Transcript
Page 1: CONFAB: Jonathan to nominate 120 delegates

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 62031

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013**

Mr & Mrs

COLUMNIST:

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Continues on Page 4

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CONFAB: Jonathan tonominate 120 delegates•Committee seeks referendum on outcome•Talks to have 6-month life span

BY EMMANUELAZIKEN, POLITICALEDITOR & CLIFFORD

NDUJIHE

Modalities forrepresentationin the National

Confab

CONFERENCEHALL

•INSIDE TOMORROW

LAGOS —PRESIDENT Goodluck

Jonathan is to nominate120 members to the pro-

Dr.AkinwumiAdesina,Minister ofAgricultureand RuralDevelop-ment, at theForbesaward cer-emony inNairobi,Kenya.

ASUU refusesto budge asSenate mediates

Nigeria's politicians can't compare withNelson Mandela, says Jonathan

Alison-MaduekeappointedOPECalternativepresident

FOR MANDELA — From left: President Goodluck Jonathan; his wife, Patience;mother of the President, Mrs Eunice Jonathan; wife of the Senate President, MrsHelen Mark; Senate President David Mark; Deputy Speaker, House of Representa-tives, Emeka Ihedioha; Sen. Hope Uzodimma; Sen. Philip Aduda; and the Chief ofStaff, Chief Mike Ighiadomhe during a Memorial Service for the Late NelsonMandela at Aso Villa Chapel, Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday. Inset: The choir (R)and President Jonathan (L) paying tribute to Mandela. Photos: Abayomi Adeshida.

T R I B U T E T O M A N D E L A

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POCKET CARTOON4—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Continues from page 1

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

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

— Thomas Edison

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

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

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

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

RETREAT—From left, CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; wife of the Cross River StateGovernor, Obioma Imoke; Governor, Cross River State, Liyel Imoke and Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede,GMD/CEO, Access Bank Plc; at the 5th Bankers’ committee retreat with the theme: “The Bankers’ Commit-tee as an agent of Transformation: Sustaining the Momentum” in Calabar, Cross River State.

CONFAB: Jonathan to nominate120 delegates

posed national confer-ence scheduled to takeoff early next year, thePresidential Advisory

Committee on NationalDialogue has recom-mended.

The Senator FemiOkurounmu led-com-mittee, according to the

recommendations pro-posed to the President,wants the national con-ference to run for sixmonths well ahead ofthe commencement ofcampaigns for the nextgeneral elections.

The Okurounmu com-mittee according to find-ings has also recom-mended that PresidentJonathan forwards anexecutive bill to the Na-tional Assembly for con-stitutional amendment toallow the incorporationof referendum in theconstitution.

The constitutionalamendment sought bythe Committee throughthe bill, it was learnt atthe weekend, is to en-able issues and out-comes of the proposedNational Dialogue besubject of a referendum.

Subjecting the dia-logue outcomes to a ref-erendum, the sourceadded, is to avoid ongo-ing issues about allow-ing the National Assem-bly to approve the rec-ommendations of thenational conference.

President tonominate 120members

An authoritativesource close to the com-mittee also told Van-guard that one of its rec-ommendations is thatthe President will nomi-nate 120 delegates to the

conference, whose mem-bership is recom-mended to be between500 and 700.

Vanguard also learntthat the conferenceshould take off earlynext year, with the Presi-dent’s nominees joiningthe other delegates tothe conference whowould be elected basedon senatorial or federalconstituencies.

If senatorial districtsare used, there may notbe more than 300elected delegates as thecommittee had alreadyrecommended nomina-tion of 120 by the Presi-dent. Conversely, if fed-eral constituencies areused, there will be 580delegates to be elected.

The proposal for thenational conference totake off early next year,according to the source,will help stave off ten-sions ahead of the cam-paigns for the nextround of general elec-tions.

The conference accord-ing to the committee re-port already preparedfor submission to thePresident is to takeplace for six months dur-ing which Nigerianswould discuss all issuesbordering on the na-tion’s life.

The report of the Sena-tor Femi Okurounmu-ledcommittee which hasconcluded its delibera-tions had been slated forsubmission on Wednes-day. The date was slated

well ahead of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan’s tripto South Africa for theburial ceremonies of lateanti-apartheid icon, Nel-son Mandela. However,with the President out ofthe country it was un-clear last night whetherthe committee wouldseek another date forsubmission of the reportor present the report tothe vice-president or anyother senior official ofthe Federal Govern-ment.

The committee in itsrecommendations, Van-guard learnt, took thestand that all its submis-sions were simply sug-gestions which weremeant for the president’sconsideration.

The panel would haveturned in its report de-tailing modalities for or-ganizing the proposednational conference onNovember 19, but wasgranted two weeks ex-tension by the presi-dency to wrap up itswork.

However, the commit-tee over-shot the 14 daysextension by nine days.

The committee con-cluded its zonal toursacross 13 cities in the sixgeo-political zones,three weeks ago with avisit to the Federal Capi-tal Territory, Abuja.

President Jonathanraised the Senator FemiOkurounmu-led commit-tee on October 1 and in-augurated it on October7 with a six-week timeframe to establish themodalities for a nationaldialogue or conference.The Committee was alsoassigned the duty of de-signing a frameworkand come up with recom-mendations as to theform, structure andmechanism of the proc-ess.

The cities visited by thecommittee were Akure,Jos, Minna, Calabar,Benin, Enugu,Umuahia, Lagos, Sokoto,Maiduguri, Lagos,Bauchi, Kaduna andAbuja.

We didn't printN5,000 notes, coins— CBN Gov

BY PETEREGWUATU

LAGOS—THE Central Bank of Ni-

geria, CBN weekend,refuted the rumour thatit had printed the con-troversial new N5,000notes and coins that thelaw makers had earlierstopped it from printing.

The CBN Governor,Mallam Sanusi LamidoSanusi, disclosed thiswhile responding to aquestion on the scarcityof lower denominationand increase in the vol-ume of dirty banknotesin the economy after the5th Bankers’ Committeeretreat held in Calabar.He said “as a result ofall the noise around N5,000 notes and coins, thatprocess was stopped. Wedid not print the new

notes. I know some peo-ple think we have al-ready printed, but wedid not print the newnotes and we did notaward the contracts forthe new notes. We havere-ordered banknotesand I think they havestarted arriving andprobably you would haveseen some improve-ments on that by now.”

It was gathered at theretreat that the CBN,Bankers committeeagreed to deliver pricestability and economicgrowth in 2014.

The Bankers’ Commit-tee also assured Nigeri-ans and otherstakeholders in thebanking sector of its con-tinuous collaboration topromote an efficient andstable economy for thecountry.

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A group of hunters displaying during the conferment ofchietaincy titles on three sons of Mwaghavul Nation by theMishkaham Mwaghavul in Mangu Local Government Areaof Plateau State, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN.

Police arrest man, 26, for defiling2-yr-old girl in Ogun

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

Two UK-based Nigerians jailed over £19minternet scam

TWO young Nigerians basedin Manchester, United King-

dom have been punished by aCrown Court for their part in aNigerian inspired internet bank-ing scam which could have net-ted a phenomenal £19 million af-ter hacking the accounts of nearly2,500 people.

The Mail Online reported, yes-terday, that Aderoju Bammeke,22, and his girlfriend, JessicaOgunyemi, 20, both of Manches-ter, were the UK ‘platform’ for aNigerian ‘phishing’ scam thatmade £41,000 in just twomonths.

The plot, alleged to be master-

Aderoju Bammeke Jessica Ogunyemi

Babyfactory:Abiademolishesaffectedhospital

BY ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA — ABIAState government

has demolished a five-sto-rey building in Aba,housing a hospital,Ezuma Hospitals, alleg-edly used in the sale ofbabies.

Also, a branch of thehospital in Owerri, theImo State capital, was lastweek raided by the policewhere 16 teenage preg-nant girls were rescued.

Meantime, disturbedby the rampant cases ofsales of babies in thestate, especially in Abaand its environs, the stategovernment has consti-tuted a committee for therevalidation of mother-less babies homes in thestate said to be the usualconduit for the nefariousact.

Inaugurating the com-mittee, GovernorTheodore Orji chargedmembers made up of op-eratives of the Depart-ment of State Services,DSS, Police, Nigeria Se-curity and Civil DefenceCorps, NSCDC, and of-ficials of the Ministry ofWomen Affairs, to fish outall illegal babies’ homesoperating in the state.

He urged the commit-tee to redeem the imageof the state which wasbeing stained by the uglyact.

He said: “It is your as-signment to ensure thatthe image of our state isredeemed.”

ABEOKUTA — THEOgun State Police Com-

mand said it has arrested oneKehinde Adejuwon, 26, for al-legedly having carnal knowl-edge of a two-year-old girl atOja Odan in Yewa North Lo-cal Government Area of OgunState.

Police Public Relations Of-ficer in the state, MuyiwaAdejobi stated this in a state-ment in Abeokuta.

According to Adejobi, “thesuspect was arrested by a teamof detectives attached toAyetoro Division of the com-mand, led by the DivisionalPolice Officer in charge ofAyetoro, Superintendent ofPolice Gbola Adigun, when thefather of the victim alerted thepolice

“The suspect, who confessedto the crime, regretted his ac-tions but he will be made to facethe wrath of the law as the of-fence he committed is con-demned by the law of our landand Nigerian culture and tradi-tion.

“The Commissioner of Police

Ogun State, CP IkemefunaOkoye, has ordered that thecase be transferred to the AntiHuman Trafficking and ChildLabour Unit of the State CID,Eleweran, Abeokuta for nec-essary action.

“The command will always

wage war against such terri-ble individuals who are fondof engaging themselves inungodly acts.

“We will always work handin hand with relevant agen-cies to put and end to thismenace. Enough is enough.”

minded by a gang based in Ni-geria, involved sending fakeemails to customers of banks in-cluding Barclays and Halifax.

According to The Mail report,the emails told recipients thattheir accounts had been hackedand asked them to complete aform with their log-in details.

“But when victims obliged,Bammeke stepped in andhelped the gang log in to stealmoney.

“Fashion marketing student,Ogunyemi, his girlfriend at thetime, helped him launder theproceeds by putting funds in ac-counts, hiding cash and allow-ing him to buy her a £2,400Vauxhall Corsa.

“Bammeke has now beenjailed for three-and-a-half yearsat Manchester Crown Court af-ter admitting conspiracy to com-mit fraud and unauthorised com-puter use.

“Ogunyemi admitted fivecounts of money launderingand was given a suspendedprison sentence.

“Investigators found evidence

of the scam on seven devices atBammeke’s home, which hadaccessed 181 accounts from hisaddress.

“But Barclays found 2,439 cus-tomers had been affected and in-vestigators say the true scale ofthe fraud will never be known.

“Bammeke admitted he hadbeen involved in the scam for morethan a year. He played a ‘key role’as England’s ‘platform’ for thescam, the court heard."

“He said if the gang had triedto log into accounts from Nigeriait would have triggered the banks’alarm systems.

“Simon Nichol, defendingBammeke, said he felt regret andremorse for his actions.

“He said his involvement –which began in an effort to tacklestudent debt – was ‘sporadic’ andalthough the scam was large scalewith international dimensions,Bammeke’s part was not.

“He added: ‘They needed a plat-form in this jurisdiction and theyneeded someone to provide thatplatform. He allowed them to usehis computer remotely."

Navy arrests4 suspectedpirates inRivers

PORT HARCOURT –THE Nigerian Navy

has announced the arrestof four alleged sea piratessuspected to be behindvarious breach of maritimesecurity in the nation’swaterways.

This is contained in astatement by the TheNigerian Navy Ship(NNS), Pathfinder, BaseInformation Officer, Lt.-Cdr. Abdulsalam Sani,yesterday in Port Harcourt.

It stated that the suspectswere arrested by troops ofthe Nigerian Navy Ship,Burutu, while on routinepatrol.

The statement quoted theCommanding Officer of theForward Operating BaseBonny, Navy Capt.Matthew Daupreye assaying that it impoundedthree cutlasses, four knives,and pumping machinesfrom the suspects.

It added that threehammers, cell phones, eyeglasses and anundisclosed amount ofmoney were also recoveredfrom the suspects.

Police patrolvan killstricycle riderin Bayelsa

BY SAMUELOYADONGHA

YENAGOA — A commercial tricyclist was

reportedly crushed todeath, weekend, by a po-lice patrol van along SaniAbacha expressway inYenagoa Local Govern-ment Area of Bayelsa State.

The incident occurred atAmarata, a suburb ofYenagoa and the deceasedtricyclist was identified sim-ply as Bobby.

An eyewitness, whoidentified himself as Lawal,said the police driver, sus-pected to be drunk, ran intothe fast moving tricycle.

The impact of the crashwas said to have thrown outthe two passengers in thetricycle while the driverdied on the spot.

Contacted on the devel-opment, spokesman of theBayelsa Police Command,Mr.Alex Akhigbe, saidthough some concernedresidents have notifiedhim, he was yet to get thedetail from the DivisionalCommand.The demolished building housing the Ezuma Hospital

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AWARD: From left— Dr. Ausbeth Ajagu, President, Governing Board of AES Excellence Club; Cross River State's FirstLady, Mrs Obioma Imoke; Governor Liyel Imoke and Dr. Nike Akande, Chairman, AES Excellence Club, during theconferment of AES award on Governor Imoke at the the club's fourth annual CEOs' Dinner/Awards' Nite in Lagos. PHOTO:Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

Nigerian politicians can'tcompare with Mandela— Jonathan

REPS TO JONATHAN: Accept $79benchmark or forget 2014 budget

WorldleaderscommendNigeria onglobal tradedeal

WORLD leaders havec o m m e n d e d

Nigeria for helping tofacilitate the first globaltrade reform agreement,which has the potential toadd $1 trillion to globaleconomy.

The leaders made thecommendation weekendafter the ninth MinisterialConference, MC9, inBali, Indonesia, wherethey said the Minister ofIndustry, Trade andInvestment, OlusegunAganga, who chaired theMC8, drew the path forsuccess at the justconcluded conference.

Delegations from manycountries said the successrecorded after five-daysof negotiation in Bali,Indonesia, was anoffshoot of the workdone at the World TradeOrganisation, WTO'seight MinisterialConference, MC8, inGeneva, where it wasagreed that the WTOshould end the fruitlessyears of negotiations andidentify key elements ofthe Doha Round.

The delegation saidmembers would want tocontinue engagementwith Aganga in view ofthe quality of leadershiphe had displayed, addingthat his wealth ofexperience would help inthe completion of manyof the outstanding issues.

ABUJA— INDICATIONemerged last night that

the House of Representativeswould not change its positionon the $79 per barrel as theoil benchmark for the 2014budget.

Findings by Vanguardrevealed that the Presidencywas upset with the resolve bya majority of the lawmakersto ensure that the $75 oilbenchmark being proposedby the Federal Governmentdid not see the light of the day.

It was learnt that in a bid tocheckmate the stiff oppositionto the $75 per barrel beingtabled by the government,some lawmakers loyal to the

Presidency had been trying tolobby their colleagues tosupport their position.

The lobby, however, appearsto have failed to sway themajority, Vanguard was toldlast night.

A member of the NationalAssembly leadershipconfirmed, yesterday, that thelawmakers were not ready togo below the $79 per barrelbenchmark.

The lawmaker said that itwould be wrong for thepeople that were elected byNigerians to acceptsomething that was inimicalto their progress and wellbeing because it was beingproposed by the President.

The source said: “The plotto recruit sympathisers of thePresidency to talk to us

concerning the oil benchmarkhas failed woefully becausethe protagonists of $75 perbarrel cannot justify what theywill do with the excess fundsarising from rising oil pricewhich at all times is above$100 per barrel.

On $100,000 bribe“It was when they failed to

impress their logic ofstagnation on us that theywent to town with theallegation that the Presidencybribed us with $100,000 each.

“But they have forgottenthat we are not children whocan easily be hoodwinked.

“Now, if the Presidencyclaims it gave us the moneythey are talking about, howcome that we insist that the oilbenchmark must remain at

$79 per barrel?“Let me assure all

Nigerians that even if thePresidency gives us themoney today, we won’t soft-pedal on the $79benchmark,” the officialadded.

When contacted, thespokesman for the House,Mr. Zakari Mohammed, saidthose peddling the rumour of$100,000 bribe were agents ofblackmail, out to causedisaffection among themembers and derail themfrom serving Nigerians.

Mohammed pointed outthat no amount of blackmailand intimidation would swaythe lawmakers from doingwhat is right and in theinterest of the people thatelected them.

BY SONI DANIEL,Regional Editor, North, &

LEVINUS NWABUGHIOGU

ABUJA— PRESIDENTGoodluck Jonathan,

yesterday, paid tribute to anti-Apartheid icon, Dr. NelsonMandela who died lastThursday, saying Nigerianpoliticians could not becompared with him as theythreaten, boast and play littlegods.

He said such Nigerianpoliticians are tiny men and it

is antithetical to good characterof leadership

He stated this at a memorialservice in honour of the lateleader of South Africa, at AsoRock Chapel in Abuja.

He said Mandela was filledwith humility, forgiving spiritand the ability to unite people,which he said sharplycontrasted with the utterancesof some Nigerian politicianswho speak “as if Nigeria istheir bedroom” from wherethey make proclamation andintimidate others.

The President said: “When I

listen to some politicians olderthan me, I come to theconclusion that it is trulydifficult for a camel to passthrough the eyes of a needlethan for a politician to achievegreatness.

“The great names we heartoday in Nigeria are notenough” as the same namesplayed repressive roles andruled repressively during theirdays as rulers in this country.”

While extolling Mandela’sselfless service to his countryand people, PresidentJonathan noted that it was

ironic that all those who foughthim and called him terroristswere now singing his praises

He said: “Anybody that willmake changes should notexpect praises. They will callyou names but the end mattersmuch.”

Senate President, DavidMark, in his tribute enjoinedAfricans to fight for economicindependence and democracyas the struggle is still ongoing.

He noted that Mandela livedand died for Africa, addingthat if the campaign for aUnited Africa had beenchampioned by Mandelainstead of the late Libyanleader, Muammar Gaddafi, itwould have succeeded.

The South African HighCommissioner to Nigeria,Ambassador Louis Mnguni,said Mandela was indeedselfless, adding that even thoughhe could have made money forhimself as a lawyer, he chose toremain and die a combatant.

Mnguni also appreciatedNigeria for all the support ithas always rendered, statingthat “despite its own numerouschallenges, Nigeria has nottaken its eyes off South Africa.”

In his tribute, CatholicBishop of Sokoto, MatthewKukah, who was amongst thesix people that paid tribute atthe ceremony, emphasised theneed to remember those whofought with Mandela.

He noted that the unsungheroes of the apartheidstruggle should be celebratedwith much emphasis onreducing persistinginstitutional injustices.

BY SONI DANIEL,Regional Editor, North, BEN

AGENDA & VICTORAHIUMA-YOUNG

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FG'S ULTIMATUM: ASUU refusesto budge, as Senate mediates

AS the ultimatum given to striking university lecturers to resume work

or get sacked expires today, the lecturersunder the aegis of Academic Staff Unionof Universities, ASUU, say they remainunmoved in their determination tocontinue the six months old strike, untilgovernment addresses loopholes in theunion’s agreement with PresidentGoodluck Jonathan.

Last Tuesday, Executive Secretary of theNational Universities Commission, NUC,Professor Julius Okojie, had toldnewsmen that only lecturers that complywith the Federal Government’s directiveto resume work would be paid salaryarrears owed them, as they should notexpect to be paid for work not done.

Speaking with Vanguard in a telephoneinterview, yesterday, ASUU's NationalTreasurer, Dr. Demola Aremu affirmedthat “the union remains resolute tocontinue the strike, until governmenttidies up documents to meet four greyareas which the union raised in its letteron November 8 and 22.”

Similarly, ASUU Ibadan zonalcoordinator, Dr. Adesola Nassir,yesterday, said the union resolved tocontinue with the strike because thegovernment’s claim that it has depositedN200 billion at the Central Bank ofNigeria, CBN, is only on the pages ofnewspapers.

Senate pleadsHowever, the Secretary, Senate

Committee on Education, Senator FelixOrumwense, has appealed to ASUU toend the strike for the sake of millions ofNigerian students.

It will be recalled that last Wednesday,the government extended the deadlinefor lecturers' resumption to December 9.

Supervising Minister of Education,Nyesom Wike, who announced the shiftin the date, said it was as a mark ofrespect for the former National Presidentof the union, Professor Festus Iyayi, whodied in an auto accident on his way for aNational Executive Committee, NEC,meeting of ASUU.

Orumwense said: “Our committee,under the leadership of Senator UcheChukwumerije, has tried its best tointervene in the impasse between theexecutive and members of ASUU, whichhas unfortunately dragged on for sixmonths.

“At the commencement of their strikein July, we made efforts to ensure thatthere was an opportunity for negotiationbetween the union and the executive.

“We were hopeful when they finally met,that the strike would soon be called-off,but unfortunately it lingered till today.

“What else can the committee do, wheneven the President met with the union andit has still remained adamant? As parents,we appeal to ASUU to at least, call-offthe strike for the sake of our children.The loss so far is unquantifiable.”

On the ultimatumReacting on the ultimatum, Aremu said:

“It is the Federal Government that gavethe ultimatum, not ASUU. We have nobusiness with it.

“The Federal Government’s threat isnot a valid one. All we know is that we

wrote to the Federal Government onNovember 22, asking that loopholes inour agreement with the President beaddressed. Till date, the letter has not beenreplied.

“All the responses we are getting arefrom the media. You don’t deal with issueslike that.

“As for the no work, no pay policy, wemust remember that there are threefunctions of a university: teaching,research and community development.

“Research does not end for academics;we are not casual workers that should bepaid by the day. What we teach is afunction of our research which is ongoingeven during a strike.

“For the past two weeks, we have beengoing to and fro on these issues alone. Ifthe Federal Government really caresabout the fact that students have beenhome for more than five months, then itshould not have taken this long to tidyup documentation.”

On N200bn, sack threatNasir said: “As I speak, we are yet to

get any official notice from the FederalGovernment. We have only seen themoney on the pages of newspapers andother media.

“We don’t see this step as proper. Ratherthan going to the media, governmentshould do the right thing andcommunicate to ASUU.

“Honestly, government has bungled thewhole thing.”

Reacting to the ultimatum that expirestoday, Nasir said: “Did the FederalGovernment ask us to go on strike? It isfoolhardy to believe that we willimmediately go back to the classroomsbecause they are threatening us.

“Rather than solving the problem, theyare busy giving orders to academics. Iam sure that even the government isaware that the threat will not hold water.

“If they sack us, who will they give ourjobs to? As it stands, we need 30,000 morelecturers to adequately cater for the needsof the university education sector.

“If all the politicians are sacked today,it would not be difficult to replace them.But if you sack one third of the academics,there will be a problem. Besides, there isa procedure for such things.

“You don’t sack lecturers by issuingthreats on the pages of newspapers. Theyhave stopped our salaries and attemptedto starve us. Now, they are resorting tothreats to sack us.

“If we go back to the classrooms withoutresolving the issues on ground, we wouldbe betraying our students and the nationat large. We would have lost five monthsfor nothing.”

LASUThe ASUU Chairman, Lagos State

University, LASU, Dr. Idris Adekunlesaid: “There is no apprehension amongour members at all. We are on the rightpath, and this is a just cause.

“We must deliver our nation’seducational system from destruction. Wehave counted the cost of this strike fromthe beginning, and we are convinced thatthe goals we have set up as a union forthe future of education in Nigeria areworth the fight.

“ASUU has survived several militarygovernments, so this kind of oppositionis not new to us.”

BY LAJU ARENYEKA& IKENNA ASOMBA

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INSPECTION: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN (3rd right); Commissioner for Commerce & Industry,Mrs. Olusola Oworu (2nd left); her Establishment and Training counterpart, Mrs. Florence Oguntuase (left); ManagingDirector of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, LAMATA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola (2nd right), and other members ofthe Governor's entourage, being conducted round by the Vice President, Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co. Ltd., Mr.Zhu Zhiyong, during an inspection of the factory of the Dalian Group, in Dalian, China.

Three siblings burnt to death in LagosBY MONSURU OLOWOOPEJO

LAGOS — A one and ahalf year old child with two of

his siblings were, weekend burnt todeath in an inferno that engulfed abuilding and a church in Iba LocalCouncil Development Area, LCDA,Lagos State, leaving property worthmillions of Naira destroyed.

Also, two unidentified dredgers gotdrowned in a 70-feet domestic wellin Ojo Local Government, Lagos.

The deceased siblings identified asImoleayo, Ismaila who is eight yearsold and Busayo Ganiyu, were said tohave been sleeping when the firestarted.

The cause of the fire was yet to beascertained, but sources said it startedat about 9:30p.m., Friday, from thevictims' one-room apartment beforespreading to other rooms.

According to reports, efforts by thesympathisers to put out the fire provedabortive, as it later spread to theCherubim and Seraphim Church ofZion at 41, Ogunyemi Street, Sabo Ilaje,Ajangbadi, Iba LCDA.

Sources said that the mother of thethree siblings, a petty trader, was stillin shock over the death of her children.

Speaking to Vanguard, AdeyemiAyinla, a friend to the late Ismaila, saidthat his friend would have been alive if

the neighbours who raisedthe alarm saw the fire earlyenough.

According to him: “Wecouldn’t get water early. Andwhen we called theemergency numbers: 767and 112, there wasn't anyresponse. This I guess, wasdue to the network. Beforewe could get water toextinguish the fire, they hadalready died.”

A teacher in Sabo OnibaPrimary School, Ajangbadi,Iba LCDA, who spoke undercondition of anonymity, saidthat Ismaila was a primarythree pupil.

He said: “I can't believethat he (Ismaila) is dead.He was in school onThursday, his mother alsoattended the Parents /Teachers Association, PTA,meeting in the school thatday.”

Meantime, Vanguardgathered that the two menwho died in a well were intheir late 40's.

An eyewitness told ourcorrespondent that theyounger dredger was thefirst to drown. Effort torescue him by his colleagueproved unsuccessful and healso drowned.

Confirming this, the Di-rector of the Lagos StateFire Service, Mr. RasakFadipe who spoke to ourcorrespondent said that thiswas part of the four distress

calls they received from Ojoyesterday.

Fadipe said; AThat wasone of the four distressedcalls that came in but theycame late. And it came from

Cholera: Lagosrecords 15 deaths

BY OLASUNKANMIAKONI

LAGOS — AConsultant Public

Health Physician andEpidemiologist with theLagos State Ministry ofHealth, Dr. Ismail Abdul-Salam has disclosed that 15deaths have so far beenrecorded out of 354suspected cases of cholerain the state.

Speaking, weekend, at astakeholders' forumorganised by the StateMinistry of theEnvironment, Office ofEnvironmental Services,Abdul-Salam, whopresented a lectureentitled, 'Prevention andControl of Cholera,' saidthe figures were obtainedfrom a study carried outfollowing the outbreak ofcholera in the state lastmonth.

"The first case of suspected

cholera outbreak in Lagoswas reported in September19, 2013 on Lagos Islandand later at Amuwo OdofinLocal Government Area.

"As at the 12th week intothe outbreak, 15 councilshad reported at least onesuspected case of cholerawith 354 suspected cases.

"There are currently 15labs and 109 Epilinkconfirmed cases. Fifteendeaths have been recorded.Case fatality rate is 15 by124, that is 12 per cent," hesaid.

Noting the resultsindicated that majority ofthe patients ate a localsalad popularly called'Abacha' and due to poorsanitary environment, hesaid prompt interventionmanagement of cases atsecondary health facilities,and availability of cholerakits and other consumablesprevented the disease fromspreading.

Sea piracy:NIMASA boss,lawyers call forstiffer penalties

BY INNOCENT ANABA

LAGOS — Director of Shipping Department,Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety

Agency, NIMASA, Captain Warredi Enisuoh andsome senior lawyers in Lagos, weekend, called forstiffer penalties to check the menace of sea piracyand kidnapping on the country's territorial waters.

Speaking at the end of year lecture of the Apapalawyers' forum of the Nigerian Bar Association,NBA, in Apapa Local Government Area, Lagos,Enisuoh said that the Federal Government wouldinvest heavily in the coming years on security onthe countries waterways, which will include bothpatrol ships and air defence.

Dr. Joseph Nwabike, SAN on his part called forspecial courts to trial maritime crime.

Meantime, some legal practitioners, yesterday,also called for the establishment of special courts tohandle cases of human trafficking.

They said that the setting up of these courts, wouldenhance the speedy prosecution of offenders.

Dr. Didi Odigie-Bedell, the Director, Private LawDepartment at the Nigerian Law Reform Commis-sion, said that establishing special courts wouldhasten trials and offenders would be adequatelypunished.

ABUJA — STRONGindications emerged

yesterday that the days ofthe National Chairman ofthe Peoples Democratic Par-ty, PDP Alhaji BamangaTukur are numbered as thegovernors elected on theplatform of the party yes-terday resolved that hemust go if there must bepeace in the party.

Rising from a three-hourmeeting held at the AkwaIbom State Governor ’sLodge, Asokoro, Abuja, thePDP governors came to aconclusion that the PDPnational Chairman must goas the only solution to thepolitical logjam in the PDP.The governors argued thatsince he became chairmanof the party in 2012, theparty has not witnessedpeace because of his ad-ministrative style whichdoes not go down well withparty members.

Vanguard gathered thatthe governors decided atthe meeting that the NorthEast geo-political zone ofthe country which producedBamanga Tukur should im-mediately search for his re-placement ahead of theMarch 2014 mid term Spe-cial convention whereTukur will finally leave asPDP national Chairman.

Meanwhile, from thezone, Bauchi state is actu-ally angling for the positionpushing for the former Act-ing National Secretary anda former Chairmanship as-pirant, Dr. Musa Babayo aswell as former Bauchi Stategovernor, Alhaji AdamuMauzu.

The governors at the endof yesterday’s meeting hur-ried to the Presidential vil-la for another round ofmeeting with PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, VicePresident Namadi Sambo,and chairman, PDP, Boardof Trustees, BoT, Chief TonyAnenih where they will bebriefed on the decision ofthe PDP governors.

It will be recalled thatsince the election of Tukuralong side other membersof the National WorkingCommittee, NWC, the gov-ernors have been calling forthe sack of Bamanga Tukurover his style of adminis-tration

Vanguard gathered thatat yesterday’s meeting, thePDP governors were said tohave frowned at the atti-tude of the national chair-man of the party which theynoted has inflamed nega-tive passion rather thancalm frayed nerves as wellas overheating the politywhich culminated in thedumping of the party byfive PDP governors to AllProgressives Congress,APC.

It will also be recalledthat seven aggrieved gov-ernors under the name G-7 were at logger head withthe Tukur led NationalWorking Committee, NWC.

PDP CRISIS:Tukur must go,PDP governorstell Jonathan

BY HENRY UMORU

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Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013—11

Oyo Govt's destroyed civil service,— Ladoja Your rule was barren, govt responds

BY OLA AJAYI

IBADAN — THE politicalrivalry between Governor

Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State anda former governor of the state,Senator Rashidi Ladojaheightened, yesterday, as the twoaccused each other of destroyingthe state civil service.

Ladoja had reportedly said thatthe state government haddestroyed the civil service by itssack of some PermanentSecretaries.

But the All ProgressivesCongress, APC, in the statereacting through its InterimPublicity Secretary, Mr. DaudaKolawole said the allegation wasunbecoming of the ex-governorwho did not have any concreteimpact while in power.

According to the ruling party inthe state, the Abiola Ajimobi-ledgovernment was concentrating onrebuilding the institution of thecivil service which it said hadlong been bastardised byprevious governments before it,stating that in the process, it couldnot but purge the service oflong-held pollution.

"Ajimobi inherited accumulateddregs and dirt in all ramificationsin the state. From Alao-Akala'sdebasement of the values of the

civil service, to Ladoja's lack ofmental depth to understand therudiments of the service, it wasa civil service that neededpurification and restructuring.

"Our concentration was onrebuilding the institution of thecivil service and restoring thedignity of an average civilservant in himself as the engineroom of governmental

development and not as alap-dog to politicians in power,"the statement said.

APC punctured Ladoja’sallegation, saying, "Ajimobi’sgovernment had trained 12,211teaching and non-teaching staffof secondary schools, promoted1,714 civil servants from all cadresin 2012 alone, gave training andcapacity building to over 13,000

civil and public servants, dedi-cated 10 out of the 100 43-seaterbuses we procured to civil serv-ants which convey them free toand fro work, among others.

“We challenge Ladoja to tell thewhole world what he did for civilservants in his barren andunimpressive rule of our state.

Tambuwal, Mimiko, Ihediorah weepat Rep's burial

BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE — THE Speaker ofHouse of Representatives,

Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, hisDeputy Emeka Ihediorah andGovernor Olusegun Mimikobetrayed their emotions whenthey wept as the body of amember of House ofRepresentatives from OndoState, Hon. Raphael Nomiye wasburied,weekend, in Okitipupa.

Also, the wife of the deceasedlawmaker, who represented Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency,Nabi, slumped few minutesbefore her husband interment.

She was immediately rushed toState Specialist Hospital,Okitipupa for medical attentionand did not return to witness theinterment.

Nomiye died on November 22after he reportedly held a meetingwith some of his close friends inhis Abuja residence.

Speaking at the burial of the latelegislator, the Speaker of theHouse of Representatives Hon.Aminu Tambuwal and Ondo Stategovernor, Dr. Olusegun Mimikodescribed him as an unassuming,generous and cultured politicianthat contributed immensely to thedevelopment of his people.

The Speaker said he was to

attend an award ceremony inhonour of the late member as the'Ondo State Man of the Year' inAkure two days before he died.

Tambuwal described Nomiye'sdeath as a big los to Ondo Stateand the National Assembly inparticular.

He assured that the NationalAssembly will stand firmly by theimmediate family of the deceasedand ensure that they do not feelthe vacuum created by theirfather's demise.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko,however, prayed that God shouldgrant the family of the deceasedthe fortitude to bear the irreparableloss.

Osun APC raisesalarm over allegedplanned assault

BY GBEBGA OLARINOYE

OSOGBO — THE ruling All ProgressivesCongress, APC, in Osun State has raised

the alarm that a highly connected Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, stalwart in the state was planning tostorm the home of a prominent APC chieftain withsoldiers on suspicion that he is gun-running andstockpiling arms in his residence.

But the PDP challenged the ruling party to namethe so called politician or for ever keep quiet.

The state chairman of PDP, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwaaccused the APC of always raising false alarrnwhenever it wanted to unleash terror on anyopposition member in the state.

According to APC: “Information reaching theparty's secretariat has it that the assault will happenanytime soon, and then the APC chieftain will bespirited away in the process.”

In a statement made available to the media inOsogbo, weekend, by APC Publicity Director, Mr.Kunle Oyatomi said that a palpable misuse of federalsecurity force like the army by a private citizen forsuch operation is not only illegal, but an abuse ofprivilege in high places that has become thetrademark of the PDP nation-wide.

FG bemoans state of its secretariats

BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE — THE Federal Governmenthas expressed disgust at the sorry

state of Federal Secretariat buildings andfacilities across the country.

It has therefore put machinery in motionto rehabilitate the buildings and facilitiesin phases.

The Head of Civil Service of theFederation, Alhaji Bukar Goni-Aji said thatthe state of the buildings is worrisome andthat urgent steps would be taken to salvagethe situation.

Goni-Aji spoke during a visit to OndoState where he held an interactive sessionwith federal civil servants in the state.

He inspected the environment where thebuilding was located and some officeswithin the complex and commended thefederal workers for maintaining theenvironment.

Speaking through the PermanentSecretary in the Ministry of Environment,Mr. Taiye Haruna, he said that the FederalMinistry of Housing and UrbanDevelopment would embark on therehabilitation of federal secretariats acrossthe country.

Adeyeyedecriesnon-paymentof Ekitipensioners’gratuities

P E O P L E SDEMOCRATIC

Party, PDP, governorshipaspirant in Ekiti State anda chieftain of Afenifere,Prince Dayo Adeyeye hasdecried non-payment ofgratuties of public servantsin the state, who retiredfrom the public service sincelast year.

Adeyeye, who describedthe non-payment ascriminal, said: “Thegovernment has alsorefused to pay thepensioners their arrears ofharmonisation, which iscommensurate incrementin pension in line withincrement of workerssalaries.”

OgunAssemblylaments poorcondition ofOOOTH

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA —THE Ogun State

House of AssemblyCommittee on Finance andAppropriation has decriedthe poor state of facilities inthe state-owned OlabisiOnabanjo UniversityTeaching Hospital,OOUTH, Sagamu.

The committee under thechairmanship of OlusolaBankole stated this whenthe officials of the Ministryof Health and those of theparastatals under itappeared before it for theyear 2014 budget defence.

The committee lamentedthat the poor condition ofinfrastructure in theteaching hospital hadbecome a source of concernto the people who patroniseit.

It stressed that the onlypublic teaching hospital inthe state had fallen undera sorry condition, sayingmany of its facilities haddilapidated and in a stateof disrepair.

CMYK

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12—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

Nigerian leaders should learn fromMandela’s life —OSHIOMHOLE

BENIN—EDO State gov-ernor, Mr. Adams Oshi-

omhole, has eulogised thelate President of South Afri-ca, Mr Nelson Mandela, say-ing there were a lot of lessonsto be learnt from his life byNigerian leaders.

In his tribute to the late anti-apartheid crusader, he saidpeople like Mandela don’tdie, but only transit from thisworld to higher glory.

Oshiomhole said: “Mande-la cannot be referred to asdead. The right word is tran-sition. He had the real gift ofleadership and that he camefrom this black continent of

BY FESTUS AHON

Azizare-electedUPUPresident-General

UGHELLI—MAJOR-General Patrick

Aziza (rtd), has been re-elected President-Gener-al of Urhobo ProgressUnion, UPU, after hepolled 391 votes to beathis erstwhile 1st DeputyPresident-General, ChiefO. C. Majoroh, whopolled 224 votes.

Announcing the resultof the election, whichlasted till about 10pm onSaturday night, Mr MikeIgini said the position ofthe President-Generalwas the most keenly con-tested, noting that “thetotal votes cast were 642,of which 27 were voided.”

Others elected includeChief Joseph Omene, 1stDeputy President Gener-al, Chief Tuesday Ologe,2nd Deputy PresidentGeneral, Chief AustinUloho, 3rd Deputy Presi-dent General, Chief Al-bert Akpomudje, SAN,Secretary General, ChiefMichael Ederewhevbe,Treasurer and Chief DafeAkpeye as Legal Advis-er.

In his acceptancespeech, said: “A Romangeneral once came backvictorious from a war andwhen asked to make ashort speech, he said: ‘Icame, I saw and I con-quered.’ But in my ownspeech, I came, I saw butUrhobo conquered.

“The task ahead isgreat, we must all worktogether. The victory isone thing, but success isanother. So, let us worktogether and moveUrhobo forward.”

Speaking with news-men after the election,Chief Austin Uloho said:“The victory is sweet; weworked for it; we believein Aziza and we believein his leadership. Weknow that with Aziza is ageneral who has opendoors to Aso Rock.

“We are prepared tomove on with him; wewill give him all the sup-port he needs.”

Meanwhile, former Sec-retary to Delta State Gov-ernment, SSG, ObarisiOvie Omo-Agege, hasdescribed Aziza’s victoryas victory for the unity ofthe Urhobo people.

He expressed the hopethat the Urhobos wouldwitness better things un-der Aziza’s leadership.

giveness of those who impris-oned him for 27 years, pro-vided the right atmospherefor prosperity for everyone,including those who deprivedhim of the good things of life.

“There are lots of lessons weshould learn from this. Canwe not afford to be Mandelain our homes, states and atthe national level? For Nige-rians, where leaders are busycontesting election on the ba-sis of ethnic divide, can welearn from Mandela that it ispossible to inspire a peopleto downplay those primordi-al sentiments and rise to na-tional challenges and buildthe nation, create prosperity,address the challenges of the

poor and be loved by the poor?“There won’t be another

Mandela in the continent, orindeed, anywhere in theworld. It is a shame Nigeriacannot claim to have anybodynear him, even though we hadthe opportunity.

“There are other lessons forNigeria. Mandela’s conditionwas managed in South Africaby South African doctors. Iwant to see how this can helpus to have a deeper reflection,so that Nigeria can learn fromthe positive side of South Af-rica.”

NDDC: EdoyouthsdemandEnofe’sscreening

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

BENIN—YOUTHSfrom oil producing

communities of Oben,Ikobi, Obozogbe-Nuguand Iguelaba in Orhion-mwon Local GovernmentArea of Edo State haveprotested the non-screen-ing of Mr. Courage Enofe,nominated to representEdo State on the board ofNiger Delta Develop-ment Commission,NDDC.

Recall that the nomina-tion of a candidate thatwould represent EdoState on the board ofNDDC had pitched coreoil producing communi-ties in the state againstGovernor Adams Oshi-omhole and Senator Ehi-gie Uzamere who theyaccused of trying to bringin someone outside thearea.

The youths, who be-sieged the palace of theEnogie of Oben, HRHFred Odoligie Ogiem-wonyi, alleged thatEnofe, who they claimedwas nominated by the fouroil and gas producingcommunities suddenlydisappeared from the listof nominees screened bythe Senate.

JAZZ FESTIVAL: Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State (right); South African HighCommissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Lulu Mnguni (2nd left); Minister of Culture, Chief EdemDuke (2nd right) and Rwandan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Joseph Habineza, dur-ing Bayelsa State International Jazz Festival in Yenagoa. Photo: Lucky Francis.

African leaders’re hypocrites —ACTIVISTBY EMMA ARUBI

WARRI—AN activ-ist in Delta State,

Mr. Emmanuel Edema,has described Africanleaders who are pouringencomiums on the latePresident Nelson Man-dela of South African, ashypocrites and unworthyleaders of their variouscountries.

Speaking to a journal-ists in Warri, yesterday,Mr. Edema noted that“no leader in Africa hasbeen able to emulate theMadiba in term of pro-viding quality leader-ship and exhibiting ex-emplary character” start-ing that Mandela cameout of prison after 27years to become the firstBlack President of SouthAfrica and ruled for onlyone term of 5 years.

He said other Africanleaders would have sattight in office in theirusual ways and de-ployed brute force torule and reign over theirpeople and mischie-vously scheme for third

term.He said that Mande-

la’s death elicited deepsympathy across theglobe because he stoodas a world personality ofsterling qualities.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013—13

ALLEGED SALE OF BABIES: Abia demolishesbuilding housing Ezuma Hospital

BY ANAYO OKOLI

Ohanaeze seeks closer S-East, S-South cooperationBY VINCENT UJUMADU

LAGOS—THE globalcelebration of the demise of

South Africa’s political sage, Dr.Nelson Mandela, has beendescribed by the deputychairman of All ProgressivesCongress, APC, Senator AnnieOkonkwo, as a fitting tribute to auniversal icon and exceptionalpan-Africanist.

Acoording to SenatorOkonkwo, Mandela is one rare

A W K A — T H EP e n t e c o s t a l

Fellowship of Nigeria,PFN, has urged the federalgovernment and securityoperatives to step up theirbattle against the BokoHaram insurgence,especially as the Yuletidecelebration draws nearer.

Addressing reporters atUmunze in Orumba Southlocal government area ofAnambra State, statechairman of PFN, BishopDavid Eberechukwu, saidmany Christians,especially those residingin the Northern part of thecountry, were alreadybecoming apprehensive,in view of the increasingactivities of Boko Haram inthe area.

He said: “We are inDecember and we recallthat this is the time of theyear when the Boko Haramsect attacked manychurches. Our own part isto continue to pray forpeace in Nigeria and weexpect the government todo what it can to solve thisproblem once and for all.”

AWKA—APEX Igbo socio-cultural organization,

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has called fora closer cooperation between theSouth East and South South geo-political zones for the purpose ofimproving the economic base ofthe two zones.

Anambra State chairman ofOhanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. ChrisEluomunoh, at a news conferencein Awka, urged the two zones notto succumb to the antics of othersections of Nigeria who preferredthat the two zones, whichcooperated well in the defunctEastern Region, be made toremain antagonistic to each other.

According to him, it is thepeople of the two zones that arelosing out in the face of lack ofcooperation between them.

He said: “This is the right timefor these two zones to evolve waysof enhancing the welfare of theirpeople and economy of theirstates.

“The campaign of divide andrule being championed by somepeople in the zone should be putbehind. It is in the best interest ofthe Igbos, the Ijaws and othertribes in the two zones to worktogether as this will fast trackdevelopment in the area.

“The first opportunity to beginthis cooperation will be offered bythe proposed national conference.The two zones must work together

ABAKALIKI—THE familyof Mr. Joseph Nnaemeka

Ogenyi, 29, an indigene ofEbonyi State who was fatallyknocked down by a Coaster Busbelonging to the Federal HighCourt in Port-Harcourt on May22, 2013, weekend, demanded a

ABUJA—THE AllP r o g r e s s i v e s

Congress, APC, has saidthat Abia State wasweeping and in dire needof emancipation.

The interim chairman ofAPC in Abia State, Dr.Maxwell Adindu, whostated this shortly after theelection for the state interimexecutive of the party, saidwith the calibre of memberselected to supervise affairs ofthe party, there was hope thatAbia would soon beenemancipated.

In statement issued inAbuja by the interim publicitysecretary, Dr. OnyelohaChukwumerije, the interimchairman expressed delightin the confidence reposed inthem by the party faithful inthe state, describing theexecutive committee as testedpoliticians with impeccablerecords and achievements.

He said: “So much isexpected of us, and so muchwe shall deliver. This state iscontrolled by tested andrugged politicians – those thatthe people trust to deliverdividends of democracy.”

PFN wantsFG to step upfight againstBoko Haram

BY VINCENT UJUMADUUMUAHIA—ABIA Stategovernment has demolished

in Aba the five storey buildinghousing Ezuma Hospitals allegedto be notorious for sales of babies.

A branch of the hospital inOwerri, the capital, was last weekraided by the police who rescued16 teenage pregnant girls heldthere.

This came as the governmentyesterday constituted an Inter-agency committee for therevalidation of Social/MotherlessBabies Homes in the state throughwhich this nefarious act iscommitted.

Inaugurating the committee atGovernment House, GovernorTheodore Orji charged membersof the committee, made up of DSSoperatives, Police, Civil Defenceand officials of the Ministry ofWomen Affairs, to fish out allillegal babies’ homes operating inthe state.

He urged the committee toredeem the image of the statewhich was being stained by theugly act, saying “it is yourassignment to ensure that theimage of our state is redeemed.”

Governor Orji also directed thecommittee to revalidate theregistered ones and ensure thatthey met up with the standardsand comply to laid down rules ofoperations and regulations as

BY JOHNBOSCOAGBAKWURU

stipulated by the laws in the stateAccording to Orji, the decision

to set up the committee isinformed by the alarming rate atwhich motherless babies homeswere being misused in the state.

The governor said: “Thesecompassionate institutionscreated to provide importantsocial services to our people, arenow being used for purposesother than what they are

supposed to serve.“Our government has decided

to take all necessary action tocheck the spread of this uglysituation.”

Governor Orji regretted that inthe past two to three years, Abiaand states in the South East Zonehad been in the front line of statesaccused of baby sale andracketeering.

“These nefarious activities are

sometimes carried out by someunscrupulous owners of social/motherless babies’ homes inthe state.

“The truth is that most of thehomes that perpetrate suchatrocities may not be registeredwith our Ministry of WomenAffairs and SocialDevelopment, but someregistered homes are indirectlyguilty of the same offence, ” Orjisaid.

Family of deceased Ebonyi lawyer demandsN500m compensation

and bring to the front burnerissues that will be of great benefitto their people during thenational conference.”

Eluomunoh also debunked theargument in some quarters thatPresident Goodluck Jonathanhad not done much for the

people of the South East, notingthat it was only the presentadministration that hadappointed Igbos into sensitivepositions hitherto considered no-go areas for them.

He argued that the Jonathanadministration had completed a

number of important projects inthe zone, including EnuguInternational airport, Onitshaseaport and set a machinery inmotion for the construction of thesecond Niger bridge and therehabilitation of federal roads in thezone.

Mandela, exceptional pan-Africanist, saysSen Okonkwo

Abia crying foremancipation,says APC

BY PETER OKUTU compensation of N500 million.In a petition to the Chief Judge

of the Federal High Court ofNigeria, Abuja, the family,through counsel, Mr. AnthonyOka, alleged that the deceasedwas knocked down by the federalhigh court vehicle driven by oneMr. Ekenedirichukwu Ojukwu,while driving on the wrong lane,

against traffic regulation.The petition, made available

to journalists in Abakaliki, read:“We have been instructed by thefamily of the late BarristerJoseph Nnaemeka Ogenyi todemand from the Federal HighCourt the sum of N500 millionas damages and compensationfor the negligent causing of thedeath of Mr. Joseph NnaemekaOgenyi.”

African whose deep convictionsunnerved tyrants to reversethemselves, and whose eleganthumanism compelled globaladulation and praise.

In a statement by his mediaaide, Mr. Collins Ugwu, he said:“As a face to the faceless and aname to the nameless, Mandelabore the light of redemption withan intensity that scared darknessand a courage that conqueredoppression without violence.

“Dr. Mandela was and will

remain Africa’s finest testamentto irreversibly banish thestigma that Africa was a darkcontinent, because in life andin death, he epitomisedunblemished humanism to adiminishing humanity.

“The challenge now toAfrican leaders and the led, ishow to flourish uponMandiba’s extraordinarycompassion in leadership andaccomplishments.”

RECEPTION: From left: Representative of President Goodluck Jonathan, Secretary to theGovernment ot the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Aviation Minister, Princess StellaOduah, outgoing President, International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, Mr. RobertoKobeh Gonzalez and the new President, Dr. Olumuyiwa Aliu, during the presidential receptionin honour of Dr. Aliu as President of ICAO, in Abuja.

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14—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013

2014 BUDGET: Reps insist on $79 oilbenchmark

Woman jailed 3 months over N8.3m fraud

BY SONI DANIEL & LEVINUSNWABUGHIOGU

BY CALEB AYANSINA

ABUJA—INDICATIONemerged last night that the

House of Representatives wouldnot change its position on the $79per barrel as the oil benchmarkfor the 2014 budget.

Findings by Vanguardrevealed that the Presidencywas upset with the resolve bya majority of the lawmakers toensure that the $75 oilbenchmark being proposed bythe Federal Government wasrejected.

It was learnt that in a bid tocheckmate the stiff oppositionto the $75 per barrel beingtabled by the government,some lawmakers loyal to thePresidency had been trying tolobby their colleagues tosupport their position.

The lobby has, however,failed to sway the majority ofthe lawmakers to back thePresidency ’s proposal,Vanguard was told last night.

A member of the NASSleadership said the lawmakerswere not ready to go below the$79 per barrel benchmark.

The lawmaker said it wouldbe wrong for the people, whowere elected by Nigerians to

ABUJA—THE State Highcourt sitting in Koton-

Karfe has sentenced anaccounts clerk with theFederal Medical Centre,Lokoja, Kogi State, to threemonths imprisonment fordefrauding the centre ofN8.3m.

Mrs. Modupe Adeyemiarraigned by theIndependent Corrupt

accept something inimical totheir progress and well being.

The source said: “The plot torecruit sympathisers of thePresidency to talk to usconcerning the oil benchmarkhas failed woefully becausethe protagonists of $75 perbarrel cannot justify what theywill do with the excess fundsarising from rising oil pricewhich at all times is above$100 per barrel.

Alleged $100,000 bribe“It was when they failed to

impress their logic ofstagnation on us that they wentto town with the allegationthat the Presidency bribed uswith $100,000 each but theyhave forgotten that we are notchildren, who can easily behoodwinked.

“Now, if the Presidencyclaims it gave us the moneythey are talking about, howcome that we insist that the oilbenchmark must remain at $79per barrel?

“But let me assure allNigerians that even if thePresidency gives us the moneytoday, we won’t soft-pedal onthe $79 benchmark,” theofficial said.

When contacted, theSpokesman for the House,Mr. Zakari Mohammed, toldour correspondent that thosepeddling the rumour of$100,000 bribe were agents ofblackmail, out to causedisaffection among themembers and derail themfrom serving Nigerians.

Mohammed pointed outthat no amount of blackmailand intimidation would swaythe lawmakers from doingwhat was right and for theinterest of the nation, whichelected them to serve thepeople.

Tambuwal meets APC

leadersMeanwhile, a source close

to the Speaker of the House,Aminu Tambuwal, yesterdayexplained that the Speakermet with the leaders of theopposition, All ProgressivesCongress in order to save hisposition.

The source, who pleadedanonymity, said Tambuwalmet with the APC figures inAbuja for hours last week ina strategic move to save hisjob from being swept awayby the APC, which isapparently in the majority inthe House.

“Tambuwal is a suave

politician, who wants to survivethe emerging political scenarioin the House and that is whyhe had to meet for hours withthe leaders of the APC,” thesource hinted.

“I can tell you that theSpeaker wants to identify withthe majority at all times.

“Even the Presidency is awarethat the PDP is beginning toemerge as the minority party inthe National Assembly butthere is nothing they can dobecause they are using what Ican call feather weight elementsto fight against those workingfor the interest of Nigerians,”the lawmaker said.

Practices And Other RelatedOffences Commission,ICPC, was jailed without anoption of fine.

The Accused person wasalleged to have betweenOctober 2006 and April 2007defrauded the Centre to thetune of N8.3 million, beingpart of the revenue accruingto the centre.

She was arraigned byICPC on 30-count charge ofallegedly misappropriatingthe sum of N8.3millionbelonging to the medicalcentre while serving asaccounts clerk with thehospital.

Modupe was arraigned onNovember 29, 2009, beforethe State High court for theoffences of using her office

Alison-Madueke appointed OPECalternate president

to confer corrupt advantageupon herself, altering duplicatecopies of various bank tellerswith the intent to defraud andmaking false statements orreturns, contrary to sections 19,section 15 sub-sections (a) & (c)and section 16 of the Corruptpractices and Other RelatedOffences Act, 2000 respectively.

ICPC prosecutor, HenryEmore, informed the trial judgethat each time the accusedperson was sent to depositsome money in various banksbelonging to the centre, shedeposited only a part of themoney and pocketed part of it.

According to the prosecutor,she did this successfully byaltering duplicate copies of thebank tellers which she returnedto the centre.

LAGOS — EFFECTIVE from January

1, 2014, Nigeria’s Min-ister of Petroleum Re-sources, and Head ofDelegation, Mrs DiezaniAlison-Madueke, be-comes the AlternatePresident for the Or-ganisation of the Petro-leum Exporting Coun-tries, OPEC, for the nextone year.

Her appointment fol-lows the election of Lib-ya’s Minister of Oil andGas, Dr Abdel Bari AliAl-Arousi, as Presidentof the Conference ofOPEC for the same pe-riod of time.

The conference, dur-ing its last meeting forthe year in Vienna, Aus-tria, last week, reviewedthe oil market outlook, aspresented by the Secre-tary General. Of particu-lar focus were supply/demand projections for

2014 as well the globaleconomic outlook.

The conference alsonoted the high sover-eign debt in the Euro-zone; high unemploy-ment in the advancedeconomies, especiallythe Euro-zone; and slowgrowth, coupled with in-flation risk, in theemerging economies.

The organisation con-cluded that the biggestchallenge facing globaloil markets in 2014, is theglobal economic uncer-tainty, with the fragilityof the Euro-zone re-maining a cause for con-cern. It was also notedthat, although world oildemand is forecast to in-crease during 2014, thiswill be more than offsetby the projected increasein non-OPEC supply.

However, in the inter-est of maintaining mar-ket equilibrium, the con-

ference decided to main-tain the current produc-tion level of 30.0 millionbarrels a day.

“In taking this deci-sion, member countriesre-confirmed their readi-ness to swiftly respondto developments whichcould have an adverseimpact on the mainte-nance of an orderly andbalanced oil market,” itsaid.

Agreeing on the needto be vigilant, given theuncertainties arisingfrom the enduring weak-nesses in the worldeconomy, the conferencedirected the secretariatto continue its closemonitoring of develop-ments in supply anddemand, as well as non-fundamental factorssuch as speculative ac-tivity, keeping membercountries well informedof developments.

Page 15: CONFAB: Jonathan to nominate 120 delegates

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013—15

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

Kwara gov signs four bills into law

Lar for burial Dec 14 in Langtang

ILORIN—THE governor ofKwara State, Alhaji Abdul-

Fatah Ahmed, has signed fourbills into law with a commit-ment to further improve on thewellbeing of residents of thestate in the years ahead. Senior Special Assistant tothe Governor on Media andCommunications, Dr. Mui-deen Akorede, disclosed this in a statement in Ilorin on yes-t e r d a y . The new laws are the N56.7billion Supplementary Appro-priation Law 2013, KwaraState Office of the Public De-fender (Amendment) Law2013, Kwara State Structuresfor Signage and Advertise-ment Agency(Amendment)Law 2013 and Kwara State Cit-izen’s Mediation and Concil-iation Centre (Amendment)Law 2013. It said the SupplementaryAppropriation Bill was to en-able the state governmentfund programmes and projectsnot anticipated in the 2013 Ap-propriation bill, adding that itdeemed necessary in view ofcurrent exigencies.

The statement, which com-mended the state House ofAssembly for the timely pas-sage of the bills, pledged thatGovernor Ahmed would buildon the successes recorded byhis administration in 2013. The statement added that

key life transforming projectsin the education, health,roads, sports, agriculture,and power sectors of thestate’s economy would be im-plemented in 2014. Itlisted several empowermentprogrammes implemented in

2013 such as Micro-Credit forartisans and car loans forfarmers, and stressed thatmany more people would beeconomically empowered in2014 directly or indirectlythrough the forth coming so-cio-economic capital projects.

BY TAYE OBATERU &MARIE-THERESE

NANLONG

Auchi Poly toawarddegrees in 11courses

BY SIMONEBEGBULEM

BENIN—AUTHOR-ITIES of Federal Pol-

ytechnic Auchi, Edo State,weekend, said the institu-tion was set to award de-grees in eleven courses.

The Rector of the institu-tion, Mrs. Philipa Idogho,who disclosed this at the 21st convocation of the Pol-ytechnic, said the institu-tion had concluded ar-rangements with NnamdiAzikiwe University, Awka,to achieve this, explainingthat the university ap-proved the affiliation aftercarrying out an assessmentof the infrastructures in thepolytechnic.

She said some of thecourses that would hence-forth award degrees in theinstitution included Electri-cal/Electronics and CivilEngineering, BusinessAdministration, Account-ing, Building Technology,Estate Management, Ed-ucation/Physics amongothers.

Revitalise agric sector —NSE

JOS—ARRANGEMENTSare in top gear in Plateau

State for the funeral of formergovernor of the state and PDPNational Chairman, ChiefSolomon Lar, who will be bur-ied in Langtang, December14. Already, roads and otherfacilities are being given afacelift in preparation for var-ious activities that would markhis final journey. Addressing newsmen, yes-terday, in Jos on prepared-ness for the funeral, the buri-al sub-committee, headed bythe state Commissioner forInformation, Mr. Yiljap Abra-h a msaid: “Plateau State Gernment

is finetuning all arrange-ments to ensure a successfulfuneral for this illustrious sonof Plateau and the MiddleBelt.” He disclosed that the stategovernment had resurfaced

over 200km of roads stretch-ing from Plateau to NasarawaState border, to Shendam andfrom Heipang to Langtang fora smooth drive by the casketbearing convoy and othersympathizers.

NIGERIAN Society ofEngineers, NSE, has

called for urgent revitalisationof the nation’s agriculture sec-tor. The group is also calling forstiffer penalty for quack engi-neers engaged in substandardprojects across the country. President of the association,Mr. Mustafa Shehu, made thecall at a press briefing on theinternational engineering con-ference and annual generalmeeting holding in Abuja this

week. Shehu said the action hadbecome inevitable to enableNigeria achieve food securityfor her teaming populace as aresponsible nation and commit-ted signatory to conventions ofthe United Nations. He said: ’’Agriculture consti-tutes the premier source of ournational income offering em-ployment to about 70 per centof our population and provid-ing sufficient raw materials forour manufacturing outfits.”

CMYK

Page 16: CONFAB: Jonathan to nominate 120 delegates

OPINION

16 Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013

BY AYUBA MOHAMMED

FOR the average Nigerian, it is alwayseasy for the opposition political class to

mislead him, saying that government has donenothing to improve his living condition. It isthe same story for the average Nigerian non-governmental organisation, NGO. Theythrive on criticising government, no matterhow noble government's actions are.

When in July 2013, the Academic StaffUnion of Universities, ASUU, embarked ona nationwide strike, they naturally got thesympathy of the ordinary Nigerians,students and NGOs, inclusive. But mostNigerians failed to consider the fact that theystarted that strike without following dueprocess. That is, giving the FederalGovernment adequate notice.

As the strike continued, some discerningNigerians began to pick holes in theunwholesome practices of the ASUUNational President, Dr Nasir Fagge and hisleadership. All they did was to prolong thestrike without listening to any word of reason.It was as if they were struggling to break therecord on the longest lasting strike. Faggebestrode negotiation rooms like a despotseeking who to damage. He was like a blinddriver of a cement-laden truck heading forthe centre of the market. Of course, hisarticulated truck appeared to have lostcontrol, hence it could no longer be broughtunder any form of control.

In essence, ASUU grew beyond theNigerian State and its representatives. It isneedless to talk about the overwhelmingsupport from the one-sided Nigerian massmedia. They were led, like other members ofthe society, to believe that there was only one

ASUU’s political game and Nigeria’s university education

side to the story. Therefore, it looked as if theFederal Government was fully intimidated byASUU negotiators and the media to accepteverything that the lecturers brought to thetable. ASUU brought no compromise to thetable, but ASUU could do no wrong.

The scales fell off the eyes of the studentsfirst and they refused to be deceived by theposturing of ASUU. The President ofNational Association of Nigerian Students,Yinka Gbadebo shouted at the roof tops,alerting Nigerians of the inordinate gamethe ASUU national leadership was playingagainst Nigerian university education system.As expected, the opposition mobilised itsmedia machine to shut him up.

Next was a media pressure group, MediaDevelopment Initiative, MDI, which raisedalarm on the unconventional negativetechniques adopted by ASUU to undulyprolong the strike. The Media Director ofMDI, Mr Martins Onyilokwu urgedNigerians to rise up and challenge ASUU torespond positively to the good faith shownby the Federal Government. Of course,opposition paid hirelings controlling mediaoutlets drowned the group’s words of reason.

After five months of rigmarole, ASUU hasshocked the entire nation. The nationalleadership of the union has resolved todishonour the decision reached by areferendum organised on whether or notthe union should call off the strike. Fromwhat we heard, members voted 80percentto 20percent to call off the strike. To thedismay of Nigerians, a few hand-pickedASUU officials loyal to Dr Fagge met at hisparent university, Bayero University Kano,

where they resolved to take a decision thatwas alien to the generality of ASUU members.That is, give conditions to the Nigeriangovernment in order to further prolong thestrike.

As the issues stand today, ASUU shouldunderstand, as Bob Marley sang: you can foolsome people sometimes, but you can’t fool allthe people all the time. The truth travels slowly,but over time it overtakes propaganda andfalse stories. Those who always propagatedthe fallacy that ASUU does no wrong haveseen clearly the present situation.

In every conflict situation, those in conflictagree to make compromises even as theycontinue fighting. By January, Syria andher rebels will hit the negotiating table. Itdoes not mean any of the parties has beendefeated. Agreeing to make compromises isnot a sign of weakness. It is only a sign ofcourage. While the Federal Governmentcontinued back down on all its positions,ASUU remained rigid.

ASUU spurned all entreaties from the alllevels of the Federal Government. PresidentGoodluck Jonathan got personally involvedand an agreement was reached with ASUU.This agreement was presented to ASUUmembers who supported PresidentJonathan. Now our brother, Fagge and hisassociates have brought another trick into thisgame, to destroy a process that went onsmoothly, with government making all therequired concessions.

Nigerians must begin to question therationale behind ASUU’s games. What hasASUU brought to the table since thenegotiations started? What positive changes

should Nigerian students and parents expectfrom ASUU members who have been part ofthe academic rot that has bedevilled ourcountry? Why should ASUU after reachingan agreement with the President resolve tothrow up fresh issues to destabilise a nationfull of expectations? Is ASUU above thenational authority voted freely by the peopleto move the nation forward?

For those who play the ostrich, they haveconveniently forgotten that Jonathan hasdeveloped the nation’s university sectormore than ever before. Nigeria has 12 newuniversities up and running without ASUU’sdistractions. Nine of these universities are inthe North. One of them located in JigawaState, is close to Kano where ASUU’sNational President, Dr Fagge is plying histrade.

Even though ASUU continued to dance toopposition tunes, the Federal Governmentlast week released over N90billion touniversities, polytechnics and colleges ofeducation for the development ofinfrastructure. This has nothing to do withthe agreed N1.2trillion agreed by PresidentJonathan.

Now to the crux of the matter. The firmdecision of the Jonathan administration torescue the nation’s university system byre-opening the schools, especially theFederal Universities, is a welcome one.Remember, the state universities have nobusiness being in this strike, but the usualASUU technique of grounding the system byembarking on sympathy strikes.

*Mr. Mohammed, A social critic,wrote from Abuja.

KANO-BASED politician andcommentator, Dr Junaidu Mohammed hasdeclared that blood would flow if PresidentGoodluck Jonathan runs for a second term.This is the latest in a series of incendiarycomments from Mohammed, who shouldotherwise stand as one of our elderstatesmen.

The following statement was attributed tohim in an interview he recently granted TheSUN: “Quote me, if Jonathan insistson running, there will bebloodshed and those who feelshort-changed may take the warpathand the country may not be thesame again. His running will amount totaking about 85 million northerners for a rideand that is half of the country’s totalpopulation. So, there will be bloodshed. Butwe don’t pray to get to that level, before hisethnic and tribal advisers pull him back”.

Dr Mohammed, as a bona fide Nigeriancitizen, is free under the constitution to holdthe view that the president has not done well,and even to express it. But he does not havethe right to threaten violence and attemptto pitch the northern part of the country

Calling JunaiduMohammed To Orderagainst anyone or part over theconstitutional rights of any other Nigerian.

President Jonathan reserves the right todecide whether he wants to run for a secondterm. It is guaranteed by the sameconstitution that gives Mohammed the rightto express his views. And it is left forNigerians to decide whether they want tovote for Dr Jonathan for a second term ortransfer the mandate to the candidate ofanother party.

When Dr Mohammed says “blood willflow”, we wonder whose blood he isreferring to. Are we going to see him orpeople he holds dear leading the “fight”, orwill it be the usual issue of mobilisingimpoverished and downtrodden Nigerians

to kill non-indigenes and people of otherfaiths in their midst in the north? Sincehundreds of thousands of people have beensent to their untimely graves by disgruntledpoliticians like Mohammed over the decades,it has never fetched them any dividend.

Besides, there is no guarantee thatNigerians usually levied with violence aftersome political interests lose elections willfold their hands come 2015.

We call on the law enforcement agencies tobe alive to their duties and bring to bookthose mistaking democratic rights for licenceto threaten other Nigerians. This is evenmore imperative when we recall that aboutthree years ago when some Nigeriansinsisted on producing the president of thecountry, they also threatened to make Nigeriaungovernable unless they were obliged.Since the 2011 general elections came andwent, the nation has been wracked by acampaign of terror, which the armed forcesare battling in the North East.

Nigerians must be vigilant and close ranksto ensure that those seeking to set them ateach other’s throats are consigned to thedung heap of irrelevance.

Page 17: CONFAB: Jonathan to nominate 120 delegates

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013—41

OPINION,

,

Is Nigerian Mandela possible?

HOW do you define Nelson Mandela?It is only when you do so that you are

able to answer the question whetherNigerian Mandela is possible. NelsonRolihlalala Mandela, the first president ofdemocratic South Africa finally bowed to thesuperior argument of death as all mortalsmust last week Thursday, December 5, 2013.He was renowned for so many inspiringstatements and speeches both before andafter he went to jail, came out, climbed intothe presidency and bequeathed a stable andprosperous country to posterity.

Two of them will help us in defining thephenom called Nelson Mandela. The firstis excerpted from the speech he made ongaining freedom after his 27 yearsincarceration: “I stand before you not as aprophet but as your humble servant. I placethe rest of my life in your hands”. The secondis taken from his inaugural speech aselected president in 1994: “Never againshall this beautiful land witness theoppression of one by another”.

Mandela committed his life to the fightfor equality in South Africa, not thereplacement of White supremacy with thatof Black. He proved that even in continentalAfrica rent asunder by ethnic, tribal, racialand religious divisions, it is possible for aman to lay down his freedom to bring abouta united “rainbow nation” after defeatingthe scourge of Apartheid. It is possible foran a Black man, an African Black for thatmatter, to carry power and authority withsuch grace, panache and dignity such thata grateful world through the United Nationsdecided to set aside July 18 every year asthe Nelson Mandela International Day toencourage people to emulate his virtues.No other human being, living or dead, hasbeen so honoured. You only find that honourset aside for founders of major religions bytheir adherents.

We are told that man is a product of natureand nurture. The blood that flows in yourveins; the genetic signature ruling youractions as well as the environment in whichyou grow up define who you are and whatfootprint you leave behind. Mandela waslucky to be born with a strong character,which helped him to stay in prison despitemany offers for him to compromise for hisfreedom. In spite of his travails, he refusedto be blinded by rage and vengeance, whichwould surely have destroyed South Africaby now. He meant it when he declared theend of oppression.

So, we return to our question: Is NigerianMandela possible? Looking at our history,your answer is likely to be: No. The Britishcolonialists did not lay a foundation thatwould allow a Nigerian Mandela to emerge.Otherwise, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe would havebeen the nearest thing to that. He was oneof the greatest exponents of Pan-Africanism.In fact, Dr Mandela in the early 1960s,visited Nigeria and stayed awhile with aprominent Zikist, Chief Mbazulike Amechi,to receive schooling on the subject beforehe returned to South Africa. It is also onrecord that Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who laterbecame a radical Pan-Africanist, also was

inspired by Dr Azikiwe when he was still astudent in London.

Azikiwe’s National Council for NigerianCitizens, NCNC, espoused that Nigeriansshould forget their differences and build aunited nation. Unfortunately, his colleaguesin the decolonisation effort had other ideas.Chief Obafemi Awolowo wanted to controlhis region and from there attempt to spreadhis power base to other parts of the country.He introduced tribalism into our politics andsuccessfully pulled out his region from thenational movement of which the West wasonce the leading light under Dr Herbert

Macaulay and Azikiwe. Sardauna AhmaduBello was more interested in building theNorthern Region, which was a colonialmakeover of his grandfather’s Islamicempire, the Sokoto Caliphate. He had thegrand design of the Caliphate ruling therest of the country.

Zik thus became one of the few who ledthe fight for independence in Africa and theThird World but failed to emerge as theleader after independence. The foundationsof Nigeria augured better for tribal andregional ascendancy over nationalism.Nigeria ended up with sectional and tribalMandelas: Ahmadu Bello for the North;

Awolowo for the West, and Dr MichaelOkpara for the East. Even at that, the variousMinorities sprouted their own littleMandelas, such as Isaac Adaka Boro forthe Ijaw nation, Joseph Tarka for the Tiv,Justice Udo Udoma for the Ibibio and whathave you.

Even after independence, Nigeria missedseveral opportunities to grow its Mandela.The first military coup of January 15, 1966was dubbed a revolution in which keymembers of the ruling party, the NorthernPeople’s Congress, NPC, lost their lives.

Events from that precipitated a civil warbecause it was painted in tribal colours. Butin Ghana, Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings similarlystaged a coup and executed past leaderswhom he blamed for Ghana’sunderdevelopment. Even though Rawlingscame from Ewe, a minority tribe, Ghanaiansdid not see what he did as a tribal agenda.He succeeded in rebuilding Ghana to thestable democracy and progressive economythat it is today. Rawlings thus emerged asGhana’s own Mandela, even though withbloodstained hands.

Nigeria, once again, lost a primeopportunity for a local Mandela to emergewhen the presidential mandate of ChiefMoshood Abiola was annulled in June 1993.The kind of mandate Abiola received defiedreligion, region and tribe. Nigerians wereready for a Mandela, but the military refusedto let them have it. Some have argued thatif General Murtala Mohammed had liveda little longer he could have become ourown Mandela. We can’t say for sure sincehe was with us only for six months, a periodof the usual honeymoon leaders enjoybefore they show their true colours. Besides,Mohammed rose to power on the crest ofinfamy. He had been a key figure in themassacre of Igbos both before and duringthe civil war when he committed so manywar crimes.

It is still possible for a Nigerian Mandelato crop up. The reason is very simple.Nigerians are hungry – in fact, famished -for a Mandela of Nigerian extraction. Whenthe late President Umaru Yar’ Adua declarehimself our “servant-leader”, and proceededto make his assets declaration public,Nigerians were already looking up to him.But his ill health, the excesses of his wife,Turai, and the “cabal” banished the hope.Also, when the former Minister of Power,Prof Barth Nnaji battled the Power HoldingCompany of Nigeria, PHCN, workers’unions and raised power supply to a levelthat was attested to by the generality ofNigerians, he was already being hailed.

If we get a leader who will be selfless,give Nigerians their due without caringabout religion, tribe or regions; fightcorruption and devote himself whole-heartedly to the overall and evendevelopment of the country, Nigerians willfollow him.

He may not be a Mandela, but he will beenough.

If we get a leader who will be selfless, giveNigerians their due without caring about religion,tribe or regions; fight corruption and devotehimself whole-heartedly to the overall and evendevelopment of the country, Nigerians will fol-low him; he may not be a Mandela, but he will beenough

Still on the economic intervention in North-EastBY MOSHOOD ISAH

BASICALLY, with a mere mention of Bornoand Yobe states, what comes to the mind

of Nigerians is virtually the same. The twostates, including others in the North East, aresynonymous with insecurity. The insecurity inthe states has stalled major activities there.

An average resident of these vulnerable areasis psychologically drained and mentallyaffected with the spate of heinous activitiesafflicting the region. In a nutshell, no one issafe at any juncture, including the troops. Even the chief executives of these states havebecome hapless like their populace, becausevirtually all the allocation they receive goes inthe same direction: bringing back securitywhich seem to have lost its way to the state. There seem to be no succour for the people ofthe region until recently.

The recent visit by President GoodluckJonathan to Gombe State for the SecondNorth East Economic Summit proved to bethe most memorable one because of theassurance of government immediateeconomic intervention in that region. Duringthe visit, the President unveiled a new economicpackage aimed at boosting economicdevelopment in the North Eastern part of thecountry. This decision is coming in the wakeof an attack on the airport and militaryformations in Maiduguri. The violence anddestruction this region has experience with thedreaded insurgency have made the decisionlong overdue.

President Jonathan said the governmentwas evolving an intervention programmespecifically targeted at accelerating the paceof socio-economic development in the North-East geo-political zone of the country. He saidthe restoration of peace and security in thezone was essential for the successfulimplementation of the measures and actionsenvisaged in the intervention programme.The President, therefore, called ongovernments, traditional rulers, communityleaders and the people of the North-East togive their full support to the armed forces andsecurity agencies currently operating in thearea to ensure the return of peace andnormalcy.

There is need for the states in the region tocome alive again, especially with economicactivities that will enable the populacesurvive. The government is very determinedto intervene in the predicament of this regionas the Federal Government was currentlyconsulting with state governments in the zoneto define a shared vision, workable strategiesand responsibilities of all stakeholders for theeconomic resurgence of the region. Thisshows the readiness of this administration tohelp the region with immediate effect.

Even a cynical critic will laud the effort ofthe President in bringing sanity back to theviolence-ravaged region. Despite its effort inmanaging the security situation in the region,the government is still ready to implement

effective programmes that will accelerate thepace of post-crisis recovery and development. This will surely give the government andpeople of the region a sense of belonging withregards to government transformationactivities. Thus, government is ready to pounceon the vast and fertile lands in the region tomake sure that agricultural activities beginto thrive in the region. Cash crops likegroundnut, cotton, Gum Arabic, tea, coffee,oil palm and even cocoa could be profitablygrown in the North-East. This will engage aconsiderably large number of individuals,especially the jobless and hopeless youths inthe region.

There is no gainsaying that theunemployment rate in the region has

triggered the alarming crime wave as idleyouths become readily available forrecruitment by insurgents. In this vein,economic investments in the region will helpengage the youths and prevent them frombeing used as pawns in achieving heinousobjectives. This will ultimately revitalize theeconomy of the North Eastern states which iscurrently ravaged by the activities of thedreaded sect. The timeliness of theintervention would boost productivity andsocio-economic development, and furtheralleviate poverty in the region.

Needless saying that poverty andhopelessness have also contributed to the

condition the region has currently found itself. Meanwhile, there should be continuous,

indeed assiduous, effort towards ending thesecurity threat in the region. Securityconsciousness should be the watch-word asemergency management is everyone’sbusiness. Thus, this is the only way theeconomic intervention can be fruitful.

We should now anticipate free flow of goodsand services within the region andneighbouring states. We also hope thecommunication line which has beenbarricaded for more than six months will begradually restored so that populace will nomore feel ex-communicated from the nation.The government should make sure it lives upto its promises so that the previous lack ofhope in the administration will remain a thingof the past.

I believe strongly that Nigeria andNigerians have no reason to be poor ordeprived of their means of livelihood that couldprovoke ordinary citizens to engage incriminalities for survival.

While Borno, Yobe and other North-Easternstates should heave a sigh of relief on thegovernment’s intervention, the people in theareas should also put their hands on the decktowards eradicating illiteracy, ignorance,poverty and joblessness.

*Mr Isah, a commentator on national

issues, wrote from Garki, Abuja

CMYK

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42—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013

,

CMYK

,

,

,

Owerri Spirit has desertedOkorocha

BY JUSTUS NWAKANMA

BY SUNNY IKHIOYA

Delta State football:A glimmer of hope

*Mr. Ikhioya, a commentatoron national issues, wrotefrom Lagos.

*Mr. Nwakanma, a journalist,wrote from Lagos.

SINCE inception, Delta Statehas always given everything

to sports of diverse types and agegroup categories. The benefitshave been glaring: They are theundisputed number one state insports being the reigningchampion of the National SportsFestival. The state has alsoproduced the likes of BlessingOkhagbare who is the onlyNigerian world class athletepresently.

However, tried as they did,they have not succeeded inbecoming champions in the sportof football. At the last Glo premierleague competition, the state clubside -Warri Wolves- finished at amiserable fifth position, despitebeing the best funded andmotivated team in thecompetition.

I have always been an advocateof good leadership and meritwhen it comes to sporting issues.Every time our coaches andleaders opt for merit at thenational level, we have alwaysexcelled. Look at Stephen Keshi'sSuper Eagles and the recentsuccess of the Golden Eaglets. IfKeshi had not stubbornly resistedinterference when he lined upthe present bunch at the AfricanNations Cup competition, the songwe are singing now would have

been different. Let me use thisopportunity to advise Keshi toinvite any of the deserving Eagletsto the national team. Age is notthe issue.

The appointment of DavidsonOwumi as the new boss of WarriWolves Football Club is a breathof fresh air.

I have always wondered whenhe will have the opportunity toserve his own " mother land" as atrue blooded 'wafi' boy. Born andbred in Daudu - Alder's town ofWarri, landlords of the famousWarri Stadium that is the home ofthe Okwudilis, Owolos, Dediares,Usiyens, Okpodus and so on. SoOwumi was one of those the Warristadium produced and the chickenhas now come home to roost.

He has served other states; it isnow time to put this experienceto work among his own kith andkin.

Why does Owumi'sappointment bring so much joy?Everyone that matter in footballknows his pedigree in the game.As a player of Sharks FootballClub, he won the Bournvita awardfor the best goal scorer in a season;that is a record nobody can takeaway from him, being the first.

He was team manager of EnuguRangers Football Club for manyyears and rose to become General

Manager of the club, a feat beinga non-indigene or Igbo. He wasalso to be appointed as SpecialAdviser to the Governor of the state.All these assignments he carriedout without any blemish.

Mr Owumi was a close adviserto Oyuiki Obaseki when the latterwas boss of the Nigerian PremierLeague and he executed manyassignments successfully for theleague body.

His proven abilities encouragedObaseki to give him all the neededsupport when Owumi contested forthe chairmanship of the NigerianPremier League Board.

It is a paradox that, whileother states supported

Owumi in his quest, our own DeltaState pitched on the side of thoseopposing his candidacy. And whatwas the grouse of the opposition?He was not attached to any of theleague clubs as an official. Theydid not take into consideration hispedigree as an ex-footballer, ex-administrator of a top league cluband ex-adviser to the premier

league board.He clearly won election to the

coveted position; but for suchinsignificant consideration, he washounded out of the leaguegoverning body. Today Platini isthe President of UEFA becausesuch conditions or bottle-neckswere not placed on his path. Inadvanced footballing countries,you are invited on board based onyour ability to add value to thesystem. That was what Owumi didin his short stay as chairman of thepremier league board, he broughtin innovations that are still beingenjoyed today.

It is therefore well that the DeltaState government has decided totap on the knowledge of thisgentleman; it is a ray of hope forfootball in the state as his success(s)will serve as a catalyst for futuresuccesses.

Why will Delta benefit fromOwumi's appointment? He hasbeen at the top echelon ofNigerian football managementfor more than 20 years. Only onewho understands humanmanagement could achieve this. Atno time was there a player's revoltunder his management; it takes alot of inter-personal relationshipskills.

As a top administrator, he is verymuch acquainted with the politicsof football. It is a well known factthat football has its own politicsthat makes it possible for a club toenjoy benefits if theirrepresentatives are adept at it. Ithappens at the FIFA, CAF, NFA andother levels of footballmanagement. It is the benefit aclub enjoys as a result ofrelationship with those who matterin football. It comes in the form of

good promotional partnership,club sponsorship, trainings,exchange programmes, respect forofficials and so on. This will betruly beneficial to Warri Wolves.

As an ex-footballer with a goodpedigree, Owumi will also earn therespect of the footballers. Mosttimes footballers assess their bossesthrough their knowledge andcommitment to the game offootball. Some administratorsare there just for the pecuniaryinterest. With Owumi's pedigree,the case will be different; hiscommitment will see the clubthrough.

He is also a goal getter. Already,he has gathered his team andgiven a direction of where hewants to take the club. Onlyperformance will determinereward and not otherwise, as itwas in the past.

For once, I am beginning to seereal competition for places in theteam and motivation tocomplement governmentspending on the team. For once,as a true Warri boy, I aminterested in the affairs of myhome team. Most of us had lostinterest in the past because of thepolitics involved.

The Governor and hisCommissioner for Sports must beapplauded for making thisappointment possible and mustbe available to give Owumi allthe support he needs to make himsucceed in this task.

It is a new dawn for Delta Statefootball.

ANYBODY who does not hail fromOwerri, Imo State, or does not

understand the underlying philosophicalhistoricity of the expression, Owerri Spirit,would be gullibly misinformed after readingCollins Obibi’s article, "Rochas Okorochaand the Owerri Spirit", published recentlyin some Nigerian newspapers. The article isat best, an embarrassingly supineendorsement and image-boosting stunt ofthe disappointment that has been thehallmark of the administration of RochasOkorocha.

After aptly describing the Owerri Spirit asthe spirit of justice, fair play and integrity;the spirit that defends human dignity, thepiece veered off, like a drunken master-of-ceremony, sweeping up sentiments,bedecking Okorocha in borrowed plumesand ornaments; giving his administrationa new name and apotheosizing Owelle withsuch angelic adulations that belie the trueposition of things in the Heartland.

In summary, Obibi says the Owerri spirithas not moved against Okorocha and willnot move against him in 2015, becauseOkorocha has not provoked the spirit, first,because of the value the Governor places onhuman capital in Imo State, and second,because “Imo as a whole today is one hugeconstruction site and this has given a senseof belonging to the people.” This is far frombeing the truth.

More than anything else, Okorocha hasdepleted the human capital of the staterather than invest in it. It is a known factthat when he took over from Ikedi Ohakim,he sacked 10,000 youths employed by thatregime and also placed an embargo onemployment in the state. Two and half yearslater, Okorocha in lifting the embargo withhis “Youth Must Work Programme",lamented that once enterprising Imo youths

have now become decadent and have beenturned mto beggars(See Daily Trust, July 29,2013). Who turned Imo youths into beggars?Has his Youth Must Work Programmesolved the problem of unemployment in thestate? The answer is No! During thelaunching of the programme the supposedbeneficiaries protested vehemently that thescheme was another of the many deceitful“rescue missions” of the Governor. So howcan the Owerri Spirit be stultifted andatrophied, unable to move?

Owerre wu oke Mba, is a philosophicaldeification of the moral compass, theingenious strength, the infectious courageand the elastic hospitality that define apeople's greatness. We cannot calculate theworth of a people without takingcongnisance of their moral rectitude. IsObibi not aware that the latest YouthAmbassador appointed by Okorocha toserve as a role model for Imo youths is anon-Imolite, a lady with a questionablecharacter, whose nude pictures are all overthe social media and on the cover of a US-based magazine? So why would Imo youthsnot undress in the market place and go todogs if the trademark of their ambassadoris marketing her nude pictures in such abrazen shamefacedness?

Is Obibi not aware that our dearGovernor recently donated millions of

naira to some youths who converted fromChristianity to Islam, while the rest of theyouths are hungry and decadent, accordingto him? When has change of religionbecome a virtue to be celebrated andrewarded, not just with personal money, butwith state funds? Is the Owerri spirit such anindolent and drunken spirit that it cannotmove against the elevation of mediocrityabove merit?

Obibi eulogises Okorocha as “beingmindful of the sensibilities of people ...

Okorocha dances with school children atassembly grounds and attends town hallmeetings.” He goes on to say that nobodybelieved that education could be free andqualitative in Imo State. But this lie, likethe million legs of the millipede, cannotcarry Okorocha far. What has dancing withschool children added to the standard ofeducation in the state? The noise about freeeducation in Imo State remains what it is- anoise. I am aware that undergraduates ofImo origin were asked by the stategovernment to purchase forms from thebanks for N500 each to qualify for thescholarship. Thousands of undergraduatespurchased that form. Today, not a singlestudent in the higher institutions outside ImoState has received any bursary orscholarship a year and half after. Only fewstudents who study in tertiary institutions inthe state have received this scholarship. Canwe say, with all sense of modesty, that thereis truly free education in the state? Yet, it isbeing trumpeted everyday that billions ofNaira have been spent on this.

At the primary and secondary school levelswe cannot say of a truth, that there is freeeducation. The N100 daily allowance toprimary school children has been stopped.Only pupils in few urban schools have beenprivileged to receive the free school uniforms.The rest received theirs on the pages ofnewspapers. These are verifiable facts. Onethen wonders, why in the midst of these

realities, the Owerri spirit will refuse to moveagainst Okorocha. Or has he pouredlibations to cover the spirit’s eyes?’

Today, Imo is being touted as a hugeconstruction site, but daily, we are beinginundated with stories of abandoned anduncompleted projects. Contractors areabandoning construction sites because theyare not being paid their money. Contractsare awarded without due process. These arenot fairy tales but facts already in the publicdomain. Even the state government, twice,has admitted that its contractors bolted aftercollecting billions of naira for jobs they didnot do.

If we must ignore Obibi’ s piece as anepistle of rhetoric and sophistry intended tomassage his master’s ego, we cannot pardonthe poverty of his summation which waslaced with illogic, contradictions and half-truths which gave the writer away as anapologist of the Okorocha project.

According to him, when Okorocha left AllProgressive Grand Alliance, APGA, he leftwith the soul of the party. No, please. Beforehe berthed in APGA, Okorocha was lost inthe political wilderness without anyantecedent of a progressive gadfly. APGAgave him a body andd a soul. He won theelection not because of who he was, butbecause Imolites, with the support andconspiracy of the church, wanted Ohakimout by all means. Today, that same churchthat helped to install Okorocha is singingNunc Dimitis.

The Owerri spirit has been provoked andit is vexed. It is already armed and ready toconfront Okorocha in 2015. If he escapesfrom the landmines he would not go homeunscathed, like Abubakar, in CyprianEkwensi’s African Nights Entertainment,who after visiting Kumin Rukuki, the forestof death, was never the same again.

Tonight, it is cold and asphyxiating. I haveonly one wish in my mind to get over thisgrueling stench of mediocrity pervading theHeartland landscape: Ntala ugba nuo mmi,Roehas na barama uba ya. Agbaeha oso,agua mile.

The governorand hisCommissioner forSports must mustgive Owumi allthe support heneeds to makehim succeed inthis task

The Owerri spirit hasbeen provoked and it isvexed; it is alreadyarmed and ready toconfront Okorocha in2015; if he escapesfrom the landmines hewould not go homeunscathed

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A week of remembrance for Mandela will culmi-nate in a funeral attended by world leaders.

Mandela: S/Africa starts weekremembrance

•Worldleadersprepare forburial

SOUTH Africa began anationwide day of

prayer yesterday , mark-ing the beginning of aweek of remembrance forNelson Mandela, thecountry’s first black pres-ident and an anti-apart-heid icon who died lastThursday aged 95.

Hundreds of mournersfrom all races and reli-gions thronged churches,mosques, temples andsynagogues across thecountry, united in an out-pouring of prayer andsong for the man credit-ed with leading the coun-try ’s transition fromwhite-minority rule tomult-racial democracy.

From a MethodistChurch in Johannesburg,President Jacob Zumaimplored South Africansto keep lit Mandela’sflame of freedom and jus-tice.

“He preached and prac-tised reconciliation, tomake those who had beenfighting forgive one an-other and become one na-tion,” Zuma told a mixedrace congregation ofmore than 1,000 worship-pers.

“He preached and be-lieved in peace, that weshould live in peace, thatwe should live in unity.”

“He was more than justan individual soul, hewas the exposition of theAfrican spirit of generos-ity ... He’s only a refer-ence and a marker to thebetter possibilities of ourhumanity,” said DeanMichael Weeder of StGeorge’s Cathedral,Cape Town.

Pastor Niekie Lampre-cht, of the Dutch Re-formed Church, PretoriaEast said: “May we asChristians in this Afri-kaans church surprise theworld by not respondingwith hate but with loveand forgiveness.

Mandela completedthe journey. We thankGod for this person in ourhistory.”

In the Regina MundiCatholic church in Sowe-to, noted for its place inthe struggle againstapartheid, parish priestSebastian Rossouwcalled Mandela “a lightin the darkness” andpraised his capacity for“humility and forgive-ness”.

Meanwhile, at least 60heads of state and govern-ment have so far con-firmed they will attendMandela’s funeral, ac-cording to the AFP newsagency.

Citing South Africa’s for-eign minister Maite Nko-ana-Mashabane, AFP re-ported the dignitaries willinclude US PresidentBarack Obama along withthree former Americanpresidents.

David Cameron, the Brit-ish prime minister, willalso attend the memorialservice next week andPrince Charles will attendthe funeral several dayslater, according to officialscited by AFP.

Cameron announced onTwitter: “I’ll be at the me-morial service in South Af-rica on Tuesday to com-

memorate the great man.”Brazilian leader Dilma

Rousseff and Palestinianleader Mahmud Abbaswill also attend the funer-al.

Queen Elizabeth II willnot make the journey, al-though she has expressedhow “deeply saddened”she was by Mandela’sdeath.

The monarch, 87, hasbegun cutting down herlong-distance overseastrips, and was represent-ed by her son and heirCharles at last month’sCommonwealth heads ofgovernment meeting inSri Lanka.

An estimated 80,000people are expected to at-tend a vast memorial ser-vice on Tuesday in theSoweto sports stadiumwhich hosted the 2010World Cup final.

Protest cripples Ukraine

HUNDREDS of thousands of people have

taken to the streets in theUkrainian capital Kievseeking the resignation ofthe government for refus-ing a deal on closer tieswith the European Union.

Protesters, who oppose acustoms union with Russia,toppled a statue of Leninand smashed it with ham-mers.

President Viktor Yanuk-ovych has said he shelvedthe EU deal after Russianopposition.

Protest leaders have giv-en him 48 hours to dismissthe government.

As darkness fell, protest-ers were blockading keygovernment buildingswith cars, barricades andtents.

Witnesses said a groupof protesters toppled thestatue of Soviet leader Le-nin at the top of Shevchen-ko’s Boulevard using met-al bars and ropes andthen began smashing it upwith hammers.

CAR president ‘not incomplete control’

THE president of theCentral African Re-

public has told Al Jazeerathat he is not in completecontrol of his country.

Michel Djotodia said hecould not stop armedgroups operating in thecountry, as a wave of kill-ings left hundreds dead injust a few days.

“It is too much to say Ihave no control. I controlmy men. The men I can’t

control are not my men,”said Djotodia, who came topower after a mainly-Mus-lim armed group nowknown as Seleka over-threw President FrancoisBozize earlier this year.

The mostly Muslimformer rebels who controlthe country are patrollingneighbourhoods across thecapital of Bangui, despitean order to return to theirbarracks.

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•Mandela

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Continues on page 47

ANY doubt as to theinfluence the late SouthAfrican icon Nelson Mandelahad on Nigeria politics isremoved by the fact that oneof the earliest politicalintrigues of the fourth republicwas etched in his name; TheMandela Option was adeep political gameorchestrated from themidpoint of PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo’s firstterm supposedly by loyalists ofhis deputy, Atiku Abubakaraimed at persuading Obasanjoto serve one term just asMandela did in South Africa.

Akin Oshuntokun, one of thekey political associates ofObasanjo in a recent articledistilled the Mandela Optionthus:“There were orchestratedadmonitions for Obasanjo totake the ‘Mandela option’; tofollow the precedent of NelsonMandela and step down afterspending one term in office.There were covert andsubversive manipulation of themedia to render Obasanjo sounpopular as to make himunelectable. All this anti-Obasanjo propaganda werebeing linked to the Atikupolitical machine.”

As the plot unfolded andleaked to Obasanjo, die hardpartisans of Obasanjo andnotably governors, includingGovernor Joshua Dariye ofPlateau State met regularly inthe Presidential Villa tocounter it with their ownschemes, one of which was todrop Atiku in the second term.

The consequence of theMandela Option was that asObasanjo made his publicdeclaration for a second termin 2002, that Atiku was notmentioned as his runningmate for the 2003 election.

At that point Obasanjo washimself under deep pressurefrom Atiku’s foes in the northto drop Atiku from thepresidential ticket. But theweight and influence of Atikuadvised Obasanjo otherwise,as he eventually resorted tohis deputy to help him securethe Peoples Democratic Party,PDP presidential ticket.

It was remarkable that as thedeath of Mandela wasannounced last Thursday, thatObasanjo in an unusual stepmade a broadcast from hisretirement home in Abeokutaon how he took up the then

Madiba’s marks on Nigeria

South African president on hisunusual pattern of servingonly one term against theculture of Africa’s sit tightleaders.

According to the formerNigeria president, “NelsonMandela modestly refused toseek re-election after his firstterm in office as hispresidency elapsed. I stillrecall his pragmatic wordswhen he said to me “Olu,show me a place in the worldwhere a man of 80 years isrunning the affairs of hiscountry’.

Obasanjo’s comments onMandela have, however,attracted negative responsefrom some Nigerians many ofwho believe that the formerNigeria president lacked suchdisposition and was himselfdesperate for a third term inoffice.

Obasanjo’s second term in

office as civilian president itwould be recalled wascharacterised by an expensivepolitical game plan focussedon amending the constitutionto allow the president contest

the Mandela Option remain adivisive point in the country’spolitical landscape with theformer president and hisformer deputy remaining eversuspicious of one another.

IN his life time Nelson Mandela advertently and inadvertently made major marks in the shapingand system of Nigeria’s politics and policies

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN,POLITICAL EDITOR

Chancellor Professor JakesGerwel was the conduit for thisrelief fund.”

But the relationship betweenMandela and Abacha was toturn seriously frosty.

Mandela as South Africapresident helped innegotiating for amnesty for theOgoni activists imprisoned bythe Abacha regime.

But the devil did not allowAbacha have mercy and henceSaro-Wiwa and his compatriotswere executed by the Abacharegime drawing swift responsefrom the internationalcommunity includingMandela who in some circleshad been chided for being toosoft on Abacha.

Responding to the executionof the Ogoni activists,Mandela said in an interviewthat “Abacha is sitting on a

a third term in office.Did Obasanjo draw any

lesson from Mandela whodespite all his sacrifices for hiscountrymen drew back fromfoisting his person on hispeople?

Remarkably, the jury is stillout on that point, but it is afact that the consequences of

Even before the advent ofthe fourth republic, Mandelaalso expressed himself on thecountry ’s affairs, notablyduring the Sani Abacharegime.

Mandela acted as a channelin drawing funds for familymembers of Moshood Abiola,whose mandate Abacha and

,

,

his colleagues in thearmy had usurped.

As the widelyrespected SouthAfrica based Nigerianprofessor, ProfessorKole Omotosorevealed last week,Abacha passed onfunds for themaintenance of theAbiola family throughSouth Africa.

Omotoso in histribute to Mandelahad said:“During theevents that followedthe June 12annulment of theelection that wouldhave seen BashorunAbiola as president ofNigeria, PresidentMandela continuedto interact with SaniAbacha. One of hisinterventions had todo with the plight ofBashorun Abiola’sfamily. BashorunAbiola was in prison.His business hadcollapsed. Hisaccounts had beenblocked. The familyapproached PresidentMandela and heapproached SaniAbacha who arrangedto send money toPresident Mandela tobe given to the familyof Bashorun Abiola.And my former Vice

The consequence of the MandelaOption was that as Obasanjo madehis public declaration for a secondterm in 2002, that Atiku was notmentioned as his running mate forthe 2003 election

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volcano and I am going toexplode it underneath him.”

The killing of Ken Saro Wiwaand his compatriots broughta serious dent in therelationship between the twocountries and betweenMandela and Abacha asMandela condemned it andjoined the rest of the world inimposing sanctions againstthe Abacha regime.

In proposing forcomprehensive sanctionsagainst the Nigeria regimeincluding prohibition of oilexport, Mandela said:“Whatwe are now proposing areshort and sharp measureswhich will produce the resultsNigerians and the worlddesire. We are dealing withan illegitimate, barbaric,arrogant, military dictatorshipwhich has murdered activists,using a kangaroo court andusing false evidence,” he told

Budget: We 'll not boo Jonathan — Rep Okwu

the South Africa Independent.Mandela in the interview

nevertheless defended hisdiplomatic engagements withthe Abacha regime saying thatthe docility of the oppositionwithin Nigeria left him with

•Okwu

Continues from page 46

Madiba’s marks on Nigeria

no option.“It is of no use for Nigerian

leaders to shout from abroadand not to ensure that thefires of resistance are burninginside of Nigeria,” MrMandela said.

In response, Abacha pulledNigeria away fromparticipating in the Cup ofNations tournament hosted bySouth Africa in January 1996despite the fact that Nigeriawas defending champion.

Comparing the weakness ofthe Nigerian opposition to theaggressiveness exhibited bythe African NationalCongress, ANC against theapartheid regime, he said:

“We did not give in becauseinternational opinion wouldnot have been mobilised ifthere was no vigorous andeffective resistance movementinside the country. That iswhat is lacking in Nigeria,and Nigerian leaders that areblaming South Africa and itspresident are merely divertingattention from their weakness;from their failure to do whatall democrats do - to ensurethat there are prominentleaders inside the countrywho are prepared to face the

music, and to challengeAbacha.”

Given Mandela’s not toocommendable estimation ofthe Nigerian political classsome would be surprised atthe avalanche ofcommendations from the sameclass towards the SouthAfrican former president.

Afenifere summarized thematter in a press statemententitled Emulate Mandela,Stop The Crocodile Tears” –Afenifere.

"All sides of the politicalequation in the country havepractically taken steps tocommend Mandela as aworthy son of Africa, but howmany of them are ready to laydown self considerations inpursuit of the collective goodfor four years, not even the74% that Mandela sat inprison, unmoving on the issuethat pertain to his people!"

•Obasanjo, Atiku: Whither Mandela's Option?

THREE weeks after thepresident expressed his

comments on the differencesbetween the Senate and theHouse on the benchmark, nochange seems to havehappened?

For me, it is not surprisingbut the only worry I have isthe letter of Mr. President tothe National Assembly sayingthat until both chambers agreeon the benchmark, he will notpresent the budget.

That is actually my fearbecause should the twochambers fail to agree and theconstitution says that thepresident must lay thedocument before the NationalAssembly before the end of thefiscal year. So, what do wedo? According to thelegislative calendar, theHouse is supposed to go onChristmas break on December23. So what do we do? That ismy worry.

But House spokesman Rep.Zakari Mohammed has saidthat the practice is not for theSenate and House to agreeon the benchmark for thepresentation of the budget.

Rep. Samson Okwu is the Deputy Chairman, Houseof Representatives Committee on Pension andrepresents Oju/Obi Federal Constituency of BenueState. In this interview with Vanguard, he positsthat President Jonathan should present 2014Budget estimates irrespective of non-harmonziation of the Medium Term EconomicFramework, MTEF.

BY LEVINUSNWABUGHIOGU

So, why is the presentinsisting on that?

That’s why I said that, forme that reaction is unfairbecause last year, the Housepassed MTEF at 79, then theSenate had not evenconsidered the MTEF at thatpoint. But the President cameand laid his budget and weconsidered it.

So, if you look at the FiscalResponsibility Act, it says thatthe President shall sendMTEF 90 days before thepresentation of the Budget.First of all, the President hasviolated that provision. So, heought not to have said untilthe National Assembly agreesbefore he will now bring thebudget.

That is the only problem. Ifnot, there is none. Assumingthe National Assembly agreeon 79 which is not what hewanted, will he come andredo the Budget? He will not.So, if he has a proposal let himbring the proposal and we willwork on the budget. Ourconference committee willcontinue to meet.

It has been claimed that thereal fear is that the presidentwould be booed whenever he

enters the chambers. Is thatso?

No body can boo Mr.President. He is the Presidentof the Federal Republic ofNigeria. Whether you areAPC, PDP or whatever partyyou call it, the seal of thePresident is the symbol of theFederal Republic of Nigeriaand nobody can do it. We arenot talking about party politicsin that respect.

Does that lend credence toan emerging situation in theHouse where APC members

are now having an edge?What is important here is

that we respect court decisionthat says that there is nofaction in PDP. So, no bodycan move anywhere. The onlyproblem is that some membersnow remain in PDP but take adecision with APC. That is theworry now.

But five PDP Governorshave defected to APC andyou still say no division?

That is not a division.Members in a large party like

the PDP can have differentopinions and views. If youhave a different opinion fromanother person that does notmean you have a faction.

I think to that extent, thereis nothing called faction inPDP as far as I am concerned.And the Electoral Act is clearabout it that where there is nofaction, no body can defectfrom the party to anotherparty.

But we have a situationwhere members pretend tobe PDP whereas they belongto APC in spirit. Does thataugur well for PDP?

It does not augur well. Butthat means that the persondoes not work with theideology of the party. If hedoes not work with theideology of his party, wellnobody can change it. Butthat does not mean that theparty is not the majority in theHouse.

Well, what happens is thatthe decision of the House isby majority. So, anytime thedecision comes and they takethe majority, so be it but thatdoes not stop PDP from beinga majority party in the House.

Doesn’t that amount toanti-party activity?

It could be anti party but itis subject to a decision. Thatis it. The party can allow youto take a decision that favorsyour constituents. If it does notfavour your constituents, it isonly your constituents thatcan call you to order.

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Keshi

ished the opportunity bythe Aminu Maigari ad-ministration and wouldalways strive for the bestfor Nigeria.

“I am happy to havebeen given the free handto select the Team BaseCamp. You may think itis a small gesture but notevery Head Coach hasthat privilege. I am cer-tainly going to use theopportunity to selectthe best for our team.”

Keshi’s African cham-pions will contend withtwo-time world champi-ons Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran inGroup F.

Keshi is presently in-specting a number of pos-sible camps in the SouthAmerican nation, andspecifically around SaoPaulo.

Most of the 32 partici-pating member associa-tions are also lookingaround Sao Paulo for their

Enyeama•Continued from BP

goal by Lille teammateSimon Kjaer in the Ligue1 clash with Bordeaux.

The Danish defenderdeflected a harmlesslooking shot byBordeaux’ LandryN’Guemo whichtantalisingly hit the postbefore entering the net inthe 28th minute of thematch.

It was the first timeEnyeama had had to pickthe ball out of his net since

•Continued from BP

September 15 in the 2-0defeat by Nice.

Enyeama, whocaptained Nigeria to theAfrica Cup of Nations titlein February this year, hadbeen closing in on theoverall Ligue 1 record of1176 minutes held byGaetan Huard forBordeaux during the1992-93 campaign.

“I cannot hide my reliefbecause I was worried therecord would go,” Huardtold French sportschannel Bein Sport.

after the death of SouthAfrican icon Mandela.

Chelsea legend Drogbapeeled off his shirt at the2-0 win to reveal a trib-ute which said: ‘Thankyou Madiba’ and formerArsenal defender Eb-oue’s vest said: ‘Rest inPeace Nelson Mandela’.

The Turkish FA (TFF)are planning to summonthe Galatasaray pair toappear before the Profes-sional Football DisciplineCommittee because theyhad not sought prior per-mission to display theirmessages.

DrogbaIt is in contrast to Eng-

land where games thisweekend have been pre-ceded by a minute of ap-plause in celebration ofMandela’s life and hisrole in ending apartheidin South Africa and trans-forming the internationalprofile of Africa.

Plans to disciplineDrogba and Eboue arecertain to attract criticismand fuel debate in Turkey,where the TFF are tryingto keep political imageryout of football as directedby FIFA, although it hasproved increasingly dif-ficult in a football-crazynation beset by politicaltension.

•Continued from BP

involved in fixing footballmatches.

Sam Sodje was filmed bythe Sun on Sundaydescribing how hepunched an opponent in aLeague One game to get ared card in exchange for£70,000.

He also said he arrangedfor another player to be paid£30,000 for getting a yellowcard in a Championshipmatch.

Portsmouth Football Clubsaid it was “shocked andsaddened” by the claims.

The three people beingheld have not been named.

In the video, which wasfilmed secretly, Mr Sodjealso claimed he could rigPremier League gamesand was prepared to fixmatches at next year ’sWorld Cup.

Sodje

Queroiz stated thatNigeria are a good team,but was quick to warn thatit would be wrong foranyone to write his teamoff.

“Nigeria are playingvery well at the moment,”Queroiz said after

Iran Coach

•Continued from BP

Friday’s draw.“Playing in the World

Cup is an opportunity forevery participating team,and based on this, it willbe wrong for anybody towrite off any team.”

The other teams thatmake up Group F areArgentina and Bosnia-Herzogovinia.

Soon after the drawheld in Brazil Friday, thecoach who will be leadinghis country to theMundial for the first timesaid, “Argentina is thefavorite in the group. Wewill fight for the secondplace with Nigeria.”

The Bosnia sweatmerchant claimed he haslimited knowledge about

Bosnia Coach

•Continued from BP

Iran but said he will notunderrate them. “I don’tknow much about Iranand Nigeria, but I knowthat Nigeria playedfrequently at the WorldCups and we should notunderestimate Iran. Wehave good chances ofmaking it to the secondround. When I see whomCroatia has drawn, wehave to be happy with ourgroup.”

•Continued from BP

AFTER voters of theNigeria Sports

Awards voted Dr.Emmanuel Uduaghan, theSports Governor Of TheYear, the Delta StateGovernor Saturday nightbagged another awardmeant for the best sportsand business governor ofthe year.

Uduaghan wins another sports award“It rarely happens in this

country or anywhere forthat matter that a governor,within one month, winsthree prestigious awards,’’Delta State Chairman ofthe Sports CommissionAmaju Pinnick saidSaturday night.

Uduaghan Saturdaywon the Sports, Business

and Media Awards for thegovernor who hassupported and developedsports more than the rest.It was after winning theNigeria Sports Awardsand the BusinessdayAward for his policies andprogrammes that havegreat potential to attractbusiness to Delta State.

“Going by what Dr.Emmanuel Uduaghan hasdone for track and field, forfootball, wrestling,swimming and hiseconomic projects herightly deserves theseawards,” Amaju said,adding “and he is notdone yet. He is doingmore and I’m sure thatgenerations will feel theimpact of the foundationhe has built for sports inDelta.”

team base camp. A totalof 83 TBCs wereoffered in the final TBCBrochure.

A Team Base Camp con-sists of a Team BaseCamp Hotel and a TeamCamp Base Training Site.All participating memberassociations must con-firm their Team BaseCamp before the end ofnext month.

Swansea v Hull 9pm

R-E-S-U-L-T-S

EPLArsenal 1 Everton 1Fulham 2 Aston Villa 0

SERIE ARoma 2 Fiorentina 1Caglairi 2 Genoa 1Verona 2 Atalanta 1Sampdoria 2 Catania 0Sassuolo 0 Chievo 1Torino 1 Lazio 0

LIGUE IBordeaux1 Lille 0Bastia 1 Lyon 3Toulouse 1 Montpellier 1BUNDESLIGAFreiburg 0 Wolfsburg 3

Today’s Match

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R E M E R E — I ,formerly know anaddressed as MissRemere Tracy, butnow which to beknown an addressedas Mrs. Eweto EdemaTracy. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicshould please takenote.

ONOJA— I, formerlyknow an addressed asMiss Onoja OjonomaRose, but now which tobe known an addressedas Mrs. Ossai OjonomaRose. All formerdocuments remain valid.General public shouldplease take note.

I H E A N E T U — I ,formerly know anaddressed as MissJovita O. Iheanetu,but now which to beknown an addressedas Mrs. Jovita O.Mmirikwe. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicshould please takenote.

ENUA —I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Inyang EdemEnua, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs. MagdaleneInyang Akan Akpan. Allformer documentsremain valid. Universityof Uyo, FederalMinistry of Agriculture& Rural Developmentand general publicplease take note.

A G U S I M B A — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissAgusimba Ifeoma,now wish to be knownand addressed as Mrs.Gelor Ifeoma. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

OGINNI —I, formerlyknown and addressedas Oginni BukolaRacheal, now wish to beknown and addressedas Daramola BukolaRacheal. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

ASSAM—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Arit EkanemAssam, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs. Arit RobertEkpo. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

IDRIS—I, formerlyknow an addressed asMiss Muhsina ArinolaIdris, now which to beknown an addressedas Mrs. MuhsinaArinola Atunnise. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

MUHAMMED — I ,formerly know anaddressed as MissMuhammed KudiratOmotese, now which tobe known anaddressed as Mrs.Oyegoke KudiratMercy Omotese. Allformer documentsremain valid. RufusGiwa Polytechnic,Owo and generalpublic please take note.

Correction of nameThe name EbinediaEhiagwina Ken wasmistakenlywritten in mybank mandate asEbinedia EhiagwineKen. All former docu-ments remain valid.Federal Ministry of In-formation, First BankPlc and general publicplease take note.

HASSAN—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss ModupeBisilola Hassan, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Modupe BisilolaOlagbegi. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

EBOHON—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Ebohon AmenzeValerie, now wish to beknown and addressedas Osaretin AmenzeValerie. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

ILOBA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Iloba ChineduPrisca, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs. ChineduAugustine Onyeazor.All former documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

OKOH—I, formerly

known and addressed

as Okoh Isioma, now

wish to be known and

addressed as Israel

Isioma. All former

documents remain

valid. General public

please take note.

ABAKPA—I, formerly

known and addressed

as Miss Mercy Abakpa,

now wish to be known

as Mrs. Akpomudiare

Mercy. All former

documents remain

valid. General public

take note.

TUEDOR—I, formerly

known and addressed

as Miss Tuedor

Angela, now wish to

be known as Mrs.

Angela Ubiri. All

former documents

remain valid. General

public take note.

OSUAGWU—We, formally known and addressedas: Monica Chilaka Osuagwu, Anthony AdielechiOsuagwu, Oluchi Agnes Osuagwu, Chinyere LucyOsuagwu, Chizoba Benice Osuagwu andIkechukwu Bernard Osuagwu, now wishes to beknown and addressed as: ANYANWU: MonicaChilaka Anyanwu, Anthony Adielechi Anyanwu,Oluchi Agnes Anyanwu, Chinyere Lucy Anyanwu,Chizoba Benice Anyanwu and Ikechukwu BernardAnyanwu. All former documents remain valid.Umuwalaka, Umunna-Umuifem, St. Jude’sCatholic Society, Umuifem, Avutu Obowo “Otoko,”Imo State, Nigeria and general public please takenote.

ANOSIKE—I, formerlyknown and addressed asMiss Anosike Rose-MaryOgechi, now wish to beknown and addressed asMrs. Ngeme Rose-MaryOgechi. All formerdocuments remain valid.NTI Ikeja Study Centre,NTI DLS Kaduna, NTIIkeja Ogba and generalpublic take note.

Page 29: CONFAB: Jonathan to nominate 120 delegates

That ‘favourable’World Cup draw

Two key phrases rule sports draws all over the world.The first is what is called “The luck of the draw” whilethe other is “group of death “

The direct meaning of the first contention is that thereis a possibility of a team having the “luck” of findingitself in a group that it can easily top or come outfrom, depending on the perceived quality of its com-ponents.

The second assumption is that the group is peopledby teams believed tough and it will take a war, a battleof survival to be able to triumph therein.

Having said this much, we can understand whysome of us insisted and prayed for a “favourable” drawfor the Eagles, one that they will be able to mazethrough on the way to tougher successive rounds.

I wondered, for instance why anybody will want toplay Brazil in Brazil in the very first round of the com-petition. With due respect to quality and the availa-bility of players in her ranks, why will any coach wishfor a confrontation against Germany, Spain and socalled power houses of football, so early in the day?

Agreed that any team that wants to win the worldcup must be ready to play and beat any team thatcrosses its path, but for me the key word there isREADY.

With the draw that has been handed to us, even theluck of the pairings, by the time we have played Iranand Bosnia we will be READY to play Argentina andgo for broke.

I was reminded by my son that four years ago, thatis how I celebrated the draw that put Nigeria in thesame group with Argentina, South Korea and Greeceand concluded that Argentina and the Super Eagleswere going to progress in that order, yet we ended updrawing only one match and came out last in thegroup.

Yes, I like to be reminded, that is why I have notsuggested that this is a WEAK group. I have conven-iently called it a FAVOURABLE GROUP.

I want to believe that between now and when theworld cup starts, the Technical Department and theTechnical Committee of the NFF will start work imme-diately to put at the disposal of the Keshi led techni-

cal crew all the information, logistics and player byplayer profile on Argentina, Iran and Bosnia. By nowwe should be able to know how these teams qualifiedfor the world cup, their strengths and weaknesses andthe depth of individual players.

As you are reading this, Coach Keshi would havetaken a decision on the friendly matches he wants toplay, those teams and countries that have similar play-ing patterns and cultures with the teams in our group.

By the time coach Keshi receives the files contain-ing all the information on our opponents, he shouldbe able to monitor ALL the players in their clubs andnational teams. In other words if Argentina plays afriendly match today, Keshi MUST endeavour to bepresent, just as he will be interested in the form andprogress of Argentine players in their different clubs,ditto Iran and Bosnia players.

The minutest detail are taken into consideration, tothe point where the Eagles goalkeeper trainer willwant to know who takes the opposition penalties and

Vanguard, MONDAY DECEMBER 9, 2013 — 53

in what pattern over the last two and three years.This is what the other teams will be doing against

us and we cannot feign ignorance. This is what drawsare all about, the opportunity to plan as the days tickby.

What about training camp venue and the availabil-ity of necessary infrastructure? During the FIFA WorldCup in France in 1998, as FIFA Media Officer I hadaccompanied the General Coordinator in Marseille togo and visit the German team in their camp. A deten-tion facility could not have been better fortified. Whenwe finally got in, we met the team in a two hour train-ing regime in a swimming pool. Yes swimming pool.

We also visited the gym that was laid out for theteam and we were told by some of the physical train-ers that the maximum days they train with the ball ina week is four days. That set me thinking, that “train-ing” IS NOT eleven a side or the running round thefield eleven times before the players settle down toplay “ “probables” against “possibles

Football is a science, where even the rooming poli-cy is consciously decided as an off the field strategy tohelp cohesion on the field of play.

With Friday’s draw, the qualification party has beenbrought to an end. The competition is now here withus. For us to go to Brazil and not do better than thefour previous qualifications will amount to an anti cli-max.

The Aminu Maigari led NFF must therefore do all intheir power to liaise with government with a view toextending full support to the team to succeed. This isthe time to sit down and talk bonuses and allowances.This is the time to decide on and thrash out all thosecomponents that have in the past impacted negativelyon our success.

Akin to the rites of Christian marriage, Maigari shouldnow address the Nigerian football community andask if there is any one that feels he has anythingagainst Nigeria winning the cup! If so, let him or herspeak now or forever remain silent …….because wewill not tolerate any distraction from any level.

SO HELP US GOD.See you next week.

,,By now we should be able to know howthese teams qualified for the world cup,their strengths and weaknesses and thedepth of individual players

Page 30: CONFAB: Jonathan to nominate 120 delegates

54 — Vanguard, MONDAY DECEMBER 9, 2013

CMYK

Page 31: CONFAB: Jonathan to nominate 120 delegates

Vanguard, MONDAY DECEMBER 9, 2013 — 55

CMYK

Page 32: CONFAB: Jonathan to nominate 120 delegates

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

How to Play Sudoku

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

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

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

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

Sudoku

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013

Across3 Employees (5)9 Writer (6)10 Clothes (6)11 Nobleman (5)12 Cheese (4)15 Gala (4)17 Harmed (7)20 And not (3)21 Trench (5)23 Grasp (4)25 Ripped (4)26 Cringe (5)28 Wager (3)30 Demean (7)33 Paradise (4)35 Fall (4)36 Fragment (5)38 Gamin (6)39 Sarcastic (6)40 Prompt (5)

Down1 Relaxed (5)2 Vapour (5)3 Weep (3)4 Dealt (6)5 Idiot (4)6 Sport (3)7 Frequently (5)8 Alternative (5)13 Swung (7)14 Sorcery (5)16 Storm (7)18 Plunged (5)19 Deed (3)22 Store (5)28 Started (5)29 Instruct (5)31 Stadium (5)32 Era (5)34 Skin-trouble (4)36 Title (3)37 Snoop (3)

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

Across: 1, Ripped 5, Sacred 9, Voter 10,Loosen 11, Victor 12, Noted 14, Stem 17,Ran 18, Cede 20, Hades 22, Dined 23, Ring-let 24, Learn 26, Never 29, Eddy 30, Jet 32,Waded 35, Sordid 36, Native 37, Reset 38,Nudged 39, Talent.

Down: 1, Relish 2, Proved 3, Even 4, Do-nor 5, Seven 6, Arid 7, Rotten 8, Darted 13,Tangled 15, Tamed 16, Merry 18, Cited 19,Deter 21, Sin 22, Den 24, Lesson 25, Adored27, Valise 28, Recent 30, Jaded 31, Tenet33, Wire 34, Data.

Continues on Page 52

Continues on Page 52

Keshi to pick WorldCup base

their personal messagesafter Galatasaray’s gameagainst Elazigspor onFriday, their first game

Drogba, Eboue face finesover Mandela tributes

DIDIER Drogba andEmmanuel Eboue

face fines from the Turk-ish FA after displayingvests bearing tributes toNelson Mandela.

The two Ivory Coast in-ternationals unveiled

FOR the very first time inthe history of Nigeria’s

participation in the FIFA WorldCup finals, the Nigeria FootballFederation has given HeadCoach, Stephen Keshi, the freehand to determine where hiswards will make home at nextyear’s finals.

Keshi, who captained Niger-ia in her very first appearanceat the FIFA World Cup finals,in USA in 1994, said he cher

•Drogba

•Eboue

THREE people are inpolice custody after

an ex-Portsmouth playertold an undercoverreporter he had been

Sodje inmatch-fixingprobe

•Sam Sodje

Continues on Page 52

V I N C E N TEnyeama’s run

of not conceding a goalended after 1 062 minutesyesterday with an own

Enyeama'sclean sheetrecord ends

Continues on Page 52

•EnyeamaBOSNIA Herzegovinacoach Saft Susic has

already conceded Brazil 2014Group F leadership to formerchampions, Argentina evenbefore the first ball is kicked.

We ‘ll fight Nigeria

for 2nd place

— Bosnia coach

Continues on Page 52

IRAN coach Carlos Queiroz has acknowledgedNigeria as strong opposition after his team were

placed in the same group as the African champions inFriday’s World Cup draw.

Don’t write us off — Iran coach

Continues on Page 52


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