10112017 - ALLEGED LOOTING OF N339M MILITARY PENSION:2 military officers, bank managers remanded in prison

CHAOS IN APAPA
•Police, Military authorities permit madness
on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway
•Trucks, tankers, miscreants lockdown Apapa
•Ambode overwhelmed, Lagos CP ignores appeal
•Fashola, Amaechi unconcerned as residents groan
22
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VOL. 25: NO. 63418 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
ALLEGED LOOTING OF N339M MILITARY PENSION:
2 military officers, bank
managers remanded in prison
•Money meant for next-of-kin of deceased soldiers
•Counsel asks court to impose stringent bail conditions
By Soni Daniel,
Northern Region Editor
ABUJA — A FEDER
AL Capital Territory
High Court, Abuja,
yesterday, sent two serving
military officers and
two female bank managers
to Kuje Prisons over
alleged connivance and
stealing of N339 million
meant for the payment of
military pensions. They
will, at least, spend the
next four days in the
prison.
Justice D.Z. Senchi,
who ordered the remand
of the four suspects in
prison, said their appli-
Continues on Page 5
MEETING
From Left: Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; Minister of
Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Goeffrey Onyeama with the Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue
Service, Mr. Babatunde Fawler, during their meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.
Photo: NAN.
$43.4m: Court orders forfeiture of Osborne Towers flat
Falana, Akinterinwa,
others kick against
Morocco's admission
into ECOWAS
9
NASS probes death
of 26 Nigerians
women in Spanish
warship 9
How ex-FCT Minister's
son paid N1.1bn for
Abuja properties, EFCC
tells court
10
5
Naira loses
22kobo in
NAFEX
...FG to raise
$2.3bn in oil
asset equity
restructuring 5
Mr & Mrs
COLUMNISTS:
OWEI LAKEMFA
31 GWANGWAZO 31
SEE
INSIDE

2—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017— 3

4—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017

Vanguard, FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 10, 2017—5
POCKET CARTOON
EBONYI: Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi (l) and Chief of Staff to the
President, Mallam Abba Kyari, during the Governor's meeting with the Chief
of Staff in preparation for the up-coming visit of the President to Ebonyi
State at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.
2 military officers, bank
managers remanded in prison
Continues from Page 1
cations for bail would be
heard next Monday.
In the criminal case
filed by the Economic
and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC,
against the suspects, the
commission prayed the
court to jail them for
causing untold hardship
to military pension beneficiaries
and their families
who were robbed of
their entitlements after
serving the nation for
many years.
The two military officers
sent to Kuje Prison include
Wing Commander
Ishaka Yakubu and Lieutenant
Commander Akinbamidele
Odunsi,
while the two bank officials
are Mrs. Abidemi
Aderemi Kolade and Violet
Ofoegbunam. They
were alleged to have
conspired to collect monies
meant for payment of
death benefits to deceased
Army officers,
and converted same to
personal use.
The EFCC said in the
IT'S UP TO YOU
BY AYO ADIO - 08104802192
Never let the circumstances you find yourself in,
stop you from having a plan. The truth is, it takes
the execution of the right plan to get you out of the
dire situation you find yourself in. It's up to you.
TAKE HEART
BY ELLA RANDLE
The most challenging times in life is when you
are transitioning from one version of yourself to
another — Sarah Addison Allen
IF you’re not growing, you’re stagnant. If a
relationship is not growing, if a business is not
growing, if you’re not growing, it doesn’t matter how
much money you have in the bank, how many
friends you have, how many people love you—you’re
not going to experience real fulfillment. And the
reason we grow, is simply this, so we have something
of value to give.
SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE
The chicken says it goes to roost early, not
because its stomach is full, but because it is
night already.
six-count charge of conspiracy
and stealing of
pension funds preferred
against the four suspects
that the offence breached
Section 315 of the Penal
Code Act Cap 532 LFN
(Abuja) 1990, and punishable
under the same
Act.
In one of the charges
read to the suspects,
who all pleaded not
guilty, the EFCC said:
“That you, Wing Commander
Ishaka Yakubu
‘m’ while serving as a
cashier with the Military
Pension Board, Lieutenant
Commander Akinbamidele
Odunsi ‘M’
being an Assistant Director,
computer, while
serving with the Military
Pension Board, Mrs
Abidemi Aderemi Kolade
‘F’ being a Relationship
Manager while
serving with United
Bank for Africa, UBA Plc,
Kuforudua Branch- Abuja
and Violet Ofoegbunam
‘F’ being a Branch
Manager while serving
with UBA Plc, Kuforodua
Branch-Abuja, on or
about February, 2016 in
Abuja within the Jurisdiction
of the High Court
of the Federal Capital
Territory, Abuja, while
being entrusted with dominion
over money belonging
to the Nigeria
Military Pension Board
dishonestly converted to
your own use the sum of
N339.374 million, which
was withdrawn from the
Military Pension Board
Account with the pretence
that the said sum
represented payments to
the supposed next-of-kin
to deceased Nigerians
as death benefit.
‘’That the said monies
were paid and withdrawn
in tranches and
thereby committed an
offence punishable under
section 97 of the Penal
Code Cap 532 LFN (
Abuja) 1990.”
Their non-guilty plea
forced the EFCC counsel,
Steve Odiase, to ask
the court to fix a date for
hearing and remand
them in custody pending
trial.
Odiase invited the
court to take note of the
fact that Yakubu and
Odunsi (1st and 2nd defendants)
had on several
dates, refused to come
to court, “an attempt
aimed at frustrating efforts
to have them arraigned
over the alleged
offence.”
He urged the court to
impose stringent conditions
should it be persuaded
to admitting the
defendants to bail.
However, Yakubu’s
counsel, Patrick Ediale,
informed the court of a
pending application dated
November 2, 2017,
praying the court to admit
his client to bail. He
urged the court to exercise
its discretion in favour
of the defendant,
saying “he is presumed
innocent until the contrary
is proved.” Other
counsels in the defence
also joined in seeking
bail for their clients. Justice
Senchi, while ordering
the remand of the
defendants, adjourned
to November 13 for hearing
of their bail applications.
How ex-FCT Minister’s son paid N1.1bn
for Abuja properties, EFCC tells court
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
A Economic BUJA—THE
and Financial
Crimes Commission,
EFCC, yesterday,
narrated before the Federal
High Court in Abuja,
how Shamsudeen, son
of a former Minister of the
Federal Capital Territory,
Mr. Bala Mohammed, allegedly
paid a cumulative
sum of N1.1 billion to acquire
properties in different
parts of Abuja.
The anti-graft agency
brought one of its lead detectives,
Mr. Ishaya Dauda,
to testify against
Shamsudeen before trial
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba.
The ex-Minister’s son is
facing 15-count money
laundering charge alongside
four firms — Bird
Trust Agro Allied Limited,
Intertrans Global Logistics
Limited, DiakinTelecommunications
Limited
and Bal-Vac Mining Limited,
which the EFCC
said were used to launder
over N1.1 billion.
EFCC alleged that the
first defendant, in a bid to
conceal stolen funds at his
disposal, resorted to acquisition
of houses within
high brow areas in
Abuja.
It told the court that
Shamsudeen paid cash
for five plots of land and
four other choice properties
in Abuja.
Some of the assets
traced to him include five
plots of land at Asokoro
Gardens; House FS 2 B,
Green Acre Estate, Apo-
Dutse, Abuja; House FS
1A, Green Acre Estate,
Apo-Dutse; FS 1B, Green
Acre Estate, Apo-Dutse,
Abuja and House 2A,
No. 7, Gana Street, Maitama,
Abuja.
According to the agency,
the first defendant
whose father, Bala Mohammed,
is equally facing
six-count criminal
charge before an Abuja
High Court, paid for the
assets in excess of the statutory
limit, without recourse
to any financial institution.
Aside allegation that he
failed to declare his assets
when he completed the
EFCC Asset Declaration
Form A, the ex-Minister’s
son was further accused
of concealing four
accounts he operated with
Standard Chartered Bank.
EFCC gave the said account
numbers as
0001857597, 5001214708,
0000895037 and
000895020.
Led in evidence by the
prosecution counsel, Mr.
Ben Ikani, the witness
told the court that apart
from the intelligence received
on the ex-Minister,
additional intelligence
was also received
about Shamsudeen’s activities
which revealed
how he used the four companies
charged along
with him to acquire the
properties.
The witness also revealed
how the sums of
N580,000 and $60,000
were recovered from
Shamsudeen’s residence
during execution of a
search warrant.
He said, “I know the defendant.
In the course of
investigating a case assigned
to me against the
former FCT Minister, Senator
Bala Mohammed, we
received additional intelligence
concerning purchases
of properties by the
defendant.
“We received intelligence
that the defendant
acquired several properties
within the FCT. We
worked on the intelligence
and we have
names of the properties
acquired through companies.
The companies are
Diakin Telecommunications
Limited, Balbac
Minning Nigeria Limited,
Intertrans Logistics
Global Nigeria Limited.
“We extended our investigation
to Corporate
Affairs Commission. We
confirmed that the companies
were registered with
the CAC.
“We invited the lawyers
that registered these companies
by name Ishiaku
Shuaibu, who confirmed
that he registered those
companies.
“When we asked Shuaibu
how he came about the
companies, he informed
us that one Abdulahi
Sani, a staff with the Corporate
Affairs Commission
gave him the name.
Abdullahi Sani was invited
to our office and was
asked about the companies.
He also informed us
that the defendant gave
him the names of the companies
to register."
Naira Watch
Naira loses 22 kobo in NAFEX
....FG to raise $2.3bn in oil asset equity
restructuring
By Adaeze Okechukwu
THE naira, yesterday, depreciated by 22 kobo to
N360.55 per dollar in the Investor and Exporter
(I&E) Foreign Exchange Window, as the federal
government plans to raise $2.26 billion (N710 billion)
by restructuring its equity in joint venture oil assets.
The indicative exchange rate for the I & E Window,
known as Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange,
NAFEX, depreciated to N360.55 per dollar,
yesterday, from Wednesday’s rate which stood at
N360.33 per dollar, indicating a 22 kobo loss in the
value of Naira. Whereas, $161.03 million was
recorded as the volume of dollars traded in the
window, yesterday, indicating a $2 million increase,
from the volume traded the preceding day.
Meanwhile, the federal government has revealed
plans to raise $2.26 billion (N710 billion) by
restructuring its equity in joint venture oil assets
and increasing private sector participation.
The government issued $1.5 billion worth of
Eurobonds in the first quarter to fund its 2017 budget
and plans to sell a further $2.5 billion worth this
year in addition to refinancing a $3 billion treasury
bill portfolio to lower its borrowing costs.

6—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
Police nab 16
suspected
kidnappers,
armed
robbery gang
THE Nigeria Police
Force has arrested 16
suspects for alleged
kidnapping, armed
robbery and unlawful
possession of prohibited
firearms in Sabo Wuse in
Tafa Local Government
Area of Niger.
The suspects are:
Abdulkareem 48, gang
leader, Ahmed Musa,
Muhammadu , 25,
Abdullahi , Abdulmalik ,
Ahmed and Yakubu .
Others are: Yunusa 40,
Ahmadu , 23, Bashir , 30,
Tanko , 40, Usman , 42,
Usman , 29, Usman , 75,
Sani , 37 and Alex 33.
The Force spokesman,
CSP Jimoh Moshood,
disclosed this while
addressing newsmen in
Tafa, yesterday.
Moshood said items
recovered from the suspects
were Two AK 47 rifles, one
locally made revolver
pistol, Sub Machine Gun,
three pump action guns
and two Beretta pistol.
Others were one air rifle,
85 rounds of 7.62,
ammunition, 10 rounds of
9mm ammunition, three
live cartridges, six rounds
of 380 auto, five AK 47
magazines, one fabricated
master key, one Toyota
muscle car, two Toyota
Corolla cars, one box of fake
dollar notes and one Tecno
cell phone.
Moshood said the
suspects were arrested on
November 6 after a
sustained surveillance and
raid of the criminals’
hideous by a combined
police teams.
“All the suspects arrested
confessed to the crime and
admitted to the various roles
they played in the
commission of the crimes.
They will be arraigned in
court on completion of
investigation and
investigation is being
intensified to arrest other
suspects at large,” he said.
He said the Inspector-
General of Police (I-G), Mr
Ibrahim Idris, had directed
the Assistant Inspectors-
General of Police (AIGs)
and Commissioners of
Police (CPs) in the zones
and commands to replicate
same feat on the highways
and major roads.
According to him, they
were also to beef up
security in their areas of
responsibility and
ensure massive
deployment of armed
police personnel, patrol
teams and undercover
operatives to black spots,
flash points and other
vulnerable criminal spots.
How I survived skin cancer tumour
surgery — BANKY W
By Benjamin Njoku
NIGERIAN RnB singer
and Empire Mates
Entertainment boss, Banky
Wellington popularly called
Banky W has revealed how he
went through three successful
surgeries to remove tumours
from his shoulder.
The last surgery was carried
out last month.
The singer who has been out
of public glare took to his
Instagram page yesterday to
share the good news.
In a lengthy post on
Instagram, Banky W showed
pictures of his surgery scars,
thanking God for his mercies
and successful operations.
According to him, he treated
a rare strain of skin cancer
which resurfaced after it first
appeared 10 years ago.
He said the past few weeks
of recovery had been tough,
but beautiful, saying “I’m
finally back on my feet,
feeling stronger and ready to
get back to life. A wise man once
said this: “Scar is a sign that you
had been hurt. A sign that you
had been healed. Scroll through
the pictures to see mine.”
“I’m sharing these because
they’re proof of what God has
brought me through. And
because somewhere out there,
I know there is someone who
needs to hear this.
''For those who have been
wondering why I have been
away for so long, I had my 3rd
surgery on a rare strain of
skin cancer tumours in my
shoulder last month. The first
two times were over 10 years
ago, then it recently
resurfaced. But this is not a
sad story as much as it is a
reminder and a testimony.
Three Corps members arrested for uploading
nude pictures of ladies on the Internet
By Dayo Johnson
A KURE—THREE
members of the
National Youths Service Corps,
NYSC, and one other person
have been arrested by men of
the 32 Artillery Brigade of the
Nigeria Army, Akure, Ondo
State, for alleged blackmail and
uploading nude pictures of
ladies on the Internet.
Vanguard gathered that the
suspects were arrested in
Ikaramu Akoko in Akoko North
West Local Government Area of
the state.
Although the identities of the
suspects were still being protected
at press time, however Vanguard
gathered that the three of them
are corps members serving in the
state.
It was gathered that the
suspects would invite their girl
friends to a hotel where camera
would have been hidden and
The singer with his wife, Adesuwa.
“A reminder that you should
never take life for granted.
You only get one shot. Some
people went to sleep and
never woke up. Many others
have lost the battle to cancer
and other illnesses. Many are
still fighting.
''You never know when your
time will be up, so do not
waste another minute. It is
also a testimony about the
goodness of God. I think I had
to go through this again to
remember how merciful God
is to me; Lord knows I do not
deserve it but He saves me
time and again anyway. I
keep saying I need to write a
would pretend to want to have
fun with them and in the process
capture their nakedness.
According to sources, the
suspects who operated as a
syndicate would upload the
pictures and thereafter threaten
to blackmail the victims if they
refuse to pay certain amount of
money.
A source told newsmen that,
“Many ladies, including their
colleague corps members have
fallen victims of the suspects and
they have been making money
from it before they were
eventually caught. They will
invite their girl friends to a hotel
in Ikare Akoko and after making
love with the ladies, they will be
taking their pictures while
naked.
“Days later they will be
demanding money from the
ladies and would be threatening
that if the ladies fail to give them
money, they will send their
book. I really, really do.”
“The past few weeks of
recovery have been tough,
but beautiful. I’m finally back
on my feet, feeling stronger
and ready to get back to life.
''I’m especially thankful to
my Nurse Susu for loving me
and being by my side every
step of the way – I don’t
deserve you, my parents and
siblings, in-laws and close
friends for the love, support
and prayers. My pastors –
Pastor Tony Rapu & Pastor Del
Balogun of TPH, Pastor Taiwo
Odukoya and Pastor Bayo
Adeyokunnu – for constantly
praying with and for me. And
nude pictures to internet. Any
of them who fail to give out
money will find her naked
pictures on the internet.''
The Assistant Director, Army
Public Relations, Major Ojo
Adelegan confirmed the arrest
of the suspects.
Adelegan said they had been
87-year-old grandma, another plead g
By Onozure Dania
LAGOS—AN 87 years
old grandmother,
Agbomabiwon Seriki and
another woman yesterday,
before a Federal High Court,
sitting in Lagos, pleaded
guilty to unlawful dealings
in 10.3 kilograms and five
kilograms of Cannabis Sativa,
popularly called marijuana.
The octogenarian and Anya
of course to Dr Wodajo and Dr
Miralli and their teams – who
God used to operate on me
successfully. I’m thankful for
life, provision and healing.
Please, don’t feel bad or
message me with any worry.
God has done it, just thank Him
for me.”
“The pain will eventually go
away but the scar won’t – and
I’m glad because it is a
reminder to me of what God
has done, and evidence to you
of what He CAN do. I’m not
stronger or better than anyone.
I’m just a living testimony that
no matter what you face, you
can survive and thrive, by
God’s grace,” the singer wrote
on his Instagram page.
handed over to the appropriate
security organisation for further
action.
He declined to give the
identities of the suspects,
saying: “I can confirm their
arrest but they are no more with
us they have been handed over
to other security agency. “
Nneoma 56, were consequently
remanded in Kirikiri prison.
They were arraigned on a one
count charge before Justice
Hadiza Rabiu-Shagari by
National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA).
Seriki was charged with
dealing in 10.3 kilograms of
Cannabis Sativa, while
Nneoma was charged with
illegal dealing in five
kilograms of the same

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—7
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
2 arrested, one killed over murder of British
optician in Delta
By Ifeanyi Okolie
S APELE—TWO
suspected militants,
who allegedly took part in the
kidnapping and killing of a
British optician, Dr Ian
Squire, in Burutu area of
Delta State, have been
arrested by operatives of the
Inspector General of Police
Special Intelligence Response
Team, IRT, while another
member of the gang was killed
during an exchange of
gunfire.
Vanguard gathered that two
IRT operatives, Sergeant
Sanusi Lanre and Sergeant
Agunbiade Adebayo, also
sustained serious bullet
wounds on their stomachs
and hands, during the
shootout which occurred in an
apartment at Sapele area of
the state.
Sources disclosed that, the
IRT led by Assistant
Commissioner of Police, Abba
Kyari, was deployed to
Delta State by the Inspector
General of Police, Ibrahim
Idris, after receiving reports
of the abduction of the optician
and three of his colleagues on
October 13, 2017, by a militant
group known as Karowei, in
Burutu, Delta State.
His colleagues, David
Donovan, his wife, Shirley
uilty to unlawful dealing in marijuana
substance, Cannabis Sativa.
The NDLEA prosecutor, Mr.
Aliyu Abubakar told the court
that the offence committed by
the defendants is contrary to
and punishable under sections
11 (c) of NDLEA Cap. N30,
laws of the Federation of
Nigeria, 2004.
Following their guilty plea,
Abubakar, urged the court to
remand the duo in Kirikiri
Maximum prisons, pending
and Alanna Carson, were
freed on November 6, 2017,
after an undisclosed amount
was paid to the militants as
ransom, having spent 24
days in captivity.
It was gathered that the
two members of the group,
were trailed by the IRT
operatives to Warri area of
the Delta State, where they
were eventually arrested.
The areested suspects
were said to have
confessed during
questioning that they were
members of the group who
carried out the kidnapping
and they also volunteered to
lead the operatives to Sapele,
where other members of the
group were hiding.
Vanguard gathered that
the IRT operatives were first
sighted by the militants when
they arrived their hideout in
Sapele Town.
A member of the gang
allegedly armed with a beretta
pistol, was said to have
opened fire on the IRT
personnel, leaving some of
them with severe injuries.
The operatives were said to
have returned fire immediately
killing the suspect on the spot,
while his baretta pistol was
recovered.
The injured operatives were
rushed to a public hospital
in the state (name withheld)
where Sgt Lanre, who
sustained a bullet wound in
his stomach was undergoing
emergency surgery at the
time of filing this report.
Anambra court sentences two to death for stealing lady’s
handbag, phone
By Vincent Ujumadu
AWKA—AN Anambra
High Court sitting in
Ihiala and presided over by
Justice Okey Onunkwo, has
sentenced two men to death
for stealing a lady’s handbag,
telephone and other personal
effects at a gunpoint.
The Judge said there
were sufficient evidence
to convict the two men,
Ikenna Obi and
Osadebe Ezeh who,
on February 2
allegedly stole a mobile
phone, a handbag
and N10,000 cash
belonging to one Miss
Chinonye Ogujiuba of
Eziama Uli.
The Nokia phone was
valued at N15, 500,
while the handbag was
estimated at N2, 500.
The third accused,
Anene Maduka,
charged with the other
suspects was however
discharged and
acquitted for lack of
evidence.
The identity of
Maduka, who was the
first defendant in the
case, was made an issue
in the trial and the court
agreed that he was not
properly identified even
though the victim gave
evidence that he was
waiting for the others on
his commercial motorcycle while
the robbery lasted.
In their submissions, the
defense counsel, Calistus
Ohanusi and Enright Okilie,
had argued that the burden of
proof on criminal matters rested
on the prosecution who they
said did not prove that their
PROTEST: Indigenous contractors demanding payment of their contract since 2015 at the
entrance of the Ministry of Finance in Abuja. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan.
when the facts of the matter
would be reviewed before the
court.
The prosecutor’s application to
remand the defendants in
prisons custody was not opposed
by the defendants’ counsel.
However, Justice Rabiu-
Shagari, ordered that the two
women be remanded in Kirikiri
Maximum Prisons till
November 15, for review of fact
and sentencing.
clients robbed, or took part
in robbing the victim,
maintaining that there was
no sufficient evidence to
convict them.
Delivering the judgment,
Justice Onunkwo, said there
was no sufficient evidence
against the first defendant
(Maduka).
“There were eye witness
By Onozure Dania
LAGOS—AN estate agent,
Adeyemi Ademola, who
allegedly defrauded five
prospective tenants seeking for
shop accommodation of
N19,640,000, under disguise of
renting shops to them was
yesterday arraigned before an
Igbosere Magistrate’s Court
Lagos.
Ademola, 46, is standing trial
on 11-count charge of
conspiracy, fraud and theft.
evidence against the
convicts as the victim had
raised alarm after the
robbery, leading to the arrest
of the culprits at Umudimogo
Ihiala and handed over to
the police”, the Judge said.
Justice Onunkwo
subsequently sentenced
them to death by hanging or
firing squad.
Police arrest
42 suspected
cult members
in Bauchi
By Suzan Edeh
B
A U C H I —
BAUCHI State
Police Command has
arrested 42 suspected
members of the
dreaded cult group,
known as Babeli group
that has been terrorising
residents of the state for
some times now.
The State Police Public
Relations Officer, DSP
Kamal Abubakar, who
stated this yesterday
during a briefing at the
Police Headquarters in
Bauchi, said there were
reported cases of extrajudicial
killings of
innocent civilians, most
especially nomadic
Fulani at Ganjuwa,
Warji, Ningi and Darazo
local government area of
the state.
The PPRO said all the
42 suspects had been
charged to court, out of
which seven had been
convicted while 35 others
were awaiting trial.
In a related
development, DSP
Abubakar said the
command on November
4, 2017, also arrested
three suspected rapists
who abducted a 20 years
old Hauwa of Nupawa
Ward in Bauchi at about
10 pm, while on her way
back from work.
He said the suspects
who were on a
motorcycle, took the
victim to an
uncompleted building
along old airport road,
robbed her of her
Gionee handset and her
bag containing N8,000
and other valuable items
and raped her
repeatedly.
The PPRO, who gave
the names of the
suspects as Usman
(gang leader),
Mohammed and Adam
said that the exhibits
recovered from the
suspects included two
sharp cutlasses, two sharp
knives and charms.
Estate agent docked over alleged N20.4m fraud
The prosecutor, Inspector
Francis Igbinosa told the court
that the defendant committed the
alleged offences between
March 28 and April 4, 2017.
He said the defendant had
defrauded the victims of the said
amount under false pretence of
renting shops that had not been
completed, without the consent
of the owner, one Otunba
Stephen Ajose.
Igbinosa said the shops, the
defendant intended to rent to the
victims, were at Richland Mall
and Event centre, located along
Lekki -Ajah Expressway Lagos.
According to him, Ademola
collected N1 million from one
Kenneth Okpaise on pretence
that he had some shops for rent,
noting that “the other victims are
Mr Ibenye Emmanuel who he
obtained the sum of N1, 320,000,
from on September 20, 2017, on
false pretence that he was going
to rent four shops to him, he also
obtained N10.4 million from one
Mrs Abieyina Jaja, with a promise
to give her four shops.”

8—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
:Vanguard
News
Snake bite deaths: Senate probes
Ministry of Health
•Over failure to supply anti-snake venom drugs
•Says 91 victims died in 3 weeks
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA— THE Senate
has begun a holistic
investigation into alleged
failure of Federal Ministry
of Health to supply antisnake
venom and other
relevant drugs to treatment
and other health centres in
the country.
It also urged Minister of
Health, Professor Isaac
Adewole, to mandate the
ministry to urgently procure
sufficient quantity of antisnake
venom and supply
them to treatment centres
at Kaltungo, Langtang and
Bambur.
The upper chamber
equally asked Federal
Ministry of Health to initiate
steps towards the
establishment of local
production of anti-snake
venom.
The decisions of the
Senate followed a motion
by Senator Joshua Lidani
(PDP, Gombe South),
entitled, “Alarming increase
in the rate of deaths of
victims of snake bites due
to scarcity of anti-snake
venom.”
Presenting the motion,
Senator Lidani noted that
the ministry stopped the
supply of anti-venom to
health centres since last
year.
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
He, however, pointed out
that the number of deaths
from snake bites rose,
especially in snake belt
states of Borno, Adamawa,
Taraba, Gombe and Plateau
due to unavailability of antisnake
venom.
Lidani expressed worry
that 91 victims died within
the past three weeks in
these areas.
In his contribution,
Deputy Senate Minority
Leader, Senator Emmanuel
Bwacha (PDP, Taraba
South), said: “Periodically,
lives are being lost and in
most cases, these lives are
lost without being reported,
yet they are citizens of
Alleged N3.1bn fraud: Suswam’s arrest by EFCC stalls
his ongoing trial
By Ikechukwu
Nnochiri
ABUJA— Recent arrest
and detention of
erstwhile Governor of
Benue State, Mr. Gabriel
Suswam, by Economic and
Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC,
yesterday, stalled his
ongoing trial before the
Federal High Court in
Abuja.
Suswam who piloted the
affairs of Benue State from
2007 to 2015, was detained
by the anti-graft agency to
account for his share of the
loot allegedly shared by
former Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Mrs. Deizani
Allison-Madueke, prior to
the last Presidential election.
The ex-governor, who is
already facing trial
alongside his erstwhile
Commissioner for Finance,
Mr. Omodachi Okolobia,
was released on
administrative bail by the
agency, Wednesday night,
after he had spent about six
days in detention.
At the resumed sitting on
the pending case, Suswam
who was present in court,
told the trial judge, Justice
Ahmed Mohammed, that
his lead counsel, Mr. J. B.
Daudu, SAN, was not aware
that he would be released
on bail by EFCC late in the
night of Wednesday.
A counsel in his defence
team, Mrs. Elizabeth
Ogbozor, told the court that
their leader, Daudu, SAN,
asked her to apply for an
adjournment as he was not
prepared for the trial owing
to Suswam’s detention, and
had scheduled himself for
another matter at the Court
of Appeal in Abuja.
Meanwhile, EFCC
lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs,
SAN, opposed request for
the trial to be adjourned till
November 23.
Meantime, after the trial
was stood-down for four
hours, trial Justice
Mohammed said he had no
optiobut to adjourn the
matter.
The judge, however,
warned that no one should
cast aspersions or blame the
Protest rocks NPA recruitment in Kano
By Abdulsalam
Abubakar
KANO —There was mild
drama in Kano,
yesterday, as some young
men, under the aegis of
Young Pharmacists Group,
stormed Tahir Guest Palace
where alleged secret
interview for job placement
was being conducted by
Nigerian Ports Authority,
NPA, by Human Resource
Manager, Bukar Yahaya, for
selected applicants.
The group, led by its
chairman, Lukman Bashir,
protested non-invitation of
his members for the
interview.
Nigeria.
‘’I think Nigeria has
attained a level where we
should be able to find
solutions to this, either
through scientific research
or sufficient anesthesia
medicine that will take care
of this problem once they
come up, otherwise we are
being embarrassed daily."
In his remarks, Deputy
Senate President, Senator
Ike Ekweremadu, who
presided, said: “We
support any initiative that
will protect the lives and
properties of citizens.
‘’It is important we begin
to develop technologies
that will eradicate the snake
completely and produce
some of the medications.
We need to spend some
money to ensure that
snakes are eradicated.”
EXHIBITION:
From left, Vice
President Yemi
Osinbajo;
Managing
Director/CEO,
Federal Housing
Authority, Prof.
Mohammed Al-
Amin and
Executive
Director, Sterling
Bank Plc, Mr.
Abubakar
Suleiman, during
an exhibition by
International
Federation of
Interior Architects/
Designers,
sponsored by
Sterling Bank, in
Lagos, yesterday.
court for the delay in the
trial, noting that early in the
year, Suswam was arrested
by Department of State
Service, DSS, and was
detained for close to six
months over alleged illegal
possession of guns.
He said: “We got
information of secret
recruitment by NPA in Kano
after a similar exercise in the
North-East, and we stormed
this place to ascertain from
the Human Resource
Manager why pharmacists
are left out.”
Bashir appealed to the
Federal Government to
wade into the matter and
make it open to all
professionals, irrespective of
background.
“I want to call on President
Muhammadu Buhari to halt
this glaring injustice against
less-privileged Nigerians by
making it open to qualify
candidates,” he said.
20% of UBEC N380bn fund
unaccessed — Scribe
•Stakeholders should takeover
funding — NUT
By Dayo Adesulu
L AGOS—Executive
Secretary, Universal
Basic Education
Commission, UBEC, Dr.
Hammid Bobboyi, said,
yesterday, that the Federal
Government has statutorily
released more than N380
billion as FGN-Universal
Basic Education grant as at
October 31, 2017.
Bobboyi, who disclosed
this at the 2017 Annual
National Education Summit
organised by Education
Writers’ Association of
Nigeria, however, stated
that N303. 93 billion,
representing 80 per cent of
the funds, had been
disbursed to 36 states and
Federal Capital Territory,
Abuja, leaving a balance 20
per cent unaccessed.
He also said the
commission had always
ensured that money
disbursed was well utilised
through rigorous
monitoring.
Speaking on challenges
faced by the commission,
Bobboyi lamented that
some states were exhibiting
non-challant attitude
towards basic education,
stressing that they needed
to buckle up.
He also said the
commission was faced with
challenges posed by over
10.5 million out-of-school
children and youths,
including the Almajiri and
children with special needs,
and getting them into basic
education schools.
Meanwhile, at the
summit, stakeholders in
Basic Education were
urged to come together to
fund education at the
primary school level in
order to make it work.
National Chairman,
Nigerian Union of
Teachers, Michael Alogba,
who was represented by
the union’s deputy
chairman in Lagos,
Adedoyin Adeshina, said
education was the bedrock
of learning.
Anti-grazing law: Benue
indigenes petition Buhari
• Allege armed herdsmen gathering to
attack communities
Forum and Omi Ny’Igede,
By Emma Ujah, the three main sociocultural
organisations of
Abuja Bureau Chief
A
Tiv, Idoma and Igede
BUJA— INDIGENES people.
of Benue State have President-General of
petitioned President Mdzough U Tiv, Chief
Muhammadu Buhari to Edward Ujege, who led the
save them from alleged delegation to Abuja, said
planned massive armed they had intelligence that
herdsmen‘s attacks on their the armed herdsmen, who
communities.
had been gathering for days
They told journalists in now, wanted to launch an
Abuja, yesterday, that the attack on Benue as a means
herdsmen had been of frustrating the anti-open
gathering at boundary grazing law, which came
areas of the state, Nasarawa into effect in the state last
and Cross River states. week.
The position of the Benue He said: “Our attention
indigenes was conveyed by has been drawn to reports
the leadership of Mdzough of an alleged armed
U Tiv, Idoma National herdsmen build up and
convergence on the
Nigeria-Cameroon border
and at the Agatu border
Vanguard reports that
with Nasarawa State to the
applicants, who were mostly
north west of Benue State.
children of the affluent in the
“It was reliably gathered
society massed at
that leadership of the
AbdulAzeez Yari Conference
herdsmen have held
hall of Tahir Guest Palace for
clandestine meetings in
the exercise.
Nigeria and abroad to
It was also learned that the
concretize their plans to
Kano secret recruitment was
visit mayhem and
sequel to a similar exercise
genocide on the people of
in the North-East last
Benue State.
September.
‘’The plot is said to be
Contacted on the veracity
multi-directional and
of the claim that the
aimed to simultaneously
interview was being secretly
invade Benue State from
conducted, the Human
every angle so that there
Resource Manager, NPA,
would be no escape for our
Bukar Yahaya, said: “I’m a
defenceless people Our
civil servant, I don’t have
three main socio-cultural
the authority to speak to the
organizations and, indeed,
press.”
the entire people of Benue
State are deeply troubled."

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—9
:Vanguard
News
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
UNVEILING: From left, Representative of Minister of Science and Technology, Prof
Danladi Matawal; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development,
Mohammed Abbas; Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi; and
Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Abubakar Bawa Bwari; at the official
unveiling of the Integrated Automation and Interactive Solid Minerals Portal, IAISMP, in
Abuja, yesterday.
Akinterinwa, Falana, others kick against
Morocco's admission into ECOWAS
•It'll disintegrate Nigeria —Akinterinwa
•Will subvert Nigeria's economic prosperity —Falana
•Checkmate Morocco now —ARCAN
By Emman
Ovuakporie
A BUJA—DISTURBED
by the impending
admission of Morocco into
the Economic Community
of West Africa States,
ECOWAS, critical
stakeholders, yesterday,
warned the Federal
Government to quickly
checkmate it in order not to
speed up disintegration of
the country.
The stakeholders spoke at
a one-day public hearing
put together by the House
of Representatives Joint
Committees on Foreign
Affairs and Cooperation for
Africa Integration.
Former Director- General,
Nigeria Institute of
International Affairs,NIIA,
Prof. Bola Akinterinwa,
said: “Any attempt to allow
Morocco to join the
regional body will
disintegrate Nigeria."
Akinterinwa argued that
he had 12 points that could
make Nigeria checkmate
Morocco from joining “as
it’s one of the most corrupt
nations in the world, going
by the recent anticorruption
index account."
He further explained that
Nigeria was currently
facing two critical
situations, which bordered
on which way to follow.
He said: "The two devils
are IPOB on one hand and
the critically wicked
Morocco because both
IPOB and MASSOB,
which had written letters to
ECOWAS Parliament to
grant referendum, which
the Nigerian government is
against.
“Lurking around the
corner once Nigeria exits
the regional body, Morocco
steps in and that is
dangerous for us.
Speaking almost in the
same vein, Representative
of the Director General,
NIIA, Prof Fred Agwu,
said: “He who pays the
piper dictates the tones,
Nigeria can block Morocco
from ECOWAS. Nigeria
needs to be proactive and
put its feet on ground to
veto it. Morocco cannot be
part of the region.”
Will subvert
Nigeria's
economic
prosperity
—Falana
Activist lawyer, Femi
Falana in his submission,
said: “Any attempt to allow
the North African country
join ECOWAS will subvert
Nigeria’s economic
prosperity.
“All West Africa countries
run a democratically elected
government, while
Morocco is a monarchical
system, which has no
provision in the ECOWAS
Protocol except all the legal
instruments of the regional
body will be amended to
accommodate it.
“But remember that once
you do this, Tunisia and
Algeria will equally join us
in the regional body."
Checkmate
Morocco now
—ARCAN
National Vice President of
Association of Retired
Ambassadors of Nigeria,
ARCAN, Ambassador John
Shinkaye, in his view,
advised the government to
effectively checkmate
Morocco now as its
membership would spell
doom for Nigeria.
Shinkaye who is also the
Abuja branch chairman of
ARCAN, said: “The
antecedents of Morocco are
not palatable and there’s
need for Nigeria to
effectively check it but
should expand its bilateral
relations."
While noting that Nigeria
has spent $20 billion in the
last 42 years of ECOWAS
existence, he observed that
Morocco, which became a
member of Organisation of
Africam Union, OAU, in
1972 was owing
$2,185,158.77 and had still
not paid
Giving NLC’s position,
Uche Ekwe, a former
member of House of
Foreign Affairs
Committee(1999-2003),
alleged that France directly
controls the Francophone
votes to even buy tickets for
massive mobilization to
vote attending those
meetings.
He said: “They are
beginning to feel that
Nigeria is controlling the
West African countries,
hence the plan to bring
Morocco to rubbish the
gains recorded in the
region."
In her remarks,
Chairman, House
Committee on Foreign
Affairs, Elendu-Ukeje, who
presided over the public
hearing, noted that the
House was passionate
about the development of
the private sector.
Ukeje
said
recommendations of the
committee would be
transmitted to the House
where the final resolution
will be passed.
Contractors protest non-payment at
Finance Ministry
By Emma Ujah,
Abuja Bureau Chief
A
B U J A —
CONTRACTORS,
yesterday, demonstrated
against the continued
non-payment of debts
owed them by the
Federal Government.
Some of the debts, they
claimed, were as old over
10 years.
According to the
contractors, the current
administration has been
making promises
towards paying them but
has failed to do so which
prompted the action.
The demonstrators,
who besiege the
headquarters of the
Federal Ministry of
Finance, insisted on
seeing the minister and
telling her their
grievances in person.
However, they were
assuaged when the acting
Permanent Secretary,
Mrs. Olubunmi
Siyanbola, came out to
receive them.
After listening to them,
she explained that the
Federal Government was
already working on their
demand.
It was after she gave the
assurance that they
dispersed, but not without
a warning that they would
return, if the government
failed to act expeditiously
on their demand.
NASS probes death of 26
Nigerian women in Spanish
warship
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA— The two arms
of the National
Assembly, Senate and
House of Representatives,
have begun a holistic
investigation into the
discovery of dead bodies of
26 young Nigerian girls,
ages 14 to 18, in a Spanish
warship, Cantabria.
The Senate, yesterday,
mandated its Committees
on Diaspora, Foreign
Affairs and Special Duties
to investigate the
unfortunate incident that
led to the death of these
women, who were enroute
Italy and report back to the
upper chamber at plenary
within four weeks.
On it part, the House also
mandated the Committee
on Foreign Affairs to liaise
with the Foreign Affairs
Ministry and the Libyan
government to investigate
the cause and
circumstances of the tragic
occurrence.
Resolutions of the Senate,
yesterday, were sequel to a
motion by Senator Rose
Oko (PDP, Cross River
North), entitled, “The
Death of 26 young
Nigerian girls’ en route
Italy.”
The upper chamber,
however, observed a
minute silence for the
repose of the souls of the
26 young Nigerian girls.
Deputy Senate President,
Senator Ike Ekweremadu,
who presided over
yesterday’s plenary
warned Nigerians
desperate to leave the
country for other countries
without genuine papers to
remain and join hands with
others to build the country.
Earlier in her
presentation, Senator Rose
Oko said, among others:
“The Senate notes the mass
exodus of our young boys
and girls illegally
attempting to emigrate to
Europe especially to Italy
and Spain.
“It further notes that these
journeys are through the
perilous and hazardous
Sahara desert and the
Mediterranean Sea.’’
In the House of
Representatives, its
position was prompted by
a motion moved under
“Matter of urgent public
importance,” by the Leader
of the House, Femi
Gbajabiamila.
Buhari convenes first
Armed Forces Council
meeting in 3 yrs
•Resumes work in main office
By Johnbosco
Agbakwuru
ABUJA—THREE years
after the last Armed
Forces Council meeting in
2014, President
Muhammadu Buhari,
yesterday, presided over
the first since he came on
board as a civilian
president.
The meeting was
symbolic as it took place in
his main office at the
Presidential, Villa, Abuja,
which he abandoned since
he returned from his
medical vacation in
London, United Kingdom,
following allegation of
rodents’ invasion of the
office.
Recall that the Senior
Special Assistant to the
President on Media and
Publicity, Malam Garba
Shehu, had explained that
because of the invasion of
rodents in President
Buhari’s office, repair works
by Julius Berger were
ongoing.
The development forced
the President to fall back on
one of the smaller offices in
the Villa for official
engagements.
However, a statement
issued by Col. T. U. Gusau,
Public Relations Officer to
Minister of Defence,
Mansur Dan-Ali, after the
Armed Forces meeting,
stated that the meeting
considered the ratifications
of National Defence Policy
2017 (Revised);
Harmonized Terms and
Conditions of Service
Officers 2017 (Revised);
and Harmonized Terms
and Condition of Service
Soldiers/Ratings/Airmen
2017 (Revised) amongst
others.
Col. Gusau explained
that the ratifications were
deemed necessary, in view
of contemporary security
challenges and to enhance
welfare, command,
discipline and
administration of the
Nigerian Armed Forces.
The statement read in
part: “Some of the matters
considered include the
ratifications of the National
Defence Policy 2017
(Revised), Harmonized
Terms and Conditions of
Service Officers 2017
(Revised) and Harmonized
Terms and Condition of
Service Soldiers/Ratings/
Airmen 2017 (Revised)
amongst others."

10-—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
8—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017
UNILAG will admit only 8,000
of 32,000 applicants —VC
LAGOS—NO fewer
than 24,000 applicants
to the University of Lagos
who scored 200 marks and
above will still be unable to
secure admission in the
institution in the 2017/2018
academic session.
The outgoing Vice-
Chancellor, Prof. Rahamon
Bello, gave the indication
at a forum with the News
Agency of Nigeria in
Lagos.
He said that although
32,000 applicants to the
university scored 200
marks and above in this
year’s Unified Tertiary
Matriculation examination,
UTME, Unilag would not
admit beyond 8,000.
Bello said that the
university insisted that an
applicant must also score at
least 40 per cent in Unilag’s
post-UTME before
consideration for
admission.
“We know what goes on
in our public examinations.
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
That is why we insist on
candidates undertaking
our post UTME and scoring
at least 40 per cent,” he
said.
According to Bello, who
steps down as Unilag’s
Vice-Chancellor on Nov. 11,
the aim is to promote
excellence.
“We admit the best so that
we can produce the best,”
he stated.
He said the university
held 75 inaugural lectures
during his five-year tenure
in an effort to promote
scholarship.
The professor of Chemical
Engineering noted that the
university had held a total
of 374 inaugural lectures
since its existence.
Bello revealed further
that the university
produced 103 professors in
the past five years,
representing about 20 per
cent of the 292 professors it
had produced in its 55
years of existence.
Kaduna govt condemns NLC for
violence
KADUNA
State
government
yesterday restated its
resolve to upgrade the
quality of education in the
state.
The government, which
spoke against the backdrop
of protest by Nigeria Labour
Congress, NLC, against
the sack of 21,000 teachers,
said it stood firmly by the
long-term interests of the
two million pupils in public
primary schools, and would
not be derailed by the
agitation of 21,000
unqualified teachers.
The government at a
briefing by the Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of
Education, Adamu Mansur,
said it was in the process of
recruiting 25,000 teachers.
He said the state
government has forwarded
names of those who
disrupted schools and
vandalised public property,
Nigerian journalism in crisis —
Premium Times publisher
By Prince Okafor
L AGOS—THE
publisher of
Premium Times, Dapo
Olorunyomi, yesterday,
mourned the state of the
nation’s media, stressing
that, it’s undergoing
serious crisis.
Olorunyomi, made this
known on the sideline of
the ongoing Lagos Book
and Art Festival along
with the celebration of his
60th birthday celebration
in Lagos , titled, “Courage
...Says no going back on
education sector reforms
in the name of protest, lawenforcement
agencies,
since they put the lives of
school childen at risk with
their actions.
He said: “The Kaduna
State government wishes to
thank the public for
supporting its quest to
deliver quality education in
public schools.
‘’This includes recruiting
qualified teachers for the
public primary schools. So
far, more than 17,000
applications have been
received by the Kaduna
State Universal Basic
Education Board and more
are expected before the
November 19, deadline.
“The government today
reviewed the situation in
primary schools across the
state. This review included
a meeting with the
executive secretaries of all
the 23 local government
education authorities.''
under fire: A life of/in
professional journalism .”
According to him, “ The
issues at the moment, I
would say, is that Nigeria
journalism is undergoing
some crisis. There are
ethical and revenue
problems.
“You can’t solve the
ethical problem, if you
can’t solve the revenue
problem. The media must
find a way to finance it’s
operations in such a way
that it’s operations can be
ethical.”
OIL PRODUCTION: Lagos vows to prevent
unrest, militancy
pollution, deforestation
LAGOS—LAGOS State
Governor, Mr.
Akinwunmi Ambode
yesterday, inaugurated a
45-member Community
Relations Committee in
Badagry, towards
forestalling any incidence
of environmental
degradation, communal
disputes and civil
disturbances often
associated with oil
producing areas.
Governor Ambode, who
spoke at the inauguration
of the Committee at the
VIP Chalet in Badagry,
said that as much as oil is
a major source of revenue
in the country, its
exploration has created
serious environmental
challenges affecting
health, social and
economic activities,
sustainable development
and ecological balance
due to land degradation,
air pollution, water
and ecosystem
degradation in the oil
producing communities.
“These activities among
others have led to
agitations from
communities and youth
groups leading to
disruption of exploration
activities, pipeline
vandalisation and in
extreme cases
kidnapping and violence.
This has made it difficult
to conduct the business of
oil production smoothly
and ensure that the
CONFERENCE: From left—Hon Hakeem Dickson, Director-General/CEO,Lagos
State Safety Commission; Engr Dideolu Falobi,MD/CEO Kresta limited representing
Gbenga Daniel;Engr Johnson Awoyomi,Senior Technical assistant to Hon minister of
State for Petroleum Resources and Engr Abiodun Oyedepo, National Chairman,
Nigeria Institution of Safety Engineers at the Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers,
2017 Conference and AGM in Lagos Photo:Akeem Salau.
relationships between the
oil companies and their
host communities remain
cordial at all times. This
has also affected
negotiations for
compensations for land
acquisition, damages and
spills,” he said.
Governor Ambode,
therefore, said that Lagos,
being the home of
Nigeria’s most critical
commercial activities and
now an oil producing
State with the discovery of
oil in the Badagry Area of
Lagos State; in the Aje Oil
Field, OML 113 being
operated by Yinka
Folawiyo Petroleum
Company, cannot afford
to have any community
un-rests or disruption of
peace.
“It is imperative that our
oil producing companies
and their host
communities enjoy a very
warm and mutually
beneficial relationship.
“Sequel to the aforesaid
and the need to create a
conducive exploration
environment for the Oil
Companies as well as
having host Communities
devoid of rancor to
prevent the re-occurrence
of the Niger Delta issues
in Lagos State, we have
constituted a Committee
for the Lagos State Oil
Producing Areas
Relations, cutting across the
Oil
Producing
Communities in Badagry,”
the Governor said.
$43.4m: Court orders temporary forfeiture of
Osborne Towers flat
By Onozure Dania
LAGOS—A Federal
High court sitting in
Lagos, yesterday
ordered the temporarily
forfeiture to the Federal
Government of Nigeria
Flat 7b Osborne Towers,
Ikoyi where the sum of
$43.4 million and
N23,218,000 were
recovered by the
Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission,
EFCC.
The EFCC had earlier
named Mrs Folashade
Oke, wife of the
dismissed Director
General of Nigeria
Intelligence Agency, Mr
Ayodele Oke as owner of
the property.
The order of the court
was sequel to an ex-parte
application filed and
argued before the court
by the Economic and
Financial Crimes
commission EFCC legal
Officer and Mr Rotimi
Oyedepo.
In an affidavit sworn to
by EFCC investigator,
Musa Yusuf and filed
before the court by Mr
Oyedepo, the Deponent
averred that base on
intelligent report
received by the
commission that huge
sums of money in foreign
and local currencies
being an unlawful
property was
surreptitiously kept in
Flat 7b 16 Osborne road
Ikoyi.
On the 12 of April,
2017, executed search
warrant and recovering
of the sums of
$43,449,947,£27,800,
N23,218,000 was
registered with the
commission’s exhibits
keeper.
Thereafter, EFCC
sought and obtained
order of the court for an
interim forfeiture.
The following
documents were also
recovered: A document
titled Lagos Government
Form 1c which bears
Chobe Ventures Limited
on the guarantee.
Similarly, four invoices
for purchase of items
from different companies
bear the name of one
Bunmi Olomo of 18a,
modele road Surulere
Lagos. With Telephone
number 08033805749.
Also recovered are way
bills and proforma
invoice issued by Lethal
World to Chobe ventures.
African leaders launder $50bn annually —
Obasanjo
By Daud Olatunji
A BEOKUTA—
F O R M E R
President Olusegun
Obasanjo has lamented
that political leaders and
other key players in both
public and private
sectors in Africa have
been illicitly taken away
a whooping sum of $50
billion from Africa
annually.
Obasanjo said this at
the 1st Annual Nigeria
Anti Fraud Conference
organised in Abeokuta
by the Association of
Certified Fraud
Examiners, ACFE,
Lagos, Nigeria Chapter.
The forner President
explained that the
increasing smuggling of
such whooping funds
meant for socio-economic
growth and development
of African continent is
now giving African
leaders, past and
present, great concerns,
saying , everybody must
lend his support to fight
the ugly trend.
Obasanjo who called
for joint effort to curb
smuggling of funds to
foreign lands noted that
Nigeria and all African
countries might not
develop if leaders and
followers turned deaf
ears to the call to end the
ugly trend .
The former President,
who was named as
Grand Patron of ACFE,
Lagos Nigeria Chapter
considering his efforts
against fraud and
corruption in Nigeria,
however asked the
financial professionals
and all members of the
Association to help fight
fraud and corruption in
Nigeria and Africa as a
whole.
He said, “$50 billion
annually, is illicitly
taken away from Africa,
this is a major concern
for African leaders, past
and present.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017 — 11
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
BIRTHDAY: From left: Jiti Ogunye, Legal Adviser Premium Times,
Mr Dapo Olorunyomi, the celebrant and Taiwo Obe, Founder/
Director, The Journalism Clinic, at the Art House Forum with the
theme: "Courage Under Fire: A Life of/in Professional Journalist
for Dapo Olorunyomi @60" held at Freedom Park Lagos,
yesterday. Photo:Akeem Salau
Senate approves $350m World Bank
loan for Ogun
acceptable loan
ABUJA—THE Senate
at
plenary
yesterday, approved
350 million dollars World
Bank loan for Ogun State
Development Policy
Operation, DPO, as
contained in the 2016-
2018 Rolling Plan.
The approval followed
the presentation of a
report on the loan by
Chairman, Senate
Committee on Local and
Foreign Debts, Sen.
Shehu Sani.
Presenting the report,
Sani said that the
committee observed that
the Ogun State DPO
budget for the loan had
been approved by World
Bank in 2016.
He added that the loan
was further captured in
the 2016-2018 borrowing
plan as approved by the
National Assembly.
Sani noted that the
committee also observed
that the credit facility had
an attractive low
financing rate of 125 per
cent interest, moratorium
of five years and a fiveyear
maturity term.
He said “the facility has
already been captured in
the 2016-2018 Medium
Term Expenditure
Framework.
“It also has low and
CONFERMENT OF TITLES: I’m
unstoppable, Olubadan boasts
By Ola Ajayi
I BADAN—THE
Olubadan of
Ibadanland, His
Imperial Majesty, Oba
Saliu Akanmu Adetunji,
has said the proposed
boycott of the conferment
of chieftaincy title on Mr
Adebayo Shittu,
Minister
of
Communication by his
estranged members of
Obas-in-Council on
Saturday would not stop
him nor take the shine
off the ceremony.
The monarch who no
longer enjoys the
support of nine out of 11
members of the council
said this through his
Director of Media and
Public Affairs, Mr Adeola
Oloko in an electronic
mail yesterday.
He said as far as the
ceremony is concerned,
it remains unstoppable
and irreversible adding
that he does not need
the involvement and
endorsement of any high
chief to perform his role
as Olubadan.
He was apparently
reacting to a statement
credited to two members
of Obas-in-Council who
said the monarch did not
inform or invite them as
required by laid down
rules and regulations
guiding chieftaincy
matters.
The front-line monarch
accused the two
unnamed high chiefs of
contradicting themselves
by saying one thing in
the print media on
Wednesday and another
thing on the electronic
media on Thursday.
Oba Adetunji stated
that he has not flouted
any rule or regulation by
appointing deserving
individuals for title
conferment as the law
that affirms Olubadan as
the prescribed and
appointing authority on
chieftaincy matters
which pre-dated his
ascension to the exalted
throne of Olubadan has
not been repealed.
He therefore urged
those concerned to read
the chieftaincy laws
guiding the operations
of Olubadan and his
chiefs thoroughly and
properly to discover the
truth.
sustainability level,
therefore it is eligible to
borrow.
“The DPO loan will
further help to enhance
the capacity of the state
government.
“The state has met the
various conditions laid by
World Bank and as such
qualified for the loan.
“It has also put in place
institutional framework for
transparent and
accountable budgetary
and financial purpose.”
He explained that the
projects to be funded by
the facility would
engender economic
growth, increase revenue
generation and create
e m p l o y m e n t
opportunities.
“The committee
recommends that the
Senate should go ahead
and approve the loan as
contained in the 2016-
2018 external borrowing
rolling plan of President
Muhammadu Buhari,”
Sani added.
The Deputy President of
the Senate, Ike
Ekweremadu, who
presided over plenary, put
the report to voice vote
and it was adopted by the
lawmakers.
Politicians won’t hijack Ondo amnesty
programme —Akeredolu
By Dayo Johnson
A
K U R E —
GOVERNOR
Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo
state,yesterday, assured
repentant militants in the
state that the amnesty
programme designed for
them to drop arms in the
state would not be
hijacked by politicians,
saying the programme
would not be politicised.
Akeredolu, who stated
this during the official
proclamation of Amnesty
for Armed youths in the
Niger Delta area of Ondo
state, said the programme
failed in the past due to
the influence of some
stakeholders, which
portends danger for the
scheme to restore peace in
the area.
According to the
governor, there is no
Mr Gbenga Adefaye,GM /Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard Newspaper
(left) and Mr Azu Ishiekwene, MD/Editor-in-Chief,The Interview,
at the Art House Forum in honour of Dapo Olorunyomi @60 held at
Freedom Park, Lagos, yesterday.
development in an
atmosphere where there
is no peace, noting that
the federal government
has put all machineries in
place to ensure peace in
all the Niger Delta region
areas of the country.
Akeredolu sought the
cooperation of all
stakeholders, especially
community leaders in the
riverine area of the state
to ensure that peace
reigns in their domain
and to ensure that the
youths drop their
How lack of safety standards
causes losses —Daniel
By Gabriel
Olawale
A BEOKUTA—
F O R M E R
Governor of Ogun State,
Otunba Gbenga Daniel
yesterday, raised the
alarm over financial and
manpower losses
resulting from non
compliance with safety
measures in the country
even as he blamed lack of
enforcement of existing
laws for most cases.
Daniel who spoke at the
2017 Conference and
Annual General Meeting
of the Nigerian Institution
of Safety Engineers,
NISE regretted that most
of the people who
perpetrate atrocities that
claimed many lives get
away without
commensurate penalty.
“In Nigeria we have so
many cases of building
collapse, road accidents,
fire incidents among
others and most of them
are not investigated not to
talk of penalising those
responsible. Once we
enforce our laws, we will
have a different attitude to
safety, he said.
Daniel who was
represented by the
Managing Director of
Kresta Laurel Ltd, Engr.
Dideolu Falobi said that
most of the building
collapses in the country
were due to lack of proper
mortgage system.
“Because we do not have
proper mortgage system,
people go into mortgage
without funding. When
they don’t have enough
funds in most cases, they
tend to undercut,’’ he
AJAGUN-NLA DAY: Ex-FERMA
boss, others for N500m
infrastructure launch
O SOGBO—THE
immediate past
Chairman of the Federal
Roads Maintenance
Agency, Dr. Olajide
Adeniji, and other
eminent Nigerians
especially from Osun
State are slated to attend
the launching of N500
million infrastructure
launch and the 2017
Ajagun-Nla Day
celebration.
The event, which will
have top government
officials in attendance, is
slated to hold tomorrow at
the Ila Mini Stadium, Ila-
Orangun, Osun State.
According to a
statement by the Ajagun-
Nla Day Planning
Committee, the chief
hosts of the event are:
Nigeria’s Ambassador to
Republic of Guinea
Bissau, Real Admiral
Adeyemi Afolahan, retd;
Director of Academic
Planning at the Federal
University of Agriculture
Abeokuta, Ogun State,
Prof. Olusola Adeniran;
member of the National
Assembly, Olufemi
Fakeye, among others.

12—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
PDP Convention: Dickson warns against
imposition of candidates
By Samuel
Oyadongha
AS the Peoples
Democratic Party,
PDP, prepares for its
December 9, 2017 national
convention to elect
national officers, Governor
Seriake Dickson of
Bayelsa State has warned
against imposition of
candidates on the party.
Dickson, in a statement
by his Chief Press
Secretary, Francis Agbo,
said the next convention
was critical to the survival
of the PDP. The statement
added that the governor
was totally against
imposition of candidates
for positions at the
convention and called on
PDP leaders and
delegates to make
sacrifices for the unity of
the party.
He stressed that in cases
where party stakeholders/
delegates are unable to
reach a consensus on any
position, the party should
allow all aspirants who
have bought nomination
forms to test their
popularity on the
convention ground.
The governor noted that
it was by creating a levelplaying
field for all
aspirants in a transparent
convention that the PDP
would be stronger and
more cohesive.
Dickson, a former
Chairman of the PDP
Reconciliation
Committee, warned that
the convention should not
be conducted in a
manner that could plunge
the party into fresh crisis.
He said leaders of the
party should avoid the
temptation of taking over
the place of the
convention and the rights
of the delegates to choose
leaders for the party.
He said: “The next
convention is critical to
the survival of the party.
My position is that the
party should organize an
all-inclusive, transparent,
acceptable, and credible
convention that would rebrand
the PDP and show
our platform as a truly
democratic party.
“Therefore, I am against
all forms of
manipulations,
intimidations, blackmail
and imposition of
candidates. For me, there
should be no imposition at
all.
“I will not be a party to
the adoption of anybody
for any office unless it is
by consensus of the zone
to which the position has
been zoned. If there is
more than one contestant
for a position, they should
be given the opportunity
to test their popularity at
the convention.
“A leader, no matter how
highly placed, should not
take the place of the
convention and the
powers of the delegates to
the convention.
“Therefore, on the
position of Chairman and
other offices, once there is
more than one contestant,
PDP leaders and members
should be free to canvass
for any candidate of their
choice; nobody should
quarrel with that.”
He said the PDP must
understand that
Nigerians see the
forthcoming National
Convention as an
opportunity that will
usher in a re-branded and
united PDP, which
Nigerians will be happy
to embrace in 2019.
While noting that the
PDP can regain its glory,
Dickson said the
December Convention is
a precursor to the
Presidential primary,
stressing that if the PDP
gets its national
convention right, it is
likely to hold a successful
Presidential Primary in
2018.
MEETING: Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State (left), with
Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, at
the Margaret Ekpo International Airport as Bala Usman arrived Calabar for
the quarterly meeting with stakeholders at the Calabar Ports.
Stop inciting Deltans against govt, royal
fathers beg politicians
By Victor Ahiuma-
Young
DELTA
North
Traditional Rulers
Forum has pleaded with
opposition politicians and
other groups involved in
perceived hate speeches
and inciting statements
against Delta State
Government to stop
forthwith in the interest of
peace and development of
the state.
The traditional rulers
made the plea in a
communiqué delivered by
the Obi of Owa, Dr.
Emmanuel Ifeizomor II, at
the end of their meeting
held at his palace in Owa-
Oyibu, Ika North East.
The traditional rulers
condemned the destructive
and inciting statements
against the state
government by some
notable politicians in the
state, saying that instead of
destroying the image of the
state, such persons should
join hands with the present
administration to improve
the infrastructural
development of the state
and the socio-economic
wellbeing of Deltans.
The royal fathers urged
Deltans and Nigerians in
general to ignore
statements aimed at
inciting the people against
government, describing
such persons engaged in
such acts as agents of
destabilization who do not
mean well for the state.
The traditional rulers
passed a vote of confidence
on Governor Ifeanyi
Okowa for his inspiring
development efforts in the
face of paucity of funds and
urged him not to be
distracted but remain
focused in the execution of
his prosperity agenda for all
Deltans.
The monarchs
emphasized the need for
greater cooperation
between the traditional
institutions and the state
government in order to
foster peaceful co-existence
among the diverse ethnic
nationalities in the state.
They advised all Deltans to
refrain from bush burning
and its disastrous
consequences now that the
dry season has set in.
They also urged the
police and other security
agents to enforce the ban
on the use of fireworks
during the Christmas
celebration, adding that
persons wanting to shoot
cannon during burial
ceremonies should obtain
permission from their
traditional rulers.
Meanwhile, a 25-man
General Purpose
committee has been
constituted to coordinate
the activities of the Delta
North Traditional Rulers
Forum.
The chairman of the
committee is the Obi of
Owa, Dr. Emmanuel
Efeizomor the second.
Other members of the
committee are the Asagba
of Asaba, Obi of Umunede,
the Akor of Oko-Anala the
Obi of Issele-Uku, the oBi
of Onicha-Ugbo the Obi of
Idumuje-Unor, the Obi of
Ewulu, the Obi of Ubulu-
Unor, the Obi of Ejeme-
Aniogor, the Obi of
Akwukwu-Igbo, the Obi of
Atuma-Iga, the Ugo-Ani of
Okpanam, the Dein of
Agbor, the Obi of Abavo,
the Obi of Igbodo and the
Obi of Ute-Okpu, among
others.
Reps query Agip over unpaid
penalties, royalties
By Emman
Ovuakporie
THE House of
Representatives
Ad-hoc Committee
probing N6 trillion
revenue leakages in the
oil sector, yesterday,
queried Agip Nigeria Oil
Limited over alleged
unremitted royalties and
penalties arising from gas
flaring.
The investigative panel
also gave the company till
November 13, to submit
all existing documents as
proof of reconciled
transactions between it
and the Department of
Petroleum Resources,
DPR, ahead of its
investigative hearing on
November 15.
This came to the fore at
an interactive session
between the panel and
the company during
which officials of Agip
claimed that all
outstanding liabilities had
been cleared via periodic
reconciliation with the
regulator.
Mr. Carlo Santopadre,
responding to queries,
stated that based on the
information the company
got, they were at the
House to provide
responses to issues of
unremitted royalties and
unpaid penalties.
He, however, suggested
that with regard to single
item, it was up to the
committee to decide
whether the company sets
up a technical committee
to reconcile all the
differences and get back
to it, adding that “the
permission will afford us
the opportunity to address
all existing gray areas.”
Mr. Oluwole Agbede,
who is the Tax Manager
at Agip, offering further
clarification, said: “We
usually have annual
reconciliation exercise
with the DPR where gray
areas are ironed out and
the DPR has never come
back to us that what we
submitted were not
accurate.”
On the issue of
Production Sharing
Contract, PSC, he said
the company has remitted
N169 million, adding that
“as for the issue of royalty
that is causing
differences, we don’t
know where that is
coming from, but we have
our own accurate figures
rightly remitted into the
federation account.
Asked if Agip is not
supposed to pay royalty,
he said Agip does pay
but computes its royalties
and remits same into
government account
provided by the regulator.
He added that the
operators check the
numbers with DPR which
they compute and are
very well known to the
DPR, saying: “If there is
any catch-up payment,
we reconcile and remit,
and there has been no
issue with that ever
since.”
A member of the panel,
Mr James Faleke, at this
point asked: “So what you
are telling us is that
government should take
your figures and then
agree that it is the correct
thing?”
While responding that it
was not the case, the Tax
Manager informed the
panel that they took
products last in 2016 and
are still making payments
with reconciliation going
on.
The committee
Chairman, Rep Jarigbe
Agom Jarigbe, told the
officials: “What we look
at is the volume of
products taken by you as
there is computation done
in this regard, and the
agency that does this is
the DPR.”
Jarigbe asked if they
have meters for gas
flared, the Mr. Barry
Nwibani, General
Manager, Nigeria
Content Development at
Agip said there is no gas
flared at the well heads,
but at the flow stations,
assuring the panel of
making documents
available to that effect.
Jarigbe ruled that “Agip
must provide its own
evidence of remittances
and at the end, we will
look at what you have and
what DPR has, and then
involve experts for onthe-spot
assessment to
advise the House
appropriately”.
He reminded the
company that the hearing
is on November 15 and
members are going to be
working with facts,
demanding that all
necessary documents be
submitted to the
secretariat.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—13
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
Military chase Avengers in Delta creeks
•As villagers disown militant group
•As another militant group aborts ceasefire
AWARD: From left: Mr. Onofiok Luke, Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House
of Assembly, Representing the governor of Akwa Ibo State; Alhaji Muhammadu
Indimi, Chairman, Oriental Energy Resources; Muhammadu Sanusi
II, Emir of Kano; Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State, and Governor
Kashim Shettima of Borno State, during the conferment of honourary
doctorate degree on Alhaji Indimi at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom
State.
By Emma Amaize,
Regional Editor, South-
South, & Chancel
Sunday
SOLDIERS continued
the manhunt for
members of the Niger
Delta Avengers, NDA, in
the creeks of Niger Delta
region, yesterday,
with community leaders
and groups distancing
their communities from
the militant group.
Meanwhile, panicstruck
residents of Benneth
Island, Ogbe-Ijoh
Kingdom, Warri South-
West Local Government
Area, Delta State, who
complained of harassment
by the military with
fighter jets and gunboats
for three days running,
begged that soldiers
should spare them the
ordeal.
Vanguard learned that
there was a strong directive
to the security agencies
not to allow the
Avengers and any other
militant group commence
bombing, and so, security
operatives, be it
Army or Navy, were synergizing
to neutralize
any attack and pick up
the militants where possible.
The situation seemed
more critical, yesterday,
as another militant
group, Niger Delta Revolutionary
Crusaders,
NDRC, called-off its
ceasefire and declared
full support for return to
hostilities, as earlier announced
by the NDA.
NDRC, in statement by
the spokesperson, W O I
IzonEbi, served Nigerians
and expatriates
working at Agbami,
Akpo, Usan, Erna, Abo,
Yoho, Unity and Bonga
FPSO platforms, operated
by Chevron Nigeria
Limited, Total, Mobil,
Agip and Shell Petroleum
Development Company,
SPDC, quit notice,
to vacate platforms,
warning that “their safety
can no longer be guaranteed
by the gods of the
rivers and land.”
The NDRC said: “After
wide consultations with
stakeholders, organizations,
and Niger Deltans
in particular, the Niger
Delta Revolutionary Crusaders
NDRC and the
21st Century Youths of
the Niger Delta, hereby,
announce an immediate
withdrawal of the ceasefire
earlier declared by
the NDRC and the 21st
Century Youths.
“By this announcement,
the détente hitherto
announced has
ceased to exist. Our
stance is borne out of the
Federal Government’s
insincerity and deliberate
actions not to abide
by the 16-point agenda
earlier agreed to between
the Federal Government
and PANDEF
and other palliatives to
cushion the effects of oil
exploration and poverty
in the Niger Delta region.’’
The forays by the Army
and Navy in the last few
days, have, indeed, sent
jitters down the spines of
riverine dwellers at
Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh
and Ogulagha Kingdoms
in Delta State.
Security operatives,
however, seemed to be
acting on the intelligence
information that
Delta State is the base of
the Avengers.
A youth leader of Benneth
Island, Jude Godfrey,
told Vanguard on
phone: “The military
broke into some houses
in our community, saying
they were looking for
members of the Niger
Delta Avengers. We are
not members of the
Avengers, they should
leave us alone.”
A rights group, Ijaw
People Development Initiative,
corroborating the
claim of harassment by
the villagers, said that
the residents, who spoke
to its officials that visited
the community, said
their lives were in danger.
Godfrey said: “This
is the third day running.
It started on Tuesday
when some gunboats
and military planes flew
over our community. We
did not know why and
we started calling our
elders and uncles in
Warri to find out what
was happening. Yesterday
(Wednesday), they
came with two fighter
jets and 11 gunboats.
“They said they were
looking for Niger Delta
Avengers, they were ransacking
everywhere,
they destroyed some
houses in the process
and many people fled
into the bush. It is today
(yesterday) that some
people, who ran away on
Wednesday, are coming
out.”
National president of
IPDI, Mr. Austin Ozobo,
said: “We were informed
of continuous military
harassment of the people
of Bennett Island, an
Ijaw -Warri community.
The residents complained
that they were
being harrassed on daily
basis and that about
two fighter jets, flying at
low altitude, were sighted
hovering around the
community, with over
11gunboats, causing
pandemonium in the
community in the past
three days.”
The Traditional Council
of Akugbene-Mein
Kingdom in Bomadi Local
Government Area of
Delta State has called on
the Niger Delta Avengers
to rescind their threat
to resume hostilities in
the Niger Delta region.
The council, in a statement
by the monarch,
HRM Pere Kalanama
VIII, appealed to the
Avengers to exercise restraint
and allow the Pan
Niger Delta Forum, PAN-
DEF, to tackle issues already
presented before
the Federal Government.
It also called on the
President Muhammadu
Buhari-led Federal Government
to, as a matter
of necessity, continue
with the 16-point demand
presented to it by
PANDEF to douse the
brewing tension in the
region.
Meanwhile, the Reformed
Niger Delta
Avengers, RNDA, has
warned the Federal Government
to be wary of the
association between the
Minister of Niger Delta
Affairs, Pastor Usani
Uguru and the Special
Adviser to the President
on Niger Delta /Chairman,
Presidential Amnesty
Programme, Brigadier-
General Boroh
(retd.), on the one side
and ex-militant leader,
Government Ekpemupolo,
alias Tompolo, on the
other.
Leader of the group,
self-styled “Major General”
Johnmark Ezonbi,
alleged that the two top
officials were working
with Tompolo, whom he
described as the mastermind
of the Niger Delta
Avengers, an allegation
that Tompolo, had repeatedly
denied adding
that Tompolo’s emissaries
were already in Abuja
for the meeting, under
the guise of Gbaramatu
leaders.
However, Tompolo, in a
declaration, yesterday,
by his media consultant,
Paul Bebenimibo, urged
President Muhammadu
Buhari, to fund development
projects in the region
with the funds his
government expends
continuously to deploy
military men and hardware
to the region, and
of recent, military exercises
such as Operation
Crocodile Smile and Octopus
Grip.
30 houseboats in
Gbaramatu alone
“At the last count, there
are over 20 military
houseboats in the creeks
of Gbaramatu kingdom
alone. Government provides
so much in taking
care of the military men
and hardware in the region
without achieving
the purpose of their deployment
to the area, as
the agitation for development
of the region continues
on daily basis,’’
he said
HOSTCOM Chair tasks Niger
Delta Avengers on peace
...flays FG over unfulfilled promises
By Tare Youdeowei
THE Chairman, Host
Communities of
Nigeria Producing Oil and
Gas, HOSTCOM, Ijaw
Ethnic Nationality, Delta
State, Mr. Kingsley Ikiere,
has appealed to the Niger
Delta Avengers to “hold the
fire” and maintain the
peace rather than resume
hostilities in the region, just
as he condemned the
Federal Government for
not fulfilling its promises to
the people of the oil-rich
Niger Delta.
Speaking in Warri, Delta
State, while reacting to the
planned resumption of
hostilities, Ikiere pleaded
with the Avengers to “hold
the fire” and embrace
dialogue.
Commending the militant
group for the ceasefire
declared some months ago,
Ikiere pleaded that it
should be sustained,
saying that there is no
sacrifice too much to make
for peace to reign.
“I appeal to the Niger
OML 30: Heritage has employed
Isoko 200 graduates —Fufeyin
THE management of
Heritage Energy
Operational Services
Limited, has said about 200
indigenes from the various
Isoko communities in Delta
State have been gainfully
engaged in graduate
pensionable employment
in the OML 30 operations.
Manager on
Government and
Community Relations of
the company, Mr.
Funkakpo Fufeyin, made
the disclosure at a meeting
with Isoko host
communities and
stakeholders from clusters
5,6,9 held at Oleh, and
promised that all
outstanding quick-win
projects for the
Delta Avengers to give
peace a chance and adopt
dialogue. I know that the
people of the region are
tired of the failed promises
of the Federal Government,
but dialogue remains the
best option and that is why
I am pleading with the
militant group not to strike
again at oil facilities. We
have enjoyed relative
peace since the declaration
of ceasefire by the Niger
Delta Avengers. Oil
production has picked up
since the militant group
pulled out of the creeks. I
want to appeal that the
prevailing peace should be
sustained, no matter the
vexed issues in the region
begging for the attention of
the Federal Government,”
the HOSTCOM chairman
said.
Berating the Federal
Government for not
fulfilling its promises to the
people of the Niger Delta,
he urged the government
to act fast on its promises,
saying that the people were
running out of patience.
Shell empowers 30 Bayelsa youths
with N12m start-up capital
By Samuel
Oyadongha
SHELL
Petroleum
Development
Company, SPDC,
yesterday, presented a
business support grant of
N12 million to 30 Bayelsa
youths under its LiveWire
entrepreneurship scheme.
Speaking at the
graduation ceremony in
Yenagoa, Mr Igo Weli,
General Manager,
External Relations, SPDC,
said the company has so far
empowered 6,580 Niger
Delta youths between the
ages of 18 and 35 through
the scheme..
Represented by Mr Kiri
Obomanu, Head of GMoU
Maturation Unit of SPDC,
Weli said the beneficiaries
have undergone training in
essential business and
entrepreneurship
management.
According to him, 150
young entrepreneurs
participated in the 2017
edition of the Shell Livewire
programme in the
Niger Delta region.
communities have been
approved for execution
between now and end of
December.
He said: “Heritage will
commence scholarship
payments this month,” and
all the complaints and
issues raised by the leaders
and host communities were
very important. The
management of Heritage
will deliberate on them for
possible solutions.
“The engagement of
Isoko leaders and host
communities in discussions
will be sustained to
improve on the existing
cordial relationship
between Heritage and
Isoko host communities.”

14 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Court orders Police to pay
Peace Corps N12.5m
damages, unseal its offices
By Ikechukwu
Nnochiri
ABUJA—THE Abuja
Division of the Federal
High Court, yesterday
awarded N12.5million
damages to Peace Corps of
Nigeria over illegal arrest
and detention of its
members by the Nigerian
Police Force on February
28.
The court, in a judgment
that was delivered by
Justice Gabriel Kolawole,
equally directed the
Inspector General of Police,
Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to
immediately unseal the
head office of Peace Corps
in Abuja.
The Incorporated Trustees
of Peace Corps had gone
before the court to
challenge the clampdown
on its activities by security
agencies, as well the arrest
and detention of 49 of its
members, including its
National Commandant,
Mr. Dickson Akor, by Police.
Akor and other members
of the corps were arrested
Labour insists on fair trade,
national development
By Victor Ahiuma-
Young
O RGANIZED
labour has called
on African governments to
insist on fair international
trade and not undermine
the rights of African workers
and national development
objectives in their desperate
quest for foreign
investment.
Addressing the Working
committee meeting on
Trade and Industrial Policy
of IndustriALL Global
Union in Colombo, Sri
Lanka, Vice President of
IndustriALL, African
Region, Issa Aremu,
observed that decisions of
multinationals to invest in
Africa “are often inspired by
access to vast market, tax
holidays, cheap raw
materials and supply
chains, subsidies and low
wages rather than mass
decent sustainable jobs,
technology transfers and
national development.”
Aremu who is also the
General Secretary of the
National Union of Textile,
Garment and Tailoring
Workers of Nigeria,
NUTGWN, contended that
miserable low wages, long
hours of works, child labour
and what he called “labour
dumping and direct
importation of cheap
prisoner- workers” to Africa
were the new motivations
for some Chinese
investment in Africa.
He urged African
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
after a team of security
men, comprising both
Police and operatives of the
Department of State
Service, DSS, swooped on
them during official
opening of headquaters of
the organisation at No. 57
Iya Abubakar Crescent, Off
Alex Ekwueme Way,
Opposite Jabi Lake, Jabi,
Abuja.
Police had since then
sealed the building, even
as the Attorney General of
the Federation and
Minister of Justice, Mr.
Abubakar Malami, SAN, in
a motion he filed before
another the Judge of the
high court on Wednesday,
applied for an order of
interim forfeiture of assets
of the corps to the Federal
Government.
Meanwhile, dissatisfied
with the way police
coordinated the raid and
arrest of its officials, Peace
Corps, through its
lawyer, Chief Kanu
Agabi, SAN, filed the suit
wherein it demanded N2
billion from the IGP.
governments to be weary of
trade and investment deals
that could consign them
perpetually to the status of
producers of raw materials,
export base for foreign
multinationals’ products as
distinct from developing
producer economies.
Aremu, who argued that
international trade issues
were “too important and too
weighty to be left with
governments alone”
expressed labour support
for the recent proposals by
90 developing countries
including Nigeria
demanding for changes in
the rules of World Trade
Organization (WTO) that
put constrains on national
development priorities.
Nigerian scientists, others seek better funding
for medical research
By Chioma Obinna &
Oluwaseyi Adeshina
NIGERIAN scientists
and their
counterparts from the
United States Centre for
Disease Control, CDC,
have called for adequate
funding of innovative
medical research with a
view to ensuring national
development and effective
response to disease
outbreaks.
The scientists, who spoke
at the 4th International
Scientific Conference of the
Nigerian Institute of
Medical Research, NIMR,
51 Days to End of Year: Senate passes
N222.3bn 2017 Budget for FCT
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA—BARELY 51
days to the end of
2017 fiscal year, the Senate
yesterday approved N222,
360, 551, 512 billion as
Statutory Appropriation for
the Federal Capital Territory,
FCT.
The Bill proposal which
scaled second reading on
October 31, 2017 and
referred to the Committee on
Federal Capital Territory,
FCT, for further legislative
action and report back
within two weeks, was
yesterday read the third time
and passed.
The Budget proposal was
read the first time on
October 25, 2017.
Of the N222.3 billion
budget for the FCT, N52.5
billion is for personnel costs,
while the overhead costs is
N41 billion totaling N93.8
billion recurrent, while the
capital expenditure is
N128.4 billion.
The Senate passed the
2017 FCT budget after the
consideration of the report
of the FCT Statutory
Appropriation Bill, 2017
(SB550) by the Chairman,
Senate Committee on FCT,
Senator Dino Melaye,
APC, Kogi West.
In his presentation,
Senator Melaye said the
VISIT: From left; Mrs Ore Famurewa, Corporate Affairs Director, Mr Ben Langat,
MD, both of FrieslandCampina WAMCO and Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu
of Kebbi State during the governor's courtesy visit to FrieslandCampina WAMCO
office in Lagos to discuss partnership on Dairy Development. Photo by Shola Oyelese.
FG moves to consolidate ease of doing business in
mining sector
By Soni Daniel
A BUJA—THE
F e d e r a l
Government, yesterday
took another bold step in
consolidating ease of
doing business in the
mining sector with official
unveiling of the
Integrated Automated
and Interactive GIS Web
Portal of the Ministry of
Mines and Steel
in Lagos, maintained that
research was the greatest
engine for human
development.
In his submission at the
Conference with the theme:
“Funding Health Research:
In A Depressed Economy”,
a Professor of Translational
Medicine, St. Mary’s
Hospital Campus, Imperial
College, London, United
Kingdom, Professor Simon
Taylor–Robinson,
encouraged Nigeria and
other countries to at least
devote 1 percent of its GDP
to medical research as it
would improve healthcare
delivery, save lives and
budget for Personnel cost
was intended to cushion
the effect of the
promotion, yearly
increment and
engagement of new but
essential staff of Health,
Education, Directorate of
Road Traffic Services for
Traffic Management and
Abuja Environment
Protection Board for city
cleaning.
According to
him, personnel cost in the
budget constituted 23.64%
of the FCT statutory budget
Development.
The unveiling of the GIS
Web Porter, which came
barely a month after a
World Risk Report on
Global Mining sector
rated Nigerian Mining
jurisdiction as having a
better investment risk
profile, according to
Minister of Mines and
Steel Development, Dr
Kayode Fayemi,
underscored the
government’s
proposal while the
overhead costs constituted
18.20 % of the FCT 2017
budget, just as he
explained that the capital
budget was 58% of the total
budget.
On the Overhead costs,
Senator Melaye said the
provision in the budget
would be to enhance the
operational cost of
secretariat, Department
and Agencies (SDAs) to
improve performance
and meet up with
revenue target.
commitment to grow the
sector.
Dr Fayemi who
demonstrated some
geological enquiries on
the GIS web portal
(portal.minesandsteel.gov.ng),
during the inauguration,
said the e-platform would
aid the steady growth of
the mining sector and
contribute to the
realisation of the
administration’s goal of
diversifying the
economy’s revenue base,
creating jobs, and
broadening the range of
economic opportunities
available to Nigerians.
He said with the
launch of the portal, the
country had now joined
the league of jurisdictions
in the global mining
space that deployed
technology towards
achieving transparency
and ease of doing
business in mineral sector
governance.
The Minister said the
overall objective of the
project was to increase
provision of reliable
information and
knowledge to enhance
promotion of investment in
the sector using technology
driven innovation.
He explained that the
budget also made provision
for some critical services
such as Security, City
cleaning, Traffic
management, chemicals for
water Treatment etc.
Melaye also said various
capital project that would
be done in the 2017 FCT
budget included the
expansion of Airport and
Kubwa Expressways,
provision of infrastructure
to ongoing districts such
as Jahi, Wuye, Maitama
Extension and Abuja
….As Ministry unveils integrated automated GIS web portal
reduce mortality.
Taylor –Robinson noted
that medical research was
key and crucial in the
healthcare, hence, the need
for individuals, and local
governments to also
encourage research.
On his part, Director-
General of NIMR, Prof.
Babatunde Salako, who
noted that research was
critical in public health as
well as every other aspect
of medicine, said
biomedical research alone
was capable of unravelling
life mysteries and
translating discovery to
sound health and economic
prosperity.
According to him: “This
would in turn help increase
the sector’s GDP
contribution significantly.
“Part of the deliverables
of this project, among
others, include: Business
Processes Re-engineering,
building of a GIS Web
Portal with a Business
Automation System,
Content Management
System (CMS),
Geographic Information
System (GIS), Decision
Support System,
collaboration and upgrade
of the ICT Infrastructure of
the Ministry.”
Fayemi, noted, while
new technology would
further reduce the time
spent on various processes
in the sector as information
can now be assessed from
any parts of the world, just
as transaction could be
done from any location.
He listed some of the
tasks to be performed by
the Web portal to include
online processing of
mining licenses and
mineral titles application;
online payment of royalties
and fees; as well as database
for revenue drive; business
intelligence analysis,
reports and statistical data
generation.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017 — 15
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
Ojukwu defended Ndigbo when it mattered
most—Ohanaeze, South-East govs
•As Igbo groups ask UN to probe soldiers killing of civilians in Abia
By Chioma
Gabriel, Editor
Special Features
ENUGU—THE apex
Igbo socio-cultural
organization, Ohanaeze
Ndigbo yesterday lauded
the leadership and
patriotism of the late Igbo
leader and Nigerian
statesman, Dim
Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu,
describing him as a
foremost leader and
principled man.
The President General of
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief
Nnia Nwodo stated this
at the post humous
birthday colloquium
organised for the
departed legend by the
Coalition of Civil Society
organisations of Nigeria,
COSCON and the
Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu
leadership Foundation
COOLEF at the
Ohanaeze Ndigbo
National Secretariat in
Enugu.
Nwodo lauded the late
Igbo leader as a
principled, committed
and dogged man who
stood and defended his
people when it mattered
most.He commended the
organisers of the event for
deeming it fit to initiate
the programme and
assured them that
Ohanaeze Ndigbo would
continue to support them.
In a related
development, the
Governor of Ebonyi state
and the chairman of the
South East Governors
Forum, Engr Dave Umahi
commended the
organisers of the event
and the president of the
Coalition of Civil Society
Organisations of Nigeria
COSCON, Chuks Ibegbu
who saw to its fruition. He
lauded the leadership
attributes of Odumegwu
Ojukwu which saw him
through several
challenges before his
death.
He noted that Ojukwu
was a foremost Igbo
leader whose candour,
the present and future
generations of Igbo
people and Nigerians
should emulate.
He promised to support
the organisers in all ways
possible. Governor Umahi
was represented at the
occassion by his
Commissioner for
Education, Prof John
Eke.
Earlier in their
speeches, the guest
speakers, Prof Obasi Igwe
of UNN, Prof Raph
Nwokedi, and Chudi
Offodile called on Ndigbo
to stand firm like Ojukwu
did to demand for their fair
share in Nigeria.
"On no account should
Igbo allow themselves to
be cowed in demanding
for their rights as their
forebears fought and got
independence for
Nigeria".
They noted that what
Ojukwu saw yesterday
was what many Nigerians
are seeing today and said
Ojukwu was a prophet
and an avatar.
Investigate Abia
killings by Nigeria
Army
Meantime, two Igbo
groups, Igbo Peoples
Congress and the Igbo
Aborigenes have called
on the United Nations
and the International
criminal court at the
Hague to investigate and
try the soldiers and
commaders who killed
unarmed pro Biafra
agitators at Umuahia and
Aba between September
15 to October 15, 2017.
The spokesmen of the
groups, Pastor Okey
Colbert and Mazi Chidi
Obisike noted that the
issue must not be swept
under the carpet. They
insisted that President
Muhammadu Buhari
and Gen Buratai , the
Army Chief of Staff must
be tried for their crime
against humanity in the
matter.
They declared that more
than a month after the
dastard attack on the
house of the IPOB
leader, Nnamdi Kanu ,
corpses of the slain IPOB
members are still being
recovered in the bush
around his house and at
bushes across the state.
They called on Igbo
governors and leaders not
to keep quiet over the
matter as it was the future
leaders of Igbo land that
were cut short in their
prime.
"No matter what the
Federal Government
claimed that Nnamdi
Kanu did , the Army
should not have
committed that level of
massacre in his
compound."
Anambra election: Nwoye welcomes Nimo's
endorsement
AWKA—The
All
Progressives
Congress, APC
governorship candidate
in Anambra, Dr Tony
Nwoye has welcomed the
endorsement of his
aspiration by the Nimo
community in Njikoka
Local government Area of
the state, promising to
support the people in
harnessing their
potentials in commerce
and industry.
Political and business
stakeholders from the
community had earlier in
the week at a gathering
in the residence of Justice
Anthony Iguh, a retired
jurist of the Supreme
Court endorsed Dr.
Nwoye’s aspiration on the
claim that he is the best
qualified of the major
candidates to represent
the interest of the
community and the state.
Among those at the
gathering were the
President General of
Nimo Community, Hon.
Chief Dr. Frankanthony
Igboka; Chief Matthew
Omeokachie (1st Vice-
President of Nimo Town
Union); Hon. Chief
George Ibezimako
Ozodinobi; Dr. Nicholas
Igwe; Nduka Aguofia
Esq; Chief Emma
Ndubuisi ; Ozor Paul
Ezenwa; Chief Fide
Nwabunie; Hon. Tony
Aniedobe (Immediate
past Onitsha North LG
Legislative Leader); and
Hon. Sir. Toby Okwuoya.
.Also present were
defectors from APGA including
chieftains of the
party who welcomed Dr.
Nwoye and his running
mate, Dozie Ikefife Jnr.
Welcoming the
endorsement, Dr. Nwoye
in a statement issued by
his spokesman, Nonso
Madu said:
“It is a pleasure to add
the support of the Nimo
people to the groundswell
of support for a new
direction in the pattern of
government in Anambra
State.
"The hardworking Nimo
people like many other
communities in Anambra
have been seriously
affected by the
dilapidation of
infrastructure and the
absence of positive
governance in Anambra ."
PEOPLE SPEAK
Enugu Assembly adjourns
sitting to renovate chamber
By Dennis Agbo
E NUGU—ENUGU
State House of Assembly,
yesterday adjourned
plenary for two
weeks to renovate its
chamber.
Speaker of the House,
Hon. Edward Ubosi said
that the minor renovation
would include the repadding
of seats as well as
installation of more
lights to make the hallowed
chamber more dignifying
and edifying.
The speaker said that
because of the renovation,
the House adjourned
to resume sitting
on November 23,
2017.
Meanwhile, before the
adjournment, the House
passed into law the
Amended Consolidation
of all Property and Land
Based Rates and Charges
payable under Property
Rates Law; Local
Government Law and
Assessment Law in Enugu
State, Law No.7,
2016, into a new Land
Based Charge to be
called Property Land
Use Charge, to make
provision for the levying
and collection of charges
and for connected
purposes, House Bill
No. 14, 2017.
Leader of the House,
Hon. Ikechukwu Ezeugwu
while pleading with
his colleagues to pass
the amended law said
that the bill was passed
into law on August 9,
2016 but is now due for
amendment to become
more functional.
Members who spoke in
favour of the bill said that
it was not a contentious
one and for this reason,
the bill was unanimously
passed into law.
Enugu LG Polls: PDP BOT
member lauds sportsmanship
of 37 parties
E
N U G U — A
member of the
Peoples Democratic
Party’s, PDP, Board of
Trustees, Amb. Mrs.
Justina Eze, has
applauded the
sportsmanship displayed
by 37 out of the 40
registered political
parties in Enugu State,
in accepting defeat and
endorsing the outcome of
the November 4 Local
Government Elections in
the state.
Amb. Eze said that the
gesture was rare and a
clear proof that the
elections were credible,
free and fair and in
conformity with
international best
practices, commending
the Enugu State
Independent Electoral
Commission, ENSIEC,
for the feat.
The PDP BOT member
also hailed Governor
Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for
fulfilling the promise he
made to the people of the
state that credible and
peaceful Local
Government Elections
will be conducted in the
state in 2017.
She added that the
g o v e r n o r ’ s
unprecedented
achievements, despite
the nation’s daunting
economic challenges, his
peace initiatives and
commitment to the tenets
of inclusive and
participatory democracy,
PDP’s vigorous
campaigns in all the
nooks and crannies of
the state, among others,
saw to the landslide
victory of the party at the
polls, adding that
“Enugu people are so
lucky to have Gov.
Ugwuanyi as their
governor.”
By Bartholomew
Madukwe (08051019450)
nwamad@yahoo.com
If not for President Bu
hari’s favouritism for his
northern kinsmen, how on
earth would a man wanted
by an agency of same government
ever be re- instated
and even elevated? The
Magu and DSS reports
against him are precedents.
Mr Matthew Afezuku,
Worker
How could he steal
s u c h
an amount of money and
still have the mind to come
and work as civil servant
again. President Buhari
should have ordered the
immediate arrest of Maina
instead of ordering his sack.
EFCC should arrest Maina
now. Mr Ese Edem,
Worker
On Maina’s sack over corruption
How can this wanted
criminal (Maina) got
employed into Buhari’s
government without his
consent? This is a shame of
the highest level. It shows
that Buhari is not in charge.
This would never have
happened if Buhari was in
charge. Mr Frank Albert,
Self Employed
Iam not sure this man is
in charge of this government,
there is a government
inside Buhari’s government.
Did Buhari just
wake up from slumber?
How did Maina get back
to the country and who reinstated
him without Buhari’s
consent? Mr Okolo
Emeka, Administrator
Mr president, Nigeri
ans are watching. Did
Maina just reappear to
ministry of interior? The
answer is No! Then why
are you not ordering for
the arrest and prosecution
of Maina? What about
those who aided his recall?
Mr Mizta Eggahson,
Self Employed
In my view, I see the
whole thing as an action
film! The person who
wrote the script from her
hiring to dismissal did
Buhari a favour. At least
the masses will hail him
and forget about the real
problem. But all of us
can’t be fooled. Mr Oliver
Eze, Student

16—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
VISIT: From left, Mr. Babatunde Ajala, Political and Economic Officer, Embassy of
Switzerland in Nigeria; Mr. Michel Puchercos, CCEO, Lafarge Africa Plc; H.E., Ambassador
Eric Mayoraz, Switzerland Ambassador to Nigeria and Mrs. Folashade Ambrose-Medebem,
Director, Communications, Public Affairs & Sustainable Development, Lafarge Africa Plc
during a courtesy visit to the Ambassador in Abuja.
FORUM: From left, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Agriculture,
Dr. Kabiru Mohammed Adamu; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu
Enelamah; Chairman, Governing Board, Bank of Industry, BOI, Mr. Dikko Aliyu, and
Managing Director, BOI, Mr. Olukayode Pitan, during the 2017 Chief Executive Officers
Forum of African Development Finance Institutions, Abuja.
TRIP: From left, Managing Director, T. C Power Tech Solar Company Limited, Mr.
Tochuckwu Nnaji; Director, Nextgen Energy and Allied Services Limited, Mr. Uka Ibe;
Chief Executive Officer, Green Kapital, Mr. Chinedu Ibezimako; Chief Strategy Officer,
Wandel International Limited, Mr. Kunal Grover, and Chief Marketing Officer, Luminous
Power Technologies (India) Pvt. Limited, Mr. Sachin Bhalla, during a trip organised by
Wandel International for Luminous Inverters Dealers in Nigeria to the company’s
headquarters in Delhi NCR, India.
By Olasunkanmi
Akoni
LAGOS—AS part of
measures to further
ensure safety of lives on
waterways, especially
during boats mishaps, the
Lagos State Waterways
Authority, LASWA, has
warned boat operators to
always ensure passengers
use life jackets before
embarking on any
voyage, saying failure
would henceforth, attract
severe sanction.
This came as LASWA,
on Tuesday conducted a
simulation exercise on
rescue of victims of boat
mishaps at Ebute-Ero
Jetty, Lagos Island, as
part of the ongoing safety
campaign across jetties in
the state on the need to
imbibe a safety culture on
waterways aimed at reducing
incidences of
deaths.
The simulation exercise
conducted to enlighten
water users on what to do
By Destiny Eseaga
UYO—AKWA Ibom
State Government
has appointed a private
firm, Enterprise Club of
Nigeria to package and
market the forthcoming
Akwa Ibom International
Trade Fair, AKWAFAIR
2017, scheduled for November
20 to December
3, 2017, at the Ibom Hall
grounds, Uyo, Akwa Ibom
State.
The theme for this
year’s fair is, “Empowering
Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises: A
Panacea for Accelerated
and Sustainable Economic
Growth.”
Enterprise Club of Nigeria
was at the ongoing
Lagos International
Trade Fair to sensitize Nigerians,
exhibitors and
:Vanguard News
LASWA begins strick enforcement
of safety jackets on waterways
MIREMCO vows to check
miners in Delta
By Festus Ahon
ASABA—DELTA State
Mineral Resources
and Environmental Management
Committee,
MIREMCO has reiterated
its determination to
establish workable
synergies between miners
and host communities
so as to curtail the activities
of miners in the state.
Speaking at Asaba during
a meeting between
members of the committee,
miners and other
stakeholders in the state,
Chairman of the Committee,
John Edijala lamented
that most of the
host communities were in
court over a series of
disagreements,
While assuring that the
stakeholders would be
brought together for out
of court settlement to
make mining beneficial
to host communities, he
in case of a boat accident
was done by
LASWA in collaboration
with members of Lagos
State Emergency Management
Agency,
LASEMA.
Managing Director,
Oluwadamilola
Emmanuel, explained
that the campaign was
also aimed at auditing all
the jetties in Lagos because
most of them need
an upgrade.
According to
Emmanuel, "After the exercise
which came to an
end this week, we will be
giving all operators on
waterways, two weeks to
comply with safety
guidelines and laws, particularly,
compulsory use
of life jackets for passengers.
Lagos state government
recently, distributed
over 2,500 life jackets
to boat operators for
their passengers to use
despite the fact that it is
not the duty of the government
to do so."
said the committee was
out to protect the interest
of Deltans without
encroaching on anybody's
job.
Edijala disclosed that
one of their objectives
was to pay visits to host
communities and miners
and make sure they
relate very well for the
progress of the residents
and the state at large.
Commenting on the
problem of multiple revenue
collection, he assured
that the committee
would liaise with local
government councils,
federal, state agencies
and stakeholders to
strategize on how to
centralize the
modalities for the collection
of the taxes,
raise the state Internally
Generated Revenue,
IGR, to enable it check
illegal miners.
Firm gets nod to package
AKWAFAIR 2017
investors on the preparedness
of the State Government
to make the Fair
a one-stop shop for all
stakeholders in the micro,
small and medium
enterprise development
ecosystem.
Addressing journalists
at the Lagos Trade Fair
Media Centre, The Chief
Executive Officer, Enterprise
Club of Nigeria, Mr.
Mike Okon said that the
Governor of Akwa Ibom
State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel is
fully committed to the success
of the Fair by providing infrastructures
and securities for a
hitch-free event.
His words: ‘’As we all know,
Akwa Ibom State is a investors
friendly State, the largest
revenue earner from the federation
account and host to the
biggest oil company in Nigeria,
Exxon-Mobil."

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017 —17
THE other day, an article
titled “WHY I STAND
WITH OSITA CHIDOKA
(AND WHY YOU SHOULD
TOO)” popped into my inbox.
It had been written by my
friend, Patrick Okigbo III
(pokigbo@gmail.com), who
has enthusiastically thrown
himself into Chidoka’s
gubernatorial election
campaign in Anambra. I have
so much respect for Patrick, a
very competent and
discerning power sector
expert, that I’d seriously
consider supporting anyone
he recommends.
But I don’t have to think
about taking Patrick’s word for
it on this occasion because
I’ve been a Chidoka fan for
some time myself for a number
of reasons. Firstly, I’ve briefly
encountered him and his wife
at events in Abuja; and I just
like their vibe. They’re a fine
young couple. Modest and
charming and smart.
Secondly, I clearly recall how
well Chidoka, then the
Minister of Aviation, handled
a tough Hard Talk interview
on BBC TV…on the eve of the
2015 polls and at a time when
the PDP government he
served (Jonathan’s) was under
tremendous pressure.
Tremendous
pressure
Faced with aggressive
questions about problems like
Boko Haram, Chidoka was
calm, firm and persuasive. I
was pro-APC at the time but
was so impressed by
Chidoka’s performance that I
wholeheartedly praised him
on this page. And when I
bumped into him a few weeks
later, after his party had lost
the election, I told him that I
hoped that when Igbos
eventually got a chance to
produce a President of
Nigeria, he would pitch for the
top job and win. He thanked
me quietly.
Now I’m praying that he will
get a chance to run his own
state because I think he’ll be
a dynamic Chief Executive of
Anambra. And I’ll leave it up
to Patrick to explain why we
are standing with Osita
Chidoka and want others to
join us:
I met Osita in 2012 when he
•Osita Chidoka
Chidoka for governor!
invited my firm to document
his tenure at the Federal Road
Safety Corps (FRSC). With
unfettered access, we
chronicled 44 initiatives under
his five strategic themes of
transformation:
•Institutional Framework (3)
•High Performance
Organisation (3)
•Operational Excellence
(20)
I am not aware of
any other
candidate in the
race who has a
legion of teams
that are organised,
passionate or
committed to the
cause. Ndi
Anambra are tired
of the politics of
old.
•Enabling Technology (11)
•Stakeholder Partnerships
(6)
By 2012, these initiatives
had resulted in the significant
reduction in deaths per 10,000
vehicles from 156 (in 1988) to
41; and the World Bank had
adopted FRSC as a model for
establishing similar road
safety organisations across
Africa..
Awed by his remarkable
reform of FRSC from a staid
government agency to a high
performance, merit-driven,
knowledge-based
organisation that leveraged
technology to drive
operational excellence, I saw
Anambra’s immense potential
being unleashed by Chidoka
and I actively lobbied him to
take on the role.
In the last two years (since
he decided to get in the race),
Osita has built a formidable
ground game with over 20,000
passionate campaign staff
across the 4,608 polling units
in the state. The campaign
has a 50-seat Call Centre from
where volunteers make calls
to registered voters across the
state.
I am not aware of any other
candidate in the race who has
a legion of teams that are
organised, passionate or
committed to the cause. Ndi
Anambra are tired of the
politics of old. They desire
the values that Chidoka
represents. They are
committed to his victory at the
November 18, 2017 elections.
Here are some of the reasons
why I (and volunteers) Stand
with Osita Chidoka.
1. It’s about the future: The
2017 gubernatorial elections in
Anambra is a referendum on
the future. It is a choice
between a great leap forward
and the ordinary. Anyi bu Ndi
Anambra; anyi na-eme ife sili
ike (We are from Anambra and
we do big and difficult
things). With nothing, we
create monuments. Since
when did we start celebrating
the ordinary? A government
that only constructs roads and
pays salaries is doing the
barest minimum. Period! Ndi
Anambra deserve so much
more. Osita has proven that
he can do more.
2. Bold leadership: We need
an intelligent and fearless
leader, now, more than ever
before. For decades, we have
sought a leader who is
committed to selflessly project
and protect the interest of Ndi
Anambra. Chidoka
understands this urgency. He
understands the need to
restore the voice of Ndigbo in
Nigeria today and secure our
rightful place in building the
nation.
3. Pragmatic ideas:Ndi
Anambra need a leader who
can redirect our collective
energies to productive
engagements rather than
primordial sentiments that
divide us. Chidoka has
pragmatic ideas to re-ignite
the spirit of Ndi Anambra and
build the state into an
enterprise, knowledge, and
technology hub for West
Africa.
Good
governance
•Anambra
Chidoka has spent the last
three years actively debating
various ideas on how to
transform Anambra into an
economically self-sufficient
and wealth-creating state that
leads in innovation, good
governance
and
infrastructural development.
He is committed to a visionary
and transparent communitybased
government driven only
by the genuine aspirations of
Ndi Anambra. I have been
part of these discussions and
I am inspired by the
possibilities.
4. Well-prepared: The
Government House in Awka is
not a “training
school”. Rather, it should be
a platform from where people
with proven and verifiable
professional and personal
successes implement
well-considered
solutions to improve the
lives of Ndi
Anambra. Osita comes
fully prepared with
academic excellence,
and stellar careers in
the private and public
sectors. He has spent
time thinking and
providing solutions to
the similar development
challenges in the
state. He has built a
pan-Nigerian and
international network of
partners that will
partner with his
administration to
implement his development
agenda for Anambra.
5. Sense of history:We
need a governor who wants to
leave an indelible mark in the
hearts of Ndi Anambra. We
need a governor who wants to
follow in the footsteps of Sam
Mbakwe and Michael
Okpara. We need a leader
who understands that history
will judge him and his
generation for his actions or
inactions. We want a governor
“nwelu ifele” who, guided by
a strong sense of history, will
strive to deliver a legacy that
improves the lot of Ndi
Anambra.
6. No to godfatherism: The
future of Anambra should not
be mortgaged to political
entrepreneurs who hijack the
state coffers. Chidoka has
refused to sell Anambra to any
“godfathers”. Rather, he has
put his fate in the hands of
God and Ndi Anambra. This
is the integrity we need in
Anambra. With Chidoka, we
will put an end to “godfatherpolitics”
and its implications
on ordinary Ndi
Anambra. He is beholden to
no one but to the will of the
collective.
Please consider a
DONATION in support of
Osita Chidoka. Every kobo
counts.
Account Name: Dozie
Anambra Development
Initiative
Bank Name: Access Bank
Plc.
Account Number:
0728489349
Please include your name/
number/email so Chidoka can
send his appreciation.
Responses to:
donzol2002@yahoo.co.uk
or to 0802 747 6458 OR
0811 675 9752 (texts
only). PLEASE KINDLY
NOTE THAT UNLESS
YOU REQUEST
ANONYMITY, YOUR
COMMENTS MAY BE
PUBLISHED, WITH YOUR
NAMES AND CONTACT
DETAILS ATTACHED.
C
M
Y
K

18 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
THE burial of renowned Itsekiri
historian, Pa Johnson
Oritsegbubemi Sunday Ayomike, on
November 3, 2017 expectedly
attracted a sizeable crowd of wellwishers
who came to pay their last
respects and venerate a man who
lived a life of greatness.
outstanding contributions he made
In keeping with the mood of the while serving in different capacities.
occasion, the throng of dignitaries For instance, the Delta State
made up of past and present political Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, described
leaders, chieftains of industry, the late nonagenarian as a great
traditional rulers and religious historian and community leader
leaders seized the moment to give vent who promoted harmonious relations
to their feelings through a torrent of between the Itsekiri nation and
tributes, with each eloquently other residents of Warri, adding that
describing a man who obviously he “will be remembered for his
touched their lives in many significant phenomenal and outstanding
ways.
contributions as an advocate of
Described as an outstanding contemporary Itsekiri causes.”
historian, prolific writer and a Pa Ayomike, who was born on April
founding member and the immediate 7, 1927 at Ogidigben in Ugborodo in
past chairman of the Itsekiri Leaders the present day Warri South West
of Thought, ILoT, Pa Ayomike also Local Government Area of Delta
earned plaudits for the selfless and State, began his journey to greatness
Adieu, Pa J.O.S. Ayomike
with his primary school education at
the First Baptist School Sapele, which
he completed in 1945. He later
attended the Government Teachers
Training College, Abraka, obtaining
a Teachers Grade II Certificate in
1956. He also attended the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he
obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in
Business Administration in June
1966.
In the course of his career
development, Ayomike had at
different times served as a teacher,
salesman, senior management staff
(Nigerian Tobacco Company Limited
from 1966-1980) as well as a cabinet
commissioner with varying
responsibilities in Midwest/Bendel
State from 1975 -1979.
He authored eight books bordering on
history and ethnography, apart from
writing several published essays on
economics, oil and politics, liberty and
democracy.
He was a recipient of numerous
honours/awards for his contributions to
the development of his Ugborodo
Community, Itsekiri, Bendel State (now
Edo & Delta States) and Nigeria. He was
listed in Who’s Who in Africa in 1981.
Against this backdrop, it is obvious that
Pa J.O.S. Ayomike ranked among great
achievers and influential leaders in
Nigeria, for which his popularity will
continue to resonate in his major sphere
of influence, the Niger Delta. The
younger generations have a lot to learn
from Pa Ayomike’s life and times,
particularly the lesson that greatness is
not in money but achievements and the
impact we leave behind in the lives of
others.
By Anene Ajaegbo
COMPETITION in Anambra State is
stiff and fierce be it in commerce and
trade, industry, education, culture and
more. This makes the state stand out as a
model in Nigeria boasting of giants in
different fields, because the sifting and
refining which such fierce competition
engender secures a place for only the
determined and the tested.
When it comes to general elections,
Anambra goes into a frenzy. Most times,
to emerge as a political party candidate
exerts as much as the main election. As
the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, conducts the
governorship election in the state next week
it is left to be imagined the atmosphere in
the state as campaigns peak.
Every candidate appears loaded and
sufficiently helmed round about by the
powers that be in the state as they canvass
for votes and head to the polls next week.
As the men get separated from the boys,
the contest for the new occupant of
Government House, Awka appears
streamlined, revolving around the
incumbent governor Willie Obiano of the
All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA,
Chief Oseloka Obaze of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Anthony
Nwoye of the APC and former Minister of
Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka of the
United Peoples Party, UPP.
The contestants appear headed for a
show down as each of the them talks tough
and unleashes campaign promises to sway
voters to his side. And in a general election
as this the sleep vocation has become a
detestable luxury to the candidates and
OPINION
Issues in Anambra guber election
their avowed supporters, hence the
heightened political activities - rallies,
meetings, visitations - in different
communities and local government areas.
As the candidates hit the road issues that
shape the election have expectedly been
dominating the rhetoric of the campaign
and discussions and appear to point to the
voting pattern on November 18. The
challenges of governance in Anambra
State are not mutually exclusive of those
Although development is
a continuum and no
administration can lay
exclusive claim to all the
achievements, Anambra
has recorded in recent
years in the security and
infrastructure sectors
of other states in the country, but as
expected, there are peculiarities which on
close observation point to the priorities
that will define the attitudes of voters in
the election.
Good governance is appealing at all
times and in all climes. But it is more so in
Anambra. Vivacious, energetic and
enigmatic the people need minimum
government to attain - just a conducive
environment to ply their trade/vocation.
On this flank are the twin issues of security
of lives and property and infrastructural
development, particularly roads.
It is interesting to see how much things
have improved in these sectors in the state
in the past few years. The notoriety of the
state in robbery, kidnapping, even pick
pockets in Onitsha and other parts has
significantly faded.
Today Anambra has become one of the
safest states in the country. How was this
possible? Active and focused leadership,
provision of communication and transport
equipment and other logistics to all
security agencies, functional street lights,
community policing, among others.
Roads, more roads are being constructed
as communities continue to advance such
as their priority. Communities are
allocated funds to provide additional
infrastructure to facilitate the welfare of
their members.
Although development is a continuum
and no administration can lay exclusive
claim to all the achievements, Anambra
has recorded in recent years in the security
and infrastructure sectors, there is no
doubt a lot of the credit goes to incumbent
Governor Obiano who has exercised
hands-on leadership since assumption of
office in 2014.
No wonder his re-election campaign has
been robust and energetic, with much gusto
and confidence.
While the incumbent governor, Obiano
exults in the achievements of his
administration in these sectors in the past
three and half years and makes them major
planks of his campaign, the immediate
past governor, Peter Obi who also did his
best in infrastructure development during
his eight year tenure as governor under
APGA, also uses them to campaign for his
protégé Chief Obaze of the PDP. Obi now
in PDP is opposed to Obiano’s second term
ambition. But how much of the APGA
legacies Obi is able to transfer to his new
party the PDP is left to be seen.
Chidoka and Nwoye and Obaze also
front their performances and achievements
while serving in different positions in the
state and at the federal level and present
them as gauge instruments.
Ability to grasp these issues, define them
and weave them into their messages
among others appear to be making the
difference in the campaigns. The relative
peace in the state is an elixir to the
noticeable robust debates even when they
are laced with much acrimony.
The godfather issue in Anambra politics
has refused to fade away in this campaign,
and is dominant here. This time both
candidates Obaze of the PDP and Nwoye
of the APC have come under public scrutiny
for alleged sponsorship by godfathers.
Fingers point to business magnet Chief
Arthur Eze as the sponsor of Nwoye, and
the immediate past Governor Peter Obi as
the new godfather and sponsor of Obaze.
How this continues to dog Anambra
elections even after the Dr. Chris Ngige and
Chris Ubah saga remains a cause for
worry. It is left to be seen what impact this
recurrent godfather factor will have on the
November 18 governorship contest.
*Mr. Ajaegbo, a public affairs analyst,
wrote from Awka, Anambra State.

•From left: Chika Mordi, CEO, National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria (NCCN); Donald
Duke, former Governor of Cross River State; Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman, Ford Foundation
during the NCCN Sub-National Index Launch Competitiveness report reveal in Lagos
FG won’t extend VAIDS deadline
—Fowler
By Emma Ujah,
Abuja Bureau Chief
THE federal government has
rejected the call to extend
the deadline for the execution of
the Voluntary Assets and Income
Declaration Scheme (VAIDS).
The scheme is a voluntary selfassessment
and tax compliance
window for individuals and business
entities to pay appropriate
tax arrears or face criminal prosecution
at the end of the scheme
scheduled for March 2018.
Chairman of Federal Inland
Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr.
Babatunde Fowler, said, yesterday,
in Abuja at a VAIDS training
workshop organised in conjunction
with Chartered Institute
of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) that
those concerned must comply
within the specified period.
While stressing that the time allowed
was enough for those who
have the intention to comply to
$125.40 -0.35
$2,202.00-14.00
$14.83 -0.01
$14. 71
$63.32 -0.17
$56.84 0.03
CURRENCY BUYING SELLING
US DOLLAR 304.95 305.45 305.95
POUNDS 399.9724 400.6282 401.284
EURO 353.5895 354.1693 354.749
FRANC 305.2858 305.7864 306.2869
YEN 2.6835 2.6879 2.6923
CFA 0.5183 0.5283 0.5383
WAUA 426.2386 426.9374 427.6363
RENMINBI 45.9793 46.0552 46.131
RIYAL 81.307 81.4403 81.5736
SDR 426.991 427.6911 428.3912
RAND 21. 4328 21.4679 21.5031
CBN Exchange rate as at 9/11/2017
do so, he said, “This programme
will not be extended. It is an initiative
of the federal government.
It was adopted by the
House of Representatives and the
Senate. I think those who have
the intention to do the right thing
will do so within six
months. This programme is for
six months. For individuals and
corporate organizations that have
no intention of doing the right,
Inflation rate to decline marginally in
October—FSDH
By Adaeze Okechukwu
RESEARCH analysts at
FSDH Merchant Bank
Limited have forecasted a
marginal decline in the headline
inflation rate for the month of
October 2017 to 15.91 percent
against 15.98 percent recorded in
preceding month. This is against
the backdrop of slow increase in
the prices of food and non-food
items recorded in the month of
October.
The analysts, in a recently
released report ascribed the eightmonth
consecutive decline in the
inflation rate year-onyear
(YoY) from January
to September 2017 to
base effect in the previous
year. “The expected
marginal decline in the
inflation rate is premised
on slower increase in the
food and non-food divisions, compared
with the previous month,”
the report stated.
The research analysts explained:
“The movement in the
prices of food items during the
month resulted in 0.85 per cent
increase in our Food and Non-
Alcoholic Index to 256 points. Our
Food and Non-Alcoholic Index
increased by 20.24 per cent from
212.90 points in October 2016. We
also noticed increase in the prices
in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas
& Other Fuels divisions between
September 2017 and October
2017.”
As a result, the investment
bankers stated: “The general price
movement in the consumer goods
and services in October 2017
increased the Composite
Consumer Price Index (CCPI) to
243.04 points, representing a
month-on-month increase of 0.77
Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017 — 19
even if you give them 10 years,
they won’t do the right thing.”
Fowler said that VAIDS was
badly needed by Nigeria to allow
defaulting individuals and business
organizations remedy their tax
payments, adding that although
there were legal provisions on how
government should deal decisively
with tax evaders, the share magnitude
in terms of the number of
those affected was overwhelming.
His words: “In Nigeria many
people don’t use the services of tax
consultants because they think they
can do it on their own but I think
this is one programme in which
they will need your services, expertise
and your buy-in. This is a
programme that Nigeria needs
very badly. There are other economies
that were in similar situations
and they used similar programmes
to get out of similar situations.
“We have the laws in the statute
books, but how many people do you
want to prosecute? How many companies
do you want to close?”
President of CITN, Mr. Cyril Ede,
had earlier appealed for an extension
from the March deadline to
September 2018. He said that extension
of the deadline would be
required to enable many clients of
his organization’s members to comply.
per cent. We estimate that the increase
in the CCPI in October 2017 would
produce an inflation rate of 15.91 per
cent marginally lower than the
15.98% recorded in September 2017.”
Meanwhile, the monthly Food
Price Index (FPI) released by Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
of the United Nations indicated
October index averaged at 176.4
points, which represents a 1.26
percent decline from the value of the
preceding month.
Accordingly, FAO ascribed the
decrease in the value of the Index for
the month of October, to the decline
in the value of all categories of
commodities with the exception of
cereal. The categories of commodities
that recorded decline during the
month include: Dairy Index,
Vegetable Oil Price Index, Meat
Price Index and Sugar Price Index,
while Cereal price index increased.
TVC Communications launches new radio station
TVC Communications, operators of TVC
News and Adaba FM, has launched a new
music radio station, 102.3 Max FM in Lagos.
Max FM replaces Radio Continental. The radio
station which was launched in Lagos
switched seamlessly at about 10pm to become
102.3 MAX FM.
Speaking, Chief Executive Officer, TVC Communications,
Max 102.3 FM, Mr. Andrew
Hanlon said, “earlier this year, we promised our
audience and advertisers that we would embark
on an aggressive plan to improve programming
and content across all platforms to boost
ratings and increase revenue. The launch of
102.3 Max FM is further proof of our intent”
Hanlon added, “102.3 Max FM is just part of
our story of continued heavy investment in TV
and radio programming services which, we
believe, will attract greater audiences and propel
our stations to the top of advertiser schedules.
We have radically enhanced the sound
quality of our signal, acquired the most advanced
music playlist systems available, hired
the best on-air and production staff and commissioned
a jingle and ID package from one of
the best production houses in the world to give
Max 102.3 a unique, high quality sound, which
we know, listeners and advertisers will love.”
Nestle
pledges to
increase local
raw materials
content
By Franklin Alli &
Providence Emmanuel
NESTLE Nigeria Plc
has reaffirmed its commitment
to growing the
nation’s economy by sourcing
more raw materials locally
and simplifying the ingredients
lists by using locally
recognized ingredients.
Nestle has also set a goal
to source only eggs from
cage-free hens for all its
food products globally by
2025.
The company’s Corporate
Communications and Public
Affairs Manager, Victoria
Uwadoka, stated this during
the launch of a new food seasoning
cube, “MAGGI
NAIJA POT”, in Sagamu,
Ogun State.
Uwadoka stated: “We are
committed to creating more
value for the society and the
community by increasing local
sourcing. These commitments
respond to the preference
of today’s consumers
for products with more familiar
and common ingredients,
natural or organic, with
minimal processing.”
Local tastes and
food cultures
Also speaking at the
launch, Mr. Mauricio
Alarcon, the company’s
Chief Executive Officer,
said: “We dedicate ourselves
to deeply understand the
needs and preferences of
our consumers, and then we
tailor our products to suit
local tastes and food cultures.”
He said that the product
was a new seasoning cube
developed in Nigeria based
on the strong understanding
of local cuisine.
“It aims at amplifying the
authentic Nigerian essence
of food. Naija Pot is the only
seasoning cube in Nigeria
full of fish flavour with the
unique combination of naturally
smoked fish, stockfish,
and crayfish to give soups
and pottages that bottompot
taste that Nigerians
love,” he said.
On the bid to source only
cage-free eggs by 2025, the
company said that in some
parts of the world, such as
Europe, over 40 per cent of
eggs used by Nestlé is already
from cage-free
sources.
“In Europe and the U.S.,
Nestle will make the transition
by the end of 2020. For
the rest of the Americas,
Middle East, Africa and
Oceania it will happen by
2025, with the move in Asia
to be completed in the same
transition period, as conditions
allow,” he added.

20—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
By Theodore Opara
Ford’s tips on
how to keep car
interior tidy
DRIVERS now spend
more time in their cars
than ever, as a result, stuffs like
mobile phones, pens, sunglasses,
wallets, tissues, and loose
change are common features in
their cars.
Clutter like cans and plastic
bottles may look innocent
enough, but when the car is in
motion these items can roll forward
and lodge under the
brake or accelerator pedal, in
the process preventing the
driver from operating the vehicle
properly. Loose items on
the dashboard can also fly
about and cause caused the
driver to lose concentration on
the road.
Ford Motor Company offers
motorists the following handy
tips on keeping their cars free
of clutter and safer for the driver
and passengers:
•Keep an errand basket on
•Continued on page 21
Toyota stages exclusive auto show at Abuja
TOYOTA Nigeria Limited
is set to hold an exclusive
auto show in the nation’s capital,
Abuja, for the display of
what it calls ‘wonders on
wheels from the stable of Toyota’.
The Toyota Auto Show is an
exhibition aimed at bringing
the different models of the Toyota
brand closer to the public,
according to a statement from
the company.
The statement, which was
Spirits not cause of ember months road
traffic crashes — FRSC
By Etop Ekanem
CONTRARY
to
superstitious belief by
many that road traffic accidents
during the ember months are
caused by spirits, the Corps
Marshal, Federal Road Safety
Corps, FRSC, Dr. Boboye
Oyeyemi, has dismissed the
claim, saying that increase in
human and vehicular movement
and the struggle on the part of
most people to travel to meet
their loved ones, are rather responsible
for this.
Oyeyemi stated this during
the flag off of FRSC/Nigerian
Breweries Plc 2017 ‘Don’t Drink
and Drive’ mega rally and road
safety awareness campaign at
New Garage, Ojota, Lagos.
Vehicular
movement
Oyeyemi, who was represented
by Mr. Bisi Kazeem, Corps
Public Education Officer of the
commission, said: “Nigerians
must be aware that frequent cases
of road crashes during yuletide
are not linked to any spirit
killing people but due to increase
in human and vehicular
movement and the struggle on
the part of most people to travel
to meet their loved ones, characterised
by bad road usage and
more trips on the part of commercial
drivers to make more
profit in preparation for the yuletide.
“The campaign, therefore, is
•Toyota Corolla
•Barbedos Service Centre, Abuja
a timely reminder that drinking
and driving does not only pose
a threat to the life of the drunk
driver, but also to the lives and
property of all road users. This
year’s collaboration with Nigerian
Breweries Plc is coming at
a time when the corps is embarking
on pre-patrol activities, with
the theme, Right to life on the
highway not negotiable, for the
2017 Operation Zero, which is
the code name for the ember
months special patrol.”
Opeyemi said that the sustenance
of this FRSC/NBL campaign
in Nigeria, which marks
its 10th edition shows NBL was
not only concerned with the chain
of production, distribution, promotion
of products, sales and
then profit from its business, but
that it showed an expression of
care for the lives of their customers.
“The FRSC is working assiduously
to ensure that there
will be a significant shift in the
attitude of motorists this year,
especially during the yuletide
where people have come to believe
that drinking on daily basis
in the name of celebration is
permissible. It is a period that
irresponsible drinking and misuse
of alcohol beverages become
a part of merriment and some of
those culpable still go ahead to
use their vehicles on roads and
pose a threat to other road users,”
he added.
signed by the Public Relations
and Advert Manager, Toyota
Nigeria, Mrs. Bukunola Ogunnusi,
said the auto show would
indeed offer a platform for customers
to experience the wide
range of vehicles from Toyota.
It said it would be a threeday
event holding between
November 21 and November
23, 2017 from 8.00 a.m to 5.00
p.m, adding, “the exclusive
auto fair will showcase the
beauty and elegance of the
engineering mastery of Toyota
craftsmanship imbued in all
its models.
Some of the vehicles that will
be on display in the alluring
environment are the new
Coaster bus, which has undergone
a complete overhaul to
reflect modern trends in engineering
and design.
“Two other models, the
Landcruiser and Avensis,
which had recently also received
aesthetic touch-ups,
would be on exhibition. The
touch and feel will include other
siblings of these magnificent
wonder on wheels vis the
Yaris, Corolla, Hilux; a workhorse
described as ‘Beyond
Tough’ for its resilience and
strength to take on any terrain,”
the firm said.
One of the major highlights
of the event, it added would
be a special discount offer for
lucky customers that would
buy some of the vehicles on
display. “Token gifts await visitors
to the stand at the
Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja,”
she added.
Weststar, Barbedos host Mercedes-Benz Service
Campaign in Abuja
AS part of the strategic
directions aimed at
achieving superior after-sales
quality of service and
enhancing customer
relationship, Weststar
Associates Limited, authorized
general distributors of
Mercedes-Benz Passenger and
Commercial vehicles in Nigeria
in collaboration with one of
its authorized dealerships –
Barbedos Cars Limited is holding
a special service campaign
from November 6 to December
8, 2017.
This campaign serves as an
opportunity for Mercedes-
Benz passenger car owners in
Abuja and its environs to bring
their cars to the workshop in
preparation for the upcoming
Yuletide season. Special offers
for each week will include free
diagnosis and engine checks,
free labour for every car serviced,
availability of genuine
parts at special prices and also,
free parts and service advice for
the next five weeks.
Due to concerns raised by the
management over the increase
in road accidents during the
holiday season, the service
campaign was initiated to help
reduce the frequency of road
casualties by attracting
Mercedes-Benz customers to
come partake in free service of
their cars at a much more subsidized
cost.
“At Weststar and its authorized
dealerships nationwide, we believe
that after-sales plays a critical
role in the life-span of each
Mercedes-Benz vehicle. Hence,
with our highly qualified
technicians and substantial
availability of genuine spare
parts, we intend to get our
customers vehicles ready for the
Christmas season starting with
the Abuja dealership network. All
our authorized dealerships are
equipped to the highest standard
in line with the Mercedes-Benz
global benchmark.” – Michael
Bromberger, General Manager,
Aftersales, Weststar Associates
Limited.
With the upcoming service
weeks, customers can be rest assured
of the well-being of their
cars as they prepare for family
vacations in the coming month.
This is Weststar’s little contribu

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017 — 21
HYUNDAI has re
modeled the midsized
Sonata family sedan
with a long list of standard
and accessible features,
integrating a perfect
mix of excellent fuel
economy and mileage;
rare blend of comfort, cavernous
trunk and unprecedented
cabin space that
could arguably be the
most impressive in its
class yet.
Assembled locally at the
Hyundai Motors Nigeria
Limited plant in Lagos,
the 2018 Sonata comes
equipped with numerous
other niceties such as the
proximity key with pushbutton
start, power driver’s
seat as well as shiftronic
gear system with
courtesy door lamps.
The Sonata is available
in Nigeria in 2.0 and 2.4
litre engine variants.
Standard features on both
models include front
wheel drive, a rear lip
spoiler, cruise control, full
power accessories, tiltand-telescoping
steering
wheel, automatic control/
rear air-conditioning
vents, luxury leather seats
and a 60/40 split-folding
seatback.
Technology features,
however, include Bluetooth
connectivity, a CD
player, radio, automatic
headlights, rearview camera,
a five-inch LCD display,
USB port and an
auxiliary audio input and
Hyundai Security System.
While both variants are
powered by a four-cylin-
All-new Hyundai Sonata with high-end
features unveiled
der engine; the 2.0-Litrr
variant is mated to a
157ps @ 6200rpm while
the 2.4-Litre is fused to a
171ps @ 6000rpm. Both
models are, however,
paired to a six-speed automatic
transmission that
raises the EPA fuel economy
numbers to 23mpg
highway from 22/31mpg.
The SE 2.0-litre model
comes with a 17” alloy
wheels while the SE 2.4-
Liter seats on 18” alloy
wheels. The Sonata
comes with unbeatable
Ford’s tips on how to keep car interior tidy
•Continues from page 20
the floor or in the booth.
This basket is for the “to
do” items you need to take
care of during the day, be
it taking clothes to the dry
cleaner, collecting a parcel
from the post office, or
getting groceries from
the supermarket. This will
keep all these miscellaneous
items organised in
one place.
•Trash is inevitable as
we spend so much time
in the car. Have a ready
supply of plastic grocery
bags in the car to keep
used tissue paper, sweet
•All-new Hyundai Sonata
wrappers, and empty
cans stored. Empty the
trash when you refuel or
when you arrive home.
•If you eat in the car,
make sure you vacuum
stray crumbs or deal with
messy areas right away.
This will help keep your
upholstery and carpet in
tip-top shape. Keep a
pack of baby wipes in the
glove box for cleaning up
an unexpected spill or
wiping sticky hands before
they smear your car’s
interior.
•Declutter when you
get home every evening.
price in the D-car segment.
The 2.0 is priced
N13 million while the 2.4
litre version cost N14 million.
Hyundai also
equipped the new Sonata
with rear parking sensors/back
warning camera,
engine immobilizer
and perceptible front grill
among others.
Described as a comprehensive
makeover of its
predecessor that somewhat
didn’t see any major
changes since 2015,
Do not just shuffle the
miscellaneous items and
trash from one part of the
car to another but deal
with each item as soon as
you touch it. Picking up
after yourself (or your kids
or pets) daily will prevent
a mess from building up.
•Every car should have
an “essentials box” in
case of an emergency.
Items include drinking
water, high-energy
snacks, a flashlight and
extra batteries, jumper
cables and so on. Pack
them properly into a box
with a well-fitting lid and
keep it in the booth.
the face-lifted Sonata is
an adept family hauler
that expresses proficient
and distinctive gaze that
could entice upwardly
mobile executives and
well-heeled officials as
well as anyone with an
eye for specifics.
Suffice to say, there are
indeed, no dull moments
with the new Sonata, given
the so much likes in
the stylish sedan that sits
five passengers over long
distances with an adaptable
room to stretch even
when stuck in traffic. The
Korean automaker says
“it is enhancing the
Sonata’s package with
better value proposition
to keep it fresh against
increasing competent rivals.”
Hyundai Motors Nigeria
Head of Sales and
Marketing, Gaurav
Vashisht, acknowledged
the automaker’s
perspective when he told
local media at the launch
of the new Sonata that
almost every exterior
element of the car has
been reworked, beginning
from the forward A-
pillars.
“Unlike its predecessor,
the front end of the car for
instance, has become
more muscular, blending
with Hyundai’s new cascading
grille design with
an aggressive lower facia,
new headlights and a reshaped
hood,” Mr. Vashisht
explained.
He said Hyundai has
also thoroughly reworked
the rear side, which now
incorporates new
trunked-lid, taillights and
rear bumper with a marginally
adapted interior
that plagiarizes high-end
cars’ centre stack though
retaining its intuitive layout
knobs and controls of
higher quality feel and a
new three-spoke steering
wheel.
“When it comes to delivering
everything you
would expect from a midsize
family sedan, the 2018
Hyundai Sonata does not
disappoint. It has a spacious
interior with worthy
seats and a long list of
standard features and
well-laid out controls that
reassures on smooth ride,”
•Ford Edge

22—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Tankers, trailers take over Apap-Oshodi Expressway.
By Our Reporters
The lingering chaotic
traffic situation on the
Mile Two/Berger/
Coconut axis of the Oshodi/
Apapa Expressway has taken
an alarming turn for the
worse, no thanks to security
operatives deployed to ensure
free traffic flow on the dual
expressway but who are now
taking advantage of the
situation to extorting money
from tanker and truck drivers.
Rather than strictly enforce
compliance with traffic
regulations to ensure that
sanity prevails in the area, the
security men allow the drivers
of these articulated vehicles to
make U-turn at Berger Yard at
night in order to drive against
the traffic to the tank farms
on Tin Can Island and
Kirikiri, and in the event, end
up parking indiscriminately
on the highway and other
available spaces in the area.
In fact, Vanguard can
confirm that once money has
changed hands, permission to
make the U-turn is expressly
granted by uniformed security
operatives of the Nigeria
Police Force and the Nigeria
Customs Service officials,
some of whom take turns in
assisting the truck drivers by
clearing the way for them,
while others wait by their
respective patrol vehicles.
This unfortunate scenario
continues to add to the
unfolding confusion as the
resulting daily surge of trucks
and tankers often lead to a
complete lock-down of the
expressway and all the
adjoining roads in the area,
thus creating nightmarish
Chaos in Apapa
•Trucks, tankers, miscreants force lockdown
•Ambode, Fashola, Amaechi unconcerned as residents groan
experiences for other
motorists and road users.
The situation is also not
helped by the fact that some
naval officers have joined in
Confirming the
development, one of
the drivers who spoke
to our reporter on the
condition of anonymity,
said he and his
colleagues have no
choice but to pay the
security operatives as
that is their assured
ticket to get to the tank
farms promptly to lift
petroleum products
the extortion jamboree. They
are seen every night at the
Kirikiri end of the overhead
bridge collecting money from
truck and tanker drivers who
are compelled to drive on a
designated lane on the bridge
ostensibly to ensure
orderliness on the road.
Vanguard investigation
revealed that the security
agents collect between N6000
and N5000 from the drivers
depending on the size of the
truck. For a 40-foot truck or
tanker, the driver parts with
N6000, while smaller sizes of
trucks attract less amount.
We pay security
agents
—Truck drivers
Confirming
the
development, one of the
drivers who spoke to our
reporter on the condition of
anonymity, said he and his
colleagues have no choice but
to pay the security operatives
as that is their assured ticket
to get to the tank farms
promptly to lift petroleum
products. Refusal to pay, he
added, could only put them
out of business as some of
them spend between two and
three weeks from Berger Yard
to the tank farms.
Some other tanker drivers,
who spoke to Vanguard, also
made same claim, alleging
that policemen deployed to
the area to control traffic have
abandoned their duty for filthy
lucre. A tanker driver, simply
identified as Alhaji Abdullahi,
who said he came from
Maiduguri to lift petroleum
product, lamented that he had
spent almost a week without
getting close to the tank farm.
Asked why they park
indiscriminately along the
highway
without
consideration for the plight of
other road users, Abdullahi
alleged that the police should
be blamed for the situation.
According to him: “I’m
confused about the whole
issue. Most of our colleagues
who have not been booked to
lift petroleum products are
allowed to behave anyhow by
policemen.”
The driver also blamed the
situation on the failed portions
of the expressway, adding,
however, that the only way out
of the recurring problem is to
relocate the tank farms out of
Apapa.
Other tanker and container
truck drivers who spoke with
Vanguard equally urged
government to urgently fix all
the bad portions of the road
leading to the port, saying
that they spend close to 48
hours accessing the seaports
whenever they arrive Lagos to
load or offload dry and wet
cargo from the seaport.
Some of them disclosed that
the long hours they spend on
traffic and the prohibitive
amount they spend settling
security operatives have made
their various haulage
companies increase the price
of transporting goods from the
seaport to various parts of the
country.
On his part, Jubril
Mohammed , a tanker trucker
who spoke with Vanguard,
informed that apart from bad
potions of the roads which
create access problem to the oil
depots in Apapa, their
operations are also hampered
by the money security
operatives and officials of
NUPENG collect from them.
Mohammed said: “While
trying to access the depots, I
pay security men controlling
the traffic N1,000, apart from
about N20,000 I pay to
NUPENG officials. But I think
the main cause of the traffic in
Apapa is the bad potions of the
road, mainly by the Area B
Police Station, Floor Mill and
the Wharf Ports. These roads
need urgent attention if
government wants to end the
traffic situation in Apapa.”
Continues on page 23

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—23
Continued from page 22
Another driver, Godwin
Tokunbo, who transports
empty containers from private
bonded terminals to the
seaports, said the dilapidated
road has seriously
undermined their business
operations as they find it
difficult making complete
trips.
Motorists ordeal
While the chaotic traffic
situation continues, men of
the underworld have been
taking advantage of the
situation to rob innocent
motorists and other
individuals both at night and
during the day.
For instance, some staff of
Vanguard Media Limited
recently fell victim to
miscreants who accosted them
while they were trapped in
traffic and under the guise of
soliciting for alms, attacked
and tried to rob them of money
and mobile phone sets.
A motorist, Mr. Kehinde
Adeoye, narrated how two
miscreants accosted him while
in traffic at the Mile 2 area.
According to him: “I left the
office at about 9 pm and there
was this terrible traffic along
the Apapa Expressway. It took
about two hours before I could
get out of it. While in the
traffic, two rough-looking,
hefty men approached me for
alms, but I knew it was the
bag of the lady passenger
beside me they were after. I
quickly gave them N200, and
they left. If I had not given
them the money they probably
would have snatched her bag
because the place was lonely
and there was no security
operative in sight.”
Police react
However, Police sources told
Vanguard that the
Commissioner of Police, Mr
Imohimi Edgal, had already
ordered the police at Trinity,
Kirikiri and adjoining
divisions to ensure that they
patrol the affected areas
effectively with a view to
ensuring smooth flow of traffic
and safeguard lives and
property. It was also learnt
that the CP has also warned
his men not to get involved
in any illegal activity.
In his reaction to the
worsening traffic situation in
Apapa, the security
challenges it has engendered
along the access roads in the
area and the nuisance posed
by police men allegedly
exorting money from
motorists, Spokesperson of the
Lagos State Police Command,
Olarinde-Famous Cole,
informed that the Command
was aware of the situation and
assured that the police
Trucks, tankers, miscreants aid lockdown
authorities were responding
to the situation.
“We have put in place
visible police presence and
also invoked the Command
X- Squad to go after all
officers committing one form
of corrupt practice or the
other in that area. Whenever
we find officers doing illegal
stop-and-search or illegal
searching of vehicles, adding
to the frustration of motorists,
we arrest them. The
Commissioner of Police has
directed X-Squad operation to
be carried out daily and
weekly on that route. We
arrested some(offending
policemen) last week and we
will continue to make arrests
and discipline them in a
departmental way as regards
the traffic frustration in
blocking access to the everbusy
road.
“The Commissioner of
Police, Imohimi Edgal, has
also increased traffic
personnel in the area through
the Spy Police. They help to
reduce and control traffic,
especially during the
weekend. We have added
6000 Spy Police to the traffic
management and working
with the state government also
to reduce traffic in the area.
As part of our commitment,
we have also informed
members of the public in the
area that whenever they see
any police man committing
any form of misconduct or
corrupt practice, they should
just step aside and call the
emergency citizen number
centre and report such
conduct to the police. We will
take action from there and we
will continue to do that until
Lagos traffic crime is curbed.
On traffic robbery
“Presently, you can see high
police patrol in every area, in
every bus- stop, in every
locality, in every community.
A minimum of four
policemen patrol traffic
congested areas during off
and peak periods. We have
strategies put in place
permanently in pin down
points in every part of the
state, especially those areas
that are prone to crime, areas
where you will see people
trying to sell one form of
beverage or the other, and use
that opportunity to rob
motorists of their valuables.
We have achieved so much in
that regard and we will
continue to do so while
arresting criminal elements
and continue putting the
issue of traffic in the state in
the front burner.
Bad roads,
indiscriminate
parking
— Twin evils of
traffic pain
Meantime, Vanguard can
confirm that a combination of
indiscriminate parking and
recurring crater-like potholes
has over the years reduced the
carriage capacity of the road,
causing traffic congestion on
the ever-busy expressway.
Consequently, Apapa and
Oshodi bound motorists and
commuters literally pass
through hell to get to their
destinations after spending
several hours in the traffic on
daily basis.
Those who have targets to
meet now use the services of
commercial motorcycle
operators popularly called
Okadariders despite the
obvious risk. In fact, most
commercial drivers and
motorists now navigate
through Olodi-Apapa
through Boundary,
Ajegunle, to access Apapa,
Indiscriminate parking of trailers and taker on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.
a longer but a better
alternative route.
Indeed, it can be said that
the traffic gridlock at Mile 2
axis, onward Apapa Ports, has
for the last couple of weeks
reached its all time worst as
petroleum tanker as well as
containerised vehicle
operators continue to park
indiscriminately on the
highway. The comparative
relief which was enjoyed in
2015, following series of
meetings with stakeholders,
had since fizzled out due to
overt indiscipline and total
disregard for the state’s traffic
rules and regulations by these
haulage operators.
FG says it is
responding to the
situation
Meantime, the Federal
Government, through the
Federal Ministry of Power,
Works and Housing, has said
it is responding as expected
to the chaotic traffic situation
in Apapa area of Lagos
metropolis occasioned by the
deplorable conditions of the
roads leading in and out of
Apapa, through ongoing
reconstruction of Apapa Wharf
Road and Ijora Causeway.
The Special Adviser on
Media to Minister of Power,
Works and Housing, Mr.
Hakeem Bello, who
responded on behalf of Mr.
Babatunde Fashola, said
public outcry over the
situation in Apapa led to the
ongoing intervention at
Apapa Wharf Road and Ijora
Causeway by the Federal
Government.
Bello who noted that the Tin
Can axis of the Apapa/Oshodi
Expressway had been
earmarked for reconstruction
up to Berger Yard, said
motorists and commuters were
bound to suffer some
inconveniences when
construction works are
ongoing on major highways.
He assured that the
completion of the Apapa
Wharf Road project in a few
months time, will bring some
measure of relief to motorists
and commuters plying the
Apapa/Oshodi Expressway,
as he blamed the prevailing
situation on spill over of traffic
from Apapa Wharf Road.
Appealing to the general
public to bear with
government, Bello, however,
disclosed that at the recently
held stakeholders’ meeting on
the Apapa traffic situation,
one of the resolutions reached
was that truck and tanker
owners who had formed the
habit of parking illegally
along the expressway and on
top bridges should remove
them and find where to park
them while waiting for their
turns to load.
He expressed surprise that
in spite of the fact that the
resolutions were popularly
adopted, the situation in
Apapa continues to
deteriorate by the day.
To be continued.

24 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—25
GIST ME
Bobrisky's ordeal!
Like father, like daughter
•as Zino Ejiro begins search for
new Nollywood faces
By Benjamin Njoku
ZEB Ejiro’s daughter, Zino
Edward-Makama, is taking
no chances to step into her father’s
shoes as she begins a search for a
new breed of actors and actresses
to take over the big screen from
the likes of Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola
Jalade-Ekeinde, Stephanie Linus,
Rita Dominic, Jim Iyke, Desmond
Elliot among other A-list
stars who have paid their dues in
the Nigerian movie industry.
Zino, a mother of two said she
would be accomplishing this herculean
task through her forthcoming
talent hunt project called, “Cradle
to Stardom.”
The talent hunt show, which
kicks off on November 25, at Excellence
hotel, Ogba, Ikeja, is open
to the aspiring actors and actresses
who are dreaming of becoming
movie stars in future. The show
will also hold in other centres such
as Okota, Surulere, Ajegunle and
Lagos Island.
According to Zino, “I want to
encourage aspiring actors and actresses
by providing them with a
platform to unburden their talents.
•Madu
By Juliet Ebirim
HE’s not new in the mu
sic industry but with the release
of his new single ‘Kampe’,
Madu is geared to take the music
industry by storm. The young artiste
was officially presented to the
media by his management company
Young Nation Ltd and Heritage
Live Entertainment.
Through that way I can discover
fresh faces from the
streets that will take over
the screen.”
On ideas behind the
project, Zino said “many
celebrities today are so busy
and rarely have time again.
So, I want to create new faces
in the industry that will
start from somewhere. They
never can tell where the
journey will lead them to.
That’s why I’m going to the
streets to discover fresh talents.
“I have several movies I want to
produce. That’s what brought about
the talent hunt show. I want to feature
new faces in these movies and
winners from the competition will
feature in my upcoming movies.”
Speaking further, while in a chat
with WG, Zino who’s Zeb Ejiro’s
first daughter, said she’s planning
to take the project to other parts of
the country. But for now, she wants
to concentrate on Lagos State.
Meanwhile, the actress has named
Fred Amata, Segun Arinze, Shan
George, her father and Chico Ejiro
as the judges for the talent hunt
show.
Zino, however, reveals that the
star prize winner of the competition
will smile home with the sum
of N200,000, including a one year
acting contract, while the first runner
up and second runner up in
the competition will also get an
eight weeks specialized acting
course at the Film and Broadcast
Academy, Delta State as well as a
one year professional management
Movie contract with Zino Ejiro Entertainment
among other goodies.
Madu steps out with
‘Kampe’
An indigene of Anambra
State, Madu
started his music career
in 2010. Back
then, he was known
as Rexy Brown. His
passion for music
was so intense that
he suspended his
academics just to
learn the intricacies
of Nigeria’s music
terrain. Although,
mainly self-taught,
Madu is highly
skilled in the production
and mixing of
music. He also plays
different music instruments.
“Music is something
I cannot do
without. I have intense passion for
it. Kampe celebrates beauty in all
shades. It conveys a message that
is universal and emphatic on loving
oneself irrespective of
shortcomings,” he said in a chat
with WG.
However, making good music
requires good management as
well. Madu is the first musician to
be signed to Young Nation Ltd, a
•Zino
management company founded by
Kamal Ajiboye, Nelson Ononiwu
and prolific media personality,
Olisa Adibua. The three personalities
have vast knowledge of the
entertainment industry having
worked at different levels of the
media and showbiz industry over
the years. This was evident in the
rebranding process of the artiste
who dropped his former moniker
and adopted his surname as his
stage name.
According to Olisa Adibua,
changing his name was very important
to the brand’s identity.
“Madu is a gifted young guy. His
journey so far has been good but
now we are taking it to a whole
new level. We believe that the connection
between Young Nation
and Heritage Live Entertainment
is the catalyst that will propel
Madu to the next level.
“The 28 year-old singer’s new
release ‘Kampe’ is a fusion of Afro
pop and R&B. It is a love song that
boasts of three languages; Efik,
English and Pidgin English. The
song is produced by DJ Coublon,
while the video is directed by
Clarence Peters.
NIGERIA's cross-dresser, Bobrisky was
in the news for the wrong reason
during the week. He was said to have been
arrested by a serial entrepreneur, Toyin
Lawani for allegedly cornering her
customers after learning the bleaching
trade from her.
But the serial entrepreneur has since
refuted
the
report,
insisting
that she
has no
hand in
the
crossdresser's
arrest.
Nonetheless,
the bad
news is
that the
case is
being
moved
to
•Bobrisky
Abuja, having been reported there.
A police source, however, refused to
confirm the news, as he promised to call
back which he never did when WG
contacted him. But the question on the lips
of many is, was Bobrisky arrested following
his 'questionable sexuality' or the
aforementioned cornering of Lawani's
customers? Who knows!
Rebranded
Benson Okonkwo
POPULAR Nollywood actor, Benson
Okonkwo, who once became
controversial after featuring in a gay
movie, is now a changed person.
The handsome actor was spotted last
Friday, at the premiere of Chioma
Okoye's Igbo movie, Änyanwu Ututu”,
which held in Awka, Anambra State. He
looked different, organized, tamed and
humble unlike the Benson Okonkwo
that we used to know in the past.
Indeed, the picture he presented at
the premiere was one of a rebranded
actor in search of a new identity. While
he was not ready to grant any interview,
the actor muted, “I don't want any
negative story again. I am media shy
now.”
However, he may have gone
underground to dust his image and
perhaps, resurface to present a new
picture of Benson Okonkwo. Let's hope
so...

26—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
IN one of the stories we
learned from the Prophet
(s.a.w) narrated by Abu
Hurairah (r.t.a) said, “While a
man was walking through a
barren land, he heard a voice
coming out of a cloud saying:
‘Irrigate the garden of so-andso.’
Thereupon the cloud
drifted in a certain direction
and discharged its water over
a rocky plain. The stream-lets
flowed into a channel. This
man followed the channel
until it reached a garden and
he saw the owner of the
garden standing in its center,
working with his spade
spreading the water
(changing the course of the
water). He asked him: “O slave
of Allah, what is your name?”
He told his name, which was
the same that he heard from
the cloud. The owner of the
garden then asked him: “O
slave of Allah, why did you
ask my name?” He replied: “I
heard a voice from a cloud
which poured down this water
saying: ‘Irrigate the garden of
so-and-so.’ I would like to
know what do you do with it.”
He said: “Now that you asked
me, I will tell you. I estimate
the produce of the garden and
distribute one-third of it in
charity, I spend one-third on
myself and my family and
invest one third back into the
garden.”
Not many Muslims consider
charity as the best way to take
anything from Allah. Giving
from what you have, in fact
what you cherish most not
necessarily the crumbs is a
way of increasing in
sustenance and wealth.
The existence of countless
starving, poor, hungry and
destitute Muslims and non-
Muslims in the society points
to the need for this essential
teaching to be put into
Safar 21, 1439 A.H.
Give charity
harity, , spread joy to other
thers
practice. There are many
Muslims who is dieing in their
hospital bed just because
they cannot pay their bills;
there are young people who
could not go to school just
because their guardians or
parents are financially
handicapped. It is amazing
that with the noble and
popular hadith of the Prophet
that “you will not believe
until you love for your
brother what you love for
yourself”; yet we have
innumerable number of such
cases in our society. Affluent
Muslims may not realize how
their wealth could
strengthen the whole
Muslims in this country. If a
Muslim feels the pain of his
or her fellow human being,
and wishes the same comfort
and good life for others which
he wishes for himself then, it
is incumbent upon him to
give in charity, to ease the
suffering of others.
If you sleep, eat
and live better, you
have a religious
duty on others who
are not privileged
to have all those. If
you found happiness,
spread it and
give to others. Living
a worthy life
does not depend on
how happy you are;
but how happy you
can make others to
be
There are various Muslim
organisations around that
collect sadaqah and offer
assistance to Muslims in need.
The Zakaat&Zadaqah
foundation has been doing
well. A lot of Muslims have
found succour in them. They
spend millions of naira
monthly in empowering lots of
needy Muslims. Recently,
another group named Amal
Mabruuk was unveiled in
Ikeja. Their mission is clear,
simply to assist needy
Muslims in various areas, such
as healthcare, education,
business or capacity building.
It only requires everyone who
desire to share part of the
reward to pay N1000
monthly as sadaqah to
provide assistance to these
needy Muslims. This will go a
long way in ending the circle
of poverty among the Ummah.
According to the Chairman
of the foundation, Alhaji
Abdul-Jaleel Olori-Aje, “the
foundation requires every
willing Muslim to make a
monthly donation of N1,000
($3) to support the lessprivileged
in our society. He
noted that the foundation is
pivoted on Sadaqah (charity),
which is enjoined by Allah on
all Muslims and can be found
in the Holy Quran Chapter 2
Verse 110: “ And be steadfast
in prayer and regular in
charity and whatever you
send forth for your souls
before you, you shall find it
with Allah; For Allah sees well
all that you do.”
He said: “Take for instance,
if 2million Muslims can
contribute N1,000, this would
translate to N2billion. You
can then imagine the impact
of the infrastructure or
intervention provided by that
kind of funds. You can be sure
that there would be an
BARKA JUMAH
Allah will test you
"Do people think that they will be left alone
because they say, "We believe," and will not be
tested?" Q29:2 Tribulations, trials and even
triumphs are the daily tests that align our life's
excursion to the immensity of Allah's powers of
love of us and the vastness of His generous nature.
His provision to save, is proof and display of His
amazing grace. Say, "Alhamdulilah", all the time.
Meaning, "thank and, God", and do good always.
May Allah gift to you and all yours a joyous life
of fabulous rewards.
Happy Jumaat. —Dr Adewale Adeeyo. OON
Makogi turbans new Chief Imam
Lamidi Bamidele
IT was jubilation in Makogi, Magboro in Obafemi Owode Local
Government Area of Ogun State as Fadilat Sheikh Abdulkareem
Abdulwahab was officially turbaned as Chief Imam of Makogi Central
mosque.
The ceremony which took place at Makogi primary school also witnessed
presentation of awards to some prominent personalities who
have contributed immensely to the growth of Islam in the area.
Speaking during the turbaning and staff of office presentation, Fadilat
Sheikh Li-Hadi Orunsolu, the Grand Chief Imam of Egbaland represented
by Alhaji AbdulWaheed Akewusola solicited the support and
cooperation of the Makogi Muslim Community for the new Imam.
According to him, 'We are happy turbaning the Chief imam of Makogi
Central Mosque which is under the jurisdiction of the Grand Chief
Imam of Egbaland, we seek your continuous support and prayers for
a successful tenure'
Earlier, delivering the lecture of the day, Fadilat Sheikh Muyideen
Salmon Hussein Al-Adaby, Chief Imam of Offa, Kwara State reiterated
the need to spend in the way of Islam citing examples of Khadijat, the
wife of the Prophet, Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with them) and
some other early muslims who immensely spent in the way of Islam.
Among those turbaned with various titles were Alhaji Abdulwaheed
Alade, The Baba Adini; Alhaja Fatimo Amusat, Iya Sunnah; Alhaji
Abdulhameed Alawaye, Borokini Adini; Alhaji Abdulhakeem Owolabi,
Aare Adini, Alhaja Mutiat Abdul Hamid, Majekobaje Adini; Alhaja
Fatimo Yekini, Iya Adini all of Makogi Central Mosque among others.
Donations towards completion of the central mosque which is under
construction were collected while various promises were also made.
Further donations could be made to Makogi Central Mosque Sterling
Bank account 0066308271
improvement in the welfare of the poor. Such resources would
be available to build medical centres, educational/vocational
centres and uplift the general well-being of the needy among
others. Once we are able to do that, it means we have fulfilled
part of our Deen as Muslims,” he said.
As concerned Muslims, we just have to get involved, be proactive
and show tangible concern in the lives of other people in
need. In fact, this is the only way we can lift the Ummah out of
the poverty line being ascribed to us. We as Muslims have a
greater responsibility not only because they are our fellow Muslim
brethren but also because it is a religious duty to help those
in need, it is ibadah to remove pain from somebody and it is
most rewarding even in the hereafter to give happiness to those
who are unhappy. We should always note that the needy and
deprived have a “recognised right,over our wealth. So, by giving,
we are fulfilling a duty to those in need,
If you sleep, eat and live better, you have a religious duty on
others who are not privileged to have all those. If you found
happiness, spread it and give to others. Living a worthy life
does not depend on how happy you are; but how happy you
can make others to be. Jumuah Mubarak!
From left: Sheikh Yunus, Chief Missioner, Quwatallah Islamic
Society; Alhaji Salahudeen AbdulWahab,Chief Imam, Mowe Central
Mosque; Alhaji Abdulrasaq Alli, Chief Imam, Ibafo Central Mosque;
Alhaji AbdulWaheed Akewusola representing Fadilat Sheikh Li-Hadi
Orunsolu, the Grand Chief Imam of Egbaland; Fadilat Sheikh
Abdulkarim Abdulwahab, newly turbaned Chief Imam of Makogi
Central Mosque, Fadilat Sheikh Muyideen Hussein Al-Adaby,Chief
Imam of Offa and Alhaji Bashir Sharafadeen, Imam, Markaz Mosque
during the official turbaning of new Chief Imam of Makogi and other
eminent personalities held at Makogi, Magboro, Ogun State recently.
From left Fadilat Sheikh Abdulkareem Abdulwahab, newly
turbaned Chief imam of Makogi Central Mosque; Alhaji Nasiru
Abdul Salam, Sudai Zonal Missioner, Akute and otherIslamic clerics
presenting a certificate and award to Alhaja Mutiat Abolaji Lamidi
as the Majekobaje of Makogi Muslim Community assisted by her
husband, Alhaji Moruf Lamidi during the official turbaning and
award presentation of Makogi Central Mosque Chief Imam and
some prominent Muslims held at Makogi, Magboro, Ogun State.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—27
Sermon From Baitul-Futuh
Safar 21, 1439 A.H.
Corruption charges: Saudi's key figures face fresh
investigation
A
number of lawyers have
said corruption cases
involving prominent figures are
excluded from the purview all
existing rulings and decisions.
The royal order is governed
by the formation of a supreme
committee headed by the
crown prince to investigate
offenses and crimes involving
official corruption, Al-
Eqtisadiah newspaper reported.
The lawyers expect to recover
the money lost by the
government in the form of fines
and in some cases those found
guilty to be imprisoned.
Omar Al-Khouli, a professor of
law at King Abdul Aziz
University, told newsmen that
the new corruption cases were
NASFAT appoints Onike as new Chief Missioner
N FATIH
ASRUL-LAHI-L-
Society,
NASFAT has appointed a new
Chief Missioner. He is Imam
Maruf Onike AbdulAzeez. Until
his appointment, Imam Onike
was holding the same position
in acting capacity following the
resignation of the former Chief
Missioner, Imam Abdullah
Akinbode.
The President of the Society,
Engr. Kamil Yomi Bolarinwa
announced the appointment of
Onike last Sunday during the
weekly Asalatu of the Society
held in Alausa, Ikeja.
Among those in attendance
were Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola,
Governor, State of Osun,
members of the Board of
Trustees and members of
various committees.
Ogun Pilgrims Board rolls-out schedule
for 2018 Hajj exer
ercise
Ogun State Muslim Pilgrim’s
Welfare Board will on Monday
November 13, 2018 begin the
preparation for 2018 Holy
Pilgrimage to Makkah and
Madinah.
A release signed by the
Executive Secretary of the
Board, Alhaji Abdul Hakeem
Kalejaiye indicated that the
Hajj Screening forms would be
available at Block B, New
Secretariat, Oke-Mosan, from
Monday November 13 to
December 15, 2017 on the
payment of N1,000 only.
According to Kalejaiye, the
intending pilgrims are
expected to obtain
application form of N10,000
only; then pay a deposit of
N1,000,000.00 (one million
naira) only at not more than
four (4) installments on or
before January 31, 2018; pay
laboratory tests fee of Four
N4,500 only on or before
January 31, 2018, and pay
insurance fee of N4, 000.00
only on or before January 31,
2018.
He added that all devout
Muslims who desire to
exempted from the procedures
and regulations currently in
force and are governed only by
the royal order that established
the commission.
On freezing of assets abroad, Al-
Khouli said it might not possible
to freeze or recover funds outside
the country, but the owners
could be forced to withdraw and
repatriate them to the country.
He explained that each case
has a specific penalty, whether
bribery or embezzlement and
other incidents of corruption.
He commended the Kingdom›s
firm stand against corruption.
Bandar Al-Amoud, a member
of the Lawyers Committee at
Jeddah Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, said the ruler has
While congratulating the new
Chief Missioner, the President
informed the congregation that
Alh. AbdulAzeez‘s emergence
was sequel to series of
painstaking and rigorous
interviews by both external and
internal panels organized for
the seven candidates that
applied for the vacant position.
He added that the Board of
Trustees and the Council of
Elders ratified the report of the
panelists.
Alh. Onike AbdulAzeez joined
NASFAT about 21 years ago
and was the Deputy Chief
Missioner to the former Chief
Missioner. Alhaji Onike
AbdulAzeez holds a first class
honour degree in Islamic
Studies and currently a Ph.D
student in Industrial
participate in 2018 Hajj
operations through the
Board should liaise with the
Finance and Account
Department of the Board to
ascertain the mode of
payments.
the right to take any action he
sees fit in the interest of citizens,
especially in monitoring and
prosecuting officials and
ministers. Al-Amoud pointed out
that if it is proved that the funds
were misappropriated or seized
through bribery and nepotism,
the guardian of the nation has the
right to confiscate them and place
them in their assigned place.
On the penalty for bribery and
money laundering, he said
freezing funds was a precaution
until the case was investigated.
When a case of bribery was
proved, the amount of the bribe
would be recovered with a fine
and the guilty would be
sentenced to prison terms of
between 3 and 15 years.
Engineering at the University of
Benin.
Alh. AbdulAzeez is equally a
certified trainer of Islamic
Education Trust/Dawah Institute
of Nigeria and posseses
certificates in several courses at
IET. He has also attended several
both local and overseas courses
such as Tony Blair Faith
Foundation in empowerment
and peace building refresher
training course.
Alh. Onike AbdulAzeez is in his
early 50‘s and is married to Alhaja
Sadiat Onike, the NASFAT
Women‘s Wing Dawah Officer.
•Imam Maruf Onike
AbdulAzeez
Nikkah ceremony between former Miss Raji Aminat
and Mr Onaolapo Sheriff held at Sango Otta, Ogun
State recently.
Tehrik Jadid 84th year
ALLAH has explained in Holy Quran the condition of those
who spend their wealth in the way of God. The companions of
the Holy Prophet (saw) were forefront in this field as they presented
numerous sacrifices to adopt Taqwa and to win the pleasure of
Allah. It is narrated about one companion (ra) that he said to the
Holy Prophet (saw) that I have a garden near the Prophet’s mosque
which is dearest to me. Today, I present it in the way of Allah.
Today, the community of the Promised Messiah (as) is keeping
these traditions alive. Ahmadis continue to give numerous sacrifices
from their hard earned wealth. All of this is due to the teachings
and training given by the Promised Messiah (as). He once said:
Man dearly loves wealth in this world. This is why to attain real
virtue and faith, Allah has said that you will never be able to attain
true righteousness unless you spend what is most dear to you.
So Ahmadis are presenting sacrifices with this spirit and hope to
receive their reward from Allah. The Holy Prophet (saw) once said
that whoever presents one date out of his legitimate earnings, Allah
will accept this date with his right hand and will continue to increase
it until it becomes like a mountain. We are well aware that
these aren’t tales of past as Ahmadis are experiencing such blessings
today as well.
A Missionary of Cameroon writes that an Ahmadi was unemployed
for a year and was living in poverty. One day he heard about Chanda
Tahrik Jadid. He had 10,000 franc in his pocket which he paid
towards Chanda. A few days later, he returned and said that God
has accepted my sacrifice. A private company has employed me
with a monthly salary of 100,000 franc, which is ten times more
than my sacrifice. Therefore, I will present my salary of first month
in this way.
Amir Sahib Canada writes that a Lajna member, who was employed
part-time, was encouraged to pay half of her income of one
month towards Tahrik Jadid. She promised some amount, but expressed
her desire to find a full-time employment and thus pay one
full month salary. Thereafter, by the grace of God, she found a full
time employment with a monthly salary of $5000.
We have been witnessing these blessings of God since the inception
of Jama’at. Most Ahmadis are well aware that this is the age of
propagation of Islam which is being done through construction of
mosques, literature, Jamia etc. Similarly, the Promised Messiah
(as) has written that sympathy of mankind is also part of our faith.
Therefore, schools, hospitals, clinics etc. are also operated through
these sacrifices. May Allah grant such loyal servants to Jama’at
until the Day of Judgment who continue to present enormous financial
sacrifices!
As per practice, today I am announcing the start of 84th year of
Tahrik Jadid. The figures from the 83rd year are as follows: Total
participation: Over 12.58 million pounds, an increase of over 1.5
million from last year. Total participants: Over 1.6 million, an increase
of over 200,000 from last year. May Allah bless the wealth
of all participants!
Huzoor Anwar also announced a new Tahrik (plan) for reconstruction
of Baitul Futuh Mosque. He advised all UK Ahmadis in
particular and all able Ahmadis worldwide to participate in this
Tahrik. This mosque caught fire 2 years ago and its reconstruction
requires 11 million pounds, half of which is already present. For the
remaining half, Ahmadis should present their sacrifices. You should
fulfill the entirety of your promises within 3 years, but 1/3rd should
be paid within the first year.
Huzoor Anwar announced the funeral prayer of Aadil Hameed sahib
of Yemen. He was regular in daily prayers and always enjoined
his children about faith and having strong connection with Jama’at.

28—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
•Left, Alhaji Abubakar Kamai; Financial Secretary, Alhaji Muazu Abubakar; Secretary, Alhaji
Kuranga Ismail Bamidale ; Chief Imam of Sasa Central Mosque, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar; and
Alhaji Ali Na Mallam Sidi during the a press conference on alleged harassment by Seriki Sasa,
Alhaji Haruna Maiyasin in Ibadan.
SASA HAUSA MARKET:
Sitting on a keg
of gunpowder
By Ola Ajayi
IBADAN — UNLESS
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of
Oyo State and the State
Commissioner of Police, CP
Abiodun Odude, wade into the
rivalry between members of Sasa
Market Traders Association and
the leader of Hausa Community
in Sasa area of Ibadan, the Oyo
State capital, crisis of
unimaginable proportions could
break out following a struggle by
both sides to control the popular
market.
The market is a beehive of
commercial activities all days of
the week as goods coming from
the northern part of the country
are off-loaded and sold to ready
buyers. Already, tension is
brewing on a daily basis between
the traders and the Hausa leader.
When Vanguard visited the
market on Monday, it was a ghost
of itself. Only clusters of groups
were seen discussing in low
tones.
At the residence of the leader
of Hausa Community, Alhaji
Haruna Maiyasin, there were
armed policemen keeping vigil to
ensure there was no breach of law
and order. Also, some plain
clothed security men were
positioned in every part of the
residence.
Vanguard gathered that trouble
started when some traders came
together to ask that the market and
the traders be freed from alleged
oppressive rule by the Hausa
leader. According to some of the
traders, Alhaji Maiyasin and his
children have brought untold
hardship to the people due to a
large scale extortion. After the
local government collected its
dues, the Hausa leader would
unleash terror on any trader who
refuses to part with ‘their money’.
However, some people stood up
against the tyranny and stopped
paying to him but to the council
in charge of the market. Since that
time, it was gathered that the
traders did not know peace as
several security agents pay
constant visits to members of
traders’ association, to harass,
intimidate or even detain them for
no just cause.
The crisis which started in 2011
when the traders said they told
the king to refrain from undue
interference in the affairs of the
market has now reached a
crescendo.
Undue
interference
This prompted the leadership
of the market led by their Chief
Imam, Alhaji Yahya Abubakar,
and others like Alhaji Abubakar
Kamai, BoT member, Alhaji
Kuranga Ismail Bamidele,
General Secretary of the traders’
association and Alhaji Ali Na
Mallam Sidi, BoT member, to
protest in the city.
They called on the Oyo State
Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi,
Inspector General of Police,
Abubakar Idris, and President
Muhammadu Buhari to come to
their aid and deliver them from
alleged oppression by the leader.
According to them, "Trouble
started 20 years ago. Alhaji
Maiyasin had been in control of
•Gov Ajimobi: Not a laughing
matter
the market for the past 30 years.
When we traders decided to
control our own affairs, we set up
a committee to steer the ship of
the market and this of course,
pitched us against him. We
registered the association with the
SATURDAY, November 4,
2017, was a day that will not
be easily forgotten by the people
of Ikorodu Division when
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode
unveiled the ASA Statue, in
Ogolonto, Ikorodu, saying that
the State was in sync with the
resuscitation of the cultural
heritage in Ikorodu Division.
Corporate Affairs Commission
and also with Oyo State. In 2011,
he arrested 11 traders and others.
They spent some days in police
custody. When the then CP knew
about it, he ordered that all those
in custody should be freed.
“Another time, he wrote a
petition against us that we wanted
to kill him and his children. We
were arrested by the DSS. But
after their investigations, they
in this state that doesn’t know
about the case. The intervention
by a local government caretaker
chairman temporarily checked his
excesses. But, immediately he left
office, he started victimizing us
again.
“Seriki N Sasa has been
boasting that he knows the
governor, the IGP and that
President Buhari is his son. But
we always tell him all these
leaders are our leaders not only
his alone. Please, tell the relevant
authority to check the
unbecoming attitude of Alhaji
Maiyasin."
Maiyasin denies allegations
When Vanguard called the
Hausa leader, he confirmed that
there is crisis between the traders
and his children. He said he was
the one that established the
market, got some labourers to
clear it and also brought the
people who, today, are fighting
him over the market.
Maiyasin said, “I brought them
there. I got the space and
prepared it for commercial
activities. They gave me the
market and I got a caterpillar to
work on it. Then, I brought these
people to the market. Now, they
don’t want me or my children. Is
it possible? How can you tell
someone who established a
market that you don’t want to see
him there again. They are the
problem. They don’t want any law
and order. They also don’t want
to see the Baale (community
leader) who owns the land. They
took me to four courts, but the
courts struck out their cases. So,
what they are saying is a blatant
lie."
Ambode unveils Asa Arokolo statue at Ikorodu
•Asa statue
The crisis which
started in 2011 when
the traders said they
told the king to
refrain from undue
interference in the
affairs of the market
has reached a
crescendo now
found out it was not true and they
released us without charging us
to court. All that Alhaji Maiyasin
wants is to control all financial
activities of the market with his
children. When he found out that
the security men here in Oyo State
would not do his bidding, he
connived with some security men
at Alagbon, the headquarters of
Police Zone 2 in Lagos. For the
past two weeks now, we have not
been able to sleep in our houses.
“He again framed us up telling
them that we are members of
Boko Haram. We were arrested
again and spent about three days
in custody before they released
us. There is no security agency
The event got Ikorodu residents
and indigenes to troop out en
mass as early as 9.00 a.m to
witness the unveiling of the Asa
Arokolo Statue at Ogolonto, the
entrance point into Ikorodu town.
Speaking at the event, Hon
SOB Agunbiade, Majority
Leader, Lagos State House of
Assembly, who initiated rebirth of
the festival, said it would
be an annual celebration
in all the six divisions of
the area.
Agunbiade said, “We
have revived this culture
in the six divisions of
Ikorodu and we hope it
continues. Just like Eyo
festival is celebrated on
Lagos Island, we want to
be celebrating this too in
our community annually.”
Governor Ambode who
spoke at the unveiling of
the statue through the
Special Adviser and
Acting Commissioner for
Tourism, Arts and
Culture, Lagos State,
Hon. Adebimpe Akinsola
said the ASA Arokolo will
serve as unifying factor in the
Ikorodu division.
He, therefore, congratulated the
initiator, Hon SOB Agunbiade for
putting his name in the book of
history. Ambode, however, urged
the Royal Heads to remain in unity
in Ikorodu division.
The statue was unveiled by
Governor Ambode who was ably
represented by Hon Akinsola
immediately after the Ranodu of
Imota, HRM Oba Ajibade Agoro
prayed for Ambode, Hon.
Akinsola and Hon Agunbiade.
Among those present at the
historic unveiling were Governor
Ambode, ably represented by
Hon Adebimpe Akinsola, the
initiator, Hon SOB Agunbiade,
His Royal Majesties, Oba Kabir
Adewale Shotobi, Ayangburen of
Ikorodu, Oba Ajibade Agoro,
Ranodu of Imota, Oba
Semiudeen Kasali, Adeboruwa of
Igbogbo and Oba Richard
Ogunsanya, Olubeshe of Ibeshe.
Others were Otunba Ayodele
Elesho, Asipa Kaoli Olusanya,
Chief Sulaimon Ogidi and wellwishers.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—29
ONDO STATE
•Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (left) with the National Leader
of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (right), when the
governor visited the politician at his Ikoyi, Lagos residence, to commiserate with
him over the death of his son, Jide.
•Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (right); Commissioner for
Water Infrastructure Development, Engr. Ade Akinsanya (middle) and Commissioner
for Information & Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde (left) during the
commissioning of new Executive Boats acquired by the Lagos State Government
at the Caverton Jetty, Victoria Island, Lagos.
•Betty Akeredolu launches Forum for Wives of Ondo State Officials (FOWOSO)
EDITOR:
Adeleke Adeseri
CORRESPONDENTS:
Dapo Akinrefon
Ola Ajayi
Gbenga Olarinoye
Dayo Johnson
Olasunkanmi Akoni
Daud Olatunji
Rotimi Ojomoyela
Monsuru Olowoepejo
THE TEAM
08054682557 (sms only)
Lagos
Ibadan
Osogbo
Akure
Lagos
Abeokuta
Ekiti
I took to robbery to pay my lover's
bride price — Suspect
•Okoro: Went into robbery to pay dowry
By Dayo Johnson
AKURE — A 34 year old vegetable
seller, Chukuma Okoro, shocked
members of the public who witnessed his
parade alongside other notorious armed
robbery suspects at the state police
command headquarters, in Akure, the
Ondo State capital when he confessed
that the families of his wife pushed him
into armed robbery.
Okoro further explained that the family
of his wife were requesting for N300,000
as dowry before he would have total
access to their daughter. He said that as
a vegetables seller the only option left
for him was to look for a short cut because
he loves the lady and wants her at all
cost.
He said that his efforts to satisfy his
wife and her family pushed him to
robbery. “I wanted to pay my wife’s dowry
but I do not have the N300,000
demanded by her family.
Demand on
bride price
"It is my wife and her family that pushed
me into it, I have never stolen in my life,
this is the first time. She ran away from
my house three weeks ago and has been
begging me that she wants to come back.
Since I love her so much and do not want
her family to give her to another man that
was why I started looking for money by
all means to pay her dowry so that she
could come back to my house.
“There is no way I can get that
N300,000 to pay her dowry, that was why
I tried to rob and this is the first time I
will be doing it.”
He told Vanguard that his friends and
neighbours made jest of him when his
wife left for her parents house because
of his inability to meet their demand on
bride price.
Okoro said he was desperate to have
her back and in a bid to shame his jesters
he opted for armed robbery which
according to him was the easiest means
of getting money in that circumstance.
Vanguard gathered that on the day he
was arrested, Okoro trailed a salesgirl of
a beer distribution company located at
Adegbola in the metropolis who
was taking N550,000 proceeds
of the day's sales to the bank.
He was said to have trailed the
salesgirl of the beer distribution
company on Okada before
attacking her.
It was also gathered that
while struggling with the
salesgirl to collect the money,
the suspect was pushed off the
Okada and he fell after which
he shot at the victim twice
before he was overpowered and
arrested by sympathisers.
Police source said that the
salesgirl was fortunate that the
pistol refused to release any of
the five live bullets in it before
sympathisers pounced on him
and beat him black and blue.
Asked how he knew the
salesgirl he robbed was taking
that volume of money to the
bank, Okoro said that he had
an inside sources.
He said, “I got all the
information I needed. I was told
the amount to be taken to the
bank, when the salesgirl would leave
the office, the route she wouild take
and the bank she was heading to.
“So I decided to engage an Okada
rider for a fee and he parked where
we were able to see the salesgirl when
she left the office and as soon as it
was safe I struggled to snatch the bag
containing the money from her. But
the girl was so brave that while I
l wanted to pay
my wife’s
dowry but l do
not have the
N300,000
demanded by
her family.
It is my wife
and her family
that pushed me
into it
struggled to
snatch the
bag she
pushed me
off the
O k a d a
causing me
and the
Okada rider
to fall.
“I brought
out a pistol
from my
pocket and
fired two
shots but the
gun refused
to expel the
bullets. The
Okada man then fled the scene and I
became helpless which made some
youths and others around the area to
overpower me and I was arrested."
Timely intervention of policemen
reportedly saved Okoro from being
burnt alive by some youths who had
rushed to a nearby vulcanizer to get
used tyres.
Parading the suspect, the state
police command image maker, Femi
Joseph, said that a pistol and five live
carriages were found on Okoro when
he was arrested. Joseph said, “Okoro
attacked a sales girl who was going
to the bank to deposit N500,000. As
he was struggling to collect the money
from her, the girl raised the alarm that
attracted the passers by who arrested
him.”
The police spokesman said the
suspect would soon be charged to
court just as he assured that the
command would not relent in the fight
against crimes and criminality in the
state.

30—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—31
Charlie Chaplin, The Tramp
and Donald, The Trump
CHARLIE Chaplin, The
Tramp was a little,
downtrodden man in baggy
trousers with a mustache, bowler
hat and carrying a cane. He was
poor, powerless and bewildered.
Chaplin (Charles Spencer
Chaplin)seemed a lonely,
vulnerable figure who tried
endlessly to make sense of the
world. His caricature of Adolf
Hitler, the most powerful man in
his generation, remains a winner
to-date.
Two generations separate The
Tramp, who was exiled from the
powerful United States, US, on
suspicion that he had communist
sympathies, and the most
powerful man in this generation,
President Donald Trump of the
same United States.
In contrast, Trump is a big, manabout-town,
power dresser in
designer suits, clean shaven and
stupendously rich. Where the
former carried a cane, Trump may
have the Nuclear button carried
for him. He is perhaps the most
powerful man in the universe, and
where The Tramp, understandably
was humble and powerless, Trump
is quite arrogant and so powerful
that he stood before the rest of
humanity and boasted he could
wipe out a country of 24.5 million
people by the snap of his fingers.
Unlike Chaplin, he is quite sure of
the world and has an endless
retinue of people including world
leaders jostling to kiss his feet.
While Chaplin was a radical who
wanted a better world for all,
Trump is a conservative who wants
the world to remain as it is; the
desperately poor mass, and the
stupendously rich handful.
Where The Tramp was the King
of the Silent Movies, Trump is the
boss of the shattering Twitter.
Despite being such contrasting
world figures, they also have a lot
in common. Both are talented
comedians of the slapstick genre
complete with exaggerated
expressions and activities that are
way beyond normal expressions.
Trump, this week is on a twelveday
swing through Asia. During his
first stop, which was Japan, news
came about another bloodbath in
his country; a lone gunman in
Texas, Devin Kelly, had gone to a
church, not to worship and ask God
to preserve his life, but to take lives.
He gunned down 26 human beings
including eight members of one
family, the Holombes. As a
President who explains off
everything to suit his policies such
as free flow of guns, Trump
announced that the man was
mentally ill. True it takes an
amount of lunacy to murder
people, but the killer had access
to guns which he freely used.
Chaplin would never
have understood why
a US President would
vehemently oppose
peace talks especially
over nuclear weapons
or why it would seek
to dismantle the
international nuclear
peace agreement with
Iran
Given his disposition, Charlie
Chaplin would have been
reflective; he would have
questioned why the frequent
bloodbath in his adopted country;
why there are more private guns
in the country than there are
humans; why nothing tangible is
not being done to rein in the guns.
He would have reflected that the
American in his ‘God’s Own
country’ cannot walk on the
streets, go to church or mosque,
school or the recreational centre,
attend a concert or marathon,
without the risk of a massacre.
Most importantly, he would have
turned to his host, Mr. Shinzo Abe,
the Japanese Prime Minster to ask
why despite being so industrialized
and modern, such massacres do
not occur in Japan. If President
Trump had done so, he would have
learnt that the first sentence in the
Japanese weapons law states that:
PMB's Garba Shehu: A spokesman for difficult times
THE Nigerian Voice has in
an article called on GMB
to sack six appointees charged
with a number of failings.
Of those charged is Garba
Shehu, Buhari's SSA, Media.
The Voice puts him in the same
boat as Okoi Obno-Obla, SSA
Prosecution, the peg for the
article. Obla and Garba had
defended the scandalous
posting of Abdulrashid Maina,
hastily promoted and posted to
General Dambazau's Interior
Ministry. He was dismissed
from service in 2013.
Okoi Obla speaking on
Channels TV, had said Maina
"had not yet been found guilty
of any offense, he did not see
why some people are outraged".
Thankfully, PMB did not listen
to Obla. Due to public outrage
he ordered Maina's immediate
sack and charge.
And Obla is Prosecution
Adviser to PMB. As the
Presidency wakes up to its core
responsibility of providing
leadership, Okoi Obla has been
banned from uncleared
comments. And that is good.
After all taking a hundred
wrong decisions is a lot better
than not taking a decision on
any matter. Governance is about
action. Not just talk.
Others blackballed include
DSS boss Lawal Daura for
complicity and/or laxity on the
Maina case. Ministers Malami
and Dambazau were also black
booked. Expectedly CoS Abba
Kyari with the "baddest guy" tag
of the Government was also
mentioned though not tagged
for the sack, that most feel he
sorely deserves.
It was somewhat suspicious
that apart from Obla all others
are Northerners in the
Government. That is not to say
if they deserve it they shouldn't
be so rated, simply on account
of where they come from. But
things are so skewed nowadays
you can't fail to notice such
things.
Fact is, for professional
competence as a spokesman in
times of crises our good friend
and professional colleague
Garba can't be faulted. That he
is the focus of opponents of
GMB supports this. For about
a decade, from 1986 when
Garba joined us at The
Triumph, he was everything a
reporter could be, after a solid
BA at BUK. His MA was from
UNN. He was twice President
of NGE, long before Femi
Adesina -- his colleague, SA to
PMB.
Garba, as writer and columnist
doesn't mind saying his mind.
He was catapulted to fame not
as NGE President or editor but
as spokesman of embattled
Atiku in a time of crises. He
sharpened public awareness of
his boss as victim in an unfair
Obasanjo Presidency.
On his sack by Obasanjo, he
continued the role with more
gusto and passion. That is his
role in the Buhari campaign
after his boss, Atiku, losing to
GMB at the APC Lagos
Convention literally handed
him over to the GMB. That
Fact is, for
professional
competence as a
spokesman in times
of crises our good
friend and
professional
colleague Garba
can't be faulted
crises management of his new
principal has somehow offered
itself again from 2015.
With the perpetual battles of
the GMB Presidency and its
many self-inflicted wounds
Garba was always on hand to
do his job.
Before the Maina crises he
“No one shall possess a firearm or
firearms or a sword or swords” and
that the process of doing so is so
windy and difficult that only a
handful own such weapons. As a
result, while in 2014, there were
six gun deaths in Japan, in contrast,
the US recorded 33,599. He
would have learnt that to own a
gun in Japan, comprehensive
background checks are carried out
including on family, work, social,
mental and drug. That you attend
class, sit for written examinations
and pass a shooting range test
with a mark of at least 95 percent.
With all these, only air rifles and
shot guns can be owned privately.
Despite his bumbling, The Tramp
wanted a world at peace but Trump
seems obsessed with war. When he
arrived in Japan, he boasted about
American military might: “We
dominate the sky, we dominate the
sea, we dominate the land and
space.” And, in South Korea he
upped his boast: “I think they
(North Korea) understand we have
unparalleled strength. There has
never been strength like it. You
know we sent three of the largest
aircraft carriers in the world, and
they're right now positioned. We
have a nuclear submarine also
positioned. We have many things
happening that we hope, we hope
-- in fact, I'll go a step further, we
hope to God we never have to use.”
In contrast to Trump’s war
disposition, South Korean
President Moon Jae-in prefers
dialogue with North Korea. The
son of North Korean refugees,
Moon had been jailed twice for
pro-democracy activities in South
Korea and is a well-known
advocate of reconciliation. He was
sworn in as President on May 10,
2017 and nine weeks later made
an open offer to hold peace talks
with North Korean including on
nuclear weapons. But Trump
opposed the peace talks and
had spoken on many others.
Maina's doesn't warrant a
media black book entry. It
should have been a Golden
entry for doing what he does
best, managing crises as his
brief in Media Management.
Most analysts appear not to
have taken due note of Garba's
role in stabilizing the
Presidency on GMB's return
from the UK, after 103 days.
Then he was clearly too frail to
swing into action as expected.
So what is to be done? Garba
came to the rescue, deftly
changing the discourse to Rats!
This made time for GMB to
settle down leaving opponents
confused.
That attention was refocused
on GEJ and PDP over the
Maina case is neat and meet.
Without that, the
mismanagement of goodwill by
GMB's men makes all forget the
outrageous rascality of PDP.
Don't forget we're still
reminded of the Jewish pogrom
that wasn't as bad as PDP's
wickedness. Presumably
elected by Nigerians, it
pressured against it. Then White
House Press Secretary, Sean
Spicer said Trump had made it
clear that certain conditions must
be met before any peace talks can
be held.
This was the same way the US
opposed and wrecked peace talks
amongst Afghans to end their civil
war. Then President Hamid
Karzai had made peace overtures
convinced that it would be
practically impossible to defeat
the Taliban who had grassroots
support especially in the rural
areas. In 2013 when the Taliban
said he was an American stooge
and, therefore, did not trust him,
Karzai agreed to meet them in
Qatar and also agreed that the
Taliban open a Liaison Office in
Qatar. He held secret negotiations
with the Taliban and in 2014,
refused to sign a long term security
agreement with the US. Today, the
senseless war in Afghanistan
continues.
Chaplin would never have
understood why a US President
would vehemently oppose peace
talks especially over nuclear
weapons or why it would seek to
dismantle the international
nuclear peace agreement with
Iran. It would also be
incomprehensible to him that
Trump would seek to wreck the
Climate Change Agreement and
endanger the world. He would
also have been intrigued that in
the 21st Century, a President of the
United States would vow to build
a wall against the wishes of its
neighbour and insist that the
neighbour must pay for it. The
world is trapped in an ostensibly
bewildering universe ruled by rich
and powerful people like Trump
while the mass are poor, helpless,
defenceless, bullied and exploited;
but like Charlie Chaplin, it is the
meek and seemingly weak who
shall inherit the earth.
perfected the art of impunity. It
was celebrated by its own, as a
nest of vipers. That was long
before BH gave the excuse for
Arms monies turned slush
funds. Of course that PDPism
is also in APC that Colonel
Hamid authoritatively claims is
an outrage that even Garba
Shehu would find hard to gloss
over. This is an aside, mark you!
Garba Shehu's mention aside,
I do agree with all the fact based
analyses on all other appointees
of GMB and many not
mentioned, whose gross
incompetence causes most
troubles that Garba and others
are left to sort out howsoever
they can.
In view of all these, I
recommend "the GARBA
SHEHU Programme for
Management of Your Principal's
Image in Times of Crises" for
Media and PR Schools. And
Garba should be appreciated by
his boss, GMB and all who
appreciate what our Change
Government faces, troubles that
are mostly self-inflicted.

32–Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
YOUR LUCK TODAY
By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139
PISCES; The more willing you are to listen to your
partners and/or spouse the better for you today.
Friends are trying to convince you that the are reliable.
ARIES; Success is boldly printed on your cards today.
The more push-full you are along your career/
business lines the better. Embrace new method at work.
TAURUS; Here is a day you are not meant to ignore
new ideas that come suddenly. It’s good to take matters
of the heart more seriously. Listen to your spouse
please.
GEMINI; Lucky Jupiter is joining mighty Sun and
romantic Venus bringing you to the fore for collection
of well deserved honour, glory and LOVE. Certainly
you’re becoming more important in many ways.
Be more ambitious.
CANCER; Another lucky day for you is here. Although
your being co-operative can enhance your
scope, your personal ideas and initiative are guarantee
for bigger do.
LEO; Those of you who are more consistent will
have more to gain. Good ideas on monetary issues
will enhance your finances. Be more family minded.
VIRGO; Entrance of lucky Jupiter into Sagittarius
is meant to enhance your finances. The more willing
you are to take good advice the better. Be loving.
LIBRA; Lucky Jupiter makes an ingress into your
positive angle today with good luck to you. Financial
success is closer to you than you can imagine. Give
big push.
L E I S U R E
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
“Life isn’t about building walls and hiding behind them. It’s about
breaking them down and expanding beyond them!”
Written in 2010 by Lewis Tilley — Utah
It has always struck a chord with me as something to live by!
“There comes a time when might must make right, the seeds of an evil
foe. For when we stand before our maker face to face to be asked, Did you
live to make the world a better place?”
Written in 2014 by Tony Muscato — New York
Lessons learned from my Dad
TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye”
By Kola Fayemi
SCORPIO; Here is a good day when influential personalities
around you will be willing to assist you but
you will need to take the initiative. Take good advice.
SAGITTARIUS; This is your day. The more ambitious
you are along your career line the better for
you. And friends are willing to give the needed supports;
you’ll be lucky.
KAPTAIN AFRIKA in “Pretty Lunatic’ By Andy Akman
CAPRICORN; Your mind is truly active and if you’re
more practical about it success’ll crown your efforts.
Reason with your tried and trusted friends.
AQUARIUS ; Coming of Lucky Jupiter into a positive
angle to your Star sign is a big plus. On a day
like this the more ambitious you are the better. It’s
good to be loving.
ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING
Send your date e and place of birth th to the Astr
trological
Counselling, P.M.B 100
007, 7, Apapa, Lagos
What is my
horoscope?
Dear Joshua,
I am a young man willing to go higher in life. Kindly tell
me everything I should know about my horoscope.
Adedoyin, Oshogbo.
Dear Adedoyin,
Here-under are what space can take.
ANALYSIS OF YOUR HOROSCOPE
Preponderance of fixed quality within the heavenly bodies
when you were born pointed to you as a person who
always find it relatively difficult to change his mind once
you made up your mind on very important issues. And as
ambitious Saturn was the final dispositor (that is the only
planet at home) when you were born, CAREER&IMAGE
always take precedence over all other things when taking
important and final decision.
From distance others will see you as a tough and aggressive
person but with less than 50% of push-full influence
in your chart you are actually not as difficult as others
thought you are. Truly you are loving, caring and your
sympathy can easily be aroused. Most of the time you
prefer to attract what you want rather than go after such
in straight aggressive way. However because you are an
Aquarian nobody can take you for granted especially
about your personal FREEDOM..
Placement of the Sun (the indicator of everybody’s inner-self
and/or conscious self) also Moon (an indictor of
emotion/sub-conscious self) in AQUARIUS and SAGIT-
TARIUS respectively are indications of your being mainly
an Aquarian and partly Sagittarian. Meaning that basic
characteristics of the two Star signs, are highly pronounced
in your inner-self.
VIRGINIA
HOME & ABROAD
dadadekola@yahoo.com
By Lawrence Akapa

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—33
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
APC loses bid to stop Akwa Ibom LG poll
By Emmanuel
Ayungbe
A
Federal High
Court sitting in Uyo
has dismissed the suit filed
by the All Progressives
Congress, APC, seeking
an order to stop the Akwa
Ibom State Independent
Electoral Commission,
AKISIEC, from conducting
the December 2, Local
Government Elections in
the state.
Delivering judgement on
the matter, Justice F. O.
Riman held that the suit has
no basis in law and lacked
the backing of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, as
amended.
The court further held
that APC failed to present
cogent constitutional
reasons for its suit, which it
said would have been the
foundation on which the
established facts in support
of the suit would exist.
The court described the
argument by the APC that
AKISIEC having failed to
obtain and compile an
updated Electoral Register
and publishing same for
public scrutiny 60 days
before the election, which
the plaintiffs argued would
lead to disenfranchisement
of thousands of electorate,
as lacking constitutional
Niger Delta: Nigeria at brink of anarchy —INYC
By Onozure Dania
W
A R R I —
PRESIDENT
of Itsekiri National Youth
Council, INYC, Mr
Esimaje Awani, has
warned that if care was not
taken, the approach of the
Federal Government to the
resolution of the Niger
Delta crisis would
exacerbate it.
In a statement, yesterday,
he said: “I can say
authoritatively that some of
the proposals currently on
the table do not constitute
sustainable solution in a
civilised society but only
amount to negotiation of the
very values upon which
civilised societies rest.
"Unfortunately, these
proposals have been
placed on the front burner
of issues obviously because
they are intended to
achieve ignoble aims,
including to illegally claim
territories belonging to
other ethnic groups,
making it appear, therefore,
that there is only one ethnic
group in the Niger Delta
region.
"I call on the Federal
Government to either be a
government or accept that
Nigeria is a failed state, in
basis.
The court also dismissed
the argument by APC that
AKISIEC should not
consider using the register
that was used in 2015
elections for the
forthcoming local
government elections. The
court agreed with the
submission of the
defendants, AKISIEC,
Akwa Ibom State
Government, AKSG,
Independent Electoral
Commission, INEC and
the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, that a similar
WALK 2 STOP HEPATITIS: L-R: Head of Vaccine, GSK, Abbas Sani;
National Vice-Chairman, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria,
ACPN,Samuel Adekola and wife of the Speaker of Abia State House of
Assembly, Mrs. Glory Kanu, at the Walk 2 Stop Hepatitis, sponsored by GSK
Pharmaceutical, in Umuahia.
which case, people should
be allowed to take laws into
their hands, carry guns and
blow up pipelines and
have their demands met
even if they are against the
laws of the land.”
On the yet to be resolved
issue of the naming of the
proposed Nigeria Maritime
University, Okerenghigho,
which is a name declared
for it by the Supreme Court,
Awani argued: “The
Nigerian Government
should not be seen as acting
against itself by
succumbing to blackmail in
the face of the judgement
of the highest court of the
land with respect to the
naming of the site of the
university. By the
pronouncement of the
Supreme Court on the
issue, the place remains
Okerenghigho and not
Okerenkoko and if any
group of people is
interested in having a
university in the area, I
believe that will be the
Itsekiri, but why should the
executive arm of
government act against the
judicial arm? We want to
beg the government not to
reward lawlessness
because the ability to
disrupt the flow of oil
pipelines is not the
exclusive preserve of one
tribe. Those who elect not
to destroy oil facilities
should never be taken for
granted.”
He urged government to
weigh its options properly
and act on the side of the
law and established global
practices rather than
succumbing to blackmail as
anything otherwise will be
an invitation to anarchy
which according to him,
“several other tribes within
the region will gladly
honour."
Delta LG polls: Itsekiri in Warri S-West protest
Tuoyo’s candidature
By Festus Ahon
A SABA—ITSEKIRI
indegenes
numbering over 1,000
from Warri South-West
Local Government Area,
Delta State, have stormed
the state Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP,
secretariat in protest
against the alleged
imposition of Mr Taye
Tuoyo as the party's
chairmanship candidate
for the January 6, 2018
local government
register was used in the
conduct of the local
government elections in
states like Benue and
Lagos early this year
without any controversy in
the electioneering
processes.
The Attorney-General of
the state and Commissioner
for Justice, Mr.
Uwemedimo Nwoko,
represented both the state
government and AKISIEC
while the Legal Adviser of
PDP, Godswill Umoh,
represented PDP.
Speaking to newsmen
election.
Insisting that Mr
Johnbul Edema is their
prefered candidate for the
position, the protesters,
carrying placards with
various inscriptions such
as, “We say no to
imposition of candidate on
us”; “It is the turn of Orere
to produce chairman of
Warri South West”, among
others, said they would
resist any attempt to
impose a candidate on
them.
The protesters, who
after the judgement, the
PDP Legal Adviser, Mr.
Umoh, expressed
happiness over the
outcome of the judgement
and thanked the court for
its well-considered
judgement.
The APC state Publicity
Secretary, Mr. Edet Bassey,
in his reaction said: “Our
legal team has applied for
the ruling to enable the
party study the grounds of
the judgement.
“In one week we will get
the judgement and will
know the next line of
action."
were drawn from six of
the 11 wards in the local
government area,
insisted that it was their
turn to produce the
chairman of the local
government council,
urging Governor Ifeanyi
Okowa to intervene in the
matter.
Speaking on behalf of
the protesters, Mr Andrew
Igban said: “This is
injustice and we are
opposed to the imposition
of Tuoyo on the Itsekiri of
Warri South West.”
Ease of doing business in Nigeria:
NAFDAC reduces registration fees
By Emmanuel
Ayungbe
THE
National
Agency for Food and
Drug Administration and
Control, NAFDAC, says it
has reduced the cost of
business registration for
Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises, MSMEs, to
enhance ease of doing
business in the country.
The reduction in the cost
of registering businesses,
the agency said, is to
further boost the economy
and create employment in
the country.
The Acting Director
General of the Agency, Mr
Ademola Mogbojuri,
disclosed this during a
Stakeholders Consultative
Forum, yesterday, in Uyo,
the Akaw Ibom State capital.
Mogbojuri, who was
represented by the Director
of Special Duties, Dr
Delta reconstructs, rehabilitates
8 federal roads —Ukah
By Festus Ahon
DELTA
State
Government,
yesterday, said it has
intervened in the
reconstruction and
rehabilitation of eight
federal roads of 149.01
kilometres and 25.11
kilometres of drain in
different parts of the
state.
The
state
Commissioner for
Information, Mr Patrick
Ukah, who disclosed this
while fielding questions
from newsmen after
inspection of ongoing
road projects in the state,
said that the decision of
the government to assist
in the construction of
federal roads was to
safeguard lives and
property of Deltans.
Ukah said that work on
2019: Delta Assembly aspirant
makes case for youths’ sensitisation
ADelta State House
of Assembly
aspirant on the platform
of All Progressives
Congress, APC, for
Ughelli Constituency 1,
Mr. Matthew Omonade,
has said timely campaign
is necessary to sensitise
youths on their rights to
vote and be voted for.
Mr. Omonade, who
also inaugurated
Barrister Omonade
Support Group with the
slogan Not Too Young To
Serve, at Ovara-Umusu,
Orogu Ward 1 and Ward
2, said the time for the
Abubakar Jimoh, said the
move is in line with Federal
Government's directive to
the agency to reduce
hurdles of business doing
business in the country by
MSMEs.
He said that there has
been a paradigm shift by
the agency to add more
value to the economy apart
from the mandate of
regulating products.
According to him, the
MSMEs have contributed
about 49 per cent to the
country's Nominal Gross
Domestic Products,
stressing that challenges
confronting these sectors
must be tackled to create
jobs for the teeming youths.
“In line with its enabling
Act Cap N1 Laws of the
Federation of Nigeria
(LFN) 2004, the agency is
mandated to regulate and
control the manufacturing
sector and imported goods."
the roads was not in
any way affecting the
progress of work on the
state roads currently
going on in various parts
of the state.
He named the federal
roads to include
rehabilitation of Adeola
Road/New Ogorode
Road Junction (0.30 km)
in Sapele; rehabilitation
of failed sections of
Agbor/Abavo/Umutu/
Eku Road from College
of Education junction,
Agbor, to Eku junction
(74.80 km);
rehabilitation of Warri -
Sapele Expressway at
Ch 6 + 500 and at Ch 1
+100 from Effurun
Roundabout (0.41 km)
and widening of Warri/
Sapele Road, Phase 1,
from Effurun
Roundabout to Enerhen
Junction (5.20 km).
young ones to fully
participate and serve is
now.
He told a crowd of
supporters: “As a lawyer
working under Festus
Keyamo (SAN), I think I
have the charisma to
drag home dividends of
democracy to my people,
hence I am asking you to
send me,” adding that
Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP’s years in
power
have
impoverished the
electorate, saying it is
time to take over power
from them.

34 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
:Vanguard
News
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Made-in-Aba products have rejuvenated
our economy — IKPEAZU
By Ugochukwu
Alaribe
A BA—GOVERNOR
Okezie Ikpeazu of
Abia State yesterday said
that with the increasing
patronage of Made- in-
Aba products, the city
would rise again and
reclaim its lost glory as a
centre of trade and
manufacturing.
The governor, who spoke
at the investiture of the 15th
President of the Aba
Chamber of Commerce,
Industry, Mines and
Agriculture, ACCIMA, Mr.
Andy Uba Obasi, in Aba,
stated that the Made in Aba
campaign has rejuvenated
the economy of the city
through opening business
DONATION: Chinese Consul General, His Excellency Chao Xiaoliang during
the donation of nine motorcycles to Zone 2, Nigeria Police Force, NPF.
By Providence
Emmanuel
IN a bid to improve the
efficiency of the Nigeria
Police Force, the Consulate
General of the Peoples
Republic of China in Lagos
has donated some
equipment to the Zone 2
Command of the force.
The equipment comprised
nine motorcycles, which are
meant to aid the command
in community surveillance,
and nine split floor type room
air conditioners to enhance
the comfort of the police
officers in their offices.
The Consul General,
His Excellency, Mr.
Chao Xiaoliang, who made
the donation, yesterday, said
the Consulate was
appreciative of the efforts of
the command in enforcing
law and order with its area
of jurisdiction.
He said: “This event has
three objectives. First it is to
show our appreciation for
the efforts made by Nigeria
Police Force, Zone 2
Command, in enforcing
rule of law, particularly in
protecting Chinese nationals
opportunities for artisans
and manufacturers in Aba.
He assured that the
handwork of artisans in Aba
shall no longer go
unnoticed as Made-in-Aba
label has been returned on
shoes and other products
manufactured in the city.
He said, “It is on this that
I undertook to market all
products made in Aba.
Since the made in Aba
campaign which I'm the
chief marketing officer
started, 50,000 pairs of
shoes have been bought by
the Nigerian Prisons from
Aba. I can’t tell how many
shoes the office of the wife
of the President has
ordered to supply to the
school children in IDP
camps in the North East. I
cannot remember how
many NYSC uniforms that
have been ordered from
Aba. I cannot remember
how many shoes the naval
command in Nigeria has
ordered from Aba.
“But I know that the total
direct order into the Aba
economy, which is in the
excess of N1.5 billion, was
able to change the timidity
of the Aba business person
from spending 18 hours a
day preparing a shoe; only
to wake up to acknowledge
somebody in Japan who
did not do anything but just
stamping on that shoe
Made in Aba. Advert on
Made in Aba products
sponsored by Ford
Foundation has been
running on CNN. The list
is endless on what we can
achieve through the
handwork of our people.
“When I appear in the
comity of governors in
Nigeria, I'm recognized as
the Made in Aba governor,
they look at what I wear and
admire it.”
Ikpeazu lamented that
Aba lacks quality hospitality
facilities to host more than
2,000 visitors and appealed
to ACCIMA to ensure that
Enyimba Hotel which they
bought from Abia State
Government is completed
on time.
He also called on
ACCIMA to ensure that
they build an international
trade fair centre where
made in Aba products will
be exhibited, stressing that
his administration has made
giant efforts to promote
Made In Aba brands within
and outside the country.
On power supply,
Ikpeazu stated that
geometric power company
would soon commence
operations in the city,
adding that power supply
to the Ariaria International
market has been improved
upon.
In their separate
speeches, National
President, NACCIMA,
Iyalode Alaba Lawson and
the newly inaugurated
President, ACCIMA, Mr.
Andy Uba Obasi
commended the governor
for promoting Made- in-
Aba goods and supporting
ACCIMA and called for
greater cooperation
between the state
government and ACCIMA.
Chinese Consulate donates motorcycles, other equipment
to Nigerian Police
and companies.
“Second, we would like to
donate some equipment,
three motorcycles and three
air conditioners respectively
to Area E and Area F
commands in Lagos State
and Sagamu Area
Command in Ogun State.
In our work contact with
police officers, we found that
some police commands
suffered from lack of patrol
motorcycles and their offices
had no air conditioners. We
do hope these gifts can
enhance the ability of the
police to enforce laws and
improve officers’ working
environment.
“The third objective is to
establish a platform to
improve the friendship
between Chinese
community and the Nigeria
Police Force in our consular
district. In recent years,
more and more Chinese
people come to Nigeria to
do business and make
investment, contributing
actively to local economic
and social development.
However, they also face
serious safety challenges.”
Xiaoliang noted that both
Nigeria and China are still
faced with the arduous task
of development, stressing
that the two countries
should maintain the sound
momentum of high-level
exchanges, strengthen
friendly exchanges in all
fields and render mutual
understanding and support.
The Assistant Inspector
General of Police in charge
of Zone 2 Command, AIG
Adamu Ibrahim, who
received the equipment,
noted that it would help the
police in crime fighting.
ANAMBRA POLL: Group intensifies
campaign against violence
By Etop Ekanem
AGULERI,
the
country home of
Governor Willie Obiano of
Anambra State, with other
towns in Anambra North
Senatorial District met
members of the United for
Zero Violence Foundation
(UZV), who stormed the
area to campaign against
violence ahead of
the November 18 election.
Founded by former
Special Adviser on Science
and Technology to former
President George W Bush
of the US, High Chief
Emeka Ken Nwabueze,
UZV said it is embarking
on a statewide campaign
against violence ahead of
the poll.
During the group’s visit
to community leaders to
educate them on their
Group tasks private sector on
collaboration for socio-economic
devt
By Elizabeth
Uwandu
A
social group,
Oliver Circle of
Nigeria, has called for
Improved collaboration
between government
and private sector in
order to boost socioeconomic
development
of the country.
Pioneer President of
Oliver Circle of Nigeria,
Chief Fassy Yusuf made
the call in a statement
ahead of the investiture
of new executive
members led by Prince
Rasaq Quadri scheduled
for this weekend in Ogun
state.
Yusuf further stated that
Nigerians particularly,
those in need, stand to
benefit more if government
2019: INC gives Buhari condition to get Southeast support
By Chinonso Alozie
O
W E R R I —
FOLLOWING
the proposed plan for
President Muhammadu
Buhari to visit the Southeast
states, the Igbo National
Council, INC, has
demanded that the Vice
President slot should be
zoned to the region, in the
next election.
A statement in Owerri by
INC President, Chilos
Godsent, said it was the only
way the ruling party could
get the votes of the people
of the region in the 2019
general elections.
Godsent claimed that
under the All Progressives
Congress, APC, the region
has been deliberately
marginalized.
The statement read: “The
Igbo National Council INC
has long x-rayed the
performances of PMB and
also the fulfillment of their
campaign promises to
Southeast region.
“The INC is of the view
that the PMB-led federal
government has abysmally
failed the Southeast due to
marginalization of the zone
by the government.”
mission to ensure a violent
free election in the state,
they urged their host to use
their positions to spread the
anti-violence message most
especially to youths ahead
of the election.
Notable among the
community leaders who
visited is the traditional
ruler of Aguleri, Igwe
Christopher Idigo who
described the campaign as
a timely noble course and a
welcome development.
Idigo commended them
for devoting their time to
preach against violence,
adding that he is happy at
what they have set to
achieve.
At St Mary’s Church field
in Ugwunadegbe Aguleri,
they met with people from
the seven councils that make
up Anambra North
Senatorial District.
and the private sector
devote more resources to
the basic needs of the
people including health,
good road network, shelter
and education.
He said to further ensure
that the vision of the
founding fathers is realized,
the body had engaged
majorly in philanthropic
activities by reaching out to
indigent students and
providing some basic
infrastructure for the people
of Ogun state.
Among the guests invited
to grace the occasion
include; Olor‘ogun Sonny
Kuku and Oba Y. O.
Adekoya.
Otunba Jimi Lawal, who
is the Special Guest of
Honour, is expected to
deliver a lecture on
Community Development
and Mobilization.
“Consequently, INC's
condition for the South East
to support PMB for second
term is that APC should
zone its Vice President ticket
to South East."
Ambode flags off ketu lay-bys to ease traffic
gridlock
G OVERNOR
Akinwunmi
Ambode of Lagos State
yesterday, disclosed plans of
his administration to
introduce 5,000 buses into
the state transportation to
ensure easy movement of
commuters.
Ambode, who stated this
at the commissioning of
Ketu Lay-bys, slip and
service roads, expressed
commitment of his
administration to
..To inject 800 buses, 27,500 street sweepers in 2 months
addressing all the
transportation challenges
across the state.
The governor, particularly
said the infrastructure would
addressed the perennial
traffic gridlock challenge on
Ikorodu Road.
Ambode said 800 of the
buses would be introduced
in the next two months
while efforts were ongoing
to phase out commercial
motorcycles and buses
popularly known as
“Okada” and “Danfo” respectively,
noting that
27,500 sweepers would soon
be engaged to ensure all the
streets are cleaned.
The governor however,
appealed to residents,
traders and motorists to
corporate with the state
government in his
transformation agenda in
the transportation sector,
adding that more lay-bys,
roads and other facilities
would be provided.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—35
:Vanguard
News
I’ll run again in 2019 —Gov Ortom
By Peter Duru
M AKURDI—
BENUE State
governor, Samuel Ortom,
yesterday declared that he
would run for a second
term in the coming 2019
governorship election.
Ortom, who made the
declaration shortly after
being endorsed by thousands
of his supporters
from his immediate constituency,
including
Guma, Makurdi, Gwer
West, Gwer East and the
nine local government areas
of Benue South district,
said his decision was
based on the directive
from God.
The governor said:
“Earlier, when I was being
pressured by so many
groups to run again, I told
the people that I can only
declare to run after I had
prayed and heard from
SUMMIT: From left—Director-General, National Information Technology
Development Agency, NITDA, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami and Chairman,
Africa Information and Communication Technologies Alliance, AfICTA, Dr.
Jimson Olufye, during 5th AfICTA Summit, with the theme: “One Africa,
One Future: Leveraging ICT for Sustainable Development,” in Abuja.
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
God and if He gave me
the nod to contest I would
tell the people.
“I want to tell Benue
people today that I have
prayed and God has answered
and directed that
I should go and run again.
So I am happy to inform
the people of our state
that we are moving ahead
to 2019 and we will succeed.
“Earlier today, my immediate
constituency
came here to endorse and
compel me to run again
and I told them about the
directive I received from
God. And since it is said
that the voice of the people
is the voice of God, I
will, therefore, also not
shun the call of the people
asking me to run
again.
“I have taken the challenge,
bearing in mind
that while I was praying,
God said he is the beginning
and the end and by
His grace we will make it
in 2019.
“I vividly recall that my
emergence as governor of
Benue State today was divine
because it was beyond
human imagination.
So if the one who did it
that time has asked that I
should continue, all I need
to do is to follow.
“I urge my supporters to
be law abiding, don’t kill
anyone for my sake because
my coming in 2015
was the making of God. It
is He alone that brought
me here, he has spoken
again and I have heard
Him.”
The governor, who
promised to work hard to
reduce the state’s wage bill
and ensure prompt payment
of salaries, assured
that at the end of his eight
year tenure, the people
would be happier for it.
Yobe approves N1.2bn for agric, health, energey
projects
By Ndahi Marama
D AMATURU—THE
Yobe State Executive
Council has approved
a total of N1,
198, 975, 318.00 for the
execution of projects in
agriculture, healthcare,
and rural electrification.
Commissioner for Information,
Home Affairs
and Culture, Alhaji
Mala Musti, revealed
this yesterday after a
meeting of the state executive
council, chaired
by Governor Ibrahim
Gaidam Government
House, Damaturu.
The commissioner
said: “N464, 722,
725.00 will be used for
the construction of concrete
lining on canals at
the Mugura Garin
Gada Irrigation Scheme
site.
Ekpo, Baru, Kuru, Olagunju, others to attend
Realnews Fifth Anniversary Lecture
L AGOS—THE
Realnews Magazine
and Publications
Limited will hold its fifth
Anniversary Lecture on
Thursday, November 16,
2017. The lecture entitled:
“African Leadership
in a Turbulent Era”
which will be delivered
by Dr. (Mrs) Oby
Ezekwesili, former Nigerian
minister of education,
will take place at
the Sheraton Hotel,
Ikeja, Lagos, by 10 am
prompt.
Ezekwesili, former vice
president of the World
Bank and co-founder of
Transparency International,
was last week,
appointed democracy
ambassador by the
Swedish-based International
Institute for Electoral
Assistance, International
IDEA. She is the
first female to give the
Realnews Anniversary
Lecture series.
The Lecture will be
chaired by Professor
Akpan Hogan Ekpu, Director-General
of the
West African Institute for
Financial and Economic
Management, WAIFEM.
Immediately after the
lecture, a panel of
discussants will leverage
on the topic to speak on
how leadership crisis is
affecting different sectors
in Nigeria and the way
forward. The panellists
are Mr. Ahmed Kuru,
Managing Director/Chief
Executive Officer of the
Assets Management Corporation
of Nigeria,
AMCON, Mr. Waheed
Olagunju, executive director,
Bank of Industry,
BOI, and Dr. Maikanti
Baru, group managing
director, Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation,
NNPC. Both the
lecturer and all of the
panellists have confirmed
their attendance at the
event.
“The Mugura Garin
Gada Irrigation project
is one of three irrigation
schemes currently executed
by the state government
to enhance irrigation
agriculture and
food production in the
state.
“ Others are the
Nguru Lake Irrigation
Project and the Bolorom
Irrigation Project. Also
approved by EXCO is
N106, 762, 500.00 as logistics
for the transportation
of the nearly N2
billion worth of medical
equipment and supplies
that World Medical
Relief WMR, based
in Detroit, USA, donated
to the state government.’’
He further revealed
that N186, 705, 800.00
was approved for the
construction of a 33KV
transmission line, with
a distance of 33
kilometers to link
Bayamari Town with
Gaidam.
He said the project
would be jointly funded
by the state government
and the benefiting local
governments at a 70-30
percentage ratio.
Other approvals by the
State EXCO include
N81, 533, 986.00 for the
construction of a perimeter
fence for the College
of Medical Sciences
Yobe State University,
N298, 561, 725.00 for
the provision of furniture
and equipment at
the College of Medical
Sciences and N60, 688,
583.00 for the landscaping
and beautification of
the frontage of Yobe
Mosque and Islamic
Center, Damaturu.
Nigerians must earn from
productivity, not rent
—Aregbesola
G OVERNOR
Ogbeni Rauf
Aregbesola of Osun State
has identified unearned
income from rent, rather
than productivity, as the
major challenge facing
Nigeria in terms of its
economic development.
Aregbesola, who spoke
as guest lecturer at the
10th Convocation Lecture
of Lead City University
in Ibadan, encouraged
the Federal Government
to directly create 50
million jobs in a move
that will turn Nigeria into
an economic power in two
decades.
In the lecture, titled
“Evolution of Private
University Education and
Issues Miscellany in
Governance of the Federation”,
Aregbesola
said: “I will like to posit
that we should get 50 million
of our compatriots to
be working i.e. engaged
in productive activities
that will bring them at
least N25,000 a month.
‘’From this, N1.25 trillion
will be generated in
the economy every
month from real productive
engagement," he
said.
“These jobs can be created
and paid for by ways
and means in diverse areas
of the economy like
agriculture and food production,
clothing and
footwear, housing, environment,
critical public
infrastructure like roads,
bridges, airports, railways,
water resources
development etc that will
provide basic needs for
the people and cut imports
by 90 per cent, reducing
foreign goods to
critical machineries and
raw materials we do not
have at home. This will
catapult Nigeria into a
superpower within two
decades.”
He traced the history
of private university to
the emergence of
Igbinedion University,
Okada, Edo State, Babcock
University, Ilisan
Remo, Ogun State and
Madonna University,
Ikija, Anambra State in
1999.
The governor described
the period as a
time when applications
to the Joint Admissions
and Matriculations
Board, JAMB, University
Matriculation Examination,
UME, had
peaked at over 750,000,
but the maximum admission
granted was a
paltry 50,000.
We’ll avoid mistakes of the
past on pension—Reps
By Demola Akinyemi
I LORIN—THE
chairman, House of
Representatives Committee
on Pension,
Hassan Adamu
Shekarau, has assured
that the ongoing verification
of pensioners
across the country by
the Pension Transitional
Agreement Directorate,
PTAD, will
avoid the mistakes of
the past, devoid of
fraud.
He said the development
would ensure that
PTAD effectively captured
bonafide retirees
and assist them to get
their benefits without
any stress so as to add
values to their socio
well being.
Shekarau, who represents
B/Gwari/Giwa
Federal Constituency,
made the disclosure in
Ilorin, Kwara State,
during the oversight
function of the committee
to the ongoing verification
of pensioners
embarked on by PTAD
in the north central
zone of the country, including
Kwara state.
He was accompanied
o n the tour by the Executive
Secretary of
PTAD, Mrs Sharon
Ikeazor, and Emmanuel
Egwu and Alhaji
Abubakar Dahiru, who
are both members of
the committee.
Transition
Late Ma Elizabeth
Madam Elizabeth A.
Olubode is dea, aged
101years. She will be
buried as follow: Friday
10th November, Lying in
state at her son's resident
in Ibefun Ogun State.
Saturday 11th November
2017, Burial Service
at the same venue, while
interment follow thereafter

36—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
COMMENDATION SERVICE: From left, Ropo Omidiora,
daughter of deceased; Mr Michael Ajibade, son in-law; Mrs Funke
Ajibade; Tomi Omidiora; Dr Tomi Akintorin, son in-law; Dr Mope
Akintorin and Dokun Omidiora, son of deceased, at the
commendation service in honour of late Balogun Bisi Omidiora, at
Cathedral Church of St Jude, Ebute Meta, Lagos.
AWARD: From left, Mrs Yemisi Adewusi, Managing Director, YTTT
Distribution Limited; Hope Gbagi, Head of Sales, Intercontinental
Distillers Limited; Dorothy Anegbe, Managing Director Ogbohu
Enterprises; Patrick Anegbe, Managing Director, Intercontinental
Distillers Limited; and Mobolaji Alalade, Head of Marketing
Intercontinental Distillers Limited celebrating the Platinum Award
winners at the company Distributors' Award, in Abeokuta, Ogun
State.
AGM: From left: Managing Director, Mr. Ibrahim Aliyu; Chairman,
Mr. Abdulsamad Rabiu, both of Cement Company of Northern
Nigeria, CCNN, a subsidiary of BUA Group and makers of Sokoto
Cement; Company Secretary, Mr. Ahmed Aliyu, and Group Executive
Director, Mr. Kabiru Rabiu, both of BUA Group, at CCNN's 2017
Annual General Meeting in Abuja, Wednesday, where it announced
a turnover of N14.08 billion and a gross profit of N3.93 billion.
FREE EYE SCREENING: Asaba Phase II Lions Club carrying
out free eye screening at Westend Mixed Secondary School, Asaba,
Delta State during the World Sight Day celebration. Talks were also
given on how to care for the eyes: Photo: Nath Onojake.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10 , 2017—37
GABRELLA
This is to confirm that the
names, Mrs. Opara Loretta
Uzuazo and Mrs. Opara
Loretta Gabrella refer to one
and the same person, but
now wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs. Opara
Loretta Uzuazo. All former
documents remain valid.
Zenith Bank Plc and the
general public please take
note.
SHIDODO
I , formerly known and
addressed as Owofio
Jeremiah Shidodo, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Jeremiah
Ogaga Owofio. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
ORIOYE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Rotimi
Orioye Poroye, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Rotimi
Isaac Poroye. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
OKOH
OH
I, formerly known and
addressed as Okoh
Laura Onyeyem, now
wish to be known and
addressed as
Onwuegbuzie Laura
Onyeyem. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
KEGBE
I, formerly known and
addressed as
Ebikeseye Joy Kegbe,
now wish to be known
and addressed as
Ebikeseye Joy
Jeremiah. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
UMOH
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Roseline Charles
Umoh, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Mrs. Roseline
Onyeka Okumbor. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
ELLA
This is to confirm that the
names, Emmanoella
Obiageli Ezeanya-
Nwabueze, and Ella
Obiageli Nwabueze refer
to one and the same
person, but now wish to
be known and addressed
as Emmanoella Obiageli
Ezeanya-Nwabueze. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
MOMOH
We, formerly known and addressed as Momoh
Solomon Osemudiamen, Momoh Prince
Ehinomen, Momoh Joseph Bright Oseremen and
Momoh Grace Efuaye, now wish to be known and
addressed as Mr. Aikhienomian Solomon
Osemudiamen, Mr. Aikhienomian Prince
Ehinomen, Mr. Aikhienomian Joseph Bright
Oseremen and Miss Aikhienomian Grace Efuaye.
All former documents remain valid. General public
please take note.
NDI UNACHUKWU FADAHUNSI OWOYEMI
I, formerly known and
addressed as Sylvester
Oloye Ndi, now wish
to be known and
addressed as Sylvester
Oloye Ugo. All
documents bearing the
former name remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Adaoma Chinwe
Unachukwu, now wish
to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Adaoma Chinwe
Estelle Okoroafor. All
documents bearing the
former name remain
valid. General public
please take note.
FAVOUR
SINA CHINONSO OLABISI NURUDEEN
I, formerly known and
addressed as Akinfe
Favour Toluwalase, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Akinfe
O l u w a d u s i n
Toluwalase. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Taiwo
Sina Adejola, now wish
to be known and
addressed as Adejola
Isaac Taiwo. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Ideli
Chinonso Christopher,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Ideli
Mark Chris. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Toyin Fadahunsi, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Toyin Adeyemi. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known,
called and addressed
as Miss Olabisi
Ganiyat, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Nnamani Olabisi
Ganiyat. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
RANI NJOKU
IBRAHIM NJOKU
ANI
This is to certify that the
names, Ebireri Rani
Eseoghene and Rani
Eseoghene refer to one and
the same person. That in
my Senior Secondary
School Examination,
Ebireri was omitted. All
documents bearing both
names remain valid to the
same person. NYSC and
the general public please
take note.
I wish to affirm that the
names Njoku Margaret
and Njoku Margaret
Nwanyiogo refer to one
and same person, but
now wish to be known
and addressed as Njoku
Margaret Nwanyiogo.
All former documents
remain valid. FCMB
and the general public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as, Bola A.
Ibrahim, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Bola
Ajike Morohunfolu. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Njoku Nora Chinasa,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Mrs.
Ohaeri Nora Chinasa.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Owoyemi Yetunde
Deborah, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Funmilola Deborah
Adekola. All
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as
Nurudeen Adeoti
Ibrahim, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Adekanbi
Adeoti Ibrahim. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
OBI OKHUELEIGBE AJOKU EPHRAIM AMAKU EKA
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss Obi
Chioma Bester, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs. Ibe
Chioma Bester. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Okhueleigbe Odion
Christiana, now wish to be
known and addressed as Dr.
(Mrs.) Ebueburho Odion
Christiana. All former
documents remain valid.
Fidelity Bank, Access Bank,
Ambrose Alli University,
Medical and Dental
Council of Nigeria
(MDCN), and the general
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Mr. Ajoku
Chukwuemeka Maxwell,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Mr.
Ebueburho Majire
Maxwell. All former
documents remain valid.
Fidelity Bank, Zenith
Bank, Ambrose Alli
University, Medical and
Dental Council of Nigeria
(MDCN), and the general
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Ephraim Folake Nurse
Omowunmi, now wish to
be known and addressed
as Mrs. Matiminu
Folake Nurse. All former
documents remain valid.
Lagos State Government
(LNSC) and the general
public please take note.
We, formerly known and addressed as Mr. Maxwell
Chukwudi Ani, Mr. Christopher Chinweuba Ani,
Mr. Osbert Ifeanyichukwu Ani, Mr. Anthony
Afamefuna Ani and Rev. Moses Obinna Ani, now
wish to be known and addressed as Mr. John
Maxwell Chukwudi, Mr. John Christopher
Chinweuba, Mr. John Osbert Ifeanyichukwu, Mr.
John Anthony Afamefuna and Rev. John Moses
Obinna. All former documents remain valid.
General public please take note.
This is to confirm that the
names, Revd. Canon
Godwin Okpako Amaku,
and Godwin Okpako
Amaku refer to one and
the same person, but
now wish to be known
and addreesed as
Godwin Okpako Amaku.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Eka
Ekaette Emmanuel
Okposin, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Starry
Emmanuel Okposin.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
OKPOBRISI OCHUKO
LUIS JANE ERHURHU
I, formerly known and
addressed as
Okpobrisi Favour
Oghenefejiro, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Ekaruwe
Favour Oghenefejiro
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as
Ugherighe Ochuko,
now wish to be known
and addressed as
Ugherighe Oneporo
Edward. All former
documents remain
valid. Ecobak Plc and
the general public
please take note.
The names, Mark
Romeo Luis and
Agwatoma Ighoyivwi
Romeo are mine, but I
now wish to be known
and addressed as
Agwatoma Ighoyivwi
Romeo. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
The name Avbovbo
Voke Jane is mine, but
I now wish to be known
and addressed as
Avbovbo Voke. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
The name Erhurhu
Vincent Obakpororo is
mine, but I now wish to
be known and
addressed as Erhurhu
Vincent Obakpororo
London. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
JOHNSON
I, formerly known,
called and addressed
as Johnson Wealth,
now wish to be known
and addressed as
Olamene Wealth Dilo.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.

38—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10 , 2017
CHANGE OF NAME
AKEUSOLA ABIAGAM SHEHU UDO ALUKO KELANI
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Akeusola Khadijat
Oluwafunmilayo, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Ajigbewu Khadijat
Oluwafunmilayo. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Abiagam
Angela Chukwusiali,
now wish to be known
and addressed as
Kamakwe Angela
Chukwusiali. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
ABODUNRIN OKORO OLUWATOSIN ADEWOLE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Michael
Abodunrin Balogun,
now wish to be known
and addressed as
Michael Balogun. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Okoro Stella Ejiro, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Akpodafe Stella Ejiro.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Okunsanya Olabisi
Oluwatosin, now wish
to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Okunsanya Olabisi
Oluwatosin. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Adewole Oyebokun
Yemisi, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Mrs. Desmennu
Oyebokun Yemisi. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Kelani
Folorunsho Oluwaseyi,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Taire
Folorunsho Oluwaseyi
Ishaq. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
ADARA
OSUNGBEMI MOHAMMED NWANOLUE AGBARE ODUARAN EJIRO
I, formerly known and
addressed as
Osungbemi Eunice
Monilola, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Idowu Eunice Moni.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Hassan
Ifijeh Mohammed, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Odion
Ifijeh Oyakhire. All
former documents
remain valid. Army
Headquarters (AHQs)
e d u c a t i o n a l
institutions, banks and
the general public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Ayeni
Idris Mijohotho and
Shehu Idris Mijohotho,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Ayeni
Idris Mijohotho. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Nwanolue Constance
Chinyere, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Nkemobioha
Constance Chinyere.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Gospel Bassey Udo,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Mrs.
Gospel Usen Udofot.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Agbare
Churukie, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Yalaju
C h u r u k i e
Ugeoritseyemi. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Adenike Aluko, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Adenike Aluko
Dacosta. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
O d u a r a n
Oghenevwogaga now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Oviomaigho Florence
Oghenevwogaga. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public take note.
My name was
mistakenly written as
Ogunsola Tolulope
Adara instead of
Ogunsola Tolulope
Laura. My correct
name is Ogunsola
Tolulope Laura. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
This is to notify the
general public that
Akpoveghon Ejiro and
Ediriverere Felicia
Akpoveghon. belong to
one and the same person
now wish to be known
and addressed as Miss
Ediriverere Felicia
Akpoveghon.All former
documents remain valid
and general public take
note.
ESITI ANYANWU
ESITI EDEONYIA IMARHIAGBE AGOGOZIA
I, formerly known as
Miss Esiti Ejiro
Priscillia, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Madagwa Ejiro
Priscillia. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known as
Miss Anyanwu
O g o c h u k w u
Augustina, now wish to
be known as Mrs.
U m e n w a n n e
O g o c h u k w u
Augustina. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known as
Miss Esiti Ufuoma
Franca, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Mrs. Ogono Ufuoma
Franca. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Favour Chinecherem
Edeonyia, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Favour Chinecherem
Odinuwe. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Imarhiagbe Naomi
Stephanie Orobosa,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Mrs.
Omoluwabi Naomi
Stephanie Orobosa. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Agogozia Joyce
Chinyere, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Ayemien Joyce
Chinyere. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
OMOJINARE NWIGWE OBIANWUZIA IZEDIUNOR IZEDIUNOR NDUBUISI
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Omojinare Peace
Oghenerukome, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Etim
Peace
Oghenerukome. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Nwigwe Chidinma,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Mrs.
Osakwe Chidinma. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Obianwuzia Anwuli
Mary, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Mrs. Anwuli Mary
Edozie Agetue. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Mrs.
Izediunor Brendon
Lami, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Mrs. Okolie
Brendon Lami. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as
Izediunor Chidiebele
Charles, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Okolie
C h i d i e b e l e
Christopher. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Okolo
Ndubuisi Bonaventure,
now wish to be known
and addressed as David
Dumebi Okolo. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
JOHN ELUE IGHOGBOJA JAMES IGODO CHRISTY
I, formerly known and
addressed as Mr.
Omoluwabi John
Osireyami Itopa, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mr.
Omoluwabi Annord
Osireyami Itopa. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Oyibocha
Sunny Onoriode, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Oyibocha
Sunny. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
take note.
This is to confirm that
the names Elue Gabriel
Mokogwu and Elue
Mokogwu refer to one
and the same person. I
now wish to be known
and addressed as Elue
Gabriel Mokogwu. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take
note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Owhojero
Ejiro Donjero, now wish
to be known and
addressed as Ohwojero
Ejiro. All former
documents remain
valid. First Bank,
General public take
note.
This is to confirm that the
names Ighogboja
Simeon, Ighogboja
Osadebe Simeon and
Ighogboja Ighonena
Simeon refer to one and
the same person. I now
wish to be known and
addressed as Ighogboja
Simeon. All former
documents remain valid.
General public please
take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Philip
Precious, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Philip
Precious Happiness.
All former documents
remain valid. First
Bank. General public
take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as James
Ebisindo, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Ebisindo
Maxwell Orubinah.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Igodo Koli Ruth, now to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Samuel Kikile Koli
Ruth. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Christy Emmy Elile
Akumah-Mordi, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Christiana Emmy Elile
Odi. All former
documents remain
valid. Keystone Bank
and the general public
please take note.
OYIBOCHA OHWOJERO PHILIP CHISOM BASSEY IGBRU
I, formerly known I, formerly known and
and addressed as addressed as Miss
Miss Offiah Jane
Idoreyin Bassey
Chisom, now wish
to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Okafor Jane
Chisom. All former
documents remain
valid. General
public please take
note.
AGBOR
I wish to confirm that the
names, Agbor Merchel
Bassey and Agbor
Mitchel Bassey refer to
one and the same person,
but now wish to be known
and addressed as Mrs.
Kalu Mitchel
Okechukwu. All former
documents remain valid.
General public please
take note.
Bassey, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Mrs. Idoreyin
Golden Ofoegbu. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed Miss Igbru
Rita Ejomafuvwe, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs. Rita
Ejomafuvwe Kennedy.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take
note.

OVOH
I, formerly known and
addressed as Ovoh
Othuke, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Ajubi Othuke
Kelvin. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
NDUBUEZE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Mrs.
Patricia I. Cletus
Ndubueze and Mrs.
Ndubueze Ihiekam
Patricia, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Patricia Ihiekam
Elue. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
MAKINWA
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Tunmise Tope
Makinwa, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Tunmise Tope Oladipe.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
ONEYOR
OR
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Oneyor Oritsetsemaye,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Mrs.
Ero Oritsetsemaye. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
IGHOMRORE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Ighomrore Blessing
Akpevweoghene, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Esin Blessing
Akpevweoghene. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
OGHINAN
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Justina Eiterebhe
Oghinan, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Justina Eiterebhe
Inemohlan. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
EFEORHARE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Efeorhare Stella
Ogheneruona, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Iriburu Stella
Ogheneruona. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
ETUWA
I, formerly known and
addressed Etuwa
Philomena, now wish
to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Koko Philomena
Etuwa. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
RUKA
UKAYAT
I, formerly known and
addressed as Costa
Rukayat Aderonke,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Costa
Aderonke Folake. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
ILOKAMEJE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Ilokameje Princess Ada,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Mrs.
Chukwu Princess Ada.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
OBATT
TTA
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Obatta Agatha and
Miss Obatta Blessing
Ejudame, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Ovuomani Obatta
Blessing. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
ONYEKA
This is to confirm that the
names Ngene Michael
Onyeka and Ngene
Michael O. as they
appear on my documents
refer to one and same me.
I now wish to be known
and addressed as Ngene
M i c h a e l
Onyekachukwu. All
former documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
IBIABOR
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Ibiabor Mabel Faith,
now wish to be known
and addressed as Mrs,
Ejike Mabel Faith. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
OKOR
OROAFOR
I, formerly known and
addressed as Unanka
Ngozi Okoroafor, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Unanka
Ngozi Mercy. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
OWEGBERU
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Owegberu Ezekiel
Oghale Roselyn, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Oghale Roselyn
Edemenaha. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
UNICE
I, formerly known as
Imene Unice Wisdom,
now wish to be known
and addressed as
Imene Wisdom Uzor.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
BLESSING
I, formerly known and
addressed as Ezekiel
Blessing Rosemary,
now wish to be known
and addressed as
Ezekiel Rosemary
Monday. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
IKUESAN
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Ikuesan Olasimbo
Innocent, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Olasimbo-Ikuesan
Aghenu. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
OBONRIEMU
I, Daniel Faith
Ogheneakpobo hereby
state that the names
Mrs, Ogheneakpobo
Obonriemu and Daniel
Faith Ogheneakpobo
as they appear on
some of my documents
refer to one and same
me. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
BELINDA
I, formerly known and
addressed as Belinda
Aliu, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Basila Kassim Aliu.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take
note.
MOORE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Cynthia
Chinyelu Baby Moore,
now wish to be known
and addressed as
Cynthia Chinyelu Baby
Enemchukwu. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please note.
ETAREWEREBAKUMOR
I, formerly known and
addressed as
Etarewerebakumor
Tamaraupreye, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Bramor
Tamaraupreye Clinton.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
OGUDO
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Ogudo Andrew Idara
Rosemary Peace, now
wish to be known and
addressed Mrs. Efeturi
Idara Rosemary Peace.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
OMORODION
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Omorodion Joan
Enoyoze, now wish to
be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Usifoh Joan Enoyoze.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
FAMAKIN
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Famakin Atinuke
Mercy, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Mrs. Ibukunolu
Atinuke Mercy. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
SONIA
I, Afabor Patricia Esere
hereby state that the
names Sonia Afabor
and Afabor Patricia
Esere as they appear on
some of my documents
refer to one and same
me. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
ILEH
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Uche Lilian Ileh, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Uche Lilian Omonigho
Abraka. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
OGHENE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Chief
Oghene Ovo Edward
Egbetamah, now wish
to be known and
addressed as Chief
Edward Nevo Ovo-
Egbetamah. All former
documents remain
valid. General public
please take note.
EJIMDE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Ejimde
Mike, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Ejimole Mike. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
OGHENEOGAGA
I, formerly known and
addressed as Bazunu
Ogheneogaga
Ikechukwu, now wish
to be known and
addressed as Bazunu
Ogagaoghene Favour.
All former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
OKEKE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
Okeke Calista Ify, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Amamchukwu-
Ofordile Calista Ify. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
AKANDE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Akande
Tale, now wish to be
known and addressed
as Ojo Grace Tale. All
former documents
remain valid. First
Bank Plc and general
public please take note.
OMONDIAGBE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss
E b i n e h i t a
Omondiagbe, now
wish to be known and
addressed as Mrs.
Ebinehita Olawoye. All
former documents
remain valid. General
public please take note.
THIS SPACE
IS
FOR SALE
Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10 , 2017—39
LITFair needs
improved
infrastructure
—LCCI
By Alex Folorunso
LAGOS—THE Lagos
Chambers of
Commerce and Industry
has called on the Federal
Government to improve
the infrastructure of the
Tafawa Balewa Square,
TBS,venue of the on
going
Lagos
International Trade Fair.
The call was made,
yesterday, by the
Director- General of the
Lagos Chamber of
Commerce and Industry,
LCCI, Mr Muda Yusuf,
at the on-going Lagos
International Trade Fair.
Yusuf decried the
rigours which both local
and international
investors undergo as a
result of the poor
infrastructure of the
International Trade Fair.
He said: “Enabling
environment is a catalyst
to the growth of the
Small and Medium
Enterprises in Nigeria
and we have sufficient
exhibitors from Europe,
U.S.A, Asia and other
African countries. These
investors want to seize
the advantage of the
numerous exhibitors to
create an enabling
business partnership."
Warri
Education
college holds
Alumni
congress
THE College of
Education Warri is
set to hold her Alumni/
Alumnea Congress
meeting.
The meeting is
scheduled to hold at
lecture theatre (science
block) at College of
Education Warri, Delta
State, Friday 17th
November, 2017.
In a statement signed
by the conveners, the
Political Aides to Delta
State Governor on
Students Affairs
Comrade Okoh Ezekiel
and On Special Duties
Media Comrade Ossai
Ovie Success, said,
‘’With the Authority of
the Provost, Prof (Mrs)
Mary Edema, we are
pleased to inform all
Alumni/Alumnea of the
great College of
Education, Warri of a
general meeting of all
graduates.

40—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Anti-corruption war: A campaign compromised?
By Abdulahi Osi
I belong to everybody and I
belong to nobody – President
Muhammadu Buhari
IT was May 29, 2015 when
that
speech was
made by the then newly
inaugurated President
Muhammadu Buhari. That
punchy line resonated across
the country, from the vast
landscape of the north to the
forest region of the south. The
long awaited nemesis of the
chronically corrupt and
unrepentant enemies of good
governance has arrived. It shall
no longer be business as usual.
The optimism on the part of the
citizens was infectious.
From a backdrop of a beaten
and battered economy,
widespread insecurity and a
massively looted treasury,
President Buhari served to the
citizenry a three pronged
dosage as antidote, namely -
anti-corruption war, security
and economic rejuvenation.
It is common knowledge that
the most potent weapon in the
kitty of General Buhari was the
famed iron cast integrity earned
over the years in the course of
his service to fatherland. To
clean the augean stable of 16
years of filth left behind by the
former administrations of the
retreating PDP, he had
committed himself to taking on
corruption in every area where
it reared its ugly head and there
was no doubt on the part of
Nigerians and other watchers
that this difficult battle was
capable of been won given the
antecedents of its exponent.
The zeal and seeming
determination with which the
onslaught against graft
commenced gave hope that,
indeed, the nation was
undergoing a rebirth; that a
new Nigeria, free of
malfeasance, was here. But
recent developments have
given Nigerians and, indeed,
international observers cause for
serious concern. Is this war on
course? Has the battle arsenal
been evenly deployed to all
troubled spots? Are some toes
getting too big and too sacred
to be stepped upon? More and
more frightful questions
continue to run through the
minds of many. And rightly so,
their doubts have not been
unfounded.
As this article is being written,
the nation’s media landscape is
saturated with, perhaps, the
most scandalous and most
embarrassing story that
promises to deliver the biggest
blow to the anti-corruption
drive of this government. It is
the story of the former chairman
of the Presidential Task Force on
Pension Reforms Task Team,
Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, who
the EFCC had declared wanted
for monumental fraud, but was
helped back to the country and
reinstated to the public service
with promotion. We will shed
further light on this presently.
Only recently, the federal
government approved the
appointment of a 14-member
board to boost the arsenal of one
of the duo of the country’s anticorruption
specialized
agencies, Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related
Offences Commission, ICPC.
On that list of anti-corruption
warriors was a controversial
name. She would have made
her way through but for the
prompt intervention of the
fourth estate of the realm, the
press and other concerned
Nigerians who took it upon
themselves to keep watch over
our fragile democracy.
In reaching a conclusion on
such sensitive appointments,
one must have thought that
proper background security
checks would have been
carried out to ensure a high
level of uprightness in character
and reputation of those in whom
we would be placing our
collective aspirations in routing
the disaster that corruption and
all its vice have bedeviled us
with.
But as it was later made
known, bringing the
controversial name for such a
position was a grave error that
shouldn’t have happened in the
first place, given that there was
The ICPC Board
appointment misstep is
just one of the series of
unfolding events that
are daily rubbishing the
gains of the anticorruption
campaign
an ensuing topnotch
investigation into alleged
corrupt activities by the
candidate by agencies of the
federal government, the
Nigerian Police and the EFCC.
Littering the media landscape
were series of incriminating
documents as an ex-candidate.
Only last week, the Federal
High Court in Abuja, ordered
an interim forfeiture of 14
properties owned by former
FCT Minister, Bala
Mohammed, over alleged
corruption, abuse of office,
corrupt practices and money
laundering were among the
charges instituted by the EFCC.
The court further noted that the
said properties are reasonably
suspected to be proceeds of
unlawful activities and crimes
kept and concealed in names of
‘proxies and nominees’ of the
ex-minister.
Guess those the Judge,
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, found
culpable and said to be at the
vanguard of this despicable act,
fronting as proxies in the
pilfering of our commonwealth?
Take the recent open
altercation between the
Minister of State, Petroleum, Dr.
Ibe Kachikwu and the Group
Managing Director of NNPC,
Dr. Maikanti Baru. Pointedly,
Kachikwu accused Baru, among
others, of awarding contracts
totaling $24 billion without due
process and without recourse to
the Board of the corporation.
The contracts include: the crude
term contracts valued at over
$10billion, the Direct Sale
Direct Purchase, DSDP
contracts valued at $5 billion,
the AKK Pipeline Contract
valued at $3 billion, various
financing allocation funding
contracts with the Joint Venture
oil companies to the tune of $3
billion.
Baru’s defence was that the
said contracts went through due
processes and was approved by
the President, who also doubled
as the substantive Minister of
Petroleum Resources. What
Baru, however, failed to explain
is if it was statutorily tenable for
the Board which was supposed
to formulate the workplan and
the Budget of the Corporation
not to be carried along in the
award of contracts of such
monumental proportion.
All these questions are being
raised even while the grass
cutting contract scandal which
led to the suspension of the
Secretary to the Federal
Government, SGF, Babachir
Lawal and the riddle
surrounding the discovery of
millions of dollars at a location
in Lagos are yet to be laid to
rest. Mr. Lawal, as the Secretary
to the Government of the
Federation, SGF, allegedly used
a company, Rholavision
Engineering Ltd, while his
name was still on its directors’
list, to secure a N230 million
contract to clear “invasive plant
species” in Yobe State.
The Senate ad-hoc Committee
that investigated the contract
scam found out that some tidy
sum of N450 million was paid
into the Ecobank account of
Lawal’s Rholavision by five
different companies which also
benefited from the grass cutting
contracts which was awarded by
the now sacked SGF.
Concerned citizens were still
analyzing the disturbing turn of
events and taking stock of the
reverses the anti-graft battle has
recorded when the Maina
bombshell dropped. Now, this
is a major devastating and
damaging blow on whatever
may have been left of the antigraft
campaign.
•Osi wrote in from Ajaokuta,
Kogi State
Continues online
(www.vanguardngr.com)
Bishop Jacob Udobang, the
visionary ‘world pope'
TRIBUTE
By Jacob Udobang
ODAY, we remember late
TBishop Jacob Brown
Udobang who was born into a
humble Christian home of late Mr
and Mrs Brown Udobang, in the
remote and impoverished oil
community of Ikot Ekpang,
Odoro Ikot Clan, Ikpa Ibom in
Mkpat Enin Local Government
Area of Akwa Ibom State. From
the chronicles of his birth, he was
predestined to be a prophet from
his mother’s womb as his
childhood was replete with
outstanding and uncommon traits
even at the schools he attended.
He was always sickly particularly
during examination periods, yet
always emerging the best among
his contemporaries in academic
activities.
While narrating the life history
of this great man from the little
despised village of Ikot Ekpang,
one of his contemporaries and age
mate Elder Okon Worrey said,
"Jacob didn’t really use to attend
classes because of his sickly
nature, but during exams, he
always led the class."
Bishop Udobang himself said
the exam questions were usually
revealed to him in dreams; and
that was why he always led in
class/academic activities. This
rare talent was attributed partly
to his early engagement in
prophetic assignment and God’s
divine guidance and direction, as
Bishop Udobang’s watchwords in
life were Christ is my Power! One
with God is Majority!
Prophetic
exploits
He co-founded House of Prayer
for all Nations with his mother,
whom he joined on October 15,
2014. Many miracles were
wrought in the hands of the duo!
Story has it that, in one of his
prophetic exploits, he went into
the evil forest in the village to pray
for three nights dislodging and
turning things around. He
physically ‘caught’ witches and
wizards’, reason he was usually
revered and feared in the
community. Another of his
spiritual exploits, was rescuing of
a man whose spirit was held in
strong captivity by the forces of
darkness. The story of his spiritual
exploit is still being told in the
community today.
‘World Pope’ as he was fondly
called by his contemporaries had
a vision where he was
commanded to hand over his
ministry to Bishop John Etefia, late
president and founder of Mount
Zion Light House Full Gospel
Church Inc. In 1966 without
hesitation and in obedience to
God’s command, he joined Mt.
Zion Church as pastor and his
first station was Mt Zion (L.F.G.)
Church, Ukpana Assembly in
what is today Onna Local
Government Area of Akwa Ibom
State. From Ukpana, he traversed
the length and breadth of Nigeria,
planting churches, winning souls
for Christ and performing signs
and wonders in fulfillment of
God’s promise to Christians.
Bishop Udobang
During the civil war, from 1966 to
1969, he was posted to Kano State
where he established Sabon Gari
Assembly. He narrowly escaped
death during the civil war on
several occasions.
In recognition of his
outstanding performance and
popularity, he was elected trustee
of the Church in 1992 alongside
late Bishop Hogan (who was an
elder in his Assembly), Bishop
N.D Ayakndue, currently and vice
president of Mount Zion Church
Inc and later was enthroned as
bishop. He was a man of trust,
forth-right, fearless and reformer.
In 1992, he challenged the
introduction of strange doctrines
in the Church tagged, "Lets
Return to Bethel" which was
principally about going back to the
basics or doctrines laid down by
the founding fathers of the
church.
This was considered as affront
to constituted authority, and he
was later ex-communicated from
the Church. Having believed in
justice and engaged the services
of Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), to
challenge his alleged excommunication
at the Federal
High Court, Ibadan, Oyo State in
1993 when he was the
Superintendent of Ibadan
Diocese between 1992 - 2009.
Unfortunately, Bishop Akpabio
died in the course of the matter
and the matter was finally
resolved amicably under the
presidency of Bishop Paul
Augustine. He was re-instated as
trustee and bishop of the church.
While trying to settle down to
assume duties, he was faced with
another legal tussle orchestrated
by the authority at the Federal
High Court, Calabar. He won the
matter again, and was appointed
vice president of Mount Zion
(LFG) Church, the position he
held until death. But before he
passed on, he used the position
to withdraw all outstanding
litigations from courts and
brought back members together
in one fold.
He did not serve the Church
alone, but also contributed to
community development where
he single handedly brought the
modern market built by the
European Union to Ikot Ekpang,
and collaborated with others to
champion the NDDC road
project. He had assisted several
indigenes of his community to
secure employment. As we
remember his good works today,
we pray God to imbue us with the
wisdom, tenacity and courage to
sustain his virtues.
•Udobang Esq, is an Abuja
based legal practitioner

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017— 41

42 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
It'll be a tragedy
for PDP to rule
Nigeria again
— LAI MOHAMMED
•Says I don’t lie on issues
PUBLIC relations guru and lawyer, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
the Minister of Information and Culture, in this interview
responds to topical issues. Excerpts:
By Emmanuel Aziken,
Political Editor
DO you think Mainagate
is a dent on the
administration?
The fact that Mr. President,
immediately the issue came to
his knowledge asked for
Maina’s disengagement is
the most important
thing. That to me is a clear
signal that we do not condone
corruption. There is no better
way to handle the issue than
this.
Those who championed
Buhari’s election are
complaining that they have
been abandoned and PDP
people are now in
government. Are you
bothered?
As early as 2015, he
(Buhari) did direct that they
should bring nominations.
Clear
signal
And he was very clear in his
directives as to who should
make the boards, who should
qualify. I remembered he said
anybody that they must be
frontline actors in the run-up
to the 2015 election. Anybody
who had either contested for
primaries within the party
and had lost, or as a
consensus, was asked to step
down, anybody who either
contested election either at the
governorship level, National
Assembly or even state level
against either PDP or APC
and had lost.
He said these are the main
stakeholders in the party and
are people who ought to be
recommended for
appointments. As you know,
Mr. President himself cannot
know all these people. All
politics as they say is local.
The president cannot know
who in Akwa Ibom for
instance, contested
for National Assembly and
lost against PDP or who in
Borno State contested
primaries for Senate with a
fellow APC candidate and
lost. So, I think those who are
charged with that
responsibility failed and that
is why we are in the mess we
are in now. The president
has, however, promised that
he is going to take a fresh
look into it. One thing is to
dissolve the boards but you
can’t leave them vacant. But
I believe we are going to see
lots of progress in that area
very soon.
But also don’t forget, that all
politics is local. If I am the
chairman of Delta State APC
or I am a leader in Delta State
APC and I am given criteria,
but I decide to bypass those
criteria Mr. President is too
busy to look into all these
things. I know many states for
instance where people are
complaining that it is not
those who ought to be
compensated that were
rewarded by the government.
But again, it is not possible
for you to compensate
everybody at the same time.
Certain boards are not due for
dissolution because some of
them are tenured while some
are governed by certain rules.
Also, certain boards need
specialists to manage. Like I
said, the truth of the matter is
that Mr. President as far back
as 2015 gave this assignment
to party members and they
failed. They failed Mr.
President. That is the honest
truth, I know.
Could the PDP appointees
in government be fighting
you with the money they are
making from the
government?
I wouldn’t know where they
are making the money from.
But clearly, in politics, they
always say never empower
your enemy.
Has the crisis between
Maikanti Baru and Ibe
Kachikwu been resolved by
the government?
To the best of my
knowledge, Kachikwu made
his point and Baru also did
same. But the point is that
over time, we have seen Baru
and Kachikwu working
together. However, the
position of government is that
you can’t start talking of
fraud. There is nothing like
$25 billion fraud in the
NNPC; not in the least. The
opposition, notably the PDP
felt that they have something
to hold against this
government. But I can assure
you that it is not possible
under this administration to
have a $25 billion fraud. The
Of course, we are
very worried about
it because if the
avengers should
start destroying
our oil
installations, it is
going to bring the
country back to its
knees
entire economy will collapse.
There is no $25b fraud. Yes,
there could have been lack of
communication,
understanding and procedure
but I think all that has been
put behind us.
Are you by anyway afraid
that your government may
not go beyond 2019 and the
PDP may regain power as the
ruling party?
As to whether we are afraid
of the PDP staging a
comeback, I can confidently
tell you that we are not even
contemplating it. It will be a
tragedy for Nigeria to fall
back into the hands of PDP.
They dropped us in hell and
we are taking people out of
hell. How can Nigeria now
go back to Egypt? It is not
about APC or President
Buhari. With the kind of
revelation that is coming out,
the kind of rot, you want those
people to come back and
preside over the affairs of
Nigeria again?
What will happen to the
investigations that were
carried out if the PDP should
win elections again? It will
be swept under the carpet.
This is the first time in the
history of this country that
we are making real
recoveries. Nigeria should
never ever pray for PDP to
come back.
Making real
recoveries
When we negotiated with
the Swiss government to
return Abacha’s loot, they
gave us some conditions. One
of which is that we must
identify what programmes we
want to use the money for and
that the World Bank will
supervise what we are using
the money for.
When we now argue that we
are a sovereign country and
that they can’t dictate to us
how we are going to spend
money that was stolen from
our country and they are
returning, they said ‘yes, but
when we returned part of it to
your country, you re-looted it
under Jonathan; which is
true.
You are the face of APC and
the mouthpiece of the federal
government. How do you
feel when you say something
and issue statements and
people keep saying ‘It is a
lie?
I have two burdens. The first
is that I happened to be the
face of the opposition and
PDP has not forgiven me and
they will never forgive me. I
think they look at the
magnitude of what has
happened to them and they
hold me solely responsible;
which is not fair. But, I did
my bit. Now, becoming the
face of government again, it
is automatic that whatever
comes from Lai Mohammed,
we must shoot it down as fake
news and a lie.
Unfortunately, my father
gave me the name Lai also.
So, it makes it very easy for
them. But what I challenge
them every time is please,
give me one thing I said that
is not true. Emotionally, you
may not agree with me but in
terms of facts and figures, I
have never said anything
which they can dispute. You
don’t have to like it but you
can’t deny that they are facts.
Are you not worried about
the recent threats by the
Niger Delta Avengers to
return to the creeks and
destroy oil installations?
Of course, we are very
worried about it because if the
avengers should start
destroying our oil
installations, it is going to
bring the country back to its
knees. And that is why we
are appealing to them. We
have not breached any
agreement with them and we
will rather appeal to them to
understand that there is more
to gain by all sides in
engaging than in going back
to the trenches. Even power
has improved in the
Niger Delta.
Infrastructure has improved.
Contractors can now go and
work there. We are talking of
University of Maritime
Technology in the Niger
Delta, Second Niger Bridge
and East-West road. I think
what they are fighting for will
be achieved much more if
there is peace and we will
continue our engagements
with them because it will not
be in the interest of anybody
to have crisis.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017 — 43
•Ekwueme: Nwoye is someone I have known forever.
ANAMBRA: Labelling
Nwoye a cultist is
unfair — Dr. Ekwueme
Dr. Peter Ekwueme, is secretary of the Nigerian Medical
Association, NMA, in Enugu State. He is a contemporary
of Dr. Tony Nwoye, the governorship candidate of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, in the Anambra State
Governorship election. In this interview, he gives his
perspectives on the candidate, and related issues
concerning the Anambra State governorship election.
Excerpts:
By Dapo Akinrefon
HOW well do you know
the APC candidate given
the articles you have been
publishing about him?
Dr. Tony Nwoye is someone I
By David Ejiofor
WITH the November 18
Anambra governorship
election six days away, the
governorship candidates of some
37 political parties are
campaigning hard to entice
voters with all manner of
promises. As expected in every
election circle, this is a season of
promises and politicians are
working hard to outdo one
another in promises to the
electorate.
But if the national experience
is anything to go by, some of the
promises may be kept, while
most will be observed in the
breach. Politicians can be very
desperate to take power from an
incumbent even when they have
no superior ideas or programmes
to offer. This is because everyone
wants to win. Apart from
incumbents who are expected to
campaign on their records of
achievements, opposition
candidates depend largely on
promises. In every election it is
the duty of the voters to weigh
carefully such promises in order
to make wise and objective
choices at the polls.
While politicians’ promises
define the content of issues in
have known forever. Our paths
crossed way back in our pre
university days. He was in
Metropolitan College Onitsha
while I was in Christ the king
College (CKC). Being a very
intelligent and socially active
person, Tony was a constant
feature in the inter-school
contests. He led his school in
quiz competitions, debates, JET
club contests and the likes. I led
mine in same events. So we
started off as adversaries really
but had mutual respect for each
other.
We got into the same College
of Medicine UNN, played our
parts in the Medical Students
Association of our alma matter
UNMSA, SUG and the likes.
Because of his natural gift for
leadership, man management
and organization, Tony became
an instant hit, dusted his
contemporaries and those that
came even before him.
What was it like being a
medical student and being
involved in students’ politics?
It is the toughest life to live. Your
classmates view you with some
suspicion as someone who does
not know why he is in school. Your
teachers are sure you shouldn’t
have been in that field of study.
But to the credit of characters like
Tony Nwoye, he had the
conviction and passion to pursue
what was clear in his mind was
his life purpose. Some of us were
not as tenacious as he was with
it. But looking back at what he
has achieved and the impact he’s
made in his society, there can be
no doubt that he made the
‘rightest’ possible choice as
regard his path.
So, can a medical doctor be a
good governor?
The people of his constituency
can best answer that question. He
has represented them in the past
two years and you can hear them
say that they have never had it
Why APGA remains the party of choice
every election campaign, it is the
duty of the electorate to go
beyond promises to evaluate
every candidate and political
party to ensure the right choices
are made at the polls. For
instance it is often advised that
the pedigree of every candidate
be carefully examined to help
assess the probability of keeping
promises made during
campaigns.
Voters need to ask relevant
questions before casting their
votes: What has each candidate
done in the past? What is the
credibility and personality profile
of each of the candidates? Does
anyone have a history of failure,
of questionable conduct that
could play up once in power to
the detriment of public order and
the good of society?
Did they hold positions of public
trust in the past? What was their
record of performance if they did?
Were there serious issues around
them that could seriously affect
their handling of the position
they seek to occupy in the said
election? The foregoing and
many questions must be asked
and answers sought to guide the
preferences of voters. Although
leadership is beyond the
acquisition of technocratic skills,
the experience of a leader in
managing scarce human and
material resources must be
considered in these difficult
times.
The three leading candidates
in Anambra: Gov Willie Obiano,
Chief Nwoye and Chief Obaze
all have appreciable records of
public office at different levels.
However when put on the scales
Governor Obiano does have the
advantage of hands-on
experience on the job.
Ordinarily, incumbency has its
own drawbacks if the incumbent
has weak records of
achievements or results behind
him. But in the case of Governor
Obiano, there is a consensus of
opinion within and outside
Anambra State that he has done
a great job in his first tenure as
Governor of the state.
His vast experience in the
banking sector and his frugal
personality combine to give just
the right skills and mindset
needed to steer the Anambra
economy in these tough times.
The results have been evident.
A ready example is that Anambra
State was one of only a few states
that didn’t request for bailout
from the Federal Government to
pay salaries and pensions of its
so good. It is not surprising and
you should not forget that he
represents the governor’s in the
House of Representatives.
Despite the fact that the governor
was in office, his people rejected
his APGA candidate because of
Nwoye and that tells you they
saw something in him.
Given his emergence as a
student’s union leader, is it true
that he was a cultist as some
political rivals have alleged?
Nothing can be further from
the truth. You see when political
opponents have nothing to say,
they resort to baseless
propaganda and cheap
blackmails.
Baseless
propaganda
Tony, all through his stay in
school, never had any issue with
the security department of the
school. In our days, you cannot
contest any election in school if
you are reckoned a cultist. In fact
such charge was the easiest way
for the school authorities to get
back at troublesome student
leaders.
It speaks so much about how
far removed from cultism Tony
was that the school authorities
could not even label him with
that. I mean that would have
been such an easy way of
stopping his participation in SUG
politics. But they just couldn’t
because the young man was so
clean of such. It is a fact that he
has never been accused of
cultism while there. He has never
been charged for that anywhere
in his time. Any of his
contemporaries in school, who is
•Obiano: APGA
governorship candidate
workers and senior citizens. Yet
none is being owed a dime.
Specifically, the fact that
Obiano has grown the Anambra
economy in these troubled times
marked by the worse economic
recession Nigeria has seen in 25
years makes him the candidate
of choice on November 18.
Independent analysts place
Anambra ahead of other South
Eastern states in terms of
progress made towards economic
growth and development and
sustainability. This year
Anambra emerged as the only
state in the South East and one
honest, can attest to this.
What role did he play in the
curbing of cultism in the UNN?
It is one of the great ironies of
life that what Dr. Tony Nwoye
risked his life combating is what
people who have no fear of God
are accusing him of. Tony both
as an SUG student leader and
NANS president fought
tenaciously against the cultism
menace. He confronted it so
head on that most cultists in
UNN and UNEC had to publicly
come and denounce their
membership of the various cults
so as to escape the onslaught he
used the instrumentality of his
office to bring to bear on them.
He engaged the security
agencies in this.
Do you believe he would do
well as governor of Anambra
State?
I have no doubt whatsoever that
Anambra in Dr Tony Nwoye’s
hands will experience its best run
of governance ever. Tony is
someone who prepared himself
for leadership. He is an excellent
manager and knows how to
distill from an assemblage of
great talents the very best for the
good of the society. More than
any other person in this race, he
possesses the best resume as far
leadership is concerned.
What expectations do you
have of him as governor?
I urge him to remain true to his
person and his deals as he had
been in the myriads of positions
he had served in the past. He
should remember that it is his
past performance that keeps
making way for him to soar
higher and higher.
of only four Nigerian states with
sufficient security and economic
progress to catch the eye of the
UK’s Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO)
which commissioned a study by
PWC into opportunities available
for UK businesses in those states.
From NBS data, Anambra is
one of only 12 Nigerian states that
have consistently grown
Internally Generated Revenue
(IGR) from 2014 to 2016. In fact,
Anambra has grown its IGR year
on year since 2012. Interestingly,
Anambra achieved this IGR
growth in the last year despite
Governor Obiano’s creative
decision to cut taxes to ease the
pressure of the recession on the
local economy. To further
stimulate Anambra communities
to sustain growth despite the
recession, Governor Obiano
introduced the innovative
‘Choose Your Project Initiative’
where N20m is allocated twice a
year to each of Anambra’s 179
communities to fund a priority
project of their choice.
The choice before the electorate
in Anambra on November 18 is
clear and eloquent: that choice
is either to vote for continued
social progress and economic
prosperity, or to gamble with the
future of their state by voting for
castles in the air.
•Ejiofor writes from Onitsha

44—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Saudi anti-corruption probe says
$100bn was embezzled
•Prince Charles and wife, Camilla exchange greetings at the UK-India ‘Year of Culture’ celebration in
New Delhi (Image: AFP)
SAUDI Arabia’s attorney
general says at least
$100bn (£76bn) has been
misused through systemic
corruption and
embezzlement in recent
decades.
Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb
said 201 people were being
held for questioning as
part of a sweeping anticorruption
drive that began
on Saturday night.
He did not name any of
them, but they reportedly
include senior princes,
ministers and influential
businessmen.
“The evidence for this
wrongdoing is very
strong,” Sheikh Mojeb
said.
He also stressed that
normal commercial activity
in the kingdom had not
been affected by the
crackdown, and that only
personal bank accounts
had been frozen
Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb
said investigations by the
newly-formed supreme
anti-corruption committee,
which is headed by 32-
year-old Crown Prince
Mohammed Bin Salman,
were “progressing very
quickly”.
He announced that 208
individuals had been called
in for questioning so far,
and that seven of them had
been released without
charge.
“The potential scale of
corrupt practices which
have been uncovered is
very large,” the attorney
general said. “Based on our
investigations over the past
three years, we estimate
In Beijing, Trump presses China on
North Korea, trade
U
.S. President Donald
Trump pressed China
to do more to rein in North
Korea on Thursday and said
bilateral trade had been
unfair to the United States,
but praised President Xi
Jinping’s pledge that China
would be more open to
foreign firms.
On North Korea’s nuclear
and missile programmes,
Trump said “China can fix
this problem quickly and
easily”, urging Beijing to cut
financial links with North
Korea and also calling on
Russia to help.
Trump was speaking
alongside Xi in the Chinese
capital to announce the
signing of about $250 billion
(190 billion pounds) in
commercial deals between
U.S. and Chinese firms, a
display that some in the
U.S. business community
worry detracts from tackling
deep-seated complaints
about market access in
China.
Xi said the Chinese
economy would become
increasingly open and
transparent to foreign firms,
including those from the
United States, and
welcomed U.S. companies
to participate in his
ambitious “Belt and Road”
infrastructure-led initiative.
Trump made clear that he
blamed his predecessors,
not China, for the trade
imbalance, and repeatedly
praised Xi, calling him “a
very special man”.
“But we will make it fair
and it will be tremendous
for both of us,” Trump said.
Xi smiled widely when
Trump said he does not
blame China for the deficit
and also when Trump said
Xi gets things done.
“Of course there are some
frictions, but on the basis of
win-win cooperation and
fair competition, we hope
we can solve all these
issues in a frank and
consultative way,” Xi said.
“Keeping opening up is
our long-term strategy. We
will never narrow or close
our doors. We will further
widen them,” he said.
China would also offer a
more fair and transparent
environment for foreign
firms, including U.S. ones,
Xi said.
that at least $100bn has
been misused through
systematic corruption and
embezzlement over
several decades.”
Sheikh Mojeb said the
committee had a clear legal
mandate to move on to the
next phase of its
investigation and that it
had suspended the bank
accounts of “persons of
interest” on Tuesday.
“There has been a great
deal of speculation around
the world regarding the
identities of the individuals
concerned and the details
of the charges against
them,” he added. “In order
to ensure that the
individuals continue to
enjoy the full legal rights
afforded to them under
Saudi law, we will not be
revealing any more
personal details at this
time.”
Among those reportedly
detained are the billionaire
investor Prince Alwaleed
bin Talal; Prince Miteb bin
Abdullah, a son of the late
king who was also
removed from his post as
National Guard chief on
Saturday; and his brother
Prince Turki bin Abdullah,
a former governor of
Riyadh province.
Vatican bans duty-free cigarette sales
POPE Francis has
ordered a ban on the
sale of cigarettes inside the
Vatican, beginning next
year.
Vatican spokesman Greg
Burke said the Holy See
could not co-operate with
a practice that clearly
harmed people’s health.
About 5,000 employees
and retired staff of the
Vatican are currently
allowed to buy
discounted cigarettes.
The sales are estimated to
bring in millions of euros
every year to the Vatican.
But Mr Burke said no
amount of profit could be
legitimate if it was costing
people their lives.
He cited World Health
Organization figures that
blame smoking for more
than seven million deaths
worldwide every year .
“I think many people
enjoyed it as sort of a fringe
benefit,” he said.
“It comes as a bit of a
sacrifice for the Holy See,
this was a source of
revenue, but it’s obviously
much more important to
do what is right.”
Pope Francis, who had
a lung removed as a
teenager, does not smoke.
Vatican staff and
pensioners are permitted
to buy five cartons of
cigarettes every month
from a duty-free shop,
housed in a former railway
station, which is only
open to those with a
special pass.
Catalonia: Ex-parliament
speaker, Forcadell in
court
THE former speaker of the Catalan parliament is
appearing at Spain’s Supreme Court over her role
in the region’s push for independence.
Judges may decide to remand Carme Forcadell and
five former lawmakers in custody on charges of
sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds.
Eight sacked members of the Catalan government
are already being held in detention in a parallel
investigation.
Spain’s Constitutional Court ruled the Catalan bid
for independence illegal.
The country has been gripped by a crisis since a
referendum on independence from Spain was held
in Catalonia on 1 October in defiance of the central
government in Madrid.
After the Catalan parliament voted to declare
independence on 27 October, the Spanish
government dissolved the parliament, sacked the
Catalan leaders and called a snap election for 21
December.
Battle for Rome’s beachfront
turns bloody with assault on
journalist
Abloody attack on a journalist has prompted outrage
in Italy and put the spotlight on suspected links
between extreme right-wing politicians and organised
crime in a notoriously unruly seaside suburb of Rome.
A local vote last Sunday in Ostia sent the antiestablishment
5-Star Movement and a centre-right
coalition to the second-round runoff, but also showed
a sharp increase in support for neo-fascist group
CasaPound.
The vote is being closely watched as it is the first
since the local government was dissolved two years
ago by police, who said city hall - responsible for
assigning lucrative beach concessions - had fallen
under the influence of organised crime.
Zimbabwe renames main airport
after Mugabe, plans $153 mln
upgrade
ZIMBABWE will upgrade its main airport at a cost of
$153 million in an effort to attract more visitors,
state media reported on Thursday, as authorities
renamed the airport in honour of 93-year-old President
Robert Mugabe.
Harare International Airport will from Thursday be
known as Robert Mugabe International Airport and
is expected to undergo an upgrade so that it can
handle 6.5 million passengers a year, more than
double its current capacity.
State-owned Herald newspaper reported that China
Export and Import Bank will provide a $153 million
loan that will, among other things, be used to expand
the runway to allow multiple planes to land at the
same time.
Accepting the honour, Mugabe said renaming the
airport was “a great gesture” to him and his family.
In the last few months, Mugabe’s vocal ruling
ZANU-PF youth wing has been pushing the
government to honour Mugabe by giving public
institutions his name.
The government has said from next year the veteran
ruler’s Feb. 21 birthday will be known as Robert
Mugabe National Youth Day, a public holiday.
On Aug 9. the cash-strapped government announced
plans to build a $1 billion university named after
Mugabe, a move that was cricitised by the opposition
as a waste of resources.
Mugabe is the only leader that Zimbabwe has known
since independence from Britain in 1980 and despite
his advanced age, he remains the most influential
political figure in the country.
Egypt bridegroom shot in genitals
during celebrations
AN Egyptian bridegroom has been seriously injured
after he was hit by shotgun pellets fired by a guest
celebrating his wedding.
The groom suffered serious injuries to his testicles,
thigh and hand and is being treated in hospital.
Osman al-Alsaied, 28, was enjoying his last night
being single when the weapon was accidentally fired
at him rather than into the air.
Police say the gun was negligently fired by a 26-
year-old man.
They say he fled soon after the incident but was
later arrested and is now being questioned.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017—45

46 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Westerhof backs
Eagles to win in Algeria
Former Super Eagles
coach, Clemens
Westerhof has urged the
national team not to relent
in the final World Cup
qualifying game against the
Fennec Foxes today in
Constantine, Algeria.
Westhof who coached
Nigeria to her debut World
Cup in 1994 argued that the
Algerians in recent World
Cup qualification ties have
not beaten the Super Eagles.
“Yes, the Super Eagles
must win in Algeria,” he told
SCORENigeria
“We (referring to his Super
Boateng out of
England friendly
Germany will be
without defender
Jérôme Boateng for today’s
friendly against England
at Wembley. The German
camp confirmed this
afternoon that the Bayern
Munich defender is
carrying a muscular injury
and will sit out the first
engagement of the
international break. The 29-
year-old will remain with the
squad with the hope he will
be able to star in Tuesday’s
friendly against France in
Cologne.
Elsewhere, midfielder
Toni Kroos is doubtful to
face Gareth Southgate’s
side. The Real Madrid
player is reported to be
Moses, Balogun
make CAF XI
VICTOR Moses and Leon
Balogun made the
Confederation of African
Football ( CAF) list of best XI
players for the 2018 FIFA World
Cup African Qualifiers.
CAF published the names
on their site yesterday despite
having one more rounds to go
in the qualifiers, which are
scheduled to take place this
weekend across the continent.
Balogun and Moses have
been very impressive for
Nigeria during the qualifiers,
and they both played a big role
in ensuring Nigeria
progressed to the World Cup
with one game to spare.
FULL TEAM
Denis Onyango-Uganda (GK)
Serge Aurier-Cote D’Ivoire
Ahmed Hegazy-Egypt
Leon Balogun- Nigeria
Aly Maaloul-Tunisia
Mbark Boussoufa-Morocco
Youssef Msakni-Tunisia
Sadio Mane-Senegal
Victor Moses-Nigeria
Khalid Boutaib-Tunisia
Mohamed Salah-Egypt
Eagles squad of 1994) drew
to go to the World Cup (in
USA 1994). “In 2006, The
Super Eagles won in Algeria.
“The Super Eagles are
strong again.
“They have already qualified
for the World Cup in Russia,
so they must finish the job in
Algeria.”
There have been 18
competitive games between
Nigeria and Algeria with the
West African country holding
the head-to-head advantage
with nine wins, six defeats
and three draws going into
Friday’s clash.
suffering from a
gastrointestinal infection, as
is reserve goalkeeper Kevin
Trapp. Mats Hummels,
Boateng’s centre-back
partner at Bayern, also sat
out the training session in
Berlin with a knock, but is
expected to be declared fit to
play.
Today’s match is the first
of four friendlies against topclass
opposition for the
Germans, who host France
on Tuesday then play Spain
and Brazil at home in
March to prepare for the
2018 World Cup.
England are understrength
after several players
withdrew injured. Raheem
Sterling, Fabian Delph
and Jordan Henderson all
dropped out on Tuesday after
Tottenham’s Dele Alli,
Harry Kane and Harry
Winks had already pulled out
of the 25-man squad. Gareth
Southgate’s men kick off their
World Cup preparations with
back-to-back Wembley
matches against Germany
and then Brazil on 14
November.
•Morata
•Super Eagles midfieder Oghenekaro Etebo tangles with Algeria's Islam Slimani
Okpara docked for battering wife
FOR allegedly battering
his wife, Linda
Oladoyinbo Opara, a former
Nigeria Super Eagles Football
Star, Godwin Okpara was on
Thursday arraigned before
an Ikeja Magistrates Court,
Lagos.
The 43-year old ex-footballer
•Godwin Okpara
was arraigned before
Magistrates B.O Osunsanmi on
a count charge bothering on
assault and wife battery.
A video purportedly showing
the former Eagles star publicly
beating his wife went viral
earlier in the year.
According to the prosecutor,
•Linda
World Cup Qualifier: Algeria vs
Nigeria match live on GOtv
The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier between
the Desert Warriors of Algeria and Nigeria’s Super
Eagles taking place today will be broadcast live on GOtv at
8:15pm. With four wins and a draw in the five games played
so far, the Super Eagles have already booked their ticket to
the 2018 World Cup finals, but will aim to maintain their
unbeaten run in the qualifying series when they face
Algeria in Constantine.
The Super Eagles hope to wrap up their qualifying
campaign in style and use the match as part of the
preparations for the tournament in Russia next year.
The World Cup qualifiers continue Saturday, 11
November on SuperSport Select 1 at 1:30pm as
Zambia takes on Cameroon in their final Group B
match. Both teams will only play for glory, as Nigeria
has already bagged the ticket in the group. The
match between Ivory Coast and Morocco will also
be aired live at 6:15pm on the same channel.
Morata: I have been playing with pain
Alvaro Morata has revealed he has
been battling through the pain
barrier at Chelsea.
Morata admitted he had been far from
his physical peak during that barren run
but expressed his gratitude to Chelsea
manager Antonio Conte for keeping
faith in him.
“I needed to be playing every week
and Real Madrid could not offer me
that,” Morata told an interview with
Marca.
Asp S. Imhonwa, the defendant,
sometimes in August, 2016 at
their residence at No 6, 8
Oduduwa street, GRA Ikeja
Lagos, unlawfully assaulted his
wife of 25-years by flogging her
with sticks and other dangerous
weapons.
Opara was said to have also
on different occasions battered
his wife , causing her body
injury.
The prosecutor, further
informed the court that the
offenses committed by the exsuper
Eagle player is contrary
to Sec. 173 of the criminal law
of Lagos state 2015.
He however pleaded not
guilty to the one count charge
preferred against him by the
state. The defendant’s counsel,
Malaki Odo urged the court
to grant the accused bail,
stating that he is a responsible
citizen of Nigeria.
“The defendant is an ex-
Super Eagle player who has
served the country honorably.
We urge the court to grant him
bail on liberal terms.
“We shall prove our case
during trial,” Obo said.
The presiding Magistrate,
Mrs. B.O Osunsanmi in her
ruling granted the former Super
Eagle player bail in the sum of
N50,000 with two sureties.
She also ruled that the sureties
must also be workers of
reputable organizations.
The matter was however
adjourned till January 1, 2018.
It will be recalled that
sometimes in August 2005,
Okpara was arrested by French
police on a charge of raping his
13-year-old adopted daughter.
“It does not matter if I am on top form
or not, I need to be playing football
and that is why I decided to move on.
“Recently I have not been physically
at my best stage for the last three
games but playing is what I wanted to
do and is why I joined Chelsea.
“Every player wants to be at Real
Madrid of course, I fought my entire
life to be at the club but only in the
starting line-up. “Now I’m at Chelsea,
I have what I need.”

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017 — 47
Iwobi, Iheanacho,
Nwakaeme to lead
Eagles attack
Super Eagles coach
Gernot Rohr is likely
to start Alex Iwobi, Kelechi
Iheanacho and Anthony
Nwakaeme in the attack as
the Eagles file out today
against Algeria’s Fennec
Foxes in the last game of the
2018 FIFA World Cup
qualifier in Constantine. Kick
off 8.30pm.
With Victor Moses, Simon
Moses and Odion Ighalo
sidelined by injuries, Rohr in
their last two training
secessions put Iwobi,
Iheanacho and Nwakaeme
through the paces. And Iwobi
whose goal silenced Zambia
in a difficult match in Uyo
showed some flashes. Also
Iheanacho put up a good
showing and it remain to be
see what they can do against
an Algeria side that is hoping
to win and boost their
confidence.
The Desert Warriors will be
hoping to end their qualifying
campaign with a victory,
having failed to qualify for
next year’s finals which will
be hosted by Russia. Algeria
are heading into this match
winless in group B, and they
have recorded one draw and
Hazard dreams of
working with Zidane
Italy face World Cup nightmare against Sweden
FOR football giants Italy
the next few days could
be a nightmare as they face a
double-headed playoff against
Sweden to avoid
the humiliation of missing the
World Cup for the first time
in 60 years. “A World Cup
without Italy isn’t a World
Cup” has become the
catchphrase of many Italians
— four-time world champions
— who are perplexed at how
four defeats. They have
accumulated one point from
five games.
The north African giants are
set to finish fourth in the group
as they are five points behind
third-placed Cameroon, who
beat Algeria 2-0 in Yaounde last
month.
Algeria’s new head coach
Rabah Madjer, who will look
to Leicester City FC duo Riyad
Mahrez and Islam Slimani,
says he knows what to expect
from Nigeria.
“The game against Nigeria is
not a friendly match for me…to
me it is the first game of the
qualifiers for the 2018 African
Cup of Nations in Cameroon,”
he said.
Super Eagles captain John
Obi Mikel stated that said that
the team is determined to
finish the campaign on a high.
“I have belief that we can
reach new heights with this
team. The boys are so
committed. The coaching crew
is made up of very matured and
brilliant people who respect
the players. We are onto a good
thing. We keep our heads and
play at our best level. Each and
every one of us is determined.”
Eden Hazard has revealed his “dream” to
play under Real Madrid boss Zinedine
Zidane. The Chelsea star has long been a target for
Real Madrid, whose manager described Hazard as
“spectacular” in 2015, without the Spanish giants
crystallising that interest in a bid.
Hazard, who has three years left on his contract,
has also hinted at a desire to one day try his hand
in La Liga though he has also consistently
expressed his happiness at Chelsea.
However the chance to learn from one of the
greatest players of his generation is not one that
Hazard would shun.
He told Belgian TV channel RTL: “Everyone
knows the respect I have for Zidane as a
player, but also as a manager. He was my
idol. “I do not know what will happen in
my career in the future. However, for
sure, to play under Zidane would
•Hazard
be a dream’’
the once-mighty Azzurri
have fallen so low. The last
time Italy missed the World
Cup was the 1958 edition
which was hosted in Sweden.
Italy travel to Sweden for the
first leg of their playoff today
in Stockholm with the return
leg in front of a sell-out crowd
in Milan’s San Siro on
Monday.
“I don’t even consider the
idea of not qualifying. We’ll go
•Iheanacho
TROOST-EKONG: Eagles will
finish qualifiers unbeaten
uper Eagles defender, William Troost-Ekong said
S the team is approaching today’s FIFA World
Cup qualification match against Algeria in Constantine
with an aim to win.
The Super Eagles have nothing to lose in this
last group B game, which the Algerians who
are yet to win a single match want to win
to boost their bruised confidence.
“We should aim to finish our World Cup
qualifying campaign unbeaten and again
use this as a game to improve as a team,
said Troost-Ekong.
He revealed that playing along side
Leon Balogun in central defence has
boost his game and was looking
forward to a good outing at the World Cup.
“The experience playing for the Super
Eagles has been life-changing for me.
Facing some of the best forwards in
Africa whilst having to perform and
deliver for such a football-loving
nation is a pressure that improves
you as a player.
“I enjoy being with the
to Russia for sure,” insisted
coach Gian Piero Ventura,
who took over from Antonio
Conte after the 2016
European Championship.
“We’re Italy and missing out
on the World Cup is not an
option,” added experienced
centre-back Leonardo
Bonucci. The playoff puts
Italy’s proud record of World
Cup participation in danger.
team, and working with
quality players. Playing
alongside someone like
Balogun with his quality has
definitely helped, but I would
feel just as comfortable
playing next to anyone.
“I know when the draw was
made, nobody gave us a
chance to qualify but we
proved all doubters wrong by
not just finishing first in the
group of death, but we also
qualified with a game to
spare; that to me, is a massive
achievement.”
We miss Neymar
at Barca — Suarez
Luis Suarez admits he and Lionel
Messi are still wounded by
Neymar’s decision to leave Barcelona
after explaining how they failed to
convince the Brazil forward to stay.
Neymar left the Nou Camp in a worldrecord
•222million switch to Paris Saint-
Germain and while Barcelona have fired
themselves to the summit of La Liga in
his absence, Suarez admits both him and
Messi miss his presence in their
attacking line-up.
“We miss Ney a lot on the pitch, but
more off it, because he was special,”
Suarez told Sport. “He’s said it. We had
a lot of fun. He transmits happiness and
joy all of the time. He was important for
us.
“He’s playing for another team now but
I don’t hold it against him, the opposite.
I tried to convince him to stay because I
think here’s the best place for him, but
it’s a decision he had to take.”
“[Messi and I] tried to do what would
benefit the team. But we never said
‘Don’t go because you won’t be happy.’
We said we didn’t want him to go, but
that he was free to do what he wanted.
Because of the friendship we have, it was
painful that he left.”
Mikel: Ferguson promised
me riches but Mourinho
assured me playing time
Super Eagles midfielder,
Mikel Obi says he has
no regret dumping
Manchester United’s mouthwatering
contract in order to
join Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea
team during the 2006 transfer
saga.
The former Lyn Oslo star was
in high demand after his
splendid performance at the
2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup in
Netherlands, where the Flying
Eagles finished second behind
Argentina
This caught the attention of
both Manchester United and
Chelsea as they tried to lure the
Nigerian international with
mouth-watering contracts, of
which the Red Devils final got
the nod.
Mikel’s eventually joined
Chelsea and recalling how he
joined the Stamford Bridge
side,, Mikel said, ‘Roman
Abramovich organised six cars
to get me there. It was like a
military operation,’ Mikel said
during an interview with the
Sun UK .
‘’I started in one car, then the
drivers would talk to each other
and suddenly I was dropped off
and then picked up by another
car. Once there, Jose told me:
“The boss really wants you. I’ll
play you and make you what
you want to be”. That really
helped as there were times
when I thought: “Have I made
the right decision. Alex
Ferguson would call me into his
office after training, point at the
players’ plush cars in the car
park and say: “If you work hard,
next year you’ll be driving one
of those. You are going to play
for this club and you are going
to be rich,” Mikel said.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Sudoku
QUICK CROSSWORD
TODAY’S PUZZLE
YESTERDAY’S ANSWER
TODAY’S CROSSWORD
YESTERDAY’SOLUTION
How to Play Sudoku
ACROSS
1 Enfold, surround (7)
5 Begin (5)
8 Long-necked wading bird
(5)
9 Underground stem (7)
10 Respire (7)
11 Made an effort (5)
12 Spasmodic muscle
contraction (6)
14 Whips (6)
18 High-IQ organisation
(5)
20 Expose (7)
22 Go over again (7)
23 Be (5)
24 Row of shrubs (5)
25 Beg, entreat (7)
DOWN
1 Put on display (7)
2 Stanza (5)
3 Madman (7)
4 Separated (6)
5 Rapid (5)
6 Do away with (7)
7 Trample (5)
13 Lit (7)
16 Withdraw from a contest
(7)
17 Excellent (6)
18 Area of swampy ground (5)
19 Astound (5)
21 Put into words (5)
Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can
have two of the same number).
Each row (nine lines from left to right), column,
(also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block
within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number
from 1 through 9. This means that no number can
appear twice in any block, column or row.
No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction,
division or multiplication, just plain logic and your
imagination.
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