWhere is My Car'. It was a searingattack on corporate America andPresident Bush, who he accusesof destroying "my America oftolerance and peace".

For me, however, the"DUDES" here are all thosecontrolling the levers of power atall levels and their army ofcronies and "ten per centers". Inthis category are rapaciousgovernors, incompetentlegislators and thieving ministersand the leader of the pack, theman who currently calls theshots as Commander-in-Chief.Were Moore a Nigerian, he wouldprobably have asked these dudes"What have you done to mycountry".

Since the dawn of thisgovernment in 2010, theNigerian identity has steadilyfaded. In its stead is a burgeoningrise of micro ethnic individuality.Agreed, Nigeria has always hadthe problem of unending "son ofthe soil" syndrome but underJonathan's transformationagenda it assumed arrantvisibility. The polarization of theNigerian identity along the usualfault lines heightened in the lasttwo years.

A handy facility that goes bythe name Boko Haramintermittently and shockinglyreminds us of its mission to"Islamize" the country to drive theagenda of minute identities. Inan obvious twistedunderstanding of the religion ofpeace, it has given itself away asa murderous gang givingreligion a bad name. Thediscernible have long concludedthat this band of insurgents'impunity could only mean thatthey enjoy state support. Atspecific moments, Boko Haramcrawls out and inflicts maximuminjury on a hapless citizenry.

President GoodluckJonathan, once in a moment ofheedless anger, had admitted theexistence of these renegades in hisgovernment. By this, hemanaged, in one fell swoop, toalienate all the Muslim membersof his government. Boko Harammembers spuriously andrepeatedly claim to be Muslims.Their campaign, according tothem, is on behalf of all Muslims.Therefore, to be Boko Haram, by

years. Only two days ago, theDebt Management Office soundedthe alarm that the nation's debtprofile will hit a staggering USD25 billion by 2015.

Health care is in total ruins.Having fleeced the nation, these"dudes" flee abroad to tend tocommon ailments, a tellingcommentary on the state ofhealth care delivery in thiscountry.

Genuine criticism of thisadministration, a definingfeature of democracy, is seen as a"declaration of hostility" on ashoeless but lucky president. Godhelp the critic if he happens tocome from any section of thecountry other than thepresident's.

Everywhere you turn to, thepicture is depressing. Nigeria ison the brink. Thoseknowledgeable about cliffs andbrinks like General TheopilusYakubu Danjuma have warnedthat the 'Somaliazation' of Nigeriawas nigh high. At the timeDanjuma sounded the alarm theattack lions in the presidencywere in the job market.Otherwise, I am as certain as thesun rising in the east and settingin the west, the lions would haveattacked the General.

I imagine a nifty one liner forDanjuma from the arsenal of thebeefy Okupe: "He is a frustratedbusy body". The problem withthat, however, was that itwouldn't have stuck. Danjumawas not a "busybody". He was asoldier. And he made his mark atan early age. Leadership of thearmy was thrust on his shouldersat a young age. And he rose tothe occasion. As Chief of ArmyStaff, between 1976 and 1979,he nudged a reluctant GeneralObasanjo in the right direction ofhanding over power in 1979.

Manchester Citymanager RobertoMancini insists he

knows where his team'sproblems lie after their fitfulstart to the season.

City's 1-1 UEFA ChampionsLeague draw with BorussiaDortmund on Wednesdayextended their poor run to justthree wins in nine matches.

Mancini's team have justone point from their two GroupD matches and are four pointsadrift of leaders Chelsea in thePremier League.

After being so solid on theirway to the Premier League titlelast season, they have also failedto keep a single clean sheet intheir nine matches so far.

Mario Balotelli's late penaltyearned a point against theGermans but the performancegave Mancini real concern.

The Italian refused toexpand on what he thinks iscurrently going wrong for histeam.

Mancini, whose team hostSunderland tomorrow before theinternational break, is sure hecan find a solution to his team'sissues and has promised he willrectify their issues quickly.

He said: "I know the problemand I will resolve it veryquickly. It's my problem andmy job and I will solve thisproblem.

"If we want to play in theChampions League we have toplay better.

"We have to run and fight.It's not enough to just pass.Champions League is anothersituation - different from thechampionship.

"We have to run and fight.It's not enough to just havequality. If you don't run likeDortmund did, then you havea problem.

"Our performance was verypoor but I think that in the endof the group this point could bevery important."

Mancini's plans for theSunderland game have alsobeen hit by Javi Garcia limpingout of the Dortmund game witha hamstring problem.

City failed to progress to theknock-out phase last seasonafter collecting just a pointfrom their opening two groupmatches.

They now face a doubleheader with Ajax before a homegame against Real Madrid anda trip to Dortmund.

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

. . . putting the people first

Jonathan's school of thought, youhad to be a Muslim.

But the more sober elementsin government stolidly ignoredthe man giving his history ofinebriation. Nonetheless, it wasthe cue bigots propped up by hisoverwhelmed administrationneeded to mount a campaign ofcalumny against a whole sectionof the country.

Insecurity has, of course,heightened not so much becauseof the insurgency but because ofthe gross incompetence of themen at the top. Serial rape of theeconomy has become a pastime.The nation's resources areheedlessly pillaged. Governmentstatutory responsibilities areoutsourced to shady contractorswith a history of serial perfidy.In some instances, resources fromthe common till are annexed toservice primordial interests.

Under transformativeagenda, endless scams are dailyperpetrated. One that readilycomes to mind is the fuel subsidyscam. Last year alone, it came tothe fore that funds spent onsubsidy had eclipsed those of past

Dude(s), where is my country?Mancini vowsto fix City’sproblems

Recall how he threatened togo into exile if Obasanjo was notelected in 1999.Recall also howmuch he took out his fat wallet tobank roll penniless Obasanjo. Oneaccount had it that the venturecost him a whopping billion naira.Another account was "modest"; itsaid that he spent only N800million to get Baba back into theVilla.

Danjuma is not alone. He is ingood company. All manner ofpatriots have sounded this alarm.Scholars, clergymen, sinners andsaints have all come to this grimconclusion that this frightfulcreature that goes by the name"NIGERIA" will not endure. Anda sinking feeling gnaws at mygut.

Nigeria is sinking not so muchbecause of unprecedented floodsbut because of "clueless"leadership. By now, describingthe underperforming Jonathanadministration as lost in thelabyrinthine web of provincialpolitics has become routine. Andthe nation's leader hasdemonstrated an astonishinglack of capacity to lead. For aleader desirous of"Transformation", PresidentJonathan has betrayed anuncommon tardiness in delivery.This government talks big, plansbig but delivers at the height of apygmy.

As the nation inexorablymarches towards the nextelection in just three short yearsaway, voting out Jonathan andhis band of co-travellers in alltiers of government should be anarticle of faith. We must reclaimour country. In doing that, theinformed among us should striveto educate the followership thatwhat stares us in the face is worsethan Boko Haram and all NigerDelta militias put together.

ALI M. ALIALI M. ALIALI M. ALIALI M. ALIALI M. ALION FRIDON FRIDON FRIDON FRIDON FRIDAAAAAYYYYY

“Insecurity has, of course, heightened not so much becauseof the insurgency but because of the gross incompetence of

the men at the top. Serial rape of the economy has become apastime. The nation's resources are heedlessly pillaged.Government statutory responsibilities are outsourced to

shady contractors with a history of serial perfidy. In someinstances, resources from the common till are annexed to

service primordial interests