Suicide bomber hits another Kaduna church

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 61741

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012

**

Mr & Mrs

•PG.17

•P.41

OCHEREOME

NNANNA

David Mark’s

neo-Zikist

intentions

KADUNA CHURCH BOMBED

RIVERS JAIL BREAK:

One dead, 11injured

•8 killed, 145 injured — NEMA

•Six of my children were injured, but I had a premonition•Women, children worst hit — Archbishop

BOMBED—Scene and victims of the suicide bomb attack on St. Rita's Catholic Church, Kaduna, yesterday. More photos on Page 14.

Suicide bomber hits

another Kaduna churchContinues on Page 5

Four inmates escape

•P 12

NASS 'llcreatemorestates— Mark

•P.7

80 of my subjectsbeheaded inTiv/Fulani crisis,monarch cries out

•P.7

ZumaurgesS-Africaninvestmentin Bayelsa

•P.11

KADUNA— IT wasanother black Sun-

day, yesterday, as eightpersons were killed and145 others injured after

a suicide bomber, drivinga black Sports Utility Ve-hicle (SUV) rammedthrough the fence of St

BY BEN AGANDE,LUKA BINNIYAT,

EMMA OVUAKPORIE& LAIDE AKINBOADE

Itsekiri

Education

Trust

rakes in

N16.5m•P.11

CMYK

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012 — 3

4—Vanguard, MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012

From left— Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei, Speaker Delta State House of Assembly,and Chairman of the occasion; Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, Commissionerfor Basic and Primary Education, representing Governor Emmanuel Udua-ghan, and Olorogun John Oguma, Udu of Olomu Kingdom.

Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, Commissioner for Ba-sic (right) and Primary Education and Dr. S. Tonwe.

A cross section of Warri chiefs.

THE ITSEKIRI EDUCATION TRUST INAUGURATION

His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwase II, Olu of Warri, inaugurated a nine-memberItsekiri Education Trust in Warri, weekend. PHOTOS: Akpokona Omafuaire.

From left— Mr. Solomon Areyinka, Sir Emma Abigor, Engr. AustinOboroegbeyi and Dr. Julius Oritsejafor. A cross section of Itsekiri elite.

From right— Engr. Alex Neyin, Prof. NesinOmatseye and Prof. Godwin Yomere.

Mr. Lawrence Ukubeyinje and Engr. Tony Onu-waje.

HRM Ogiame Atuwatse II, Olu of Warri, inaugurating thecommittee of Itsekiri Education Trust.Members of the Itsekiri Education Trust led by Dr. Mark Erumi (left).

POCKET CARTOON

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Vanguard, MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012—5

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

Continues from page 1

Suicide bomber hits another

Kaduna church

Loneliness and the feeling of being uncared forand unwanted is the most terrible poverty— MotherTeresa of Calcutta. There is someone near you thatyou could help with a hug.

DR. Alexander Eben, a Harvard neurosurgeon,nearly died four years ago from a deadly

meningitis infection attack on his brain that plungedhim deep into a week-long coma.

Brain scans showed his entire cortex - the parts ofthe brain that give us consciousness, thought,memory and understanding - was not functioning.Doctors gave him little chance to live and told hisfamily that if he did survive he’d probably be brain-damaged for the rest of his life.

Alexander wrote of his experiences in his latestpublication “proof of heaven”.

According to him: “For me, it’s become clear thatthe best way to look at it is to turn it around andrealize that consciousness exists in a much richerform, free and independent of the brain, which haseverything to do with the eternity of our souls andthe fact that our awareness, our consciousness, oursoul, our spirit, does not depend on the existence ofthe brain in the physical universe.

In fact, it’s freed up to a much richer knowingwhen we’re outside.” Soul exists beyond eternityand the significance of this experience is this, lifeis not just another random walk, we here to giveand receive divine love toward mastery of ourselvesand true our divinity.

Rita’s Catholic Church,Bardarwa, in the north-ern part of Kaduna me-tropolis, setting off anexplosion.

Meanwhile, Christianyouths in Sabo, Televi-sion Village, MarabanRido surbubs of Kadunaimmediately mobilisedto take on Muslims, butChristian elders and lo-cal community leaderswent from street to streetpleading for restraint, asthe Police and the mili-tary later arrived to keepthem off the streets.

Also, Muslim youthsin their strong holds, ofTudun Wada, Rigassaand Kawo were said tohave armed themselvesin readiness for any pos-sible reprisals fromChristians.

An Air Force Helicop-ter hovered low over thecity, ostensibly to moni-tor the situation, whilefear of possible curfewgripped residents.

Bomber deservesour pity

— Kaduna Catho-lic Archbishop

The Catholic Arch-Bishop of Kaduna,Mathew Man’OsoNdagoso, who spoke tonewsmen at St. GerardCatholic Hospital,Kakuri, Kaduna, where

14 injured worshipperswere being treated forvarious wounds, saidthe bomber deservedpity and mercy since hewas only testing thecredibility of the Faith ofChristians.

Said Ndagoso: “Whathappened was unfortu-nate, being the secondtime that the CatholicChurch, and the thirdtime churches werebombed in KadunaState. Once again, asChristians and asCatholics, we are chal-lenged to deliver ourown faith to witness. Ithink we are even calledto witness our faith asmore credible and tobear the message of theBible to those who hateus. We must by this inci-dent, strengthen ourfaith, because in difficulttimes like these, it iseasy for some people tostart thinking about thenon-existence of God.Because they will won-der why God should al-low things to happenthis way. But that shouldnot be it all.

“I have not been ableto go to the churchscene, because the secu-rity agencies said that itis not yet safe for me togo there. But I have spo-ken to those who were inthe Church. I have spo-ken to the Reverend Fa-

ther conducting themass. From what Iheard, I thank God, be-cause it could have beenworse.

Children aremajor victims

“I have gone to virtu-ally all the hospitals thatthe injured were takento for treatment. And thesaddest thing, I mustsay here, is that childrenare the major victims.The impact of the explo-sion happened wherethe children wereseated. That is why a lotof the injured were chil-dren. In the five hospi-tals we have visited sofar, most of the victimswere children. There-fore, you begin to won-der if a human being inhis full senses could dosuch a thing. Honestly,as a person, I believethat the person whocould carry out suchwickedness, deservesour pity and mercy. Hehas only tested the integ-rity of our Faith; thesekind of people are not intheir senses. How coulda human being, whoclaims to be working forany kind of god, go to aplace where people areworshiping God with abomb and do this kind ofthing? I know we are indifficult times, but myadvice to all Christiansand my fellow Catholicsin Kaduna State is thatdifficult situations do notmake us less Christians.In the same vein, diffi-cult situations do notmake us less human. Nomatter how difficult thesituation is, my appeal toCatholic youths and allour Christian brethren is‘never, never retaliate’.Two wrongs can never,and will never make aright. We know thatthere are few individu-als who want to plungethis country into difficultsituation. And theywould stop at nothing.So, my appeal to themajority of Nigerianswho believe in the unityand preservation of thiscountry is that we mustcome together and nevergive these people thechance because goodwill always overrideevil. This is our belief asChristians. God has notabandoned us. We mustfind salvation throughthe way of the Cross.

“I have gone roundBarrau Dikko, and I was

shown two dead bodies.I was with the Chairmanof the Church Counciland he told me that onlythese two bodies are inthe mortuary. One diedon the way to the hospi-tal, and the other at thehospital. I was told thatthere were two deadbodies still in thechurch. That was abouttwo hours ago when Ispoke to my officials. Iwas told that the two bod-ies were left so that theinjured could be evacu-ated quicker. So I haveconfirmed two deaths,and reliably informedthat two worshipers’ bod-ies are still in the church.But the injured, they areall over the hospitals Ivisited.

“I cannot confirm toyou the number of in-jured, but they aremany. Yes, many. I havebeen at Barau DikkoHospital, 44 Army Re-ferral Hospital, GarkuwaHospital and Multi-Clinic and now I am atSt Gerard’s. Except atMulti-Clinic, where Rev.Fada Sunny Bonni is theonly victim, all the oth-ers had many injuredones. Just that I did notcount the numbers.

“The priest was cel-ebrating mass when ithappened. I have spo-ken to him and he toldme that the bombingtook place at the kiss-of-love (Catholic highpoint of the Eucharist).Contrary to rumours,Fada Bonni is alive andI have seen him and spo-ken to him. He is fromBassa in Adamawa State,and I have been gettingso many calls from therewith his people asking ifhe is okay”

Victims recountordeal

At St. Gerard’s Catho-lic Hospital, where thePRO of the Hospital Mr.Sunday Ali confirmedthat 14 injured persons,mostly children werebeing treated, one of theinjured recounted herexperience.

Rita Ejiro (Mrs), 30from Benue State whowas injured with herfour children said: “Iclosed my eyes, openedit to just see a jeepcrashing through thechurch”

She spoke to Van-guard on her hospitalbed, with some of thewounded children be-side her.

“The Mass starts by7am. By 9,am we werehaving the Holy Com-munion prayers. Iclosed my eyes. As Iopened it, I heard somenoise and I saw a Jeepcrashing into the church.Then there was an ex-plosion. Glasses enteredmy body and I didn’teven know it then, be-cause I was concernedfor my four children. Iwas holding one of mychildren's hand. I foundtwo, but could not findthe other, because of theconfusion. Later wefound him. He had moreinjuries. His condition ismore critical than mineand his brothers. He isnow at the Childrenward now. The explosionwas much, because itbrought down part ofthe church. The body ofthe bomber, I am told, isnow hanging on the wallof the Church. Our Rev-erend Father is alive,and I even saw him drivehimself outside thechurch. Unlike someother Sundays whereyou saw at least two Po-licemen with guns andsome Civil Defence peo-ple outside the Church,this time I did not seeany when I came to mass.Our Cadet boys who usu-ally help, most of themwent to camp. So theplace was like that whenI came. I don’t know ifPolice later came when Iwas inside the Church.”

I saw women,children scream-ing for help—Markus Ishaya(25) from KadunaState:

“The priest was sayingthe Communion prayers,and was almost done.Then there was some-thing like a loud roar.Then something hit thewall of the church andentered. I heard an ex-plosion, then another.Everybody started run-ning. There was bloodover my body when I

came out. It was when Icame out that I discov-ered I had fractured thisarm. And there werepieces of glass in mybody. I saw many in-jured people. Children,women screaming forhelp. I saw more seri-ously injured peopletaken away in RoadSafety vehicles. But Idon’t know if anyone losthis life. I was alsobrought here not toolong ago. When I cameto church, I only sawtwo of our cadets withmetal detectors. I did notsee any soldier or police,unlike other days. Ifthey came later, I don’tknow.

I heard anexplosion, I didn’t

know what hap-pened later

—Jacinta Oko (24)from Imo State, hadshrapnel wounds overher body

“I came to Church asusual. I was concentrat-ing on the blessing ofthe Holy Communionwhen I saw a black carforce its way into theChurch. As I made torun, like the rest, I heardan explosion. I don’tknow what happenedafter. I just woke up here.I praise God for hismercy. There are manythings that have pen-etrated my body. I havewounds all over me.

Six of my chil-dren are injured,but I had a premo-nition

—Kyauta Auta,mother of 8-year oldElvis Auta, who lay

critically hurt:

“I was away in Abujaworshiping in a Church.Somehow tears startedflowing from my eyes.There was no reason forit. After a while, the tearswould flow again. Thenwhen I turned, I noticedthat my husband hadslipped away. I went for

Continues on page 43


Bad portion at Mile 2 bus stop along Oshodi-Apapa expressway, yesterday. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

EFCC prosecutes 160 graft cases, convicts 30 in 6 monthsBY SONI DANIEL,

REGIONAL EDITOR,NORTH

ABUJA — THEEconomic and

Financial CrimesCommission, EFCC,boasted last night, that itprosecuted over 160financial crimes-relatedcases within the first sixmonths in office of itscurrent chairman, IbrahimLamorde.

The commission said italso convicted no fewerthan 30 crime suspects,

among them thoseimplicated in the megascam that rocked thenation’s oil industry lastyear.

The EFCC made thedeclaration in a statementin Abuja by its Acting Headof Media and Publicity, Mr.Wilson Uwujaren, whilereacting to claims by acolumnist with an onlinemedium criticisingLamorde and hiscommission of not doingenough to fight rising graftin the country.

In the article entitled

"EFCC: From Hope toHogwash," the authorconcluded that for notrendering its 2011 accountto the National Assembly asdemanded by the lawsetting up the agency,Lamorde and the systemwhich he runs have failedto live up to theexpectations of Nigerians.

But the commissionspokesman disagreed withthe submission, claimingthat Lamorde had done hisjob transparently andreinvigorated a nearcomatose system, leading to

the restoration of hope andconfidence by itsinternational partners, whohad abandoned thecommission in the past dueto non-performance.

Uwujaren said:“Everything the EFCCChairman has done sincehe took the reins of thecommission’s leadershiphas been tailored towardsrestoring the commission’smoral and professionalintegrity.

“From recalling some ofthe crack investigators whowere asked to leave thecommission in its meltdown

years, investigating andprosecuting officers withintegrity issues, to runningintegrity checks on allserving officers. Lamordehas had one thing in mind:Restoring the professionalhealth of the commission.

“The result of thisinitiative is evident even tocynics. Many of theinternational partners thatabandoned the commissionin its testy years are back.The commission now enjoysthe confidence of lawenforcement organisationsaround the globe, openingup fresh windows of

cooperation andcollaboration that havestrengthened the fightagainst economic crimesand corruption in Nigeria.

“There is no promiseLamorde has madeconcerning his current jobwhich he has abandoned.Of course, those who havebeen carried away by thetheatrics and drama that thecommission had come to beassociated with in the recentpast may find it difficult toappreciate theprofessionalism of theEFCC under Lamorde."

Ochekpe solicits partnership between FG,states on water supply

BY SOLAOGUNDIPE

JOS — MINISTER ofWater Resources, Mrs.

Sarah Reng Ochekpe, hascalled for strongpartnership between thefederal, state and localgovernments in theprovision, rehabilitation,treatment andmanagement of watersupply in the country.

Ochekpe who spoke inJos North LocalGovernment Area ofPlateau State, during aninspection of the GreaterJos-Bukuru Water SupplyProject by the Committeeon Good Governance ledby the Minister ofInformation, Mr. LabaranMaku, said the provisionof water supply to thepopulace was themandate of all tiers ofgovernment.

Inspecting the facilityconstructed by the PlateauState Government butcurrently underrehabilitation, the ministernoted that governancewas about providingfacilities, maintenanceand rehabilitation

whenever they becomeobsolete, stressing thatgovernment has toprovide effective serviceespecially as thepopulation increases.

She said: “What thePlateau State Governmentwas doing wasrehabilitating thetreatment plant andreticulation facilities, thatis to expand and replaceold pipes to get morewater to the communities.For us at the federal level,

we are excited with whatPlateau State Governmentis doing because toprovide potable water toall communities across thecountry we must have astrong partnershipbetween the states andthe Federal Governmentand it is veryencouraging that PlateauState Government iscoming strong on this.”

The minister urgedother states to emulate thePlateau State Government

and join hands with theFederal Government toensure greater access towater by citizens.

Conducting the GoodGovernance team roundthe project, Plateau StateCommissioner for WaterResources, Hon. IdiWaziri, said since 1981,there had not been anymajor repair on the watersupply treatment plantuntil the coming of thepresent administration.

Jang appeals to strikingLG workers

BY TAYE OBATERU

JOS— GOVERNORJonah Jang of Plateau

State has again appealedto striking localgovernment workers tocall off their six months oldstrike in the interest of thefuture of pupils in publicschools.

He said the strike whichhad kept children inpublic schools at homecould put the future of thepupils who are mostlychildren of the lessprivileged in jeopardy.

He made the appeal atthe conferment of atraditional title of Jarumi(Koghorong) Mwaghavulon the immediate pastVice Chancellor of theUniversity of Jos, Prof.

Sonni Tyoden, in Manguon Saturday.

Represented bySecretary to the StateGovernment, Prof.Shedrack Best, thegovernor urged theteachers to reopen theschools to allow the pupilsreturn to learn, addingthat the bulk of people inhigh places today wereproducts of public schools.

He said: “Let us save thegrass from suffering bysuspending this strike sothat our pupils can geteducation.”

The governor viewedthe honour done to theformer vice chancellorwhom he described as aforward lookingacademic, who achieved alot for the state during histenure, as well deserved.

Eid-el-Kabir: Makinde hails Muslims,preaches religious tolerance

BY SAM EYOBOKA

Imoke assures floodvictims of resettlement

CALABAR — THEpeople of Agwagune

in Biase LocalGovernment Area ofCross River State havebeen assured of properresettlement to a newsite following the recentflooding whichdevastated the entirecommunity.

Governor Liyel Imokewho disclosed this duringan on-the-spotinspection of some of theflood devastatedcommunities across thestate, yesterday,maintained that theAgwagune communitywhich had sufferedflooding along sidelandslide year-in year-out, needed to berelocated to a saferground where they couldgo on with their socio-economic activities.

Imoke promised to

deliver the permanentsite as well as theconstruction of link roadto the area (Abini-Agwagune road) beforethe expiration of histenure, saying becausethe community was verydear to his heart, as hewould work assiduouslyfor the timely completionof the resettlement siteas their new town.

While charging them tocooperate with relevantgovernment agents whowill be coming to thearea to providetemporary relief to them,said the development ofthe new area would be inaccordance withspecifications that wouldbe provided by membersof the community asowners of the project.

He said it would bedevoid of unduegovernment influence.

LAGOS — ASMuslims in Nigeria

celebrate this year’s Eid-el-Kabir, Prelate ofMethodist ChurchNigeria, His EminenceSunday Ola Makinde,has called on all peopleof faith to embrace theprinciples of tolerance.

In his Sallah goodwillmessage made availableby the church’s Media

and Public RelationsOfficer, Rev. OladapoDaramola, Makinde saidamong many othercomponents, thattolerance plays a majorrole in nation-building.

His words: “I use thisopportunity to felicitatewith our Muslim brothersand sisters in Nigeriaand around the world onthe celebration of thisyear ’s Eid-el-Kabir, afestival that all Muslims

are commanded to cel-ebrate in joy and happi-ness by Allah AlmightyHimself.

“This in itself portraysits importance. And thatis why I will also like topreach to all people offaith to embrace peaceand religious tolerance sothat the joy andhappiness which thisfestival stands for will beenjoyed by all andsundry.


N-Assembly 'll create morestates —Mark

BY HENRY UMORU

�Says it will address marginalisation

�Condemns renewed attacks on churches

ABUJA — SENATEPresident David

Mark, yesterday, saidthe National Assemblywould create additionalstates, just as he stressedthat the move wasdesirable for the countryas it would help addressmarginalisation.

Mark, who noted thatcreation of additionalstates would bringgovernment closer to thepeople, said: “Creation ofadditional states canonly make governmentcloser to the peoplecontrary to the view incertain quarters that wedo not need additionalstates in the federation.”

Meanwhile, in astatement by his SpecialAdviser on Media andPublicity, Mr KolaOlogbondiyan, Markcondemned the renewedattack against places ofworship particularly theattack on St. Rita'sCatholic Church,Kaduna, yesterday,adding that it was nevertoo late for perpetratorsof the dastardly act torepent from their sinfulacts against God.

Mark, who spoke at theOjude-Oba Festival 2012in Ijebu-Ode, OgunState, expressed supportfor the agitation for thecreation of Ijebu State outof the present OgunState, noting that newstates would address theissue of marginalisationbeing canvassed in manyparts of the countrytoday.

Describing this year’sedition of Ojude-Obafestival as a thanksgiving

for the good health ofOba Sikiru Adetona, theAwujale of Ijebuland,Mark said as a nation ofdiverse cultures, wemust take advantage ofour diversity by usingour culture as a symbolof unity.

He urged Nigerians tocome together andemphasise those thingsthat bind us together asa nation.

Earlier, GovernorIbikunle Amosun ofOgun State whocommended the bond of

unity among theindigenes and residentsof the state, assured thathis administration wouldcontinue to work for thedevelopment of OgunState and her people.

In his welcomeaddress, Oba Adetonaurged the NationalAssembly to address thealleged injustice againstIjebu people by ensuringthe creation of IjebuState, arguing that Ijebuwas one of the original 24provinces of Nigeria thatis yet to become a state.

He said: “We havebeen on this issue ofcreation of Ijebu Statesince 1975. Thejustification for it isabundantly clear. Themost worrisome aspect ofit was the total neglect ofIjebu community in thestate creation exercisesthat have taken place.

“It is lamentable thatIjebu, which in thecolonial era was one ofthe 24 provinces thatmade up Nigeria, cannottoday boast of beingcounted as one of the 36states that presentlyconstitute the country.”

Monarch accuses Nasarawa govtof complicity in Tiv/Fulani crisis�Says 80 of his subjects beheaded, slaughtered

Why rights violations arehigh in Nigeria —NHRC boss

BY SONI DANIEL,REGIONAL EDITOR,

NORTH

Public office holderstasked on public healthfacilities

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

LAGOS — FORTUNESof healthcare delivery

in Nigeria would take a turnfor the better if public officeholders utilised publicmedical facilities in thecountry more judiciouslythan they do currently.

The patronage of publichealth care institutions bypublic office holders wouldalso boost the level ofconfidence in the nation’shealthcare system as wellas tackle the problem ofunderutilisation of facilitiesand equipment.

Chief Medical Director,Obafemi AwolowoUniversity TeachingHospital Complex,OAUTHC, Ile-Ife, OsunState, Prof. OlusanyaAdejuyigbe, who made theassertions, argued that itwas only through patronageof public officers that publichospitals in Nigeria couldenjoy the dual advantageof being appreciated and itsleaders would see need to

invest more in local infra-structure and human re-sources.

In a chat, Adejuyigbeopined that 95 per cent ofpeople travelling abroadwere not going strictly formedical reasons, adding:”Many people go out notbecause of medical reasonsalone and sometimes theywill not want to voice outwhy they go out for thetreatment."

He said a lot of womendecide to have their babiesabroad not because babiescannot be delivered inNigeria, but because theymight want to increase thelikelihood of wanting theirbabies to acquire foreignpassports in future.

He said: “That is notmedical reason. Lot ofpeople migrate for medicaltreatment not because ofincompetence or lack ofequipment but for varietiesof reasons. I cannot say wehave all the infrastructureand personnel on groundto take care of all medicalconditions."

BY PETER DURU

MA K U R D I —PARAMOUNT

ruler of Nagi Kingdom inBenue State, Ter Nagi,Chief Daniel Abomste,has claimed that theraging conflict betweennative Tiv farmers andinvading Fulaniherdsmen, has led to thebeheading andslaughtering of morethan 80 of his subjectsjust as he alleged thecomplicity of NasarawaState government in thebloodbath.

Abomste also allegedthat the neighbouringNasarawa Stategovernment wasdeliberately frustratingefforts by the Benue Sategovernment at findinglasting solutions to therecurrent carnage alongthe Benue-Nasarawaborder communities.

Addressing newsmen,yesterday, in Makurdi onthe recent attacks on Tivcommunities in Benueand Nasarawa States, theparamount rulerregretted that “theinvading herdsmen aredoing these with the tacitsupport of somegovernment officials."

He said: “How cananybody explain thatthese invading Fulanimercenaries maintainbases in communities inNasarawa State whichthey use as launchingpad against Tiv farmersin Benue and Nasarawastates yet the stategovernment and thesecurity agencies in thatstate feign ignorance oftheir activities.

“They invade ourcommunities in canoesprovided them by theindigenous community,because we all know that

Fulanis don’t go incanoes. Thesemercenaries are killingour people and sackingour communities andeveryone is turning ablind eye.

“Regrettably, the recentunfortunate developmentwhich has seen thebeheading andslaughtering of mypeople has completelymade nonsense of therecommendations of thejoint peace committee setup bythe Benue andNasaraawa Stategovernments.”

The paramount ruleralso regretted that theHouse of Representativescommittee set up toinvestigate the recurrentconflict had failed tocarry our its task to alogical conclusion,advising that the FederalGovernment step upaction to stem therecurrent killings.

ABUJA — HUMANrights violations have

continued to be on theincrease in Nigeriabecause majority ofNigerians are not yetaware of their rights andprivileges, ExecutiveSecretary of the NationalHuman RightsCommission, NHRC,Prof. Ben Angwe, hassaid.

Angwe, who spokeexclusively to Vanguardin Abuja, yesterday, saidthe rights of Nigerianswould continuously betrampled upon bymalevolent forces as longas individuals and groupswere not aware of whatthey were legally entitledto.

The NHRC boss notedthat from the commission’sfinding, the poor and theelite in the society wereignorant of their rightsand privileges and were,therefore, not in a positionto seek redress evenwhen they were wronged.

Angwe said: “In asituation where mostpeople are not even awareof their rights, it makes itvery difficult for us to beable to protect them.

People need to knowwhere their rights beginand end so that they canbegin to respect those ofothers in this country.

“When I talk aboutpeople not knowing theirrights I am not just talkingabout poor people, I amtalking about even theeducated and well placedNigerians. The elite arestill not aware of theirrights.”

The NHRC boss said ina bid to reverse the highlevel of ignoranceexhibited by Nigerians onhuman rights issues, thecommission had begun aserious sensitisationprogramme aimed atchanging the attitude ofNigerians towards theirrights.

He said: “First, thecommission has started aprocess of translating theprovisions of theConstitution and therelevant instrumentsregarding the rights ofNigerians into some majorlanguages. These will bedistributed free to allNigerians.

“We are also havingtown hall meetings wherethe people are educatedon their rights. A few daysago, we inauguratedHuman Rights Educationprogramme in schools."

The United Bank for Africa, UBA, Plaza, Breadfruit Street, Lagos, gutted by fire, weekend. Photo:

Kehinde Gbadamosi.

THE RAGE OF FLOOD


BY FESTUS AHON

Flood victims in Delta protest allegedill-treatment

Flood victims head for homeas deluge recedes in Delta

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

Edo House Majority Leaderdonates to flood victims Patani General Hospital morgue

not affected by flood —Delta govt

DELTA State Government,

yesterday, denied re-ports that corpses in PataniGeneral Hospital morguewere washed away by theflood that swept through thetown and other parts of thestate recently.

Commissioner for Informa-tion, Mr. Chike Ogeah, saidalthough Patani was one of theareas affected by the flood, theGeneral Hospital was neverflooded, and that corpsescould not have been washedaway when there was noflood.

He explained: “At the onsetof the flood, every commis-sioner and public office hold-er was deployed in their are-as of origin to monitor and co-ordinate relief efforts at the in-stance of the state governor,Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.

“Thus, top officials of thestate government and officialsof organisations charged withproviding relief to internallydisplaced persons maintaineda hands-on approach to themanagement of the flood.

"In line with the directive,Mr. Timi Tonye, Commission-er for Special Duties, whohails from Patani Local Gov-ernment Area, has virtuallybeen living in the area sincethe onset of the floods.

“He remains on ground andhas been coordinating reliefefforts. The report gave theimpression that there was afresh surge of floods in thePatani area.

“This is far from the truth.On the contrary, the floodshave been receding in thepast two weeks as Delta StateGovernment gears up for thesecond phase of the floodmanagement – rebuilding theaffected areas.

“Mr. Tonye, who overseesDelta State Oil Producing Ar-eas Commission, DESOPA-DEC, has attested to the factthat the morgue in Patani wasnever flooded while servicesare gradually resuming at theGeneral Hospital.

“Similarly, Dr. Joseph Otu-mara, Delta State Commis-sioner for Health, has beenactively involved in the man-agement of the flood throughthe provision of requisite med-ical services in the displacedpeople’s camps.

“At the peak of the floods, nosuch report was lodged nordid any resident of Patani orany part of the state complainabout the washing of deadbodies off any mortuary.

“At no time were the entirepremises of the General Hos-

pital, Patani, overrun by flood.Rather, the road leading tothe hospital and the Doctors’Quarters were the only flood-ed areas. The main hospitalcompound was not affected.In effect, the morgue and oth-er critical service areas wereNOT flooded.

“The mortuary attendant atthe hospital, Mr. Kenny Edi-os, confirmed that the hospi-tal was evacuated due to theflooding of the access roadand Doctors’ Quarters.

“He affirmed that the mor-tuary and other major facili-ties in the hospital remainedintact, even as the flood hasbeen receding, paving way forthe resumption of normalservice delivery. Mr. Ediosmade it clear that two elderlypeople that passed on at thepeak of the flood were em-balmed and deposited at themorgue in Patani GeneralHospital.

“Mr. Edios confirmed thatthere were 42 bodies at themorgue in the General Hos-pital, Patani, before the ad-vent of the floods. He affirmedthat the bodies are all account-ed for and none had to be re-located.

“In putting the recordsstraight, we are not suggest-ing that there are no healthchallenges in the aftermath ofthe flood. The health chal-lenges are still enormous.

“We also acknowledge thefact that our people have dis-played uncommon valour andimprovisation as they soughtto cope with the ravagingfloods. The Government ofDelta State has provided andcontinues to provide adequaterelief and basic facilities for allinternally displaced persons."

...says corpses were not washed away

PRESENTATION: From right: Mr. Mok Ifeanyi, Member Cathedral Co-operative Society;Deacon Anthony Nwanti, Delta State Director, S.E.M.A. and Mr. Paul Orukhamarha, mem-ber, Red Cross, during the presentation of relief materials to flood victims at St PatrickCollege Camp, Asaba.

ASABA—SOME flood

victims in Delta Northsenatorial district of DeltaState, comprising Asaba,Ashaka, Illah, Abala andKwale, are returning home intrickles following reports thatthe flood is receding in theirareas.

This came as reports fromDelta Central and Delta Southsaid the two senatorial dis-tricts witnessed great floodingin the last few days, displac-ing several persons.

State Commissioner, Bureaufor Special Duties, Dr. TonyNwaka, in an interview in

Asaba, cautioned that “thoseliving within the riverine ar-eas should not be in a hurryto return home now becausethere is need to find out thestate of such structures to as-certain their safety. Some ofthe victims, like those livingwithin the upland, whosehouses were flooded, I under-stand, have gone to clean uptheir houses as the flood isreceding.

“But while the flood is grad-ually receding in some plac-es in the North, Delta Southand Central have been expe-riencing serious impact in thelast few days. We have justopened a new camp at Uduarea.”

BY GABRIEL

ENOGHOLASE

BENIN—RELIEF materi

als worth over N3 mil-lion were, weekend, donatedto victims of flood disaster inEstako-Central and Estako-East Local Government Areasof Edo State by the MajorityLeader of Edo State House ofAssembly, Mr. Phillip Shuai-bu.

The lawmaker, who visitedthe camps housing the floodvictims in the two local gov-ernment areas with membersof his family, also went withmusicians to entertain theflood victims, saying that washis own “way of showing thevictims love and to let themknow that they are not aloneeven during Salah celebra-tion.”

While urging public spirit-ed Nigerians and organiza-tions, irrespective of their eth-nic and political affiliations to

donate and give succor to thedisplaced, he noted that al-though the affected local gov-ernment councils were notparts of his political constitu-ency, he needed to make thepeople feel love in the face oftheir present circumstances.

He said: “I must tell you thatyour pains are our pain, justas your tears are ours. Youmust not despair, the hopethat has kept you alive till to-day must remain with you aswe all fight to sort things out.You are not alone in this situ-ation; we will all fight this outtogether and smile as well atthe end of the day.”

Among the items donatedwere bags of rice, ground nutoil, palm oil, cartons of noo-dles, and cartons of maggiand bags of salt.Speaking, his wife, Mrs. Mar-iam Shuaibu, advised the vic-tims not to rush back homeuntil government gave thego-ahead.

UGHELLI—HUNDREDS

of flood victims at theUghelli camp, Ughelli NorthLocal Government Area, DeltaState, yesterday, protestedwhat they described as ill-treat-ment allegedly meted on themby some unnamed officials ofthe camp.

The protesting flood victimsnumbering over 300, fromOdorubu, Patani, Ohoro, Udu-ophori, Bresegha, Uwheru,Bulu-Angiama, Abare, amongother communities, stormed thepalace of HRM Wilson Ojako-vo, Oharisi III, the Ovie ofUghelli Kingdom, at about 8.30am, peacefully, to register their

g r i e v a n c e s .Speaking on behalf of the pro-testers at the palace, Mrs.Grace Etabuko, alleged thatdespite the regular provision offood and other relief materialsby the state government, indi-viduals, churches and corpo-rate bodies, they were not giv-en food promptly, alleging thatin most cases they took break-fast at 3pm and dinner at10pm.

Etabuko said: “Yesterday (Sat-urday) it was the wife of theDeputy Speaker of Delta StateHouse of Assembly, Mrs BasilGanagana, who brought foodto us at about 3pm before wehad our breakfast. And becausewe did not eat on time, a wom-

an who complained to one ofthose in charge of food wasbeaten up by police officers.She is presently receiving treat-ment at the hospital.”

Similarly, another flood vic-tim, Mr Diamond Ikpesivwe,urged the camp leaders andthe monarch to come to theiraid by ensuring that thosecharged with the responsibili-ty of providing food were re-moved and replaced by morecompetent hands.The member representingUghelli North Constituency Iin the State House of Assem-bly, Mr. Samuel Mariere, andthe State Commissioner forDESOPADEC, Mr. Tonye Timi,who is also the camp comman-dant, pleaded with the protest-ers to go back and remain calm.


We lost over N1.2bn goods to UBAPlaza fire – Occupants

BY MONSUR OLOW-OOPEJO with agency

reports

LAGOS — OCCU-

pants of the UBAPlaza on Lagos Island,which was razed in anearly evening fire onSaturday, lost goodsestimated at over N1.2billion in the incident. Mr. Greg Azubuogu,Chairman of the Plaza,who spoke on behalf of

its occupants, disclosedthis to the News Agencyof Nigeria yesterday inLagos. He said that the five-storey building onBreadfruit Street, LagosIsland, housed a branchof the United Bank forAfrica (UBA) Plc,warehouses, shops andoffices. Azubuogu, who owns ashop in the plaza, saidthat the fire may have

been caused by a sparkfrom electrical wires inthe building. “I think that it is anelectrical spark thatcaused the fire becauseSaturday was a weekendand a holiday. “We take preventivemeasures whenever wewere closing for the dayat the plaza. “We normally switchedoff the control switch, butthe fire started from the

warehouse on the fourthfloor. “It is like the cartonsin the warehouse aidedthe spark, as well as thespread of the fire,” hesaid. Azubuogu recalledthat the fire was noticedat about 4 p.m., notingthat before any aid couldcome, it had spread toother parts of the plaza. The chairman, whosells shoes and bags inthe plaza, said he lostabout N15 million in theincident. He appealed toLagos State Governmentto come to their aid. As at yesterdayevening, policemen andofficials of other securityagencies were still tryingto prevent hoodlumsfrom looting some waressalvaged from the plaza. Meantime, the StPaul’s Catholic Churchon Breadfruit Streetsituated directly behindthe affected buildingcould not hold theirusual Sunday Mass asthe area was cordonedoff by security personnelin order to ensure safety. Some of theworshippers who turnedout for service wereturned backed by thesecurity personnel. Governor BabatundeFashola has ordered thatthe building be cordonedoff, appealed to thetraders to stay off thebuilding for a while inorder to enable theemergency authoritiescarry out properinvestigation and alsodetermine the structuralintegrity of the property.

Ladipo traders decry leader’sdetention

BY OLASUNKANMIAKONI

LAGOS — FRESH

crisis seems to bebrewing at the popularLadipo auto market inMushin area of LagosState, as traders, mostlyof Igbo extraction, underthe Association of Aguyi-Ironsi Market Traders,have raised alarm overlast Tuesday arrest andcontinued detention oftheir President, Mr.Jonathan Okoli by theState Security Service,SSS. The group, however,called on GovernorBabatunde Fashola andInspector General ofPolice to intervene inthe matter with a senseof urgency. Mr. IfeanyiChukwulobe, PrincipalStaff Officer, Legal to the

arrested leader, statedthis yesterday, at PapaAjao, Mushin. According toChukwulobe; “LastTuesday, Okolie receiveda call from oneRechason, who claimedto be an SSS, that theirofficer wanted to see himfor questioning over apetition. “He went to their officeand they took him toCommissioner of Police,CP, Lagos Commandwith a petition written byone CP, Sherifat FapondaDisu. “The president waslater detained atCriminal InvestigationDepartment, C. I. D,Panti, over allegedsecurity threat againstgenuine traders, whichis a blatant lie aimed.

Lagos NMA laments increase in unregistered facilities

LAGOS — LAGOS

State Chapter of theNigeria MedicalAssociation has raisedalarm over theincreasing number ofunregistered healthfacilities in the state,blaming what itdescribed as ‘invasionof charlatans’ on thefailure of regulation byconcerned stateagencies. The State Chairman of

BY CHIOMA OBINNA NMA, Dr. FrancisFaduyile who spoke inLagos during theassociations’ annualPhysician Week with thetheme: “Prescription ofmedicines in Nigeria –abuse and implication forthe health of Nigerians”,regretted that manyLagosians have fallenvictims of these fakefacilities. Faduyile who notedthat the duty of hospitalregulation and

registration falls withinthe purview of the stategovernments whilepractice falls within thejurisdiction of theMedical and DentalCouncil of Nigeria,MDCN, lamented thatthousands of facilities inthe city of Lagos aremanned by quacks. Faduyile called forurgent attention toregulation of thefacilities in Lagos asmany Lagosians are

being defrauded day andnight either as orthodoxclinics or alternativemedical clinics. He stressed the needfor the state regulatorybody, Health FacilityMonitoring andAccreditation Agency,HEFAMAA, to intensifyeffort towards ensuringeffective monitoring ofthe facilities with a viewto saving Lagosians ofpreventable deaths ormedical complications.

Lawyers condemn highrate of divorce in Nigeria

LAGOS —SOME

lawyers in Lagos atthe weekend expressedconcern over theincreasing rate ofdivorce in Nigeria.The lawyers expressedtheir views in separateinterviews with theNews Agency ofNigeria. Mr. Olalekan Ojo, ofOjo and Company LawFirm, said thatintolerance, infidelityand battery were themajor factorsresponsible for divorces. “The court shouldalways make an effort tore-unite the couplerather than dissolve themarriage,” he said. He said that mostchildren from brokenhomes roam the streetsand indulged inunlawful activities. He advised thegovernment at alllevels, parents andreligious leaders to join

hands and find ways ofstemming the tide ofdivorces. Another lawyer, Mr.Ayo ogunlade, said thatthe reasons for marriagefailure were insincerity,u n f a i t h f u l n e s s ,incompatibility andimmaturity.“Couples should alwaysengage in dialogue inresolving issues, be opento each other and avoidinfluence of family andfriends.Mr. Olakunle Ajayi ofOlakunle Ajayi andCompany Law Firm,attributed the high rate ofmarriage failure todesertion, sex-starvationand dishonesty.He advised peoplegoing into marriage tofirst of all take the painto understand what therelationship entailedbefore going into it.“No marriage is perfect;it is the couple that willmake it work.

From left: Mrs. Derin Disu, Special Adviser to the Governor on Central Business District, Mr. BabatundeFashola, SAN, Lagos State Governor, being conducted round by Dr. Wale Ahmed, Commissioner forSpecial Duties, (4th left), during the Governor's visit to the Euro-Asia Plaza, a five-storey commercialbuilding engulfed by an inferno on Breadfruit Street, Lagos weekend. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

10 drown in Lagos boat mishap.LASEMA recovers 5 bodies

BY MONSUR OLOW-OOPEJO

NO FEWER than 10persons yesterdaydrowned, when apassenger boat capsizedin Ojo River, in Oto-Awori Local CouncilDevelopment Area,LCDA. It would be recalledthat last February,similar incidentoccurred in the council

with five passengers,mainly school pupils,drowning.Vanguard learnt that theboat capsized at about11:00 a.m., due to thehigh tide experienced atthe early hours of the day,following the rainfallwhich occurred late onSaturday. Confirming the report,the General Manager ofthe Lagos StateEmergency Management

Agency, LASEMA, Dr.Femi Oke-Osanyintolu,said that five bodies havesince been recoveredfrom the river. Oke-Osanyintoluexplained “the boat wasen route Imude from Ido-Oluwo, a riverinecommunity in Oto-AworiLCDA. According to him;“Immediately the agencywas contacted, itdeployed its search andrescue team to the sceneof the incident. And sincethen, five bodies havebeen recovered from theriver.” Although he did notdisclose the names ofthose whose bodies wererecovered, he said thatthe five were agedbetween 10 and 16 yearsrespectively. When vanguardcontacted the Baale of

Ido-Oluwo, he declinedcomments, saying he wasyet to be briefed properlyon the cause of theincident.


Four perish in Ogun autocrash

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA —

FOUR personswere killed yesterday inan auto crash whichoccurred in front of theOgun State Governor’sOffice, on Kobape Road,in Oke-Mosan,Abeokuta.

Vanguard gatheredthat, the accidentinvolved a Toyota TundraSports Utility Van, SUV,with registration numberLagos FC 787LND andNissan Primeria Car withregistration numberLagos FZ 914 LSR.

The SUV wasreportedly coming fromthe Sagamu end of theexpressway on a highspeed but suddenlyswerved and climbed amedian and crushed thecar and its six occupantson the other side of theroad.

An eye witness toldVanguard that the driverof the SUV, who wasreportedly on a highspeed, suddenly appliedhis break when heapproached a bump infront of the Governor’sOffice.

The source further saidthat, the driver then lostcontrol and rammed intothe Sagamu bound carwhich was on the otherside and killing thedriver and three otheroccupants instantly.

At the scene of theaccident, symphatizersused axes to cut the carin order to free themangled bodies of thevictims.

Speaking with

newsmen at the accidentscene, the team leader ofthe Traffic Complianceand EnforcementAgency, TRACE,Mr.Oladele Badmos saidthat, apart from thosethat died instantly,others who sustainedinjuries were in criticalcondition and have beenrushed to FederalMedical Centre, FMC,Idi-aba, Abeokuta , whilethe dead have also beendeposited in the

hospital’s morgueHe blamed the accident

on the driver of the SUVwhom he was said to beon a high speed whenhe suddenly realisedthere was a speedbreaker ahead.

Badmos said:“Thedriver immediatelyapplied brake, and lostcontrol before forcing itsway to the other lane,causing the death ofsome occupants of theother car.

Road transport boss killed overN100 park levy

BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE —THE

branch chairmanof the Road TransportEmployers Association ofNigeria, RTEAN, in oneof the parks in Ondotown, Ondo State,Ebenezer Adedeji, hasbeen murdered over anargument on thepayment of N100 dailyticket.

Adedeji, it was learntwas over the weekendhacked down by a man,believed to be an Okadarider in the communitywhose identity was notknown at press time

The deceased was saidto have accosted thesuspect at Shora Street inthe town and demandedfor N100 being the moneyfor the daily ticket of theassociation.

An argument was saidto have ensued between

the suspect and thedeceased.

Vanguard gatheredthat the suspect left thescene, abandoned hismotorcycle on the spotand left for his houseonly to return with acutlass.

Unknown to thedeceased, he was said tohave gone for a meetingof the association in thearea.

But the suspect afterreturning learnt that thedeceased had left thescene following which hetraced him to themeeting.

On getting to themeeting he discoveredthat the deceased hadnot arrived there, hetherefore reportedly laidambush for him at theentrance of the venue ofthe meeting where onarrival he allegedlyattacked his victim with

the cutlass.The suspect who fled

after killing the deceasedwas pursued and laterarrested by the traders inthe area andsubsequently handedover to the police

The Divisional PoliceOfficer, DPO, in chargeof the station, ChiefDavid Ehighale, aDeputy Superintendentof Police, confirmed theincident.

Ehighale said that thesuspect had beentransferred to thehomicide section at theOndo State PoliceCommand headquartersin Akure, for furtherinvestigation.

The DPO added thatthe remains of thedeceased has beendeposited at the OndoState Specialist Hospitalat Ondo town.

Man 62, allegedly defiles10 year old step daughter

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA — A

10-year old girl(name withheld) hasaccused her 62-year-oldstep father Mr. AlabiIbrahim of habituallyhaving carnalknowledge of her.

The primary six pupildisclosed thisyesterday, lamentingthat she had lost counton number of times herstep father hadintercourse with her attheir residence at OparaEstate, Aiyetoro Road inAbeokuta.

Vanguard gatheredthat the act was revealedwhen the girl ignorantlyshared her experience

with her siblings whothen hinted her mother.

It was further learntthat the mother, Mrs.Adiat Ibrahim,subsequently reportedher husband’s immoralityto the police in Abeokuta.

Vanguard learnt thatthe suspect, however,bolted when policedetectives went after himin OnikolObo area.

Narrating her ordeal,the victim claimed thateach time her step fatherhad sex with her, heusually threatened tokill her if she toldanybody about it.

She said; “Daddyalways came to me whenMummy was not athome, and warned menot to tell anybody, sothat I wouldn’t die”.

When contacted, OgunState Police PublicRelations Officer,Muyiwa Adejobiconfirmed the incident.

He described theaction of the man asbarbaric, promising thatthe police willthoroughly investigatethe matter towardspossibly charging thesuspect to court fordefilement.

“The police totallycondemn the act. He willnot be spared. The manwill be charged to court,after a thoroughinvestigation,” Adejobiassured.

From left: Alhaji. Sheu Batuta, Alhaji. Abdulhakeem Yayi Akorede, Chief Imam of Akure; Alhaji AhmadAladesawe, Chairman, League of Imams and Alfas, Ondo State and Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, Ondo Stategovernor, during a visit to Ondo State governor, at the Government House, Akure.

Mark pledges support for IjebuState

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA—THE

Senate President,Senator David Markyesterday pledged hissupport for theactualisation of Ijebu-State. If it becomes areality it will be carvedout of Ogun State.

Mark who stated thiswhile speaking at thisyear annual 2012Ojude-Oba festival heldat Ijebu-Ode Ogun Statesaid that one of the waysto achieve rapiddevelopment in thecountry is when morestates were created.

The Senate Presidentwho was reacting to theplea of the Awujale andparamount ruler ofIjebuland, Oba SikiruKayode Adetona on theneed for Ijebu State, saidhe had received variousdelegations fromagitators of statecreation, saying thatone of the highestdelegations was fromIjebuland.

He said: “I support thecreation of Ijebu State,the National Assemblymust work to actualise it,we know that it isthrough it thatgovernment can movecloser to the people, andI pledged that when nextI shall be coming here,the dream would havebeen actualised.”

The Ogun StateGovernor, SenatorIbikunle Amosun whospoke at the occasionhighlighted thesignificance of OjudeOba,which he saidrepresented the rich

culture, dynamictradition andaccommodating spirits ofIjebu people.

He said: “This isbecause history tells usthat the festival startedwith an Islamic cleric,alongside members of hisfamily, paying a courtesycall on the Awujale as away of showingappreciation to thetraditional ruler forallowing Islam to growpeacefully in Ijebu Ode.

“Ojude Oba is one ofthe best advertisementsfor our culture in OgunState and is a prominentfeature in the nationalcultural calendar. That iswhy it is annuallywitnessed by people,from all walks of life,across the country andbeyond”.

Earlier, the Awujaleand paramount ruler ofIjebuland, Oba SikiruAdetona. claimed thatIjebuland had been themost marginalisedprovince since theexistence of the country.

He said “it is the onlyprovince that existedsince 1975 that is yet tobe converted to a state,while other provinceshad been divided intotwo or more states”

Awujale however saidthe alleged injusticewould be corrected ifIjebu State is created.

Present were; deputygovernor of the State,Mr.Segun Adesegun,Senators OlorunimbeMamora, Gbenga Kaka,and Gbenga Obadara,

Also in attendance werethe Olu of Ilaro, ObaKehinde Olugbenle.


Oshiomhole sacks PPEB Chairmanover alleged fraud

BY SIMON

EBEGBULEM

Itsekiri Education Trust rakes

in N16.5mBY EMMA ARUBI

Shell sacks 17 NUPENG

officials

BY VICTOR

AHIUMA-YOUNG

Zuma urges S-African investmentin Bayelsa

WARRI—A NINE-

MEMBER It-sekiri Education Trustwas, yesterday, inaugu-rated by His Majesty,Ogiame Atuwatse II, theOlu of Warri, in his pal-ace in Warri, Delta State.He charged all Itsekiriand other well meaningpersons to key into thelegacy programmewhich raked in a total ofN16.5 million at theweekend.

Chairman of the occa-sion and Speaker of Del-ta State House of Assem-bly, Mr. Victor Ochei,who commended the It-sekiri monarch and War-ri National Council forinstituting the EducationTrust for the benefit ofthe people, pledged tobe part of the Trust.

He said: “I will be-queath education as alegacy to the youngergeneration.”

He charged manage-ment of the Trust to en-sure the sustenance ofthe body through quali-ty service, adding that hewould be proud to tellbeneficiaries of the pro-gramme that he was acontributor to their edu-cational attainment.

Itsekiri focusedand committed

Delta State Governor,Dr. Emmanuel Udua-ghan, who was repre-sented by his Commis-sioner for Basic andHigher Education, Prof.

Patrick Muoboghare,stated that Itsekiri,through the Trust, hadonly re-enacted their na-ture in educational phi-lanthropy.

According to him, itwas through such ven-tures that Hussey Col-lege, Warri, was estab-lished many years ago.

Governor Uduaghansaid the Itsekiri were apeople focused and com-mitted to any chosencourse and set goal. Hecommended Warri Na-tional Council for thelofty initiative, pleadingthat the initiative shouldbe sustained.

The nine-memberTrust, has Dr. Mark Eru-mi, Chaplain of WarriKingdom, as Chairman,with Professors AleleWilliams, Gabriel Yo-

mere, Omatseye andDoris Afejuku as mem-bers.

Others include Engi-neers Alex Neyin andAkperi, Chief NelsonUtieyone, while Mr.Lawrence Ukubeyinje isSecretary.

Inauguration

The Olu of Warri, Atu-watse II, CON, inaugu-rated the Trust at precise-ly 3.50pm. Thereafter,the members took theoath of allegiance,pledging to dischargetheir function diligentlywith the fear of God.

Chairman of Warri Na-tional Council andspokesperson for theOlu, Chief Brown Mene,gave reason for the set-ting up of the Education

Trust.“It will provide such

assistance that wouldensure that no childwould be hindered fromreaching the utmost thathis learning capacityand drive could takehim.”

He paid glowing trib-ute to members of the It-sekiri Progress Club fortheir wonderful contribu-tions to the success andrealisation of the dream.

In a brief remark, theOlu of Warri said Itseki-ri children now havecause to smile as theireducation pursuit hadbeen guaranteed for life.

He thanked all thosethat worked assiduouslyto ensure the success ofthe Education Trust andcalled for proper fundingof the body.

�Itsekiri focused, committed —Uduaghan

Group urges NDDC to probeabandoned project in Delta

BENIN—FOLLOWING the alleged

fraud that trailed the re-cruitment of 500 teachersin Edo State, the gover-nor, Mr. Adams Oshiom-hole, has relieved theChairman of the Post Pri-mary Education Board,Dr. Odein Monday, of hisduties.Vanguard was reliably

informed that allegation of

bribery marred the exer-cise which eventuallybrought into questioningthe qualification of thosewho were announced tohave passed the inter-view.

It would be recalled thatin order to promote sci-ence education in schoolsin the state, the governorhad directed the Post Pri-mary Education Board torecruit 500 teachers whoare majors in Chemistry,Physics, Mathematics,

English, Agricultural Sci-ence and other sciencerelated subjects.

Vanguard was informedthat one of the top mem-bers of the Board wasgiven marked money un-known to him. It was alsolearnt that some Ministryofficials may have been in-volved in the scandal butthe state Commissionerfor Education, Mr Ekpe-nisi Omorotionwan whoconfirmed the removal ofchairman of the Board,said he was not aware ofthe involvement of anyMinistry official.

SOUTH African Pres

ident, Jacob Zuma,has lauded Governor Se-riake Dickson of BayelsaState for enthroning pro-bity and accountability inthe governance cultureof the state.

He also eulogized thegovernor for investingheavily in infrastructureand urged top investorsin South Africa to takeadvantage of the condu-cive business environ-ment provided by Gover-nor Dickson to invest inthe littoral state.

The President, whosepraise is coming for thesecond time in less thanone year, spoke when thegovernor paid him acourtesy visit in his of-

fice in Pretoria last week-end.

He also expressed thewillingness of the SouthAfrican Government tosign a memorandum ofagreement with Infra-structure DevelopmentCooperation, IDC, ofSouth Africa in Novem-ber on capacity building.

Relishing the bond be-tween Governor Dicksonand Bayelsans, Presi-dent Zuma enjoined thegovernor to sustain hislove for his people.

According to him, “apolitician must alwaysbe in touch with his peo-ple because politicsstarts and ends withthem.”

He promised to visit

PO R T H A R

C O U R T — N Ofewer than 17 officials ofthe Nigeria Union of Pe-troleum and Natural GasWorkers, NUPENG, in-cluding the caretakercommittee chairman,have been sacked byShell Petroleum Devel-opment Company,SPDC, in what NUPENGdescribed as an act ofvictimisation.

In a swift reaction,NUPENG demandedimmediate reinstatementof the union officials toavoid industrial unrest inthe already restive petro-leum industry and ten-sion in the country.Vanguard gathered

that the officials were

sacked on October 22, inan exercise which SPDCmanagement claimedwas part of its disinvest-ment and outsourcing ofthe department wherethey worked.

NUPENG and the man-agement of SPDC havebeen at loggerheads forsome time now followingthe union’s suspensionand subsequent expul-sion of its former SPDCbranch chairman overalleged anti-union activ-ities in connivance withthe management ofSPDC.

Reacting to the sack,NUPENG demandedthat its SPDC caretakercommittee chairman,Comrade EnomateKingsley, and 16 otherUnion members affectedby the sack be immedi-ately reinstated in the in-terest of industrial peaceand harmony.

BY DAPO

AKINERFON

IJAW Peoples Congress, IPC, has

called on the Niger Del-ta Development Com-mission, NDDC, to probean abandoned roadpavement project in Ay-akoromo area of DeltaState.

In a statement by itsNational President,Mr. Ekanpou Ekewarid-ideke, the group ex-plained that though theAyakoromo pavementroad job, in Burutu Lo-cal Government Area ofthe state had long beenawarded to a contractorby NDDC, the contractorhandling the project hadfailed to commence work.

The group alleged thatthe contractor had beenmobilised by NDDC toembark on the project but“the contractor appearsto have absconded asthe Ayakoromo communi-ty people have not seenthe contractor since thenews of the mobilisationreached them”.

IPC also called on theManaging Director ofNDDC to call the con-tractor to order, saying“we are extending thiscall to the chairman ofthe Senate Committee onNDDC to use his statu-tory power to compel theinvisible Ayakoromopavement road contrac-tor to return to site.”

VISIT: Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State (left) and President JacobZuma of South Africa, during a recent visit by the Bayelsa State governor.

Bayelsa State next year.The governor was in

South Africa to interactwith top investors andsign letters of coopera-tion with Naidoo andAssociates ConsultingEngineers and Construc-tion Management Com-pany and the Black Busi-ness Council which rep-resents the 5th AfricanBlack Business Commu-nity. The governor alsoinspected the BayelsaDevelopment Corpora-tion office billed to becommissioned in Janu-ary. Governor Dicksonthanked President Zumafor offering credibleleadership to South Af-ricans.


Petrol sells at N120 per litrein Bayelsa

BY SAMUEL

OYADONGHA

Jailbreak in Ahoada, Rivers: Onefeared dead, four allegedly escape

BY EMMA AMAIZE

Oil communities, DESOPADECsuit continues Nov 14

BY EMMA AMAIZE

Privatisation: Rep allays fearsof PHCN workers

BY FESTUS AHON

WA R R I — S O LDIERS of the

Nigerian Army, 3 Battal-ion, Effurun Barracks,near Warri, Delta State,have shot dead two sus-pected hired assassinsand kidnappers in broaddaylight at Ekpan, inUvwie Local Govern-ment Area.

Commander, 3 Battal-ion, Lt. Col Ifeanyi Otu,who confirmed the kill-ing, told Vanguard thatsoldiers gunned the sus-pects down while theywere escaping with a bagstuffed with papers,which they thought wasthe N10 million ransomthey had demanded from

YENAGOA—A LITRE of petrol is now

being sold at N120 perlitre at filling stations inYenagoa and its environsby independent market-ers in Bayelsa State, duepartly to what an insiderblamed on the parlousstate of the East-WestRoad and paltry quotaallotted the state by theDepartment of PetroleumResources depot, in PortHarcourt. With the Patani flankof the East-West Road inDelta State and theAhoada-Mbiama axis inRivers State, cut off byflood, Bayelsa State hasbeen literally cut off fromthe rest of the country,prompting the state gov-ernment to direct con-

struction giant, JuliusBerger, to intervene inthe Ahoada-Mbiamaaxis, a developmentwhich helped improvevehicular movement onthe route. But the state, it was re-liably learnt, will contin-ue to experience shortfall in the product duelargely to the epilepticsupply chain.The state, according toinformed sources, is al-located only five trucksdaily, which most timesdo not get to the state. Marketers in the state,it was learnt, are com-pelled to source for theproduct in the open mar-ket in Port Harcourt withsome of them travellingas far as Lagos to sourcefor fuel from private farmtank owners if they mustkeep their filling stationsrunning.

WARRI—THE legal

tussle between It-sekiri Host Communitiesand Delta State Oil Pro-ducing Areas Develop-ment Commission, DES-OPADEC, over allegedreckless diversion of N1billion meant for devel-opment of host commu-nities, continues No-vember 14, before a Del-ta State High Court sit-ting in Warri and presid-ed over by Justice Mar-shal Umukoro.

The Itsekiri oil and gasproducing communitieshad dragged the state’soil agency to court forexpending money meantfor their development onrenovation of Police Bar-racks in Warri and WarriClub, both governmentand private concernswell outside the specific

mandate of the commis-sion.

Chairman of ItsekiriHost Communities,Prince Ikenwoli Emiko,insisted, under cross-ex-amination by defencecounsel, M. E. Sadjere,that the plaintiffs decid-ed to go to court becausethe commission failed tosettle the matter amica-bly, even after the cur-rent chairman, Mr. Orit-suwa Kpogho, who washead of Finance Depart-ment, at the time, wad-ed into the matter.

Asked if he was una-ware that all the moniesallocated to the commis-sion was not meant forItsekiri ethnic groupalone, Prince Emiko, whoanswered in the affirma-tive, maintained thatthey were in court to re-dress the marginalisa-tion against his people.

CH A I R M A N ,House of Repre-

sentatives Committee onPower, Mr. PatrickIghale, has assured Pow-er Holding Company,PHCN, workers of job se-curity.

Ighale gave the assur-ance when members ofthe committee visitedUghelli Power Plc, to as-sess the level of projectexecuted under the 2012budget.

He said; “Privatisationor not, those in the pow-

er sector are those whoseinterest will always beprotected by the legisla-ture,” adding that “jobsecurity should not be anissue unless governmenthas designed the entireprocess to fail.”

He commended PHCNworkers for their dog-gedness over the years,pointing out that thesame challenges facedby NITEL, NigerianRailway, Nigerian Air-ways and others that ledto their collapse or pri-vatization were faced bythe power sector.

Soldiers kill two suspectedkidnappers in Delta

a victim, Chief JonathanGovernor.

But, apparently unfa-miliar with the circum-stances surrounding thedeath of the suspects,Niger Delta People Sal-vation Front/Niger Del-ta People VolunteerForce, NDPSF/NDPVF,led by activist, AlhajiMujahid Dokubo-Asari,weekend, alleged thatthe Joint Task Force mur-dered a top member ofthe group and renownedmusician, Mr. TonyOmoro.

Lt Col Otu, however,explained that the sus-pects, Fidelis Amani andTony Omoro, called andsent threat messageswith an Airtel number to

Chief Governor, tellinghim that a woman paidthem N1 million to killhim if he failed to pay aransom of N10 million.

The victim was alarmedby the threat, and un-known to the criminals,he contacted senior offic-ers of the battalion, whocontrived a plan for himto play along with them.

He said: “On October23, at about 0910hours,a report of the activitiesof hired assassins waslodged at our office byChief Jonathan Governorof Ekpan.

“He said that two per-sons called him and sentthreat messages with anAirtel number that awoman paid them N1million to kill Governorif he did not pay a ran-som of N10 million."

BY JIMITOTA

ONOYUME

PORT HAR

C O U R T — O N Eperson was feared deadand four other inmatesallegedly escaped onSaturday during a riot-ous scene at the FederalPrison, Ahoada, RiversStateVanguard gathered

that nine other inmateswhose attempt to alsobreak loose was foiled bysecurity operatives, sus-tained injuries.

When contacted, StatePolice Public RelationsOfficer, DSP Ben Ug-wuegbulam, confirmedthe jailbreak attempt, butquickly added that noinmate escaped.

According to him, thePolice, in conjunctionwith other security oper-atives, foiled the escapebid by the inmates.

He said two of the pris-oners who made franticeffort to escape throughthe ceiling were shot.

He said: “At about1700hrs, inmates of Fed-eral Prison Ahoada at-tempted breaking outunlawfully from custody.Ahoada Police Area Com-mand swiftly mobilisedto the scene and togeth-er with other securityagencies cordoned offthe entire perimeter ofthe prison. Consequent-ly the escaping inmatesretreated to the confinesof the prisons.

“Two of the inmatesthat tried to escape

through the ceiling wereshot at to prevent theirescape and were fatallywounded in the process.No escape was record-ed."

Meanwhile, sourceswithin the prison con-firmed the escape of fourinmates adding that ninewere injured while onewas killed.

The sources said trou-ble started on Saturdaywhen warders returnedto the prison with someof the prisoners they al-legedly took out to fetchfire wood and water.

The prisoners, accord-ing to the sources, sud-

denly resisted effort bythe warders to lock themin their cells.

In the heat of the pan-demonium, the sourcessaid, the prisonersforced the ATM cell openand this immediatelytriggered tension in theprison as inmates madefrantic efforts to scale thefence.

The sources said thetimely arrival of securityoperatives who shot spo-radically to stop the pris-oners from fleeing savedthe situation.Vanguard gathered

that before the situationfinally came under con-

trol, four of the prison-ers had escaped, onedied, while nine othersreportedly sustained in-juries.

Another source toldVanguard that the at-tempted jailbreak lookedlike an action the prison-ers had been contem-plating.Vanguard gathered

that security operativeshad been put on alert inthe area about a possiblejailbreak plan by inmatesbut nobody knew whenthey were to strike, andthat explained the time-ly arrival of security op-eratives.

THANKSGIVING SERVICE: From right: Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State; his wife Ju-dith; former Vice President of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme; his wife Beatrice and Senator Magnus Abe(behind), at the 80th birthday thanksgiving service in honour of Dr. Ekwueme, at St Paul's Cathedral,Port Harcourt, yesterday.


BY TONY EDIKE

EFCC probes alleged frauds inAnambra LGs

BY TONY EDIKE

Abia govt accuses oppositionof raising false alarm

Ekwueme, a patriotic Nigerian —Amaechi

ENUGU—THE peopleof Enugu State have

been experiencing se-vere scarcity of petro-leum products, particu-larly Premium MotorSpirit, PMS, popularlycalled petrol, which nowsells between N120 andN125 per litre at stationsowned by independentmarketers.

The price hike haslasted for one month butwhile the major market-ers always lack productswith their stations underlock, the independentmarketers usually haveenough products on dailybasis, which they sell atcut-throat prices, with themotorists and other buy-ers purchasing withgrudges.

ENUGU—THE Economic and Financial

Crimes Commission,EFCC, has commenced in-vestigations into the fi-nances of local govern-ments in Anambra State, fol-lowing series of petitionsfrom the state alleging mis-management of funds bythe caretaker committees setup by Governor Peter Obito oversee the affairs of thecouncils.

The petitions fromAnambra State, said tohave flooded the zonal of-fice of the anti-graft agencyin Enugu, according tosources, centered on fraudin most of the 21 local gov-ernment areas, which had

Group tasks Chime on devt

River Council of the state,despite the array of politi-cians and leaders from thecouncil supporting andworking for Chime’s gov-ernment.

Going down memorylane, the group recalled thatthe only visible road thegovernor was trying to con-struct in the council in fiveyears of his administrationwas flagged off two yearsago, lamenting that noteven one kilometer of theroad had been successfullytarred.

OJI-RIVER PROGRESSIVE Action,

OPA, has asked EnuguState government ofSullivan Chime to pay moreattention to rural develop-ment in the state.

In a statement by its Di-rector of Media and Re-search, Mr. AneneChukwu, the group saidthe current Enugu Stategovernment had not doneenough for rural areas inthe state.

The group decried thelack of roads and other ba-sic infrastructure in Oji

UM U A H I A —

ABIA State Govern-ment has described the in-sinuation by some peoplethat the governor was notdoing enough on rehabili-tation and construction ofroads as an old story ema-nating from agents posingas opposition group as un-charitable, saying they werebeing economical with thetruth.

It accused the oppositionof raising false alarm, not-ing that the immediate pastgovernment was asleepwhile others were develop-ing their states for whichreason the incumbent gov-ernor was saddled with theburden of starting afresh todevelop the state.

A statement by Mr. BenOnyechere, Special Ad-viser to the Governor onPublic Communication,said: “The opposition inDiaspora has imbibed theculture of always raisingfalse alarm where none ex-ists. The dissemination offalsehood has the capacityto dissuade investors asmuch as it can mislead thepublic.

“They have denied thatthere are no such projectsas women and youth em-powerment neither willthey admit the existence ofconducive and secured en-vironment for businesses tothrive and construction of

been under the caretakeradministration since the in-ception of Obi’s administra-tion.

One of such petitions tothe EFCC, obtained by Van-guard, was written by 12members of Njikoka LocalGovernment TransitionCommittee, including foursupervisors, who allegedthat the Transition Commit-tee Chairman, DazzaUdeozor, Head of Service,Dr. C.M. Afunugo, andTreasurer, Mr. AndyOrakwelu, perpetratedfraud running into millionsof Naira through paymentfor unapproved and unex-ecuted projects, among oth-ers.

The 12 petitioners, who

were surprisingly relievedof their appointments byGovernor Obi in Septem-ber, apparently for raisingthe fraud alarm in their pe-tition to EFCC, dated June8, 2012, said the looting ofNjikoka local governmenttreasury “came to light dur-ing the oversight visit to thelocal government byAnambra State House ofAssembly Committee onPolitical, Local Governmentand Chieftaincy Matters onMonday, April 14, 2012,based on very exactingquestions posed to the trioof the Transition Chairman,the HOS and the Treas-urer.”

Under the approval andsupervision of the TransitionCommittee chairman, Mr.Udeozor, who was retained

by Governor Obi after sack-ing the 12 members in Sep-tember, the F and G ap-proved a bill for the reacti-vation of borehole inNjikoka local governmentsecretariat at the sum ofN637,500 but the treasurerallegedly claimedN1,900,000 as the amountspent on the project.

They alleged that publicfund amounting to N1.3million was not accountedfor.

They also cited the Inter-nally Generated Revenue,IGR, building project jointlyfunded by the local and stategovernments which wasapproved for N20 millionbut was fraudulently beefedup to N31 million withoutthe knowledge of the F andG.

PORT HARCOURT—Rivers State gover-

nor, Chibuike Amaechi,has described former Vice-President of Nigeria, DrAlex Ekwueme, as a patri-otic Nigerian who contrib-uted immensely to promoteunity and development inthe country.

Amaechi spoke, yester-day, at a special thanksgiv-ing service in honour of theformer Vice President tomark his 80th Birthday at St.Paul’s Cathedral in PortHarcourt.

He said: “I don’t see eth-nicity in you (Ekwueme). Ifothers have seen, I neversee it in you, so we as Ni-gerians owe you a lot inthat regard.

“Let me tell you that thereare those of us who admire

you even at the party meet-ings and one of the thingswe admire you for is yourlevel of patriotism.”

Governor Amaechi ex-plained that at 80,Ekwueme was still fit to dipinto his competences andexperiences to add value tothe Nigerian society.

“An opportunity hasopened up now, and thatopportunity is the forthcom-ing constitutional amend-ment, and as usual Nigeri-ans have started dealingwith cosmetics not reality ofpower distribution, struc-ture of the country, but re-ality of sharing what andwho is what.

“I think I will join you inasking fundamental ques-tions, it is important that weensure the unity of the

country in a way to movethe nation forward, and Iwill join you in that,” he said.

On his part, Alex Ekwueme,

thanked the Rivers State gover-nor and all well-meaning Nigeri-ans who turned out in their num-bers to honour him.

Fuel scarcityworsens inEnugu

INVESTITURE: Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State (right), receiving a souvenir from His Eminence,Dr. Sunday Ola Makinde, Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria after his investiture and dedication as a Knightof John Wesley, KJW, at the Methodist Theological Institute Chaplaincy, Umuahia as the secretary of con-ference, Methodist church Nigeria, The Rt. Rev. Dr. Raphael Opoko looks on, weekend.

numerous projects whichspeak for themselves.

“They can never talkabout the establishment ofnew capital city inUmuahia, where the newgovernment house is lo-cated, not far from the newinternational and industialmarkets, which are nearlycompleted."


Justice Adekeye retires

ABUJA—CHIEF Jus-tice of Nigeria, Justice

Aloma Mariam Mukhtar,will, Wednesday, conduct avaledictory court session inhonour of Justice Olufun-lola Adekeye, who retiresfrom the Supreme Court.

In a statement in Abujayesterday, the apex courtsaid the event will hold atthe main court auditoriumof the Supreme Court.

A statement by the DeputyDirector, Press and Infor-

mation, Supreme Court ofNigeria, Festus Akande,said: “Hon. JusticeAdekeye clocks the manda-tory retirement age of 70years on October 28.

“She became a HighCourt Judge in June 1987and was elevated to theCourt of Appeal Bench inNovember, 1998.

“She was the PresidingJustice in the Ilorin Divi-sion of Court of Appeal be-tween 2008 and 2009; andwas appointed a Justice ofthe Supreme Court onMarch 12, 2009.”

BY IKECHUKWU

NNOCHIRI

‘NASS is no rubber-stamp'

ABUJA—ARRANGE-MENTS have been

concluded to flag off thePeoples’ Public Sessionson the review of the 1999Constitution across the360 federal constituenciesin the country.

The move is the initia-tive of the House of Rep-resentatives to achieve amore participatory, inclu-

Reps release guidelines forconstitution review

sive and transparent re-view of the constitution.

Also, a tentative tem-plate of the issues to bediscussed and voted on atthe sessions had beenproduced by the House ofRepresentatives to serveonly as a guide, as eachFederal Constituency isfree to indicate in its re-port other issues they con-sidered as requiringamendment or inclusionin the constitution.

Issues that have beenidentified in the templateinclude, among others,recognition of the sixzonal structure; creationof states; structure, fund-ing and creation of localgovernments; residency,citizenship andindigeneship question;justiciability of economicand social rights; fiscalprovisions; independ-ence of states legislaturesand amendments of theexclusive legislative list todevolve more powers tothe states.

Others are fiscal feder-alism; abolition of stateselectoral commissions; re-moval of immunity clause;establishment of state po-lice; zoning and powersharing; terms of office ofthe President and gover-nors, regarding whetherthey should be for a sin-gle term of five, six orseven years or a renew-able term of four years;independent candidacy;voting age; improved rep-resentation for women;rights of persons with dis-ability; voting rights forNigerians in diaspora; aunicameral National As-sembly; presidential orparliamentary system ofgovernment; role for tra-ditional rulers in the Con-stitution and further elec-toral reforms.

According to the DeputySpeaker and Chairman ofthe House Ad hoc Commit-tee on the Review of theconstitution, EmekaIhedioha, the sessions willbring the process of consti-tution review closer to thepeople and will extend toall the nooks, crannies, vil-lages, communities, grass-roots and towns throughoutNigeria.

Guidelines for the con-duct of the sessions indi-cate that speaker of theHouse of Representatives,Aminu Tambuwal, willperform the flag-off cer-emony for the sessions onThursday, November 8.

BY EMMAN

OVUAKPORIE

... as Saraki bemoans absence of lawon oil spill

ILORIN—CHAIR-MAN, Senate Commit-

tee on Ecology and Envi-ronment, and Senatorrepresenting Kwara Cen-tral Senatorial District,Senator AbubakarSaraki, has vowed to en-sure that the country en-forced the law on oil spillwhen one was eventu-ally enacted.

Saraki also told news-men in Ilorin that therewas need for a disastermanagement templatethat will ensure that aidto disaster victims got tothem at the right time.

He said: “All we areasking for is that if youcan respect the lives ofothers in another coun-try, why not Nigeria?The law is meant to pre-vent what they call thepunitive aspect.

“Also, the law will leadto a lot of stability in theoil-producing region, be-cause being the sourceof oil should not meanbeing disadvantaged.

“We need to agree as acountry to begin to dothe right thing and oncethe oil companies knowthat we are serious, theytoo will buckle up.

“In fairness to them, to-day in Nigeria, there isno law that sanctionsspillage, whereas if yougo to a country like USA,

whether a spillage isthrough sabotage or not,once it happens, there isa way of calculating whatyou will pay. That typeof law makes you to doeverything necessary tosecure your pipes.”

Senator Saraki said itwas unacceptable thatthe same oil companiesoperating in the Niger-Delta, who obey laws inother countries in Europeand America, tend tolook the other way when-ever they were involvedin oil spills in the coun-try.

Saraki dismissed alle-gations by some oil com-panies that the proposedbill on oil spillage,which he was champion-ing, was punitive.

BY DEMOLA

AKINYEMI

ABUJA—DEPUTYSenate President, Ike

Ekweremadu, yesterday,took a swipe at AlhajiAhmed Gulak, Special Ad-viser to President GoodluckJonathan, warning him toknow the limits.

Senator Ekweremadu,who noted that senatorswere neither rubber-stampnor illiterates as alleged bythe Presidential aide, saidif Gulak’s understanding ofthe role of the legislature ina democracy was to rubber-stamp everything broughtby the executive, he shouldwake up to the realities ofhow things were done.

He said if Gulak, asSpeaker of Adamawa State

House of Assembly, rubber-stamped everything the ex-ecutive sent to the House,the National Assemblywould not act in like man-ner.

Ekweremadu, in a state-ment, yesterday, by OkeyOzoani, his Special Ad-viser on Political Matters,said: “To put mattersstraight, the Deputy Presi-dent of the Senate, whilespeaking on The PoliticalIdeology of the Great Zikof Africa and Challenges ofLeadership in Nigeria, atthe 2nd Zik Annual LectureSeries organised by the Ni-geria Union of Journalistsin Awka, stressed that the21st century Nigerianeeded knowledgeableleadership at all levels.”

BY HENRY UMORU

Bombed St. Rita's

Catholic Church.

RIGHT: Remains of the

suicide bomber's car.

BELOW: Survivors

ABOVE AND BELOW: Victims of the St. Rita’s Catholic Church,Angwan Yero, Malali Village, suicide bomb attack receiving treatmentat Garkuwan Hospital, Kaduna, yesterday. PHOTOS: Olu Ajayi.

SUICIDE BOMBER ATTACKS ST. RITA’S CATHOLIC CHURCH, KADUNA

CMYK

CMYK


OPINION


*Dr. Omigbodun, an environmental expert, wrote fromLagos.

BY AKINTOLA OMIGBODUNPreventing future losses from floods

THE current floods being experienced along theRiver Benue and River Niger should not be

allowed to occur in future. A new operations regimethat will ensure safe operations at dams and theirassociated reservoirs should be put in place for alldams in Nigeria. Dam owners/operators in Nigeriainclude the River Basins Development Authorities,RBDAs, PHCN successor companies, State WaterBoards/Corporations. The Federal Ministry ofEnvironment held a round-table meeting with damowners/operators in Abuja on May 23, 2012 and Iaddressed the participants at this gathering on therole and responsibilities of dam owners/operators inflood early warning system operations. Dam owners/operators were told that their primary responsibilitywas to exercise control over the water behind theirdams such that in years of heavy rainfall and forsingular rainfall events, water going past the damdoes not damage dam infrastructure or create floods.

In the first place, dams should not store water thatis not required. One of the problems with dams underthe control of the RBDAs is that some of them aredesigned for electric power generation but theexisting law, the River Basins DevelopmentAuthorities Act, does not include electric powergeneration in the functions of each Authority. Thusthe budgets of the RBDAs cannot include funds forpower generation and distribution. Besidesamendments to the law to permit RBDAs to generateand distribute electricity, procedures for safe

operations of dams such that floods are not inflictedon interests and communities downstream of damsshould also be specified in the law. Communitiesdownstream of a dam should be allowed by law tojointly monitor water levels behind the dam with theRBDA.

The release of water from Lagdo Dam on the RiverBenue in Cameroon leads to floods each year alongthe River Benue, both in Cameroon and in Nigeria.Again, it is emphasized that water which is notrequired should not be stored behind a dam. TheCameroonian authorities should be approached tolower the critical operating water level in the Lagdodam by 8m from 216m above sea level to 208m abovesea level. With respect to Kainji Dam, PHCN hasbeen operating this dam for over 40 years and PHCNshould by now have a good hydrological model foroperations at the dam. Water entering Kainji Laketakes an average of 76 days before going past thedam. Some of the water reaching Kainji Lake takesabout six months to arrive at the lake from Guinea. Itshould be possible to plan water release from KainjiLake such that there are no significant floods in areasdownstream of the dam.

The floods that occurred along the River Ogun inLagos State and Ogun State during 2007, 2010 and2011 should also not be allowed to occur again. TheOgun-Oshun River Basin Development Authorityshould lower the critical operating water level atOyan Dam by 4m from 63m above sea level to 59m

above sea level. Gates should also be provided atthe Ikere Gorge Dam on the River Ogun as this willlead to better control of water releases into the mainchannel of the River Ogun.

An assessment of flood risk along the River Ogunin Lagos State and Ogun State shows that waterrelease from Oyan Dam in the region of 10,000 millionlitres per day leads to the formation of a lake on theriver between Magbon and Hate, that is betweenlatitude 6°49’30" N and 6°48’00" N. A second channeltakes off from this lake to the east of the main channelof the River Ogun and this channel carries waterdirectly to the concrete viaduct on the Lagos to IbadanExpressway at latitude 6°40’00", then onwards intoRiver Owuru which flows into Majidun Creek whichdischarges the water into the Lagos Lagoon. The floodpath from the main channel of River Ogun and thelake covers parts of Ogun State and Lagos State; it isover 27km long and it is up to 4km wide in places. Itis, therefore, necessary to plug the second channeland other channels along the River Ogun throughappropriate embankment construction. Flood controlstudies should be carried out from Oyan Dam toLagos Lagoon which studies will assess the needs ofcommunities along the River Ogun, especiallyAbeokuta metropolitan area.

RURAL Nigeria, ordinarily, does not have thebest conditions for sustainable living. Whenthe tasking conditions bear extra burdens fromthe worst flooding in more than four decades,the results are the stories of woes fromdifferent parts of Nigeria.Only a few States were spared stories of

devastations with the etching impact they havecreated in communities that were barelysurviving. How would children born in theseconditions survive? How would thecommunities return to normalcy, when thewaters recede and the trickles of benevolencethey are getting runs dry?These communities need more help. Our

appeal goes to anyone – individuals andorganisations - that can muster assistance, forthe various communities, to intervene. Theircircumstances are too gloomy for them tocontemplate the future. Many of them arehanging on the slim hope that they wouldrecover anything from homes, farms and otherbusinesses that have been under water forweeks.It is a vain hope, yet they cannot live without

hope – the hope that the floods will not return,

More Help For FloodVictims

hope that they will get assistance to live again,hope that they have a future, for them and theirchildren.Some of the loudest voices heard on the

matter these days are from opportunists,attention seekers, politicians, and some whohave identified flooding as the only newsworthy item.They have no concerns about the victims.

They want their faces in the media, exploitingthe plight of the displaced. Yet as the smiling(or mock concerned faces) dominate themedia, there are disturbing stories of hunger,illnesses, rapes and other crimes in the camps.Everything is in short supply, especially in

places where the already inadequate reliefmaterials from governments have beenallegedly diverted, or outrightly stolen,confirming earlier fears about the N17.6billion intervention fund the FederalGovernment provided to ameliorate theplight of flood victims.The challenges that have resulted with

providing food and emergency shelter forvictims, paint gloomier pictures of what awaitthem when they return to what used to betheir homes. Where will they get funds forreconstruction of their homes and their lives?How do people who were too poor to livesurvive after the flood has washed away themost basic means of their existence?We have an emergency in our hands. Unless

we treat the situation with such profundity,neither the victims nor those ready to assistthem would understand that the re-buildingwould be a slow process that would task ourcommitment to rural Nigeria whose ravagingpoverty receives dismissive treatment.The flood can help Nigeria to pull some out

of poverty, if she decides to tackle the disasterdecisively.


,,

OPINIONClimate change: Any impact on Nigeria?

By NGENE UCHE

*Dr. Uche, a civil/sstructural engineer,wrote from Sapele Delta State.

“

SENATE President, David

Bonaventure Mark, seems to berapidly shedding his military politicalestablishment’s ideological feathers. Aformer influential “IBB Boy” between 1985and 1993, Mark, in latter years, seems tobe repenting of some of the odious legaciesof the internal colonialist policies theestablishment forced down the throat of thenation in the 1999 Constitution before theyvacated power.

The other day, following the Mubislaughter of 42 students and other similargrisly slayings by the increasing army ofmalcontents around the country, Mark toldhis colleague senators and a listeningnation that he was now in favour ofintroduction state police, as the currentpolicing system has proved grosslyincapable of apprehending the scale ofviolent criminality that lives with us today.It is common knowledge that most politicalfigures from the military era, particularlythose from the North, always kick againstany notion of decentralising police functionsbecause of their fear that they could formthe embryos of new threats to disintegrateNigeria.

In far away Quebec, Canada, lastMonday, October 22, 2012 in his addressat the 127th Inter Parliamentary Union,IPU, Assembly, Mark addressed the theme:“Citizenship, Identity, Linguistic andCultural Diversity in a Globalised World”,with the progressive view that he wouldpush for the replacement of “State ofOrigin” with “State of Residency” in theimpending Constitution amendmentexercise.

Said he, to journalists: “Let’s forget thebusiness of state of origin and go to stateof residence. Once you are resident in aplace and you perform your civicresponsibilities for the period, there is noreason why you should not benefit,provided, of course, you don’t claim dualresidency”.

I call this a Zikist agenda, because DrNnamdi Azikiwe’s National Council ofNigerian Citizens, NCNC, right from itsdays under the leadership of Dr HerbertMacaulay, had dreamed of anindependent Nigeria where the citizenswould “forget their differences” and builda nation where everyone would be proudto belong; a model of patriotic dynamismout of Africa and a toast of the Black world.He had as associates outside the NCNCanother political party in the North namedthe Northern Elements Progressive Union,NEPU, led by Malam Aminu Kano andhis followers.

David Mark’s neo-Zikist

intentions

The NCNC was a truly national party,where Igbos produced elected officers inLagos and parts of the old Western Region,and people from the Mid West and Yorubaswon election in Port Harcourt. A Fulaniman, Alhaji Umaru Altine, a staunchmember of the Zikist Movement who wentto jail in defence of zero tolerance to Britishcolonialism, was elected the first MayorEnugu.

Zik's fellow travellers: But Zik’s fellowtravellers in the fight against British ruledid not share his dreams. When ObafemiAwolowo returned from England, hisvision was to become part of a nationalpolitical movement, but only if he would

be allowed to control the Western Regioncell of it. He eventually founded the ActionGroup, which had the primary mission oftaking over the West and launching out toother parts. In the North, Alhaji AhmaduBello and his group were deeply concernedof what Zik would do with Islam and theNorth if he assumed leadership atindependence. They hijacked the NorthernPeoples Congress, NPC, an unabashedregional party. With the West and the Northnow in the hands of regionalists, theNCNC and its nationalist vision werethwarted and reduced to the regionalfringes. Awolowo popularised the agitation

for creation of states for the Minorities.It was from these stimuli that the struggle

by local elites to take control of the politicalspace within their areas became popular.As soon as the nationalists were pushed

out of political relevance, the regionalistsin the Nigerian Army started as from 1967to split Nigeria into states and localgovernments to give local elites theplatforms for the freeloading on Nigeria’soil wealth (the National Cake).

Born of the demon

Thus was born the demon of “state oforigin”, which created the indigene/settlerdichotomy among Nigerian citizens. Thisis the singular detractor to our nationalintegration because a Nigerian can live allhis life in a part of the country other thanhis place of ethnic roots and yet live like aforeigner in his own country. He will paytaxes, yet his children will not benefit fromstate government free education andbursary awards, which are reserved for“indigenes”. He can register and vote, butcannot be voted for. He and his family willbe counted as part of the local populationof his state of residency, and yet when thefederal allocation that comes as a result ofthe population density arrives he and hisfamily are discriminated against.

In spite of his contributions to thedevelopment of the state, he and his familyare frequently harassed, displaced andoften killed by mobs incited by localpoliticians against enterprising “settlers”.

Mark’s intentions are noble. Without

dichotomies for more than 70 years. Statesand local governments have beenestablished to institutionalise nationaldisunity. We all are now tribalists andsectionalists at heart. It is in our blood. Evenif Mark gets the support of his colleaguesto push through the reform, it might merelyexacerbate the hostility of “indigenes”against “settlers”, and local politiciansmight respond with more incitement toviolence.

However, we commend the SenatePresident for standing by this nationalistagenda and hope he will not bediscouraged by the odds.

AS you read this piece, I will be in New York City, USA, my self-chosenprimary staging post for coverage of the American presidential and other

elections tied thereto. I will move around quite a bit, touching base in Washingtonfor sure. I will endeavour to look out for story angles that are relevant to us inNigeria in our practice of the presidential system. STAY WITH THE BEST!

Off to New York City

CLIMATE change is a worldwidephenomenon but a second look at the

topic suggests that Nigeria may be immunefrom it. Impact as used may be negative orpositive or a combination. A literaldefinition of climate states that it is thegeneral weather conditions prevailing in anarea such as Nigeria over a period of time.In effect, climate change will mean a changein such weather condition for a particularlocation over time.

What therefore is climate change; canNigeria be affected; what impact has it onNigeria? How can we mitigate the negativeimpact and ensure that climate change/global warming does not have disastrousconsequence on Nigeria? Giving answers tothese questions are at best guesstimate asno one can be definitive about them, but westill need to start thinking about them todayto find answers to tomorrow’s challenges.

What then is climate change? This can belooked at as the continuing change of the

earth’s climate, which, in time past, was seento be caused by natural causes. However,the term ‘climate change’ today is generallyused when referring to the change in ourclimate which has been observed since theearly part of the 20th century. The changeswhich are seen over recent years and thosewhich are predicted over the next centuryare thought to be mainly due to humanbehaviour rather than due to naturalchanges in the atmosphere.

What causes this change cannot be treatedin isolation without looking at greenhouseeffect which is caused by the release ofdestructive gases by human action which inturn brings about the warming of the earthsurface by increase in the earth’stemperature. The increase in temperaturein turn causes the melting of ice whichcontributes to the rise in sea level amongother disastrous consequences.

Arising from this, is the question: CanNigeria be affected by the global climatechange? In this regard an example maysuffice. The drought of the 1970s that swept

most of the Sahel region of Africa left theregion, including Nigeria, with generalwater resources issues. The consequence ofthat are the low agricultural output, limitedwater supply and inadequate water reservefor power generation which the region isassociated with. Again the increasingflooding in the coastal and non-coastalregions of the country is indicative of theexpected effect of climate change. There aretwo extremes of the expected challenges ofthe climate change in Nigeria,viz, increasein rainy and dry seasons with each lastingapproximately six months on the average,that is, April to October and October toMarch, respectively.

Nigeria daily temperature averagediffers according to location and

period of the year. Average temperatureranges from 25oC in the southern coast to40oC in the north. A rise in temperature ofbetween 1.4oC to 5.8oC by 2100 accordingto Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange, IPCC, will have serious negative

effect on the socio-economic wellbeing ofthe country in the following ways: increasein amount of rains and number of rainy days

-flooding in the coastal areas, higher riskof 100years flooding occurring at shorterintervals;

*landslides especially in erosion proneareas;

*high temperature in the north will causeincrease health issues such as meningitis,cataracts, malaria and yellow fever etc

*desertification will increase and moredroughts which encourage locusts and whiteflies, which in turn will affect food and watersupply;

*high cost of construction especially in thecoastal areas;

*deforestation as a result of relocating ofpeople from the flood affected areas of thecoast;

*change in land use in the coast may havedrastic effect on agricultural output andhence livelihood;

Senate president, David Mark

Mark’s intentions are noble;without giving Nigerians a sense ofbelonging wherever they live thecountry will never become a nation;it will never be united; Nigerianshave been raised on a diet of ethnicand sectional dichotomies for morethan 70 years

g i v i n gNigerians asense ofb e l o n g i n gwherever theylive the countrywill neverbecome a nation.It will never beu n i t e d .Nigerians havebeen raised on adiet of ethnicand sectional


,

,

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BY GODWIN ADINDU

*Mr. Adindu, a social critic,wrote from tAbia State.

BY MAGNUS ONYIBE

EFCC and Kalu's newsermons

*Mr. Onyibe, a development strategist,wrote from Abuja.

AS you read this piece, formergovernor of Abia State, Orji

Uzor Kalu, might be on his way tothe home of another prominentmonarch. In the last couple ofweeks, he has embarked on cross-country visitations, preachinggood governance, leadership andnow Igbo integration. From Ifewhere he visited the Ooni, throughOwerri where he was guest to theChairman of the South EastCouncil of Traditional Rulers, EzeIlonmuanya and Okigwe where hecalled at the home of the leader ofMASSOB, Chief RalphUwazuruike, it has been travelgalore for the former governor whohas been in hibernation for a whilenow.

He is making a ceremony out ofthe visitations. Yet, the cases awaithim in court. His track records runbefore him like an anxiousforerunner.

Having kept mum and physicallyaway from the globally celebratedfuneral of Dim Emeka Ojukwuwhich lasted for over three months,people had conjectured that,perhaps, Kalu must have been sickor highly psychologicallydevastated in his self-inflictedconfinement. It is uncharacteristicof him to keep away from suchmoments. He looks for such great

moments to shine. But, since afterbeing banished to Siberia andforced into an untimely politicalmenopause by the liberationforces led by the Ochendo of Abia,the ex-governor has been livinglike a recluse, cocooned in solitaryconfinement. He has been nursinghis wounds with dignified silence.

Today, Kalu might be thinkingthat it is time to re-launch himself,to step out of his enclave. Like theancient mystical phoenix, he hasemerged from hibernation to takeon a new life. And in this calculatedmission of self re-invention, he hasfound a good strategy in the cross-country visitations. But, as hetravels, there is a dark shadowtrailing him. There is a heavy loadof moral burden hanging over himlike the sword of Damocles. Hispreachments about leadershiphave ended as a self-directedsarcasm, a kind of self-mockery.His clamour for Igbo integrationor is it Igbo president is the sameold gamji that climaxed with hisspeech at the palace of themonarch of Enugu Ukwu inAnambra State, entitled: "I am theFace of the New Igbo", but whichended with the monumental“somersault” of 2003 when hissecond term bid was under threat.

The main irony or humour in thecurrent moves by Kalu is that hiscase is still pending with the EFCC.He is being prosecuted for alleged

abuse of office and embezzlementof public funds. Where the law isallowed to run its course, Kalucould be behind bars, serving longyears of jail terms with hard labour.Unlike his co-travellers who arefacing trial by the EFCC, like theformer governors of AdamawaState, Boni Haruna, ChimaraokeNnamani of Enugu State, andAhmed Tinubu, he is the only onewith the effrontery and temerity ofembarking on this opengrandstanding. Others havechosen the honourable path of, atleast, maintaining a dignifiedsilence.

It would seem, by this gimmick,that Kalu is bereft of any sense

of honour. How can somebody whothrew Abia State backward for 12agonising years have the moralguts to talk about leadership? How

can somebody whose eight-yeartenure as governor wascharacterised by recklessness havethe peace to mention the wordleadership? The truth is that theNigerian public is fully aware ofKalu’s antecedents and thereforecannot be deceived by the presenttricks. But, the major blame goesto the EFCC which has slumberedon these cases and have, in thecircumstance, given the room forthis insult on our sensibilities as anation.

As a reminder, Kalu’s trajectoryin the political corridors of AbiaState remains the worst tragedythat befell Abia people. It was anugly throwback to the gainshumanity has made through theages. Today, his successor,Governor Theodore Orji hasorganised the house scattered byhim. Governor Orji has struggledto bring decorum to the State afterthose locust years of Kalu. Duringhis eight-year reign, Kalu elevatedrecklessness into statecraft. Withinthis period, he expended threedeputy governors, 262commissioners and countlessnumber of transitional chairmen.Everything was a game. The‘ wonder roads’ he broughtObasanjo, Atiku, N’Abba andother personalities to commissionin Aba could not last one year. Hecould not bring in one crane toconstruct a single outstandingpublic building in Abia State.

He rather introduced a newlexicon to the political dictionaryof Nigeria known as mamacracy.It was a system where his deputy,Speaker of the House of Assembly,traditional rulers, commissioners,

permanent secretaries andanybody of worth must takeinstruction from his mother. Thisway, he humiliated anddehumanised respectable elders,stakeholders and even men of Godall of whom must go and ‘see’ hismother before they could do anymeaningful business withgovernment. From his mother’senclave at Nweke Street in Aba,Kalu ran the State.

Abians and indeed, the wholeworld are not in a hurry to forgethis reign of terror orchestrated byhis special terror group known asBakassi, a murderous outfit thatkilled and maimed countless soulsextra-judicially for mostly politicalreasons. The highpoint of theactivities of this group came when40 people died after being lockedup overnight in an abandonedshipping container in Aba. For thiscase, his Chief Security Officer wasdetained at Kuje prisons.

This is just a little of the historythat Kalu has in his kitty as heembarks on his cross-countryvisitations. It is obvious he ismerely trying to clean up byassociation. He is trying to pull thewool through the eyes of discerningpublics. He seems to think thatNigerians are caught by acollective amnesia as to havesuddenly forgotten his spiral ringof controversies and all thenotorieties associated with him

EFCC should thereforeaccelerate the case on Kalu andsave us from this grievous insulton our sensibilities.

IN elementary economics class,we were

taught that the preponderance of naturalresources in certain locations is one of themajor considerations for locating extractiveindustries in the area.This justified thepresence of a huge array of textile mills inKaduna,a stone throw from Funtua inNorthern Nigeria where cotton farming wasendemic .It also underscores the existenceof Onyeama Coal Mines in Enugu ,wherehuge deposits of coal are buried under theearth crust, just as it is the reason for sitingcocoa producing factories in Lagos-lbadanaxis where it is the commonest cash crop inthat region.In those good old days, the textilemills and the coal mines were veritableproviders of jobs for Northerners andEasterners who loath to venture far afield toLagos where factories were more abundantwith corresponding ample job opportunities.

Interestingly, the situation at that time wassuch that both big and small textile ,cocoaand coal mines thrived successfully withoutany threat to one another. Correspondingly,in the Niger Delta where oil/gas depositswere discovered in 1959,refineries andpetrochemical industries are located in PortHarcourt in Rivers State and Warri in DeltaState.But contrary to the situation in theNorth, South East and South West wherecotton,coal and cocoa were strictly privatebusiness, oil exploration is conducted understringent control of government via theenactment of the Petroleum Act in 1969.

So, apart from the huge state-owned oil/gas firms run by the behemoth, NigerianNational Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, nosmaller firms were allowed to operate inthe exploration and refining of crude oil inNigeria at the initial stages.The monopolysubsisted until distributorship permits weregranted local operators when the refineriescame on stream and oil/gas explorationlicenses were, several years after, grantedindigenous firms like Dubri Oil, Muni

A case for Niger Delta indigenous oilrefineries

Pulo,Consolidated oil ,Midwest oil, SEPTAand a host of others which are now profitablymining marginal fields hitherto neglectedby multi-national firms.Disappointingly,thelast time Nigeria built a refinery was in 1989'which is 24 years ago in Kaduna, while thefirst refinery was built in 1965 in PortHarcourt.

Now Petroleum Resources Minister,Diezani Alison-Madueke has just informedthe National Assembly that tax payers fundsin excess of N251 billion (or $1.9 billion)has been earmarked for turn aroundmaintenance of the three ageing refinerieswhich is more or less trying to revive thedead.It has been argued by some that 18licenses were issued for refineriesestablishment in 2002 and none has takenoff till date but my counter-argument is thatthe licenses were issued to firms withbusiness plans for replication of the fouralready existing monstrosities in terms ofcapital outlay and refining capacity whichis mission impossible in a country whereaccess to capital is highly limited,more soas the market is yet to be completelyderegulated for market-driven prices.Another difference is that what is beingadvocated in this article is not licenses forstart up or green business but licensing forgrey businesses which in other words aregoing-concerns.

Also worthy of note is the fact that the so-called "crude" refineries are still sproutinglike mushrooms despite constant attacksfrom JTF and this suggests that they areserving a niche market -a relevant fact whichcan't be ignored.Obviously, the improprietyof consigning critical oil/gas assets togovernment and foreigners alone at theexpense of indigenous investors is reflectedin the dilapidated state of our refineries,leading to reliance on imported fuel whichthe recent petrol subsidy scam, resulting inexcess of N2 trillion loss this year alone, is aby-product.Thankfully, the Alison-Madueke-led Petroleum Ministry, in 2010,introduced the local content policy which

simply stipulates that contracts in the oil/gas business must be awarded wholly or inpartnership with willing Nigerian investorswith capacity to deliver.The visible gainsfrom the partial liberalisation of the sectorare technology transfer benefits,moreindigenous oil/gas firms in the upstreamsector now doting the landscape and moreof the proceeds from that sector beingretained in Nigerian banks as opposed tofinancial institutions in London,Paris andNew York.

Put succinctly, the policy shifts that

brought indigenous investors into oil/gas industry, first as explorers and currentlyas major contractors have been salutary andtherefore should be extended into otherareas such as refining that still remainsexclusive to the Federal Government andher foreign partners.Sadly, as lofty as theidea of getting indigenes involved in smallscale petroleum refining appears,it is notcaptured in the draft Petroleum IndustryBill,PIB, which is currently receivinglegislative attention. Rather than encourageindigenous small scale investors,international oil companies,IOCs, likeShell,Chevron,Exxon-Mobil and Total FinaElf as well as AGIP maybe compelled toestablish refineries as pre-condition forretaining their oil blocks and if the currentbody language of the IOCs is anything to goby, building a refinery in Nigeria is not theirpriority.Since the big players are not keen

for the reason that refining is not as lucrativeas extracting crude oil from the earth crustand with a joint venture agreement thatfavours them to boot,who will fill thegap?The indigenous operators whose localoil refineries have been operating under theradar have been filling the gap but arepresently being destroyed daily in the NigerDelta by the Joint Military Task Force,JTF,at such an alarming rate that could furtheraccelerate the impoverishment of theembattled people of the region which theFederal Government amnesty programmewas meant to ameliorate.

Ostensibly,the reason for destroying therefineries is that they are illegal and areallegedly responsible for the increasing rateof crude oil theft.While such allegations maybe partially true, it does not appear to methat those small scale refineries have thecapacity to refine the volume of theft thatthe Minister of Finance and CoordinatingMinister of the Economy,Ngozi Okonjo -Iweala was referring to when she raisedalarm that crude oil theft could negativelyimpact our country's economicfundamentals this year.

Clearly, our crude oil theft hasinternational dimension to it and effectivemaritime security, including theestablishment of coastal guards serving thedual purpose of creating employment forNigerians and blocking further theft areworthy of consideration. As for the allegedtheft by small scale refinery operators,licensing and allocating crude oil to themcould stem the tide of theft as people rarelysteal what they have legitimate access to.Notallowing small oil refineries in Nigeriamight have a been a policy borne out of theoverbearing influence of the IOCs much thesame way they persuaded government to capmarginal oil/gas fields which are now beingprofitably explored by indigenous investorsafter a long period of being fallow.Havingrecorded appreciable measure of success inthe exploration and contracting aspects,refining oil locally by Nigerians may be aninnovative way of creating employment andboosting the economy of the Niger Delta.

Continues tomorrow on pg 18

Kalu might bethinking that it istime to re-launchhimself; but as hetravels, there is adark shadowtrailing him, aheavy load ofmoral burdenhanging over himlike the sword ofDamocles

Having recordedappreciable measure ofsuccess in exploration,refining oil locally byNigerians may be aninnovative way ofcreating employmentand boosting theeconomy of the NigerDelta


THE 2012 OJUDE OBA FESTIVALHRM Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, Awujale of Ijebuland, celebrated the 2012 Ojude Oba

Festival at Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, yesterday. PHOTOS: Shola Oyelese and Wumi Akinola.

From left— Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Oba Adetona and Senator DavidMark, President of the Senate, at the festival.

From left— Senator 'Gbenga Ashafa, Senator David Markand Senator 'Gbenga Obadara.

A cross section of Obaleke Okunrin on parade.Balogun Kuku House and Balogun Alatise House

on parade.Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, Olu and Paramount Rul-

er of Yewaland (left) and Otunba Subomi Balogun.

NEWS

Suicide bomber hits another Kaduna churchContinues from page 5

my phone and discov-ered that I had overtwenty calls. It was whenI went outside andplaced some calls that Idiscovered what hap-pened. So we had torush down to Kaduna.My six children were at-tending the Church withmy relations. Six of themwere injured. Three werenot so injured. But theywere very hurt. That isElvis. You can see howhe is doing. But by thegrace of God, he will bealright. Oh! God help us!

8 killed, 145injured, saysNEMA

The National Emer-gency ManagementAgency (NEMA), yester-day, in Kaduna saideight persons lost theirlives at the St. Rita’sCatholic Church suicidebomb attack.

A statement signed byNEMA’s Kaduna ZonalPublic Relations Officer,

Aliyu Muhammed, saidthat 145 others were in-jured in the attack.

It said that the corpsesof the victims had beendeposited at various hos-pitals in the city.

According to the state-ment, four of the corpseshave been deposited atBarau Dikko SpecialistHospital; three at 44Military Hospital, whileone has been depositedat the Garkuwa Special-ist Hospital.

The statement said that81 injured persons werereceiving treatment atBarau Dikko SpecialistHospital, while 35 otherswere being treated at 44Military Hospital.

It said that 15 injuredpersons were also re-ceiving treatment at St.Gerard’s Hospital withfive among them undercritical condition.

Meanwhile, theKaduna State Commis-sioner of Police, OlufemiAdenaike had in a tel-ephone interview withNAN earlier said thatonly three persons were

killed with seven othersinjured.

Adenaike said that thevictims included thelone bomber and twoworshippers “a man anda woman’’.

He said that seven oth-ers were receiving medi-cal attention at variousfacilities within the city,with two under criticalcondition.

KDSG calls forcalm

The Kaduna State Gov-ernment has called forcalm and urged the peo-ple to ignore rumours ofreprisal attacks for thechurch bombing earlierin the day.

In a statement inKaduna, Mr ReubenBuhari, Senior SpecialAssistant (Media) toGovernor Patrick Yakowa,said that anyone caughtspreading such false in-formation would be madeto face the full wrath ofthe law.

He, however, condoled

with those who lost theirloved ones and propertyin the blast.

Buhari stressed that thesecurity agencies wereon top of the situationand assured residents ofadequate security.

Jonathan, Mark,Tambuwalcondemn attack

President GoodluckEbele Jonathan, yester-day, condemned the at-tack, describing the actas “barbaric, cruel anduncalled for.”

A statement issued bythe Special Adviser tothe President on Mediaand Publicity, ReubenAbati quoted the presi-dent as saying that “it isobvious that these peo-ple do not mean well forNigeria and its unityand development,”

The statement added:“President Jonathannoted that the apparentobjective of the criminaland unpatriotic elementsand forces behind theattack is to set back theprogress the Administra-

tion has made in the fightagainst terrorism in thecountry.

“The President how-ever, expressed confi-dence that the waragainst terrorism wouldbecome more unrelent-ing as the nation wouldnever give in to theforces of terror and retar-dation.”

Give peace achance—David Mark

The President of theSenate, Senator DavidMark has condemnedyesterday’s bombing inKaduna saying the per-petrators of violencemust stop the senselesskillings.

In a statement issuedby his Chief Press Sec-retary, Mr. Paul Mumeh,Mark said that the“Kaduna bombing is dis-heartening, embarrass-ing and condemnable.We don’t deserve this.This is inhuman and al-ien to us.”

Speaker of the Houseof Representatives, HonAminu Waziri Tambuwal,

has strongly condemnedthe attack on St. Rita’sCatholic Church, inKaduna.

In a statement signedby his Special Adviseron Media and Public Af-fairs, Malam ImamImam, Tambuwal saidthat the attack on inno-cent worshippers andother bystanders wasboth callous and sense-less.

Kaduna Govt tosettle victims’medical bill

The Kaduna State Gov-ernment on Sundaypledged to settle themedical bills of all the145 victims of St. Rita’sCatholic Church attackin Kaduna.

The State Deputy Gov.,Alhaji Mukhtar Yeromade the pledge, whenhe visited some of thevictims currently on ad-mission in four hospitalsin the city.

Yero condemned theattack and assured thatthe government was com-mitted to the protectionof lives and property ofresidents.


WHAT is your reaction to

the handover of Bakassito Cameroun?

This issue of Bakassi is acomplicated thing. I believe thatthe people concerned shouldbe allowed to say where theywant to belong. That is why aplebiscite could have beenproper for them to say exactlywhere they want to go to.

What is your take on theNiger Delta question?

Many people get it wrongbecause they just look at oiland what they want to benefitfrom it. And some of them justlook at it and say people fromthe South want to geteverything and run away withit. It is not so. It is not correct.They don’t want to think aboutpeople living in that area andhow the exploration of oil isaffecting the people living inthat area.

Houses built inthe Niger Delta

If you look at the houses builtin the Niger Delta area, everyminute people are dyingbecause of pollution. In fact, Iam so afraid that in about 20years from now somethingmight happen to our children.If you look at what ishappening to the houses there,then you now think about thechildren, the human beingsthat are going to be born yearsto come, how it will be. And thatis why people keep on talkingabout 50 per cent derivation.Derivation was 50 percentbefore and it was because wewanted to fight the civil warthat it was abrogated. Now wehave finished fighting that warand we are now fighting thewar on poverty. We are fightingthe war of poor health. We arefighting the war ofunemployment in Niger Delta.That is why the issue of the 50percent derivation should bebrought back so that those thatthe oil exploration is killing

SENATOR Stella Omu, former Senate Chief Whip and

a retired Deputy Comptroller General, DCG of Prisons

in this interview speaks on burning national issues

including the flood in many parts of the country, the

Boko Haram menace, state police and why women

must be empowered in all sectors. Excerpts:

gradually will have money totake care of themselves.

Look at what oil subsidy isdoing. All those who arebenefiting from the oil subsidy,are they Niger Deltans? NigerDeltans are dying everydayfrom oil exploration while otherpeople are busy looting andtaking away the money. So itcould have been nice foreverybody to have his own andpay tax to the FederalGovernment. There is no partof Nigeria that God did notbless but oil has made us to beso lazy that nobody wants tolook inwards to develop whathe or she has.

So to me, the issues of 13 percent derivation and offshore/onshore dichotomy are not thequestion. The question is leteverybody develop the wealthin his own area and pay tax tothe Federal Government andthat is what will make us towork hard.

Are you satisfied with the toppositions presently occupiedby women in the country?

It depends on how you lookat it. One, two or three women?That is not the thing. We aretalking about a population of160 million and by the goodwillof President GoodluckJonathan we are able to reach30 per cent now in thegovernment. We are sayingopen the door for everybody notnecessarily in government,everywhere, anywhere there isactivity taking place, givewomen chances. Womenunderstand by nature that aman is the head. It is the menwho do not understand it. Andbecause a woman understandsthat the husband is the head, awoman will not allow herhusband or son to fail. That iswhy you see women workingso hard to ensure that theirhusbands do not fail. They alsoensure that their sons do notfail. Some men get it wrongthey think that the woman istrying to compete with men.

On state policeWhen they talk about state

police, I normally advocate for

community policing.Community policing will leadto a situation where the DPOwill call a town hall meeting tofind out what is happening inthe community and so on. Fromthere, information will begetting to him; not for him tosit in his office and not knowingwhat is happening.

But for corrupt practices, statepolice could have been the bestthing. Now, everybody is afraidthat the governors will misusethe police and so on and soforth. But to me, the governorsare not going to be there forever. I believe that as ourdemocracy grows, things willnot be as they are today wheregodfathers are choosing peopleand are playing the roles theyare playing. Once ourdemocracy is strengthened, Ibelieve state police should bethe answer, the right thing.

Not only the state police eventhe prison service. You know wetalked about the derivationthing, every state will be ableto manage according to its ownstrength. If you can pay 1000

policemen then you keep 1000policemen and pay themproperly.

What are your thoughts onthe 2015 governorship race inDelta

My advice is that let the bestmaterial be voted for; theperson, who will manage DeltaState intelligently to makeDelta State the most prosperousstate in the country

How can that be done withgodfatherism?

We can when everybody isallowed to cast his or her vote.When everybody vote and thevotes count that is the end ofgodfatherism.

Like what I have said, if thebest man or the best womancomes, our children who haveleft universities can get jobs,the sick ones can be properlytreated in the hospitals; therewill be food on the table foreveryone.

Is President Jonathantreating Boko Haram with kidgloves?

No, no! The way PresidentJonathan is handling it, I am

when the flood wasapproaching my house, webuilt platforms all over thehouse, the sitting room andeverywhere instead oftransferring properties tocamps and all that. All theproperties were raised in thehouse and then it is now leftfor the individuals to takerefuge.

Assisting flood victimsThey are different ways of

handling these flood victims.You may want to assist bycarrying all the victims to acamp; empower victims, whohave places in upland areas torelocate, etc. In Delta State likeIsoko area where I come fromyou ask them (victims) do youhave anywhere in Ughelli orWarri where you can go to? Ifthey say yes, you can nowtransport them to where theywant to go to and give themsome stipends that wouldenable them live there until theflood recedes.

50% derivation ‘ll stimulate hard work,devt — Stella Omu

REVENUE SHARING:

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

•Disempowerment of women hindersnation's growth

•Omu: 50 percent derivation should be brought back

sure that very soon, theissue of Boko Haram willbe a thing of the past.There are many ways ofhandling an issue. Hefeels his own style willgive the country a betterresult.

Do you think theNational EmergencyManagement Agency,NEMA did a good jobin handling the recentflooding situation in thecountry?

I must say that NEMAdid a good job bywarning; somegovernments also triedtheir best to ensure thatthey made arrangementfor flood victims. Whenyou talk about floodingthere are some areas inthis country that areused to flooding andthese people know howto manage their livesespecially in the riverineareas.

For instance, Iremember when I wasyoung, during the floodseason, they built veryhigh platforms so whenthe flood approached,the people all moved tothe platforms and stayedthere until the floodcame down.I used theexperience because


IN May 2006, at the heat of theThird Term, a serving Senator of the

Federal Republic of Nigeria, told hiscolleagues that “My constituents, myfamily and I support tenure elongationof four more years for the President andmy governor.” But that was not the issue.

The wahala was that in summing uphis contribution, Senator ChristopherNshi, a renowned rice farmerrepresenting Ebonyi State told hisembarrassed colleagues and certainly abewildered world in a live broadcastdebate: “Mr. President (of the Senate,that is), I am finished”.

Thinking he did not capture SenatorNshi’s comment correctly or maybegiving him the opportunity to redeemhimself and the Senate by extension, theSenate President had asked him if hewas really sure he was finished. For thesecond consecutive time, Senator Nshiconfirmed to an already laughing androlling Senate that “I am finished”.

And indeed, by way of prophesyoccasioned by very poor command ofgrammar, Senator Nshi’s political careerwas finished from that day. Such wasthe drama of the absurd staged by a

Brains, brawns or moneybags?BY OKECHI MOLOKWU reported to have stated that “The world

is moving at a neck-breaking speed; newschools of thoughts and technologicalevolutions are consistently and drasticallychanging the way we do things, whilealso availing leaders of unlimitedopportunities and myriads of options totake their countries to greater heights, andNigeria cannot be an exception; modernleaders must be indeed beknowledgeable enough to discern thedirection the global society is moving, theopportunities that lie ahead, andgalvanise their societies to blaze the trailand not trail the blaze leaders”.

It could also be recalled thatEkweremadu’s Committee onConstitution Review had during the lastconstitution amendment exercise tried toraise the educational qualificationbenchmarks set by the constitution for thePresident, Vice President, Governor,Deputy Governor as well as Federal andState legislators from Senior SecondarySchool Certificate/equivalent to tertiaryeducation in line with the emergingmodern day realities. It was passed bythe Senate, but died in the lower chamber.

Meanwhile, whereas the South Eastcannot be said to be the only guiltygeopolitical zone in churning out less

S/EAST LAWMAKERS:

A review of the quality of thedebates so far is an openembarrassment to the entirecountry, and a sad comment onNigeria’s education system

alone the vulture. Not when you havethe eagle, the sparrow and other birds ofglory and strength. Yes, what hashappened to leadership recruitment inthe South East should give every Igboson and daughter a cause to worry.

For instance, we have witnessed in thiscountry where a “Senator” AlhponsusIgbeke, a man we the people of Anambraknow his story like broad daylight,displaced Senator Joy Emodi, anexperienced politician, educationist,lawyer, a member of the 1994/1995Constitution Conference, and in fact, theFirst Igbo female Senator.

We also saw at a time even in EnuguState, when taxi drivers and starkilliterates were sent to represent Enuguin the 2005 National Political ReformConference. You begin to wonder whathad happened to retired Supreme Courtjuggernauts like Justice Nnaemeka Aguor the Aniagolus or the Onos Nwangwosat the time.

One can continue naming names.However, my intent is not to disparageanybody, but to re-echo Ekweremadu’swake up call on Ndigbo. As Ndigbo oftensay, ‘Abada nwere onye o na-ekwesi”.

That is, wrappers look better on somewaists than others. While the masses ofthe people will clap for Ekweremadu forspeaking up as the highest political officeholder of South East extraction, somemembers of the political class might aswell call for his head. But the truth is that,like the native malaria concoction, truthmight be bitter. But in the end, it does alot of good to the system. Let us listen toour son. It is a wake-up call. Ndigbo, unumukwa anya e?

*Okechi Molokwu writes from UNIZIK,Awka

Senator of South East extraction, a regionthat has continued to produce top flyersin every sphere of human endeavourboth in Nigeria and all over the world.

It was no doubt the nationalembarrassments such as Senator Nshi’sthat Reuben Abati had, while concludinghis post-mortem of the first week of theThird Term Debate, written in hisGuardian Newspaper column of May12, 2006:

“If anything has been gained,however, in the last week, the Third Termdebates in the National Assembly haveshown the quality if men and women inthe legislature. Parliament is traditionallya place for the display of reason andelocution. How on earth did we vote forthese characters who lack debating skill,these men who can hardly expressthemselves? It was as such remarkablethat Senator Ike Ekweremadu, everunwavering in saying in the open whatmost public office holders would preferto murmur in their bedrooms or beerpalours stirred the hornet’s nest on thequality of leadership from thecommunity level to federal level overtime.

Speaking at the 2nd Zik AnnualLecture Series entitled “The LeadershipIdeology of the Great Zik of Africa andthe Challenges of Leadership inNigeria” in Awka, recently, he wasreported to have lamented that despitebeing among the most educationallyadvanced parts of Nigeria, the SouthEast still sends intellectually poor andless than its first-eleven to the NationalAssembly. On the decay of leadershipand the imperatives of revivingknowledgeable leadership which Zikwas a renowned icon, Ekweremadu was

than qualified leaders, it isobvious Ekweremadu wasparticularly peeved thateven if you pardon someother parts if they send justanybody, certainly not theSouth East. As our fatherstaught us, you do not go toa market of birds and returnhome with just any bird, let

,,

L-r:Brand Manager, High Value Segment, MTN Nigeria,Mr. Kelvin Orifa; winner of the 2012 MTN Lagos Fashionand Design Week, Joshua Udiminue; and creativedirector Style House Files, Mrs. Omoyemi Akerele; atthe Final of the 2012 MTN Lagos Fashion and DesignWeek in Lagos, weekend. Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor

L-r: South West Chairman, PDP, Prince OlagunsoyeOyinlola; South West Vice Chairman, Chief Segun Oni;Minister of State, FCT, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide; andMinister of Police Affairs; Caleb Olubolade at theCaucus meeting of PDP in the South West at Ibadan onSaturday. Photo:Dare Fasube

L-R:First prize winner,10th Year Raffle Draw ofSupa Strikas ComicNigeria, OlufemiEleyinmi; Publisher, SupaStrikas Comic Nigeria, Mr.Tomi Davies; Third prizewinner, Nnam Tochukwuand the second prizewinner, MustaphaTemitope during the 10thYear Raffle Draw of SupaStrikas Comic Nigeria inLagos

Supporters of the main opposition candidate in Sierra Leonian November 17thpresidential elections, Brig. Gen. Maada Bio (rtd) of the Sierra Leone People's Partyduring a large street party to drum up support for their candidate on Abadeen Road,Freetown, Sierra Leone, weekend. Photo:Abayomi Adeshida

L-r: Guest artiste and gospel musician, Sis. Tope Alabiwith wife of the chairman, at the third Diocese of LagosWest, Methodist Church Nigeria festival of hymns andsongs planning committee, Lady Olulanu Ayoola at theOpebi cathedral, Lagos

DELTA State government, yesterday, de-

nied reports that corpses inGeneral Hospital morgue,Patani, were washed awayby the flood that sweptthrough the town and oth-er parts of the state recent-ly.

Commissioner for Infor-mation, Mr. Chike Ogeah,said although Patani wasone of the areas affected bythe flood, the General Hos-pital was never flooded,and that corpses could nothave been washed awaywhen there was no flood.

He explained: “At theonset of the flood, everycommissioner and publicoffice holder had been de-ployed to their areas of or-igin to monitor and coor-dinate relief efforts at theinstance of Dr. EmmanuelUduaghan, Governor ofDelta State.

“Thus, top officials of thestate government and offi-cials of organizationscharged with providingrelief to internally dis-placed persons maintaineda hands-on approach tothe management of theflood. In line with the di-rective, Mr. Timi Tonye,Commissioner for SpecialDuties, who hails from Pa-tani Local GovernmentArea, has virtually been liv-ing in the area since theonset of the floods."

Uduaghandeniesreports onflooding ofmorgue


Orubebe notcause ofthe flooding

EAST-WEST ROAD:

OUR attention has beendrawn to the photo news

captioned: River GodsdayOrubebe, published on the frontpage and page 15 of the Van-guard Newspaper, Thursday,October 25, 2012 edition. Ordi-narily, we would have not re-sponded to the photo news as itaffects the sections of the EastWest Road but dragging the Min-ister’s name into the issue is, tosay the least malicious and det-rimental to the image of the Min-ister and the ministry.

The gale of flooding which rav-aged some communities acrossthe country few weeks ago havebeen an issue of concern to allNigerians including the Minis-ter who had visited the sectionsaffected by this flood and the var-ious camps and communities. His on the spot inspection of thehavoc wrecked by the flood hadbeen well reported in the elec-tronic and print media.

We wish to recall that the Min-

ister, during his on the spot as-sessment tour of the affected ar-eas, sympathised with the vari-ous communities while implor-ing them to be law abiding andnot to resort to violence. He alsoinformed them that the FederalGovernment was very concernedabout their plight in taking stockin conjunction with the state gov-ernment to move relief materialsin order to ameliorate their suf-ferings.

Devastated

sections

The caption of your photo newssends a damaging message tothe readers implying that theMinister of Ministry of NigerDelta Affairs, Elder GodsdayOrubebe, was the cause of theflooding that devastated sectionsof the East West Road. The peo-ple must be informed that thereare sections of East West Roadwhich are more upland that werenot affected by the flood. How-ever, the heavy rains at the end

of August, coupled with waterthat were released from Lagdodam in Cameroon, Kainji andJebba dams led to serious floodsin most parts of the country. Thissad incident left many people,especially, inhabitants of the af-fected areas in harrowing andagonizing state.

It was sorrowful as lives, sev-eral hectares of farmland, cropsand property worth billions ofNaira were lost to the devastat-ing flood. The 2012 rainy seasonin Nigeria has become a curseinstead of blessings usually as-sociated with the season for acountry like Nigeria, which is anagrarian country. It was night-mare for millions of Nigerians,even as it is worse than earlieryears. This flood has destroyedriver banks and infrastructure,which culminated to loss of prop-erty and livestock and flash floodsin many areas. By end of Sep-tember, over 134,371 people

not quite true since other federalhighways were affected by theflood. For example, the Abuja-Lokoja Expressway had to beclosed for vehicular traffic for

Saint Patrick’s College, Asaba.These all tell vivid stories of theimpact of a natural disaster thatbefell most parts of Nigeria. Now to imply that the floodingof some sections of the East WestRoad was due to the non-com-pletion of the dualisation projectis unacceptable.

We are aware of the orchestrat-ed attempts by faceless politicalforces hiding behind the mediato malign the person of the Hon.Minister. We are therefore notsurprised that the incidence of theflooding has provided anotheropportunity for these politicalopportunists to pour their ven-om on a man who is busy fash-ioning ways and structures toraise funds for the completion ofthe East West Road and numer-ous other on-going developmentprojects in the region.

The Minister on numerous forahad cried out about the challengeof dwindling budgetary alloca-tion/releases to the execution ofthe Ministry’s developmentprojects in the region particular-

By F. U. OSAMOR

were displaced,64,473 injuredand killed 148.The InternallyDisplaced Peo-ple, IDPs, are ei-ther livingwith families orin makeshiftcamps. All the sixgeo-poli t icalzones in thecountry are af-fected, which in-cluded Adama-wa, Katsina, Bau-chi, Plateau, Be-nue, Kogi, Bayel-sa, Edo, Port Har-court, Delta tomention a few.

To suggest thatthe East West roadwas the hardesthit by the flood is

nearly two weeks. Even as at thisday, the Banda axis of the ex-pressway which was height of theflash flood is still partially closedto traffic. This calls to mind thevisual of the Minister of Aviationwho had to travel by canoe toinspect her flooded home in An-ambra State; to the closure of theAsaba-Okwe road and the camp-ing of displaced persons due tothe flooding on the compound of

ly the East West Road. For ex-ample, at take off in 2009, theapproved Budget Allocation tothe Ministry was N96 billionwhile the actual release was N94billion with a short fall of N2 bil-lion. In 2010, budget allocationwas N145.2 billion while the ac-tual release was N58.8 billionwith a short fall of N86.3 bil-lion. In 2011 budget allocation


,

,It can be observed that the major

challenge faced by the Ministry frominception till date is that of inade-quate funding and release of fundswith which to execute major projectsin the region

Minister of the Niger Delta, GodsdayOrubebe

*Flooded part of the Niger Delta...but when will the construction work on the East West road be completed?


was N58 billion but the actual release was N35.6billion, which resulted to a short fall of N16.3 bil-lion.

It must be borne in mind that the East West Roadcomprises four sections running from Section 1:Warri-Kaiama in Delta and Bayelsa States which is 87 ki-lometres; Section II, 101km Kaiama-Port Harcourtroad, in Bayelsa and Rivers States; Section III PortHarcourt-Eket, which covers 99 km and section IVEket-Oron, Akwa Ibom State which covers 50 kilo-metres. Some of these sections have reached a fair-ly advanced stage which has brought the averagecompletion stage to over 51 per cent.

The total budgetary allocation to the Ministry be-tween 2009 and 2011 was N299 billion, while theactual releases stood at only N188 billion. The totalshortfall for the three years was N104 billion. It canbe observed that the major challenge faced by theMinistry from inception till date is that of inade-quate funding and release of funds with which toexecute major projects in the region. With regardsto the 2012 budget proposal, the ministry got ap-proved ceiling of N59.72 billion as capital and re-current by the Budget office of the Federation.

The ministry is getting a paltry N59.72 billion asbudgetary allocation for 2012, in spite of other on-going projects, with the East West road dualisationprojects alone requiring over N200 billion to be com-pleted. However, the Minister of Niger Delta Af-fairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, recently rekindledthe hope of the people in the region when he said,the multi-billion contracts for dualisation of the EastWest project would be completed by December2014. Elder Orubebe who gave the assurance at anews briefing on the progress of ongoing projectsin the region, said that all necessary steps that wouldfast track the completion of the projects have beenput in place.

Budgetary provisionto the ministry

According to him, a total of N156 billion has so farbeen spent on the East-West Road project and thatanother N193.8 billion is needed to complete theproject, which has attained average 51 per cent com-pletion.

Noting that the budgetary provision to the minis-try could not cover the total cost of the project,Orubebe said the ministry, the Ministry of Finance,Ministry of Justice and the Debt Management Of-fice were working in collaboration with financial in-stitutions to ensure accelerated funding of the roadprojects.

He said: “In order to complete the project by 2014according to the programme of work and cash flowprojections for the four sections, the additional fundsrequired in 2012 is N34.4b, while funds requiredfor 2013 will be N86.5 and funds finally required for2014 will be N50 billion. From Sure-P budget forthe ministry, the sum of N21.7billion is to be utilizedfor the East-West Road project this year. Going bythese appropriations, it is not likely that these fundswill be enough to complete the project by December2014.”

To augment these sources a Collaborative Frame-work has been fashioned by the Ministry and theUnited Nations Development Programme, UNDP,to set up a structure which will be used to raise andpool funds from which the Ministry can draw forthe completion of the East West Road and otherprojects in the region. For this purpose, an all stake-holders conference which will involve the gover-nors and governments of the nine states of the Ni-ger Delta region, traditional rulers/opinion leaders,NGOs, Federal Ministry of Finance, National Plan-ning Commission, Members of the National Assem-bly and other donor agencies is scheduled to holdin Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital in November2012.

It is most unfortunate that the Vanguard Newspa-per which had in the past published reports enu-merating the challenges facing the Ministry wouldsuddenly indulge in championing the mischievousploys to malign the person of the Minister and bringthe good works of the Ministry into disrepute.

•Osammor is the Director ,Press & Public Rela-tions of the Niger Delta Ministry.

Orubebe not cause ofthe flooding


BARRING any other development of equally impact-

ful effect, the great event of theyear 2012 for Nigerians wouldprobably be the floods that sub-merged many communitiesacross the country, forcing a rudeawakening about the reality ofclimate change and Nigeria’sshare of this global phenomenon.Which is ironic in one sense morethan any other, for when Presi-dent Jonathan travelled to Rio deJaneiro to attend the Earth Sum-mit, known as Rio+20, in June,many had criticized him for pay-ing attention to “an irrelevantsubject.”

The principal lesson lies in howNigeria shares with the rest ofthe world, the increasing chal-lenge of climate change and itsconsequences, described in theRio+20 document as “an imme-diate and urgent global priori-ty.” The floods were caused, ac-cording to the experts, by excessrainfall, which resulted in theoverflooding of Rivers Benueand Niger and their tributaries,from Taraba, to Adamawa, Kogi,all the way to the states of South-ern Nigeria. Natural disastershad always seemed to the aver-age Nigerian like something thataffects other people, and seen onCNN, and if there had been anyknowledge of floods, it was re-garded as something rare, occur-ring as a marginal reminder ofthe Biblical Flood.

Conflict betweenman and nature

But this year, the floods remind-ed us all of how vulnerable ourlives have become, and thesameness of both the rich and thepoor in the face of natural disas-ter. Houses were submerged,farmlands were flooded, personswere displaced; the rich and thepoor cried. This conflict betweenman and nature playing out onour shores, underscored the piv-otal place of environmental chal-lenges in the unmaking of hu-man habitats.

With water, an indispensableresource unleashing its power,the ordinariness of every manwas exposed. Steven Solomonwrites sentiently in his book Wa-ter: The Epic Struggle for Wealth,Power, and Civilization (2010),that “by grasping the lessons ofwater’s pivotal role on our desti-ny, we will be better prepared tocope with the crisis about to en-gulf us all.” That pivotal role isambiguous. We had failed to payattention to this. In many of theaffected communities, houseshad been built on riverbeds,along flood plains, and reclaimedland, and for decades, personshad gotten used to living in thoseplaces, naturally and successful-ly, having no reason whatsoeverto imagine the kind of tragedythat crept upon the land this year.When the floods finally recede,many of the affected houses

President Jonathan and the floodsBy REUBEN ABATI

would no longer be habitable: ad-justments have to be made byboth people and the authorities.

In the meantime, we can lookback, with pleasure, on the qual-ity leadership that was demon-strated in managing the effect ofthe floods and in providing im-mediate relief for the affectedpersons. The incident broughtgovernment closer to the people;it highlighted the value of stra-tegic institutions such as theNational Emergency Manage-ment Agency, which deployedhuman and material resourcesnationwide, and worked withother agencies such as the RedCross, the Nigerian Security andCivil Defence Corps and the stategovernments to ameliorate thepeople’s suffering. Deservedly,NEMA has received fulsomepraise for its efforts. Needless tostate that NEMA and other gov-ernment agencies were respond-ing to a strong charge from thevery top, for as the flooding oc-curred, President Jonathan im-mediately directed that all reliefmeasures should be mobilized toassist the states and the people.

The moment called for leader-ship. And the President tookcharge as expected.

He also promptly set up an In-ter-Ministerial Technical Com-mittee led by the Minister of En-vironment to go round the coun-try to assess the extent of thefloods. That Committee present-ed its interim report to the Presi-dent at a meeting attended bystate governors and the leader-ship of the National Assembly.The following day, PresidentJonathan addressed the nationand announced a 17.6 billionNaira relief fund for all the states,which was immediately madeavailable for their use.

All the affected states had setup displaced persons’ camps

tiative. With these steps, the ad-ministration had pushed themanagement of the flood crisisto the level of high national pri-ority, generating nationwideempathy in the process.

In addition, PresidentJonathan announced that he andVice President Namadi Sambowill visit the affected states. Inthe week that followed, Nigeri-ans saw their President, withouthis trademark attire. This hadgiven way to simple shirt andtrouser, rolled up sleeves, and aface cap. The President travelledto Kogi, Rivers, Delta, Anambra,Bayelsa, Taraba, Adamawa, andBenue states. He went from onecamp to the other, identifyingwith the people, empathizingwith them. He listened to theirstories. He shared their agony.His own village in Bayelsa hadalso been submerged. When hewent home to his village, Otuoke,he met his compound flooded upto chest level.

In Kogi, he was told that a manwho took a loan for his farm, andhad lost everything, contemplat-ed suicide. Everywhere he went,

the President took a message ofhope, advising the victims not tocommit suicide, but to remainconfident that with governmenton their side, there is hope. To-gether with the state governors,he thanked the relief agenciesand all the persons who hadcome to the rescue of the victims.He didn’t listen to official versionsalone; he personally invitedspokespersons of displaced per-sons to lay their concerns beforehim. There had been a babyboom in many of the camps:women who had given birth inthe camps brought their babiesto the President. He carried thebabies, and posed for photo-graphs with them and their

and were actively pro-viding feeding, accom-modation and healthservices. Further, Presi-dent Jonathan constitut-ed a National Flood Re-lief and RehabilitationCommittee co-chairedby Alhaji Aliko Dangoteand Mr. Olisa Agbako-ba, to raise funds to com-plement government’sefforts in assisting theflood victims, and tomobilise the generalpublic to support the ini-


President Goodluck Jonathan

Inhabitants of Ahoada in Rivers State...crossing a flooded federal highway


By SOLA OGUNDIPE

World Polio Day 2012:

Countdown to eradication of a crippling disorder

IN 1988, 200 countries and 20million volunteers joined

forces in the global effort to endpolio. At that time, more than350,000 children in 125 countrieswere paralysed by the disease.

Twenty four years later, theworld is still acting decisivelyagainst polio. All over the planet,optimism of a polio free worldin the near future is palpable.

The world achieved a landmarkon October 24, 2012 - this year'sWorld Polio Day. That day, therewere the fewest number of newpolio cases in the fewest districtsin the fewest countries than everbefore witnessed.

In the last year, the number ofnew cases of polio declined by64 percent (from 489 at this timein 2011 to 175 this year). To beexact, the number of new poliocases globally in 2012 (as ofOctober 20) was 175 (comparedto 650 for the whole of 2011).

This number represents thefewest number of new cases inthe fewest districts in the fewestcountries in the world. Greatprogress.

World Polio Day 2012, was thefirst World Polio Day since Indiawas removed from the list ofcountries with active transmissionof the wild poliovirus.

India, which up till January 13,2011, was one of the last four

polio endemic countries, becamepolio-free and has remained sofor almost 20 months.

This was also the first WorldPolio Day that only in threecountries - Nigeria, Afghanistanand Pakistan, has poliotransmission never beenstopped.

There were at least 125countries in which the virus wascirculating when the global waragainst polio kicked off twodecades ago.

So far, there have been zerooutbreaks in West Africa, downfrom outbreaks in four countriesand 51 cases in 2011. Pakistanreported 44 polio cases, downfrom 118 cases in 2011, whilecases in Afghanistan are downmore than 35 percent from 2011.

In the last year, only five casesof polio have been recordedoutside Pakistan, Afghanistanand Nigeria - a 98 percentreduction from 2011.

Polio eradication partnersaround the world are optimisticof these developments which,they say, have opened up ahistoric opportunity to completepolio eradication in theremaining endemic countries.

The story gets better, buthardly presents the entire pictureof the world's success againstone of the most cripplingdisorders known.

It has been a hard-won series

of unprecedented successes, butthe battle is far from over becausethere are significant downsides.

Challenges abound in variousguises ranging from fundingshortfalls for routineimmunisation campaigns, andreinfection in previously freecountries, to sustained leadershipand accountability and securityof vaccination teams to reachchildren in the most difficultareas.

The case of Nigeria, inparticular, stands out. The WestAfrican country is the only polioendemic country whereincreasing number of wild poliovirus cases have been recordedin the last year. There were 97new cases of wild polio infectioncompared to 37 - almost triple -what it was exactly one year ago.

But since World Polio Day 2011,

• Before Rotary’s PolioPlus programme began in 1985, polio paralysed more than 1,000children a day. Someday, the world hopes to retire World Polio Day. It is working hard tomake that day come soon. Photo courtesy Rotary International.

RESEARCHERS at JohnsHopkins have figured out

the three-dimensional shape ofthe protein responsible forcreating unique bonds within thecell wall of the bacteria that causetuberculosis.

The bonds make the bacteriaresistant to currently availabledrug therapies, contributing tothe alarming rise of these super-bacteria throughout the world.

With the protein structure inhand, the scientists say, drugdesigners have a clear wayforward for weakening the cellwall and killing these deadlybacteria. Their results are

Researchers figure out 3Dshape of novel TB drug

reported in a paper published inStructure.

Commenting on the findings,Professor and Director of theDepartment of Biophysics andBiophysical Chemistry at TheJohns Hopkins University Schoolof Medicine, L. Mario Amzel,said: “We've known for a whilethat this protein would make agood drug target, but without astructural model, drug discoveryis like blindly choosing randomobjects to fit into a small hole ofunknown shape and size. Theresults of our study haveremoved the blindfold.

The team used a techniquecalled X-ray crystallography toscatter radiation off a speciallyprepared portion of the enzymethat forms the unique molecularbonds within the cell wall ofMycobacterium tuberculosis.They then used informationabout the direction and intensityof the radiation scattered to builda 3-D model of the arrangementof atoms in the enzyme.

Dr. Mario A. Bianchet,Assistant Professor of Neurologyat the Johns Hopkins and amember of the research team,says the challenge of TB infectionis that most of the long and costlystandard drug treatment is justto get rid of the roughly 1 percentof bacteria that persist after thefirst week of a patient's treatment.

"The 'persisters' resist in partbecause of unique bonds withintheir cell walls. Their cell wallsform a thick, three-layeredboundary between the bacteriaand the outside world, includinga middle layer of interlockingmolecules, calledpeptidoglycans, that form anetwork resembling a chain-linkfence," says Bianchet.

HEALTHY Living and Women Empowerment Initiative,

HELWEI, has urged Nigerians tobe conscious of their eating hab-its to ensure quality health.

The Executive Director, EbereOkey-Onyema, at a seminar inLagos to mark the World Food Day,with the theme; "Your Food, YourHealth: Key to Productivity" said“people must eat right and liveright.”

Addressing a large crowd of co-operatives and professionals fromvarious fields of endeavour,Okey-Onyema urged them totake charge of their healththrough adequate nutrition andpositive lifestyle even in theirpursuit of profit, noting that themajor causes of illnesses and un-timely deaths in the country in-clude unhygienic lifestyles andunhealthy eating habits.

“Have you ever wondered howquite a number of Okinawa Is-land people have been able to live

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

there has been more cause tocheer than to jeer. So much hasbeen accomplished since theGlobal Polio Eradication Initiativedeclaration of an "emergency forglobal public health" andimplementation of polioeradication campaign throughnational emergency programmeseffectively run by Afghanistan,Pakistan and Nigeria.

With an effective global polioprogramme in place and realprogress being made, the worldremains optimistic of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to endpolio forever and to leave in itsplace stronger health systemsthat can deliver life-savingvaccines to protect all childrenfrom vaccine-preventablediseases.

The world has started and canonly advance to finish the job.

Nigerians urged to imbibe positive lifestyle

more than 100 years of disease-free life? It has been proven sci-entifically, that the secret of theirhighest life expectancy is as aresult of their incredible knowl-edge of nutritional facts in thefood they eat. People from thistiny Japanese island eat nutrientrich, low calorie diet that is com-posed of low fat, low sugar, smallquantity of fish but lots of vege-tables and fruits.”

Deputy Director, Federal Min-istry of Health, D.O. Akinola, saidwhen healthy eating habits andpersonal hygiene culture are im-bibed, fewer persons would pat-ronise the medical centres.

Chairman, Alimosho Local Gov-ernment Area of Lagos State,Adekunle Olushola Israel, saidNigerians needed constanthealth education to check someunhealthy practices that impactnegatively on their health.

Lending her voice to the cam-paign, Executive Director, Wom-en’s Rights & Health Project,Bose Iro-Nsi, said the harsh eco-nomic situation in the countryhad placed a huge responsibili-ty on the shoulders of women,urging them to seek avenues ofimproving their finances.

Folake Oyebanjo, FidelityBank, branch leader, Egbeda,Lagos, assured women organi-sations of the bank’s willingnessto grant loans to ensure the ex-pansion of their businesses.

By SAM EYOBOKA

A NEW study led by the University of Leicester, in associationwith colleagues at Loughborough University, has discovered

that sitting for long periods increases risk of diabetes, heart diseaseand death.

The study, which combined the results of 18 studies and includeda total of 794,577 participants, was published in Diabetologia, thejournal of the European Association of the Study of Diabetes.

The research which showed that those who sat for long periods oftime have a higher chance in their risk of diabetes, heart-diseaseand death were independent of any individual physical exerciseundertaken, suggesting that even if an individual meets the physi-cal activity guidelines, their health may still be at risk if they sit forlong periods of time during the day.

Sitting for too long is unhealthy •Healthy diet is part ofpositive lifestyle.



mothers, the most impressive being aphotograph of the President with fournew-born babies and their mothers atthe Makurdi camp.

But the visit to the various camps wasnot without the touch of occasional com-edy. In one of the states for example,one gentleman who felt that the spokes-person for the victims did not conveytheir feelings fully enough insisted onhaving a say in the matter. Some offi-cials tried to prevent his intrusion. Butwhen it was President Jonathan’s turnto speak, he collected the microphoneand took it straight to the agitated fel-low. Speak! It was with much ceremonythat the man proceeded to narrate howpeople who were not affected by thefloods were thronging the displacedpersons’ camp to collect food meant forthe victims and how this was alreadycausing problems.

He wanted the authorities to share themoney that had been sent to the statesby the Federal Government, directlyamong the victims in order to shut outnon-victims who want “to shorten theirration”. President Jonathan deplored thecruel activities of those seeking to profitfrom other people’s misfortune, but pa-tiently, he told the man that he had notcome to discuss food, because all thestate governments according to reportswere doing a lot to assist the victims,

floods, fears were expressed about the pos-sibility of drought in the coming year. Pres-ident Jonathan promptly directed the Fed-eral Ministry of Agriculture to intervene,and a National Flood Recovery Produc-tion Plan was immediately launched.Under this plan, the Federal Governmentis providing high-yielding, flood-resistantseedlings and fertilisers for farmers, tech-nical assistance and other incentives toboost the national yield, as well as releas-es from the national strategic grains re-serves. The Ministry of Agriculture hassince allayed fears of a food crisis, notingthat the bulk of the country’s farmlandsremain unaffected.

Similarly, the Federal Ministries ofWorks, Water Resources, Health and theEnvironment have been directed to de-sign other relief plans. In all of these, theFederal Government is collaborating withthe state governments. The Ministers trav-elled to each state ahead of the Presidentwith their teams, and they were on theground to provide necessary information.In the few states where there is no StateEmergency Management Agency, Presi-dent Jonathan has asked NEMA to workwith the state governments to set up suchagencies to further strengthen the coun-try’s preparedness to tackle emergencies.When the floods occurred, there were alsoreports of a certain Cameroonian connec-tion to wit that due to excess volume ofwater caused by excess rainfall, the Cam-

President Jonathan and the floods


and nobody would die anyway in anyof the camps because of food. While gov-ernment is providing necessary shortterm relief, the Administration is moreconcerned about how the people willmanage their lives after the flood, howto prevent the outbreak of any kind ofepidemic, how to rehabilitate the affect-ed persons and how to prevent a similartragedy in the future.

Indeed, there has been so much pre-occupation with the “sharing”of eitherfood or money, and journalistic nitpick-ing over the ecological fund, whereasthe Jonathan administration’s responseto the crisis is much broader and com-prehensive comprising short, mediumand long-term measures. From the out-set, the President had ordered an in-formed, multi-perspective analysis of theincident and its aftermath to guide in-terventions.

A mapping of the affected areas hasbeen done, the nature and extent of thedamage has been properly studied; en-gineers have been dispatched to thestates to assess the infrastructural im-pact of the floods. On all his visits to thestates, President Jonathan was accom-panied by the House Committee Chair-man on Environment, Hon. Uche Ek-wunife and the chairman of the SenateCommittee on Special Duties, SenatorClever Ikisikpo.

He was also joined by the Director ofArmy Engineering, whose departmenthad gone round to assess the damageand was providing the President withpreliminary engineering analysis. Bridg-es linking communities collapsed, roadswere washed away. Public infrastruc-tures in the affected communities needto be fixed, and the military was alsocalled in to help. In the wake of the

granted. We are all such lucky people weoften imagine that the worst cannot hap-pen here. Even when government ad-vises the people accordingly about likelydangers, the natural response is to resistofficial wisdom and insist that in a de-mocracy, the people have a right to ev-erything including self-immolation. Toprevent artificial contributions to the ef-fect of climate change, nonetheless, theadministration has taken the additionalstep of reviewing available infrastructurethat can serve the purpose.

To this end, President Jonathan hasdirected that the dredging of Riv-

ers Niger and Benue be expedited. Hehas also visited the Kashimbila Dam inTakum LGA, Taraba State, which is un-der construction. The buffer dam is de-signed to provide power and irrigationservices, but more importantly to holdwater released from Lake Nyos in Came-roon with a holding capacity of 18 mil-lion cubic litres. There are plans also, aspart of long term intervention measuresto build dams on the River Benue as wellas dykes in identified vulnerable plains.

President Jonathan has brought to thedelivery of all these measures, passion,action and commitment. He asked theengineers in charge of the KashimbilaDam when they think they are likely tocomplete the dam. “2013 sir!” He toldthem he hopes the promise will be keptbecause the nation cannot wait. Thepromptitude with which he has person-ally attended to the flood crisis has beencommended by many an observer; theactual truth is that this is the nature andcharacter of the man that Nigerians choseas their President in April 2011.

Dr Abati is Special Adviser (Media andPublicity) to President Goodluck Jonathan

eroonian authorities had re-leased water from Lagdodam; some other dams in Ni-geria also had to be emptiedraising the hydrological lev-el in many places.

Fact: the floods were pre-dicted as far back as Marchby the relevant agencies. Butwe all took the predictions for

President Jonathan hasbrought to the delivery ofall these measures, pas-sion, action and commit-ment

,,


BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN,POLITICAL EDITOR

Ondo guber: Our loss no causefor misery —ACN legislators

Visafone begins BlackBerry smartphonespre-booking today

Oritsejafor, others for Beninconvention today

Orphanage holds Joy Night

Group lauds Ondo guber polls

LA G O S — T H Eplanned pre-book-

ing announced byVisafone Communica-tion Limited during ajoint press conferenceheld in Lagos with offi-cials of Research In Mo-tion, RIM, for the sale ofBlackBerry smartphonesin Visafone’s 88 shopsnationwide begins to-day.

Already, existing andprospective customers

who have long awaitedthe launch of the firstCode Division and Mul-tiple Access, CDMA,BlackBerry smartphoneson the network are ex-cited at the new model ofsmartphones on offer andits promised superiorquality of service.

It will be recalled that,Research In Motion,RIM, Canada-basedmakers of BlackBerrysmartphones and

Visafone Communica-tion Limited, havesigned an agreement forthe launch of BlackBerryservices in Nigeria onVisafone’s Code Divi-sion and Multiple Access,CDMA, mobile network.This feat marked first-timeavailability of CDMABlackBerry smartphonesin the Europe, MiddleEast and Africa, EMEA,region, and it is a first inNigeria.

The Regional Director forRIM in East, Central andWest Africa, Mr. Waldi

BENIN CITY—PRESIDENT of the

Christian Association ofNigeria, CAN, Pastor AyoOritsejafor and other menof God will today (Monday)storm Benin City for thecommencement of the 2012annual convention of theNew Covenant GospelChurch, Benin City, EdoState .

The seven-day annualconvention with the Theme:“Possessing the Kingdom,”will also attract other menof God such as BishopMike Okonkwo, Bishop

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM Simeon Okah, Dr CarlConley and it is expectedto attract over one hundredthousand worshippers fromEurope and Africa, accord-ing to the General Super-intendent of the New Cov-enant Gospel Church,Rev.Dr Felix Omobude.

Describing the annualconvention as the hallmarkof Church activities in agiven year, Dr. Omobudenoted that the spiritual pro-gramme will afford the menof God who will grace theoccasion the opportunity togive a new direction to theflock.

AKURE—A pro-democracy group, Or-

ange Family Initiative, OFI,has lauded the Independ-ent Electoral Commission,INEC, for the peaceful con-duct of the recent OndoState gubernatorial elec-tions and also congratu-lated the Governor, Dr.Olusegun Mimiko on hisre-election.

A statement by its Direc-tor-General, Dr. LanreAdeleye, said: “With theconduct of the recent elec-tion we can authoritatively

say it is evident that the pro-masses policies of the La-bour Party administration inOndo State have been com-pensated by massive turn-out of voters in favour of theparty in the just-concludedgubernatorial election."

Adeleye, emphasisedthat the impact of the La-bour Party has on lives ofmajority of Ondo State peo-ple over time has been un-deniable and this has madethe governor prevailed overhis political rivals.

LAGOS—WITH t h eissue of child aban-

donment on the streetsbecoming worrisome espe-cially in Lagos State, LittleSaints Orphanage, yester-day, brought together vari-ous artists for its Joy Nightas a means of raising fundsto maintain its orphanage.

The event which featuredvarious artists took place atthe Premium Hall, StrongTower House located atPalm Grove, Lagos.

The programme tagged:“Joy Night” was aimed atbringing about family en-tertainment with a humani-tarian edge even as the or-ganisers explained that“proceeds of the show will

go to Little Saints Orphan-age for maintenance, edu-cation and healthcare”.

According to the orphan-age, “one of our majorsources of funding hasbeen through organisingmusical concerts. Joy nightis one of our exciting musicevents, where guests aretreated to a delicious threecourse meal in a relaxedatmosphere and enter-tained through music byvariety of popula celebri-ties, gifted artistes, dancersand comedians. This hasbeen an ideal avenue forthe compassionate friendsof the Little Saints Orphan-age to see firsthand, theprogress of the vision.”

LAGOS—SENATORSand members of the

House of Representa-tives elected on the plat-form of the Action Con-gress of Nigeria, ACN,yesterday, said that thesetback suffered by theparty in Ondo State gu-bernatorial electionshould not be a cause formisery.

The legislators in astatement made avail-able to Vanguard equallypraised what they de-scribed as the politicalforesight of the partynational leader, AsiwajuBola Tinubu praisinghim and the leadershipfor the insight in findingand selecting RotimiAkeredolu as the party’scandidate in the elec-tion.

While pledging un-flinching loyalty toTinubu, the ACN legis-lators also lauded theparty’s candidates in thegubernatorial electionsaying that they foughtgallantly despite whatthey claimed as irregu-larities that marred thepolls.

The statement issuedon behalf of the ACNlegislators by Senator‘Gbenga Ashafa, the Sec-retary of the ACN Sen-ate Caucus alsocommended the party’snational chairman, ChiefBisi Akande and nationalleadership for steeringthe party in what theydescribed as a clear di-rection.

While noting whatthey described as thesacrificial leadershipand commitment to thegrowth of democracy inthe country of AsiwajuTinubu, the party’s fed-eral legislators said:

“Asiwaju Tinubu hasalways given his all to

Osula of Benin kingdom, Chief Iyekeroetin Osula JP, paying homage tothe Oba of Benin, Omo n’ Oba n’ Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediawaduring the Ekponmwan-Edohia chieftancy rights (thanksgiving) at the Oba’spalace in Benin, weekend.

Special Adviser on Education to the Governor of Ogun State, Mr TunjiAbimbola (2nd left), Head, Corporate Social Responsibility, Globacom, MrsBen Ayede (right); Chief Fassy Yusuf, representing Awujale of Ijebuland(2nd right); Head, Business Solutions, Globacom, Mr Folu Aderibigbe (mid-dle) and Alhaja F. M. Kareem, principal of the college, at the commissioningof a block of classrooms donated by Globacom to Ijebu Muslim College,Ijebu Ode to mark this year's Ojude Oba festival.

Group introduces soup kitchensfor flood victims in Edo

BENIN CITY—A Philanthropic organisa-

tion in Edo State, underthe aegis of OshiomholePeoples Brigade, week-end, introduced soupkitchens for flood victimsin different camps in EdoNorth senatorial districtof the state.

Unveiling the pro-gramme at the EkperiGrammar School floodvictims camp, Coordina-tor of the group,Athanasius Ugbome, said

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM the group decided to ini-tiate the idea in order toensure that victims arewell fed.

He said: “We have hadstories of victims com-plaining in some campsin Delta State that theyare being starved, wedon’t want that to happenhere. We are glad ourComrade Governor hasmade some commitmentsso we need to assist thestate government by en-suring that our brothersand sisters are well fed.”

the cause of our party. Nosacrifice has been too bigfor him to make to pro-mote the interest ofthe party. This is surelya measure of his commit-ment to the growth ofdemocracy in Nigeria asa vehicle for promotingstability and rapidsocio-economic transfor-mation. We reaffirm our

total confidence inAsiwaju’s inspirationaland invigorating leader-ship.”

”All members of ourparty in Ondo State de-serve commendation fort h e i rloyalty and steadfast-ness. There is no causefor despondency at thecurrent development.

The ACN has come alivein Ondo State and theparty can only keepgrowing stronger. Weequally laud our candi-dates, Mr. RotimiAkeredolu, SAN, and Dr.Paul Akintelure for carry-ing ourparty flag with integrity,commitment and credibil-ity.”

Wepener said: “We areproud to support the Nige-rian mobile industry withthe first-time availability ofCDMA BlackBerrysmartphones in Europe,Middle East and Africa re-gion. Our partnershipwith Visafone demon-strates RIM’s commit-ment to working with keypartners in Africa to bringthe widest range ofBlackBerry services topeople that want to beconnected across the con-tinent.”


SYRIAN jets bombarded Sunni Mus-

lim regions in Damascusand across the country onSunday, activists said, asPresident Bashar al-As-sad kept up air strikesagainst rebels despite aU.N.-brokered truce thatnow appears to be in tat-ters.

“The ceasefire is prac-tically over. Damascushas been under brutal airraids since day one and

Syrian air strikes truncate trucehundreds of people havebeen arrested,” said vet-eran opposition cam-paigner Fawaz Tello.

“Assad has been tryingto use the truce to seizeback control of areas ofDamascus,” said Tello,who is well connectedwith rebels.

Speaking from Berlin,Tello said Sunni districtsin the city of Homs, 140km (90 miles) north ofDamascus, and surround-ing countryside cameunder Syrian army shell-ing on Sunday.

Both sides in the 19-month-old conflict haveviolated the ceasefire in-tended to mark the Mus-lim religious holiday ofEid al-Adha. The truce,brokered by internation-al peace envoy LakhdarBrahimi, was supposed tocome into effect on Fri-day, the first day of the

four-day holiday.Syrian authorities

blame “armed terrorists”for breaking the truce andthe opposition says aceasefire is impossiblewhile Assad continues tomove his tanks and useheavy artillery and jetsagainst populated areas.

Brahimi hopes to endthe conflict that has killedat least 32,000 peopleand worsened instabilityin the Middle East. It be-gan when a popular re-volt broke out in Marchlast year against four de-cades of authoritarianrule by Assad and his latefather, President Hafezal-Assad. The ceasefireappeal had won wide-spread international sup-port, including from Rus-sia, China and Iran, Pres-ident Assad’s main for-eign allies.

GREEK police arrested the editor of

a weekly magazine forpublishing a list of morethan 2,000 names ofwealthy Greeks who haveplaced money in Swissbank accounts, policesaid.

The so-called “LagardeList”, which led to the ar-rest of editor Costas Vax-evanis yesterday,was given to Greece byFrench authorities in 2010with names to be probedfor possible tax evasion -has been a topic of heat-ed speculation in theGreek media.

It is named after Inter-national Monetary Fundchief Christine Lagarde,who was French financeminister when the list washanded over.

The “Hot Doc” maga-zine published the list of2,059 names, includingsome well-known busi-ness and political figures,o nSaturday. The magazinesaid it had been sent thelist anonymously. Author-

Greece arrests editor for ‘Lagarde list’ leakities did not confirm if thelist was authentic.

A prosecutor orderedthe arrest of Vaxevanis onSaturday for violatinglaws on releasing privatedata and he was arrestedSunday, police said. He

was released pending tri-al after appearing beforea prosecutor yesterday.

“He published a list ofnames without specialpermission and violatedthe law on personaldata,” a police official

said. “There is no proof that

the persons or companiesincluded in that list haveviolated the law. There isno evidence that they vi-olated the law on tax eva-sion or money launder-ing,” the official added.

PARLIAMENTARY

polls haveo p e n e d i nUkraine, with worldheavyweight championboxer VitaliKlitschko emerging as anunlikely challenger tothe ruling party in placeof the jailed oppositionleader Yulia Tymoshenko.Polling stations willclosed at 8pm yesterdaywith exit polls expectedswiftly after wards. Thestrategic former Sovietnation, nestled betweenthe European Union andRussia, is holding thefirst election sinceTymoshenko lost toPresident ViktorYanukovych in a bitterlyfought contest in 2010.

•Tymoshenko •Klitschko

Ukrainians cast parliamentary ballotThe 2004 Orange

Revolution leader wasjailed less than two yearslater on abuse of powercharges brought byYanukovych’s RegionsParty that bothTymoshenko andmany Western nationssaw as vendetta on thepart of the president.

Sunday’s election to the450-seat Verkhovna Radais seen both as a warm-up for the 2015presidential ballot and achance for voters to passjudgement on a jailingthat has isolated Ukrainefrom EU states. Firstvoters in capital Kiev,some disillusioned, somehopeful started to arriveat polling stations early in

the morning.Opinion polls suggest

that Yanukovych’s alli-ance with the CommunistParty and a top centristpolitician will retain itsnarrow lead, while Ty-moshenko’s oppositionbloc will grab second

place by the slimmest ofmargins.

But trailing in hot pur-suit in third is the UDAR(Punch) party of Klitsch-ko - an opposition sym-pathiser who has servedin the Kiev city counciland now has the chance

to expand nationally. “Iam confident that we willbe able to gather all theopposition forces aroundus in the new parlia-ment,” he boldly predict-ed in an interview with aGerman newspaper onthe eve of the vote.

Klitschko has insistedthat he can work with Ty-moshenko’s alliance. Buthe has fought bitterlywith other members of thepotential coalition andhas thus far refused tosign any formal agree-ment forming an officialanti-Yanukovych bloc.

A tsunami warningprompted by a pow-

erful earthquake off theCanadian coast sent atleast 100,000 people flee-ing from shore to higherground in Hawaii late onSaturday, but an evacua-

Hawaii tsunami warning liftedtion order was canceledafter a series of weaker-than-expected wavesrolled through the is-lands. The warning wasdowngraded to an advi-sory - a lower-level alert- shortly after 1 a.m. Sun-

day, though state civildefense authorities saidbeaches and harborswould remain closed forthe time being, and resi-dents were urged to stayaway from the water.

There were no immedi-ate reports of injuries,serious flooding or dam-age, but officials warnedthat abrupt changes insea level and strong cur-rents could still pose ahazard to swimmers andboaters.

“The threat may contin-ue for several hours,” thePacific Tsunami WarningCenter said in its alert.

While scientists hadwarned early on thatwaves as tall 6 feet couldoccur in places, tsunamiwave activity was report-ed to have peaked at just2.5 feet at the island ofMaui shortly after 10:30p.m.

A U.S. debt-ceilingincrease could be

headed for a Wall Street-rattling showdown in2013 if Congress, as ex-pected, shuns a quickand easy fix at the end ofthis year in favor of an-other round of last-minute brinkmanship.Regardless of who winsthe November 6 elections,many congressional aidesand Capitol Hill observ-ers are predicting thatlawmakers will go rightup to the deadline - prob-ably around mid-Febru-ary or early March - be-fore increasing the $16.4trillion limit on borrowingthat is nearly exhausted.

While no one is certainof another 11th-hour fightin February or March, noone is ruling it out. With-

out the bigger govern-ment credit card, the U.S.Treasury Department nolonger would be able tofinance government oper-ations, forcing wide-spread shutdowns anddefault on debt paymentsto creditors from China toEngland.

It is a scenario almostexactly like the summerof 2011 when investors,credit-rating agenciesand capitals around theworld watched with alarmas Washington went to thebrink before reaching adebt-limit and deficit-re-duction deal.

Another such show-down is “always a possi-bility,” a Republican staff-er said, even thoughthere will be an opportu-nity to head it off early in

US Congress faces another debt-limit showdowna post-election “lame-duck” session of Con-gress set to begin on No-vember 13.

•Hurricane Sandy lashing the East Coast of US, yesterday.

•Rubbles from the air strikes on rebel held areas in Syria.


WITH nine days tothe United States

Presidential election, na-ture has taken its placeahead of election withHurricane Sandy carry-ing heavy winds to coastalareas of the UnitedStates.

States that have so farfelt the heavy winds in-clude Virginia, New Jer-sey, Florida, North Caro-lina while New York cityis expecting the windsoonest.

According to weatherreports, the impact will becritical in New York asflooding and the oceanhave risen and HurricaneSandy is just about500miles away from thecity.

For Virginia, one of thebattleground states thatwould be a decider in thiselection has felt the im-pact of the HurricaneSandy and has forcedmajor election campaignsto be shifted to otherstates.

13 electoral votes areup for grabs in the stateof Virginia and it is verycritical for both PresidentObama and Mitt Romneyto as well win the state.

Hurricane Sandy hasseen both Romney andObama shifting their cam-paigns from Virginia inthe last few days to otherstates. Two days ago, MittRomney could not fly intoVirginia for his cam-paigns where thousandsof crowds are alreadywaiting for him, he cam-paigned in Florida in-stead.

Likewise, PresidentObama and his vice,Biden had to travel toOhio to campaign due tothe rise of HurricaneSandy in Virginia.

In 2008, PresidentObama turned the state

Hurricane Sandy disruptscampaign

of Virginia to a blue stateand Mitt Romney is leav-ing no stone un turned toensure Virginia leans redin this Presidential elec-tion.

For President Obamawho is struggling to earnhis second term in office,many of his supportershad felt the early votingwould help him in his bidto retain his seat, withHurricane Sandy ravag-ing Virginia presently, itmight be hard to get vot-ers to come out of theirvarious houses to cam-paign as there is seriouswarning all over thecoastal areas might haveto stay indoors till theHurricane Sandy sub-sides.

For North Carolina, theimpact of HurricaneSandy is being felt al-ready and it will delayearly voting there. Thereare 15electoral votes forgrabs in North Carolinaand both candidates arerunning head to head.

In New York which islikely to suffer more dam-ages from the effect ofHurricane Sandy in thenext few days, there are29electoral votes forgrabs in the state andDemocrats are fully onground there but earlyvoting might be affectedbecause the Mayor ofNew York, Bloomberg hasordered evacuation in alot areas.

However, early votingare still going on in manyother states except thecoastal states that are ex-periencing some turbu-lence due to HurricaneSandy right now.

Hurricane Sandy NorthCarolina, New York is aswell expecting and it isvery critical situation500miles away from NewYork.

PRESIDENT BarackObama is poised to

eke out a victory in therace for the 270 electoralvotes needed to win re-election, having beatenback Republican MittRomney’s attempts toconvert momentum fromthe debates into supportin all-important Ohio, ac-cording to an AssociatedPress analysis a weekbefore Election Day.

While the Democraticincumbent has the upperhand in the electoral votehunt, Romney has pulledeven, or is slightly ahead,in polling in a few pivot-al states, including Flori-da and Virginia. The Re-publican challenger alsoappears to have the ad-vantage in North Caroli-na, the most conservativeof the hotly contestednine states that will de-termine the winner.

While in a tight racewith Obama for the pop-ular vote, Romney contin-ues to have fewer state-by-state paths thanObama to reach 270.Without Ohio’s 18 elec-toral votes, Romneywould need last-minutevictories in nearly all the

Obama holds electoralvotes lead

remaining up-for-grabsstates and manage to pickoff key states now lean-ing Obama’s way, such asIowa or Wisconsin.

To be sure, anythingcan happen in the com-ing days to influence theNov. 6 election.

The AP analysis isn’tintended to predict theoutcome. Rather, it’smeant to provide a snap-shot of a race that hasbeen stubbornly close inthe small number of com-petitive states all year.The analysis is based onpublic polls and internalcampaign surveys as wellas spending on televisionadvertising, candidatevisits, get-out-the-voteorganizations and inter-views with dozens of Re-publican and Democraticstrategists in Washingtonand in the most contest-ed states.

I arrived New YorkCity at exactly

9.30pm local time on Fri-day, October 26th 2012,and one of the excitingevents waiting to unfold– quite apart from thepresidential election ofNovember 6th 2012 – isthe impending arrival ofpowerful storm Sandy, aCategory One hurricane.

It is an exciting experi-ence for me because Ihave only seen such nat-ural disasters as hurri-canes, tornadoes, ty-phoons, earthquakes andthe like on television.Sandy has been buildingup for weeks, but I neverreally knew I was goingto experience it person-ally. I thought it wouldhave blown out before myarrival, but I was wrong.

By the time you arereading this story, we arelikely to be cooped up in-doors, here in Jamaica,New York City, where afriend of mine, Abbott,has a very lovely condo.His family lives here.

The hurricane warningsare being taken seriouslyby most people here inNew York, much morethan they did when Hur-ricane Irene was on itsway in 2010. Anotherfriend, Leonard Ibeka,who works with the CityCouncil as an investiga-tor, will be moving inwith his family as a pre-caution because they livein a flood-prone, low-ly-ing area.

Even though Sandy isa Category One rein-forced tropical storm, itsseverity is going to beboosted by a mid-latitudetrough (a winter stormcoming in from the WestCoast) and an additionalburst of arctic air movingin from Canada. Thesewill energise the hot airfrom the tropics and ex-perts say the damagecould be far more severethan Irene’s, which costover $15 billion. To addto all this is the presenceof a full moon, which willexacerbate flooding inlow-lying coastal areas inAmerica’s North East.

Many states have sincedeclared a state of emer-gency. The Mayor of NewYork, Michael Bloomberg,has warned residents tostock up on food as fromSunday and keep out ofopen spaces and parks.Construction activitieshave been suspended.On Saturday eveningthere was a great trafficnightmare on major roadsaround the city becauseof closure of tunnels,bridges and roads underconstruction. It damp-ened the spirits of manyyoung people who were

Waiting for Hurricane Sandy

in the middle of Hallow-een, one of America’s tra-ditional festivals.

The oncoming Sandyhas also affected both airand rail travel, as airlineshave encouraged theircustomers who havebooked flights to travelbetween Sunday andTuesday to reschedule,while Amtrak, the mostprominent train servicesprovider in the northeast,has cancelled services. Iam hoping the coast willbe clear by next weekendbecause part of my itin-erary is to travel down toWashington DC by trainand observe the electionproper in the nation’scapital.

The federal governmenthas mobilised more than60,000 troops of the Na-tional Guard to assist inemergency services to thenine states that are lyingin the path of the hurri-cane. Americans are usu-ally very stubborn whenit comes to complyingwith government ordersto evacuate voluntarily inthe face of oncoming di-sasters, but since the dev-astating experiences ofpowerful hurricanes An-drew, Katrina and Irene,few need persuading totake necessary precau-tions as we wait for Sandyto hit.

A split SupremeCourt verdict (five

to four) on January 212010 overturning a FirstAmendment barring ofcorporations from politi-cal spending on candi-dates is one of the greatobstacles PresidentBarack Obama is facingin his re-election bid. Thatverdict held that govern-ment had no businessregulating politicalspeech. It overturned anold interpretation of theFirst Amendment (guar-anteeing free speech)which precluded corpo-rate organisation fromusing their money to cor-rupt the political market-place.

One of those who open-ly bemoaned this verdictwas President Obamahimself, who called it “amajor victory for big oil,Wall Street banks, healthinsurance companies andother powerful intereststhat marshal their powereveryday in Washingtonto drown out the voices ofeveryday Americans”.

CorporateAmerica couldhurt Obama

MITT Romney wasforced to move to

Florida where he wascalling on his supportersto go out and vote earlyas the polls in that stateseem to favour him. Flor-ida has 29 electoral votesand could be a heavyboost to his ambition towin the White House onNovember 6, 2012. In thetiny State of New Hamp-shire, President BarackObama told his support-ers that “these four elec-toral votes right herecould make the differ-ence.” The presidentpressed on with a cam-paign trip to New Hamp-

Romney banks on early Florida vote

•Romney

FACED with a tightrace for Florida vote,

President Barak Obamahas warned his support-ers that skipping votingcould cost him the elec-tion. The president’s cam-paign team has pressedforward with a get-out-the-vote effort that aidessaid had them leading ortied in every competitivestate. Obama told them

Obama plays up, Gore vs.Bush Florida contest

that “In 2000, Gore vs.Bush, 537 votes changedthe direction of history ina profound way and thesame thing could hap-pen,” Obama carriedFlorida by just 3 percent-age points in 2008 andpolls show the candidatestied. Florida offers 29Electoral College votes,the most of any swingstate.

•Obama

shire but held a confer-ence call with administra-tion officials about emer-gency preparations fromaboard Air Force One.

Ahead of his rally inNashua, Obama stoppedin at a Teamsters hallwhere campaign volun-teers were chanting “firedup, ready to go.”


,

,

WE D N E A S DAYmorning I came

across Stephen Keshi atthe restaurant of the Sun-coast Hotel in Durban. Af-ter brief exchange of pleas-antries he had to go andfreshen up after a longjourney. We were to meetat the draw venue, later inthe day, and talk.

Let us relive thedraw

Started from pot numberfour, then the third pot wasexhausted. Then came pot2, Nigeria’s pot and all thespeculations about CoteDivoire, Ghana and SouthAfrica came to the fore.

Cote D’ivoire was out ofthe way. Ghana eliminat-ed and only Angola andNigeria remained in thepot. A2 was drawn and theSouth Africans held theirbreadth . Nigeria has al-ways been their Nemesis.The 2000 capacity DurbanInternational ConferenceCentre was all hush asKalusha Bwalya dippedhis hands in the bowl anddrew….Angola…cheers,joy and relief.

The South African coachwas to say later that he washappy to have been drawnagainst teams that havenever beaten South Africa.The draw to him was veryfair, thanks to President Ja-cob Zuma who earlier onhad drawn Cape Verde.Not too many people both-er to think that in the FIFAranking, Cape Verde is su-perior to South Africa!

The end of the draw sig-naled the beginning of in-terviews and as usualcoaches were the focus ofattention especiallyStephen Keshi who engi-neered the return of theEagles to the Nations Cupand whose popularity inAfrica spans Togo andMali……

At the end of it, all I wasable to get was a “goodnight” from a coach whowas to wake up the nextmorning by 5am to inspecttraining venues, stadiumand hotels in the Mbom-bela Centre where the Ea-gles will be based withZambia, Burkina Faso andEthiopia.

I was not going theirway. Allocated the Durbanand Johannesburg venue,my inspection was to startvery much later.

About four hours later, Igot a call from BarristerChris Green that due tologistics reasons theycould not embark on the in-spection and will return ata later time. The Nigeriandelegation then decided toreturn to Nigeria even aday earlier.

You can therefore imag-ine my surprise when I ran

Five hourswith Stephen Keshi

I have a team to buildand to manage and I will

not want anyone todestroy the team

into Stephen Keshi in the plane, Friday afternoon.He said he decided to rest for a day while the others

left.This is where we talked. Where the story starts even as

the Six hour flight to Lagos took off.Our conversation came in various forms. As former

students of Saint Finbarr’s College Akoka, as memberTechnical Committee of NFF and Coach of Super Ea-gles, of course some of our conversation was off the record.

Is he still celebratingqualification?

Yes and no. He is happy that we have been able to putthe ghost of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea behind us,but now the future lies ahead.

He thanks and most profusely too, the Nigeria Foot-ball Association under the leadership of Alhaji Maigarifor all the support he has received since the campaignstarted. He is all praise for Governor Liyel Imoke andthe good people of Cross River state for hosting the Ea-gles and to all Nigerians for prayers and for support.

“ We could not do it alone. All Nigerians should sharein the glory”

So, what does he think of the draw?“ Not bad, its OK. Every team that qualified for the

draw is a potential danger so we do not take any teamfor granted”

Yes Zambia was seeded but Burkina Faso is also athreat, he said. Will he go and watch Zambia play againstSouth Africa in a friendly before the Nations Cup? May-be he will. If not, he will send someone. However sincehe will see Zambia play before he plays them, he willprefer advance information on Burkina Faso and…..Ethiopia.

What about his relationship with the media? “The mediahas been wonderful. I have enjoyed tremendous coop-eration from them and their role in our success storycannot be relegated. However I will still want them todo more. I want the media to be more patriotic. I knowthat as Nigerians they are also interested in the successof the team, but we need them to lean more on the side

of the team. We are building a young team that can dowith more positive write ups than what we are gettingnow”

I am aware that even as the draw was going on, cer-tain countries approached him for his services.

“ My position is not negotiable. I have a job, besides,for crying out loud, I am coaching my country’s nationalteam and this cannot be compromised. Some of themwant to offer me a contract after the Nations cup. Again,I am not available”

Every one has applauded his experiment with domesticleague players. What about his relationship with for-eign based players and the older ones?.

The big Boss of Nigerian football said that he is sur-prised that there is a popular belief that he does notrelate well with the older players in the Eagles camp. “…I cannot force any one to play for his country. When Icame in initially I noticed that all was not well as thecamp was divided along and across various interests. Ihave succeeded in reintroducing unity and peace intothe camp. There is nothing like superiority and prefer-ential treatment anymore. In camp you are a Super Ea-gles player as any other”

Will he invite Osaze and others?

“Why not? I will, why not? The most important thing isnot the invitation but the willingness to play for yourcountry and give it your all.”

Can he talk on Vincent Enyeama? A lot of Nigeriansbelieved that given the negative press that his first choicegoalkeeper attracted, he was not likely to be fieldedagainst Liberia but the reverse was the case.

The coach’s countenance changed. He wants Nigeri-ans to accord him the respect of managing the team.Why was Vincent singled out for blame? Every memberof the team should be held responsible for any anomalythat befalls the team. Where were the defenders whenthe ball got to the goalkeeper?.

“.. I have a team to build and to manage and I willnot want anyone to destroy the team either psycholog-ically or otherwise. Do you know what damage couldhave been done to that team if Enyeama was droppedin Calabar? Then other players will go about scared,believing that they will be punished for any mistakecommitted. That is not the type of spirit that I want inmy camp”

Is he really getting value from the home based? Hesaid yes, a lot, and Nigerians will reap in the monthsto come, although a lot of work is needed even in fit-ness level, techniques and tactics not helped by a leaguethat is not very strong on the ground.

Is he also getting value from his assistants? “……Ab-solutely. Yes I have a good technical bench. Forget thatsometimes I seem to be doing too much but if you seeus in training, I delegate functions and we are fine as ateam”

Despite the exclusivity of the Business Class of SouthAfrican Airways, our discussion was interrupted oftenby fellow passengers wishing him well. Professor OkonEdet Uya was my lecturer in the University of Calabar.Had not seen him for close to fifteen years. The formerNigerian Ambassador to Argentina who is now a mem-ber of APR Panel of Eminent Persons applauded thecoach for the good work done so far. Has extended aninvitation to Keshi “…. When next you come to Cala-bar, stop by…..and please come along with the Na-tions Cup….” Laughter.See you next week.

Imoke receives torch of unity for festivalBY JOHNBOSCOAGBAKWURU,

Calabar

GOVERNOR LiyelImoke of Cross Riv-

er State on Saturday, re-ceived the Torch of Unityof the 18th NationalSports Festival taggedEko 2012.

Speaking at the U.J.Esuene stadium, Cala-bar, Imoke explained thatreceiving the torch was

a demonstration of therespect the state has forthe festival, and that itwill afforded the stateopportunity to show casewhat it has been doingin the last four years to-wards sports develop-ment.

Imoke, who was repre-sented by the DeputyGovernor, Mr. Efiok Cob-ham, explained that thestate will not only partic-ipate in the Lagos festi-

val but will put up a goodperformance because it iscommitted to exhibitingexcellence in sports andsporting competitions.

The governor main-tained that the state willcontinue to train itssports men and womenas well as provide themwith modern equipment.

He disclosed that thedemonstration eventswhich the athletes per-formed at the ceremony

were exhibition of the ef-forts of the state’s com-prehensive sport devel-opment.

According to him, theprogramme which hasbeen on within its twoyears, has enabled thestate come first in Na-tional Schools Sport Fes-tival which was its firsttime of attaining that featand as champion, it willdo everything to remainon top.

CMYK

VanguardCLASSIFIED

EZEH—I, formerlyknown andaddressed as EzehPatience Aliji, nowwish to be knownand addressed asNdukwe PatienceUde. All formerd o c u m e n t sremained valid.General publicplease take note.

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in a point of the leadersand give them a first suc-cess at Stamford Bridgesince 2002.

Despite the result therewas plenty in Chelsea’sperformance to reinforcetheir credentials as real ti-tle challengers, thoughthey were handicapped bya haphazard start as Unit-ed’s £24m man Robin vanPersie made one goal andscored another.

United’s defence wasunder scrutiny before thegame following anotherporous display againstBraga in midweek, but itwas a home back fourmissing John Terry whichwas exposed time andagain during the openingexchanges.

David Luiz was too of-

Red DevilsContinues from BP ten in a different district

to his fellow centre-halfGary Cahill while AshleyCole was repeatedly iso-lated on the left flank,from where both earlygoals came.

Ashley Young strolledinto the gaping hole be-tween Luiz and Cahill tofeed Wayne Rooney, andwhen his cut-back wasmet by a firm first-time vanPersie shot the ball hit apost, cannoned off Luizand bobbled beyond PetrCech.

Van Persie’s movementin the box for the openerwas bright enough, but itwas an identical checkedrun which caught out Ca-hill again soon afterwardsand this time the striker’sright-footed effort fromAntonio Valencia’s lowcentre beat Cech by itself.

The Falcons will be aim-ing to avenge their elim-ination from the race tothe London Olympics byCameroon. They lost 4-3 on penalties after ag-gregate scores stood at3-3.

The Super Falcons areyet to lose to Cameroonat the AWC. The firstmeeting between thetwo nations at full inter-national level was whenthey clashed in a 1991World Cup qualifierwhen Nigeria tri-umphed 6-0 onaggrega te .N ige r i aagain beat Cameroon inthe final of 2004 AWC 5-0, before both countriesmet in 2010 edition inthe semi final with Fal-cons victorious 5-1.

Cameroon stars in-clude Ajara Nchout ofEnergy Voronezh,Jeanette Yango, Made-line Ngono and Fran-coise Bella, while Nige-ria coach Kadiri Ikhanawill rely on tested cam-paigners led by Perpet-ua Nkwocha (SunnanaSK, Sweden), StellaMbachu, Rita Chikwe-

Falcons

lu, Onome Ebi (Attesi-hir Belediyen, Turkey),Helen Ukaonu (Sun-nana SK, Sweden) andPrecious Dede.

They will be missingstrikers Francisca Or-dega and DesireOparanozie, who havenot been released bytheir new Russian club.

The Falcons have wonthis biennial competi-tion a record six timesand are eager to win atEquatorial Guineawhere they failed in2009.

“Falcons are favou-rites to win AWC again,but they have to take itone game at a time be-cause we also have re-markable improve-ments in the othercountries, particularly acountry like Came-roon,” former Falcons’coach, Ismaila Mabotold MTNFootball.

“The gap is no long-er very wide betweenthe two teams andCameroon have somehuge girls, who are ro-bust, hard tacklers.”

Continues from BP

Interestingly, the manon the driving seat of thenew world power in ath-letics, Jamaica’s Trackand Field Coach, Bert-land Cameron is amongthe resource persons ex-pected at the summit. Hewill be joined by coach ofthe South African Olym-pic gold medal winningRowing team, BarrowRoger, among other re-nowned sports personal-ities.

When contacted for thesummit, Cameron wasecstatic and happy to becalled. “I am reallythrilled because when Iwas competing, Nigeriawas at the same level withJamaica,” he recalled,asking, “what happenedto Nigeria? It will be mypleasure to come down toNigeria and discuss withyou how Jamaica is excel-ling in athletics.”

Top sports personalitieslike former Nigeria inter-national, Adokiye Amies-imaka, Chairman of theVanguard NewspapersEditorial board IkeddyIsiguzo, Paul Bassey, DrOjeme Emmanuel, theManaging Director ofComplete Communica-

Jamaica coachContinues from BP

tions, Mumini Alao, Man-aging Director Master-sports International, EjiroOmonode, VanguardGroup Sports Editor, On-ochie Anibeze are amongthose who will submitpapers at the summit.

The idea to hold asports summit was con-ceived by Dr EmmanuelUduaghan when Nige-ria’s athletes were crash-ing during the LondonOlympic Games. He de-cided on the summit af-ter a heart-to-heart dis-cussion with BlessingOkagbare whom a coun-try of 150 million peoplerelied on for a possiblegold medal.

It was conceived be-fore President Jonathanthought of the Presiden-tial retreat that tookplace last Monday. Del-ta decided to go aheadwith it as was originallyscheduled to be theircontribution to nationalsports development, tocomplement the effortsof the federal govern-ment.

The report will besubmitted to PresidentJonathan and theNational SportsCommission.

time that record wasdented was at Angola2010,by Egypt.Playingdefending championsZambia should not scareanybody.And recordsshow that anytime theSuper Eagles confrontedCup holders,theyreturned with a medal.”

Kalu describedZambia as a good meal forNigeria.”For 22 yearsnow,Eagles have hadthem for lunch at theNations Cup.They lost atAlgeria’90,fell at Tunisia’94 when they made aFairy tale grand-finaleappearance, and lostagain at Angola 2010.”

The former governorblamed the Zambians fortheir plight.”Zambia drewEagles wrath when their5-1 victory in 1973 notonly booted Nigeria out ofthe Egypt ’74qualifiers,Gen.YakubuGowon had to disbandthe team,August 21973.Coach Joe Ericocould tell this storybetter.In 1982,Nigeriatravelled to Libya asdefending Champions.Intheir all important final

KaluContinues from BP

group match,Zambiadisgraced us.Afterconceding twogoals,goalie PeterFregene just kicked theball into his own net tocomplete the shame at 3-0.The same Zambiastopped Nigeria fromplaying at Egypt’86.That was PatrickEkeji’s last time asEagles coach and MudaLawal’s sad farewell.”

According to Kalu,”theSouth Africa 2012 groupreminds me ofGhana’78.Nigeria,Zambiaand Burkina Faso[thenUpper Volta] were in thesame group.Eaglesdefeated the Burkinabes4-2,and drew 0-0 withZambia.Also, it takes meback to Libya ’82 wherethey played Ethiopia andZambia in samegroup.That was StephenKeshi’s first NationsCup.He got a brace in the3-0 demolition ofEthiopia.”

Kalu wished theEagles well,urging themto prove they were nomore on Ground Zero inthe eyes of Nigerians.

Eaglets thrash Guinea 4-0

NIGERIA’S GoldenE a g l e t s

yesterday in Conakry,defeated Guinea 4-0, toqualify for the nextround of the AfricanJunior Championshipon a 7-0 aggregate.The Eaglets won the first

leg qualifier 3-0 inCalabar a fortnight agoto now set up a finalqualifier between thewinners of the matchbetween Mali andAlgeria in the middle ofN o v e m b e r .On Sunday, the Eaglets

led 2-0 by first half withgoals from AlhassanIbrahim and IsaacS u c c e s s .Success scored again inthe second half tocomplete his brace withgoal scorer Ibrahim andIfeanyi Matthewoutstanding for thevisiting Nigerians.

Musa Yahayacompleted the rout witha fourth goal for theE a g l e t s .Nigeria have won the

U17 World Cup thrice in1985, 1993 and 2007, butthe class of 2012 areproving to beunstoppable as theyhave won their twoqualifiers against Nigerand Guinea home anda w a y .They have also scored 17goals and conceded onlya goal in the process.The African JuniorChampionship will bestaged in Morocco inApril.

Lagos cyclist cheats deathas Oyo ckears prizes

Tragedy was avertedyesterday after a Lagos Statecyclist, Kazeem Lawanson wasknocked down by a taxi cabduring the Odu’a CyclingChampionship held inIbadan.

Lawanson was hut by the taxiwhich beat the traffic cordon atthe Oyo Road Bodija Estatejunction and his bicycle cram-pled.

The cyclist was rushed to the

BY PATRICK

OMORODION

medical team of thecompetition by Chief AlfredAde, chairman of the NigerianCommissares Association,who handed over the drive tothe police.

Meanwhile, Oyo statecleared the top prizes afterinitially refusing to take part,on the assumption that therewas no prize money.

Their cyclists, QuadriAjibade, Dirk Israel andAdeyemi Odunayo placedfirst, second and thirdrespectively, to pocket N30, 000,N20, 000 and N10, 000 each.

Perez, Dinu pick 2nd Gov’s Cupcrowns

IN the space of twoweeks, Enrique Perez of

Spain and Cristina Dinu ofRomania have picked acouple of singles titles at the12th Lagos Governor’s Cup,sponsored by Etisalat andFCMB, which endedweekend at the Lagos LawnTennis Club, Onikan.

Only on October 20, the 21years old Spaniard, playedin the final of the Futures I,where he defeated Sherif

BY JOHN EG-

BOKHAN

Sabry of Egypt in threethrilling sets of 7-5, 1-6, 6-4,to announce his arrival as theplayer to beat in the FuturesII, which served off onOctober 22, and true toprediction, the right handedPerez, who started playingtennis at age 10, got to thefinal, where he met RuanEoelofse of South Africa inan engaging match,watched by GovernorBabatunde Fashola of Lagosand Governor EmmanuelUdughan of Delta on theLord Rumens Centre Court.

A Golden Eaglets player overcomes a challengefrom a Nigerien opponent in Calabar.

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

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

e-mail: [email protected]

How to Play SudokuTHE VIGILANTE

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

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

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

FRIDAY'S ANSWERS

VANGUARD, MONDAY, OCT0BER 29, 2012

TODAY'S PUZZLE

Nations Cup

FRIDAY'S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS

3 Concerning (5)9 Threat (6)10 Comfort (6)11 Heron (5)12 Settee (4)15 Lake (4)17 Particular (7)20 Performed (3)21 Inflexible (5)23 Observe (4)25 Nurse (4)26 Relaxed (5)28 Finish (3)30 Scorned (7)33 Fever (4)35 Season (4)36 Seraglio (5)38 Engraved (6)39 Antenna (6)40 Intended (5)

DOWN

1 Gather (5)2 Stab (5)3 Expert (3)4 Mendicant (6)5 Employed (4)6 Child (3)7 Challenged (5)8 Stitched (5)13 Aperture (7)14 Sharp (5)16 Shifted (7)18 Enjoyed (5)19 Strike (3)22 Liability (5)24 Spike (3)27 Debase (6)28 Keen (5)29 Dullard (5)31 Number (5)32 Traded (5)34 Pale (4)36 Border (3)37 Encountered (3)

ACROSS: 1, Retire 5, Barred 9, Enter 10,Deemed 11, Rising 12, Doped 14, Ewer 17,Wit 18, Jibe 20, Merit 22, Tuned 23, Defamed24, Agree 26, Again 29, Beer 30, Hot 32, Erne33, Pared 35, Evaded 36, Palate 37, Remit 38,Tennis 39, Decent.

DOWN: 1, Redeem 2, Teeter 3, Reed 4,Endow 5, Beret 6, Arid 7, Raisin 8, Dogged13, Picador 15, Wedge 16, Rider 18, Jude19, Begin 21, Tee 22, Tea 24, Abject 25,Regain 27, Arcade 28, Newest 30, Hades31, Tepid 33, Peri 34, Date.

Red Devils beat Chelseaon a red card day

CAN U-17 Results

Gabon 4 Angola 0(1-4) (Gabon qualify)Cameroun 1 Bénin 1(1-4) (Benin qualify)Mali 5 Mauritania 1( 1-2) (Mali through)Rwanda 1 Botswana 0(6-7p) (0-1) (Botswa-na progress)

Results

Chelsea 2 Man Utd 3Everton 2 Liverpool 2Newcastle 2 West Brom1Southampton 1 Tottten-ham 2Man City 1 Swansea0Wigan 2 West Ham 1Stoke 0 Sunderland 0Reading 3 Fulham 3Arsenal 1 QPR 0Aston Villa 1 Norwich1

Nigeria V Cameroon2:30 p.m.

Côte d’ Ivoire V Ethio-pia 5:30 p,m,

AWCToday's fixture

Falcons seek revenge against Cameroon

AWC

THE Super Falcons ofNigeria will begin

the defence of the Afri-

can Women trophy theywon two years ago in amouth-watering fixture

against the IndomitableLionesses of Cameroon.

Continues on Page 55

CHELSEA were beaten for the first time

in this season’s PremierLeague as two red cardsushered ManchesterUnited to a 3-2 win inwest London.

Two goals down inside12 minutes, the leadersfought their way off theropes to level throughJuan Mata (44) andRamires (53) and werelooking likelier winnersuntil Branislav Ivanovicwas sent off on the hour.

But a second red cardfor Fernando Torresmeant the end of anygenuine attacking ambi-tion, and substitute Jav-ier Hernandez bundleda contentious winner(75) to haul United with


Sports Summit: Jamaica’scoach lands in Nigeria

•S/Africa’s Olympic gold-medal winningRowing coach joins him

JUST one week afterthe Presidential Re-

treat on sports, the Del-ta State government isfollowing suit with aSports Summit in Asaba,holding tomorrow at theGrand Hotel. Unlike theFederal government’sretreat which was on

sports generally, theAsaba summit which isan initiative of the DeltaState Governor, Dr Em-manuel Uduaghan willbe focusing on aquaticsports and track andfield.

Forget Chipolopolo — Kalu


BRING on the

Chipolopolo,defendingchampions are easyprey,Eagles must pick amedal in SouthAfrica.Former Abia stategovernor Dr. Orji UzorKalu believes theNations Cup Draw is agood deal.

He said,”Eagles havea way round defendingchampions.From Zairein 1976,Ghana in1984,Cote D’Ivoire in1994,Cameroun in 2004to Tunisia in2006,Nigeria beat allCup holders.The only


Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan(r) and Jamaicantrack and field coach, Betrand Cameron during theopening ceremony of the 1st Edition of Governor Udu-aghan Closed Tennis Championship in Asaba, Sunday.Cameron is 1983 world champion and track andfield national coach of Jamaica

Lagos cyclistcheats deathas Oyo clearsprizes— P.55

Red forTorres

CMYK

Documents

Suicide bomber hits another Kaduna church