14112022

ELECTORAL ACT 2022 (2) 

How breach of 

pre-election 

practice direction 

threatens 2023 

elections 

14 

Why Nigeria 

must partner 

private sector 

for education 

devt—Osinbajo 

12 

NDLEA nabs 

wanted drug 

baron/Lagos 6 

hotelier, Ademola 

Kazeem 

Media 

Roundtable on 

industry 

regulation 

29 

holds in Lagos 

today 

VOL. 39: NO. 9,922 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 

Tinubu, Atiku, Obi bicker over 

fake news, hate speech 5 

•Sponsoring fake news against me won't help Atiku, Obi — TINUBU •Tinubu trying to avoid scrutiny over 

USD$460,000 — ATIKU •Look within for fake INEC’s statement on Tinubu, LP tells APC •Shettima’s insults 

on Obi breach peace accord – LP CAMPAIGN •Catholic Bishops seek issues-based campaigns •Hate speech, 

greatest danger to unity, stability of Nigeria — ACF •Says Gov Ortom's apology over anti-Fulani’s comments, 

a relief •My statistics unsettling opposition – OBI 

Banks’ consumer loans decline 

17% as CBN tightens money 

supply 

•Interest rates 

trending 

higher 

•Customers 

are now 

resisting loans 

—Bankers 

2023 budget threatened, as crude oil 

output drops 7.4% to 1.37 mb/d 

8 

Currency redesign: 

We ‘ll protect 

Nigerians without 

bank accounts — CBN 

COLUMNISTS 

8 

Doctors migration 

not peculiar to 

Nigeria — FG 

OWEI LAKEMFA 19 CHIDI ODINKALU 17 SOBOWALE 23 

9 

Oil marketers seek 

end to dollar 

denominated port 

charges 

SEE INSIDE 

8 

Kaduna 

bandits 

demand 

N10m to 

release 

victim's 

corpse 

Gunmen kill 

ex-Benue 

Polytechnic 

Deputy 

Rector, LG 

Information 

Officer 6 

Mr & Mrs 

6

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 — 3


Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

2023: Tinubu, Atiku, Obi bicker 

over fake news, hate speech 

•Sponsoring fake news against me won't help Atiku, Obi –TINUBU 

•Tinubu trying to avoid scrutiny over $460,000 –ATIKU •Look within for fake INEC’s 

statement on Tinubu, LP tells APC •Shettima’s insults on Obi, breach peace accord – LP 

CAMPAIGN •Catholic Bishops seek issues-based campaigns •Hate speech, greatest 

danger to unity, stability of Nigeria – ACF •Says Gov Ortom's apology over anti-Fulani’s 

comments, a relief •My statistics unsettling opposition – OBI 

By Clifford Ndujihe, Olasunkanmi Akoni, 

Omeiza Ajayi, John Alechenu, Ibrahim 

Hassan-Wuyo & Luminous Jannamike 

THE campaign teams 

of the presidential 

candidates of the three 

leading political parties - 

All Progressives Congress, 

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, Alhaji Atiku 

Abubakr; and Labour Party, 

Mr. Peter Obi, were, 

yesterday, locked in bickerings 

over fake news and 

hate speech. 

Tinubu’s campaign fired 

the first salvo; as its Director, 

Media and Publicity, 

Mr Bayo Onanuga, in a 

statement, accused Atiku 

and Obi of sponsoring fake 

news against Tinubu in the 

hope of getting the former 

Lagos State governor disqualified, 

which he said 

would not help the presidential 

quest of the duo. 

Responding in kind, the 

Atiku/Okowa Presidential 

Campaign Organisation 

asked Tinubu to come 

clean about his complicity 

in the alleged illicit drugrelated 

forfeiture of 

$460,000 to authorities in 

the United States, instead 

of trying to divert attention. 

In like manner, the Obi- 

Datti campaign of the LP 

asked its APC counterpart 

to look within its ranks for 

those responsible for the 

alleged forgery of the letter-headed 

paper of the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, to issue a fake statement, 

saying it was depressing 

that a party whose 

candidate had a record of 

falsification of documents 

could have the effrontery to 

accuse innocent people of 

doing the same. 

Tinubu, Atiku and Obi 

bickered as the Catholic 

Bishops Conference of Nigeria, 

CBCN, urged political 

parties and their candidates 

to focus on issues 

in their campaigns, ahead 

of the 2023 general elections. 

Also, the Arewa Consultative 

Forum, ACF, warned 

politicians against hate 

speech, saying it posed 

grave danger to the unit 

y a n d 

stability of a democratic society, protection 

of human rights 

and the rule of law. 

Sponsoring fake 

news against me 

won't help you, 

Tinubu tells 

Atiku, Obi 

Cautioning Atiku and Obi 

against sponsoring fake 

news to malign Tinubu’s 

reputation, which it said 

would not help their ambitions, 

Tinubu campaign 

said: "The opposition Peoples 

Democratic Party and 

its subsidiary: Labour Party, 

having realised they 

have no sure path to victory 

in the February 2023 

presidential election 

upped their campaign of 

calumny, disinformation 

and misinformation on Saturday 

by sponsoring fake 

news against the All Progressives 

Congress Presidential 

Candidate, Asiwaju 

Bola Ahmed Tinubu.” 

"They did it by forging the 

letterhead of the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission and the signature 

of its national commissioner, 

Festus Okoye", said 

Onanuga. 

According to the APC 

campaign team, the forged 

statement purportedly issued 

by INEC was disseminated 

to deceive the gullible 

public that INEC was 

investigating allegations 

against Asiwaju Tinubu 

that, they desperately 

hoped, will ultimately lead 

to the disqualification of the 

frontline APC presidential 

candidate. 

The ruling party also 

called on the police to investigate 

those behind the 

fake statement and get 

them to face the wrath of 

the law. 

"We are not in any way 

surprised by the antics of 

the sinking opposition parties. 

What we found shocking 

was how quickly some 

compromised media organisations 

gulped the 

falsehood, hook, line and 

sinker, without attempting 

to verify. 

From left, Dr. (Mrs.) Nike Akande, former Minister of Industries; Eng Abiola 

Olowu, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Investment and Cooperatives, Lagos 

State; Mrs Folashade Sherifat Jaji, Secretary to Lagos State Government, 

representing Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State; Asiwaju Michael 

Olawale-Cole, President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry LCCI and his 

wife Adebola at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Lagos International Trade fair at 

TBS, Lagos yesterday. Photo Lamidi Bamidele 

"We understand why they 

did so: the forgery and its 

narrative fit their mindset 

of throwing overboard every 

known virtue of ethical 

journalism and professionalism, 

as they work in cahoot 

with the opposition to 

defame Asiwaju Tinubu. 

"This inglorious path has 

been taken before since 

2003 and in the run-up to 

the primaries of the ruling 

APC that produced Asiwaju 

Tinubu as the presidential 

torch bearer. Those who 

took this damned path of 

infamy lost their bet because 

Asiwaju Tinubu 

stands rock solid and indestructible", 

the statement 

added. 

The APC campaign council 

noted that its candidate 

has consistently said he will 

make the campaigns about 

issues that affect the lives 

of Nigerians and how to 

proffer workable and enduring 

solutions that will 

improve quality of life of the 

people. 

"He has demonstrated 

this resolve by publishing 

an 80-page manifesto 

tagged Action Plan for a 

Better Nigeria, which he 

has been selling to strategic 

sectoral groups in the 

country. 

"We had hoped anyone 

aspiring to lead our country 

at this time will be a 

natural subscriber to this 

noble and higher goal. 

"It is clear the opposition 

parties and purveyors of 

fake news have other negative 

ideas: they want to 

make this election cycle 

more about muckraking 

and mudslinging. 

"While we want to stay 

above the fray and stand by 

our commitment to inspire 

our people and restore their 

faith and confidence in the 

immense goodness and 

greatness of our country, 

we want to serve notice to 

all the agents of disinformation 

and their collaborating 

media platforms, that 

our campaign organisation 

stands ready to confront 

and fight all libellous and 

defamatory publications 

against Asiwaju Bola 

Ahmed Tinubu. 

"We shall no longer allow 

the prevailing recklessness 

and utter disregard for professional 

judgment to continue 

unchallenged. 

"We also call on the police 

to investigate the circulation 

of the forged INEC 

statement and serve justice 

to those responsible." 

Tinubu trying to 

avoid scrutiny 

over $460,000- 

ATIKU/OKOWA 

CAMPAIGN 

Countering, spokesperson 

of the Atiku/Okowa 

Presidential Campaign 

Organisation, Kola Ologbondiyan, 

asked the APC 

presidential candidate to 

come clean about his complicity 

in the alleged illicit 

Continues on Page 27 

Whose faces should be on new naira notes? 

By Rosemary Anani 

The face of former 

P r e s i d e n t 

Olusegun Obasanjo 

should be on one of the 

new naira notes because 

of the achievements of 

his administration. 

People should be 

honoured when they are 

alive not when they are 

dead. 

— Akinrinsola 

Deborah, Student 

The face of the 

former Governor of 

Lagos state, Babatunde 

Fashola, SAN, should be 

on one of the new notes. 

Former President 

Goodluck Jonathan 

should also be honoured 

with his face on any of the 

new naira notes. 

—Rufus 

Student 

Ayomide, 

Bola Ahmed Tinubu 

deserves to have his 

face on the new naira 

note. He is a great man 

and has done a lot for 

Nigeria and Africa. 

Other living heroes of 

Nigeria’s democracy 

should have their faces 

on the new notes. 

—Olabamiji Monsurat, 

Fashion designer. 

Nobel laureate 

Professor Wole 

Soyinka would be 

my first choice 

because of the 

honour he brought 

to Nigeria. His 

literary works have 

placed Nigeria on 

the world map. 

— Anani Hannah, 

Youth Corper 

I 

want the face of 

Aliko Dangote to be 

on any of the new notes. 

Apart from being one of 

the richest men in Africa, 

his achievements remain 

a big encouragement to 

youths. He has also 

given Nigeria a positive 

image in the business 

circle 

—Ojomo Tosin, 

Student. 

I 

will recommend 

that only the faces 

of people who have 

accomplished 

exemplary feats should 

be on the new naira 

note. Celebrities 

should also be 

honoured in the new 

naira notes. 

— O k e s a n j o 

Damilola, Student

6 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 

7-yr-old pupil 

injured as 

explosion rocks 

Yobe 

A 

suspected explosive device 

detonated at Nayinawa forest 

area of Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, 

yesterday, reportedly injured a sevenyear-old 

Almajiri pupil. 

It was gathered that the incident, which 

occurred around 9am, was 

accompanied by a heavy sound that 

made residents scamper for safety. 

However, there was no reported loss of 

life. 

Although the cause of the incident was 

unknown, the Yobe State Police Public 

Relations Officer, Dungus Abdulkarim, 

disclosed that the Anti-Bomb Squad was 

dispatched to the scene of the incident. 

“Yes, we are aware of the incident, but 

the information is still sketchy. We have 

dispatched our Anti-Bomb Squad to the 

scene, and we will inform you of the 

outcome,” the police spokesman said. 

“The victim has been taken to hospital 

for medication because he was the only 

person injured.” 

Some eyewitnesses further claimed a 

chisel and knife were found on a mat 

where the incident happened. 

“It’s been a long time since we heard 

of such a panicking sound. I was going 

to the market when the incident 

happened and on reaching the scene, I 

saw a chisel and knife among other 

tools,” a resident, identified as Adamu 

Hassan said. 

Meanwhile, the victim has since been 

rushed to a specialist hospital in 

Damaturu for medication. 

Yobe is one of the states in the Northeast 

affected by the over a decade-long Boko 

Haram insurgency. Other states are 

neighbouring Borno and Adamawa. 

It has yet to be ascertained if Sunday’s 

explosion is linked to the 

insurgents.“The incident came about 

seven months after a similar explosion 

occurred at a relaxation centre in the 

Abasha Ward, Gashua Local 

Government Area of Yobe State. 

During the April 24 attack, one person 

was confirmed dead with seven others 

injured in a pub some residents were 

drinking.“ 

Police rescue 

kidnapped 

28-year-old taxi 

driver 

By Ike Uchechukwu 

CALABAR—THE Cross River 

State Police Command has 

rescued a 28-year-old taxi driver, Mr. 

Joseph David, who was kidnapped 

along Esuk Mba road in the Akpabuyo 

Local Government Area of the state. 

Vanguard gathered that the victim 

was rescued in the forest of Esuk Mba 

by the Anti-Cultism and Kidnapping 

Squad, a tactical unit of the command, 

in collaboration with Operation 

Akpakwu (Army detachment) following 

a distress call. 

The kidnappers were said to have 

abandoned their victim when they 

discovered that a search and rescue team 

were closing in on them. 

It also was gathered that the victim's 

vehicle was also recovered. 

Speaking with Vanguard, the rescued 

driver said he was hired to take a 

passenger to Esuk Mba to carry Palm 

oil at a mill, without knowing that it 

was a setup. 

"On our way to carry the oil, he asked 

me to stop, I inquired about the palm 

oil we came to carry and, all of a sudden, 

two young men came out from a nearby 

bush with long guns and marched me 

into a speed boat and took me into the 

creeks. 

"They left the person who hired me 

from Nelson Mandela street in Calabar 

with my vehicle. Fortunately, my car 

didn't start and, in the process, some 

youths from the area suspected 

something was wrong. When he was 

accosted, he took off, that was when a 

call was placed to the tactical unit of 

Anti Kidnapping Squad." 

:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

:Vanguard 

News 

Kaduna bandits demand N10m to 

release victim's corpse 

By Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo 

A 

N10 million ransom is being 

demanded for the release of the 

remains of one Obadiah Ibrahim, who 

was kidnapped in early October in 

Sabon Gaya, on his way back from 

Abuja to Kaduna. 

A family member of the victim, Kefas 

Obadiah, said the bandits had earlier 

collected N3 million as ransom. 

He said his brother died on Monday, 

but it was on Thursday that his death 

was announced to the family. 

"The bandits refused to release my 

brother while he was kidnapped, even 

after they collected N3 million as 

ransom. My brother’s name is Obadiah 

Ibrahim. He was kidnapped in early 

October in Sabon Gaya, on his way back 

from Abuja to Kaduna." 

Gunmen kill ex-Benue Polytechnic 

deputy rector, LG information officer 

By Peter Duru 

A 

former Deputy Rector of the Benue 

State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, and 

lecturer in the Department of Electrical 

and Electronics, Oche Enenche, was, 

weekend, shot dead by the criminal gangs 

tormenting motorists and commuters 

on the busy Otukpo-Eke-Ugbokolo- 

Otukpa highway. 

His murder came as the Information 

Officer of Ukum Local Government 

Area, LGA, of Benue State, Mr. Orbunde 

Ephraim, was, Saturday, also shot dead 

by unknown gunmen in Zaki Biam, the 

Local Government headquarters. 

The immediate past chairman of 

Ukum LGA, Steve Ayua, who appointed 

Ephraim as the council's Information 

Officer, said the killers tailed the victim 

to his house and shot him in the stomach. 

Ayua said: "I appointed him (Ephraim) 

Missing man 

found dead, 

body parts 

missing 

By Marie-Therese 

Nanlong, Samuel 

Oyadongha & Emem 

Idio 

JOS—THE remains of a young 

man, who went missing for about 

four days in the Babale area of Jos 

North Local Government Area of 

Plateau State, has been found, with 

some of his body parts missing. 

It was gathered that the corpse was 

recovered on Friday and buried on 

Saturday. 

A resident of the area said: "The 

incident happened at Kururuwan ka 

Banza, a thick forest between Zakaliyo 

and Babale. The boy is between the 

age of 19 and 21 years, and he went 

missing for four days." 

On the seventh day of searching, his 

corpse was found in one of the dark 

areas of Kururuwan ka Banza with his 

two eyes and penis removed. The 

remains of the deceased were buried at 

the place where his corpse was found 

because the body had completely 

decomposed. 

The State Police Public Relations 

Officer, DSP Alfred Alabo, confirmed 

the incident saying, "The Command is 

aware of the incident at Babale, the 

DPO of that area and his team are 

working on it to unravel those behind 

the dastardly act. The Commissioner 

of Police frowns at incidents like this 

and no stone would be left unturned in 

bringing the perpetrator(s) to book." 

Meanwhile, the sudden 

disappearance of the Deputy 

Commandant of the Nigeria Security 

and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, 

Bayelsa State Command, Mr 

Raymond Terwase Gaadi, has thrown 

the command into confusion. 

Gaadi, who was posted from Enugu 

State Command of the corps to the 

Bayelsa State Command to take over 

as the second in command in April, 

was reported missing after he was given 

a pass to travel to Enugu State in 

October. 

It cannot be confirmed if the NSCDC 

officer was kidnapped, involved in an 

auto crash, or fell victim to the 

rampaging flood that was at its peak 

during the time of his disappearance. 

The fear within the command and 

the family is whether the senior officer 

is still alive as his phone numbers were 

said to be switched off after he got 

missing. 

The elder brother, Mr Terkura 

Gaadi, said he missed his brother's calls 

on October 22nd, and since then he 

could not reach him as his phones were 

ringing without picking up until 

October 30th when all the lines were 

switched off. 

He said: “He was transferred from 

Enugu and he resumed work in 

Bayelsa in April, he was in the state 

until he got missing in October. 

NDLEA nabs wanted drug baron/Lagos hotelier, Ademola Kazeem 

By Kingsley Omonobi 

LAGOS—TEN days after he was 

declared wanted, operatives of the 

National Drug Law Enforcement 

Agency, NDLEA, have arrested the fleeing 

Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz 

Hotels, Ademola Kazeem (a.k.a Alhaji 

Abdallah Kazeem Muhammed) over 

offences bordering on exportation and 

trafficking of illicit drugs, as well as 

money laundering. 

The agency had, on Tuesday, 

November 1, declared the suspect 

wanted, following his failure to honour 

NDLEA invitations and an order granted 

by a Federal High Court in Lagos. 

The wanted drug kingpin was 

•Kill victim after collecting N3m 

“Although I wasn’t the one 

communicating with the bandits. There 

was a negotiator. Earlier the bandits 

demanded N200 million and later 

settled for N3 million plus. They said we 

should bring the money. After giving 

them the ransom they told us the money 

was for their foodstuffs which had 

finished, and that we should bring N15 

million. 

“They later came down to N5 million 

and 3 motorbikes and later collected 

one bike. After collecting a bike we didn’t 

hear from them again. We tried to 

communicate with them but 

unfortunately, we were unable. 

“Then, on Thursday, when the 

negotiator called them, they said our 

brother is dead. We thought they were 

joking. When we continued, they 

threatened to track the caller and come 

for him if he did not stop calling their line. 

“They said their men were arrested 

by police, tied to a tree and killed. So 

they vented their anger too on our 

brother because of what the police 

did to their brother. 

"Ibrahim had died on Monday and 

they informed us on Thursday. We 

asked for his corpse and they said we 

should pay them N10m if we want 

his corpse they’ll not work for us free 

of charge. They swore that if we bring 

the money they’ll release the corpse 

in three days," he said. 

•Weapons recovered from suspected cultists, following arrests by police, after 

reported clashes at Swali community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa 

State. 

the Information Officer of Ukum LGA 

but I don't know if the new chairman 

retained him or not, but he was shot last 

night and was taken to a private hospital, 

unfortunately, he didn't get prompt 

medical attention and he eventually 

passed on." 

Meanwhile, the former Deputy Rector 

was reportedly killed by gunmen on 

Friday evening while on his way back to 

Ugbokolo from Otukpo in the company 

of his wife. 

According to a lecturer in the 

institution, who spoke on the condition 

of anonymity, the deceased had travelled 

in his car to Otukpo town with the wife 

for a private engagement, and it was 

while on the way back to Ugbokolo on 

Friday around 4 pm that they ran into 

an ambush by the armed men who have 

been attacking motorists on that road 

almost regularly. 

"From what we gathered, he drove into 

the gunmen and they flagged him down. 

And they didn't waste a minute, as he was 

stopping they shot and killed him. 

"They also made attempt to kidnap his 

wife but because the security personnel 

who were not too far away from the point 

of the incident rushed to where the 

gunshots came from, the armed men on 

sighting the approaching military personnel 

fled into the bush abandoning the woman. 

"I must tell you that the murder of the 

Enenche is one too many on that road. Only 

a few months ago we also lost another lecturer 

to a similar incident aside from the numerous 

travellers that ply that road that has either 

been killed, kidnapped or shot at by these 

gunmen. 

“Contacted, the Police Public Relations 

Officer, Superintendent, SP, Catherine Anene, 

said she was yet to receive the detail of the 

incidents. “ 

•Arrest woman linked to Pakistani cocaine syndicate 

uncovered as the sponsor of some 

traffickers arrested by the anti-narcotics 

agency in their recent attempt to export 

cocaine to Dubai, UAE, and other 

destinations outside Nigeria. 

A statement by the agency's 

spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said, "The 

search for him however paid off on 

Thursday 10th Nov when he was 

successfully taken into custody where he 

is currently being interviewed. 

"His lid was blown open after the arrest 

of one of his mules, Bolujoko Muyiwa 

Babalola, a Lagos BRT driver on June 

27, at the Murtala Muhammed 

International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, 

when he named Ademola Kazeem, alias 

Adekaz as the owner of the 900grams of 

cocaine he ingested. 

"Following Adekaz’s failure to honour 

invitations sent to him, the Agency 

approached a Federal High Court in 

Lagos with three prayers: to attach and 

seal his identified properties in choice 

areas of Lagos island and Ibadan; declare 

him wanted and block his bank account 

with a cash balance of N217,000,000, all 

of which were granted." 

In a related development, NDLEA 

operatives also arrested a 

businesswoman, Okefun Darlington 

Chisom over her links with two Pakistanis: 

•Disquiet in Bayelsa 

over NSCDC deputy 

commandant's 

disappearance 

Asif Muhammed, 45 and Hussain 

Naveed, 57, arrested at the Lagos 

airport with 8 kilograms of cocaine 

concealed in a sound system while 

attempting to board a Qatar Airways 

flight to Lahore, Pakistan via Doha on 

Saturday November 5. 

An automobile parts dealer, Omeje Oliver 

(a.k.a David Mark) was arrested on 

Monday 31st October in Enugu where he 

fled to, after abandoning his business at 

Aspanda, Trade Fair Complex Lagos on 

16th April in connection with the seizure of 

600 grams of heroin concealed inside soles 

of lady’s footwears going to Liberia, has 

been linked to another drug seizure.

VANGUARD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 — 7 

Social Media Conversation 

Bad economy may spike climate 

change: Average families now 

depend on charcoal to cook beans 

CLIMATE Change has 

become talk of the town 

worldwide and the fear is Nigeria 

could be worse hit, if measures 

are not taken. 

Whether this will come to pass 

is a different story. But one of the 

factors that could fulfill the 

prediction is the way average 

families and rural women are 

going back to using charcoal as 

a means of cooking meals, which 

take a long time. 

This sounds funny. But a bad 

economy is throwing up several 

innovations that could be 

detrimental to correct societal 

norms. 

The use of charcoal was 

abandoned in the 70's and 80's, 

but as the most cheaper way of 

cooking, it is gradually 

resurfacing. The price of cooking 

gas has shot through the 

rooftops. Kerosene is a no-goarea 

for the poor, and electric 

cookers are not a practice for 

people who generate an abysmal 

13,000 megawatts of installed 

power generation capacity. 

Like the saying goes, necessity 

is the mother of invention. 

Charcoal is back! The implication 

however, is that the fumes such 

as can be generated by charcoal 

are the type scientists say are 

responsible for damaging the 

ozone layer. But where does the 

ozone layer come into the life and 

existence of a poor woman who 

has no money to buy 3kg of cooking 

gas?. 

Abosede Ajikanle, a seamstress, 

told Economy&Lifestyle that 

she uses a charcoal stove instead 

of kerosene to cook beans. 

"I was using kerosene to cook 

beans instead of gas. A gallon of 

kerosene is now N3,900 and doesn't 

last long. 

"the prices of meat and other food 

items are rising. so my family and I 

eat beans a lot as one of the major 

sources of protein 

“I had to start using charcoal to 

cook beans which was not pleasant 

at all because of the smoke. But I 

have gotten used to it. 

"It has helped me save cost of 

using 3kg cooking gas twice a 

week." 

Mosunmola, a food seller, 

said that she uses gas or 

kerosene to cook other kind 

of foods but uses charcoal to 

cook beans. But had to start 

using charcoal or firewood to 

cook beans because cooking 

beans consumes a lot of 

kerosene and gas which are 

now very expensive. 

She said:"Beans have a 

characteristic of not getting 

cooked easily. It takes up to 

an hour or more depending 

on the species to get beans 

soft and ready. 

"I do use cooking gas to 

cook beans that I sell in 

large quantities. When the 

price of cooking gas 

increased I moved to 

cooking beans with 

kerosene. But the kerosene 

being sold nowadays is like 

spirit. It doesn't last at all 

and seems to me as a waste 

of money. So I decided to 

use charcoal which serves 

me better and lasts longer. 

I do the beans warming 

with cooking gas. 

"Even those caterers who 

do home services delivery, 

use charcoal now to save 

cost and cooking gas." 

Mrs. Omolade Salami, a 

trader, explained that she 

uses a pressure pot to cook 

beans on a gas cooker 

which saves time and gas 

than the normal pots. 

"I use a pressure pot to 

cook beans. I have been 

using an ordinary pot which 

doesn't make my gas last 

longer. I use 12.5 kg for a 

month plus. But due to the 

cost of gas I had to get a 

pressure pot to save cost. 

Though the pressure pot is 

expensive, it does serve its 

purpose of cooking beans 

quickly. 

"But lately, a friend of 

mine introduced me to the 

use of charcoal. I have tried 

it twice and I think it’s the 

best option I will settle for 

because of the way the cost 

of kerosene and gas are 

rising." 

The National Bureau of 

Statistics in its Cooking gas 

and kerosene watch for 

September 2022 noted that 

the average price of 12.5 kg 

cooking gas rose by 16 

percent to N9,906 in 

September from N8,525 in 

January. 

Similarly, the average 

price of a gallon of kerosene 

increased by 111.7 per cent 

to N3,236 in September 

from N1,528 in January. 

Welcome to casualisation! 

It's not easy to join ‘Andrew'! 

On a suicide mission! 

Trouble de sleep...!


:Vanguard News 


•President Muhammadu Buhari on arrival in Abuja, yesterday, after a two-week medical trip to 

London, the United Kingdom. 

2023 budget threatened, as Nigeria’s crude 

oil output drops 7.4% to 1.37 mb/d 

By Udeme Akpan, 

Energy Editor 

NIGERIA’S DWINDLING 

average oil output, 

including condensate, dropped 

Year-on-Year, YoY, by 7.4 per cent 

to 1.37 million barrels per day, mb/ 

d in the first 10 months (January 

– October) 2022, from 1.48 mb/d 

in the corresponding period of 

2021. 

This showed a shortfall of 

317,940 barrels when juxtaposed 

against the 1.69 mb/d which the 

2023 budget was based on at $70 

per barrel. 

However, on Month-on- 

Month, MoM, the average oil 

output increased by 7.8 per cent 

to 1.23 mb/d in October 2022, 

from 1.14 mb/d, recorded in the 

preceding month of September 

2022. 

Oil theft, others 

The Nigerian Upstream 

Petroleum Regulatory 

Commission, NUPRC, which 

disclosed this in its monthly Oil 

Production Status Reports, 

obtained by Vanguard, weekend, 

did not specify the cause of the 

trend. 

But checks by Vanguard, 

yesterday, attributed it to 

prolonged pipeline vandalism, oil 

theft, and illegal refining in the 

Niger Delta. 

It indicated that pipeline 

vandalism, oil theft and illegal 

refining would still continue next 

year, despite the efforts of 

stakeholders, especially the 

government and oil companies, 

to tackle them. 

Case of Shell 

In its briefing notes obtained 

by Vanguard, Shell, the biggest 

International Oil Company, IoC, 

in Nigeria, stated: “Shell 

companies in Nigeria have a 

track record of strong production. 

But in 2021, the combined 

production from the SPDC JV and 

SNEPCo (Bonga) fell to 493,000 

barrels of oil equivalent per day 

from 614,000 in 2020. 

“The SPDC JV produced 

383,000 barrels of oil equivalent 

in 2021, compared with 497,000 

barrels of oil equivalent in 2020. 

The fall in output was largely as 

a result of curtailed oil production 

because of heightened security 

issues, such as crude oil theft and 

illegal oil refining. 

''Production numbers were also 

down as a result of divestment 

action, including the sale of 

SPDC’s 30% interest in OML 17 

for $533 million. 

“In the last quarter of 2021, 

crude oil theft from pipelines 

across the region increased 

ostensibly as a result of rising oil 

prices, which made the activity 

more profitable. Security risks 

have heightened and production 

in some areas has been put on 

hold. 

''The situation is impacting 

operators across the Niger Delta. 

The Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, 

has reported that crude thefts in 

2021 reached 200,000 barrels per 

day – a quarter of onshore 

production.” 

Oil market 

The checks also showed that 

although the Organisation of 

Petroleum Exporting Countries, 

OPEC, interventions would 

make a positive impact, the global 

oil market would continue to 

record instability in 2023 and 

beyond, thereby impacting 

negatively the economy of 

nations, including Nigeria. 

By Obas Esiedesa 

ABUJA—OIL marketers have 

urged the Nigerian Maritime 

Administration and Safety 

Agency, NIMASA, and the 

Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, 

to comply with the Federal 

Government's directive to end 

payment of port charges in dollars 

for petroleum products brought 

into the country. 

The Second Vice Chairman, 

Depots and Petroleum Products 

Marketers Association of Nigeria, 

DAPPMAN, Mammod Tukur, in 

a statement yesterday said the 

directive given by the 

government a year ago had not 

been followed by NIMASA and 

NPA. 

Recall that following a meeting 

of the heads of the Nigerian 

Midstream and Downstream 

Petroleum Regulatory Agency, 

NMDPRA, NNPC Limited, 

Major Oil Marketers Association 

of Nigeria, MOMAN and 

DAPPMAN, in November 2021, 

the government had directed 

that ports charges should be 

collected in naira. 

The marketers, however, 

revealed that both NIMASA and 

NPA had continued to collect the 

charges in dollars. 

Tukur explained: “Some years 

ago, the Vice President chaired a 

meeting which included the 

Chief of Staff, talking about the 

fact that marketers having to pay 

port charges to NPA and to 

NIMASA in dollars was no longer 

acceptable because it was 

affecting the sector. 

In its October 2022 Monthly 

Oil Market Report, MOMR, 

obtained by Vanguard, OPEC 

painted a picture of an uncertain 

oil market when it stated: “For 

2023, world oil demand growth is 

revised down to stand at about 

2.3 mb/d. 

“Uncertainty about the 

geopolitical situation remains 

high, and there is potential for 

further US shale liquid 

production.” 

Experts 

However, commenting on the 

development, the National 

President of Oil and Gas Service 

providers Association of Nigeria, 

OGSPAN, Colman Obasi, said: 

“The government and other 

stakeholders have not done 

enough to address the various 

issues currently affecting the 

nation’s oil production. 

''A lot can still be done, 

including the use of modern 

technologies, to monitor the 

nation’s oil and gas assets in the 

Niger Delta.” 

Obasi, who attributed the vices 

partly to massive unemployment 

and desperation on the part of 

the youth to make a living, said: 

“If concerted efforts were made 

to industrialise Niger Delta, 

there would probably be no crude 

oil theft and devastation of the 

region. Oil theft has been with 

us for decades and seems to be 

gaining momentum.” 

Similarly, Executive Director, 

Emmanuel Egbogah 

Foundation, Prof. Wunmi Iledare, 

said: “It seems the price of crude 

is demand determined. The 

likelihood to attain and sustain 

that output in 2023 is less likely. 

At best, that output may even 

be the potential because of 

insecurity, divestment, and 

onshore basin maturity.” 

Oil marketers seek end to dollar denominated 

port charges 

“A directive was given that 

these agencies should 

henceforth charge marketers in 

naira. That has not been 

implemented. That's a major 

challenge. 

“The price of dollars is practically 

driven by demand. If there's no 

supply, then obviously the price 

will rise. So in this instance, every 

time a vessel needs to berth, we 

have to pay port charges in 

dollars.” 

He pointed out the failure to 

comply with the director was one 

of the reasons the Naira 

continued to depreciate against 

the dollar, since the foreign 

currency was in short supply. 

“If these products are 

consumed locally and are 

destined for local ports, then why 

are the NPA and NIMASA 

charging in dollars? 

''They should simply 

implement a directive given by 

the government and we can 

assure that this will also bring 

down the price of petroleum 

products,'' he said. 

On her part, the Chairman, 

DAPPMAN, Winifred Akpani, 

explained how the foreign 

exchange conundrum was 

affecting petroleum marketers. 

She said: “For example, to 

charter a vessel to convey 20,000 

metric tonnes of PMS within 

Nigeria for 10 days, freight 

charges are denominated in 

dollars, that comes to about 

N220m at official forex rate of 

N440 and a whooping N440m 

for petroleum marketers who 

have to source forex from the 

parallel market at N880. 

“This implies an additional cost 

of N11 per litre for this transaction 

due to the forex official/parallel 

market differential. For this same 

transaction, Jetty fees, again 

charged in dollars, comes to 

N15.4m at official forex rates and 

N30.8m for petroleum marketers 

who source from the parallel 

market. 

“In the same vein, Jetty berth 

is charged in dollars and comes 

to N2.2m at official forex rate and 

N4.4m at parallel market rate. 

Then there are port dues (NPA 

and NIMASA), which are 

charged in dollars, which come 

to N71.51m at official forex rate 

and N142.796m for marketers 

who source forex from the 

parallel market.'' 

Akpani described this as quite 

burdensome and had made 

operational expenses and 

procurement increasingly difficult 

for DAPPMAN members. 

ABUJA—THE 

Nigeria 

Railway Corporation, NRC, 

has denied the rumour in some 

media outlets and social media 

platforms which said the Abuja- 

Kaduna rail service will resume on 

November 24. 

The Managing Director of NRC, 

Fidet Okhiria, told the News 

Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that the 

news is false and should be 

disregarded. 

According to him, no definite date 

has been fixed for the resumption 

Currency redesign: 

We'll protect Nigerians without 

bank accounts —CBN 

By Emma Ujah, 

Abuja Bureau 

Chief 

THE CENTRAL Bank of 

Nigeria , CBN, has promised 

to protect Nigerians without bank 

accounts, to ensure they don't suffer 

any loss in the proposed Naira 

redesign exercise. 

According to the apex bank, it 

will protect Nigerians in unbanked, 

underserved, and rural areas. 

In the past, unbanked, rural 

dwellers suffered significant losses 

as some were unable to change 

their old bank notes or were 

defrauded during similar exercises. 

The CBN Director of Corporate 

Communications, Mr. Osita 

Nwanisobi, said in a statement, 

yesterday; "CBN is pleased to note 

the positive response of the banking 

public to the policy 

through increased currency 

deposits across banks and other 

financial institutions. 

"The CBN remains committed to 

the seamless implementation of the 

initiative to ensure the achievement 

of its objectives to preserve the 

integrity of the local legal tender by 

reducing the significant amount of 

cash outside the banking system 

and its use in criminal activities, 

curtail counterfeiting, and promote 

financial inclusion, amongst 

others. 

"Whilst noting the progressive 

increase in financial access points 

and alternative banking channels 

AS POLITICAL parties and their 

respective presidential 

candidates campaign for the 2023 

general election, ‘The Candidates’ 

presidential town hall series, a Daria 

Media concept, supported by 

MacArthur Foundation, NTA and 

YouTube will kick off on November 

17, 2022. 

It will aired live on NTA, FRCN, 

Radio Now, DSTV, Youtube, 

Facebook and more. 

The 'Candidates', is a two-hour 

live televised town hall meeting 

series, of the presidential and vicepresidential 

candidates of the six 

leading political parties jostling for 

the 2023 general elections. 

The parties were selected using 

a combination of editorial 

judgment, aggregated polls by the 

Centre for Democracy and 

Development, CDD, occupation 

of elective offices and presence 

across the country. 

Kole Shettima, Africa Director 

of the MacArthur Foundation, on 

the series, said: “The foundation is 

privileged to support an opportunity 

for Nigerians to interact with the 

leading presidential candidates in 

the 2023 general elections.” 

‘The Candidates’ presidential 

town hall will feature Prince 

Adewole Adebayo and running 

mate, Alh. Yusuf Buhari, of the 

Social Democratic Party, November 

17, 2022; Mr. Omoyele Sowore and 

running mate, Haruna Magashi, 

of the African Action Congress 

Abuja-Kaduna rail service: NRC denies rumoured 

resumption date 

but the Federal Government is 

making every necessary effort to 

ensure it resumes before end of 

November. 

”I wish to inform the general 

public that the news is false because 

a definite date has not yet been 

fixed. 

It is true that the Minister 

announced that we will resume 

services on that route this 

November and efforts are being 

made by all necessary quarters to 

ensure we resume before the end 

of November. 

”I wish to reiterate the 

over the years (electronic/internet 

banking, mobile apps, ATM, Cards/ 

PoS, eNaira, 

agent banking, etc.), the Bank 

acknowledges that these may not 

be evenly distributed across all 

geopolitical zones and in some rural 

areas. 

"In operationalizing this initiative, 

the CBN has been collaborating 

with relevant agencies and other 

stakeholders in the financial system 

in its execution, particularly 

ensuring that vulnerable citizens 

are not disenfranchised. 

"Accordingly, the banking public 

in rural and/or underserved areas 

may access CBN branches in the 

36 states of the federation to enquire 

about options for depositing their 

current N200, 

N500, and N1,000 notes, wallet/ 

account opening processes and 

financial access points. 

"Furthermore, agent locations 

across the country have been fully 

enabled for BVN 

registration, opening banking 

accounts/wallets & e-Naira wallets, 

electronic card distribution, 

and cash deposit, among others. 

"Due to the policy, the agents 

have also been accorded priority 

to enable them to deposit cash 

collections through bank branches 

across the federation. 

"The bank shall continue to 

monitor developments and issue 

updates to the banking public on 

the implementation of the Naira 

redesign policy as may be 

necessary." 

‘The Candidate' presidential 

town hall series kick of Nov 17 

Party on November 18, 2022; Sen. 

Rabiu Kwankwaso and running 

mate, Bishop Isaac Idahosa, of the 

New Nigeria Peoples Party on 

November 19, 2022; Mr. Peter Obi 

and running mate, Dr. Yusuf Baba- 

Ahmed, of the Labour Party on 

November 21, 2022; Alh. Atiku 

Abubakar and running mate, Dr. 

Ifeanyi Okowa of the People’s 

Democratic Party on November 22, 

2022; and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu 

and running mate, Sen. Shettima 

Kashim of the All Progressives 

Congress Party on November 23, 

2022. 

“Kadaria Ahmed, a leading 

Nigerian broadcaster and journalist, 

will moderate each town hall. She 

has been moderating Presidential 

Debates and town halls since the 

2011 elections. 

‘The Candidates’ this year is 

produced by Obi Asika, Ceo Cabal 

Ent, who has produced several 

major live events, festivals, tv shows, 

reality formats and has been at the 

forefront of media production for 

decades. He and his team will seek 

to bring that quality to The 

Candidates. 

CEO of Cabal Entertainment 

and Executive Producer of The 

Candidates, Obi Asika, on the 

series, said: “I am hugely excited to 

be working with Kadaria Ahmed, 

one of Nigeria’s most distinguished 

journalists and broadcasters with a 

long and impressive track record in 

print, tv and radio.“ 

commitment of the Federal 

Government and the corporation 

to securing the lives and properties 

of our highly esteemed passengers 

and Nigerians,” Okhiria said. 

NAN recalls that service along 

the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor was 

halted due to a terrorist attack on 

March 28, which led to the loss of 

lives and kidnap of some 

passengers. 

The Minister of Transportation, 

Mu’azu Sambo, announced after 

the release of all the kidnapped 

passengers, that services along the 

corridor would resume in November.




COP27 IN EGYPT: 

Tuoyo Amuka, 

Business Services 

Manager, Vanguard 

Media Limited (left), 

and Dr Akinwunmi 

Adeshina, President, 

African Development 

Bank during a 

meeting at African 

Pavillion, at the 

Sharm el-Sheikh 

Climate Change 

Conference, COP 27, 

in Egypt 

Doctors migration not peculiar to Nigeria 

—FG 

THE MINISTER of Health, Dr 

Osagie Ehanire, has said the 

migration of doctors to foreign 

countries is not peculiar to 

Nigeria. 

He said the Federal 

Government is only concerned 

about the experienced medical 

personnel who left the country, 

adding that it was working on how 

to make them still offer virtual 

service to the country. 

Ehanire, who disclosed this 

when he featured on the News 

Agency of Nigeria ministerial 

forum in Abuja yesterday, said the 

federal government was working 

towards improving the condition 

of service of Nigerian doctors to 

check the migration of medical 

personnel. 

He said: “At a very senior level 

of those who have had 

postgraduate training, we are 

doing everything we can to 

improve the conditions of service. 

“The health reform committee 

set up by the President is working 

and looking at that; we have been 

talking with the Ministry of 

Labour on how to do that. 

“We are also talking about 

engaging those who have spent 

many years abroad; who are 

specialists who are highly 

specialised, and who know a lot of 

high tech medicine, to engage 

them to work with us, even if it is 

virtually, so they can do virtual 

consultations. 

“They can come here every 

three months or six for a few 

weeks and do some work handson 

so that we can gain something 

from their experience and 

knowledge. 

“This is so that we can harvest 

the knowledge and skills that they 

developed after working for many 

years in highly developed 

countries.” 

Ehanire, who described the 

issue of migration of health 

workers, especially doctors and 

nurses, as a global phenomenon 

and not peculiar to Nigeria, said 

the people in those professions 

were becoming a very mobile 

professional group. 

“I have spoken with health 

authorities in the United 

Kingdom, and they have told me 

that their doctors are also leaving 

for Canada, New Zealand and 

other countries where the pay is 

better. 

“So, the movement of doctors 

is not peculiar to Nigeria, Ghana 

has the same experience. I spoke 

to the Minister of Health of Egypt; 

they have the same experience 

in mobility of doctors and even in 

Europe, European doctors move 

to where the salaries are better. 

“As far as we are concerned, it is 

the very experienced ones who 

leave we have issues with,'' he 

said. 

Ehanire explained that Nigeria 

produces about 3,000 doctors 

every year, adding that the 

number leaving is just about 

1000. 

“So, there is, indeed, a surplus 

of doctors,'' the health minister 

insisted. 

He added that many doctors 

were still in search of where they 

could do their internship or to 

serve their residency, saying that 

“once they undergo some 

training, the younger ones could 

easily be replaced quickly.” 

According to him, the 

government is also working on 

civil service rules to make the 

By Dapo Akinrefon 

LAGOS—A Pressure group, 

Patriots Roundtable, 

weekend, said it is committed to 

the indivisibility of Nigeria's unity 

steered by genuine patriots who 

will promote excellence, instead 

of mediocrity. The group also said 

it could be made stronger by the 

Tinubu-Shettima Ticket in 2023. 

Speaking at a Town Hall 

Meeting organised by 

the Patriots Roundtable with 

theme, ''The Nation, the people 

and Patriotic Leadership: The 

Asiwaju Example", in Lagos , the 

National Coordinator of the 

Patriots Roundtable, Uthman 

Shodipe -Dosunmu, urged 

Nigerians to choose wisely during 

the 2023 general elections. 

Shodipe -Dosunmu said: 

"Nigeria now stands on the 

precipice of another new dawn, 

of a renewed hope, of another 

beginning, of a rebirth and a new 

helmsman that will steer the 

rudder of state. 

"There is no perfect leadership. 

There is no leadership that 

resides in pristine , baptismal 

innocence. We are all flawed. 

"But at the same time, we all 

should be discerning as 

constituents of the Nigerian 

state. We are all capable of 

enlightened decision that will 

guide our nation aright. This time 

we dare not get it wrong. 

"We do acknowledge that the 

political fray often degenerates 

into a mine field of deliberate 

falsehood, manufactured 

histrionics, outrageous idiocy and 

scripted malady where dwarfs 

become giants , where dark 

arbiters are woven with the light 

, where truth is twisted to suit the 

moment. 

"We dare to defer. We at the 

Patriots Roundtable are sworn to 

the indivisibility of the Nigerian 

Union where the nation is 

steered by genuine patriots who 

will promote excellence instead 

of mediocrity, who will spur 

replacement prompt so that once 

a doctor leaves, he or she can be 

replaced within a week. 

“The apparent gaps we see are 

because rules have to be obeyed 

and this makes it difficult for those 

who exit the public hospitals to 

be immediately replaced. 

“So, once that is possible, it will 

be done, but at a very senior level 

of those who have post-graduate 

training, we are doing everything 

we can to improve the condition 

of service,” he added. 

NAN reports that the migration 

of doctors and other health 

personnel from Nigeria to other 

countries of the world has 

increased astronomically, and the 

story is that there are better 

working conditions and 

remuneration abroad. 

Following such reports, many 

stakeholders in the health sector, 

including the Nigerian Medical 

Association, NMA, and the 

Nigerian Association of Resident 

Doctors, NARD, have lent their 

voices to the issue of brain drain. 

They said unless drastic 

measures are deployed by 

governments to stem the tide of 

brain drain, national health 

indices might spiral out of control, 

leaving Nigeria in the bottom 

rank among the comity of nations. 

How Nigeria's union can be stronger 

—Patriots Roundtable 

national rectitude regardless of 

ethnic provenance or sectarian 

alliance. 

"Here and now, we are bold and 

dare to submit that the Nigerian 

fragile union can be made 

stronger, more developmental 

and merit worthy in the hands of 

Tinubu -Shettima ticket." 

On why they are backing 

Tinubu - Shettima ticket, Shodipe 

- Dosunmu said: "We have arrived 

at this position with the proven, 

observable demonstration of Bola 

Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership 

precedents . 

''He is a nation builder. He is an 

instinctive cultivator of talented 

men and women , indifferent to 

their ethnic or sectarian 

provenance. He is ultimately 

defined accommodating largeness 

of the best and the brightest. 

"Tinubu is a builder of 

institution, an instigator of the 

expanses of merit, aiding the 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA—AHEAD of the 2023 

general elections, the 

immediate past chairman of the 

Independent National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, Professor 

Attahiru Jega, has expressed 

worry over the monetization of 

politics in the country. 

Jega was the INEC chairman 

when an opposition political 

political, the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, edged out the 

then ruling party, the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, in 2015 

to form the government at the 

center. 

Speaking during the National 

Working Committee, NWC, 

meeting of Peoples Redemption, 

Party, PRP, weekend in Abuja. 

Jega, who is a chieftain of the 

party, contended that in civilised 

climes, elections are won on the 

growth of knowledge with the 

tools of distinction, a bold standard 

bearer of the best and the 

brightest of the Nigerian union. 

"We do acknowledge that we 

are all flawed as human beings. 

We only struggle towards 

perfection. 

''In this conflicting field of 

presidential candidates, we at the 

Patriots Roundtable have no 

doubt at all that the best option 

on the table for the viability and 

the sustainability of the Nigerian 

Union towards nationhood is 

Tinubu -Shettima ticket. 

''This is our resolve predicated 

on the indices of political balance, 

pivoted on the tableau of national 

acceptability , reposed on the 

doctrine of amity and progressive 

enlargement and beatific 

possibilities of the Nigerian space. 

This is our appeal to the larger 

Nigerian union.". 

APC has destroyed Nigeria's 

diversity, PDP cries out 

2023: Jega worries over monetization of politics 

basis of integrity, truth, 

confidence and support of the 

electorate. 

Boasting that the PRP would 

make inroads in next year's 

election, the former INEC boss 

said: 

"We have to work assiduously 

towards the success of our great 

party. 

''It is not money that wins 

election. Although in this 

country, it appears it is now on 

the front burner in winning 

election." 

He expressed confidence in 

the presidential candidate of 

PRP, Kola Abiola, noting that he 

would win the contest going by 

his pedigree and 

accomplishments. 

He said: "This is a very 

important meeting organised by 

stakeholders of the party. I feel 

very happy that I have been 

invited to be part of this meeting. 

By Festus Ahon Congress, APC, has 

A 

mismanaged our diversity in this 

SABA—SPOKESMAN of 

country. 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

"We are glad that our party is 

PDP, Presidential Campaign 

determined to unify all Nigerians, 

Council, Mr Charles Aniagwu, 

our purpose of moving in one 

weekend, said the All 

direction is not just to win 

Progressives Congress, APC-led 

election, it's also meant to bring 

administration has destroyed the 

back Nigerians together. 

diversity that was one of the 

"This is very imperative 

country's major pillars. 

because in the last seven and 

He urged Nigerians to vote the 

half years, our diversity has 

PDP in the interest of the unity, 

received a very dirty blow and 

peace and progress of the 

the bruises are very very visible 

country, pointing out that Atikuacross 

the length and breadth of 

Okowa ticket would rekindle 

this country. 

brotherhood among Nigerians. 

"This is because of the 

Aniagwu, who stated this while 

mismanagement of our diversity 

answering questions on TVC's 

in this country. Nigerians must 

"Political Stand Point", monitored 

understand that in unity and 

by our correspondent, said an 

diversity we are able to come 

Atiku's presidency in 2023 would 

together. 

ensure peace and unity among 

"Just as it is said in our old 

ethnic groups in the country for 

national anthem, 'though 

all-round development. 

tongue and tribe may differ but 

He said: "The Atiku-Okowa 

in brotherhood we stand' the 

ticket intends to bring back 

Atiku-Okowa ticket will bring 

Nigerians together in unity 

back that brotherhood among 

because in the last seven and 

Nigerians." 

half years, the All Progressives 

43 staff: Senate raises alarm 

over NEITI's N960m personnel 

cost in 2022 budget 

By Henry Umoru 

ABUJA—THE Senate has 

kicked against the Nigeria 

Extractive Industries Transparency 

Initiative, NEITI' s N960 million 

personnel cost in 2022 budget for 

43 staff. 

It queried the expenditure when 

the Executive Secretary of NEITI 

, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya, appeared 

before the Senator Matthew 

Urhoghide, Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, Edo South-led Senate 

Committee to present his 2023 

budget for the first time. 

Trouble started when 

Ogbonnaya in his presentation 

before the committee, read the 2022 

budget performance, explaining 

that the personnel cost of the 

agency was N960 million, while 

overhead cost stood at N760.9 

million and the capital budget, 

N344 million. 

Speaking further, the Executive 

Secretary of NEITI said 51 per cent 

of personnel cost had been spent, 

while 58 per cent of overhead cost 

was spent and only 50 per cent of 

capital had been released so far. 

Not comfortable with his 

explanations, chairman of the 

committee, Senator Urhoghide, 

wondered how the agency could 

spend only 51 per cent of his 

personnel cost as at November 

2022, stressing that this was the 

•We shouldn't be recycling failed politicians, PRP presidential candidate, Abiola warns 

"Yes, our chairman has 

indicated in his opening remarks 

that unity is strength. Our party 

is the oldest party currently in 

this country. 

"It is also the party with the 

best vision and ideology. So, it is 

a party whose time has come. I 

am very glad to see that we have 

chosen a very patriotic and 

intellectually sound Nigerian as 

our presiddntial candidate. 

"We have also chosen the vice 

presidential candidate. He is also 

vibrant and a professional. 

This is the time for the party to 

make significant impact in this 

country. What is required is the 

unity of party members. We have 

to remain united and we have to 

give it our all. 

"What you will need to win an 

election clearly is to gain the 

truth, confidence and support of 

the electorate. And we are 

capable of winning the trust of 

case of over bloated personnel cost 

in the agency. 

Urhoghide said: "You have only 

taken 51 per cent of your personnel 

cost. As at November, your 

personnel cost is really really too 

high, you have only two months 

and you have just collected 51 

per cent of your personnel cost. 

"This is one case of personnel 

budget over bloated. What we are 

suspecting is systemic leakage. We 

are going to reduce your personnel 

cost to less than N500 million." 

Responding, the Executive 

Secretary explained that when the 

agency started operations, it was 

only on oil and gas, adding that it 

had now moved into solid minerals 

and needs more manpower to 

carry our its operations. 

According to him, the agency 

currently has 43 staff and has 

approval to recruit more staff which 

was made available in the 2022 

budget. 

He said the process had just 

been concluded, and that the 

newly recruited 70 staff are already 

captured by Integrated Payroll and 

Personnel information system, 

IPPIS, and had not been paid. 

However, Senator Ibrahim 

Danbaba asked the Executive 

Secretary of NEITI to submit the 

nominal role of the agency to 

ascertain what he told the 

lawnmakers. 

the electorate. 

"We will meet them. We will 

convince them. So, we have 

individual and collective 

responsibility to give our best and 

promote our candidates, our 

party manifesto and to ensure 

that we gain the trust of our 

candidates." 

Also speaking, the PRP 

presidential candidate, Kola 

Abiola, cautioned the electorate 

against recycling those he 

described as "politicians who 

come from poisoned trees." 

He said: "It is about time we 

stopped recycling fruits from a 

poisoned tree. A lot of politicians 

come from a poisoned tree and 

most people from poisoned tree 

are recycled. 

"We are coming in as fresh 

people and fresh government. 

And that is what Nigeria needs 

because they (recycled 

politicians) have done it and they 

have failed."



Why constitution amendment bill 

suffers stalemate —Olanipekun 

By Rotimi 

Ojomoyela 

ADO EKITI—A Senior 

Advocate of Nigeria, Wole 

Olanipekun, over the weekend 

explained why the constitution 

amendment bill is stalemated. 

The legal Luminary said the 

delay in the passage of the 

amendment bill in some states, is 

because of the governors' 

insistence that the State Police 

must be approved for states to 

stem the rising waves of 

insurgency, killings and 

kidnapping of Nigerians. 

Olanipekun said that the 

constitutional amendment is 

another opportunity to get the 

nation secured, federated and 

democratised. 

Disappointed at the resistance 

to true federalism by some 

sections of the country, Olanipekun 

described the present arrangement 

as an aberration and anti 

democratic, saying the system will 

keep Nigeria perpetually 

underdeveloped. 

The Legal Icon spoke in his 

Ikere Ekiti countryhome, on 

Saturday, while presenting over 

N30 million cash gift to students, 

youths, aged and widows, to mark 

the 2022 edition of Wole 

Olanipekun Scholarship and 

Empowerment Schemes. 

Speaking about the state of the 

nation, Olanipekun said; "We are 

having this stalemate in the 

Constitution Amendment 

because some governors 

expressed reservations that they 

will only accept the passage if 

State Police is approved. That is, 

something like state autonomy." 

ICPC probes 33 constituency 

projects of lawmakers in Ondo 

By Dayo Johnson 

THE 

INDEPENDENT 

Corrupt Practices and Other 

Related Offences Commission, 

ICPC, has kicked off tracking of 

33 constituency projects 

execution in Ondo state. 

The projects under scrutiny are 

those facilitated by some of 

Senators and House of 

Representatives members from 

the State. 

Assistant 

Chief 

Superintendent Investigation, 

ICPC, who led the team to Ondo 

State, Osove Andrew, said that 

the exercise, which started at Ile- 

Oluji, Ikare-Akoko and Oka- 

Akoko in the South and North 

Senatorial districts of the state, 

was "to investigate fraudulent 

procurement practices in the 

award of contracts for the selected 

projects. 

Osove, explained that the 

exercise was to ensure that all 

government funded projects are 

executed fully to their 

specifications and to make 

recoveries where the project costs 

are inflated by contractors or are 

poorly executed. 

"The first project we visited at 

Ile-Oluji was an empowerment 

project. From the list, people that 

took the motorcycles were 124 

and we can actually call them to 

ascertain, to make sure that they 

actually took delivery of the 

motorcycles. 

"Also the second project we 

visited which was the construction 

of fence of Muslim Primary School 

Ilepa, Ikare-Akoko, we can see 

that the fencing is good. But the 

gate has two bridges which need 

to be addressed." 

"The third project, the 

construction of kilometres of road 

in Oka-Akoko is still under 

construction. One of the things 

that are of concern is that the 

contractor has over shot its 

expected date of completion. 

However, the agency supervising 

the project told us that he was 

remobilised to site last month and 

we are hoping that they will 

continue and complete the job." 

Why Igbo residents in Lagos 

should vote for APC candidates 

—NICGP 

By Dickson 

Omobola 

IGBO LEADERS in Amuwo 

Odofin/Oriade Local 

Government Area under the aegis 

of Ndigbo Independent Campaign 

Group, NICGP for APC in Lagos, 

have urged Igbo residents in Lagos 

to vote the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, candidates vying 

for various positions at national 

and state levels. 

Speaking at a town hall meeting 

in Lagos, weekend themed: 

Parks members back Sanwo-Olu 

over choice of admin chair 

By Innocent Anaba 

LAGOS—MEMBERS of the 

Lagos State Parks 

Administration, LSPA, have 

thanked Governor Babajide 

Sanwo-Olu for making the Oniba 

Ekun of Iba Kingdom, Oba 

Sulaimon Adesina, as the 

caretaker committee chairman of 

the parks administration. 

They also expressed satisfaction 

with Oba Adesina administration, 

saying it had boosted the welfare 

of members and brought sanity to 

their operations. 

Speaking at a stakeholders' 

meeting in Akesan area of Lagos, 

they noted that peace and 

harmony had been restored to the 

union after the dissolution of the 

immediate past administration of 

"Voters' Sensitization in Support 

of All APC Candidates," they 

stressed that they have been 

accommodated in Lagos, and it 

would be right to sustain the 

privileges that they enjoy. 

President of the People of 

South-East Region, POSER, 

Evarest Ozonweke said there has 

been a primordial relationship 

between the Igbo and Yoruba, 

saying: "Lagos State remains the 

only state with highest investment 

of the Igbo outside Igbo land. It is 

the only state the Igbo have as 

their second home that is why we 

say where you live is where you 

maintain. " 

Alhaji Musa Muhamed. 

In his presentation, the Zonal 

Chairman Surulere, Enilari Rauf 

and Zonal Chairman Badagry 

Zone 2, Adeyemi Arigbagunwo, 

said that the past administration 

overstayed in office, adding that 

it allegedly denied members 

access to proper welfare and that 

members of the union were shortchanged 

in the revenue 

distribution for the development 

of the association. 

Also speaking, Oba Adesina 

enjoined members of the LSPA to 

return to their duty posts and 

remain good and law-abiding 

citizens and charged the union 

to embrace peace and shun 

actions that could truncate the 

welfare of the masses. 


PRESENTATION: 

Otunba Olusegun 

Runsewe, DG, 

National Council for 

Arts and Culture, 

NCAC, organisers 

of NAFEST, presenting 

a portrait of 

Lagos State Governor, 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, 

to his 

Deputy, Obafemi 

Hamzat, and the 

state commissioner 

for Tourism, Arts 

and Culture, Mrs. 

Uzamat Akinbile- 

Yusuf, at the closing 

ceremony of the 

35th edition of the 

festival, at the 

Onikan Stadium, 

Lagos, yesterday. 

SERAP to Buhari: Bring perpetrators of 

attacks on INEC offices to justice 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC 

Rights and Accountability 

Project, SERAP, has urged 

President Muhammadu Buhari to 

urgently direct the Attorney 

General of the Federation and 

Minister of Justice, Abubakar 

Malami, SAN and appropriate law 

enforcement agencies to identify 

and arrest the perpetrators and 

sponsors of attacks on the offices 

of the Independent National 

Electoral Commission, INEC 

across the country. 

SERAP urged Buhari to "ensure 

that the perpetrators and their 

sponsors are named and shamed, 

and promptly brought to justice, 

regardless of their political 

affiliations." 

There were simultaneous 

attacks on the local government 

offices of INEC in Abeokuta, Ogun 

State, and Ede, Osun State, on 

Wednesday. There were at least 

41 attacks in 14 states between 

February 2019 and May 2021. 

Recent reports also showed over 

50 attacks on INEC offices in 

several states in the last few 

months. 

SERAP Deputy Director 

Kolawole Oluwadare, in a letter 

dated November 12, 2022, said: 

"These attacks are increasingly 

putting INEC under siege. If not 

urgently addressed, the escalating 

attacks on the offices of INEC 

would impair the people's right to 

vote." 

SERAP said, "The attacks would 

also undermine public trust and 

confidence in the electoral process. 

It is confidence in the process that 

is the true backbone of Nigeria's 

constitutional democracy and the 

No meaningful change without youths' 

involvement —Gen Irabor 

Ondo, Osun Amotekun arrest 100 suspected criminals in joint patrol 

By Dayo Johnson 

AKURE—NO fewer than 100 

suspected criminals have 

been arrested in a joint operation 

by the personnel of Ondo and 

Osun security outfits, 

codenamed Amotekun. 

The joint inter-border patrol 

was meant to secure the South- 

West, ahead of the Yuletide. 

This is coming barely a week 

of flagging-off the Operation 

"Gba'le gba 'ko" by the Ondo and 

Osun states Amotekun 

Commanders aimed at ensuring 

safety of the South-West 

boarders during the coming 

festivity. 

The Chairman of the 

Amotekun commanders in the 

South-West and the Ondo State 

Commander, Adetunji Adeleye, 

made the disclosure in Akure, 

rule of law. 

"The right to vote will have little 

meaning if perpetrators and 

sponsors of attacks on INEC offices 

continue to get away with their 

crime against the Nigerian people." 

The letter, read in part: "An 

electoral commission that can 

operate in a safe and secured 

environment is essential to 

Nigeria's constitutional democracy. 

We would be grateful if the 

recommended measures are taken 

within seven days of the receipt 

and/or publication of this letter. If 

we have not heard from you by 

then, SERAP shall consider 

appropriate legal actions to compel 

your government to comply with 

our request in the public interest. 

"The continuing failure by your 

By Adeola Badru 

THE CHIEF of Defence Staff, 

General Lucky Irabor, has 

called for a deliberate inclusion of 

youths in governance warning 

that alienating them in decisionmaking 

would be a recipe for an 

increase in criminality, anarchy and 

political instability. 

He also expressed fears that 

such scenarios could lead to the 

destruction of critical 

infrastructures, loss of livelihoods 

and by extension, retardation in 

the economy and national security. 

Irabor stated this, weekend, at 

the Obafemi Awolowo University, 

OAU, Ile-Ife, at the unveiling of 

Ken Saro-Wiwa Peace and 

Leadership Centre, Students' 

Union Building, OAU. 

The CDS said to ensure change 

weekend. 

Adeleye, however, warned 

those criminals operating at 

border towns of Kogi and Edo 

states of dire consequences, if 

arrested. 

He pointed out that the border 

patrol was an initiative of 

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to 

ensure security before, during 

and after the Yuletide. 

He expressed satisfaction, that 

the newly launched operation 

'Gba'le gba ko' under a week of 

its take-off, had yielded dividends 

as they have been able to track 

down 100 suspects. 

"We have been able to break a 

syndicate that specialised in 

vandalising communication 

network, power mast, 

transformer and generators. 

"We impounded the vehicles 

which they hired. We were also 

government to investigate, 

identify, name and shame the 

perpetrators and their sponsors, 

and to bring them to justice is 

fuelling impunity, and resulting in 

a vicious cycle of attacks and 

violence. 

"SERAP urges you to direct the 

Inspector-General of Police, 

Usman Baba to immediately 

provide adequate security to 

protect INEC facilities across the 

country to ensure and guarantee 

the safety and security of the 

commission's staff and materials… 

"The Nigerian Constitution 

1999 [as amended] provides in 

Section 14(1)(c) that, the 

participation by the people in their 

government shall be ensured in 

in the environment the focus must 

be on the youths, especially 

students "because they the 

change that we desire for the 

nation's development, hence the 

need to build their leadership 

capabilities." 

He insisted that there must be 

substantial investments in job 

opportunities, access to education 

and good healthcare for Nigerian 

youths to enable them thrive and 

contribute positively to society. 

According to him, there is a 

strong correlation between youth 

engagement and national security, 

adding that a meaningful 

interaction and involvement of a 

youth populace in governance and 

administration are likely to facilitate 

a peaceful and conducive 

environment for economic growth 

and development. 

able to arrest the perpetrators 

who would be charged to court 

soon 

"We have two different set who 

we are still profiling. The other 

members of the syndicate are at 

large as our men are on their 

trail. 

"The bottom line is that during 

this Yuletide season in the ember 

months, it is total zero tolerance 

to crime activities in Ondo State 

and as we talk, we have over 300 

men in all major roads leading in 

and out of Ondo State." 

He admonished residents of 

the state to always feel free to 

'say something, if you see 

something to us. Our distress 

call number remains 

08079999989. We assure you of 

the a-24 hours security coverage 

of the entire state and the 

highways leading in and out of 

accordance with the provisions of 

this Constitution. 

"Similarly, the International 

Covenant on Civil and Political 

Rights, the African Charter on 

Human and Peoples' Rights, and 

the African Charter on Democracy, 

Elections and Governance to 

which Nigeria is a state party 

guarantee the right to political 

participation, including the right 

to vote. 

"These human rights treaties 

also require states parties including 

Nigeria to promote the 

establishment of the necessary 

conditions to foster citizen 

participation, and to investigate 

reports of attacks on INEC offices 

and bring perpetrators to justice." 

Irabor said: 'To having a secured 

sovereignty, it's necessary for us to 

understand that you as men and 

women are what we are looking 

up to in the future. You have a role 

to play at ensuring that not only 

do we make things work, that also 

things actually work and the only 

way you can know how things 

work is for you to be involved in 

ensuring that things work." 

The Ken Saro-Wiwa Peace and 

Leadership Center was recently 

renovated as part of activities to 

honour and preserve the 

contributions of Ken-Saro Wiwa 

to peace and unity in Nigeria. 

The renovation of the centre was 

a collaboration among the 

students' union, the University 

and a committee of peace and unity 

ambassadors led by the CDS, 

General Irabor. The high point of 

the unveiling was the launch of 

the unity wall within the building. 

Ondo state and for those that 

are thinking of taking advantage 

of the border towns of Kogi and 

Edo, I will say your time is up. 

"Men of the Army, the police, 

Civil Defence, the DSS and the 

Amotekun Corps are on 24 hours 

patrol of the access roads and this 

tells you the synergy that exists 

among all security agencies in 

the state. Hence we remain 

resolute that there is zero 

tolerance to crime in Ondo 

State". 

The Corps commander also 

assured of a secured situation 

during the electoral period, 

saying: "We are not only 

protecting the INEC Office, we 

are also going to protect all critical 

assets of both the state and 

federal including the local 

government areas as well.




INVESTITURE: From Left, Secretary of Conference, Methodist Church of Nigeria, Bishop Babatunde 

Taiwo; Prelate-Emeritus, Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Dr. Samuel Uche; Prelate, 

Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence Dr. Oliver Ali Aba and Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev. 

Michael Olusegun Akinwale, during the investiture of His Eminence, Dr. Oliver Ali Aba as the new 

Prelate of Methodist Church of Nigeria, at Methodist Church of the Trinity, Tinubu, Lagos, yesterday. 

2023: Many injured as Ebubeagu 

allegedly attack LP loyalists in Ebonyi 

•Ebubeagu, Police, LG boss speak on attack 

By Peter Okutu 

A members BAKALIKI—MANY 

of the Labour 

Party, LP, in Ebonyi State have 

reportedly been injured following 

alleged attack on the party's 

loyalists at a rally by gunmen in 

Okposi, Ohaozara Local 

Government Area, LGA, of 

Ebonyi State. 

The gunmen, LP alleged, were 

members of Ebonyi Command of 

the Southeast Security Outfit 

code-named Ebubeagu. 

The gunmen, according to the 

LP House of Assembly candidate 

for Ohaozara East Constituency, 

David Ogbonna, shot at the 

party faithful and inflicted varying 

degrees of injuries on them. 

He alleged that they were led 

by the Chairman of Ohaozara 

LGA, Consider Ajah. 

Among others, Mr Ogbonna 

in a statement said "Yesterday 

(Saturday), as party faithful 

gathered at our (Labour Party) 

office at Mgbom-Okposi, waiting 

for the arrival of the Labour Party 

Candidate for Ohaozara/Onicha/ 

Ivo federal constituency - 

Nkemkanma Kama, the men of 

Ebubeagu Security Network led 

by Ohaozara Local Government 

Chairman invaded the venue. 

"As they entered the venue, 

our campaign office, our 

supporters on the road waiting 

for our arrival erroneously 

thought we were the ones 

possibly because of the exotic car 

of the Local Government 

Chairman. 

"They rushed to warmly 

welcome 'us' only to meet young 

men numbering over 40 wielding 

all kinds of automatic guns who 

came down from the fully loaded 

Toyota Hiace Bus and Sienna 

buses and opened fire on 

Innocent people. They shot at 

the people and chased both men 

and women at the venue, 

making efforts to apprehend as 

many as they could." 

Mr Ogbonna said three 

persons have so far been 

confirmed shot on their legs; one 

had his femur (bone of the thigh) 

shattered and had been taken to 

an Orthopedic Centre. 

According to him, "As at this 

morning of 13th November 2022 

(yesterday), three of our 

supporters from Uburu who came 

with Labour Party Candidate of 

Ohaozara West are yet to reach 

home and their phones have not 

been reached. We are yet to 

establish a contact with the 

Personal Assistant, PA, of Labour 

Party Candidate for Ohaozara 

East Constituency. His phone 

has not been reached since he 

ran away from the event venue 

yesterday (Saturday). 

"Two of our supporters from 

Ugwulangwu are yet to reach 

home and their phones not 

reachable. Six women supporters 

from Ugwulangwu and one of our 

women leaders from Okposi who 

ran for their lives yesterday in 

the process lost their handbags 

containing phones and other 

valuables including cash. 

"One of women supporters from 

Okposi who was pursued, fell 

head-down on her way to safety 

and has remained unconscious. 

However, Doctor confirmed she's 

still alive." 

Mr Ogbomna also alleged that 

"all canopies, tables and chairs 

at the venue were badly 

damaged. The music box 

(Speakers) of the DJ was shot at 

by the Ebubeagu, damaging 

them near-irreparably and even 

confiscating some of his 

equipments. The drums of the 

Cultural Women dancers from 

Afikpo were destroyed and some 

seized. 

"The drum boxes of the 

By Nwabueze 

Okonkwo 

ONITSHA—BARELY five days 

after an explosion rocked 

chemical line of Onitsha drug 

market that claimed no fewer than 

three lives and injured seven 

others, Anambra State 

government has deployed two 

bulldozers and heavy duty trucks 

to evacuate the debris at the scene 

of the incident. 

As a result, the entire drugs 

market popularly known as 

Ogbogwu and some parts of Tools 

and Allied section of the 

Bridgehead market affected by the 

explosion have been closed for 

businesses. 

Chairman of the drug market, 

Ndubuisi Chukwuleta, who 

disclosed this yesterday at the 

evacuation site, said contrary to 

previous reports that four lives were 

lost to the incident, only three 

persons were confirmed dead, while 

seven sustained various degrees 

of injuries at the last count so far. 

Alongside some executive 

members of the drugs market, 

including the Secretary-General, 

drummers who were on the road 

waiting for us were destroyed 

and drummers beaten 

mercilessly. As at yesterday 

night, three of supporters from 

Ugwulangwu reported that 

operatives of Ebubeagu visited 

their compounds asking after 

them. As we write now, they have 

relocated out the community for 

fear of their lives." 

Gathering illegal 

—LG boss 

But the Chairman of the Local 

Government Area, Mr Consider 

Ajah, denied leading an attack 

on the Labour Party supporters. 

He, however, admitted that 

Ebubeagu officials went to the 

area to stop the people gathered 

there from blocking the road, 

saying "We did not attack 

anybody. They were blocking the 

road which is a federal highway 

and we had to intervene to 

prevent them from disrupting 

people's movement. We have a 

law that before you hold any form 

of gathering you must get 

approval from the local 

government for security 

purposes. But they did not do 

that. We have no interest in what 

any other party is doing but they 

should do the right thing at all 

times." 

Ebubeagu 

Commander speaks 

However, reacting, the 

Commander of Ebubeagu, 

Nnanna Friday, denied that 

Ebubeagu operatives were in the 

area, saying "We did not attack 

anybody. They should stop 

mentioning Ebubeagu every 

time they have problems among 

themselves. They may have 

been attacked by their fellow 

members who they may have 

had a disagreement with and 

they now turned around and 

blame it on Ebubeagu. They did 

same thing recently in Izzi and 

we later discovered that they 

were attacked by their members." 

Police not aware 

On his part, Police 

spokesperson in the state, Chris 

Anyanwu, said the command 

was not aware of the incident. 

He promised to make enquiry 

and get back to our Reporter 

later. 

He was yet to do so at the 

time of this report. 

Onitsha chemical explosion: Market shut 

as govt's caterpillars evacuate debris 

Chigozie Obiayo; Assistant 

Secretary, Benjamin Akudo; 

Provost, Bob Onyeka; Treasurer, 

Ken Olisaeke and Chibuzor 

Anozie, PRO, Chukwuleta, also 

disclosed that three lines of the 

drugs market and some lines in 

the nearby Tools and Allied marked 

totaling 400 shops were razed 

down as a result of the explosion. 

Other members of the executive 

committee present included Prince 

Emeka Nwogu, Clement Machie, 

Benjamin Ikebata, Samuel 

Nnonyelu, Samuel Ndibe, 

Sunday Igwe, Chris Umeh, Israel 

Onyebuchi, Ernest Nwafor and 

Ikejiofor Chibueze. 

According to Chukwuleta, the 

owner of the chemical shop that 

exploded and spread to other shops 

is still at large, noting that those 

injured are still responding to 

treatments in the hospitals where 

they were rushed to. 

Commending the state 

government for deploying the 

bulldozers and heavy duty trucks 

to clear the debris under the 

supervision of Onitsha South Local 

Government authority, he pleaded 

with politicians, groups and 

individuals to come to the 

assistance of the victims, now that 

his executive is overseeing the 

medical expenses of the injured 

victims. 

Also speaking, former chairman 

of the Bridgehead market, Emeka 

Ezeanyika, who noted that he was 

still in shock, commended the 

drugs market executive committee 

for taking proactive steps since the 

incident and called on the state 

government and voluntary 

organizations to help the victims 

whose shops and goods were 

consumed by the inferno. 

Secretary-General of the drugs 

market, Sir Obiayo and the 

Assistant Secretary, Benjamin 

Akudo, commended the officers 

and men of the Bridgehead 

Division of the Nigeria Police for 

their gallant efforts at protecting 

the market and its environs from 

vandals since the incident 

occurred. 

Obiayo and Akudo noted that 

the monetary value of goods lost 

to the inferno is still unquantifiable 

at the moment and solicited for 

both financial and material 

assistance to the victims, just as 

the flood victims are still counting 

their losses. 

NGE inducts 36 new members 

into guild, installs 15 fellows 

OWERRI—THE Nigerian 

Guild of Editors, NGE, has 

inducted 36 new members and 15 

members as Fellows of the Guild. 

The induction followed a Gala 

Night organised for the Guild by 

Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo 

to conclude the 18th All Nigeria 

Editors Conference, ANEC, 2022 

in Owerri. 

In his address, Uzodimma called 

for stronger ties between the media 

and the political class to usher more 

development. 

The governor said democracy 

had proven to be the best form of 

governance anywhere in the world. 

"It is also given that for 

democracy to triumph, the political 

class and government cannot do 

much without the media. All I ask 

of you is the understanding of the 

essence of democracy in any 

jurisdiction. 

"I ask of you to understand the 

need to protect our land, national 

interests, be focused and objective, 

and for us to create a convivial 

environment for every stakeholder 

to contribute to national 

development," he said. 

Uzodimma also urged the media 

and editors to change and correct 

the wrong perception and 

narratives being created about 

Africa by foreign media. 

He expressed consternation that 

Nigeria's democracy is still 

described as "nascent'' even after 

many years of uninterrupted 

democracy. 

"I want to plead with you to take 

courage; it may not look like what 

you are expecting, but there is 

hope for Nigeria. We must stop 

spending money and energy 

lamenting on the nation's 

problems, but rather proffer 

solutions,'' he stressed. 

The governor, who described 

THE PEOPLES Democratic 

Party, PDP, governorship 

candidate in Enugu State, Dr. 

Peter Mbah, has promised the 

electorate and residents of the 

state of his ambitious economic 

package geared at driving 

exponential growth across the 

state. 

Addressing the Forum of 

Senior Special Assistants and 

Special Assistants to the state 

governor, Mbah assured that 

coming from the private sector 

where he was able to change the 

narrative in different industries; 

he had come prepared to hasten 

development in the state. 

"We have what it takes to move 

Enugu to the next level of 

development. We have 

development programmes that 

will scale up production. The time 

for the industrialisation of our 

state is now. 

''There is no more time to waste. 

There's no more procrastination. 

That's the meaning of our tagline, 

'Tomorrow Is Here','' he said. 

While charging the forum to 

take the message and good news 

of his integrated development 

plans to the people, especially 

those in the rural areas, Mbah 

declared it was a new dawn for 

the people. 

He said the PDP had built 

massive infrastructure and 

enhanced development in the 

state over the past 23 years, 

which the people were enjoying 

today. 

He reiterated his commitment 

to continue to attract new 

infrastructure developments 

through his laudable blueprint 

which would concentrate on 

agro-allied industrialisation, new 

energy and mineral resources 

sector, ease of doing business that 

would boost productivity, and 

availability of N100 billion seed 

himself as "the most blackmailed 

politician in Nigeria'' also called for 

objective thinking and reportage 

as well as constructive criticism of 

his administration. 

In his remarks, President of the 

Guild, Mr Mustapha Isah 

commended the lofty projects 

executed by the governor, 

particularly the Owerri-Orlu Road, 

Owerri-Okigwe Road, and the 

state House of Assembly complex. 

Isah urged the governor to 

remain focused and disregard the 

antics of detractors. 

The president also advised the 

governor to spread the money of 

the state in providing for the elderly 

people. 

Speaking on their observations 

after a tour of projects executed by 

Uzodimma, a Fellow of the Guild, 

Ms Ajayi Gbadebo, urged the 

governor to sustain his tempo of 

development. 

Gbadebo, who lauded the road 

infrastructure, particularly around 

Imo State Polytechnic, Omuma, 

appealed to the governor to ensure 

that water runs at the teaching 

hospital in Orlu. 

The Executive Director of DAAR 

Communications Plc Mr Imoni 

Amarere, shared Gbadebo's views. 

He urged the governor to 

sustain efforts in developing the 

rural areas. 

The inducted Fellows of the 

Guild included former NAN Editorin-Chief, 

Mr Alli Hakeem and Dr 

Reuben Abati, former Special 

Adviser (Media and Publicity), to 

former President Goodluck 

Jonathan. 

Some others were former 

Managing Editor of New Nigerian 

Newspapers, His Royal Highness 

Victor Awogu and Lagos State's 

Commissioner for Information and 

Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso. 

2023: We're in haste to fulfill our 

devt plans for Enugu people — Mbah 

fund for the youth through 

venture capital firms. 

Mbah, who emphasized the 

need for aggressive campaign 

and political sensitisation and 

education in all the communities 

in the 17 local government areas, 

urged the forum to take 

ownership of the project by 

converting new members with his 

well thought-out development 

programmes. 

"Most importantly, you have 

to inform our people about the 

exponential growth they are 

about to witness when we come 

into office. Agriculture is going 

to be grown five fold. We are 

committed to moving the state 

from a public to private sectordriven 

economy. This will give 

our children great opportunity to 

thrive in the private sector and 

create wealth. 

"So, it behooves on you to take 

our message of what PDP has 

done in the past 23 years to the 

people. It is our duty to inform 

them that the peace and security 

they are enjoying is the result of 

PDP efforts. It is also our duty to 

bring back the remaining 

members of our party into our 

fold. 

"Last election, PDP won 95.5 

percent in the state. We can't 

afford to allow the record to 

diminish during your time as 

SSAs and Sas," Mbah said. 

Earlier in his remarks, the 

Secretary General of the Forum, 

Humphrey Onyima, said the 

gathering was a form of solidarity 

for Mbah's aspiration, addingthat 

they had already commenced the 

journey. 

Onyima, who spoke on behalf 

of other SSAs, said they were 

capable of delivering their 

mandate in all the wards, 

communities and door-to-door 

sensitisation.


PRESENTATION— 

Okwudili Onyia, 

Communications 

Manager, Savannah 

Energy, 

Nigeria (left), 

presenting an 

award to Emem 

Mbat, Mathematics 

Teacher, Asutan 

Ekpe Comprehensive 

Secondary 

School, Okop 

Ndua Erong, in 

Ibesikpo LGA, 

during the 15th 

edition of the 

Annual Award for 

Teaching Excellence, 

in Akwa 

Ibom State Public 

Secondary 

Schools, held in 

Uyo. 

:Vanguard 

News 

Wike greedy, not fighting for South 

—Ned Nwoko 


Why Nigeria must partner private 

sector for education devt —Osinbajo 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

BENIN CITY—VICE 

President Yemi 

Osinbajo has said there is need 

for continued partnership 

with the private sector to meet 

the education needs of 

Nigerians. 

He also called on the 

regulators of the sector to 

ensure they sustain needed 

standards, so that Nigeria and 

the African Continent would 

not be disconnected from the 

rest of the world. 

He spoke at the 20th 

Convocation ceremony of 

Igbinedion University, Okada, 

Edo State, where the school 

renamed its teaching hospital 

after the president and 

founder of Christ Embassy, 

Rev. Chris Oyakhilome. It also 

By Emma Amaize 

ASABA—THE Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

candidate in Delta North 

senatorial district, Delta State, 

Ned Nwoko, weekend, lashed 

out again at Governor 

Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, 

saying the governor is not 

fighting for Southern Nigeria 

and that his agitations are not 

genuine. 

Nwoko, in a statement, 

yesterday, in Asaba, Delta 

State, said: "Wike is not 

fighting for the South. He is 

greedy. If they chose him as 

the vice presidential 

candidate, as he desperately 

wanted, would he have been 

complaining that the PDP 

National Chairman, Iyorchia 

Ayu, should go? Certainly not." 

Governor Wike, through his 

Commissioner for 

Information, Mr. Chris 

Finebone, recently traced 

Nwoko's persistent attacks on 

him to the opposition of 

governors, including Wike, to 

the $418 million Paris Club 

refund being claimed by 

Nwoko and other consultants. 

However, Nwoko, accusing 

the governor of rascality for 

questioning his integrity, said: 

"Those who got into offices 

through fraudulent politics 

must be cautious in exercising 

confered honourary 

doctorate degrees on him and 

Princess Osula Mku-Atu. 

Represented by the Minister 

of Transportation, Muazu 

Sambo, Osinbajo said: “You 

will recall that the first 

government university in 

Nigeria, the University of 

Ibadan was founded in 1948 

today, there are 43 federal 

universities and 48 state 

universities in the country. 

This shows that it has taken 

both the federal and the state 

governments 74 years to 

establish 91 universities 

whereas it has only taken the 

private sector 23 years to 

establish 79 universities. This 

reaffirms the need to deepen 

our partnership with the 

private sector.” 

Speaking on educational 

transient authority. 

“Wike has been instigating 

crisis in PDP since he lost the 

presidential primary to Atiku 

Abubakar and the party’s vice 

presidential candidate, 

despite wasting huge sums of 

money belonging to Rivers 

State trying to bribe some 

party officials. 

"It is unfortunate that a 

standard and quality, he said: 

“I am referencing the speech 

of former Prime Minister of 

the Republic of Guinea. It is 

no longer news that the world 

is a global village, universities 

across Africa must align with 

international best practices to 

deliver standards and 

qualitative education to their 

students. Anything short of 

this, our continent will be 

uncompetitive.” 

Earlier, the former Prime 

Minister of Republic of 

Guinea, Kabine Komara 

delivered the convocation 

lecture entitled “The Role of 

Universities in Promoting 

Socio-Economic Integration 

in Africa.” 

The Chancellor of the 

University, the Esama of 

Benin, Gabriel Igbinedion, 

failed obscure lawyer has 

been posturing in recent times 

with false airs of an emperor, 

insulting those far better than 

him in education and 

exposure. 

"It is unacceptable for Wike 

to continue to embarrass PDP 

with crude, unruly and 

bellicose tendencies, 

attempting to play God. Wike 

is a bad-tempered troublemonger. 

said he renamed the teaching 

hospital from Igbinedion 

University Teaching Hospital 

to Chris Oyakhilome 

Igbinedion University 

Teaching Hospital, “In 

recognition of your sterling 

qualities and significant 

contribution to the upliftment 

of mankind, and your 

exceptional devotion to the 

healing ministry” 

In his convocation address, 

Vice Chancellor of the 

University, Prof. Lawrence 

Ezemonye said no fewer than 

16,000 students have 

graduated from the university 

since inception and this year’s 

event produced 691 

graduates and post 

graduates, 40 PhDs, 82 

masters, 12 post-graduate 

and 81 unclassified. 

"He should stop his 

recklessness. Enough of his 

unguarded statements, 

unbecoming of a governor. 

Why is he crying 

everywhere because he lost 

an election? Who made 

him an indispensable 

leader? Does he know how 

PDP evolved? His 

agitations are not genuine 

but selfish." 

2023: Delta People'll work for Atiku, 

Okowa's victories —Diden 

By Henry Umoru 

ABUJA—AHEAD of the 

2023 general elections, 

the Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, Delta South senatorial 

candidate, Michael Diden, 

has assured that the people of 

Delta State would work 

assiduously for the victory of 

the party's presidential 

candidate and former vice 

president, Atiku Abubakar, 

and his running mate, 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of 

Delta State. 

Meanwhile, the 'Delta 

Political Vanguard', a group 

and political machinery of 

the PDP in Delta State, upon 

whose wings the Okowa 

political family is growing, 

has inaugurated a chapter in 

the Federal Capital Territory, 

FCT, Abuja. 

The group was formed to 

strengthen and expand its 

reach and influence beyond 

Delta State. 

Speaking, yesterday, at the 

inauguration of the new 

Chapter in Abuja, Diden, who 

doubles as the National 

chairman of the group, 

explained that the core 

mandate of the group is to 

ensure total support, and 

commitment towards the 

victory of not just the Atiku/ 

Okowa mandate, but other 

members of the Okowa and 

PDP political family. 

According to him, the group 

was and still created for the 

sole purpose of supporting 

everything Okowa, just as he 

stressed the need for all efforts 

and commitment to be 

tailored towards achieving 

one goal and that is the victory 

for Atiku/Okowa and the 

entire PDP family come 2023. 

He said: "I am appealing 

to all members to always 

be civil in their 

engagement and apply love 

and compassion when 

trying to woo members 

into the fold. 

"I also call for peaceful 

cohesion and harmony 

amongst members, as 

strife and mistrust can 

easily destroy the newly 

formed chapter.” 

Present at the event were 

the National Executives of 

the group with Diden as 

National Chairman, 

Bashorun Ogieh, among 

others. 

Reconstitute NDDC Board 

now, Uduaghan urges Buhari 

By Akpokona 

Omafuaire 

Wgovernor ARRI—FORMER 

of Delta 

State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, 

has urged President 

Muhammadu Buhari to, as a 

matter of urgency, set-up or 

constitute the board of the 

Niger Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC. 

Uduaghan made the call in 

Warri, while hosting Delta 

South leaders of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP. 

According to him: "We 

appeal to Mr. President to 

please put up the NDDC 

board, it's getting too long. Put 

it up and, of course, people 

from this senatorial district 

must be deeply involved at the 

top heirarchy of the 

commission." 

He also tasked the Federal 

Government to do something 

positive to cushion the effects 

of the flood, which ravaged 

many communities, as well as 

killed many citizens in the 

country. 

Uduaghan also 

congratulated beneficiaries 

of the pipeline surveillance 

contract in the state, noted 

that the people of the 

senatorial district should not 

be left out in the scheme of 

things. 

Uduaghan warned that 

outsiders should not be seen 

doing jobs that were supposed 

to be for the people of the area, 

who mainly are from Delta South 

senatorial district. 

According to Uduaghan, "We 

must not have a situation 

whereby someone from another 

senatorial district is the one 

coming to do our own. If there's 

anything like that, let me know. 

"Because I heard that some 

part of the senatorial district is 

being handled by someone else 

but we will not agree,” in 

apparent reference to Isoko axis 

of the contract, which is muted 

to be contracted to non Isoko 

indigene. 

Flood: Bayelsa begins closure 

of IDP camps 

By Emem Idio 

YState ENAGOA—BAYELSA 

government has 

commenced the closing down 

of internally displaced 

persons, IDP, camps set up to 

shelter and cater for the 

victims of this year’s flood 

disaster. 

The largest IDP camp, 

located at the Ox-Bow Lake 

Pavilion, was shut down, 

Saturday, while others in the 

Igbogene suburb of the state 

capital and elsewhere were 

closed, yesterday. 

At the Ox-Bow Lake Pavilion 

IDP centre, an open-air 

thanksgiving was held ahead 

of the last meal that was 

served to the flood victims 

before they started returning 

to their various homes. 

In his brief sermon, the Vice 

Chairman of the Christian 

Association of Nigeria, CAN, 

in the state and President of 

the Bayelsa Baptist 

Conference, Dr. Abili Abili, 

took a sermon from Isaiah 

WARRI—NIGER Delta 

ex-agitators of Itsekiri 

ethnic nationality have 

demanded the immediate 

reinstatement of over 3,000 of 

its members delisted from the 

Presidential Amnesty 

Programme, PAP, including 

Itsekiri ex-agitators captured 

in the Third Phase. 

The demand by the exagitators 

was contained in a 

communique, after their 

emergency meeting, held in 

Warri, Delta State, yesterday. 

Commending President 

Muhammed Buhari for the 

suspension of the winding 

down or termination of PAP, the 

group called for the payment 

of October stipends of the 

affected ex-agitators. 

The communique was issued 

by Coordinator/Leader and 

General Secretary/Leader of the 

ex-agitators, Abugewa Mene and 

Bokhan Otone, respectively, 

noted that most of the exagitators 

delisted from the 

programme, have not been 

deployed for their training. 

They said: “Itsekiri students, 

deployed as impacted 

43:1-2 and Genesis 9:10-15, 

where he assured the IDPs 

that God had promised that 

He would not destroy the 

earth with flood again. 

“As you are going back 

home, remember God has 

promised that he would not 

destroy the world with flood 

as it happened in the days of 

Noah. Remember God and 

turn to Him,” he admonished 

them. 

The Commandant of the 

Ox-Bow Lake Pavilion IDP 

Camp, Ebiuwou Koku- 

Obiyai, praised the state 

governor, Douye Diri, for his 

show of empathy, compassion 

and capacity in the 

management of this year’s 

flooding and victims in the 

state. 

Koku-Obiyai, who is also 

the Chief Whip of the Bayelsa 

State House of Assembly, said 

over 12,000 IDPs were 

accommodated in the camp, 

stressing that the state 

government fed them daily for 

the 28 days the camping 

lasted without any death 

recorded. 

N-Delta ex-agitators demand 

immediate reinstatement of 

3,000 members 

communities to Novena 

University and others, most of 

whom are in their final year, 

should be paid their Intraining 

allowance 

immediately. 

“Our patience is getting 

overstretched as our students 

are discriminated against in 

schools, whereas other 

students from impacted 

communities have been 

deployed and paid their Intraining 

allowances. We may 

have no option other than to 

protest and shut down all oil 

operations in our land, if this 

act of discrimination against 

the Itsekiri persist. 

“Reintegration is one of the 

cardinal objectives of the 

programme and so, we call 

for the reintegration of those 

that have undergone their 

training. There should be the 

deployment of the exagitators, 

especially from the 

Itsekiri ethnic nationality in 

the database that is yet to be 

deployed for training, while 

those for formal education 

should be deployed 

accordingly.

VANGUARD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 — 13 

FACES AT NIGERIAN GUILD OF EDITORS' DINNER AND 

AWARD CEREMONY IN OWERRI Photos: Nwankpa Chijioke. 

•Imo State Governor, Sen. Hope Uzodimma (2nd left); his wife, Chioma (2nd 

right); Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prof. Placid Njoku (left) and Mustapha 

Isah, President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, during the Dinner and Awards 

Night. 

•From left: Raheem Adedoyin, Fellow, NGE; Mustapha 

Isah, President, NGE, and Gbenga Adefaye, GM/Editorin-Chief, 

Vanguard Newspapers and former president, 

Nigerian Guild of Editors. 

•Eze Anaba, Editor, Vanguard Newspapers, 

(right), with Oguwike Nwachukwu, Chief 

Press Secretary to Imo State governor, during 

the occasion. 

•From right: Kunle Adekoya, Deputy Editor, 

Vanguard Newspapers; Onochie Anibeze, 

Saturday Editor, Vanguard Newspapers, and 

Simon Ebegbulem, Imo State Commissioner 

for Special Projects. 

*From left: Wale Akinola, Vanguard Sunday 

Editor; Soni Daniel, Vanguard Northern 

Region Editor, and Enato Isuku, Director of 

News, NDTV, Yenagoa, shortly after their 

induction into the Nigerian Guild of Editors. 

70TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF MRS ATEMA AKINDELE IN LAGOS 

70th birthday celebration of Mrs. Atema Akindele, wife of Late Chief Bode Akindele, a foremost 

industrialist, held at Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, yesterday. Photos: Akeem Salau. 

•The celebrant, Mrs. Atema Akindele, cutting her 70th birthday 

cake (left), assisted by her daughter, Mrs. Iyabode Shonibare; her 

son-in-law, Mr. Simi Shonibare, with grandchildren. Photos: Akeem 

Salau. 

•From left: Ebisan Rewane; Mosh Rewane; Bismarck Rewane, and 

Yeye Rewane, at the occasion. 

•From left: Dr. Omawumi Urhobo, Barrister 

Grace Giwa; Mr. Kelly Arawore, and Mrs. 

Patricia Arawore. 

•From left: Mrs. Patience Ikoh; Mrs. Rose 

Danmole, and Mrs. Rita Amuka. 

•From left: Mrs. Iyabo Rewane; Mrs. Atema 

Akindele, and Mrs. Titi Rotimi.

14 — Vanguard, MONDAY NOVEMBER 14, 2022 

In what appears to be the 

average Nigerian’s 

penchant to thwart any 

process, it is becoming cogent 

and verifiable that there is a 

high level of collusion, 

conspiracy and compromise of 

the Federal High Court of 

Nigeria’s pre-election 

practice direction 2022. With 

litigants breaching 

procedure, suggestive of 

alleged collusion with some 

staff of the election 

management body, there are 

fresh fears that the 2023 

general elections may not 

turn out the way most 

Nigerians are expecting it to. 

This is because contrary to 

the provisions of the preelection 

practice 

direction as 

spelt out by 

the Hon. 

Justice John 

Terhemba 

Tsoho, The 

C h i e f 

Judge, 

Federal High 

Court of 

Nigeria, the 

rules are 

b e i n g 

breached 

with reckless 

abandon, 

leading to a 

surfeit of 

c a s e s 

numbering 

over 600 - at 

the last 

count, that 

is. Some of 

these cases, 

By JideAjani, 

General Editor 

too, are 

a consequence 

of the nonadherence 

of the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, INEC, 

to some provisions of the 

Electoral Act 2022. This report 

presents some parts of the 

practice direction and the 

Electoral Act 2022 and drilldown 

on aspects which are 

being breached by politicians, 

judiciary and INEC, thereby 

creating a muddle in the 

process. 

Section 84(1) 

Nomination of 

candidates by 

parties 

Section 84(1) of the Electoral 

Act, 2022, regarding 

nomination of candidates by 

parties 

states, 

unequivocally: ”A political 

party seeking to nominate 

candidates for elections under 

this Act shall hold primaries 

for aspirants to all elective 

positions which shall be 

monitored by the 

Commission”. 

The import of this section is 

that there is contingent 

compulsion that political 

parties 

fielding 

candidates shall, must and 

necessarily hold primaries to 

all elective positions 

which shall, must and 

SYSTEMIC, WILLFUL SABOTAGE 

How breach of pre-election 

practice direction and 

Electoral Act threaten 

2023 elections 

• INEC’s alarm over 600 cases, partly self-inflicted 

•Provisions of Electoral Act 2022 ignored; compromise 

of practice direction dangerous 

•President Muhammadu Buhari, 

signed Electoral Act 2022 into law 

and has promised to deliver free, 

fair and credible elections next year; 

necessarily be monitored by 

the Commission. 

Section 29(1) 

Submission of list of 

candidates and their 

affidavits by political 

parties 

Section 29(1), regarding 

submission of list of 

candidates and their affidavits 

by political parties, states 

that ”Every political party 

shall, not later than 180 days 

before the date appointed for 

a general election under this 

Act, submit to the 

Commission, in the prescribed 

Forms, the list of the 

candidates the party proposes 

to sponsor at the elections, 

who must have emerged 

f r o m v a l i d 

primaries conducted by the 

political party.” But in some 

instances, the mandatory 180 

days is being flouted. 

• Chief Judge of the Federal 

High Court, Honourable 

Justice John Terhemba Tsoho 

This section also places a 

condition on the parties to 

submit the list of candidates, 

but qualifies the nature and 

context of their emergence as 

candidates. The section says 

the candidates must emerge 

from valid primaries. The 

implication is that if a 

candidate proposed by any 

political party emerges from 

a primary that is not 

deemed valid, such a 

candidate cannot and must 

not be allowed to stand for any 

election. 

What this section attempts to 

cure by insisting that 

INEC shall monitor 

primaries, is to allow for an 

independent and 

authoritative assessor who 

would validate any party 

primary as meeting 

the statutory requirements of 

the activity. Before now, 

political party bigwigs 

engaged a whimsical, nay, 

. 

• INEC Chairman 

Mahmood Yakubu 

despotic mode in the 

emergence of candidates for 

offices. 

Party 

leaders determined, in most 

cases, without any form of 

pretence to election or party 

primary, who becomes a 

candidate. Therefore, the 

framers of this Act chose to 

infuse sanity into the process, 

hence the insertion of the 

phrase ”...shall 

be monitored by the 

Commission”. 

Now, the question is, what 

makes a primary valid? 

Section 84(13) (Still 

on Nomination of 

candidates by parties) 

Section 84(13) provides the 

remedy to the question. The 

section states that ”Where a 

political party fails to comply 

with the provisions of this Act 

in the conduct of its 

primaries, its candidate for 

Indeed, while some politicians, who have a 

very unhealthy relationship with decency 

continue to appease crookedness as a deity, 

INEC’s seeming irresoluteness and 

complacency, in some instances, have not 

been helpful 

election shall not be included 

in the election for the 

particular position in issue”. 

The major provision of the 

Electoral Act 2022 in respect 

of conduct of party primaries 

is spelt out in Section 84(1); 

and the provision makes it 

mandatory that INEC 

must monitor party 

primaries. Verily, the 

leadership of INEC publicly 

warned political parties that 

any primary election not 

monitored by it, a report of 

which must be sent to its 

national headquarters, would 

not be accepted. The 

Commission encouraged its 

Resident Electoral 

Commissioners, RECs, to do 

the needful in this regard 

diligently. The Commission 

also sent 

staff from 

i t s 

headquarters 

t o 

support 

the state 

offices in 

t h i s 

monitoring 

endeavour. 

In fact, 

in a 

Saturday, 

July 9, 

2022, 

Press 

Release, 

titled, 

CLARIFICATION 

O N 

ISSUES 

RELATING 

T O 

CANDIDATE 

NOMINATION 

A N D 

RELEASE 

O F 

CERTIFIED TRUE COPIES 

OF DOCUMENTS, and 

signed by Festus Okoye Esq., 

National Commissioner and 

Chairman, Information and 

Voter Education Committee, 

INEC reassured Nigerians 

that it would abide by the 

spirit and letters of the law. 

According to Okoye, ”the 

attention of the Commission 

has been drawn to 

speculations circulating 

online on the outcome of some 

of the recent primaries 

conducted by political parties 

and related issues. In 

particular, allegations 

intended to impugn the 

integrity of the Commission 

have been made in respect of 

Akwa Ibom North West and 

Yobe North Senatorial 

Districts. 

“To set the record straight”, 

Okoye continued, ”the 

Constitution of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria mandates 

the 

Commission 

to monitor the organization 

and operation of political 

parties, including their 

finances, conventions, 

congresses and party 

primaries. In line with its 

constitutional and legal 

obligations, the Commission 

deployed monitors to the 

Continues on page 15

How breach of pre-election practice direction 

and Electoral Act threaten 2023 elections 

Continued from page 14 

various constituencies and 

received reports of such 

exercise.” 

Now, the clincher: Okoye 

asserted, ”In relation to the 

primaries for Akwa Ibom North 

West and Yobe North 

Senatorial Districts, the 

Commission stands by 

t h e monitoring 

reports received from our 

State offices. For this reason, 

the Commission did not 

publish the personal 

particulars of any candidate 

for the two constituencies at 

variance with the State 

reports. Right now, the 

Commission is funtus officio 

in the two cases….” 

He then advised that 

aggrieved parties are at 

liberty to approach the court 

and seek redress. 

But has INEC honoured the 

provisions of the law and its 

own public commitment? 

Although Okoye was to later 

declare on national television 

that the Commission is not 

bound by reports from the 

state, a position which 

contradicted his press 

statement, he was to clarify 

that between the intervening 

period of the reports and the 

issuance of a court order, the 

Commission is bound to obey 

the court at any instant time 

as a responsible institution 

guided by law. 

Yet, another national 

commissioner, Mohammed 

Haruna, is of the view that 

INEC does not have the 

powers to reject candidates. 

But Section 84(13) states 

clearly that “Where a political 

party fails to comply with the 

provisions of this Act in the 

conduct of its primaries, its 

candidate for election shall 

not be included in the election 

for the particular position in 

issue”. This provision confers 

on INEC powers of 

admissibility or denial of a 

candidate if the provisions of 

the Act are followed or if the 

provisions of the Act are not 

followed, respectively. 

Why the plethora of 

pre-election 

litigations? 

There appears not to be a 

systemic clarity on the 

application of the letters of the 

Electoral Act 2022 either by 

error of ommission or 

commission. 

Whereas Professor 

Mahmood Yakubu, the 

National Chairman of INEC 

has consistently made the 

case that the election 

management body will 

continue to do its best to give 

Nigerians an election not only 

free, fair and credible next 

year, but one that is also seen 

to espouse the virtues of a 

free, fair and credible 

election. This is also a 

sentiment President 

Muhammadu Buhari echoed, 

after signing the Electoral Act 

2022, into law. 

However, its policy 

of jettisoning the reports from 

• Festus Okoye, National Commissioner 

and Chairman, Information 

and Voter Education Committee 

its RECs about the party 

primaries monitored in some 

states of the federation, seems 

to cradle muddle. 

Some of the pre-election 

litigations that Chairman of 

INEC complained about arose 

from the Commission not 

following through on its own 

commitment. Indeed, while 

some politicians who have a 

very unhealthy relationship 

with decency continue to 

appease crookedness as a 

deity, INEC’s seeming 

irresoluteness and 

The implication 

is that if a 

candidate 

proposed by any 

political party 

emerges from a 

primary that is 

not deemed valid, 

such a candidate 

cannot and must 

not be allowed to 

stand for any 

election. Now, 

the question is, 

what makes a 

primary valid 

complaisance, in some 

instances, have not been 

helpful. 

Take, for instance, the raging 

controversy in the Akwa Ibom 

chapter of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, and INEC’s 

acceptance of list of 

candidates for election in the 

state. 

The state has a 26-member 

House of Assembly chamber. 

Vanguard has been made to 

understand from the national 

headquarters of INEC that of 

the 26 primaries held to 

determine the APC 

candidates, the report of the 

monitored primaries sent to 

Abuja, only the names of two 

of those who emerged from 

the 26 primaries are among 

the final 26 candidates 

published by INEC for the 

APC. By implication, the 24 

candidates who emerged 

from 

the valid 

primaries monitored by 

INEC are potential litigants 

to reclaim their mandate as 

candidates. By the same 

token, there are 10 House of 

Representative seats in the 

state. Of the 10 valid 

primaries for the House of 

Representatives conducted by 

the APC and monitored by 

INEC in Akwa Ibom State, 

only two of the 10 names 

are published as candidates. 

This also throws up another 

eight potential litigants who 

would want their rights 

restored as validly nominated 

candidates. 

For the senatorial primaries 

in the state, specifically the 

Akwa Ibom North West 

senatorial candidacy, the 

burden of correctness hangs 

over INEC. 

According to the report sent 

to INEC headquarters and 

sighted in Abuja 

by Vanguard, only two 

Vanguard, MONDAY NOVEMBER 14, 2022 — 15 

senatorial primaries were 

conducted. Akwa Ibom North 

West has become so 

controversial and is already 

one of the over 600 litigations 

about party primaries. 

From Akwa Ibom State 

alone, the number of potential 

litigations regarding preelection 

matters, barring 

horse-trading steeped in 

possible arm-twisting, 

blackmail and intimidation, 

may not be less than 35. 

Those going to court, 

curiously, are those deemded 

to have participated in 

the valid primaries 

monitored by INEC. 

Pre-election 

Practice Direction 

In order to strengthen the 

process leading up to the 2023 

general elections, the Chief 

Judge of the Federal High 

Court, Honourable Justice 

John Terhemba Tsoho, in his 

wisdom, on Tuesday, June 28, 

2022, set the Federal Republic 

of Nigeria, Federal High 

Court of Nigeria (preelection) 

Practice Direction, 

2022. 

This Practice Direction is 

meant to serve as a guide to 

potential litigants and judges 

on certain rules to be 

observed in handling preelection 

matters as defined by 

Section 285(14) of the 

Constitution of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as 

amended). 

The Practice Direction has 

11 Rules viz: 

1. Objectives and Guiding 

Principles 

2. Applicability 

3. Parties 

Okoye was to 

clarify that 

between the 

intervening period 

of the reports and 

the issuance of a 

court order, the 

Commission is 

bound to obey the 

court at any 

instant time as a 

responsible 

institution guided 

by law 

4. Filing of Process 

5. Service of Process 

6. Hearing 

7. Interlocutory 

Applications 

8. Miscellaneous 

9. Interpretation 

10. Citation 

11 . Commencement 

Rule 1, which deals with 

Objectives and Guiding 

Principles of the Preactice 

Direction gives an overview of 

the intendment of the rule: 

OBJECTIVES 

AND GUIDING 

PRINCIPLES 

1.-(1) The purpose of this 

Practice Directions is to- 

(a) provide for a fair, 

impartial and expeditious 

determination of preelection 

cases; 

(b) ensure that in all 

election matters, the parties 

focus on matters which are 

genuinely in issue; 

(c) minimize the time spent 

in dealing with interlocutory 

matters; 

(d) ensure that the 

possibility of settlement is 

explored before the parties 

go into hearing; 

(e) minimize undue 

adjournments and delays in 

the conduct of matters. 

Rule 3 deals with parties to 

any suite and all of them must 

be served: 

PARTIES 

3. A party challenging 

the conduct or outcome 

of a Primary Election shall 

join as a Respondent in the 

suit, the person who emerged 

winner of the said 

election or whose name 

was forwarded by his political 

party to the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission (INEC). 

Rule 4(2)(d) insists that 

litigants must swear to an 

affidavit that any matter being 

brought before any court is 

not already being heard by 

another court: 

FILING OF 

PROCESSES 

4. -(1 )Every pre-election 

matter shall be 

commenced by an 

Originating Summons as 

specified in Forms 3, 4 

or 5 of Appendix 6 to 

the Federal High Court 

(Civil Procedure) Rules, with 

such variations as 

circumstances may require. 

(2) The Originating 

Summons shall be 

accompanied by: 

(d) an affidavit of nonmultiplicity 

of action on the 

same subject matter. 

The rules above are alreay 

being flouted such that 

litigations are being brought 

before the court and identified 

parties in the suite as spelt out 

in Rule 3 are not being made 

aware. 

Similarly, the principle of 

non-multiplicity of action is 

being observed in the breach 

rather than observance. 

NEXT WEEK: The full 

rules of the Practice 

Direction will be 

published along with 

particulars of breach and 

the consequences for the 

2023 general elections


Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 —17 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

Saving the Supreme Court from 

crises 

OVER the past fortnight, 

this column has addressed the 

multiple dimensions of the crises of 

attrition, retention, and replacement 

in Nigeria’s Supreme Court, as well 

as the pathologies that make these 

crises resilient. Given the 

significance of the Court in the 

country, it is only proper to dwell a 

little on how these problems can be 

fixed. Three issues are immediately 

in focus. One is occupational health 

and wellbeing for Supreme Court 

Justices. The tendency to reduce the 

triple crises of attrition, retention, 

and replacement in Nigeria’s 

Supreme Court to an issue of the 

appointment of brilliant academics 

or supposedly proven practitioners 

avoids the real problem. Indeed, the 

records suggest that premature 

mortality on the court has been most 

unkind to its brightest and best. 

For instance, Chukwunweike 

Idigbe was reputed to be arguably 

the sharpest and most rigorous mind 

on the court at the time of his death 

in 1983. Augustine Nnamani, was 

only the fourth holder of a doctorate 

degree in law to be appointed to the 

court, after Taslim Elias, George 

Baptist Ayodele Coker, and Egbert 

Udo Udoma; and Okay Achike was 

only the second law professor and 

the third legal academic to sit on the 

Supreme Court after Taslim Elias. 

Adolphus Godwin Karibi-Whyte, 

another academic who preceded 

him on the Supreme Court and who, 

like Achike, retired in 2002, was an 

Associate Professor at the University 

of Lagos before the onset of his 

judicial career. Niki Tobi, the former 

dean of law at the University of 

Maiduguri, followed later. 

The Supreme Court does not 

appear to have been the kindest of 

working environments to its most 

brilliant minds, and there is nothing 

to say that it will be kinder to any 

bright minds who agree to go there 

now. To the brightest legal minds, the 

court has been somewhat of a 

cemetery in a literal sense. The 

complaint of the BOSAN about its 

members being denied elevation to 

the Supreme Court deserves to be 

treated with suspicion. Regrettably, 

it is also members of the BOSAN 

who saddle the court quite often with 

applications of the most disreputable 

Any reform of the 

court that does not 

address the urgent need 

to unbundle the office of 

the Chief Justice is 

doomed to failure 

kind, needlessly clogging up the 

dockets of the court and making the 

work of the Justices unbearable. The 

BOSAN can hardly complain when 

Justices of the same Supreme Court 

look upon many of these same 

practitioners of dubious professional 

ethics with determined suspicion 

when they look prey with intent on 

high judicial office. 

The court's main problem is not 

just that its dockets are 

unmanageable; it also appears 

inhumane and unsuited to its 

primary workers, who are by 

definition senior citizens. In June 

2022, it emerged that the Justices of 

the Supreme Court had written to 

the then CJN complaining of 

debilitating failures of health and 

wellbeing, including the nonprovision 

of housing and research 

assistants. In particular, their letter 

lamented that there had been no 

meeting of the Justices over the entire 

duration of the COVID-19 crisis, 

pointing out that the standard of 

healthcare in the court had 

deteriorated to the point where "there 

is a general lack of concern for 

Justices who require immediate or 

emergency medical intervention. 

These complaints naturally raise the 

possibility that the rate of mortality 

as a form of attrition at the Supreme 

Court is preventable.This naturally 

leads to a third issue regarding the 

leadership of the Court. Historical 

mortality may be relatively high 

among appointees to Nigeria’s 

Supreme Court, but it has never 

affected any CJN. This is surprising 

because many will think that the 

CJN, with the multiple portfolios and 

offices that s/he holds, would be very 

stressed. Over time, the office has 

evolved from being a first among 

equals to something akin to a 

constitutional potentate, with infinite 

capacity to dispense patronage or 

penury in equal measure around the 

legal profession. Any reform of the 

court that does not address the urgent 

need to unbundle the office of the 

Chief Justice is doomed to failure. 

It is, therefore, no surprise that the 

recent occupants of the office appear 

to have been undone by allegations 

on the borders of judicial integrity. 

In three years since 2019, Nigeria 

has had three Chief Justices. Of these 

three, two left office prematurely in 

circumstances connected with 

negative imputations on judicial 

independence and integrity. Indeed, 

it has been said that the penultimate 

CJN left the judiciary and the 

Supreme Court "in a mess." About 

the sacking of his predecessor, The 

Economist wrote that it was "not 

merely unusual; it was also 

unlawful.In that case, it appeared 

that the judiciary was willfully 

complicit in its own defenestration, 

indicating deeper issues with that 

branch of government's 

integrity.“When legitimate questions 

of judicial integrity can be raised at 

this level, it becomes rather idle to 

focus on access to appointments as 

a panacea because even the 

appointment process would be 

corruptible and probably corrupted. 

In the public's perception, this is 

largely what the current situation is 

with judicial appointments in 

Nigeria. Many believe—and there 

seems to be evidence to support the 

claim—that appointments have 

become a joint enterprise of 

politicians and judicial insiders. 

When BOSAN complains that its 

members deserve a say, citizens sneer 

that BOSAN's members want to 

wiggle their way into this duopoly 

with no altruistic goals in mind. 

These are by far the biggest causes 

of the attrition, retention, and 

replacement crises on the Supreme 

Court. 

As is evident from this breakdown, 

appointment or replacement does 

not necessarily rank among them. 

Indeed, in the face of these, the 

problem that Chief Justice Ariwoola 

complains of cannot be altered even 

if we were to triple the establishment 

size of the court from 21 to 63 or, 

even worse, implement the entirely 

unfortunate and unworkable idea of 

decentralizing the Supreme Court 

to each geopolitical zone of the 

country as some have advocated. In 

these circumstances too, legislating 

for justices to serve until the day after 

eternity, as Afe Babalola SAN has 

suggested, would be a very bad idea 

indeed. 

It is nevertheless important not to 

totally ignore the advocacy by 

BOSAN to look to the ranks of its 

members for appointments to the 

Supreme Court. Former CJN, 

Mohammed Lawal Uwais, has 

explained that he instituted the policy 

of confining Supreme Court 

preferment to serving Justices of 

Appeal because "there is the issue of 

integrity. If you have been a judge at 

the High Court or Court of Appeal 

before coming to the Supreme 

Court, you would have done cases 

where whether you are a corrupt 

person would have been 

discovered." 

It should be recalled that the Chief 

Justice governs preferment to the 

privilege of SAN. If he says that he is 

unable to trust the integrity of the 

persons whom they choose to prefer 

to the rank, then it is hardly a 

response to the crisis of appointment 

in the Supreme Court to suggest that 

the answer lies in choosing from the 

ranks of persons whose integrity 

can’t be guaranteed. What is 

required in the face of this claim is 

not to insist on preferring people to 

the Supreme Court from these ranks 

but to first reform the system of 

preferment in order to guarantee the 

rank of SAN as a quality mark of 

unquestionable integrity and 

excellence, which it can hardly be 

said to be presently. In the end, it is 

necessary to admit that there is no 

magic bullet to address or resolve 

the crises that the new CJN has 

called attention to. 

Rather, it requires a 

multidimensional approach 

beginning with an internal reform 

of the operations and management 

of the Supreme Court itself to 

improve wellbeing among its 

personnel, both judicial and nonjudicial. 

Caseloads in the court will 

need to be governed much better 

through appropriate filtration 

devices. This will require a 

combination of both legislation and 

reform of the rules and doctrines of 

the court. Standards of judicial ethics 

at all levels will need improving. If 

these are done, then attention to 

appointments could be part of the 

package. Absent these reforms as a 

package, a focus only on 

appointments will not be part of the 

solution. Rather, it will only deepen 

the problem. 

*A lawyer and a teacher, 

Odinkalu can be reached at 

chidi.odinkalu@tufts.edu 

US security alerts vs the parable of the cunning tortoise 

By DAHIRU LAWAL 

WHEN on Sunday, October 23, 2022, 

the United States of America issued a 

“security alert” over what it described as the 

“risk of terror attacks in Nigeria, especially in 

the Federal Capital Territory,” one thing was 

clearly obvious, it was a flagrant disregard for 

diplomatic etiquette. Certainly, there are basic 

guidelines, fundamental norms, practices of 

protocol and administrative requirements for 

issuing such intel on a sovereign space - if at 

all - in such a way that will facilitate robust 

diplomatic ties between mutually connected 

and friendly nations without deliberately 

undermining a government and its people, but 

America’s overzealous attempt at perpetrating 

its messianic image through media agenda 

setting, laced with the kind of scaremongering 

and information warfare, that wires a 

population to think and act only within the 

contextual framework of what it’s message 

portends - crises and mayhem - was surely not 

within any tolerable diplomatic line of action 

for any nation to condone no matter its size. 

Nothwtsanding its initial whistling, when 

about two days after, the US issued another 

“updated” alert on account of “heightened risk 

of terrorist attacks in Abuja,” and even said it 

was evacuating its citizens, with similar 

warnings to Americans in Equatorial Guinea, 

Chad and South Africa, almost at about the 

same time, causing Britain, Germany, Australia 

and Canada to follow its lead, America’s motif 

for doing so became suspicious. This is 

especially so because in the wake of that update 

followed a fake news which was immediately 

debunked by PRNigeria’s fact check that 

American soldiers arrested a terrorist in an 

Abuja estate. 

As a budding communicator, through a 

content analysis of the substance of both alerts, 

I could deduce a lack of actionable 

intelligence, vague predictions and watery 

confidence. I mean, if such intel actually exists, 

since it is using media channels of its host 

country whose audience are at least 90 percent 

consumers of the information, it is only fair 

that the message names the group planning 

the attack, the mode of the attack and even a 

timeframe. But when the basic who, why, when, 

what, where and how remains unanswered 

substantially, all a discerning mind could only 

see is a script at play which serves as a means 

to an end, but to what end? 

Seeing through this requires a deeper 

analytic sense, one that demands seeing past 

the infallible posturing of an acclaimed world 

power to the plainness of the message which is 

lacking in substance or evidence – typical of 

cheats and tricks in folkloric tales. This only 

reminds me of some of the main elements and 

themes found in African folktales about the 

cunning tortoise - a slow, crafty and wise 

creature that uses his wisdom to outsmart 

others. One of such tales which was created 

and recreated over years from generation to 

generation told the story once upon a time 

when tortoise went to the market place. There 

he saw the wares on display. He had no money 

on him to buy his needs. He thought up a plan 

of taking away, the wares without paying a 

dime. His plan was to dig a tunnel from his 

house to the market place so that he would 

threaten the market when it is in full session. 

He employed rabbit to dig the tunnel. One 

day he went to the market place through the 

tunnel as he played a drum and threatened to 

kill whoever waited to meet him. The threat 

sent fear through the spines of all the animals 

at the market place. They all ran away leaving 

their wares. Tortoise went out of the tunnel and 

carted all the wares to his house through the 

tunnel. He went home and ate as much as he 

wanted while other animals lamented of their 

losses. Eventually, the cunny tortoise was 

caught red-handed when his victims also 

devised a trick in ambushing him. 

As citizens of a great African nation, just like 

the animals in this folktale, if we continue to 

remain susceptible to all the drumbeat we hear, 

the measurabilty of our vulnerability to 

captivity will remain eternal. Like the tortoise, 

America is the most realist nation on earth, it 

approaches the reality of international politics 

from an egoistic nature and disregard for 

central authority in pursuit of its foreign policy 

If we continue to remain 

susceptible to all the drumbeat 

we hear, the measurabilty of our 

vulnerability to captivity will 

remain eternal 

goals but its greatest undoing remains its 

inability to observe the tip of the axe while 

chipping the wood. For instance, at about the 

same period it was issuing alerts on African 

soils, the husband of its House Speaker Nancy 

Pelosi was attacked and severely beaten with a 

hammer by an assailant who broke into the 

couple’s San Francisco home. 

In May 2022 mass shooting at an 

elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and 

another one in Laguna Woods, California 

targeting congregants of a church that serves 

the Taiwanese community were all horrible 

attacks that could have been averted through 

intel security alerts and “citizen evacuation.” 

All these carries chilling echoes of the January 

6, 2021 US Capitol insurrection and other 

violent attacks that happens daily in the United 

States. It then beggars belief how convinient it 

is for a country with a fixture of firearms death 

in its daily life aggregating to nearly 1.5 

million being killed between 1968 and 2017 - 

higher than the number of soldiers killed in 

every US conflict since the American War for 

Independence in 1775 - to promote themselves 

as custodians of actionable intelligence on 

African soils, far away from home where the 

security incidents is ongoing with nearly 53 

people killed each day by a firearm. 

But then, such use of information warfare 

for foreign influence operations only feed fat 

on our gullibility as a people which in turn not 

only scares away potental investors but 

threaten even local endeavors for economic 

prosperity, with schools closing down and 

flights changing destination routes from Abuja 

- very apt and timely for the nairas continous 

fall against the greenback in the parallel 

market one might think. Yet, just about two 

weeks after following the US lead, the UK 

government on Monday updated its travel 

advisory on Nigeria that it “no longer advises 

against all but essential travel to the Federal 

Capital Territory, including the city of Abuja.” 

This is simply a case of repeat broadcast - 

the use of media channels for influence 

operations towards foreign policy goal through 

a preceedence. In the past, there had been 

similar reports orchestrated by some interests 

which nevertheless featured prominently on 

front pages of national dailies. One such was 

the front pages of the Vanguard and other 

ewspapers in May 2014 which claimed that 

the “US Marines Located Abducted Chibok 

Girls and arrested Boko Haram 

Commanders,” with pictures that later turned 

out to be false. 

Continues online:www.vanguardngr..com 

•Dahiru, a social commentator, wrotefrom 

Abuja via mdlawal001@gmail.com 

C 

M 

Y 

K


FLOODING is a natural occurrence. 

In civilised parts of the world, one of 

the jobs of government is to evolve 

systems of taming routine and 

predictable flooding to keep the people 

safe. 

When routine flooding keeps 

occurring year after year, it means that 

government is not living up to its duty. 

That is the situation that Nigerians indescribable suffering. Many spend 

living along the pathways of our major between seven and 10 days on the road 

rivers, lakes and other flood-prone from Kogi State to Abuja and other 

water bodies, suffer every year. parts of the North. 

States and communities inhabiting the The flooding has claimed the lives of 

Niger and Benue troughs and the Niger 76 people in Anambra. Homes are 

Delta area experience avoidable overtaken by floods in Niger, Kogi, 

flooding due to the failure of Adamawa, Benue, Anambra, Rivers and 

government. 

Bayelsa states. 

This year’s episode has been so Nigerians have been hit by the double 

pathetic. Nigeria’s Confluence Town, tragedies of losing their homes and 

Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, is under farmlands. When the flood recedes, 

water. Transportation between North these victims will be left to start life all 

and South through the state is disrupted over again until the next flood comes. 

because the federal highways are under The primary purpose of government 

water. 

is to provide the people with adequate 

Commuters are going through welfare and security. When will 

Caring for flood victims 

government wake to its responsibilities? 

When will the authorities begin to fulfill 

their own side of the social contract? 

It is the duty of government to 

channelise river pathways, routinely 

dredge them to allow more water travel 

within its natural bed, provide 

embankments, dykes and platforms to 

guard against overflow into human 

settlements, and harness the resources 

of these waterbodies for the people’s 

benefits. 

It is government’s duty to turn these 

river resources from pain to gain. 

Additionally, it is the job of 

government to provide temporary 

shelters for the people when the floods 

are imminent. Government should not 

only be engaged in the Nigerian 

Metrology Agency, NIMET’s, routine 

warnings about the oncoming floods. 

Governments are fond of warning 

people to “relocate to higher grounds”. 

In truth, majority of the people have 

nowhere to go. 

We have for years called for the 

collaboration of the federal and state 

governments along with public spirited 

capable individuals to build permanent 

shelters in all the flood-prone parts of 

the country where people can go and 

be safe until disaster situations return 

to normalcy. 

Hapless Nigerians who are 

increasingly exposed to insecurity 

arising from armed attacks and 

flooding need to have a place to go and 

be safe and catered for until they can 

safely return home. 

It is irresponsible and inhuman to 

abandon the same people that vote 

politicians into power when they need 

government help. 

OPINION 

Federal Government, apathy and flood in Niger Delta 

ByBRAEYI EKIYE 

UNDERSTANDING how to use 

political power constructively makes 

a difference in leadership. Therefore, 

political power and the use of it can be 

broken into the negative and the positive. 

Such use of positive political power, imbued 

with the desire to evoke regulatory 

command in the process of giving 

leadership, is capable of galvanising a 

people to achieve set goals. Furthermore, 

such use of power has the kinetic energy of 

firing previously frustrated and helpless 

people during times of harrowing 

challenges, such as the recent flood in parts 

of Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta, 

including the oil and gas rich Bayelsa State. 

I doubt if any Nigerian leader led from 

the front in this regard as the governor of 

Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri did when 

the flood came rushing into the state like a 

thief, consuming properties, destabilising 

human traffic, and causing dislocations of 

unimaginable proportion. Bayelsa State 

was cut off completely from her 

neighbouring states to the east and to the 

west. Citizens were displaced, even as most 

of the state’s population in the eight local 

government areas were suddenly displaced 

and became internally displaced persons 

(IDP). Thank God, Governor Douye Diri 

stood doggedly and, imbued with the desire 

for social justice, faced the odds of the floods 

by traversing the nooks and crannies of the 

state, in spite of the overwhelming and 

raging floods. Bayelsans and the 

international community witnessed the 

governor and his aides walking and 

swimming through the flood-ravaged 

environment.At some point, he had to resort 

to the use of canoes in his on-the-spot 

assessment of the flood situation in the state. 

It was a devastation that history would 

never forget in the region's centuries-old 

flood experience.This is not to mention the 

loss of valuable lives, farmlands, and 

properties, the dislocation of communities, 

and the closure of schools due to the flood. 

The flood has yet to recede enough for 

normal life to resume across the eight local 

governments in the state. Yet, Sadiya Umar 

Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, 

Disaster Management, and Social 

Development, glibly made very offensive 

and provoking comments on the flood 

situation in Bayelsa State. Madam Farouq, 

who was in the heart of the floods, said that 

Bayelsa State was not among the top ten 

most affected states by the 2022 flood that 

is still ravaging some of the states in the 

country, including Bayelsa State. Indeed, 

Minister Farouq dared the tiger’s tail, and 

she got the expected barrage of reactions in 

the form of strong criticisms against her 

unguarded and provocative utterances in 

her assessment of the flood situation in 

Bayelsa State, nay, in states across the Niger 

Delta region. 

Top among these reactions were those 

from the Bayelsa State Government, Niger 

Delta members of the House of 

Representatives, the Bayelsa State Elders 

Forum, members of the State Traditional 

Rulers Council, and the Ijaw National 

Congress, INC. All of these institutions 

condemned the minister in very strong terms 

for her unthoughtful comments and called 

on the Federal Government and ministries 

saddled with the responsibility of 

responding to national emergencies of the 

magnitude of this year’s flood, to rise to their 

calling by promptly responding to what they 

described, as a national emergency. In fact, 

the INC president, Professor Benjamin 

Okaba, described Minister Farouq as a 

disaster instead of a disaster manager. The 

Bayelsa State Government's statement was 

followed by a breakdown of flood displaced 

persons, those affected and injured, the 

number of deaths, partially damaged 

houses, farmlands, and schools in each of 

the state's eight local government 

areas.From the data prepared and published 

by the Bayelsa State Emergency 

Management Agency (BYSEMA), the total 

number of flood affected persons in the state 

was recorded as three hundred and twenty 

seven thousand, eight hundred and sixteen 

(327,816), while the number of displaced 

persons was put at one million, two hundred 

and ten thousand, one hundred and eighty 

three (1, 210, 183). 

Bayelsans and the 

international community 

witnessed the governor and his 

aides walking and swimming 

through the flood-ravaged 

environment 

The number of injured was recorded 382, 

while the number of deaths was 96. The 

number of houses totally damaged was 864, 

while houses partially damaged had a score 

of 3205. Farmlands totally damaged 

11,412, while schools partially and totally 

destroyed were recorded as 95 and 62 

respectively. Alagoa A. Morris, a frontline 

environmentalist, has also condemned 

Minister Farouq’s unguarded statement 

concerning the flood that has badly ravaged 

the state. He swiped: "Her bombshell should 

be condemned, and condemned it should 

be." Alagoa, on the other hand, said it was 

unfortunate that the Bayelsa State 



Government had done nothing substantial to 

be applauded in terms of flood and erosion 

control in the state since its inception. He 

regretted that a committee formed by 

former Governor Seriake Dickson 

Restoration Administration on January 16, 

2012, at the Chevron KS Endeavor Apooi 

facility to address this threat was still in the 

works. 

Alagoa disapproved of the Federal and 

State Government’s statistics collated on the 

ravaging flood in some parts of the country, 

including Bayelsa State, He said the 

statistics were horribly dished out, and 

therefore cannot be accurate or accepted 

for any reason for now, for, as he puts it: 

"Because every aspect of the impact needs 

to be taken into consideration if justice 

should be done on the subject matter. Neither 

states nor the federal government can give 

accurate data on losses as per public, 

corporate, and individual losses at this point 

in time.".He therefore said, "Anything 

cooked up now is a mere estimate, at best, 

or politically laced with the Nigerian factor. 

It is worth noting that Minister Farouq's 

offensive, and insensitive statement laced 

with impunity ignored the fact that Nigeria's 

petro-dollar spinner, the Gbarain-Ubie Gas 

Gathering Plant in Bayelsa State, with one 

billion standard cubic feet of gas and up to 

7,000 barrels of oil per day and the largest 

in West Africa, was severely damaged by the 

floods. 

This therefore, necessitated the shutting 

down of the Nigerian Natural Gas Plant's 

(NLNG) at Bony Island. Apart from this 

expensive national asset under the scourge 

of the flood, Bayelsa’s only link road, the 

east-west road, has been cut off both from 

the western and eastern flanks. 

Continues online:www.vanguardngr.com 

* Ekiye, publisher of EnvironmentWatch, 

wrote from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Towards the Federal Republic 

of Illiteracy 

EDUCATION 

Minister, 

Adamu Adamu, after 

presiding over the N5.6 trillion 

Education Budget in the last seven 

years and the N1.3 trillion 

intervention fund in four years, 

announced he has failed. It is not 

that as Education Minister, he has 

failed to preside over spending 

about N7 trillion in seven years, but, 

has failed to deliver on basic 

programmes and promises. 

However, like other smart alecs, he 

exonerates himself. He, rather, 

blames the state governors for his 

manifest failure. Adamu said the 

main policy of the Buhari 

education programme was to pull: 

“children out of the street back to 

the school, but evidently, the actions 

of the state governments are 

pushing the children back to the 

streets.” 

Adamu’s tale is that in 2016, he 

wrote a Ministerial Strategic Plan 

which he took to the Federal 

Executive Council requesting that 

a State-Of-Emergency in 

Education be declared especially 

at the lower level. He continued his 

story: “A decision couldn’t be taken 

on this because the issue of 

emergency in education at the level 

of primary school is a State 

Government responsibility. So, I 

was directed by the President to 

turn that into a memo for the 

National Economic Council which 

I did with the thinking that if the 

Council bought into it and the 

members are State Governors, it 

means it would just become a 

nationwide thing.”Let us assume, 

without conceding that this Adamu 

story of state governors truncating 

the education programme is true, 

how does this explain the case of 

the Federal Capital Territory, FCT 

controlled entirely by the Federal 

Government where the population 

of the out-of-school children under 

Adamu has dramatically 

increased? The Executive power 

over the FCT in line with Section 

302 of the constitution is vested in 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

who exercises it through the FCT 

Minister. So, if Adamu could not 

cut or eliminate the number of outof-school 

children across the 

country because the state 

governors allegedly obstructed 

him, what about the FCT where 

the President is Governor? 

Perhaps if Adamu and the 

government he serves had tackled 

this problem in the FCT, they could 

have held it up as a shiny example. 

But tragically, as the number of 

these hapless children, according 

A red tsunami that never was 

BY NICK DAZANG 

THE mid-term elections in the 

United States are usually 

conducted two years into the tenure of 

a president. They are often viewed as 

a referendum on the performance of a 

sitting president. Historically, most 

presidents come out of them bruised. 

The Tuesday, November 8th Mid-term 

elections were inevitably defined by 

four major issues, namely: inflation, 

abortion, crime and climate change. 

Not since the 1970s, when Jimmy 

Carter held sway as President, has 

America witnessed inflation crossing 

the seven percent threshold. 

Though inflation was engendered 

chiefly by the Russia-Ukraine war and 

other complications arising from 

supply chain that came hot on the 

heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, it 

impacted negatively on the cost of 

living. The upturning of the Roe Vs 

Wade legislation, by a conservative 

dominated Supreme Court, has miffed 

not a few Americans and abortion rights 

activists. Additionally, the buffeting of 

America by a series of hurricanes and 

tornadoes, leaving in their trails death 

and destruction, has put climate 

change in the front burner. 

The mid-term elections were 

heralded with the hype and hoopla that 

characterise presidential elections. 

President Joe Biden and former 

presidents Barack Obama and Donald 

Trump campaigned for candidates 

across the Democratic and Republican 

aisle. The campaign was exciting, with 

Biden and Trump on the hustings, 

prompting experts to suggest that it 

to the United Nations Children 

Fund, UNICEF swelled from 10.1 

million in 2021 to 18.5 million this 

year, the FCT and ten other states 

are responsible for this huge leap 

into illiteracy. Unlike the 

Jonathan era, children today, in 

their thousands roam the streets of 

the FCT during school hours. This 

is a common sight in the satellite 

towns of the FCT. So, it is not 

entirely true that it is the state 

governors that have stalled the 

fight to drastically reduce the 

number of out-of-school children, 

rather, the main problem is the 

Buhari administration and its 

grossly incapable Education 

Minister who is ‘full of sound and 

fury, signifying nothing.’ 

I can further demonstrate the 

validity of this assertion by 

We need to urgently 

check the increasing 

number of out-of-school 

children, otherwise 

Nigeria would be 

marching towards a 

Federal Republic of 

Illiteracy 

was a preview for the 2024 presidential 

election. 

Former President Trump deployed 

his huge war chest to support 

candidates of his ilk who denied the 

integrity of the 2020 presidential 

election. He and his cohorts proceeded 

to tout a massive red wave or a 

Republican tsunami at the end of the 

elections. The rhetoric leading up to 

the mid-term elections was so violent 

that Katy Kay, the BBC Correspondent 

and a veteran of several American 

elections, described it as “unnerving”. 

As a matter of fact, prior to the 

elections, the spouse of House 

Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, was assaulted. 

Four hundred and thirty five (435) 

seats of the House of Representatives 

were up for grabs. So were 35 out of 

the 100 for the Senate and 36 

governorships. 

At the time of writing this piece, the 

elections were notably peaceful, 

assuaging the anxiety of those who 

feared for the worst. And rather than 

result in a tsunami of Republican wins, 

the Republicans took the House with 

a slim margin. Even though results of 

one or two Senate seats such as 

Georgia’s are being awaited, the 

outcome for the Senate remained 

stalemated and a dead heat. 

Overall, the outcome of the mid-term 

elections threw up a number of firsts. 

They were also interesting and 

revealing. For the first time, a 

Blackman, Wes Moore, emerged as 

governor of Maryland. For the first 

time a woman, Sarah Sanders 

Huckabee, former spokesperson for 

Donald Trump, became governor of 

presenting another aspect of this 

issue which is entirely under the 

purview of this government and 

Minister Adamu. The 18.5 million 

out-of-school children in Nigeria 

today, include 3.5 million children 

from nomadic background. The 

Jonathan administration set out 

deliberately to eliminate this 

phenomenon by heavily investing 

human and material resources. 

It built over 165 special schools 

specifically for the children of 

nomads. Some of these integrated 

schools, had integrated language 

laboratories and health clinics, 

free hostels and feeding. But with 


the advent of the Buhari 

administration and Adamu as 

Education Minister, almost all 

these schools were shut-down and 

the pupils pushed back to the 

streets to populate the out-ofschool 

children. 

Today, due to the inability of the 

government to protect our towns 

and villages, many of our people 

in the North have been forced out 

of their homes and with their 

children, have found refuge in the 

various Internally Displaced 

Persons, IDP camps in the FCT. 

These children are mainly out of 

school. What has stopped Minister 

Adamu and the Education 

Ministry under him ensuring that 

all the children in the IDP camps 

are in school being provided free 

education including books, 

uniforms and meals? Or are the 

state governors also responsible 

for this abandonment of the 

hapless and helpless? 

When we move to tertiary 

education under Adamu’s 

ministerial suzerainty, we are 

confronted with failure on an 

unimaginable scale. The fact that 

public universities were shut-down 

for eight months this year partly 

due to Adamu’s insensitivity, 

inability to comprehend basic 

issues and grandstanding, is an 

undeniable testimony to the 

monumental failure he has turned 

out to be. So monumental that 

even those of us with the same DNA 

as Adamu in journalism and 

column writing, could not stake 

our reputation to put in a word for 

him. In a sense, his admission of 

failure after seven years as 

minister, and given the fact that he 

has less than seven months to 

climb down from his ministerial 

mountain top, is a strategy to 

smoothen his return to earth. His 

self-confessed failure is not an 

honest assessment or admission; 

Arkansas. And for the first time a 

lesbian gay, Maura Healey became 

governor. Eight Nigerian-Americans 

won seats. 

Perhaps the fellow who got the most 

bruised in these elections is Donald 

Trump. He did not only insert himself 

as a juggernaut and presumptive 

presidential candidate for the 

Republican Party, he promoted the 

myth of an impending red wave. At 

the end of the day, the myth was 

exploded. His array of celebrity and 

If Donald Trump was 

subdued by the mid-term 

elections, which he had 

hoped to latch onto to 

announce his presidential 

bid, President Biden was 

buoyed by their outcome 

prominent candidates for the two 

houses were trounced. Consider the 

abridged catalogue: For the Senate 

alone, the sleek television medical 

doctor, Mehmet Oz, was defeated by 

John Fetterman in Pennsylvania; Don 

Bolduc was defeated by Senator 

Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire; 

Leora Levy was defeated by Richard 

Blumenthal in Connecticut; and 

Gerald Malloy was defeated by Peter 

Welch in Vermont. 

As if that were not bad enough for 

Trump, the margin of win for the 

Republicans in the House is far from 

the “wave” he predicted. Worse, Ron 

de Santis, the Florida governor, being 

considered as his replacement by more 

sedate members of the Republican 



if it were, he would not blame others 

for his failures. A principled man 

would have made an honest 

admission, apologised for the 

millions of souls his failure has 

affected, and bowed out. But since 

it is a poorly scripted drama piece, 

he declares he is a failure but sits 

in the same Ministry in his 

ministerial toga, enjoying the 

perquisites of office and adding to 

his unenviable records as 

Education minister. 

At the weekend, the differences 

in the education standards 

between Britain and Nigeria were 

evident in the meeting of two men 

who are products of the same 

British education system. 

President Buhari, 79 who since 

becoming Nigerian President in 

May 2015, has cumulatively spent 

over seven months residing in 

Britain for medicals, visited 73- 

year old King Charles III. During 

the visit, the latter jocularly asked 

Buhari whether he has a house in 

Britain. The satire was lost on the 

latter who thought the King meant 

a physical structure. Buhari 

himself recounts the encounter: 

“He (King Charles III) asked me 

whether I have a house here (in the 

UK), I said no. I live in Nigeria 

alone, the only house(s) I have are 

those I have (sic) before I got into 

government and I am not very 

much interested in having houses 

all over the place. I feel much freer 

when I have nothing.” 

If Charles, as the sovereign head 

of Britain wants to know if Buhari 

has a physical house in the 

country, he does not need to ask 

him, all he needs is request the 

British government for such 

information. We need to urgently 

check the increasing number of 

out-of-school children, otherwise 

Nigeria would be marching 

towards a Federal Republic of 

Illiteracy. 

Party, won re-election by a landslide. 

It is a measure of the likely shift 

towards de Santis that the New York 

Post, one of Rupert Murdoch’s 

newspapers, proclaimed him as “the 

future”. Apart from the re-election 

elevating de Santis’s profile, his 

powerful, Kennedy-like acceptance 

speech was a clear play for the 

presidency. In fact experts are 

predicting that his formidable win will 

generate a “huge internal civil war” 

in the Republican Party against Trump. 

If Donald Trump was subdued by the 

mid-term elections, which he had 

hoped to latch onto to announce his 

presidential bid, President Biden was 

buoyed by their outcome. The tsunami 

the Democrats feared didn’t happen. 

Even Senator Lindsey Graham of 

South Carolina, and a notable Trump 

ally, acknowledged:“definitely not a 

Republican wave, that’s for darn sure”. 

President Biden, who had argued 

before the elections that “democracy 

itself was on the table”, proclaimed the 

outcome as “a good day for 

democracy”. 

He said that the voters had spoken 

clearly about their concerns and that 

he was ready to work with 

Republicans. For good measure, Biden 

who was previously coy about running 

in 2024, said confidently that he would. 

The mid-term elections, their 

peaceful conduct and their emphasis 

on issues, confirm America as a bastion 

of liberal democracy and the “Shinning 

City on a Hill”. These attributes and 

values should commend themselves to 

us in Nigeria as we conduct the 2023 

General Elections. 

*Dazang, a public affairs analyst, wrote via: 

nickdazang@gmail.com


Eko NAFEST 2022: Lagos 

emerges overall winner 

Stories by Osa 

Mbonu-Amadi, 

Arts Editor 

LAGOS State has emerged 

the overall winner at the 

2022 National Festival of Arts 

& Culture, which began last 

Monday November 7 and ended 

November 13, 2022. 

Lagos clinched the first position 

for the competitive events, 

beating Bayelsa and Rivers 

states to second place while 

Ekiti came third. 

In his closing speech, Governor 

of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, 

represented by his 

deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, said 

the events of Eko NAFEST 2022 

are lessons in the art of peaceful 

co-existence in a multi-cultural 

and diverse society like 

Nigeria: “We all have demonstrated 

what it means to co-exist 

peacefully in our various 

interactions through the different 

games and other cultural 

activities that took place over 

the past few days at the National 

Institute of Sports building 

at the National Stadium, 

Surulere.” 

The Governor said winning 

in the competitive events 

should not be the main emphasis, 

but the unity the games and 

cultural products have instilled 

into participants: “It is instructive 

to note that although winners 

have emerged in the various 

categories of the competitions, 

the emphasis is not on 

who won or otherwise; what is 

of uttermost importance is that 

these games and cultural competitions 

have united all the 

participants as one which to 

me, is the spirit of this national 

festival.” 

Governor Sanwo-Olu also observed 

that “apart from the platform 

for cultural exchange 

which this festival provides, a 

lot of businesses, hospitality 

outlets, transportation, among 

others have felt the impact of 

the huge contingents that gathered 

here in Lagos for this Eko 

Nafest 2022.” 

The highest point of the governor’s 

speech, however, came 

when he took time to re-enact 

the exclusive human interest 

story which Vanguard Newspaper 

pulled out from the middle 

of the Eko NAFEST and 

published while the festival 

was still ongoing: “I must not 

forget to mention one of the 

very gratifying and interesting 

moments of this event when 

the children participants paid 

a visit to my wife, our Mama 

NAFEST, where I met Precious 

Olabanjo, an SSS 2 student 

with Model Secondary School, 

Alagbaka, Akure, Ondo State. 

“Her touching story of how 

she got selected for the essay 

writing competition alongside 

her colleague as reported in the 

Vanguard Newspaper some 

days ago, shows that this NAF- 

EST platform, apart from integrating 

different culture, is also 

a nurturing ground for the 

younger generation. 

“The most striking part of her 

story was her determination 

and conviction that she would 

make her school and Ondo 

State proud by going back 

home with good reports and 

Otunba Segun Runsewe (left), announcing winners at Eko NAFEST; from right, Mrs. Tonye Briggs-Oniyide, 

Rivers State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism; Prof. Rasak Ojo Bakare, Ekiti State commissioner for Arts 

& Culture and others. 

laurels. “Precious was not 

alone. Some other children participants 

shared almost similar 

stories about their expectations 

for attending this event, and I 

am very pleased that the expectations 

of these children 

were not dashed as some of 

them are now proud owners of 

Laptops, (computer)Tablets and 

other gift items courtesy of our 

Mama NAFEST. 

“I must commend the concept 

of carrying these school children 

along in this cultural 

event. This is the best way we 

can sustain, protect and preserve 

our culture for posterity. 

“The main organizer of this 

annual event, which is the National 

Council for Arts and Culture, 

should continue to engage 

more children in this competition, 

introduce them to our 

cultural heritage and sustain 

the children corner of this competition 

so that more talents can 

be discovered and groomed. 

“It is my belief that if we take 

deliberate steps to put these 

youths on the right path 

through positive orientation 

and meaningful engagements, 

the rate of youth-related crime 

and violence will gradually reduce 

and the whole society will 

be better for it. 

The governor reteirated the 

need to use NAFEST to harness 

our differences: “One of 

the lessons from this year’s 

NAFEST is that if we pay 

enough attention to harnessing 

the differences in our culture, 

it can assist in building consensus 

and bond of friendship towards 

genuine reconciliation 

that will promote the much 

needed unity, reduce tension 

and tribal conflicts in the country. 

“While it is almost impossible 

not to have our differences, 

considering the multiplicity of 

our culture and languages as 

Nigerians, we must always follow 

the path of dialogue and 

other non-violent approach in 

resolving potential issues ca- 

The student 

who wept @ 

Eko NAFEST 

To have the rare opportunity of 

attending NAFEST, Nigeria’s 

annual iconic arts and culture festival, 

is usually a thing of joy for everyone. It 

was therefore strange for Vanguard 

Newspaper to find OlabanjoInioluwa 

Precious, an SSS 2 student at Model 

Secondary School, Alagbaka, Akure, 

Ondo State, weeping. Vanguard 

spoke to the weeping student, and this 

is her story: 

“A letter was sent to the principal of 

my school to present candidates for 

essay competition at Eko NAFEST 

2022. So, we were taken to the 

Ministry of Arts and Culture in Ondo 

State to write qualifying essays. After 

the evaluation, I was picked as the 

second person to represent Ondo 

State. The person who came first was 

OgeneFejiro from another school. 

“When I got home, I went online to 

search for everything about NAFEST. 

I got to know that it is the 35th edition, 

being hosted this year by Lagos State, 

and there are different activities 

scheduled for the festival like essay 

writing competition, Ayo traditional 

board game, children’s music 

competition, fashion, drama 

competitions, free skills acquisition, 

etc.” 

Precious told Vanguard that she and 

Fejiro “were groomed for two 

Saturdays to come to Lagos to 

represent Ondo State at Eko 

NAFEST 2022 essay writing 

competition.” The title of the essay 

was “Arts, Culture & Tourism as Tools 

for Peaceful Co-existence in Nigeria”. 

About 30 (expectedly well-known 

brilliant) students wrote the essay in 

Ondo, and Precious and Fejiro were 

selected to come to Lagos. 

•Olabanjo Precious 

Theme, curat 

ator for ArtMiabo Festiv 

tival 2023 

After two successful editions, 

ArtMiabo International Art 

Festival (AMIAF) announces its third 

edition, in Lagos.Chief Executive Officer 

and founder of AMIAF, MiaboEnyadike, 

disclosedduring the 3rd 

edition preview that the success of the 

2022 event, which featured artists from 

Africa and Europe has encouraged 

her team to go ahead with the next 

event. Held at Ebonylife Centre, Victoria 

Island, Lagos, the 2022 edition 

themed “Remake the World” featured 

24 artists from Africa and Europe, with 

gallery representation from France 

and South Africa. 

Noting that the last two editions 

have been of tremendous experience, 

Enyadike said the dynamics of the 

culture environment in general cannot 

be left out of visual arts. The theme 

of AMIAF 2023, she explained, is appropriating 

Afrobeats, which is Nigeria’s 

big cultural export to the world. 

“The theme is Art in Afrobeats, appropriating 

the Popular music genre 

from Nigeria that’s making wave not 

just across Africa, but outside the continent,” 

Enyadike stated. “The Afrobeats 

genre being streets generated 

has its colours of which exist abundantly 

in fine art and this much is exactly 

what the contents will be reflecting 

at AMIAF 2023.” 

Holding on 27 April-May 1, 2023, 

including a workshop on the theme 

of the art festival, the yearly AMIAF 

features 24 artists from different parts 

of the world as well as others inspired 

pable of igniting violence. 

“I plead with all participants 

at this event to continue to imbibe 

the good virtues learnt 

through the platform of this 

year’s NAFEST and also share 

these good lessons with your 

kinsmen in your respective 

States.” 

by Afrobeats, Enyadike said. “We are 

hoping to exhibit Art that has Afrobeats 

feel; something that radiates 

street expressions and reflects the vibrance 

of the Afrobeats music genre.” 

Managing the creative contents of 

AMIAF 2023 has been put on the 

shoulders of Yusuf Durodola, a performance 

and video artist. Announcing 

Durodola as the curator of AMI- 

AF 2023, Enyadike said she was convinced 

that “he is the right choice,” to 

do creative justice to the presentation 

of the event. Apart from Durodola’s 

MiaboEnyadike, Founder/CEO, 

ArtMiabo International Art 

Festival. 

experience as an artist who has made 

input at different levels into quite a 

number of exhibitions, the curator 

also exhibited in the last edition of 

AMIAF. 

“It’s a privilege for me to be the curator, 

particularly being an artist and 

knowing that the show is all about 

fine art,” Durodola enthused. While 

noting that the contents of AMIAF 

2023 is fine art, he agreed that “yes 

music is the influencer.” 

Durodola recalled how the history 

of art movements influenced quite a 

number of other cultures, and argued 

that “Afrobeats can be seen through 

fashion, art, among others,” noting 

that people relate to Afrobeats in visual 

rendition too. “For example, we 

have metal works being painted in 

vibrant colours, so representing Afrobeats.” 

The curator explained that the real 

musical contents for AMIAF 2023 

will be different and not interfering 

with art as seen in some art events in 

Lagos, recently. He however assured 

that “there is going to be a tour of the 

Fela Shrine in Ikeja” by artists and 

visitors to AMIAF. 

In expanding the scope of AMIAF 

to consolidate on the patronage of the 

last two editions, quite an effort is ongoing 

from the festival’s marketing 

desk. Heading the marketing unit is 

Uche Agu, whose focus is to improve 

on the volume of patronage and quality 

of visitors to the event.

Losses in blue chip stocks reverse gains in equities 

By Peter Egwuatu 

The bounce back recorded in 

the stock market last week has 

been reversed following 

massive selloffs and losses in blue 

chip companies including, Airtel 

Africa, Dangote Cement and MTN 

Nigeria. 

The development significantly 

impacted the major market indices, 

with the Nigerian Exchange 

Limited, NGX All Share Index, ASI 

dropping 0.68 per cent Week-on- 

Week, WoW, to close at 43,968.75 

points from 44,269.18 points 

penultimate week. 

As a result, the ASI’s Year-to-Date 

(YtD) return fell to 2.93%, while 

another major indicator, the 

market capitalization, lost N161.54 

billion WoW to close at N23.95 

trillion against N24.112 trillion 

recorded penultimate week. 

Analysts have explained that the 

bearish run on the stock market in 

the past three months was driven by 

Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, rate 

hikes and others factors like 2023 

general election, insecurity and 

Foreign Exchange market 

instability. 

Analysis of the market last week 

showed that Airtel Africa lost 0.39% 

WoW, Dangote Cement (0.62%) and 

MTN Nigeria (2.04%) to keep the 

market in the red, eroding gains in 

First Bank Nigeria Holdings 

which moved up by 3.54%, Access 

Corporation (1.26%), and Geregu 

8.50%. 

Commenting, analysts at 

InvestData Consulting, stated : “We 

expect mixed sentiments to continue 

on portfolio repositioning and 

bargain hunting in the midst of 

expected macroeconomic data and 

election uncertainty, as investors are 

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 —21 

taking advantage of the low prices 

to reposition ahead Q3 GDP report 

and year end seasonality. 

“The next outcome of Monetary 

Policy Committee, MPC meeting 

could trigger the news-based market 

movements.” 

Commenting as well, analysts at 

Cowry Asset Research said, “Going 

into the new week, we expect the 

market to trade in the bullish region 

despite the absence of a major trigger 

that is likely to drive activities in the 

market for investors seeking alpha. 

However, we continue to advise 

investors to trade on companies’ 

stocks with sound fundamentals 

and a positive outlook amid the 

macro-dynamics which remains 

a headwind.” 

Another investment house, 

Cordros Capital, while projecting 

on the market outlook for the 

week, stated: “We expect economic 

growth to remain pressured in the 

short-to-medium term, given the 

troika effects of (1) tight monetary 

conditions, (2) a fall in real 

household incomes, and (3) supply 

constraints exacerbated by the 

Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

Accordingly, the economy is on 

course for its fastest return to 

recession since the mid-1970s.” 

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 

Banks’ consumer loans decline 17% 

as CBN tightens money supply 

•Interest rates trending higher 

•Customers are now resisting loans —Bankers 

By Babajide Komolafe 

For the first time in 

three years, banks 

reduced consumer 

loans by 17 per cent (N400 

billion), in one month, 

following a decline in 

money supply triggered by 

the inflation-fighting 

measures of the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN. 

Consumer loans are 

lendings by banks to one 

or more individuals for 

household, family, or other 

personal expenditures. 

Consumer loans have 

been rising in Nigeria 

since September 2019 

when the CBN introduced 

the minimum loan to 

deposit ratio (LDR) policy 

which stipulates that 

banks must give out 65 

per cent of their total 

deposits as loans. As a 

result, consumer loans 

rose steadily by 93 per cent 

to N2.33 trillion in May 

2022 from N1.21 trillion at 

the end of June 2019. 

However, Financial 

Vanguard findings from 

CBN’s data indicate that 

at the third year 

anniversary of the product 

in June 2022, the volume 

dropped by 17 per cent, 

month-on-month, to 

N1.93 trillion from N2.33 

trillion in May 2022. 

Analysis of the data 

further showed that during 

the month, banks slashed 

personal loans to 

customers by 19 per cent, 

MoM to N1.45 trillion 

from N1.79 trillion in May. 

The banks also slashed 

retail loans by 13 per cent, 

MoM to N483 billion from 

N554.8 billion. 

As a result of this 

development, Consumer 

loans recorded the first 

quarterly decline in the 

second quarter of 2022. 

According to the data 

Consumer loans fell in 

Q2’22 by 15.2 per cent, 

quarter-on-quarter, QoQ, 

to N1.93 trillion from 

N2.28 trillion in the first 

quarter of the year, 

Q1’22. 

Following the same trend, 

the share of consumer 

credit in total private sector 

credit shrank by 2.1 

percentage points to 7.2 

per cent, from 9.4 per cent 

in Q1’22. 

The decline in consumer 

loans in June was 

triggered by the decision of 

the CBN’s Monetary Policy 

Committee, MPC, on May 

24th 2022 to tighten 

money supply in a bid to 

curb the continued 

increase in the prices of 

goods and services which 

triggered a persistent rise 

in the inflation rate. 

Hence, the MPC on May 

24th raised the Monetary 

Policy Rate, MPR, which is 

the benchmark for interest 

rates in the country, by 150 

basis points to 13 per cent 

from 11 per cent. 

Since then the CBN has 

further raised the MPR by 

250 basis points to 15.5 per 

cent while it also tightened 

money supply by raising 

the Cash Reserve Ratio, 

CRR of banks to 32.5 per 

cent from 27.5 per cent, 

following continued rise in 

the inflation rate which rose 

to 20.77 per cent in 

September. 

Interest rates on the 

rise 

Consequently, banks 

raised lending rates, and 

the average prime lending 

rate rose by 370 basis 

points to 12.23 per cent in 

September from 11.96 per 

cent in May. Similarly, 

average maximum lending 

rate rose by 270 basis 

points to 28.06 per cent in 

September from 27.79 per 

cent in May. 

Confirming this 

development, a top 

management staff of a 

Tier-1 bank pleading 

anonymity, told Financial 

Vanguard that the interest 

rate charged by his bank 

on consumer loans was 

increased from 18 per cent 

prior to the MPR hike, to 

20 per cent after the hike. 

He added the bank had 

wanted to increase interest 

rate further to 22 per cent 

but the decision was 

postponed till another 

time. 

However, Financial 

Vanguard findings from 

the money market show 

that many banks have 

raised their lending rates to 

between 21 and 23 percent 

for prime lending, while 

other categories of lending 

are as high as 28 percent. 

The rise in interest rate, 

according to another Tier- 

1 bank branch manager, 

has affected demand for 

consumer loans. Speaking 

on condition of 

anonymity, she said some 

customers just refused to 

take new loans after 

concluding repayment of 

the old ones because they 

considered the interest rate 

prohibitive. 

She added that another 

factor is that banks have 

either stopped approving 

consumer loans or have 

raised interest rates for 

customers in some sectors 

of the economy or some 

companies considered 

not as vibrant as before. 

She said her bank, for 

example, has stopped 

approving loans to staff of 

a 

mobile 

telecommunications 

company because the 

company is considered to 

be struggling financially.


FINANCIAL VANGUARD NEWS 

ICAN lists areas of concern in 

Naira redesign 

By Providence 

Ayanfeoluwa 

AT the backdrop of the 

implementation of the 

Naira redesign by the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the 

Institute of Chartered 

Accountants of Nigeria 

(ICAN) has listed issues such 

as impact on inflation and 

exchange rates, cost of 

designing and printing the 

new currency notes and the 

timing of the policy, as some 

of the issues the apex bank 

should address. 

Speaking after the “Fitness 

Walk” in commemoration of 

the International Accounting 

Day 2022, the 58th President 

of ICAN, Mallam Tijjani Isa, 

Tijani said: “We 

acknowledge the CBN’s 

objectives in its recent 

initiative to redesign the 

Naira, discourage hoarding 

of bank notes by members of 

the public, address the 

worsening shortage of clean 

banknotes and reduce the 

increasing risk and ease of 

counterfeiting. 

“While ICAN would soon 

release its position on this 

policy initiative, it suffices to 

say that the CBN should 

consider the views of the 

various stakeholders and 

ensure that critical issues such 

as the cost of designing and 

printing the new currency 

notes, the timing of the policy, 

the policy’s likely impact on 

inflation and exchange rates 

are satisfactorily addressed. 

“Without doubt, the Naira 

has been in an unprecedented 

pressure against the US 

Dollars. As at date, with 

largely insufficient supply at 

official channels, the Dollar 

to Naira exchange rate hovers 

around N780 to N820 in the 

parallel market. This has 

profound implications on 

inflation, the sourcing of raw 

materials and services as well 

as other productive activities. 

“As a nation, we must find a 

permanent solution to the 

forex crisis if we are to develop 

at the desired pace. 

“As we mark this special 

day, we recognize that 

economies across the world 

are facing one of the most 

trying times in history. The 

challenges are heightened 

with developments such as the 

Russia-Ukraine war, climate 

change, increasing consumer 

prices, contractions in Gross 

Domestic Products, trade 

wars, political tensions, 

among others. 

“At the country level, several 

socio-economic imbalances 

are biting hard on citizens. 

Inflation at the end of the 

third quarter 2022 was 2077 

percent, the highest in 

seventeen years. This is 

amidst declining purchasing 

power of citizens. To 

successfully address the 

problems of inflation, 

Nigeria must adopt both 

short and long-term 

approaches as a solution.” 

FBN UK marks 40th anniversary with 

appreciation to stakeholders 

FBN United Kingdom 

(UK), a subsidiary of 

First Bank Group has celebrated 

its 40th anniversary, 

themed Partnership Beyond 

Borders, with an event 

convened to appreciate the 

patronage and support 

received from key stakeholders 

instrumental to 

establishing it as an important 

gateway to connect 

international markets to the 

finest financial services 

solutions that UK has to offer. 

The event held over the 

weekend was attended by 

customers, members of 

government functionaries 

and the diplomatic community, 

regulators, captains of 

industries in attendance, 

Guests at the event include 

Hon. Justice Olukayode 

Ariwoola GCON, Chief 

Justice of Nigeria; Oba Sen. 

Dr. Moshood Olalekan 

Ishola Balogun, Alliiwo II, 

Olubadan of Ibadan land; 

Ambassador Sarafa Tunji 

Isola, High Commissioner, 

Nigerian High Commission, 

UK; His Highness, 

Muhammadu Sanusi II, 

former Governor, Central 

Bank of Nigeria. 

Other dignitaries that 

graced the occasion include 

Alhaji Umaru Abdul 

Mutallab, Nigerian 

businessman and former 

Chairman of FirstBank; 

Mohammed Indimi OFR, 

Chairman, Oriental Energy 

Resources. 

Delivering his welcome 

address to the dignitaries and 

guests present, Sam Aiyere, 

Chief Executive Officer, FBN 

Bank UK Ltd said “since its 

establishment, our Bank has 

demonstrated an unmatched 

dexterity, serving as a gateway 

connecting international 

markets in Africa, Europe and 

the rest of the world to the 

finest financial services 

solution that the UK has to 

offer. Through its office in the 

UK and the Paris Branch, our 

Bank has continued to 

facilitate international trade 

between Africa and Europe 

while offering top-notch, 

world-class corporate, 

institutional, and private 

banking solutions to our 

esteemed customers. 

“We have recorded 

laudable achievement only 

because you stand solidly with 

us. Therefore, I dedicate the 

success of the past 40 years to 

all our stakeholders. Thank 

you for being the lever 

beneath our thrust”, he also 

added. 

Appreciating the patronage 

and support extended to 

FBNBank UK, Dr. Adesola 

Adeduntan, CEO, FirstBank 

said “today we celebrate 40 

years of unbroken business 

operations in the United 

Kingdom; 40 years of 

supporting and enabling 

dreams; 40 years of resilience 

and relevance; 40 years of 

trust, safety and security; 40 

years of long-term value to all 

stakeholders; and 40 years of 

partnerships beyond borders. 

I believe the future is bright 

for FBN Bank UK. With our 

beautiful outing tonight, our 

Group stands out, once again, 

as one big and happy family 

of many parts.” 

In his speech, Godwin 

Emefiele, Governor, Central 

Bank of Nigeria highlighted 

that “FBNBank UK’s 

established presence in a 

leading global financial 

centre such as London 

ensures that FirstBank Group 

is well positioned to play an 

active role in the promotion 

of Africa as an investment 

destination, attract much 

needed capital to the 

continent and facilitate trade 

with other parts of the world. 

The presence of FirstBank in 

other countries outside 

Nigeria shows that the span 

of its impact is continentwide. 

As you are 

headquartered in the largest 

economy on the continent, 

you have a unique role in also 

facilitating capital flows into 

other African countries and 

assisting their economic 

growth and development.” 

In addition, in his goodwill 

message, President 

Muhammedu Buhari, 

GCFR, President and 

Commander-in-chief, 

Federal Republic of Nigeria 

said “FirstBank has 

profoundly demonstrated a 

high level of nationalism by 

keeping the Nigerian dream 

at the heart of its business 

through constant evolution to 

birth agile financial services 

solution to suit the demands 

of its customers both home 

and abroad. 

Transcorp pledges to meet 

set targets for improved 

earnings 


T ransnational 

Corporation Plc, 

Transcorp, has pledged to 

meet all its set targets in the 

current financial year in order 

to reward its stakeholders. 

The President of Transcorp, 

Owen Omogiaf, speaking at 

the fact behind the figure 

presentation held on the floor 

of the Nigerian Exchange 

Limited, NGX, stated: “The 

Company’s overall strategic 

objective is to fully optimize 

its existing assets to ensure it 

consistently delivers value 

and high returns to 

stakeholders.” 

She added: “Our key 

priority is to achieve set 

targets for the year across the 

various operating segments. 

As a Group, we will remain 

resolute as we execute our 

strategic priorities in 2022. 

Part of the set strategic targets 

is to increase Transcorp Power 

Limited Average Available 

Capacity to 690 MW and 

target 553 MW Generating 

Capacity in 2022.” 

Following the 

administrative handover on 

March 2021, Transcorp 

successfully increased and 

maintained the available 

plant capacity from 48MW 

at the time of takeover to 

188MW with minimum 

CAPEX requirements 

between March 2021 to 

September 2022. 

However, Omogiaf 

disclosed that the ongoing 

gas challenges impacted its 

generation capacity. 

She added that with the 

improvement in installed 

capacity and gas supply, 

Transcorp is looking forward 

to finishing strong in 2022 

and a solid start in 2023. 

Omogiafo explained that 

group would continue to 

surpass industry and targets 

across key performance 

indicators, stressing that the 

2022 strategic target for 

Transcorp Hilton Abuja is 

pegged at 73 per cent, while 

that of Transcorp Hotels 

Calabar at 53 per cent.

“Some act and think later; and they 

think more of excuses than consequences. 

Others think neither before nor 

after.” Professor John Galbraith, 1908- 

EFCC raids BDCs: Completely 

counterproductive 

“EFCC arrests 87 forex dealers in 

Abuja, Lagos”. Report November 

3, W2022 

hen the media reported the 

raid by the Economic and 

Financial Crimes Commission, 

EFCC, on Bureau De Change, 

BDC, outfits in Lagos, Abuja, Kano 

and Portharcourt, among other 

places, it was clear to me that this 

was a clear demonstration of an 

organisation acting first and 

thinking later. The reports 

inadvertently provided three 

reasons why the EFCC invasion 

of legitimate business premises 

was ill-advised and counterproductive. 

It was certainly not the 

Commission’s finest hour. 

First, the raids were conducted 

without search warrants signed by 

courts of law which had 

jurisdiction. That meant that even 

if the EFCC raids had yielded 

evidence of criminal conduct, they 

would have been inadmissible in 

any court. It was obviously totally 

ridiculous to conduct raids which 

would have resulted in no 

convictions. Those arrested might 

have been inconvenienced, but, 

they would laugh in the face of 

EFCC at last. 

Second, only GSM sets of some 

of the traders were seized; no 

money was, wisely, touched. I said 

wisely because if the invading 

officers had carried away different 

currencies, without a search 

warrant, they ran the risk of being 

accused of going away with more 

than they did. Even reporters 

phones were seized; but, they were 

Transport ministry rates self 

high on maritime 

By Godfrey Bivbere 

The Minister of 

Transportation, Mu’azu 

Jaji Sambo, has said that 

President Muhammadu Buhariled 

administration has provided 

safe and secure maritime borders 

to prevent illegal activities on 

Nigeria’s waterways. 

In a statement made available to 

Vanguard, the minister said, “The 

ministry in its versatile and 

intermodal mandate has taken 

charge of the safety and security of 

the nation’s international waters, 

inland waterways, and railway 

corridors in collaboration with a 

wide range of stakeholders. 

“Some of the implemented 


igeria’s vast non-oil economic 

Nresources must be urgently 

leveraged to diversify and expand 

its revenue base, reduce the 

dependence on crude oil for foreign 

exchange earnings, and stimulate 

rapid economic growth, the First 

City Monument Bank (FCMB ) Plc 

has stated. 

Policymakers, financiers, export 

trade experts and value chain 

players agreed on the need for 

diversification during the non-oil 

export trade seminar organised by 

FCMB. 

Fifth in its series, the Seminar 

themed “Refocusing Nigeria’s 

Economic Development Through 

Non-Oil Exports” aimed to 

transform the non-oil sector into the 

primary driver of economic growth. 

In her opening remarks, Mrs 

Yemisi Edun, Managing Director of 

FCMB, identified non-oil export as 

a catalyst for rapid economic 

soon released. It staggers the 

imagination why EFCC officials 

should ever imagine that media 

persons covering their beats were 

committing crimes. 

Third, and this is what made the 

raids 

absolutely 

incomprehensible. The Chairman 

of the EFCC and some top 

government officials were 

attending meetings with the 

leaders of the BDCs in a bid to 

enlist their support in ensuring 

that targeted hoodlums, corrupt 

corporate and public officials, 

corrupt politicians and elected 

officials, drug barons, arms 

dealers, human traffickers etc 

don’t use the BDCs to launder loot 

stashed away in secret places. 

Obviously, commonsense, which 

is the least common element in 

human affairs, would dictate that 

the consultations with BDCs 

should come first; attempts should 

have been made to persuade them 

to be responsible and patriotic 

before pulling the stunt on the 

same day as the meeting. Again, 

nothing proves that the EFCC 

acted first and thought later than 

the fact that there has been no 

excuse for it. 

CONSEQUENCES OF THE 

RAID 

“You can’t bully reality.” 

The announcement of currency 

re-design by the Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN, caught everybody 

by surprise – as it should be given 

several of its laudable objectives. 

Had the Ministry of Finance been 

interventions include the Integrated 

National Security and Waterways 

Protection Infrastructure which is 

the Deep Blue Project. 

“The Deep Blue Project prevents 

illegal activities in Nigeria’s 

Maritime waters, thereby aiding 

By Rosemary Iwunze 

Deputy Managing Director/ 

Chief Operating Officer of 

African Reinsurance 

Corporation, Africa Re, Mr. Ken 

Aghoghovbia has said that though 

Export Trade: FCMB canvasses 

diversification to stimulate economy 

growth. She said it would reduce 

Nigeria’s vulnerability to external 

shocks undermining the economy. 

Mrs Edun affirmed FCMB’s 

commitment to the sector, especially 

opportunities in the African 

Continental Free Trade Area. 

She commended the Central Bank 

and Bankers’ Committee for 

introducing the Road To $200 

billion (RT200), Repatriation 

Rebate Programme, to fast-track the 

diversification of the economy’s 

productive base through export. Mrs 

Edun disclosed that the programme 

increased foreign exchange inflow 

significantly by about $600 million 

in the first half of 2022. 

Also, Mr Ezra Yakusak, CEO of 

the Nigerian Export Promotion 

Council (NEPC), lauded the “Road 

To $200 billion (RT200)”. He said it 

offers ample opportunities for 

operators in export trade to scale 

up. Mr Samuel Oyeyipo, Regional 

Director of the Council, represented 

Mr Yakusak at the Seminar. 

told prior to the announcement, 

you can bet any amount of money 

that all the unpatriotic elements 

mentioned above would have 

been tipped off. The aims would 

have been largely defeated by now. 

Governor Emefiele and his 

colleagues at the CBN are not 

stupid. They are keenly aware 

that hundreds of the fraudulent 

people demolishing the Naira will 

rush to the parallel market and 

bid the rates up. But, they also 

know that there is no way they can 

prevent that negative impact in 

the short term. As I wrote last 

week, you can’t make omelettes 

without breaking eggs; and that 

is frequently a messy business. The 

CBN cannot print dollars to 

please Nigerians. 

Exchange rates must necessarily 

go up because the underlying 

scarcity of dollars has been made 

worse by the formerly dormant 

Naira pool now seeking forex as 

an escape route. The EFCC is 

trying, vainly, to bully reality by 

going on raids. It will not succeed. 

Economic forces can never be 

suppressed by police action. 

Granted, the rates dropped 

temporarily for two days; but, the 

surge upwards has resumed with 

a vengeance. We are now moving 

towards N1000/US$1 by 

December this year. The major 

reasons are not hard to 

understand; despite the efforts 

made by Federal Government 

officials to deny the obvious 

economic disaster facing us as a 

nation. Take two issues. 

RAPIDLY DECLINING CRUDE 

OIL REVENUE 

“Nigeria loses $7bn as oil 

production drops by 73 mb.” 

regional security in the Gulf of 

Guinea and MOWCA 

jurisdictions.” 

He said the support of President 

Buhari helped the transportation 

sector achieve the development of 

inland waterways transportation as 

a viable alternative mode: 

Sambo added that the 

transportation sector has also done 

well on railways infrastructure and 

railway safety and security. 

Limited investment undermines 

growth in agric sector —Africa Re 

agriculture remains a key 

contributor to Nigeria’s Gross 

Domestic Product, GDP, it is 

undermined by limited 

investments. 

Aghoghovbia who stated this 

while giving his opening remarks 

at the Africa Re’s Agriculture 

Insurance Workshop for Nigeria 

in Lagos noted that it is projected 

that the market has the potential 

to generate at least USD 600 

million worth of agriculture 

insurance premium in a year. 

He said: “Agriculture remains a 

key contributor to Nigeria’s GDP, 

and like in many emerging 

economies, accounts for 30% of 

the country’s total economic 

output; providing employment to 

at least 35% of its over 200 million 

population. With sustained 

pressure on food security, arising 

from the increasing population 

and the government’s push to 

diversify the economy, agriculture 

will continue to be a key area of 

focus for many years to come. 

“Sadly, this undertaking is 

undermined by the limited 

investments in the sector, and the 

uncertainties resulting from the 

effects of climate change. 

“In line with our mission to 

support the development of 

African economies including 

Nigeria, Africa Re recognizes the 

significance of the agriculture 

sector in fulfilling the aspirations 

of many farming households.” 


Report, October 31, 2022. 

The report went on to state that 

total crude oil in the first nine 

months dropped by 16.25 percent 

compared to same period last 

year. Bearing in mind that the 

2021 total production fell short of 

the OPEC quota and budget by 

about 30 per cent, it should 

require no rocket science 

intelligence to realise that the FG 

is failing to generate the dollars 

we need. On the contrary, it is 

spending every dollar earned to 

import finished petroleum 

products, and going out to borrow 

to pay for our self-indulgence for 

political reasons. 

The sooner Nigerians get it into 

our heads that the CBN cannot 

print dollars, the better for all of 

us. The CBN can only allocate the 

dollars made available to it by the 

fiscal and budgetary activities of 

the FG and Buhari. 

RAPIDLY INCREASING DEBT 

TO REVENUE RATIO 

“Given the severely constrained 

fiscal space, the budget deficit is 

projected to be N12.41tn in 2023, 

up from N7.35tn in 2022, 

representing 196 per cent of total 

FGN revenue..”. Minister of 

Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, 

August 29, 2022. 

First of all, the Minister was 

wrong. The projected 2022 deficit 

will certainly exceed N7.35tn; and 

more debt will be incurred. 

Second, the FG is already 

planning to request for a 

supplementary budget as an 

amendment to the 2023 budget – 

which is already unrealistic. The 

new estimates will increase the 

2023 deficit significantly; and 

increase the projected debt burden 

correspondingly to more than 196 

AFEX, NG Clearing partner 

on infrastructure for 

commodity derivatives 

By Babajide Komolafe 

AFEX Commodities 

Exchange and NG 

Clearing Limited, a 

central counterparty, have 

signed an agreement to develop 

the infrastructure that facilitates 

trading and central clearing of 

futures contracts for 

commodities such as cocoa, 

paddy rice, maize, and soybean 

in Nigeria. 

Under the agreement signed at 

a ceremony in Lagos yesterday, 

which is a precursor to the 

development of technological 

infrastructure and the 

introduction of commodity 

futures in Nigeria, AFEX’s 

commodity exchange will serve 

as the trading venue while NG 

Clearing will serve as the 

Central Counterparty that 

guarantees the settlement of 

trades. 

Currently, trading 

commodities such as cocoa, 

maize, paddy rice, and others 

are limited to the spot and OTC 

markets. The spot and OTC 

market exposes market 

participants to frequent price 

movements and counterparty 

risk. With the futures market, 

participants can lock in prices 

and positions of various 

commodities ahead of time 

without facing the risk of default 

by a counterparty. 

Beyond helping market 

participants mitigate price risk, 

the commodity futures market 

will deepen the financial system 

per cent of total FG revenue. It is 

doubtful if the Presidents of the 

US, China, South Africa, or the 

Prime Ministers of Britain, 

Canada and Japan can present 

such a ruinous budget and survive 

another month in office. 

No Governor of any Central 

Bank on earth, not even in Banana 

Republics, is confronted with 

Executive and Legislative 

branches of government which are 

so totally irresponsible as we have 

in Nigeria today. The 

repercussions are often similar 

when people find themselves in a 

crashing economy. Those who can 

will migrate to other countries. 

Those who cannot, protect their 

funds as best as they can by 

undertaking investments. Once a 

nation’s currency tends towards 

becoming “tissue paper”, no 

power on earth can stop people 

from dropping it. 

EFCC’S EXERCISE IN 

FUTILITY 

The EFCC assault is akin to a 

group of men who are trying to 

stop a dam from breaking by 

plugging the visible cracks with 

their fingers. The Chairman might 

mean business, but, I can state 

authoritatively that he has merely 

opened another front for massive 

corruption involving his staff – for 

very simple reasons. 

There are numerous sources of 

funds coming into the forex 

market; and not all of them are 

fraudulent or criminal. Nigerians 

and foreigners arriving from 

abroad, or those receiving 

remittances, payments for services 

rendered, gifts etc, seldom deposit 

their funds with banks. The 

Naira4Dollar initiative of the 

CBN failed because it made no 

economic sense to collect N5 for 

each dollar dropped in the bank 

when you could trade the dollar 

on the street and make two to three 

hundred Naira more per dollar. 

The EFCC lacks the manpower to 

track and stop all the 

transactions; particularly when 

they are not illegal. So, why try? 

while acting as a catalyst for the 

continued development of the 

agricultural sector. 

Speaking at the signing 

ceremony yesterday in Lagos, 

Ayodeji Balogun highlighted the 

significance of the agreement in 

light of AFEX’s mission of being 

a reference point for 

commodities in Africa. 

He said, “We share a drive with 

market regulators and other 

players in Nigeria’s capital 

market to deepen the market 

and unlock financing options 

and alternative investment 

classes for players in the 

commodities ecosystem. This 

collaboration with NG Clearing 

is a new leap for the financial 

market in the country that 

further opens opportunities for 

generating shared prosperity 

through the commodity market. 

We believe that this would further 

position the country as a 

preferred capital destination 

with a viable path of effectively 

managing risks in key sectors of 

the economy.” 

Also speaking at the ceremony, 

Mr. Taps Das of NG Clearing 

said, “This partnership with 

AFEX will usher in a new phase 

in the development of Nigeria’s 

financial and agricultural 

sectors. As the central 

counterparty, we bring 

confidence and trust to the 

market as we will be 

guaranteeing the execution of 

the trades through our resilient 

collateral management 

processes.”


Gov Emmanuel announces additional 

new Aircraft to Ibom Air fleet 

By Chioma 

Onuegbu 

UUdom YO—GOVERNOR 

Emmanuel of 

Akwa Ibom State has 

announced plans by his 

administration to add two 

A320 Aircrafts to Ibom Air 

fleet, to bring the number 

in the state owned Airline, 

to nine. 

Emmanuelat the 

thanksgiving service to 

mark the 70th birthday of 

the Managing Director and 

Chief Executive Officer of 

Ibom Air, Captain Mfon 

Udom in Etinan Local 

Government Area of the 

state, thanked God for 

Captain Udom's health at 

70, describing him as a 

source of inspiration, great 

support and a pillar of 

encouragement to many, 

including mobilizing 

towards the construction of 

a befitting building for the 

Qua Iboe Church in 

Surulere, Lagos, and 

facilitation of the birth of 

Ibom Air. 

The governor, who was 

accompanied by his wife, 

noted that the Ibom Air 

boss, has never been found 

wanting in his 

engagements. 

"I want to thank our close 

partner and brother, who 

has also been so passionate 

towards the success of this 

airline, that this week, we 

will be receiving two A320 

aircrafts, so that we can 

prepare for Christmas and 

expect others that will be 

arriving from next year," he 

stated. 

On the celebrant,Captain 

Udom, he said that when 

he got to his 40s, he thought 

life was a new beginning, 

but reaching 70, it has 

afforded him the privilege 

of enjoying the real 

essence of life. 

He thanked Governor 

Udom for giving him the 

opportunity to manage 

Ibom Air, which, 

according to him, has 

NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, 

Phase 3 of Presidential 

Amnesty Programme PAP, 

Godday Smith, aka King of 

Forest, has commended the 

Interim Administrator, General 

Barry Ndiomu (retd), for his 

positive plan for ex-militants and 

the Niger Delta region. 

Smith, an ex-warlord, who 

gave the commendation, 

yesterday in Warri, Delta State, 

also thanked President 

Muhammadu Buhari for 

Ndiomu's appointment to 

oversee the amnesty 

programme. 

He also appreciated Ndiomu 

and Dr. Tam Odogwu for 

resolving the lingering 

leadership tussle within the 

Phase 3 of the amnesty 

programme. 

" y appointment as National 

added much joy and 

vigour to his life in 

retirement. 

Delivering his homily 

on the theme "Praises for 

Meeting our Needs," the 

Superintendency Pastor, 

Reverend Israel Udokpo, 

said that God loves a heart 

of gratitude, stressing that 

it was important that 

people always 

acknowledge the 

Excellency of God's 

power, wonderful works 

and goodness. 

Highpoint of the 

thanksgiving service was 

the cutting of the 70th 

birthday cake. 

PAP chair hails Ndiomu's plan 

for ex-militants, N-Delta region 

Chairman of Phase 3, was a 

unanimous decision by all Phase 

3 stakeholders, including the 

past national chairmen, Gen. 

Julius Joseph and General Tonye 

Bobo, at a meeting in Warri. I am 

now charged with the 

responsibility of overseeing the 

affairs of the Phase 3 

beneficiaries." 

He pledged his willingness to 

work with all members of Phase 

3, to ensure that their desires 

were achieved, promising a good 

working relationship with the 

Presidential Amnesty Office. 

" All members of Phase 3 have 

resolved to work together as a 

single unit under my leadership 

as National Chairman. Also, 

hence forth, as the national 

chairman, I will be carrying out 

my responsibility as the bridge 

between the Phase 3 and 

Presidential Amnesty office." 

Isoko group endorses Timinimi for Delta South 

Senatorial seat him realise his senatorial 

ISOKO CITIZENS People 

Development Association, 

ICPDA, has endorsed George 

Timinimi for Delta South's 

senatorial seat in next year's 

general elections, citing his 

antecedents. 

ICPDA in a statement by its 

Public Relations Officer, Mr. 

Christian Itesa, disclosed it 

arrived at the decision during the 

town hall general meeting held 

at Oleh and promised to 

campaign door-to-door to enable 

ambition on the platform of the 

All Progressive Grand Alliance, 

APGA. 

Itesa also said the ICPDA 

would campaign for Mr. Great 

Ogboru, APGA's governorship 

candidate in the 2023 general 

elections. 

According to Itesa, "After a 

thorough x-ray of all the 

candidates in various political 

parties,we decided to voluntarily 

throw our weight behind 

Timinimi based on his personality 

and antecedent in Delta State 

and at the federal level in the 

administration of former 

President Olusegun Obasanjo. 

"George Timinimi managed 

and carried everyone along while 

in that office at that time. 

Timinimi has the attitude to 

bring the dividends of democracy, 

development in human and 

infrastructural categories to the 

senatorial district with inclusive 

opportunities for Isoko, itsekiri 

and Ijaw ethnic nations 

respectively. 

"So, we are rooting for 

Timinimi," ICPDA added. 

Emergency response: Fire Service chiefs name 

Delta as best in S-South 

By Festus Ahon 

ASABA—THE Association 

of Fire Service Chiefs/ 

Directors in Nigeria, weekend, 

named Delta State as the best 

state in the south-south 

geopolitical region in 

firefighting and emergency 

responses. 

Chairman of the Association, 

Mrs Margaret Adeseye and 

Secretary, Engr Martin Agbili 

in their separate remarks 

during the opening ceremony 

of the annual conference of the 

body in Asaba to review the 

performance of state fire 

departments across the 36 

states of the federation, said 

Delta is number one in the 

South-South region. 

Adeseye who is also the 

Lagos State Fire Service 

Director, explained that the 

essence of the Association was 

to ensure synergy fire 

Directors of the 36 states and 

the FCT for greater efficiency 

in responding to emergencies. 


She said: "Before we 

mention five states in Nigeria 

that are doing well in 


response, Delta State has to 

be named. We must appreciate 

the governor and the state 

(Delta) fire director for the 

good work done and not letting 

us down’’. 

On his part, Agbili who is also 

Anambra State Fire Chief, said; 

‘’when it comes to the southsouth 

geopolitical zone, Delta 

State Fire Service is still the 

Number One. We know the 

state fire services that are doing 

well and the Delta State Fire 

Service is among them’’. 

Declaring the conference 

open, the Delta State 

Commissioner, Bureau for 

Special Duties, Mr Johnbull 

Edema, commended fire 

service officers for the effective 

delivery of their duties, despite 

their challenges. 

While commending the state 

government for its 

interventions from time to 

:@vanguardnews 

time, he said firemen in the 

State have continued to enjoy 

robust welfare packages with 

an upward review of their 

hazard allowance, overtime 

payment and insurance policy. 

Edema, who was represented 

by his Special Assistant, Mr. 

Ben Eburajolo, said two new 

fire stations were also 

established at Ughelli in Ughelli 

North Local Government Area 

and Owa-Oyibo in Ika North 

East Local Government Area to 

provide a conducive work 

environment for the firemen. 

Accprding to him, the state 

government has also intervened 

in the purchase of more fire 

trucks, refurbishment of trucks 

and utility vehicles of the 

command, and the training and 

human capital development of 

firemen. 

In his brief remarks, the Delta 

State Fire Service Director, Mr. 

Eugene Oziwele, said; "I believe 

that the conference will expose 

fire departments in the nation 

to better service delivery in 


response in their areas of 

influence".

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 — 25


RE- 

INVENTION: 

From left: 

Fatai Folarin, 

CEO, Deloitte 

Nigeria; Simi 

Adeagbo, 

Nigerian 

Olympic gold 

medalist; and 

Anthony 

Olukoju, Chief 

Operating 

Officer, 

Deloitte 

Nigeria, 

during the Art 

of Reinvention 

event, held at 

the Deloitte 

Head Office, 

Lagos. 



Benue arrest, arraign over 100 illegal 

tax collectors 

By Peter Duru 

MAKURDI—THE Chairman 

of the Benue Internal 

Revenue Service, BIRS, Mrs 

Mimi Adzape-Orubibi weekend 

said over 100 persons have been 

arrested and arraigned for 

operating illegal tax collection 

points in the state. 

Mrs Adzape-Orubibi said more 

arrests are being made to ensure 

that the criminal elements 

harassing traders and well as as 

businessmen and women on 

Benue highways are brought to 

justice. 

The Chairman, in a statement 

by her media assistant, Jacob 

Suswam, in commemoration of her 

one year in office explained that 

the arrests were made within the 

period, assuring that the 

onslaught on the illegal tax 

syndicate would be sustained to 

effectively stem the menace of 

illegal taxation in the state. 

She said the period had also 

witnessed impactful reforms in the 

service saying, "revenue 

administration in Benue State 

has recorded great improvements 

in the last one year following the 

automation of tax processes, 

procedures and enforcement in 

line with one of the cardinal goals 

of the administration of Governor 

Samuel Ortom on Revenue 

Security." 

Mrs Adzape-Orubibi said with 

Governor Ortom's focus on 

Revenue Security, it became 

imperative for her to adopt 

processes that would block 

leakages in the system and 

improve collections while 

ensuring that tax payers paid only 

what is enshrined in the state 

revenue law. 

Highlighting more of the 

achievements recorded under her, 

Mrs. Adzape-Orubibi listed "the 

reinvention of the real-time 

2023: IPC ED, Komolafe task media on 

credible election reporting 

By Victor Ahiuma- 

Young 

LAGOS—AHEAD of the 2023 

general elections, Executive 

Director, ED, International Press 

Center, IPC, Lanre Arogundade, 

and Veteran journalist and 

former Vanguard Labour Editor, 

Mrs Funmi Komolafe, have 

tasked the Nigerian media on 

credible elections reporting. 

They spoke while presenting 

papers at Labour Writers 

Association of Nigeria, LAWAN, 

sensitisation workshop on the 

role of Media in 2023 General 

Elections, sponsored by Fredrich 

Elbert Stiftung, FES, 

Foundation in Lagos. 

Speaking, the IPC ED, noted 

that journalists must use 

investigative methods and 

instruments to ensure accurate 

Revenue Dashboard Reporting 

System which has curbed sharp 

practices and entrenched 

transparency. The introduction of 

a more secured e-Receipt with a 

tracking and verification system 

to checkmate fake receipts and 

the introduction of the Smart 

Attendance Management 

System, SAMS, for checking 

truancy and absenteeism of staff. 

"The purchase and distribution 

of new computers and printers to 

all Area Tax Offices in the state; 

reporting of electoral processes, 

saying "Labour journalists 

working in the broadcast media 

should create election 

programmes focusing on the 

issues of workers in 2023 general 

elections." 

According to him, "not getting 

it right as a journalist in reporting 

could hinder the effective 

performance of the four core roles 

of the media in election which 

are, the civic and voters' 

education role, the public 

educator role, the campaign 

platform/open forum role, and 

the conflict management role. 

"Citizens consume and 

interpret media information to 

make informed decisions and 

judgments hence the need for 

credibility in reporting especially 

at the ongoing political 

Tinubu'll be worker-friendly president —Issa Aremu 

JOS—LABOUR Director, All 

Progressives Congress, APC, 

Presidential Campaign Council, 

Mr Issa Aremu, yesterday in Jos, 

Plateau State, said the party's 

presidential candidate, Senator 

Bola Tinubu, will prioritise the 

welfare of workers if elected in 

2023. 

Aremu, who is also the Director 

General and Chief Executive 

Officer, D-G/CEO, Michael 

Imoudu National Institute of 

Labour Studies, Ilorin, MINILIS, 

Kwara State, spoke when he met 

with leaders and members of the 

Plateau chapter of the Nigeria 

Labour Congress, NLC, in Jos. 

The Director, who lauded 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

for being good and friendly to 

Nigerian workers, advised them 

to vote for someone who would 

continue with such noble legacy. 

"No doubt there is a lot of 

challenges facing this country 

and we can't deny it . But one 

thing we can say is that 

President Buhari is a labourfriendly 

President and the facts 

are there for everyone to see. 

"One thing he did is that he 

resisted the pressure to retrench 

workers; even in the face of 

recession and COVID-19 

pandamic that ravaged most 

economies of the world, he never 

thought of retrenchment or 

downsizing the workforce. 

"Every comrade respects 

employment, security of jobs, 

regular payment of salaries, 

decent job, industrialisation, 

human rights, among others and 

this government has made it 

obligatory to pay salaries as at 

when due. The President gave 

bailout in three tranches to 

governors to pay salaries of their 

workers and also approved and 

implemented the N30, 000 

minimum wage," he said. 

Aremu advanced that if voted, 

Tinubu will not only continue 

with the legacies of the current 

administration in relation to 

workers' welfare, but introduce 

new ones that will better the lots 

of Nigerian workers. 

He added that of the major 

political parties in the country, 

the APC remaines the only one 

that had demonstrated the 

willingness to ensure the 

Nigerian worker doesn't suffer. 

"Why we think the APC should 

be our direction is because it has 

done a lot toward the wellbeing 

of workers. We strongly believe 

Tinubu will be the one to 

continue with the legacies of the 

current government in terms of 

addressing labour related 

matters. 

"Not only that his records in 

Lagos says it all; he was the only 

governor who approved and 

implemented same minimum 

wage for his employees with that 

of the Federal Government 

workers. His manifesto speaks 

volumes because Tinubu will 

create decent jobs and so 

comrades, let's shine our eyes as 

we go into the next election," he 

said. 

Responding, Mr Eugene 

Manji, NLC Chairman in 

Plateau, thanked Aremu and his 

team for the visit. 

Manji who said that workers 

in the state were facing 

numerous challenges, added 

that the union would discuss 

their demands with the incoming 

government. 

and the purchase and 

distribution of office furniture to 

all the Area Tax offices in the state 

as well as the construction of mini 

offices at the designated 

inspection and monitoring points 

across the state, painted with BIRS 

colours, among others." 

The BIRS Chairman lauded 

Governor Samuel Ortom for 

giving her the opportunity to 

serve the state, and also 

supporting her to discharge her 

duties effectively. 

campaigns ahead of the general 

election come 2023. Actions or 

inactions of media professionals, 

reporters, photographers, 

Cameramen, producers, 

presenters, editors etc can also 

impact positively or negatively on 

the credibility and fairness of the 

electoral situation under which 

the people exercise the right to 

choose." 

Arogundade, urged labour 

writers to help the media to get it 

right by raising awareness on 

why workers should refrain from 

serving as foot soldiers of political 

party militias or as party thugs. 

On her part, Mrs Komolafe 

noted that the role of the media 

pre-dates the Election Day and 

must begin with party primaries, 

where candidates are elected or 

appointed to choose their flag 

bearers. 

Delivering a lecture on "The 

Role of the Media in Ensuring 

Peaceful, Credible, Transparent 

and Inclusive General Elections 

in 2023", she said journalists 

must report campaign activities 

without being carried away by 

activities of politicians, saying 

"the media needs to work with 

credible civil society organisation 

and I emphasis credible because 

politicians have corrupted many 

of the civil society groups. What 

do I mean, members of some of 

these civil society groups ask 

politicians for money for what 

they term "election expenses" 

where the party or governor fails 

to meet their demands, they 

write and release unfavourable 

reports about the candidates of 

that party. 

"It is therefore common to see 

headlines like 'mammoth crowd 

and massive turn-out'. Such 

headlines do not reflect objective 

reporting. As the 2023 general 

elections approach, the Nigerian 

journalist needs to ask in whose 

interest he or she is reporting?. 

"We must remember that we 

have a duty to ensure that the 

interest of our nation should be 

our focus. We should desist from 

unnecessary sensationalism that 

promotes ethnicity and religious 

divide." 

Police in Kwara vow to deal 

with politicians defacing 

opponent's billboards, posters 

By Demola 

Akinyemi 

ILORIN—THE Kwara State 

Police Command weekend 

read riot act to politicians in the 

state over destruction of their 

opponents' billboard and other 

campaign materials. 

The Commissioner of Police, 

Paul Odama in a statement in 

Ilorin, warned that anyone 

caught would be arrested and 

prosecuted, urging parents and 

guardians to caution their wards 

against being used by politicians 

for dirty and criminal works. 

The police commissioner 

directed all Divisional Police 

Officers, DPOs, across the state 

to monitor and ensure that no 

political billboard is defaced 

henceforth. 

He insisted that wherever any 

billboards found defaced, the 

concerned DPO would be 

sanctioned for dereliction of 

duties. 

The CP in the statement 

through the Command's Public 

Relations Officer, Ajayi 

Okasanmi reads," The 

Commissioner of Police, Kwara 

State, CP Paul Odama has 

frowned at the reports filtering 

into his hearing about the barefaced 

disobedience to his 

admonition to political gladiators 

to warm their supporters against 

destruction and defacement of 

opposing political party posters 

during his parley with political 

parties executives few weeks 

ago. 

Police step up security around 

INEC offices in Bauchi 

BAUCHI—POLICE in Bauchi 

State have stepped up 

security around INEC offices and 

facilities in the state. 

Police spokesman in the state, 

Ahmed Wakil stated yesterday in 

Bauchi that Divisional Police 

Officers, DPOs, and Area 

Commanders have been directed 

to ensure strategic deployment 

of officers at INEC offices and 

facilities. 

This, he added, was to bolster 

security and sustained 

surveillance in the affected areas. 

He assured that the police 

would deliver on its mandate of 

providing a safe and enabling 

environment for the conduct of 

the 2023 general elections and 

beyond. 

Wakil also stated that the police 

would continue to provide a level 

playing field for all political actors 

while remaining professional in 

the discharge of their 

responsibilities. 

"In line with the directives of 

the Inspector-General of Police, 

Mr Usman Baba, the 

Commissioner of Police, Bauchi 

State, Mr Umar Sanda has 

deployed operational assets 

BAUCHI—GOVERNOR Bala 

Mohammed of Bauchi State, 

yesterday called on all the emirs 

and traditional rulers in the state 

to be firm and fair in the discharge 

of their responsibilities. 

Mohammed gave the charge in 

Misau, Jama'are Government 

Area of the state at the coronation 

and presentation of Staff of Office 

to Ahmed Suleiman as the 11th 

Emir of Misau. 

Suleiman ascended the throne 

of his late father, Alhaji 

Mohammed Manga in 2015. 

The governor was also in 

Jama'are Local Government Area 

to present the Staff of Office to 

Nuhu Wabi, the 10th Emir of 

Jama'are. 

Wabi became emir on February 

27 after the demise of his father, 

Muhammadu Wabi III, on 

February 6, 2022. 

"Let me use this occasion to give 

the emirs some advice. Your royal 

highnesses should strive to strike 

a balance between tradition and 

modernity. 

"You should be flexible and keep 

pace with the dynamics of modern 

society while exercising your 

traditional authority. 

"You should be on the same page 

with the government of the day by 

offering constructive and 

intellectual contributions for the 

economic, political and social 

development of your people and 

the state in general. 

around INEC facilities. 

"This is for surveillance 

operations to checkmate criminal 

activities and to provide an 

atmosphere conducive to hitchfree 

political processes. 

"These deployments are aimed 

at keeping an eye on INEC 

facilities and materials and to 

prevent any attempt to 

undermine security around 

them and also to coordinate a 

timely response to distress calls,'' 

he stated. 

Wakil added that the police in 

Bauchi State would clamp down 

on miscreants found around 

INEC facilities and prosecute 

them. 

He warned political thugs to 

steer clear and turn away from 

INEC facilities and materials as 

the police would not hesitate to 

decisively deal with any person 

who decided to flout the 

directives. 

Wakil also called on parents, 

guardians, and leaders wielding 

various degrees of influence to 

prevail on their wards not to be 

used to destroy national critical 

infrastructure. 

Bauchi gov charges emirs to be 

firm, fair in discharging duties 

"As the custodian of the culture 

and traditions of the people of 

Misau and Jama'are emirates, you 

should be firm and fair and adhere 

strictly to the oath of office and 

allegiance that you have just 

sworn to,'' the governor charged. 

He urged the emirs to work hard 

toward peaceful coexistence 

among their people and the 

development of their areas of 

jurisdiction. 

Gov. Mohammed acknowledged 

the roles of traditional rulers in the 

social economic development of the 

country and said they deserved to 

be commended for bringing about 

peace and stability. 

According to him, emirs have a 

significant role to play in 

checkmating kidnapping, banditry, 

insurgency and other crimes. 

He added that his administration 

would not hesitate to sanction any 

traditional ruler found to be 

supporting and refusing to report 

criminal activities in their areas of 

jurisdiction. 

Mohammed also appealed to 

the National Assembly to amend 

the Constitution so as to assigning 

specific roles to traditional rulers. 

In their separate votes of thanks, 

the two first class emirs appreciated 

the governor for their recognition 

and promised to work hand-inhand 

with the state government 

to further ensure peaceful 

coexistence in their domains.


Tinubu, Atiku, Obi bicker over 

fake news, hate speech 

Continues from Page 5 

drug-related forfeiture of 

$460,000 to authorities in 

the United States instead of 

trying to divert attention. 

In a telephone interview 

with Vanguard, Ologbondiyan 

said hat claims by the 

APC Presidential campaign 

that the PDP campaign and 

its Labour Party counterpart 

were behind a fake INEC 

press release indicting 

Tinubu, were part of a diversionary 

tactic by the 

APC, which was hell bent 

on shifting attention from 

the real issue. 

He said: “We demand 

that Tinubu should come 

out boldly and defend his 

reported link to the whopping 

sum of $460,000 forfeited 

to the United States 

rather than hiding behind 

a finger and sending his 

media aides to attack other 

Nigerians. 

“Our campaign insists 

that the burden before Asiwaju 

Tinubu is to cleanse 

himself of being linked to 

illicit funds by a court in the 

United States rather than 

searching for scapegoats 

and pointing index finger 

on others whereas the remaining 

are pointing to his 

direction. 

“Is it not absurd that rather 

than proving his innocence 

by personally telling 

Nigerians the truth about 

the forfeiture judgment, 

Asiwaju Tinubu is 

allowing his aides, who 

were not principal witnesses 

in the crime, to issue 

threats and vituperations 

on Nigerians? 

“This accounts for why 

the campaign is singing 

discordant tunes on taxation 

while Asiwaju Tinubu 

himself is labouring to dismiss 

the case as ‘a rumour.’ 

This is very laughable! 

“Our campaign wants 

Asiwaju Tinubu to know 

that Nigerians are still waiting 

for him to address the 

very serious issue of alleged 

link with narcotics for 

which a forfeiture judgment 

was imposed on him.” 

Looking within APC for 

your problems, LP tells 

Tinubu 

On its part, the LP Presidential 

campaign asked 

the APC to look within its 

ranks for those responsible 

for the alleged forgery of the 

letter headed paper of the 

INEC to issue a fake statement. 

In a telephone interview 

with Vanguard, the opposition 

party said it was depressing 

that a party whose 

candidate has a record of 

falsification of documents 

could have the effrontery to 

accuse innocent people of 

doing the same. 

The chief spokesperson of 

the Labour Party Presidential 

Campaign Council, Dr. 

Yunusa Tanko, warned the 

APC Campaign to desist 

from dragging the LP into 

its sinking campaign with 

baseless allegations. 

His words: “It is on record 

that our Presidential candidate, 

Mr. Peter Obi, has 

never falsified any record 

about his age, his academic 

credentials, or had cause 

to deny his place or birth 

or his parents. 

“It is inconceivable for a 

presidential campaign 

whose candidate has been 

unable to come clean about 

his background to accuse 

us of conniving with another 

opposition party to falsify 

documents. Our advice 

to the APC is for it to face 

issues and stop diverting 

attention.” 

Shettima’s insults 

on Obi, breach 

peace accord – LP 

CAMPAIGN 

Also, the LP Presidential 

Campaign expressed disgust 

at what it described as 

the various unguarded insults 

and disparaging remarks 

passed on Obi and 

other candidates, by the 

Vice Presidential Candidate 

of the APC, Senator 

Kassim Shettima.“Director 

General of the Labour Party 

Presidential Campaign, 

Dr. Doyin Okupe, conveyed 

the party’s displeasure in 

a statement in Abuja, yesterday. 

He said: “Our political 

parties are all signatories to 

the National Peace Accord, 

supervised by General Abdulsalami 

Abubakar National 

Peace Committee 

chairman, which represents 

the bonafide Code of 

Conduct, for all corporate 

and individual direct participants, 

in the current 

electoral process. 

“In the Peace Accord 

signed in Abuja, it was expressly 

stated, that candidates 

will avoid the use of 

abusive and offensive language, 

throughout the 

campaigns. 

“It is, therefore, very unfortunate 

and regretful, but 

Naira appreciates to N445.67/ 

$ in I&E window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

HE naira yesterday appreciated to N445.67 per 

Tdollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window. 

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange 

rate for the window fell to N445.67 per dollar from N446.1 

per dollar on Tuesday, indicating 43 Kobo appreciation 

for the naira. 

The volume of dollars traded (turnover) in the 

window rose by 28 percent to $93.01 million from 

$72.69 million traded on Tuesday. 

Similarly, the naira appreciated by N20 in the 

parallel market yesterday. 

Vanguard findings from black market traders showed 

that the indicative exchange rate for the market fell 

to N870 per dollar from N890 per dollar on Tuesday. 

not exactly surprising. that 

in flagrant disregard for the 

clauses and principles of 

this accord ,the APC Vice 

Presidential Candidate, in 

particular, has continued, 

repeatedly, to play the court 

jester - by persistently , 

irresponsibly and recklessly, 

making all sorts of derogatory 

comments, totally 

at variance with good manners 

and decorum. 

“We are in no doubt whatsoever, 

that while he has 

consistently abused the opportunity 

of public audience, 

by making these 

snide remarks about Peter 

Obi and other candidates, 

he cannot, in the least and 

in any way, ever measure 

up to these his political superiors, 

in integrity, character 

and status, not to mention 

vision, policies and 

national acceptance. 

Okupe further said: “We 

here emphasize, that strictly 

in line, with the directives 

of our presidential 

candidate, Peter Obi, to 

keep the campaign engagement 

and rhetoric, civil 

and issue based, we 

have resisted his sustained 

diatribe, and could not 

bring ourselves to his dirt 

level, to respond to him in 

like manner. 

“However, it must be 

placed on record that this 

does not represent a lack 

of capacity to publicly take 

him on, especially as he 

personally carries a huge 

burden of a sordid and reprehensible 

past. 

“At this juncture, the Labour 

Party Presidential 

Campaign Organisation 

will like to advise the APC 

to rein in and restrain its 

Vice Presidential candidate 

from further uncouth and 

unguarded language 

against our candidate and 

all other candidates in this 

race. 

“It can be understood that 

he is still basking in the euphoria 

of having been nominated, 

to the exalted position 

of the Vice Presidential 

candidate of a party, 

which ordinarily could never 

have occurred, in an environment 

of strict adherence 

to best practices and 

high moral and character 

values, where due attention 

is paid to pedigree, 

personal records and 

known antecedents. 

Okupe noted that in saner 

climes, a presidential 

election is a serious process 

of responsibility to the people, 

and should not become 

a putreous arena for display 

of bad manners and 

verbal hooliganism. 

“We will like to remind Shettima 

that those who make 

their living in glass houses 

should not have stone 

throwing as their hobby.” 

Peter Obi’s statistics 

is unsettling 

the opposition, 

says Media 

Office 

Indeed, the Obi-Datti 

Media office, said the dimensions 

Obi brought into 

the nation’s electioneering 

this time around has successfully 

thrown many pundits 

and politicians off balance 

because they were 

never prepared for it. 

It said in a statement: 

Obi’s issue driven campaigns 

even though the 

correct and necessary thing 

to do in an ideal democratic 

setting has remained 

alien and unfamiliar to Nigeria’s 

political environment, 

hence the apparent 

disgruntlement from his 

competitors and the opposition 

political parties. 

“The use of statistics and 

figures by Obi to buttress 

his points to Nigerians has 

helped to drive home his 

points, almost the same 

way the use of statistics and 

illustrations are handy in 

explanation of things. 

“But notwithstanding all 

the potentials that abound 

in the use of statistics, the 

Labour Party flag bearer, 

Mr. Peter Obi, has remained 

under attack for adequately 

using statistics to explain 

the challenges of the country 

and the way to go about 

it using inferences from other 

countries that passed 

similar roads and have already 

scaled through. 

The Obi-Datti Media office 

said it tries to ask, why 

Nigeria is averse to any 

progressive ideas, especially 

in political circles despite 

not making any meaningful 

progress in the old ways. 

“At a recent Arise Television 

Town Hall meeting for 

presidential candidates, 

even the organizers mobilised 

themselves in the 

name of fact-checking to 

ambush and embarrass Obi 

on his statistics but 

couldn’t, instead they apologized 

to him for their own 

misinformation.” 

Catholic Bishops 

seek issues-based 

campaigns 

Worried by the dangerous 

bent campaign of calumny 

is assuming, the Catholic 

Bishops Conference of Nigeria, 

CBCN, yesterday 

urged political parties and 

their candidates to focus on 

issue-based campaigns, 

urging that campaigns 

should be devoid of bitterness 

and unhealthy rivalry 

Ṫhe Bishops also urged 

the government to provide 

the enabling environment 

for citizens to exercise their 

franchise devoid of violence, 

intimidation, vote 

buying and vote selling 

during the 2023 general 

elections. 

These were contained in 

a message by the Bishops 

at the end of the 3rd National 

Pastoral Congress of 

the Catholic Church in the 

country with the theme: 'Towards 

a Synodal Church: 

Communion, Participation 

and Mission'. 

The message was cosigned 

by the CBCN President, 

Most Rev. Lucius 

Iwejuru Ugorji (Archbishop 

of Owerri) and the Secretary, 

Most Rev. Donatus 

Aihmiosion Ogun (Bishop 

of Uromi), 

"Political candidates for 

the election should avail 

citizens of their electoral 

manifestoes including 

strategies for achieving set 

goals and objectives. 

"The practice of promising 

the electorate lofty objectives 

to be pursued by political 

office holders that 

look good on paper but 

only to be jettisoned after 

such candidates win election 

has become the common 

experience of many 

Nigerians," they said. 

The message recalled that 

at their last meeting in Orlu, 

Imo State in September 

2022, they promised that at 

the end of third Pastoral 

Congress, a prayer will be 

composed for free, fair, 

credible and peaceful elections 

in our country in 2023. 

"The bishops have composed 

the said prayers, 

which should be said in all 

dioceses, parishes and families 

from now to the time 

of elections," they said. 

Economy in bad 

shape 

The Catholic Bishops lamented 

that despite several 

efforts by the government, 

the economy had not 

been in good shape. Consequently, 

they argued that 

redesigning the Naira 

alone cannot provide the 

needed reprieve in the 

economy and confront the 

problems of corruption and 

terrorism-financing. 

The clerics advised the 

Federal Government to exploit 

every opportunity, 

build strong institutional 

frameworks and laws such 

as an effective policing system, 

tracking and timely 

prosecution of corrupt persons, 

amongst others. 

"Citizens are not seeing 

much improvement in their 

daily lives but a decline in 

From left, Solomon 

Rotimi; Alhaji Jani 

Ibrahim; Senior 

Special Assistant to 

the President on 

Social Development 

and Humanitarian 

Affairs Moji Rhodes; 

Kwara State Governor 

AbdulRahman 

AbdulRazaq; Chief of 

Staff to the President 

Prof. Ibrahim 

Gambari; and 

R e s i d e n t 

Representative of the 

United Nations 

Development 

Programme (UNDP) 

Muhammed Yahaya; 

during a visit to the 

Kwara State Garment 

Factory, in Ilorin, on 

Friday. 

their purchasing power. 

The costs of staple food like 

rice, yam and garri have 

skyrocketed. Power supply 

is still epileptic. 

"Fuel is sold at far above 

the official pump rates in 

many parts of the country. 

This should not be happening 

in a country that is the 

6th largest producer of 

crude oil in the world. Government 

should devise a 

strategy that makes fuel and 

other petroleum products 

available, accessible and 

affordable.“"The new government 

policy of Naira redesign, 

aimed at curbing 

inflation and fighting corruption 

and terrorism, is a 

lofty idea. 

"In any case, Naira redesign 

alone cannot provide 

the needed reprieve in the 

economy and confront the 

hydra-headed problems of 

corruption and terrorism. 

"A redesigned naira must 

necessarily be accompanied 

by strong institutional 

frameworks and laws such 

as an effective policing system, 

tracking and timely 

prosecution of corrupt persons 

and strengthening the 

security agencies to properly 

police Nigeria’s borders 

to prevent the influx 

of armed bandits from other 

countries." 

Hate speech, 

greatest danger to 

unity, stability of 

Nigeria - ACF 

Also cautioning against 

hate speech, the Arewa 

Consultative Forum, ACF, 

in a statement titled “Hate 

speech and violence will be 

our death” by its Secretary 

General, Murtala Aliyu, 

said: “Although Nigeria 

is already facing 

severe life threatening 

challenges arising 

from lack of security and 

the growing economic 

crises, it would seem that 

there are many desperate 

political leaders and other 

self-appointed commun 

i - 

tychampionsthatwilnothesitatetoaddmorefueltothefire. 

"As shamefully, most are driven 

by blind ambition or plain 

hatred. No one can fail to 

notice the alarming rise 

of tension and lawlessness 

as the election campaigns 

and cont 

e s t s g a t h e r 

pace. There are reports that 

some politicians are engaging 

thugs and violent 

persons to attack their op- 

Continues on Page 29

28—Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 

:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

Edo community uncovers oil theft in private oil company operation 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

ENIN CITY—THE vigilance 

Bof the people of Gelegele 

community in Ovia North East 

local government in Edo State 

has led to the discovery of illegal 

bunkering at Dubri Oil’s OML 

96 in Ovia North East Local 

Government Area of Edo State 

8inches flowing line being 

illegally drilled. 

It was gathered that the 

company discovered the illegal 

tapping after it noticed a sudden 

decline in its daily production and 

then carried out an investigation 

with information from the 

community. 

A staff of the company who 

does not want his name 

mentioned since he is not 

authorized to speak for the 

company said: "About four days 

ago, we noticed a drastic decline 

in our production and we tried to 

troubleshoot from our flow station 

and our manifold to see whether 

there is any technical issue that 

should cause this decline. 

"But all efforts to get what was 

going on were unsuccessful and 

we kept on searching until we 

got some informants in the 

community who are loyal to the 

company. The informant told us 

they have information that 

people came to tap from our 

crude oil through the flow lines. 

"When we heard the 

information, we quickly swung 

into action to see the lines. We 

excavated it and saw it from one 

of our wells, GGNorth 1, to the 

flow station and we discovered 

that nothing was wrong with the 

lines. We think they made an 

attempt earlier on the line and 

found out it was not a suitable 

place to tap. 

"So, they covered it up and 

moved forward towards the 

Gelegele community 

immediately after our manifold 

that collects all the oil that comes 

from the Well. So, from the 

2023 poll: We're supporting all presidential 

candidates —CAN Chairman 

L 

AGOS—AHEAD of 2023 

general election, the 

Chairman, Lagos chapter of the 

Christian Association of Nigeria, 

CAN, Dr. Stephen Adegbite, has 

disclosed that the body has no 

singular presidential candidate 

it had concluded plans to 

support, saying CAN is 

supporting all flagbearers vying 

to become President 

Muhammadu Buhari's 

successor. 

Adegbeite said that CAN 

could not support anyone 

considering that all candidates 

vying for the presidential seat 

were Nigerians and competent 

to lead the country after 2023 

when President Buhari's tenure 

would elapse. 

He noted that the leader the 

country currently needs was 

someone who could lead 

Nigerians aright and deliver the 

dividends of democracy that 

everyone in the country currently 

yearns for. 

Adegbite, who stated this at the 

9th Annual General Conference 

of the Cherubim and Seraphim 

Unification Church of Nigeria, 

Lagos State Chapter led by 

Special Apostle Segun Adio, 

expressed optimism that God will 

take control of the country and 

that Nigeria will not disintegrate 

but remain one indivisible entity. 

“As Christians, we are not going 

to push any candidate, all the 

candidates belong to us but I can 

assure you that God is going to 

give us a man after his own 

heart”. 

“God will take control of our 

country and Nigeria will remain 

an indivisible entity. We just need 

somebody that can lead us right 

and give us the dividends of 

democracy and we must pray, 

manifold, we have two production 

headers, one is 8inches while the 

other is 6inches. So, the 8inches 

is where the GG North one is 

flowing through. The GG North 

1 is a less gas well and we believe 

it has the information and that is 

where they chose to tap from." 

once we pray, God will answer our 

prayers” he added. 

“Today is a day of celebration of 

all Christians, and a day of coming 

together of Christians and that is 

why I am here as the chairman of 

CAN to celebrate with them. 

I thank God for the C&S 

Unification Church of Nigeria and 

God will continue to be with them 

and it shall be well with all of 

them”. 

Earlier, the Chairman of the 

Organisation of African Instituted 

Church, Senior Apostle Julius 

Opasola, commended the Lagos 

Chapter of the C&S Unification 

Church of Nigeria for its efforts at 

uniting the body of Christ while 

commending the church for 

extending a hand of fellowship to 

CAN and the OAIC. 

He described the event as 

historic as it was the first time that 

OAIC will be represented at a 

programme organized by the 

Cherubim and Seraphim. 

Policing: AIG breaks 

new grounds; 

sets fresh frontiers 

By Emma Nnadozie, 

Crime Editor 

ONE NOTICEABLE trait of 

the 

Inspector- 

General of Police, Usman 

Alkali Baba is his inclination 

to put round pegs in round 

holes. By this proclivity, he 

has succeeded in shredding 

the widely held impression 

that he sticks, tenaciously to 

establishment orders. 

A cursory look at his 

appointments since the 

assumption of office will 

reveal a studied and clever 

assignment of credible officers 

to where they will excel in the 

deployment of diverse inner 

competencies. From all 

indications, those 

appointments have ended up 

bringing the best out of the 

officers and men of the 

Nigeria Police Force and it 

has, directly or indirectly, 

impacted their work attitude 

and perfection index. 

Critical area of 

policing 

In the past, very insignificant 

attention was given to this 

critical area of policing but 

there was no belaboring the 

fact that it nevertheless, 

produced somewhat, men 

and women of valor that 

excelled creditably; leaving 

their footsteps on the sands of 

time and history. 

This time around, the police 

boss took a very gigantic step 

by posting Assistant Inspector 

General of Police, Fatai 

Adeyinka Adeleke to head the 

seemingly volatile Zone two 

section of the force: 

comprising Lagos and Ogun 

states. Barely fourteen months 

after taking this bold step, 

manifest results are glaringly 

showing with the quantum of 

achievements Adeleke has 

tallied; especially in the area 

of infrastructure development. 

Zone 2 as a 

test case 

Before now, Zone 2 

command of the force at 

Onikan, Lagos was noted for 

housing decrepit 

infrastructure with its 

attendant overload of 

abandoned structures and all 

worth not. Officers and men 

were forced to share airtight 

narrow offices with passages 

barely fit for two. Worse still, 

vestiges of rotten and 

abandoned materials were 

littered spaces in and around 

the buildings -a grave peril, 

lurking under the ever busy 

high rise bridge that links 

Obalende, Ikoyi axis with 

Victoria Island and environs. 

Few hours' stay in any of the 

offices leaves visitors with the 

gaping impression that the sky 

might come down soon as a 

result of consistent earpiercing 

noise emanating 

from human and vehicular 

traffic on the flyover bridge. 

Arrival of Adeleke 

However, the coming of 

AIG Adeleke brought new 

steam towards the effective 

resolution of the challenges 

therein. Now, first-time visitors 

to the zonal headquarters 

may innocently tag the area, 

as a construction zone. This 

obviously, is a result of the 

construction works going on 

sweepingly inside the 

premises. Significantly, AIG 

•AIG Fatai Adeleke 

Adeleke embarked on the 

reconstruction of the hall 

dedicated to former Inspector 

General of Police, 

Muhammed Abubarkar 

when he was holding forth as 

AIG at the zone. He cleverly 

created offices inside the 

massive hall which can now 

accommodate many officers 

and men of the command 

who, hitherto, were used to 

milling around the premises 

of the command due to the 

paucity of office space. 

Furthermore, he extended 

offices meant for SPOs, and 

renovated dilapidated 

ramshackle enclosures 

formerly used as offices - 

some, built with corrugated 

iron sheets. Resultantly, many 

officers and men who had no 

offices: including those who 

were used to sharing spaces 

are now comfortably 

accommodated with 

sufficient work chairs and 

tables for performance 

enhancement. Notably, the 

ongoing reconstruction 

works have created a 

facilitative atmosphere for his 

policemen to carry out their 

duties. 

People speak 

Some of the visitors to the 

command who spoke with 

Vanguard over the 

commendable development 

showered praises on AIG 

Adeleke not only for the 

achievements he has recorded 

in infrastructural 

development in the command 

but for the way he also carries 

out his duties. 

According to Chief Emeka 

Chukwudum, an Estate 

developer at Ago Palace Way, 

Lagos, those of us that are 

used to visiting the command 

can attest to the structural 

developments there. “That 

man is so humble, dispenses 

justice without minding 

whose ox is gored and treats 

everybody with unalloyed 

respect and candor." 

Engineer Tunde Oyediran 

also bared his mind thus:" I 

will say without fear of 

contradiction that the 

command has not had it so 

good: not just in terms of 

structural development but in 

the way AIG Adeleke 

dispenses justice. One of the 

areas he must focus his 

attention on urgently is in 

weeding off some highly 

corrupt officers and men of the 

command that have been 

soiling the image of the force 

there. Most of them have spent 

years there and the monstrous 

manner and ways they treat 

cases leave much to be 

desired. Besides, with this 

AIG's leadership style, the 

force has broken new 

grounds and set fresh 

performance management 

frontiers towards best policing 

practices.


vicahiyoung@yahoo.com 

Tinubu, Atiku, Obi bicker over fake 

news, hate speech 

Continues from Page 27 

ponents, spreading terror 

and fear everywhere. 

"Of much greater concern, 

however, is the resort 

to hate speech, insults 

and threats of violence being 

issued by the political 

leaders including 

state governors. 

They seem to be pathetically 

unaware that the distance 

between 

hate speeches 

and violence, even genocide, 

is a very short one. 

“Hate speech, for whatever 

reason, covers many 

forms of expression but all 

incite, promote or justify 

hatred, violence and discrimination 

against an individual 

or group of people. 

It poses grave danger 

to the unity and stability 

of a democratic 

society, protection of 

human rights and the 

rule of law. Unchecked, it 

can 

lead to 

acts of violence and conflict 

on a grand scale.” 

Ortom's apology 

over anti-Fulani’s 

comments, a relief 

"We have to say that we 

were relieved to hear of 

Governor Samuel Ortom's 

apology following his outburst 

in this regard. The 

Governor's hostile 

comments on Atiku 

Abubakar, the presidential 

candidate of the PDP, dominated 

discussion in the 

country for much of last 

week. The Electoral Act as 

amended and for good 

reasons, prescribed heavy 

punishment for infractions 

such as this. 

"The fact that hate 

speeches and acts of violence 

and aggression are 

rife in this campaign season 

can only mean 

that the 

laws 

are not being enforced. 

This hasn't come 

as a surprise 

considering the fact that 

the National Assembly 

has so far chosen not to 

enact the law that will see 

to the birth of the Electoral 

Offences Tribunal. 

"In the meantime, INEC 

has a responsibility to act 

and enforce the Electoral 

Act as amended. It should 

impose the harshest punishment 

possible on 

politicians, who think 

achieving their personal 

ambitions is more 

important than national 

peace and harmony. 

Such persons are unfit for 

any form of leadership 

at any level. 

“The Arewa Consultative 

Forum, therefore called on 

leaders at whatever level to 

exercise restraint in their 

utterances to enable Nigerians 

have a peaceful election 

and transition to the next government 

in 2023.” 

Media Roundtable on industry regulation 

holds in Lagos 

MEDIA proprietors 

and managers assemble 

in Lagos today to 

deliberate on matters concerning 

the operations of 

their industry. 

Tagged the Roundtable, 

the deliberation, which has 

at its general theme: 

''Deepening media professionalism 

through co-regulation,'', 

also include sessions 

on “Thoughts on Coregulation 

through an Independent 

Ombudsman 

Framework” and “A Guide 

through the Revised Code 

of Ethics for Nigeria Journalists.” 

The event is organised 

by the Newspaper Proprietors 

Association of Nigeria, 

NPAN, in collaboration 

with the Nigerian Guild of 

Editors, NGE, Nigeria 

Union of Journalists, NUJ, 

and Broadcasting Association 

of Nigeria, BON, has 

former governor of Ogun 

State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, 

who is also the life 

patron of NPAN, as chairman. 

President of NPAN/NPO 

(Nigerian Press Organisation), 

Kabiru Yusuf; President 

of Nigerian Guild of 

Editors, NGE, Mr Mustapha 

Isah and NUJ President, 

Mr. Chris Isiguzo, 

are to serve as hosts. 

They will be supported 

by the President of BON, 

Mr. John Ugbe, President 

of IBAN, Mr. Guy Murray- 

Bruce and President of the 

Nigeria Bar Association, 

NBA, Mr. Yakubu 

Maikyau. 

Others include Publisher 

of Vanguard Newspapers, 

Mr. Sam Amuka; 

Publisher of Thisday 

Newspapers and Arise TV, 

Nduka Obaigbena; Mr. 

Ray Ekpu, former Editorin-Chief 

of Newswatch; 

Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru, 

Publisher of The Guardian 

Newspapers; Mr Frank 

Aigbugun, Publisher, Businessday; 

and Ms. Angela 

Emuwa, Chairman, Punch 

Newspapers. 

Others include Mr. John 

Momoh, Chairman, Channels; 

Mr. Lanre Idowu, 

CEO, Diamond Publications; 

Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, 

GM, Vanguard 

Newspapers; Mr. Azu Ishiekwene, 

Editor-in-Chief, 

Leadership Newspaper; 

Ms. Kadaria Ahmed, CEO, 

Daria Media and Radio 

Now; and NPAN's Feyi 

Smith, among others. 

N2trn unauthorized budgets: Reps 

summon 63 MDAs for questioning 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu 

ABUJA-For allegedly 

implementing unauthorized 

budgets amounting 

to N2 trillion, the Public Accounts 

Committee, PAC, of 

the House of Representatives 

has summed at least 63 agencies 

of the federal government 

for questioning. 

The committee said it's 

investigation showed there 

was no statutory approval of 

the budget by the National 

Assembly. 

Chairman of the committee, 

Oluwole Oke, who issued 

the summons, also wrote a 

letter to the Director-General, 

Budget Office of the Federation, 

Ben Akabueze, asking 

for evidence of the budget 

approvals by the National 

Assembly. 

The letter, dated November 

8, 2022, with Reference Number: 

HR/PAC/SCO5/9NASS/ 

QUE.60/97 was received at 

the Budget Office on November 

10, 2022. 

The committee, however, 

stated that the summon was 

sequel to the remark by President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

during his 2023 budget presentation 

to the National Assembly 

on October 7, 2022 

that some agencies were operating 

on unauthorized budgets. 

Titled ''Re-Request for Information/Documents 

with 

Respect to Allegations of Illegal 

Approvals of Budgets and 

Extra-Constitutional Expenditure 

by Some Government 

Owned Enterprises and Non- 

Treasury Funded Agencies'', 

the letter read: “In pursuance 

of the power conferred on the 

National Assembly (Assembly) 

by Sections 88 and 89 of 

the Constitution of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria 1999 

(as altered) (Constitution), 

Standing Rules of the House 

of Representatives, and based 

on Section 2 of the Legislative 

Houses (Powers and Privileges) 

Act 2017, the Public 

Accounts Committee is conducting 

investigation into the 

allegation made by President 

Muhammadu Buhari during 

the presentation of the 2023 

Appropriation Bill before a 

joint session of the National 

Assembly. 

“Mr President alleged that 

some government-owned en- 

terprises have been submitting 

their budget and getting 

it passed through some committees 

of the National Assembly 

outside of the process 

prescribed in Section 81(1) of 

the Constitution. 

“In view of the above and 

in line with Sections 88 and 

89 of the Constitution, I hereby 

request that Budget Office 

of the Federation furnish the 

committee with the approved 

Internally Generated Revenue, 

IGR, budget of the following 

parastatals for the 

period 2015-2022. 

“Please kindly submit a soft 

copy and 15 hard copies of 

the above documents/information 

to Suite 4.23 House 

of Representatives Building, 

National Assembly, on or before 

the close of work on Friday 

16th November, 2022.” 

Elaborating more on the 

issue, Oke said: “Over N2tn 

was spent illegally. Mr President 

has never presented or 

assented to these budgets. 

They are to tell Nigerians why 

they are operating illegal 

budgets; budgets that have 

not gone through the due process 

of law-making. 

Pensioners fume over moves to 

remove CBN gov as board chairman 

•Beg Senate to reject planning 

amendment of CBN Act of 2007 

By Innocent Anaba 

CENTRAL Bank of Nige 

ria, CBN Pensioners/Retirees 

Club, has called on the 

Senate to reject the proposed 

amendment to the CBN Act 

of 2007, to among others, remove 

the CBN Governor as 

the Chairman of its Board of 

Directors by bringing in an 

outsider to occupy the position. 

It also opposed the 

amendment that seeks to 

make it mandatory for the 

CBN to submit its annual budget 


for approval. 

The CBN retirees club in a 

position paper by the chairman, 

Chief Patrick Anene, and 

Tsado Daniya, General Secretary, 

to the Senate President, 

Dr. Ahmed Lawan, said: “Our 

primary purpose in presenting 

this paper to you is to formally 

register our very strong 

objection as regards the recent 

proposal by some members 

of the Upper Chamber to 

push for the amendment of the 

CBN Act 2007. 

“The proposed amendment 

focuses on three areas, namely, 

to remove the CBN Governor 

as the Chairman of the 

CBN Board of Directors by 

bringing in an outsider to occupy 

the position; making it 

mandatory for the CBN to 

submit it’s annual budget to 

the National Assembly for approval 

and the third area is 

attempting to divest the CBN 

Board of the power and authority 

to fix the remunerations 

of the Board members. 

“In 2012, we made our presentation 


during the Public 

Hearing exercise when a similar 

attempt was made to curtail 

the institutional and operational 

independence of the 

CBN. We are doing so again 

this time around because 

nothing has changed in our 

perception. 

“It is our view that, not only 

as patriotic Nigerians but also 

as people who are knowledgeable 

in the operations of the 

bank, the proposed amendment 

will surely have negative 

implications. It will not 

only seriously erode the independence 

of the CBN as an 

institution but it will further 

politicize its operations. 

“Seeking to remove the 

CBN Governor as the Chairman 

of the CBN Board of Directors 

by bringing in an outsider 

to occupy the position in 

not healthy. The combination 

of the roles of being a Chief 

Executive Officer, CEO, as the 

Governor and the Chairmanship 

of the Board of Directors, 

is largely what is obtainable 

in central banks all over the 

world. 

“Indeed, it is the global best 

practice and Nigeria cannot 

be an exception. The main 

reason for this is not only to 

prevent occasional conflicts, 

quarrels and struggle for power 

between the institution’s 

Governor and the would-be 

outsider Board Chairman 

which could adversely affect 

the institution in the performance 

of its core mandate. 

However, by allowing the 

Governor remain the Chairman 

of the Board will also insulate 

the bank from pressures 

from political authorities and 

industry players thereby preserving 

its institutional autonomy. 

“Furthermore, it should be 

Godwin Emefiele, CBN Gov. 

noted that the sponsors of the 

Bill apparently did not conduct 

sufficient research before 

the proposed appointment of 

an outsider as Chairman of 

the Board. On the contrary, the 

established global norm is 

that the governor of the Central 

Bank is also the chairman 

of the Board. The countries 

with similar structures to that 

of Nigeria such as the Federal 

Reserve System of the USA; 

the European Central Bank; 

Bank of Japan; Reserve Bank 

of India; Bank Negara Malaysia; 

South African Reserve 

Bank; Central Bank of Egypt 

and the Bank of Ghana all 

have the Governor/President 

as the CEO and Chairman of 

Board. 

“The only notable exception 

is the Bank of England. Even 

then, this exception does not 

detract from the global practice, 

given that the Governor 

of the Bank of England is in a 

very formidable position visà-vis 

the Chairman of the 

Board. In this connection, it 

should be noted that while the 

Governor is the Chair of three 

powerful committees, the 

Monetary Policy committee, 

the Financial Policy Committee 

and the Prudential Policy 

Committee, the Chairman 

leads the Court of the Bank, 

which is the governing board, 

of which the Governor is also 

a member. 

“The Governor is responsible 

for setting the Bank’s strategy, 

budget and taking key 

decisions on resourcing and 

appointments. Thus, there is 

no potential for role conflict 

or ‘turf wars.’ Furthermore, 

the Bank of England has budgetary 

independence.” 

“On making it mandatory 

for the CBN to submit its annual 

budget to the National 

Assembly for approval, the 

CBN Act 2007 has provisions 

to ensure institutional and 

budgetary independence 

which should not be tampered 

with. It should be emphasized 

that budgetary independence 

is critical to any 

central bank’s ability to exercise 

the four other dimensions 

of its independence. Neither 

its lender of last resort (ability 

of CBN to intervene where 

necessary in financial institutions) 

role nor its financial 

system stability mandate can 

be effectively executed without 

budgetary independence. 

“The four pillars of CBN autonomy 

are: Regulatory Independence, 

Supervisory Independence, 

Institutional Independence 

and Budgetary Independence. 

“Regrettably, the proposed 

amendments by the Senate 

will effectively erode CBN independence. 

It is therefore, 

recommended that the Senate 

should let the four dimensions 

of independence enunciated 

in this contribution 

guide its deliberations. 

“Also, attempting to divest 

the CBN Board of the power 

and authority to fix the remunerations 

of the Board members 

is not the way to go. It is 

worthy of note that Section 

1(3) of the present CBN Act 

2007 enacted into law on May 

25, 2007, states as follows: 

“In order to facilitate the 

achievement of its mandate 

under this Act and the Banks 

and Other Financial Institutions 

Act (BOFIA), and in line 

with the objective of promoting 

stability and continuity in 

economic management". 

PTAD to unveil “I Am Alive” 

confirmation to pensioners 

nationwide 

THE Pension Transition 

al Arrangement Directorate 

(PTAD), says it is ready 

to unveil its “I Am Alive” confirmation 

to pensioners nationwide 

before the end of 

2022. The Executive Secretary 

of PTAD, Dr Chioma 

Ejikeme, said this at the end 

of three-day confirmation 

training for Pension Union 

Executives and Pension Desk 

Officers, PDOs, in Abuja. 

She said that PTAD began 

the pilot phase of the confirmation 

solution in October 

2021, with 50,000 pensioners 

randomly selected from the 

four operational departments 

in the directorate. 

According to her, the pilot 

phase has been successfully 

completed with observed hiccups 

fixed. She said that the 

“I AM ALIVE” confirmation 

solution was introduced to enable 

PTAD to continuously 

update its pensioners’ database 

through a digital process. 

Ejikeme also said was meant 

to ascertain verified 

pensioners that were alive and 

should continue to receive 

their monthly pension. 

She said that the digital platform 

would be deployed for 

nationwide use. 

“The aim of PTAD gathering 

the PDOs and union executives 

from the South East 

zone is to train them on the “I 

AM ALIVE” solution as an 

innovation using technology 

that will henceforth allow 

them to engage in verification 

at the comfort of their homes. 

“They don’t have to travel 

anywhere. They can just do 

the confirmation with laptop 

computer system or their 

phones,” Ejikeme said. 

She said that the PTAD was 

making efforts to create both 

appropriate and adequate 

awareness in order to get the 

project to be successful. 

“It is appropriate to training 

some people who are going 

to help these people with 

their verification. 

“So what we are doing now 

is to train the focal persons 

who will help us within the 

community to help these pensioners 

confirm their aliveness 

in the event that they cannot 

do it for themselves,” she said. 

Ejikeme said that the “I AM 

ALIVE” verification was for 

pensioners already verified 

and are on the database and 

on the payroll of PTAD."


MBONU 

ADEGBOYEGA 

IBODJE 

EBEDE 

I, formerly known as MBONU I, formerly known as Miss This is to confirm that the names I, formerly known as MISS 

ONYINYECHI VERA Adegboyega Oluwadamilola IBODJE JAMES OLIVIA, IBODJE EBEDE 

FAITH 

AMARACHI, now wish to be Favour, now wish to be known EMUOBOSA OLIVIA and EGHONGHON, now wish to 

known and addressed as and addressed as Mrs Ayodele EGBERHI EMUOBOSA OLIVIA be known and addressed as 

UNEGBU ONYINYECHI Oluwadamilola Favour. All refer to me. I now wish to be known as MRS FAITH EDWIN 

VERA. All former documents 

OGOLO. All former 

former documents remain EGBERHI OLIVIA JAMES. All 

documents remain valid. 

remain valid. General public valid. General public please former documents remain valid. 

Banks and the general public 

please take note. 

take note. 

General public please take note. 


UKAEGBU OB 

ONOVO OKORONKWO 

EGBUCHULAM 

I, formerly known as MISS I, formerly known as Onovo This is to notify the General public I, formerly known as 

UKAEGBU LUCY CHINASA, Chinonso Joy, now wish to be 

that OKORONKWO MARTINS 

Egbuchulam Stephen Chijioke, 

now wish to be known and 

ONYEKACHI. remains one and 

known and addressed as Mrs. same person now wish to be known 

now wish to be known and 

addressed as MISS UKAEGBU 

Aniekwe Chinonso Joy. All and addressed as OKORONKWO addressed as Onyema Stephen 

THERESA CHINASA. All 

former documents remain ABI BONIFACE. All documents Chris Chijioke. All former 

former documents remain 

bearing my former name remains valid. documents remain valid. 

valid. General public please 


General public and Relevant General public please take 

take note. 

take note. 

Authorities please take note. 

note. 

CHUKWU 

ONOJIGHOFIA 

EBOIKE 

ATANOMA OD 

I, formerly known as Miss I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known as MISS 

CHUKWU PASCHALINE addressed as Miss addressed as MISS. ITOHAN ATANOMA OGHENEKOME 

OBIANUJU, now wish to be Onojighofia Joy Rume. Now MERCY OBASOGIE HOSSANA. Now wish to be 

known and addressed as Mrs wish to be known and EBOIKE. Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS 

NWACHI PASCHALINE addressed as Mrs Simon Joy 

known and addressed as MRS. O M A B U W A 

OBIANUJU NDUBUISI. All 

ITOHAN MERCY OPARAH. OGHENEKOME HOSSANA. 

Rume. All former documents 


All former documents remain All former documents remain 

remain valid, general public 


valid, general public please valid, general public please 

take note. 

please take note 

take note. 

take note. 

ADU ASUELIMHEN EJUKONEMU 

RICHARD OD 

I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and 

addressed as MISS. ADU addressed as DORCAS addressed as Miss addressed as ISRAEL 

ERHIEYOVWE. Now wish to ASUELIMHEN. Now wish to EJUKONEMU MABEL. Now RICHARD. Now wish to be 

be known and addressed as be known and addressed as wish to be known and addressed known and addressed as 

MRS. ERHIEYOVWE OSEREMHEN. DORCAS. as Mrs EHIZOGIE MABEL. OGBUTHU ISRAEL. All 

UNUEVWORO. All former ASUELIMHEN. All former All former documents remain former documents remain 

documents remain valid, documents remain valid, valid, general public please valid, general public please 

general public please take note. general public please take note. 

take note. 

take note. 

ONOJERAME 

FADIPE 

AGBONIFOH 

EDOBOR 

My name was wrongly I, formerly known and I, formerly known and addressed as I, formerly known and 

captured in my BVN as addressed as Miss Fadipe MISS AGBONIFOH, GIFT 

ONOJERAME COMFORT, 

addressed as MISS EDOBOR, 

Folashade Opeyemi, now 

instead of ONOJERAME 

OSAMUDIAME now wish to be NAOMI now wish to be known 

COMFORT ENEJETA That 

wishes to be known and 

my correct name is addressed as Mrs Adedamola known and addressed as MRS. and addressed as MRS. 

ONOJERAME COMFORT Folashade Opeyemi. All 

DURUOHA, NAOMI. All 

AYENI, GIFT OSAMUDIAME. All 

ENEJETA. All former documents remain valid. 


former documents remain valid. 

documents remain valid, General public, please take 


general public please take note. 

General public please take note. 

note. 

take note. 

TAIRE UMAR ODOGWU TUMA 

I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known, called and I, formerly known and 

addressed as MISS TAIRE, 

addressed As Miss Juliet addressed as MISS TUMA 

addressed as MALLAM 

RITA ARITECHIOMA now 

Nnedinma Odogwu, now wish ONYINDENYIFA, now wish 

wish to be known and addressed MUSA UMAR, now wish to to be known, called and addressed 

as Mrs. Juliet 

as MRS. EKPENKE, RITA be known and addressed as 

to be known and addressed as 

Nnedinma Omoriyekomwan. MRS. 

TIKO 

ARITECHIOMA. All former MUSA UMAR ALIYU. All All former documents remain ONYINDENYIFA. All former 

documents remain valid. former documents remain valid. General public and concerned 

authorities should general public please take 

documents remain valid, 

General public please take valid. General public please 

note. 

take note. 


note. 

UGOCHUKWU 

CHUKWUEMELIE 

POPOOLA 

ARENE 

l, formerly known and I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS I, formerly known and I, formerly known and 

addressed as UGOCHUKWU IJEOMA NDIDIAMAKA addressed as POPOOLA addressed as MISS ARENE 

CHRISTIANA ALOZIE. Now CHUKWUEMELIE, NOW WISH FUNMILAYO ESTHER, now JOSEPHINE, now wish to be 

wish to be known and addressed TO BE KNOWN AS MRS IJEOMA wish to be known and address known and addressed as MRS 

as ALOZIE CHRISTIANA NDIDIAMAKA LOIS NICOLE as.ADEOYE FUNMILAYO OHANOMA JOSEPHINE. All 

CHIAMAKA. All former 

OKEKE. ALL FORMER ESTHER. All documents former documents remain 

DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. bearing former names remain valid, general public, bank and 

documents remain valid. 

GENERAL PUBLIC PLEASE valid. General public, please all authorities concerned 

General public take note. 

TAKE NOTE. 

take note. 

should take note. 

AKINGBAYI 

OKAFOR 

ONWUKA 

TUMA 

I, formerly known and I, Formerly Known And Addressed I, Formerly Known And I, formerly known and 

addressed as Miss. As MISS OKAFOR Addressed As MISS addressed as JUSTINA 

AKINGBAYI Ayoola Mary. OGOCHUKWU FRANCISCA, ONWUKA, PATRICIA TUMA, now wish to be known 

Now wish to be known and 

UDOKA, Now Wish To Be 

Now Wish To Be Known And 

and addressed as JUSTINA 

addressed as Mrs. OKE Ayoola 

Known And Addressed As MRS 

Addressed As MRS EWENANDU 

ONYIA, PATRICIA UDOKA. 

OBI. All former documents 

Mary. All former documents OGOCHUKWU FRANCISCA. All All Former Documents remain valid, general public, 

remain valid. The general Former Documents Remain valid. Remain valid. General Public bank and all authorities 

public should please take note. General Public Please Take Note. Please Take Note. 

concerned should take note. 

ODIMGBE 

OBODO 

ATIJEGBE 

OLABIMPE 

I, formerly known and addressed as I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known as 

ODIMGBE OBIAGERI PATRICIA, addressed as MISS OBODO addressed as Miss. OLABIMPE OLUWATOSIN 

now wish to be known and OKIEMUTE. Now wish to be EMMANUELA OGAGA HANNAH. Now wish to be 

known and addressed as MRS. ATIJEGBE. Now wish to be known and addressed as 

addressed as ODIOR OBIAGERI 

OGEDEGBE OKIEMUTE known and addressed as MRS. AKPEGHO as HANNAH. 

PATRICIA. All former documents 

ANTONIA. All former EMMANUELA OGAGA All former documents remain 

remain valid, general public and all documents remain valid, AKOREH. All former vaild. General public, banks 

authorities concerned should take general public please take documents remain valid, and concerned institution 

note. 

note. 

general public please take note should please take note. 

ODUKUDU 

WISDOM 

EFOSA 

OKOKO 

This is to notify the general 

public that ODUKUDU 

BLESSING OGHENEOSIVWI 

and ODUKUDU BLESSING 

OSIVWI is one and the same 

person, now wish to be known 

as ODUKUDU BLESSING 

OGHENEOSIVWI general 

public should please take note. 

I, formerly known as Wisdom 

Alenoghena James, now wish 

to be know and Addressed as 

Abdul Alenoghena Wisdom. 

All former documents remain 

valid, concerned authorities 

and the general public should 


This is to confirmed that EFOSA 

OSAHENRUMWEN ROMAN and 

IKEKHIDE OSAHENRUMWEN 

ROMAN, refer to me. I now wish to 

be known and addressed as 

IKEKHIDE OSAHENRUMWEN 

ROMAN. All former documents 

remains valid, general public please 

take note. 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Mrs Okoko 

Bridget. Now wish to be 

known and addressed as 

Miss Tietie Bridget. All 


valid, general public please 

take note. 

ADEPOJU 

:Vanguard 

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS 

ADEPOJU FOLASHADE 

COMFORT, NOW WISH TO BE 

KNOWN AS MRS OLAIFA 

FOLASHADE COMFORT. ALL 

FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN 

VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC 

TAKE NOTE. 

BENUKO 


addressed as Miss Benuko 

Mofe, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs Mofe 

Precious Dogho. All former 


general public, bank and all 

authorities concerned should 

take note. 

OKHUOFU 


addressed as Miss. Esther 

OKHUOFU. Now wish to be 

known and addressed as 

Mrs.Esther ILESANMI. All 


valid. The general public 

should please take note. 

KONBOYE 


addressed as Miss KONBOYE 

EBIAREDE, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Mrs 

KINGSLEY EBIAREDE. All 


valid, general public and all 

authorities concerned should 

take note. 

OKONEDO 

I, formerly known called and 

addressed as Miss Okonedo 

Margaret Ufuoma and 

Okonedo Maggie Ufuoma. 

Now wish to be known and 

addressed as Mrs. Abogo 

Maggie Ufuoma. All former 


general public please take 

note. 

JAGBRO 


addressed as Jagbro 

Obakpororo. Now wish to be 

known and addressed as Isaac 

Obakpororo. All former 


general public please take 

note. 

:@vanguardnews 

NEWS 

HOTLINES: 

08052867023, 

08052867058 

Delta LP gov candidate, Pela blames 

neglect of Ndokwa-nation on PDP 

By Lucky Oji 

WALE—THE governorship 

Kcandidate of Labour Party for 

the 2023 general elections in 

Delta State, Deacon Kennedy 

Pela , has taken a swipe at the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

over the abandonment of 

Ndokwa people by the party, 

vowing to turn their fortunes 

around if voted into power. 

Pela made this declaration 

during a reception hosted by a 

chieftain and member of the LP 

Presidential Campaign Council, 

Chief Kenneth Olise in Ndemili 

community of the state. 

He said: "Today is a special 

day that God made for us to be 

hosted by our indefatigable 

leader and a noble son of 

Ndokwa nation, a great leader 

of our party, Chief Olise. First I 

wish to let you know that 

Ndokwa nation is very strategic 

in the economic prosperity and 

development of Nigeria as a 

whole and the second largest in 

terms of landmass and population 

in Delta State. 

"But despite the fortunes that 

the federal and state government 

have been making from 

the oil and gas operations, 

Ndokwa nation has continued 

to live with water pollution, gas 

flaring with toxic emissions and 

land degradation with no consideration 

for critical social and 

physical infrastructure, and this 

has to stop 

"Today, I stand here to tell you 

that you do not deserve such 

neglect. Those of us that have 

ears to listen already hear your 

cries. We hear the cries of many 

fathers and mothers, brothers 

and sisters that are passing 

through suffering and undue 

hardship, and are in several 

camps today because of the flooding 

that overtook their homes, 

their land and their properties." 

"On our part as Labour Party, 

we shall continuously engage 

and work with all the established 

unions that represent you, such 

as Ndokwa Neku Union (NNU), 

Ndokwa youths on the platform 

of Ikolobie Ndokwa, and many 

others to ensure that both the 

state and federal government 

begin to tackle many lchallenges 

that still exist in Ndokwa land 

today. 

Earlier the LP chieftain and 

member of the Presidential Campaign 

Council, Chief Kenneth 

Olise while thanking the Delta 

State LP Gubernatorial Candidate, 

for honouring the reception, 

described Pela has a very credible 

personality that also has a 

solid technocrat, Prof. Nwabogo 

Umukoro from Ndokwa nation as 

his deputy. 

He vowed that the entire 

Ndokwa nation will vote for Peter 

Obi and all Labour Party candidates 

as the party has come to 

remove Nigerians from the 

shackles of political cabals, urging 

Deltans to rise up to vote en 

masse for all LP candidates come 

2023 

2023: Esiso 

urges Ethiope 

Federal 

Constituency to 

vote Erhiatake 

Ibori-Suenu 

hairman of Delta State 

CChapter of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, Olorogun 

Kingsley Esiso, has appealed to 

party faithfuls and eligible votes 

in Ethiope Federal Constituency 

to vote for the party's candidate, 

Hon Mrs Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu. 

Esiso made the appeal at PDP 

Ward 8 and Ward 5 campaigns in 

Okpara Waterside and Ovu in 

Ethiope East Local Government 

Area of the state, saying that his 

office has been reliably informed 

that some person's are allegedly 

deceiving eligible voters and 

some PDP party faithfuls to vote 

a certain House of Representatives 

candidate of another party 

who defected from PDP after he 

lost to Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu at 

the party primary. 

He said those involved in the 

alleged act of political deception 

should desist from any form of 

anti party activity and remain focused, 

loyal, as well as mobilize 

eligible voters to vote Erhiatake 

Ibori-Suenu, pointing out that 

she was and still eminently qualified, 

vibrant and competent to 

represent the good people of 

Ethiope Federal Constituency at 

the green chambers. 

"It is very important for me to 

state here and now that 4/5 voting 

formula is not acceptable and 

those contemplating anti party 

should desist from doing so, going 

forward. 

"Erhiatake is PDP candidate 

for Ethiope Federal Constituency. 

The incumbent member 

representing that constituency 

has defected to another political 

party, and no member of PDP, 

their political associates, supporters 

and family members should 

mobilize for him and no member 

of our party should be involved 

in any form of anti party activity. 

Vote 5/5 for PDP in Ethiope 

Federal Constituency and across 

the state in the forthcoming 

2023 general elections. 

"Our amiable governor and 

PDP Vice Presidential Candidate, 

Senator Dr Ifeanyi Arthur 

Okowa, who by the grace of God 

will become Vice President of Nigeria 

in 2023, shall proactively 

lead the state PDP elected Representatives 

at the Federal level.

Adesanya brutally knocked 

out by Pereira 

I 

SRAEL ADESANYA's reign as 

UFC middleweight champion 

came to a brutal end at the hands of 

Alex Pereira. 

The Last Stylebender renewed his 

rivalry with the Glory double champ 

early yesterday in the main event of 

UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden 

in New York. 

Adesanya, 33, went into the penultimate 

pay-per-view main event 

of the year looking to avenge the brutal 

knockout loss he suffered to 

Pereira in his final kickboxing bout 

five years ago. 

But the same fate befell him in the 

fifth round of a thriller at The World's 

Most Famous Arena. 

Adesanya was his usual elusive self 

to begin with, mixing his trademark 

feints with swift leg kicks. 

He managed to draw several big 

reactions from the big Brazilian, 

whom he sent backwards with a 

good stiff right hand. 

Pereira tried to utilise heavy pressure 

and threw his left hook multiple 

times - although Adesanya was 

wise to it. 

He did, however, find a home for 

the hook that stopped the fan favourite 

five years ago before narrowly 

missing with a flying knee. 

But Adesanya punctuated the 

round with a nasty right hand and a 

left hook that wobbled Pereira before 

the horn. 

Adesanya's elusiveness proved to 

be a problem for Pereira again in the 

second. 

He did a brilliant job of staying on 

the outside and avoiding Pereira’s 

left hook. 

A dogged and determined Pereira 

came out aggressive after the restart 

and began stalking the champion. 

Adesanya fell backwards after 

checking a kick, although Pereira 

failed to capitalise on the golden 

opportunity. 

But he did capitalise after hurting 

Adesanya with a monstrous hook 

PFAN, NFF 

return to court 

November 21 

By Jacob Ajom 

The fight by the Professional 

Footballers Association of Nigeria- 

PFAN to bring about equity, 

fair and equal representation in 

the Congress of the Nigeria Football 

Federation, its Executive 

Board, and Sub-Committees continues 

as Appeal Court of the Federal 

Capital Territory Division has 

fixed 21st of November 2022 for 

ruling. 

This followed the submissions 

from both parties in the issue. 

The PFAN Task Force had since 

challenged the September 29th 

ruling by Court of Appeal with a 

77 page response and its prepared 

to head to the Supreme Court if 

not satisfied with the final ruling 

of the court. 

No progress has been made on 

the Alternative Dispute Resolution 

process initiated by the NFF which 

first sitting took place on October 

5th 2022 at Reno Hotels Abuja. 

The Deputy Governor of Edo State 

Comrade Philip Shuaibu also 

joined the ADR process on the 11th 

of October 2022 with a formal invitation 

of members of the PFAN 

Task Force to Government House 

Benin City. No further progress has 

been made in the last one month. 

A member of The PFAN task 

force, Harrison Jallah assured all 

Nigeria footballers (current and 

retired) world wide that there is no 

alternative to reforms in Nigeria 

Football. “The monopoly of the 

State Football Association Chairmen 

that has grossly retarded the 

growth of Nigeria Football is being 

confronted frontally by the 

PFAN task force and must be broken.” 

against the fence. 

Adesanya's equilibrium was gone 

and he immediately went into survival 

mode. 

Pereira unloaded punishing strike 

after punishing strike on the former 

champion, who tried his best to utilise 

head movement to survive the 

storm. 

But referee Marc Goddard waved 

off the contest after seeing Adesanya 

fail to answer the brutal strikes, thus 

bringing an end to the dominant 

reign of the Last Stylebender. 

CAF WCL bronze: Bayelsa Queens get over 

$350k (N260 m) after historic feat 

Nigerian champions Bayelsa 

Queens are set for a N260 million 

windfall following their impressive 

outing in the CAF Women's 

Champions League, CAFWCL in 

Morocco.. 

The Prosperity Girls defeated their 

Tanzanian counterparts, Simba 

Queens, 1-0 in the third-place match 

to finish on the podium in the 2022 

edition. 

Juliet Sunday scored the only goal 

of the match in the second half to 

inspire Bayelsa to the hard-fought 

victory. 

Following their narrow win over 

Simba Queens in the third-place 

playoff, the Queens will return to 

Nigeria with bronze medals on their 

necks. 

For their gallant efforts against 

Simba, Nigeria's Bayelsa Queens 

will receive $150, 000 for taking home 

the bronze medal. 

The Prosperity Girls had already 

secured a bigger pay cheque of 

$200, 000 for making it to the semifinals 

where they eventually lost 

narrowly to ASFAR Morocco, which 

brings it to $350, 000(about N260 

million). 

It is the first time a Nigerian club 

will achieve the feat, with Bayelsa 

doing so in their maiden appearance 

in the CAF competition. 

The CAF Women's Champions 

League is the richest Women's Club 

competition in Africa and Bayelsa 

Queens are the first Nigerian club 

to get a slice of the cake. 

Lookman 

bangs in 7th 

goal in Serie 

A for Atalanta 

Super Eagles and Atalanta 

winger, Ademola Lookman 

grabbed his seventh goal in 

Serie A this season, but it was 

not enough as Atalanta fell 3-2 

at home to Inter Milan. 

Lookman scored the opening 

goalin the 25th minute only for 

Inter to fight back and triumph 

3-2. 

The winger is now just two 

goals behind the league’s leading 

scorer Victor Osimhen, who 

has netted nine goals for 

Napoli. 

Atalanta have dropped to 

sixth on the table with 27 points 

from 15 matches. 

•Queens 


Eriksson: NFF officials demanded 

half my salary to lead Super 

Eagles to 2010 W/Cup 

Former England manager Sven- 

Goran Eriksson has alleged that 

Nigerian officials demanded for half 

of his salary for him to lead the Super 

Eagles to the 2010 World Cup in 

South Africa. 

Eriksson revealed in his book My 

Story. 

Sven disclosed that he was interviewed 

by a panel of officials, who 

asked “stupid” questions, for the 

vacant Super Eagles post at the 

Hilton Hotel in Abuja. 

This was under the NFF Presidency 

of Sani Lulu and coach 

Shuaibu Amodu had been fired after 

the country had crashed out by 

the semifinal of the 2010 AFCON in 

Angola. 

“After the meeting (interview), an 

agent whom Athole (Eriksson’s 

agent) worked with locally explained 

that half of my salary would 

•Eriksson 

Delta 2022: Work on new tartan 

track for Stephen Keshi 

stadium begins 

fter the completion of all neces 

Asary underground work, the laying 

of the tartan track at Stephen 

Keshi stadium has started in readiness 

for Delta 2022 National Sports 

Festival. 

The 21st National Sports Festival 

tagged Delta 2022 will hold from 

November 28 to December 10 as 

scheduled. 

A member of the Local Organising 

Committee (LOC) revealed yesterday 

that all necessary underground 

work to solidify the tartan 

track had been done. 

"The tartan track actually arrived 

in Asaba since last week. The contractors 

have been working both day 

and night to ensure the underground 

work is completed. Now, 

they are done with the priming and 

the laying of the tartan track has commenced. 

I am sure the the work will 

be completed before the end of this 

week. 

"Those working on the indoor 

sports hall are doing a good job. 

They have increased the workforce 

and I am positive everything will be 

ready for the athletes to showcase 

their talent from November 28 to December 

10," the LOC official said yesterday. 

Recall that the Sports ministry 

Chief Sunday Dare and members of 

the Main Organizing Committee 

(MOC), recently took a tour of the 

facilities for Delta 2022 National 

Sports Festival during a joint Technical 

meeting in Asaba. Dare said 

he was highly impressed with the 

level of work done by the various 

contractors. 

“The last time I came here, there 

were no foundation, but I can say 

that virtually all the facilities are 

about 80 percent ready. I am really 

impressed. This shows the level of 

seriousness the government and 

people of Delta State attach to the 

National Sports Festival,” Dare 

stated. 

Former Nigeria international, 

Chief Segun Odegbami has 

disclosed that the health condition 

of his former team mate 

Henry Nwosu is deteriorating 

fast. 

Odegbamo who was briefed by 

an official of the Professional 

Footballers Association of Nigeria 

who visited Nwosu at the 

Asaba General Hospital wrote 

on a social platform 'Family 

United By Sports' , 

"His(Nwosu's) condition is worsening 

by the day. We must do 

everything we can not to let him 

die.” “Continuing, he said, “the 

PFAN official who visited him 

said Henry's situation was so 

bad that he could not make himself 

take any pictures of Henry 

to show the world.” “Despite a 

plethora of recent support, the 

reality on ground is that he has 

been in the same hospital for 6 

weeks and, although the best 

care the hospital can offer is 

being provided, this past one 

be deposited in a special bank account,” 

alleges Eriksson. 

“It was not too hard to figure out 

that the special account would involve 

someone else taking a piece of 

my pie if I got the job. 

“There was no way I would agree 

to that. 

“I never received an offer of a contract, 

and it was just as well.” 

The Swede Lars Lagerback will 

later be appointed to lead Nigeria to 

the 2010 World Cup, where the team 

failed to go past the first round. 

Lulu I know 

nothing about 

Eriksson's 

allegation 

By Jacob Ajom 

Former President of the Nigeria 

Football Federation, under 

whose regime the former England 

coach, Sven Goran Eriksson was interviewed 

for the Super Eagles job 

has denied knowledge of allegation 

made by the coach against officials 

of the NFF who interviewed him. 

Alhaji Lulu, who is still bitter over 

the manner Nigerians 'chased' him 

out of office, in answer to our inquiry 

asked, “did he mention my 

name as one of those who interviewed 

him?” 

Instead, the former NFF boss directed 

us to investigate and find out 

those who were in the committee 

that interviewed the Swiss. 

“Even as I am no longer in the 

NFF, there is continuity in the system. 

You can still find out from the 

NFF who were in charge. “I don't 

interview and I never interviewed. 

We established committees who 

were in charge of things like that.” 

When reminded that he was responsible 

for the appointment of 

members of the committee, Lulu 

quipped, “Something that happened 

about 12, 13 or 14 years ago? 

I have gone into so many things 

and a lot to think about. You know 

what you people did to me. I died 

and God resurrected me. So let me 

not be involved in talking about 

what happened in my regime. You 

people have a template, you can go 

into what happened under my regime. 

I shouldn't be talking as if I 

am still in office.” 

•Lulu 

Nwosu's condition worsens 

week, his situation has worsened 

badly; he can no longer sit without 

support; he cannot walk; he 

has been losing his memory; he 

no longer eats and has to be fed 

with liquids only; he is losing his 

sight and hardly recognises people 

any more; he cannot even 

talk audibly again,”.“ 

•Nwosu

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022 

Sudoku 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

FRIDAY’S ANSWER 

How to Play Sudoku 

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. 

C 

M 

Y 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

FRIDAY’S SOLUTION 

ACROSS 

7 Delighted (4,3,4) 

8 Leisurely walk (6) 

9 Shake with cold (6) 

10 Wooden hammer (6) 

12 Peak (6) 

13 Nervous twitch (3) 

14 Colour of the spectrum (6) 

16 Nonsensical (6) 

18 Belly laugh (6) 

20 Fair-haired (6) 

22 Plotter (11) 

DOWN 

1 Young horse (4) 

2 Draw back, as with fear (6) 

3 Long dagger (8) 

4 A smaller amount (4) 

5 Speaker's platform (6) 

6 Inside (8) 

11 Proclaim (8) 

12 Sheath for a sword (8) 

15 Very young child (6) 

17 Unwrinkled (6) 

19 Cried (4) 

21 Highland dagger (4) 

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