21112022

C 

M 

Y 

K 

ELECTORAL ACT 2022 (2) 

How strict adherence 

to rule of law can 14 

salvage 2023 elections 

•Full Federal High Court (Preelection) 

Practice Direction 

I studied law 

to fulfill my 

father’s wish 

—AMAECHI 

8 

FG’s domestic borrowing 

crowds out private sector 

in 2022 

19 

VOL. 39: NO. 9,927 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022 

How politicians still threaten 

credible polls—INEC SOURCE 

•IREV, RATECHs will check rigging •How Nigerians can key in •immediate access to uploaded 

Polling Units results by voters is key •What voters must know and do to navigate the IREV sphere 

•Patriotic INEC staff averted rigging plot in Anambra governorship poll 

5 

Zenith Bank 

heralds 

Yuletide 

season 

with Lagos 

Christmas 

light-up 20 

Qatar 0 Ecuador 2: 

Qatar World Cup opens with 

fanfare, despite criticisms 

39 

2023: 

It's turn 

of S-East 

to produce 

next 

President 

—OHANAEZE 

Mr & Mrs 

11 

TERROR ALERT: 

We 

notified 

FG, says 

UK envoy, 

Laing 9 

COLUMNISTS 

PDP CRISIS: We’re still open to 

reconciliation, say G5 govs, others 

2023: I won’t step down 

for anybody, NNPP’s party 

to beat —Kwankwaso 35 

Gunmen kidnap Kwara 

cleric, son, sibling, 

demand N100m 

OWEI LAKEMFA 16 CHIDI ODINKALU 17 

9 

6

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022 — 3


How politicians still threaten credible 

polls — INEC source 

By Jide Ajani, 

General Editor 

Cthe OMPLEMENTING 

efforts of the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, in its drive to hand 

to Nigerians free, fair and 

credible elections in 2023, 

Vanguard can 

authoritatively provide 

Nigerians a step-by-step 

process of how to assist 

the commission and, 

indeed, the nation, to 

deliver elections worthy 

of their calling. 

Last week, the National 

Chairman of INEC, 

Professor Mahmood 

Yakubu, re-committed the 

commission to its avowed 

determination to deliver 

on the promise of 

free, fair and credible 

elections. 

He insisted that the 

Bimodal Verification 

Voting System, BVAS, 

and the uploading of 

results real time had 

come to stay. 

The nagging question is 

whether Nigerians will 

have access to view 

polling units results as 

they are uploaded on the 

INEC Server and its 

result-viewing portal, 

INEC Election Result 

Viewing, IREV, portal 

simultaneously. 

The National Chairman, 

Professor Yakubu and 

Festus Okoye, National 

Commissioner and 

Chairman, Information 

and Voter Education 

Committee, avoided 

making a commitment to 

Nigerians that as polling 

units results are being 

uploaded to the INEC 

server, the same results 

would be uploaded 

simultaneously to INEC 

Election Result Viewing, 

IREV, portal for the 

viewing confirmation of 

Nigerians. 

Vanguard was 

authoritatively informed 

by INEC sources at its 

•IREV, RATECHs will check rigging •How Nigerians can key in 

•immediate access to uploaded Polling Units results by voters is key •What 

voters must know and do to navigate the IREV sphere •Patriotic INEC 

staff averted rigging plot in Anambra governorship poll 

headquarters in Abuja 

that there is a difference 

between real time upload 

of results to the INEC 

Server and real time 

upload of results to the 

IREV portal. 

Whereas the INEC 

Server used for the 

election is the warehouse 

for documentation and 

storage of election results, 

which only a specific and 

designated number of 

senior staff of the 

commission have access, 

the IREV Portal is the 

window opened to 

members of the public to 

access results of elections. 

Vanguard learned that 

there is a difference 

between realtime upload 

of polling units results to 

the INEC Server and real 

time release of results on 

the IREV portal. 

The INEC source 

disclosed that the 

intendment of the 

commission at the time of 

piloting the system "is to 

first upload the polling 

units results to the INEC 

Server, clean up whatever 

errors that may have 

occurred using its 

R e g i s t r a t i o n 

Area Technicians, 

RATECHs, who also have 

access to the Server, 

before uploading the 

same polling units results 

onto the IREV portal 

where Nigerians can then 

have access.” 

Role of 

RATECHS 

But there are 

indications, and some 

senior officials of INEC 

are aware, that politicians 

will attempt to 

compromise the process 

at the ward level by 

Registration Area 

Technicians, RATECHS, 

given that they have 

access to the Server and 

are expected to validate 

same before upload to the 

IREV portal. 

Vanguard was informed 

that whereas the 

inviolability of BVAS 

remained, some 

politicians had already 

devised their own means 

of accommodating same. 

It was discovered that 

when voting is completed 

at the polling unit and 

results declared, signed 

by the candidates’ agents 

and the presiding officer 

and pasted on the wall for 

voters to see, and 

simultaneously uploadrd 

to the INEC server, the 

surest guarantee for all 

political parties would be 

an equally simultaneous 

upload of the same result 

to the IREV portal for all 

Resurgence of kidnapping in the South West 

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

Nigerians to see as it is 

uploaded to the server. 

“That way”, the INEC 

source continued, “it will 

be difficult for any form 

of compromise by 

RATECHs to upload prewritten 

form EC8A 

results to the IREV public 

portal different from 

original results from 

polling units. 

“But a situation where 

results are uploaded in 

realtime to the INEC 

server, but would then be 

validated by Registration 

INTEGRITY GROUP: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors: Seyi Makinde of Oyo; Samuel Ortom, 

Benue; Nyesom Wike, Rivers; Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu and Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia during their meeting in 

Lagos, yesterday, where they announced the formation of Integrity Group. Photo: NAN 

By Elizabeth Osayande 

Area Technicians, 

RATECHs, at the 

Ward level, could give 

rise to interception and 

compromise as was 

discovered in Anambra 

governorship election 

where several wards of a 

number of LGAs where 

RATECHs uploaded prewritten 

new form EC8A 

result to the portal was 

almost sealed, but for the 

refusal of some collation 

officers, which led to its 

failure - but it would have 

been doable if the other 

INEC officials had 

cooperated. 

“What has been 

discovered - and which 

was attempted during the 

Anambra 2021 

governorship election 

and even in Cross River 

State - is that some 

politicians attempted to 

compromise the process 

and almost succeeded by 

using RATECHs at ward 

level to upload totally 

different results. 

''Had those people also 

gone ahead with the plan, 

the outcome of Anambra 

election wouldn’t have 

been what it turned out to 

be.” 

The source in INEC 

further said "if polling 

units results are not sent 

simultaneously to both 

server and IREV public 

portal for Nigerians to 

have access to view the 

same result, real time, 

Continues on Page 35 

U kidnapping nfortunately, 

has 

become the business of 

the day in Nigeria. Our 

security forces should 

wake up to their 

responsibilities. Local 

hunters 

and 

AMOTEKUN should 

also join them to curb the 

activities of criminals in 

the region. 

—-Layeni Hakeem, 

Businessman 

The Lagos-Ibadan 

Expressway road is 

an important route for the 

entire nation. Literally 

everything that comes 

from Lagos goes through 

that route. We are already 

seeing increases in the 

cost of delivering goods 

through that route, so the 

situation should be 

tackled urgently. 

—UduakUwah, 

Customer Service agent 

The 

Federal 

Government must 

rise to its responsibilities 

by putting proactive 

measures in place such 

as drones and permanent 

security patrols and 

checkpoints within that 

axis. The Southwest 

governors must also do 

something fast. 

— - U c h e 

Emmanuel,Human 

Rights Activist 

L agos-Ibadan 

Expressway is one of 

the busiest routes in Nigeria. 

I am ashamed as a citizen 

that such a road could lack 

security infrastructures to the 

point that kidnappers are 

now having a field day. If 

this situation is not arrested 

immediately, the region 

might end up like the 

Northeast. 

—-Ben Ugbana,Media 

practitioner 

Insecurity 

and 

kidnapping across 

the country need urgent 

attention. People are now 

scared of using the roads 

and flight fees are 

skyrocketing daily. 

Southwest Governors and 

the Federal Government 

should wake up to their 

responsibilities. 

—Soyiga Adeshina, 

Entrepreneur 

We need strong 

political will to 

curb the situation. 

Prosperity thrives 

where there is peace. 

Checkmating the 

situation also 

requires collective 

effort from both the 

leaders 

and 

followers. 

—-Hadji Ahmed, 

Youth advocate 

C 

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6 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022 

Man goes 

berserk, kills 

mother-in-law, 

worshipper 

inside Lagos 

church 

By Efe Onodjae & 

Mathew Johnson 

A 

38-year-old man, Jimoh Jogbo, 

stormed an undisclosed church in 

the Lekki area of Lagos and allegedly 

attacked his mother-in-law, resulting in 

her death. 

Another worshipper, Jamiu Sakiru, 40, 

who attempted to raise the alarm, also 

had his life snuffed out by the suspect. 

Preliminary investigation by the Police 

revealed that the suspect had carnal 

knowledge of his wife's 14-year-old 

younger sister. 

His mother-in-law was said to have 

refused to bow to entreaties by the suspect, 

insisting that the case would be reported 

to the Police for justice to prevail. 

The attack on her was said to be an 

apparent bid to stop her from carrying 

out her threat. 

The suspect's wife, Modupe Bolaji, 

reported the matter to Policemen at 

Akodo division. 

She said her husband left their 

apartment on Olodana street, Orofun 

Town, Ibeju Lekki and stormed the 

church at about 1 am, while they were 

preparing for a prayer section. 

She gave the identity of her mother as 

Fatimo Muskilu,49. 

She said: "He hit her with a hard 

object. He also attacked Jamiu, who saw 

him and attempted to shout. Jamiu died 

on the spot." 

The Lagos State Police Public 

Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, 

who confirmed the incident, said it 

occurred on November 14, 2022. 

According to him: "The 49-year-old 

woman was rushed to Akodo General 

Hospital where she was confirmed dead. 

Policemen visited the scene of the 

incident from the Akodo division. There 

were marks of violence on the corpses 

which were deposited at the Epe General 

Hospital. 

“The 

suspect 

h a s 

been 

arrested 

and will 

b e 

transferred 

to the 

SCIID 

f o r 

further 

investigation." 

•The suspect, Jimoh Jogbo. 

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

:Vanguard 

News 

9 killed as passenger vehicle 

plunges into dam in Kano 

Gunmen kidnap Kwara cleric, son, sibling, demand N100m 

ransom 

By Demola Akinyemi 

THREE persons, Sofiu 

Amolegbe, his son, Aliyu, and 

his sibling, Fasasi, were reportedly 

kidnapped, weekend, by gunmen, at 

their private residence in Oko- 

Olowo, along Ilorin-Jebba 

expressway, in Moro Local 

Government area of Kwara State. 

Vanguard reliably gathered that 

the suspected kidnappers removed 

the anti-burglary proof of a window 

in the building, through which they 

By Bashir Bello 

KANO—NO fewer than nine 

passengers reportedly lost their 

lives when a vehicle conveying them 

plunged into Fada Dam along Kano - 

Katsina road in Gwarzo local 

government area of Kano State, 

Saturday night. 

It was gathered that three other 

passengers in the vehicle were rescued. 

Confirming the incident, yesterday, 

the spokesperson, Kano State Fire 

Service, Saminu Yusif, said the accident 

involved a Golf wagon car with 12 

passengers coming from Kano and 

heading to Katsina. 

Abdullahi said: "On Saturday, 

November 19, 2022, the state fire service 

received an emergency call through Ali 

Mai Faci, at about 18:45 hrs and he 

reported an incident at Fada dam 

Gwarzo LGA Dayi road. 

"When our men from Gwarzo fire station 

reached the area at about 19:10 hrs, they 

found that a Golf Wagon with an unknown 

registration number, coming from Kano 

heading to Katsina, fell inside Fada dam. 

"Twelve people of Katsina State were 

rescued, all with unknown names. 

"Victims involved are 2 girls of about 6 

months, 4 women of about 30, 28, 27 and 25 

years old, as well as 6 men of about 48, 45, 42, 

40, 35 and 28 years old. 

"With the good efforts of our men and local 

fishermen, we successfully rescued three 

persons alive, while nine people were 

unconscious. We conveyed all victims to 

Gwarzo General hospital for medical attention 

and doctors confirmed the 9 people dead," he 

said. 

The spokesperson, however, maintained 

that the incident happened as a result of a tire 

burst leading to the loss of control of the 

vehicle. 

COMMEMORATION—Members of Exco of Delta State Forum of Accountants, led by 

its Chairman, Mr. Charles Isiaye, with staff and account students of Unity Secondary 

School, Okpanam, Delta State, during the forum's commemoration of the International 

Accountants Day celebration, when they visited the students at the school 

premises. 

NAF destroys terrorist kingpin, Mallam 

Ila's camp, kills 7 

By Kingsley Omonobi & 

Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo 

ABUJA—SEVEN notorious 

terrorists, under the leadership of 

members of Mallam Ila, have been 

neutralised by the Nigerian Air Force, 

NAF, aircraft under 'Operation Hadarin 

Daji'. 

The strikes, which were carried out in 

sustenance of efforts aimed at ridding 

the North West of Nigeria of terrorist 

activities, took place, weekend, at the 

terrorist enclave, located about 9km East 

of Manawa Village, in Shinkafi Local 

Government Area of Zamfara State. 

After the air strike on the location, 

multiple explosions were observed with 

huge fireballs, indicative of other highly 

inflammable materials hidden in the 

location. 

....Victims relations beg Kwara govt for help 

gained access into the room and 

abducted the trio at gunpoint. 

It was also gathered that a bold 

attempt by Fasasi to escape was met 

with stiff resistance from the 

kidnappers, who reportedly rained 

bullets on him and also matcheted 

him. 

Confirming the incident, the father 

of the victims, Imam Amolegbe of 

Dada, Okelele area, Ilorin, who 

spoke with journalists, said that the 

kidnappers later abandoned Fasasi 

thinking he was dead. 

....Military jets kill bandits in 

Kaduna, destroy enclaves 

Battle damage assessment confirmed 

that seven terrorists were eliminated, 

while Mallam Ila narrowly escaped but 

sustained critical injuries. 

Military authorities said that Mallam 

Ila remains a high-value target due to 

his closeness and association with 

terrorist leaders Bello Turji and Dan 

Bokoyo. 

Ila, Turji and Bokoyo’s foot soldiers 

have also been responsible for attacks 

in Shinkafi general area of Zamfara 

State as well as parts of Kaduna, Niger, 

Kebbi and Sokoto States. 

Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, 

NAF Director of Public Relations and 

Information, confirmed the strikes and 

maintained that "strikes on key terrorists 

and their hideouts continue until all 

areas are rid of enemies of the State." 

Police rescue 5 kidnapped victims in Kebbi 

BIRNIN 

KEBBI—FIVE 

kidnapped victims were 

rescued by police operatives in two 

separate incidents in Kebbi State. 

Two women and a man abducted 

along Bena-Mairairai road were 

rescued by mobile policemen 

deployed to the scene. 

The Commissioner of Police in the 

state, Ahmed Magaji-Kontagora, 

who confirmed the rescue of the five 

persons, yesterday, in Birnin Kebbi, 

said that the three victims, Jamila 

Ahamad, Shamsiya Ahamad and 

Tasi’u Haruna, were from Mairairai 

village of Danko/Wasagu Local 

Government Area. 

“We received an information that 

a gang of bandits has barricaded 

Bena-Mairairai road and on receipt 

of the information, mobile 

policemen were immediately 

mobilised to the scene. 

"They engaged the bandits in gun 

battle, forcing the criminals to 

abandon their victims, who were 

rescued unhurt and have been 

reunited with their family. 

“Consequently, one Toyota 

Corolla, ash colour, with registration 

Imam Amolegbe also said that the 

victim is now recuperating at a 

private hospital in Ilorin. 

The Cleric further said that the 

kidnappers have contacted the 

family demanding N100m ransom. 

“ The kidnappers have contacted 

us and they are asking for N100m 

ransom. We have begged them to 

accept N10m from us, even though 

we don’t have the money. 

“ I am appealing to the state 

government and men of goodwill to 

assist us in getting my two sons and 

According to him: "The NAF and other 

security agencies remain on track to 

seeing the ongoing counterterrorism 

effort to a conclusive end." 

Also, the enclave of another terrorist group, 

under the leadership of Alhaji Ganai, in 

Kidandan, Giwa LGA, Kaduna state. 

Confirming the assault, Kaduna State 

Commissioner for Internal Security and 

Home Affairs, in a statement, added that the 

hideout of bandit Ali Kawaje in Birnin Gwari 

LGA was similarly targeted and destroyed, as 

well as those of bandits Musa Pajelo and 

Kachalla Bello. 

Targets were also engaged and destroyed 

in Walawa area, Fadaman Kanauta, and 

Kuduru. Bandits were sighted and neutralized 

in locations 4km southwest of Alhaji Ishiaka, 

6km northeast of Maguzawa, and 2km west 

of Yelwa. 

number Kano DTF 236 LP, belonging 

to the bandits, was also recovered. 

“To beef up security, aggressive 

patrol has been intensified in the area 

to prevent further incursion of the 

bandits,” the commissioner said. 

Magaji-Kontagora said the other two 

rescued victims were abducted from 

Runtuwa Makaranta Fulani in Dakingari 

District of Suru Local Government Area. 

grandson out of the den of the 

kidnappers,” the cleric said in a shaky 

voice. 

Since the news of the sad event broke 

out on Saturday, sympathisers have 

been thronging the Dada ancestral home 

of the victims to commiserate with their 

father who is a popular cleric in the area. 

Some of the cleric’s associates have also 

been holding special prayers that could 

aid the safe return of the victims. 

The spokesman of Kwara State Police 

Command, Okasanmi Ajayi, also 

confirmed the abduction of the victims, 

adding that two suspects have been 

arrested in connection with the matter. 

Lady stabs lover 

to death during 

quarrel in Lagos 

By Mathew Johnson 

THE Police in Lagos have 

arrested a lady for allegedly 

stabbing her 21-year-old lover, Sadiq 

Dahiru, to death, in the Lekki area of 

Lagos. 

The incident occurred in the early 

hours of yesterday, at the deceased 

apartment on Oba Amusa Street, 

Agungi, Lekki. 

Vanguard gathered that the lovers 

were embroiled in a quarrel that 

degenerated into a fight, in the process 

of which the suspect, Esther Paul, made 

for the kitchen knife and allegedly 

stabbed Dahiru. 

Stepfather of the deceased, Mr 

Kazem Obafunso, alerted policemen 

at Ilasan Division, whose officers 

rushed Dahiru, who was bleeding 

profusely, to Evercare Hospital Lekki, 

where he was confirmed dead by the 

doctor on duty. 

The suspect was subsequently 

arrested. 

The spokesman for the Lagos State 

Police Command, SP Benjamin 

Hudenyin, informed that the body had 

been deposited at the IDH mortuary, 

adding that an autopsy would be 

carried out as part of an ongoing 

investigation into the matter. 

He added that the case would be 

transferred to the State Criminal 

Investigation and Intelligence 

Department, SCIID Panti, Yaba for 

further investigation. 

•The suspect. 

4 arrested over 

killing of Sapele 

businessman, 

friend 

By Paul Olayemi 

SAPELE—DELTA State Police 

Command has arrested four 

persons over the alleged killing of a 

Sapele-based businessman, Dominic 

Uguru (30), and his friend, one Jagbo, 

days after their dead bodies were found 

in the entrepreneur's bathroom. 

The incident, which occurred on the 

night of Wednesday, November 16, 2022, 

along NDDC road in Sapele, has plunged 

the neighbourhood into profound sadness. 

According to information gathered by 

Vanguard, Dominic Uguru, an electronics 

dealer, was at home with Jagbo when the 

four suspects, Bright Osifo (23), Goodness 

Obade (30), Obunwa Kasim (25) and 

Ogadinma Francis (27), allegedly broke into 

his house at about 11pm and demanded 

the sum of N1 million from him. 

A source, who claimed to be Dominic's 

friend, said his late friend had just returned 

the previous day from Lagos, where he 

had gone to stock his shop when the 

assailants struck. 

He lamented that probably if Dominic 

had not gone to stock his shop, he would 

have given the assailants the one million 

naira and probably saved his life and that of 

his friend. 

He further said: “Dominic and Ogadinma 

are from the same Community in Ebonyi 

State and it was Ogadinma, who invited 

the others to town to attack Dominic and 

his friend that night, and when he could 

only transfer thirty-six thousand naira rather 

than the one million naira they demanded 

from him, they killed him and his friend and 

drag their bodies to the bathroom.“


:Vanguard News 

:@vanguardnews 


NEWS HOTLINES: 

08052867023, 

08052867058 

NDLEA nabs Saudi-bound 

widow with cocaine in 

Social Media Conversation 

footwear at Lagos airport 

•Intercepts 5.6kg cocaine and meth heading to Australia and 

Cyprus at courier firms •Skunk, ecstasy tabs concealed in yam 

tubers •Cannabis drinks' imported from Belgium 

By Kingsley 

Omonobi 

ABUJA—A 56-yearold 

widow 

and mother of four, Mrs. 

Ajisegiri Sidika, who concealed 

400grams of cocaine 

in her footwear, has been 

arrested by operatives of 

the National Drug Law 

Enforcement Agency, 

NDLEA, at the Murtala 

Muhammed International 

Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on 

her way to Makkah, Saudi 

Arabia. 

The suspect, who 

claimed to be a 

businesswoman trading in 

adults and children's wears 

on Lagos Island, was 

intercepted on Sunday 

November 13, 2022, while 

trying to board a Qatar 

Airways flight going to 

Saudi Arabia, via Doha. 

Femi Babafemi, NDLEA's 

Director of Media and 

Advocacy, said: "Upon a 

critical examination of the 

pair of sandals she was 

wearing, two parcels of 

cocaine weighing 

400grams were recovered 

from them." 

In the same vein, 

attempts by a tricycle parts 

seller, Ayoade Tayo, to send 

1kg of Tramadol 225mg and 

Rohypnol to Istanbul, 

Turkey, via Cairo, on an 

Egypt Airline flight, the 

same day, were also 

frustrated by NDLEA 

operatives, who arrested 

him. 

He was at the airport to 

hand over the drugs 

hidden inside a bag of food 

items to an intending 

passenger, Idowu Ayoade, 

but was arrested before he 

succeeded in doing that. 

An intending passenger 

to Oman, via Asky airline, 

Agbamuche Nkeonye, and 

a lady, Adeoye Fatimo, 

who accompanied him to 

present a bag containing 

varieties of foodstuffs and 

body lotion, which were 

used to conceal 1.10kg 

cannabis and some 

Rohypnol capsules, were 

also arrested at the 

Departure Hall of the 

Lagos airport, on Thursday 

November 18, 2022. 

Anti-narcotics officers 

attached to the SAHCO 

export shed of the airport 

equally foiled attempts by 

•Mrs. Sidika, the suspect, with the shoes containing the substances. 

traffickers to smuggle consignments 

of cannabis and 

ecstasy tablets concealed in 

three tubers of yam, going 

to Dubai, UAE, on Wednesday, 

November 17, 2022. 

The freight agent who 

presented the yams for 

export, Inegbu Akunna, 

was promptly arrested, 

while the consignor, 

Ahmodu Sulaimon, was 

also nabbed after that. 

At the Brawal container 

shed of Kirikiri lighter 

terminal in Lagos, NDLEA 

operatives equally intercepted 

cartons of deadly 

drinks in a container 

marked APZU3671697 

during a joint examination 

with Customs. 

Though the bill of lading 

indicated that the container 

originated from Cape 

town, South Africa, a 

search of the shippers' 

database showed it was 

loaded from Antwerp, 

Belgium. 

A full inspection of the 

container on Thursday 

18th Nov showed a total 

of five cartons of 

beverages labelled as 

Euphoria cannabis beer 

and three cartons of 

cannabis energy drink 

were found. Other 

drinks in the container 

include 21 cartons of a 

drink labelled as 

monkey shoulder; 20 

cartons of dead man's 

finger; and 139 of 

champagne fruit, among 

others. 

Some ways of seeking catharsis! 

...Mostly ‘unsold' on path of revenge! 

Cunning man die...! 

Do you want to book a space? 

C 

M 

Y 

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CONDOLENCE 

VISIT: APC 

Presidential 

candidate, Bola 

Tinubu (left) and 

Lola Akande 

(widow), during 

Tinubu's 

condolence visit 

to the family of 

late Dr Kolapo 

Akande in Lagos, 

weekend. 

Labour threatens to challenge sale of 

Union Bank, Polaris Bank in court 

•Raises concerns over secret sale, workers’ 10% shares, etc 

By Victor Ahiuma- 

Young 

LAGOS—LEADERS of the 

National Union of Banks , 

Insurance and Financial 

Employees, NUBIFIE, have 

raised concerns over the perceived 

lack of transparent acquisition and 

sale of Union Bank Plc and 

Polaris Bank, threatening to 

challenge the sale in court. 

Among the concerns raised by 

the leaders of NUBIFIE is the 

issue of 10 percent statutory 

shares that should be allocated 

to workers in the sale of the banks, 

especially Polaris Bank which 

included the defunct Afribank 

owned by the government. 

Announcing the communique 

issued by NUBIFIE at the end of 

its National Executive Council, 

NEC, meeting in Abuja, to a cross 

session of Journalists weekend in 

Lagos, President and General 

Secretary of NUBIFIE, Anthony 

Abakpa and Ishiyaku Sheikh, 

respectively, asked “the Federal 

Government, the Bureau of 

Public Enterprise, BPE, and other 

government agencies that 

midwifed the sale of Polaris Bank, 

to “explain to NUBIFIE members 

what happened to their statutory 

shares. We have neither forgotten 

about the shares nor abandoned 

it. We will ask for it because it 

belongs to workers. We are going 

to demand for it from government 

and BPE. It is statutory in line 

with the privatization act.” 

Reading the communique, the 

President of NUBIFIE, among 

others, said “The NEC-in-Session 

having reviewed the sale of the 

two banks; Union Bank of Nigeria 

Plc and Polaris Bank Limited, 

respectively, observed that 

several salient questions have 

been left unanswered. 

“Without prejudice to interagency 

collaboration, the 

question arises as to what roles 

did the two agencies, namely, the 

Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, ( 

under whose watch and 

supervision the banks referred to 

became distressed or insolvent) 

and, the Asset Management 

Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, 

played in the determination of 

who best suited to acquire or buy 

these enterprise? 

The NEC-in-Session taking 

cognizance of the huge amount 

of tax payers’ money sank into 

Polaris Bank to the tune of over 

one trillion Naira, could hardly 

come to terms, or comprehend the 

manner in which a deal involving 

such magnitude could be 

executed without public 

awareness or visibility. 

“The Union is concerned that 

such manner of transaction with 

a N50 billion paid and the rest 

spread over 25 years is more likely 

to be viewed as patronage, and 

could hardly elicit public 

confidence which such a bank 

needs now as a matter priority. 

“The Union is equally 

concerned about how the 

massive fixed assets of the bank 

would be managed or was the 

deal inclusive of all the bank’s fixed 

and movable assets in the sale 

that generated the N50billion 

being quoted in the media. If so, 

that would further reinforce the 

believe that the sale was 

anything but a transparent 

transaction. 

“And when ethical values are 

undermined and standards 

compromised, credibility of such 

transaction becomes suspect, and 

people gradually lose faith and 

confidence. If left unresolved in a 

transparent manner, it would 

ultimately pave way for another 

round of distress, which is why 

we are concerned. 

“Another question is whether 

AMCON was allowed the free 

hand in the exercise of its 

statutory responsibility as vested 

on it by Section 34 (a ) and ( b ) of 

the Principal Act 2021 as 

amended, in carrying out its role 

in the entire process of the sale of 

the bank, as required of it by the 

Act. This is very important for a 

transparent management of the 

entire fixed and movable assets 

of Polaris bank. 

“As regard the acquisition of 

Union Bank (a bank of over 100 

years of existence) by a bank of 

slightly less than 10 years in 

existence ( Titan Trust Bank ) was 

another transaction that may 

have been in default of due 

process, transparency and, 

accountability, given the 

entrenched and established 

capacity of Union Bank across the 

country, including its offshore 

branches. 

“Union bank of Nigeria Plc has 

offshore branches all over, 

especially the London branch and 

many others in Europe and Africa. 

What becomes of such branches? 

Obviously, decent society where 

rule of law and adherence to 

regulations are respected, 

regulatory authorities in some of 

the offshore countries would most 

likely not allow a bank which has 

not met the requirements in terms 

of its cognate profile and 

institutional experience to acquire 

or buy the offshore branches. 

“The union continues to 

wonder if the intention was to 

salvage a supposedly weak bridge 

bank and build it into a sort of 

strong mega bank? Where were 

the other banks with 

demonstrable, solid track record 

of excellence and institutional 

experience ? Could it be that none 

were interested in acquiring a 

behemoth of a bank like Union 

bank Plc? 

“Our concern as a union is that 

any transaction of such 

magnitude conducted in a 

cavalier manner devoid of 

consensus from all stakeholders, 

including workers and the 

ordinary day-to-day depositors, 

amounts to abuse of power and 

privilege , which is likely not to 

going to be sustainable in the long 

run. 

“The NEC of the Union is 

studying all options available to it 

over the sale of the two banks 

and is prepared not only to defend 

the rights of workers whatever 

their status may be, but also 

challenge the entire process in a 

competent court of law to demand 

for equity, justice and fair play and 

protect the voiceless majority. 

“Motivated and guided by the 

desire to defend due process and 

transparency in the manner in 

which matters relating to banks 

and insurance are conducted by 

relevant regulatory authorities 

and ensure conformity with the 

ethical tradition of fidelity, trust, 

integrity, confidence and 

transparency as required of them, 

NEC unanimously authorized 

the national secretariat of the 

union to take necessary 

measures in compliance with its 

resolutions to seek remedy on 

behalf behalf of itself and the 

voiceless majority.” 

Gas flaring: FG woos investors 

in Europe, US, Canada to buy 

50 clusters to develop the gas clusters.” 

By Udeme Akpan, 

Energy Editor 

THE FEDERAL Government 

has intensified efforts at 

getting investors to buy its 50 gasflaring 

clusters in the Niger Delta, 

under the nation’s Nigerian Gas 

Flare Commercialisation 

Programme, NGFCP. 

Checks by Vanguard showed that 

the government has already 

engaged many potential investors 

in Europe and the United States, 

while efforts are underway to meet 

some groups in Canada. 

The gesture is based on the 

government's conviction that the 

potential investors, expected to 

partner with their domestic 

counterparts hold the key for 

success, especially as they have 

adequate technologies, funds and 

experience to invest in the project 

as stipulated in the nation’s 

Petroleum Industry Act, PIA. 

FG’s commitment 

The Chief Executive, Nigerian 

Upstream Petroleum Regulatory 

Commission, NUPRC, Gbenga 

Komolafe, who confirmed the 

development in a telephone 

interview with Vanguard, 

yesterday, said: “President 

Muhammadu Buhari has already 

expressed commitment to ending 

gas flaring. As an agency, we are 

in the process of implementing this 

project to realise the objectives, 

including the harnessing of 

additional energy for domestic 

consumption, creation of jobs, 

technology transfer and Energy 

transition. 

“It is better for us as a 

government to inform the 

international community because 

it demonstrates our commitment 

to the project. We believe that it 

would make the task much easier 

to indigenous investors interested 

in partnering with foreign 

stakeholders, including financiers 

Engagement with 

ExxonMobil, 

B&B Energy 

He said: “Apart from holding 

engagements with potential 

investors in Europe, United States 

and Canada through webinars, we 

have also engaged with selected 

groups, including ExxonMobil and 

B&B Energy with the hope that 

they would collaborate with 

domestic investors to buy and 

develop the gas clusters, thus 

creating many multiplier effects.” 

Programme relaunch 

It showed that with the 

emergence of the PIA and 

NUPRC, fresh efforts were made 

to restructure and relaunch the 

programme in August 2022, thus 

ensuring end-to-end value was 

established. 

Komolafe had recently told 

Vanguard: “Following its 

inauguration in August 2022, the 

NGFCP team indeed hit the 

ground running and we are 

confident that an accelerated 

implementation will be realized as 

intended. 

''It is noteworthy though, that 

the Commission also engaged the 

investment communities in a Pre- 

Bidders’ Conference on October 

19 to feel the pulse of the market 

and gauge the expectations of 

interested parties. 

''We have fed the valuable inputs 

received from the international 

conference into the Programme to 

ensure the successful and 

seamless actualization of our 

objectives. In response to the 

market, the commission extended 

the Statement of Qualification, 

SOQ, submission deadline to 

November 28, 2022, to enable 

wider participation by various 

interest groups in the 

opportunities afforded by this firstof-its-kind 

auction round.'' 

I studied law to fulfill my father's wish for me —Amaechi 

•Says: I laugh when I hear people say I bought certificate 

•Explains why he refused to fund establishment of Law School in Rivers 

By Joseph Erunke & 

Gbemiga Olamikan 

ABUJA—FORMER Minister of 

Transportation, Rotimi 

Amaechi, has said he went back to 

school to study Law just to fulfill 

his father's wish to be a lawyer. 

But the former governor of 

Rivers State, who hinted that he 

would go a step further by going to 

Law School to be called to bar, said 

he had no intention of practicing 

law, even as he said he had started 

a Masters programme in Corporate 

and Company Law at Kings 

College, London. 

Speaking exclusively to Vanguard 

yesterday in Abuja, the frontline 

politician and chieftain of the ruling 

All Progressives Congress, APC, 

said contrary to claims in some 

quarters that he bought the Law 

degree certificate, he actually 

worked hard for it. 

He said throughout the duration 

of the programme, he was dedicated 

to his studies, disclosing further 

that even as a minister, he was 

always ahead of lecturers and 

students in punctuality, a 

development he disclosed made 

the Baze University to present him 

award for deligence and 

punctuality. 

He said going back to pursue a 

fresh degree in Law at the age of 

57 was normal to him, saying he 

merely achieved what he had 

wanted a long time ago. 

Amaechi said: " Going back to 

obtain Law degree at 57 is normal. 

I should have graduated a long 

time ago. When I hear people say 

I bought a degree, I just laugh. I 

laugh because until I started 

campaigning for presidency, I 

never missed a class. 

''So for three years and six 

months, I never missed a class. 

And I came before all the lecturers 

and I came before all the students. 

"The school gave me award for 

being deligent and punctual. I 

never failed any course work. But 

that's not important, what is 

important is that I wrote all my 

course work in person, so they can't 

say lecturers gave me pass marks.. 

" In Baze University, we don't 

write matriculation number or our 

names. They give you a barcode 

which you place on the answer 

sheet. So when the teachers mark, 

they mark what is called blind 

marking and they can't take it 

home. 

''They mark there in the school. 

If they can't finish, they leave it 

there and come back the next day. 

When they come the next day, 

they continue. And as they are 

marking, they mark with barcode 

so they don't know the name of 

the person or the matriculation 

number and I don't think they are 

handwriting experts. 

" Let me give you an instance. I 

scored 69 per cent in 

Jurisprudence which was a B 

grade. The person who taught me 

Jurisprudence was my supervisor 

in my long essay, I'm sure if he had 

known that it was me, he would 

have added me one percent to 

make it 70. 

''The whole faculty was like 

"oh,no,he should have added you 

one percent to make it 70t." 

On his inspiration to pursue the 

course, Amaechi explained: "First 

and foremost, it was to fulfill my 

father's wish that I read Law. At 

least, I have satisfied his wish and 

he would have been happy if he 

was alive. 

"He was in love with the work of 

Rotimi Williams who was one of 

the best lawyers then and felt I 

should be like him. 

"When I got the admission, I 

started asking myself how would I 

cope with my work. I would go to 

school as early as 8am and report 

to work by 6pm. I would work from 

6pm to 11 pm and sometimes 

11:30pm then I go home. I did that 

on Mondays, Tuesdays and 

Thursdays. Wednesdays were 

cabinet meetings. I worked 

Wednesdays and Fridays. " 

Asked if he would go to Law 

School, he said: "Yes,I think so. I 

may go to Law School. I'm already 

doing a Masters degree in 

Corporate and Company Law at 

Kings College, London. I hope to 

combine it with Law School. 

"I don't intend to practice but to 

have the knowledge of law and 

the certificate It is to help me not 

to make some mistakes. There is 

no excuse in law. There are some 

things you can't know except you 

read law " 

Amaechi, who admitted refusing 

to fund the establishment of Law 

School in the state while he held 

sway as governor of Rivers State, 

faulted his successor for commiting 

the state's money to the project 

which he described as federal 

government's responsibility. 

"Yes, it's true. I asked them when 

they brought the proposal, I asked 

them, would the federal 

government fund it? and they said 

no. I'm not father Christmas. I said 

primary schools in Rivers State are 

not functioning, secondary 

schools are not functioning and I 

would go and build a law school for 

government as big as the federal 

government? 

''I told them that I have a land 

and here's the land and they said 

no. So,I don't know why that is an 

achievement for a man whose 

primary and secondary schools are 

not functioning and teachers are 

not paid. 

" By the time I did audit of 

education in Rivers State, we 

trained 90,000 teachers and I 

employed 13,200. So that money 

that he used in building law school 

would have been used to employ 

more teachers. 

''So that money that you are 

investing in a big federal 

government's project you should 

have used it to employ more 

teachers, build more schools and 

create more jobs for our people. 

Rivers State has the highest 

number of unemployment," he 

added. 

C 

M 

Y 

K

C 

M 

Y 

K 




CHRISTMAS LIGHT-UP: The Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Ebenezer 

Onyeagwu (3rd right) flanked by the wife of the Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Mrs. Kay 

Ovia (4th left); Executive Director, Mr. Dennis Olisa (1st left); Executive Director, Dr. Temitope Fasoranti 

(3rd left); Executive Director, Mrs Adobi Nwapa (2nd right); and Executive Director, Mr. Henry Oroh 

(1st right), during the 2022 Zenith Bank Christmas Light-Up of Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island, 

weekend. 

PDP crisis: We're still open to 

reconciliation, say G5 govs, others 

•Form Integrity Group •Atiku also ready for reconciliation —Ologbodiyan 

By Dapo Akinrefon 

FIVE GOVERNORS elected 

on the platform of the People's 

Democratic Party, PDP, some 

aggrieved party leaders and 

presidential candidate of the 

party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, 

yesterday agreed on the need 

for reconciliation to thrash out 

issues that have promoted the 

crisis within the party. 

The agreed governors and 

leaders of the partry also 

announced the formation of 

what they described as Integrity 

Group. 

Recall that the presidential 

candidate of the PDP, Alhaji 

Atiku Abubakar, and Governor 

Wike had been at daggers drawn 

over removal of Ayu and the need 

for the South to produce the 

party's national chairman. 

The G5 governors and some 

party leaders issued a 

communique after a strategic 

meeting in Lagos yesterday. 

Addressing newsmen after its 

closed door meeting, former 

Plateau State governor, Mr 

Jonah Jang, said the group had 

not closed its doors on 

reconciling with Atiku. 

Reading the communique, 

Jang said: "We have reviewed the 

issues in our party and we, 

therefore, stand on the position 

we took at our last meeting in 

PortHarcourt and we hereby 

reiterate our position that the 

window for reconcilation in our 

great party, the PDP, remains 

open." 

Earlier, Governor Seyi 

Makinde of Oyo State had 

announced the formation of the 

Integrity Group, saying it is the 

face behind the struggle within 

the PDP. 

Makinde said: "We are here this 

morning to hold a meeting of the 

Integrity Group within our party, 

the PDP. You've been of the G5 

that is the five PDP governor's. 

The G5 is all about the Integrity 

Group. You can see us, five 

serving governors, as the face of 

this struggle but the leaders and 

elders if the party that you see 

here are the people behind those 

faces. 

"We are this morning in the 

South west to review the 

situation within our party, to 

review where we are and to also 

look at what is going to happen 

in the coming elections. At the 

end of our deliberations, you will 

be fully briefed on where we 

stand on those burning issues. 

''On behalf of our leaders and 

elders in the South West, I want 

to welcome members of the 

Integrity Group.'' 

When contacted, 

spokesperson for the PDP 

Presidential Committee, Mr Kola 

Ologbodiyan, said the party's 

presidential candidate is also 

ready for reconciliation and has 

not shifted his position on it. 

Ologbodiyan said: "In 

conformity with their demands 

for reconcilation, Atiku Abubakar 

has always expressed his 

readiness to work for 

reconciliation in the party and 

he has not shifted from that 

position. 

"If you remember at the Guild 

of Editors' meeting, he said he is 

ready for reconciliation and he 

has not shifted his position." 

Those present at the meeting 

included Governor Nyesom Wike 

of Rivers State, Governor 

Samuel Ortom of Benue State, 

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo 

State, Governor Ifeanyi 

Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and 

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia 

State. 

Others at the meeting were 

former governor of Ondo State, 

Dr Olusegun Mimiko, former 

Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayo 

Fayose, former Cross River State 

governor, Mr Donald Duke, 

former Plateau State governor, 

Mr Jonah Jang, and former 

Deputy National Chairman of 

the PDP, Bode George. 

Also present were former 

Attorney-General and Minister 

of Justice, Mr Bello Adoke; 

Deputy National Chairman of 

the PDP, Mr Taofik Arapaja; 

Senator Nasif Suleiman, Mr 

Nnena Ukeje, Senator S. O. 

Onor and Senator Mao 

Ohabunwa. 

Terror alert: We notified FG —UK envoy, Laing 

•Explains why Nigerian visa applications are rising 

THE BRITISH High 

Commissioner to Nigeria, 

Catriona Laing, said yesterday 

that the UK government informed 

its Nigerian counterpart on the 

terror alert and travel advice it 

declared on the Federal Capital 

Territory, FCT, recently. 

Recall that the federal 

government had taken offence at 

the fact that it was not informed 

by the UK government before it 

went to town with the travel advice 

on its citizens, in view of what it 

considered as terror alert on the 

the FCT. 

But speaking at the News 

Agency of Nigeria, NAN Forum 

in Abuja yesterday, Laing said: 

“But we have a responsibility to 

our citizens to alert them if we are 

concerned about a security threat. 

But, of course, that advice is 

available to everybody, anyone 

can sign up for a travel alert from 

us. 

“So, you have travel advice, 

everyone has travel advice and 

so we talked carefully to the 

government of Nigeria but we also 

have to alert our citizens and, 

indeed, anyone who wants to 

read.'' 

She contended that the travel 

advice was in line with the United 

Kingdom government’s security 

support to Nigeria and Africa, 

adding that the initial threat that 

led to the issue of the advice 

warning British Citizens on the 

security threat in Abuja had been 

managed and the advice reverted. 

“The Federal Capital Territory, 

Abuja, has been green all the 

time, until we were made aware 

of the specific security in 

Abuja and we have now reverted 

back to green. 

“But the particular threat we 

were worried about we are 

confident have been managed. 

It is obviously for the Nigerian 

government to lead on this, the 

various agencies are working 

incredibly hard to pick up 

intelligence to process and to 

follow the leads. 

“Our job as the UK is to support 

Nigeria, and we have a security 

defence partnership with Nigeria, 

which has many, many different 

aspects. 

“One of the aspects is support 

on counterterrorism. So we do 

military training, for example, on 

counter explosives, to how your 

soldiers can spot the explosives and 

dismantle it if they see one. 

“So, we are here to support, but 

it is obviously for the Nigerian 

government and the military to 

lead on security,” Laing said. 

Why Nigerian visa 

applications are rising 

The British High Commissioner 

also said the number of Nigerians 

applying for visas to the United 

Kingdom had increased in recent 

times. 

She, however, said the UK 

government was mindful of the 

situation and was in talks with the 

federalgovernment to avoid 

causing brain-drain, especially in 

the health sector. 

She expressed delight that the 

UK had become an attractive 

destination for Nigerians, 

especially students, adding that 

her country is ready to welcome 

talents. 

The high commissioner stated: 

“You know, there are obviously 

people of Nigerian origin in the 

UK. So, people like to go where 

they have family or where they 

have friends. Secondly, the 

English language obviously 

makes it a lot easier. 

“Third is the education; and 

people who have studied, they will 

want to return. And I think you 

know we are a welcoming country 

and we want to welcome talents, 

whether it’s people coming to 

study, or people coming to work. 

“So, a lot of Nigerians will be 

tuned to the UK and we have seen 

actually a very big increase in 

requests for Nigerian student 

visas. That is partly because we 

have changed our policy.“ 

2023: Ex-President Jonathan's 

men endorse Tinubu, insists on 

Southern presidency 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

ABUJA—AHEAD of next 

year's presidential election, 

key supporters and kinsmen of 

former President Goodluck 

Jonathan have endorsed the 

presidential candidate of ruling All 

Progressives Congress, APC, Bola 

Tinubu as part of their 

commitment to having a Nigerian 

president of Southern 

extraction“Operating under the 

aegis of Citizens Network For 

Peace and Development in Nigeria 

CNPDN, the supporters and 

kinsmen who earlier rooted to 

have Jonathan on the ballot, said 

since he declined to join the race, 

the right thing to do is to support 

Tinubu, who they said, had the 

structures and capacity to win the 

elections. 

Earlier in the year, CNPDN was 

among the first Southern Coalition 

to openly urge former President 

Jonathan to run for office on the 

platform of the APC. 

The coalition had also engaged 

prominent Southern leaders to 

prevail on the former president to 

join the race. 

Although, Jonathan had 

promised to consult widely, he later 

declined to join the APC and enter 

the race, thus paving the way for 

Tinubu to emerge as the APC 

standard bearer. 

At a media parley at the weekend 

in Abuja, National Secretary of the 

Coalition, Francis Okereke 

Wainwei, who, like Jonathan, hails 

from Bayelsa State, said as patriotic 

citizens, they could not sit back 

and not participate in the electoral 

process of the country. 

Wainwei noted: “As patriotic 

citizens under the auspices of the 

Citizens Network For Peace and 

Development in Nigeria, we took 

it up as a burning need for us to be 

actively involved in the process 

leading to the election of Nigeria’s 

next president who shall be taking 

over from President Muhammadu 

Buhari next year. 

“We consider it as very important 

and necessary because Nigeria 

needs a truly visionary, competent 

and detribalized leader to 

enthrone a more united, peaceful 

and prosperous nation. 

''As patriotic citizens, we feel 

obliged to take some proactive 

measures to ensure that the right 

president is elected in 2023 by 

providing proper information and 

guidance that will enable the 

electorate elect the right candidate 

as president.“ 

2023: Olawepo-Hashim seeks 

unity govt 

By Clifford 

Ndujihe 

FORMER PRESIDENTIAL 

candidate and a chieftain of All 

Progressive Congress, APC, Mr. 

Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has 

urged that any candidate or party 

that wins the 2023 presidential 

elections should form a 

Government of National Unity, 

GNU. 

He averred that none of the 

existing political parties has 

capacity to win in more than three 

geographical zones of the country. 

According to him, the GNU must 

be made up of credible Nigerians 

to unite the country and lay a new 

foundation for peace and progress. 

“Regardless of who or what 

party wins the 2023 presidential 

election, Nigeria must have in 

place a broad based, inclusive, 

national unity government, made 

up of essentially patriotic citizens 

to help construct a stable, secure, 

peaceful and united Nigeria that 

inspires hope where no section of 

the country will be left behind," 

Olawepo-Hashim said in a 

statement. 

He said the GNU must also be 

tasked to “secure the nation and 

bring immediate relief to our 

suffering people whose welfare 

have been battered due to the unabating 

multi-faceted social and 

economic crises. 

“The truth is that I have reviewed 

some fantastic economic blue 

prints contained in the 

manifestoes of some of the 

candidates but the fact remains 

that mobilising for economic 

growth is an impossible task 

without peace, security and 

national cohesion.” 

Olawepo-Hashim observed that 

as of today, Nigeria is technically 

at war on multiple fronts, adding 

that the solution requires a 

patriotic, and non-partisan 

approach to navigate its current 

existential crises, as it happened 

after the Nigeria civil war in 1970. 

“We have been on this issue 

since 2019. The issue will be more 

in bold relief in 2023 as political 

dashboard is indicating that none 

of the parties can win in more than 

three political zones at their very 

best. That would be an indication 

of a deepening post-election 

division,'' he said. 

Pantami to kick-start landmark 

broadband projects in Abuja 

By Juliet Umeh 

LAGOS—MINISTER 

of 

Communications and Digital 

Economy, Prof. Isa Ibrahim 

Pantami, will on Thursday, 

preside over the commencement 

of landmark broadband 

initiatives to be implemented by 

the Nigerian Communications 

Commission, NCC in Abuja. 

This was according to a 

statement made available to 

Vanguard. 

The statement reads: "The 

event will witness the award of 

contracts for the provision of 

broadband infrastructure for 

Micro, Small and Medium 

Enterprises, MSME, as well as 

for tertiary and higher 

institutions of learning across the 

six geopolitical zones of the 

country. 

"Pantami is also billed to 

present a book, 'Skills Rather 

Than Just Degrees, authored by 

him, with a foreword written by 

Brad Smith, President, Microsoft 

Corporation. 

"The list of projects for the 

various geopolitical zones that 

are set for launch were recently 

approved by the Federal 

Executive Council, FEC, after 

presentation by the Minister. 

The projects are expected to be 

completed within six months, 

from the date of the award. 

"Well-known tech companies 

have been selected through a 

transparent tendering process by 

the NCC for the implementation 

of the strategic projects. 

"The event is expected to 

attract multi-stakeholders from 

the academia, technology 

enthusiasts, including 

prospective start-up companies, 

fintech organisations and other 

interested sectors, whose 

activities are billed to energize 

the National Digital Economy 

Policy and Strategy, NDEPS, 

2020-2030."




ADULT HARVEST THANKSGIVING: From left, Bishop Ayo Adeniyi; Bishop Bamidele 

Ibikunle; His Grace, Prophet Bishop Oluwademilade Akpata; Chief Host, SP/Pastor 

G.O. Ogunleye and Prophet Adebayo Babatunde of Divine Ewulomi Evangelical Church 

of Christ, C&S, during the 2022 Adult Harvest Thanksgiving Service, at Church 

Auditorium, Arowojobe, Maryland, Lagos. Photos: Bunmi Azeez 

N4.8b contract scam: 

Oyo anti-graft agency unearths, 

investigates top civil servants, 

retirees 

By Adeola Badru 

SOME SERVING and retired 

civil servants of the Oyo State 

Civil Service have been arrested 

for fraudulent contract, awarded 

in 2018 by the state's Anti- 

Corruption Agency, OYACA. 

The fraud, according to a 

statement by the agency’s 

Chairman, Justice Eni Esan 

(retd), was said to have been 

perpetrated by the individuals at 

the Oyo State Road 

Maintenance Agency, 

OYSROMA, and information 

about it concealed till the state’s 

anti-graft agency discovered it. 

The act, according to the 

statement, involved the 

payment of the sum of 

N4.8billion to three private 

companies without delivering 

the project and the agency is 

now after the said companies 

since the case was established 

and the officers involved 

arrested. 

The agency claimed it was after 

the said companies since a case 

had been established and the 

officers involved have been 

arrested for further investigation 

and prosecution by the state’s 

Attorney-General. 

The statement reads: "OYACA 

has nabbed some retired and 

serving top civil servants of 

OYSROMA for complicity in a 

fraudulent contract awarded in 

2018. 

"OYACA was able to discover 

this fraud despite concealment 

by the affected top officials to 

thwart the investigation exercise, 

the fraud involved the payment 

of humongous amount of money 

in the sum of N4.8billion to three 

companies yet to show up for 

investigation in spite of our 

invitations. 

"The agency is on the heels of 

the affected companies to recoup 

the money paid into their 

accounts in 2018 for supplies not 

made to date, while investigation 

is still ongoing, OYACA makes 

bold to say that the law is no 

respecter of persons and 

everyone who has any form of 

connection with the matter will 

be dealt with according to the 

law. 

"We, hereby, reiterate our 

commitment to zero tolerance of 

corruption in the public service 

of Oyo State," it added. 

Olajumoke, other top Scout 

members task Nigeria on 

youth devt 

By Juliet Umeh 

LAGOS —SENATOR of 

Nigeria, Dr. Bode Olajumoke 

and other top members of the 

Scout in Nigeria weekend, called 

on prominent Nigerians and 

philanthropists to support in 

developing the youth in the 

country. 

They stated that building the 

youth and supporting the Scout 

would ensure a great Nigeria. 

In an interview with Vanguard, 

Olajumoke challenged the Scout 

members on personal 

commitment and dedication to 

the ethics of the scout 

movement. 

He said: "I joined the Scout 

while I was still in primary school 

and the ethics have helped me 

in life. The association has 

principles capable of shaping 

Nigerian society to become a 

great nation. 

"I call on parents to allow their 

children to join the association. 

Even my grandchildren, who are 

abroad have also joined the 

association because they always 

hear me talk about it." 

Similarly, State Scout Council, 

SSC, Mr. Oluhuntoyin Adebesin 

called on prominent Nigerians to 

support the association to 

achieve a great Nigeria. 

He said: "We have a lot to do in 

youth development in order to 

achieve our desired goals. This 

requires a lot of dedication and 

commitment from our leaders." 

Speaking to the members, 

Adebesin said: "The tasks before 

us are enormous and we need to 

brace up with the challenges. 

Society is in need of our services 

and we need to be focused and 

ensure that our impact is felt in 

our environment and the society 

at large. 

"There should be a personal 

commitment and dedication, we 

should not give room for any 

vacuum in our scout ethics. 

"We need to wake up and 

uphold the scouting principles 

and be a good ambassador of our 

great association by focussing on 

effective communication, 

openness in dealing with 

scouters and others and protect 

the scouting principles and 

ethics.” 

Stop hallucinating, you've no mandate 

to retrieve, Adeleke tells Oyetola 

Shina Abubakar 

OSOGBO—OSUN 

State 

Governor-elect, Senator 

Ademola Adeleke has asked the 

out going Governor Adegboyega 

Oyetola of the state to stop 

hallucinating over his persistent 

claim to retrieve his mandate. 

Oyetola had at different fora, after 

Adeleke was declared winner of July 

16 governorship election, claimed 

that he lost to vote counting and 

not the election and would retrieve 

his mandate soon. 

However, Adeleke in a 

statement by his spokesperson, 

Olawale Rasheed, yesterday, 

chided Oyetola, saying he has no 

mandate to reclaim as he was 

soundly defeated in the July 16 poll. 

Calling attention to the rabid 

pillaging of Osun State assets since 

July election, Adeleke noted that 

the many lies of Oyetola on the 

governorship tribunal have been 

exposed and his petition punctured 

as baseless and unfounded, 

deriding "the antics of a false 

•Tayo Bamgbose-Martins; Lagos State Commissioner for Physcal 

Planning and Urban Development (right] and Mr. Tony Ibidapo at 

the church service. 

democrat, whose role model are 

little tyrants and Trumpists of this 

world. 

"From media trial to outright 

sponsorship of falsehood against 

proceedings at the tribunal, 

Oyetola and the All Progressive 

Congress, APC, have practically 

abandoned diligent prosecution of 

their petition while chasing 

shadows with unrelated and 

unpleased applications and 

submissions. 

"Oyetola has been exhibiting the 

highest level of leadership 

hypocrisy in recent Nigerian 

history as he supervises last 

minute ruining of the state while 

parroting his false hope of 

reclaiming a non-existing 

mandate. 

"You know you are going. You 

are emptying the treasury and 

laying bobby traps for Osun people. 

Yet, you mount rooftop every now 

and then to deceive your gullible 

Nigeria's problems surmountable, 

Abiodun tells Nigerians 

By James 

Ogunnaike 

A BEOKUTA—GOVERNOR 

Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State 

has called on Nigerians to rise up 

and confront the numerous 

challenges facing the country, 

stressing that no problem is 

insurmountable. 

Abiodun made the call at the 67th 

Annual Convention of the 

Foursquare Church, held at the 

Church Camp, Ajebo, Obafemi 

Owode Local Government Area of 

the state. 

He noted that the society was 

going through security challenges, 

ranging from terrorism, banditry, 

kidnapping, cultism among others, 

adding that the country would 

overcome these problems if the 

citizens work together as one. 

"Our congregation must be 

conscientised on this Biblical 

injunction even as our society is 

afflicted with all manners of ills 

ranging from insurgency, 

kidnapping, cultism, banditry, sexual 

assaults and a host of others. 

"The role of the Church as the 

conscience of the nation is an agelong 

fact which has become the 

guiding light for any society that 

desires development. It is, therefore, 

imperative that the love of God be 

extended to all, while people are 

implored to eschew bitterness. 

"More so, the church as an organ 

of socialization is ever relevant, 

especially in propagating moral 

ethics in the society. For this reason, 

the church is enjoined to work 

harder in its responsibility by 

condemning the use of violence by 

individuals or groups to seek redress 

as this is enshrined in the Bible," he 

added. 

He reiterated that his 

administration would continue to 

promote inter religious tolerance 

that exists in the state as well as 

initiate programmes and projects 

that would promote mutual 

associates and accomplices in 

political banditry. 

"Our message to you and your 

team is simple. This is your last 

week in Government House. Pack 

all what you want. But be rest 

assured that every official, elected 

or appointed, who partakes in the 

diversion of our common 

patrimony, will have their day before 

people's panels of inquiry," the 

statement added. 

Promoting peace, communal unity our 

collective responsibility —Prof Okoye 

By Olayinka Ajayi 

RENOWNED PROFESSOR 

and Dean of Pharmaceutical 

Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe 

University, Awka, Festus Okoye 

has said promoting peace and 

communal unity is a collective 

responsibility of every Nigerian. 

Speaking during Orsu 2022, 

interactive get-together in Lagos 

Nigerian military involvement in politics is worst 

thing to ever happened —Ex-NAF officer 

By Gabriel Olawale 

LAGOS—GROUP Captain 

Murtala Salami (retd), has 

expressed regret over the 

interference of military in Nigeria 

politics. 

Salami, who was Aids-de-Camp 

to the Military Governor of North 

Eastern State, Brigadier Musa 

Usman, in his autobiography 

entitled “A Fragile Boy and An Air 

Force Officer,” said that from the 

first coup in January 1966 and 

subsequent coups and countercoups, 

the espirit-de-corps which 

reigned supreme prior to January 

15, 1966, was shattered and it 

progressively got worse with those 

with the theme 'Peace and unity 

as important tools for Community 

development 2,' Okoye who was 

the guest speaker, stressed that 

peace is a fundamental asset to 

building personal growth, 

community development and 

robust institutions. 

He said: "Peace creates an 

enabling environment for human 

capital formation, infrastructural 

understanding and respect for 

rights of worship of all religious 

beliefs. 

He enjoined the church to be 

steadfast in praying for the unity of 

the country, so as to have a 

successful, peaceful, free, fair and 

credible elections. 

He, therefore, called on the 

people to play their part in politics 

by exercising their franchise during 

the forthcoming 2023 general 

elections, while charging the 

youths to be weary of politicians, 

who may want to use them to cause 

violence and parents to rein in their 

children to desist from being uses 

as thugs. 

coups. 

In his book which was launched 

at Eko Hotel in Lagos, Salami 

detailed what transpired before 

Gen Yakubu Gowon was 

overthrown. 

He noted, “The discussion 

about change of governors and 

reneging on the 1976 handover 

date was held at a meeting of 

senior Armed Forces officers 

comprising of colonels and above 

from the Nigerian Army and 

lieutenant colonel equivalent from 

the Navy and Airforce. 

“I was with my boss at Dodan 

Barracks at the meeting. They had 

an unusual break around 2p.m., 

development and rule of law in 

commerce and government. 

"However, promoting peace, 

communal unity and integration 

is our collective responsibility. The 

cooperation of government 

through traditional institutions, 

civil society and individuals is 

needed to build a robust, 

sustainable and formidable 

communal unity. 

"As individuals, we can help to 

promote peace within our 

community by encouraging good 

relationships with our 

neighbours." 

Also speaking, President 

General of Orsu LGA 

Development Union, OLGADU, 

Hycenth Okonkwo said "The 

proverb of when two Elephants 

fight, the grass suffers is what we 

are faced with Orsu. The essence 

of our gathering is to find a lasting 

solution to the insurgence that 

has ravaged our community. We 

are concerned that most innocent 

citizens are usually casualties of 

unforeseen circumstances. There 

is a need for the security agencies 

to identify their targets and go 

after them." 

and reconvened after 4p.m. The 

minutes of the meeting taken by 

Lt. Col Tunde Idiagbon was 

forwarded to me by the governor 

to read through and send a 

summary of it to him. 

“It dawned on me that the 

unusual break was called to allow 

the Head of State, Gen. Gowon 

to cool down as he insisted that as 

officers and gentlemen, the 1976 

date freely given was sacrosanct. 

His stand was against majority of 

the officers most of whom 

participated to topple him in 1975 

on the argument that there were 

no new politicians to take over if 

the handover was done as 

scheduled.“ 

C 

M 

Y

C 

M 

Y 

K 




OPENING: From left, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, Guest Speaker; Bishop Mike Okonkwo, The Presiding 

Bishop, The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, TREM; Bishop Peace Okonkwo, Resident Pastor, TREM 

HQ and Mr Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate, Labour Party, during the opening ceremony of the 2022 

TREM Kingdom Life World Conference themed "Exceeding Glory", held at the TREM HQ, Oshodi- 

Gbagada Expressway, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele 

2023: It's S-East turn to produce 

next President —Ohanaeze 

•Endorses Peter Obi •We work in collaboration with Southern and Middle Belt 

Leaders Forum •Severe suffering awaits Nigerians if they miss Peter Obi's presidency 

—Udeogaranya•Nigerian students vow to mobilize 10m votes for LP 

By Chioma Gabriel, 

Editor, Special 

Features & Vincent 

Ujumadu 

APEX IGBO socio-cultural 

organization, Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo, yesterday, threw its 

support behind the Presidential 

candidate of the Labour Party, 

Mr. Peter Obi, saying, it is the 

turn of the southeast to produce 

the next Nigerian President. 

Ohanaeze said that going by 

the principles of rotation and 

zoning of power in Nigeria which 

has been in existence since 

1999, it is the turn of the South 

East of Nigeria to produce the 

president in 2023. 

The group said its resolve for 

the 2023 general election has 

been constant, consistent, and 

very clear; without any form of 

equivocation whatsoever. 

In a related development, Chief 

Charles Udeogaranya , a former 

presidential aspirant in the 2019 

general elections, has warned 

Nigerians to prepare to live in 

poverty, concrete hardship, and 

acute economic austerity if they 

fail to vote for the right candidate 

in 2023. 

Meantime, Nigerian students 

have vowed to mobilize 10 million 

votes across the country for the 

candidate of the Labour Party 

(LP), Mr. Peter Obi in the 2023 

presidential election. 

It's S-East turn 

—Ohanaeze 

According to a statement by 

Dr. Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, 

National Publicity Secretary of 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide: 

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo has 

canvassed to various eminent 

persons in Nigeria, seeking their 

support for the president from the 

South East come 2023. We are 

delighted by the responses from 

various groups and highly placed 

patriotic Nigerians. 

“Ohanaeze works in 

collaboration with the Southern 

and Middle Belt Leaders Forum 

(SMBLF), comprising the 

Afenifere, PANDEF, Middle Belt 

Leaders, and Ohanaeze Ndigbo 

led by an elder-statesman, Chief 

E K Clarke. The group in its quest 

for Nigerian unity, peace, and 

sustainable national 

development has endorsed Mr. 

Peter Obi as their candidate for 

the 2023 general elections. 

"Therefore, on the SMBLF 

endorsement, we stand, most 

irrevocably. 

“On the other hand, 

Ohanaeze took a commodity to 

the market and the world is 

clamouring for it. We are rather 

very excited, happy, and fulfilled 

that Nigeria is now in full 

possession of the commodity. 

“The President General of 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, 

Ambassador Professor George 

Obiozor explained that Obi has 

filled what could have been a 

very sad gap. Therefore, Obi 

represents the Nigerian 

conscience, moral probity, 

generational hope, redemption 

epiphany, and above all, the Igbo 

collective unconscious.The 

philosophy of Ohanaeze Ndigbo 

Worldwide finds a cogent 

expression in the symbol of 

Nigerian unity and a beacon of 

hope as epitomized by Mr. Peter 

Obi.“ 

The statement added that 

Ohanaeze's support for Obi is 

not only based on equity and 

justice but also on merit, 

competence, a track record of 

accomplishments, and the 

veritable ideas that Obi 

espouses for a better Nigeria. 

“ A lot has been said that the 

Labour Party, especially as it 

concerns Obi has no structure. 

It needs to be pointed out that 

the Obi movement is a massive 

disruptive reaction against the 

deplorable Nigerian pathologies. 

People use the Obi phenomenon 

to express dissatisfaction with the 

status quo. It is a revolt against 

injustice, 

poverty, 

unemployment, corruption, and 

all forms of vicious circles that 

have become the trademark of 

Nigeria. 

“In other words, every 

revolution is a structural change. 

What the Obi movement stands 

for is to dismantle or change 

whatever structure has brought 

us to this intractable tragedy and 

reprehensible denouncement; 

the structure that has been a 

knee on the neck of Nigerians. 

Importantly, ideas rule the world. 

Ideas, as you know, possess the 

potency to develop into an 

ideology, a movement, and 

finally to a structure. Lastly, the 

impotent debate on the structure 

has long been overwhelmed and 

rested by the recent events in 

Nigeria.” 

Ohanaeze further stated that 

the double endorsement by the 

Afenifere; one faction to Obi and 

the other to Tinubu is a repeat of 

history. 

“Even in the kingdom of God, 

there was a faction. One 

represents light, truth, equity, 

justice, reasonableness, and a 

bright future while the other 

represents the very opposites. 

But, surely, history will always 

vindicate the just.” 

Severe suffering 

awaits Nigerians 

if .... —Udeogaranya 

The former APC chieftain 

warning came barely 72 hours 

after the National Bureau of 

Statistics, NBS, disclosed that 

133 million Nigerians are multidimensionally 

poor, a status that 

exceeds the World Bank 

projection on Nigeria. 

In a release yesterday in Abuja, 

the politician warned the 

Nigerian electorate who are not 

taking the issue of electing a 

credible leader seriously to have 

a rethink about imminent severe 

sufferings and poverty-related 

deaths that will envelop Nigeria, 

if they fail to elect Mr. Peter Obi 

of Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 

presidential election. 

The ex-presidential aspirant 

urged Nigerians to jettison the 

All Progressives Congress, APC, 

and Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, presidential candidates as 

birds of the same feather and 

men who have passed their time 

and should give way for Nigeria 

to survive if they mean well for 

the country. 

The politician concluded by 

saying "if we do not walk away 

from APC and PDP presidential 

candidates, they will walk 99.9 

percentage of us into abject 

poverty with severe suffering". 

Nigerian students 

vow to mobilize 10m 

votes for Peter Obi 

The students, who met under 

the aegis of Students Obi-Datti 

Network (SON), in Awka at the 

weekend during the 

inauguration of the South East 

zonal and state executive 

members of the network, insisted 

that never again would they 

elect any government that would 

jeopardize their academic growth 

and development like in the last 

strike by the Academic Staff 

Union of Universities, ASUU. 

The network consists of the 

current and former executive 

members of students/youth 

leaderships, including Students 

Union Governments, SUG; the 

National Association of Nigerian 

Students, NANS; and National 

Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN, 

among others. 

The inauguration in Awka 

attracted students from 

universities, polytechnics, 

Colleges of Education, and other 

institutions of learning across the 

five states in the South East. 

The national coordinator of 

Students ObiDatti Network, 

Comrade Kenneth Okeke, said 

Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed’s 

aspiration had taken Nigeria by 

storm, adding that OBIdient 

students were 100 percent 

prepared to mobilize 10 million 

votes from the SON structure 

across the six geopolitical zones 

to man the states, local 

governments, wards, and the 

pooling units. 

According to him, the purpose 

of setting up the Students Obi- 

Datti Network in all the states of 

the federation and school 

campuses was to have foot 

soldiers who would be spreading 

the message of hope and 

redemption, which Peter Obi and 

Datti Ahmed represent. 

Okeke said: “We are poised in 

deepening the conversation of 

domesticating the deployment 

and penetration of Students Obi- 

Datti Network, in the tertiary 

institutions through voter 

education, booth-to-booth 

mobilization, awareness and 

sensitization campaign in all the 

polling units within and around 

campuses across the nation. 

“Our resolve to support the 

Obi-Datti agenda is borne out of 

the consistency between his 

words and his antecedent while 

holding sway as governor of 

Anambra State and his 

intellectual disposition towards 

the challenges facing Nigeria. 

“Obi, during his consultation 

and campaign across the North 

and the South, has always dealt 

with issues and he has cited the 

vast land of the North as the new 

oil well of Nigeria, and his 

thoughts on changing the 

sharing formula to production 

formula." 

Campaign billboards: 

Soludo gives political parties 

2 weeks to pay or be defaced 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

AWKA—THE Anambra State 

Signage and Advertising 

Agency, ANSAA, has given the 

various political parties and their 

candidates for the 2023 elections 

two weeks to pay for the billboards 

mounted across the state or have 

them defaced. 

Governor Chukwuma Soludo 

had earlier complained that some 

of the billboards were almost 

causing obstruction, an indication 

that his government is not 

comfortable with them. 

The ultimatum given to the 

political parties, which will end on 

December 5, 2022, by ANSAA, 

therefore did not come as a surprise. 

Managing Director of ANSAA, 

Mr. Tony Ujubuonu, while 

announcing the two-week 

ultimatum, directed the political 

parties and their candidates to 

ensure they pay for all their 

campaign billboards or be prepared 

to face the wrath of the agency. 

A statement from the agency 

read in part: "The Anambra State 

Signage and Advertisement 

Agency through a letter dated 14th 

November 2022, urged all out-ofhome 

advertising practitioners in 

the state to revalidate and register 

all their billboards in the state. 

"The agency has taken major 

steps towards sanitizing outdoor 

advertising practice in the state 

through a ban on individuals, 

clients, and government 

By Our Reporter 

NSUKKA—THE 

Parish 

Priest of St. Jude's Catholic 

Church in Eburummiri, Ibagwa- 

Aka, Igbo-Eze South Local 

Government Area of Enugu State, 

Rev. Fr. Victor Ishiwu, was in the 

early hours of Saturday, allegedly 

kidnapped while officiating 

adoration prayers. 

Vanguard gathered that the 

kidnappers stormed the adoration 

ground after midnight and started 

shooting sporadically into the air. 

It was further learnt that the 

worshippers, including Fr. Ishiwu, 

scampered for safety and dispersed 

to different locations. 

However, according to an 

eyewitness account, the 

kidnappers, who allegedly spoke 

pidgin English and Fulani 

agency's ownership of billboards. 

"Having done this, the agency 

expected maximum cooperation 

from the practitioners in terms of 

registering their billboards and 

payment of campaigns, but they 

are yet to comply. 

"As a result, the agency has 

directed all billboard owners to 

provide the information required 

to register each billboard and also 

pay up for any campaign on them. 

"Through this statement, the 

entire political party candidates 

for the upcoming general 

elections are urged to make sure 

those handling their campaigns 

have made payments to the 

government to avoid ANSAA 

defacing their campaign 

materials. 

"The agency has also given a 

two weeks grace to make such 

payments or face legal 

enforcement. 

"It has also got to the 

knowledge of the agency that 

some political party candidates 

are erecting billboards on their 

own ignorantly. The agency 

wants to state that this is not only 

wrong but illegal and any such 

billboard would be brought down 

without any notice, the structure 

seized permanently and 

auctioned. 

"It is the wish of the agency 

that by the 5th of December 2022, 

all billboards in the state must 

have been duly registered and 

paid for, as legal enforcement 

would start after that date". 

Catholic priest kidnapped in 

Enugu during adoration prayers 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

AWKA—REACTIONS have 

continued to trail the comment 

made by the governor of Anambra 

State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo 

against the presidential candidate 

of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter 

Obi, with the youth leader of LP, 

Hon Ekene Nnadi saying the 

former governor of the Central Bank 

of Nigeria, CBN, is well educated, 

but not intelligent. 

Soludo's letter in which he, 

among other things, said that former 

Governor Peter Obi's investments 

for the state during his tenure were 

worth little or nothing, had attracted 

so much condemnation from within 

and outside the state. 

While condemning the attack on 

Peter Obi yesterday during a 

meeting in Awka, the LP youth 

leader said what he could decipher 

from the letter was that Governor 

Soludo was merely envious of the 

surging acceptability and rising 

political profile of the LP presidential 

candidate. 

According to him, it was a big 

languages trailed the cleric to the 

Parish House and threatened to 

burn church facilities if he refused 

to come out. 

It was further learnt that when 

the cleric refused to heed to their 

warning, the kidnappers allegedly 

forced themselves into the Parish 

House through the church chapel 

which they cut open. 

They allegedly whisked the cleric 

to an unknown destination when 

they gained access to his hiding 

place in the Parish House. 

When contacted, the 

spokesperson for the Enugu State 

Police Command, Daniel Ndukwe, 

said he was yet to receive a detailed 

report on the incident. 

"I am not yet in receipt of a detail 

report of the incident please," he 

said. 

Comment on Peter Obi: Soludo is 

educated, but not intelligent —LP 

surprise that the governor could 

make such a statement at a time 

Igbo people and most Nigerians 

were uniting with the LP presidential 

candidate to return the country to 

the path of development. 

Nnadi, who said that Obi remains 

the best candidate among those 

contesting the 2023 presidential 

election, argued that Soludo should 

realize that it is the electorate that 

would decide who becomes the next 

president and not by academic 

permutation. 

He said: "There is a difference 

between being educated and being 

intelligent. Governor Soludo is 

educated, but not Intelligent. He 

ought to know that Igbo people are 

republicans, which is why they 

voted for Obasanjo and Yar'adua in 

the past elections. 

"Peter Obi's aspiration is not an 

Igbo project. Amongst the 

presidential candidates, Obi is more 

qualified than others, both 

physically, mentally, and 

psychologically. This is why 

Afenifere led by Pa Ayo Adebanjo 

agreed that they will support Obi 

based on equity and fairness.."

C 

M 

Y 

K 


:Vanguard 

News 


CAMPAIGN—All Progressives Congress, APC, National Chairman, represented by the party's 

Deputy National Chairman (South), Emma Eneukwu, waving party flag; APC Presidential 

candidate, Sen. Bola Tinubu (3rd left); APC Presidential Campaign DG, Governor Simon 

Lalong of Plateau State (4th left); Delta State governorship candidate, Sen. Ovie Omo- 

Agege (5th right); Senate President, Sen. Ahmed Lawan (4th right); APC Delta deputy 

governorship candidate, Friday Osanebi (3rd right); Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, former governor 

of Edo State (2nd right), and Mr. Ayiri Emami, during the party's presidential candidate, 

Tinubu, and Delta State APC governorship candidate, Omo-Agege's campaign in 

Warri, Delta State, weekend. Photo: Akpokona Omafuaire. 

Edo residents lost over N1.5bn to 

land-grabbers, govt says 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

BRNIN—EDO State 

Government has 

restated its commitment to 

ending the activities of landgrabbers 

and sanitising the 

state’s building environment, 

decrying that residents have 

lost over N1.5 billion to landgrabbers 

in the state. 

The state Commissioner for 

Communication and 

Orientation, Chris Nehikare, 

disclosed this to journalists in 

Benin City, weekend. 

He said the government has 

arrested six mischief makers, 

who, in the guise of a protest, 

stormed the Edo State 

Secretariat at Sapele Road, 

Benin City, armed with 

dangerous weapons and 

charms, threatening the lives 

of workers and others at the 

complex. 

PARIS/LONDON CLUB REFUNDS: Nwoko 

petitions CCB to investigate 30 govs, FCT 

By Emma Amaize 

THE Chairman/CEO, 

Linas International, Mr. 

Ned Nwoko, has petitioned 

the Code of Conduct Bureau, 

CCB, calling for an 

investigation of 30 state 

governors and the Federal 

Capital Territory, FCT, for 

allegedly failing to remit $3.1 

billion paid to their local 

government areas, regarding 

the Paris/London Club 

refunds. 

....Arrests 6 over ritual 

activities at workers’ complex 

Nehikare said the mischief 

makers claimed they were 

from the Irhirhi axis, where 

the government was 

developing a new town, 

noting that the government 

would not relent in its 

commitment to rid the state 

of land-grabbers. 

Nehikhare said: “Yesterday, 

we had some protesters, who 

stormed the secretariat 

complex. They came in a 

rowdy manner threatening 

staff of the state government 

for doing their work and 

implementing government’s 

policies and programmes. 

“These protesters started 

performing rituals, killing 

animals inside the premises 

of Edo State Government 

Secretariat in a threatening 

manner with dangerous 

weapons. 

“They claimed they were 

from the Irhirhi-axis where 

government land was being 

sold off by land grabbers and 

government reclaimed it to 

build a new town. 

“We had a full day last week 

for victims of land grabbing 

as we had a stakeholders’ 

meeting for them to discuss 

with the government and we 

had a productive discussion. 

“Land grabbers are fighting 

back and luckily for us, six 

people were arrested and they 

are already being prosecuted. 

They may have gone to court 

or may be appearing in court 

on Monday (today). 

....Over non-remittance of money to LGAs 

In the complaint to the 

Chairman, CCB, Nwoko’s 

company, engaged in 

development consultancy, 

said the refunds were a 

judgment sum in suit number 

FHC/ABJ/CS/130/2013, 

gross abuse of power and 

conflict of interest by public 

officers. 

“The above issues and facts 

form part of my present 

complaint against all the state 

governors including the FCT, 

excluding Delta, Bauchi, 

Benue, Kwara and Ondo 

State governors, of the 

Federation,” he said. 

The letter read in part: “The 

factual basis for this 

complaint arises from the 

judgment in the suit between 

Linas International Limited, 

Local Government Areas of 

We've no plans to demolish NUJ building 

—Edo govt 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

BENIN—EDO State 

government has denied 

reports that it plans to 

demolish the Nigerian Union 

of Journalists, NUJ, Edo State 

Council building, in the 

Government Reserved Area, 

GRA, Benin City. 

The Edo State 

Commissioner for 

Communication and 

Orientation, Mr. Chris 

Nehikhare, in a statement in 

Benin City, described the 

report as unfortunate and 

filled with misinformation. 

He said: “The Edo State 

Government is aware of an 

unfortunate report issued by 

the Edo State Council of the 

Nigerian Union of Journalists 

titled: Obaseki Plan to Make 

Edo Journalists Homeless. 

“There is no plan 

whatsoever, to demolish the 

NUJ building nor build a 

museum on the NUJ land site. 

The Edo State Government 

is doing some initial survey 

and study work in connection 

with the preservation and 

protection of the ancient Benin 

walls and moats. The NUJ 

site borders some of the most 

visible sections of the walls 

and moats in the city, and 

archaeologists and 

specialist architects have 

visited areas around the 

moats with a view to 

determining how best to 

assist the National 

Commission of Museums 

and Monuments with the 

preservation of the moats. 

“The ancient walls and 

moats of Benin are one of 

the greatest achievements 

of medieval Africa, some of 

which date back to the 12th 

century. 

"Government policies must 

be obeyed. It's what keeps the 

society different from the 

animal kingdom. What the 

government did was to 

retrieve its stolen property as 

the government wants to 

create a new town in the area. 

“The land grabbers have 

made over N1. 5 billion 

from their victims. Now, 

they are threatening the 

government and its staff, 

and come to the secretariat 

doing rituals in an attempt 

to threaten the peace of the 

state. 

“We were really 

disappointed with the 

action of the so-called 

protesters, who came 

threatening the lives of civil 

servants in the state and 

going to Block C, where the 

Ministry of Physical 

Planning, Housing, Urban 

and 

Regional 

Development is situated. 

We will not tolerate such 

acts anymore.” 

Nigeria and Association of 

Local Government Areas 

Nigeria, ALGON, against 

the Federal Government 

and Ors., as well as the 

Nigerian Governors 

Forum, NGF’s recent 

attempt to set aside the 

above seven-year-old 

judgment, which the 

Federal Government had 

enforced through the 

Federal Ministry of 

Finance, regarding refunds 

to local governments. 

“The said refunds to local 

governments were paid to 

and received by the state 

governments, acting 

through their umbrella 

body NGF, which 

interfaced with the 

Ministry of Finance 

throughout the refund 

exercise. 

“The local governments 

have written letters to 

Minister of Finance, 

informing her that the 

state governors have failed 

and refused to remit the 

monies refunded through 

them. 

Presidential Amnesty: Why 

ex-militants are unemployed 

—Gen. Ndiomu 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

Aadministrator BUJA—INTERIM 

of the 

Presidential Amnesty 

Programme, PAP, Maj.-Gen. 

Barry Ndiomu (retd), has 

attributed the high number of 

unemployed trained exagitators 

to lack of required 

job competencies. 

Ndiomu further said: "The 

training does not produce the 

required expertise in the 

former militants, which, in 

turn, makes them end up not 

having gainful employment.” 

The PAP boss stated this 

when he visited the Minister 

of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey 

Onyeama, in his office, in 

Abuja. 

He said: "Another thing we 

have also noticed about the 

programme in the past was 

the fact that the trainings did 

not produce the required 

expertise in these individuals 

so, for that reason, many of 

them did not end up in gainful 

employment. 

"And often times, these 

category of people end up 

constituting nuisance to the 

society, because they are not 

employed and so we continue 

to hear the incidences of 

pipeline vandalisation and 

other things, for which the 

programme was established 

to ensure that they do not go 

back into those type of 

activities. 

"Just as you likened it to 

some UN peace keeping 

operations that probably have 

outlived the period of their 

existence, we suffer the same. 

As a matter of fact, from my 

assessment, the Presidential 

Amnesty Programme has 

completely derailed from its 

original objectives and probably 

because of that frustration that 

the government thought of 

going ahead to wipe it out. 

"Unfortunately, like you said, 

there were no clear-cut 

deliverables. The data was badly 

managed. We have set up 

several audit teams to actually 

determine the number of exagitators 

that we have, those 

that have been trained and 

those that have not been trained 

and empowered. 

"Am sure you must have read 

about the current administration 

delisting some of these exagitators, 

whom from our records 

have been trained and 

empowered and we felt it is 

tantamount to an abuse for 

these same individuals, even 

when they are gainfully 

employed to be receiving 

stipends. 

"We are working towards 

repositioning the programme. We 

are introducing new ideas. We 

are carrying out re-engineering 

in such a way that there will be a 

terminal date for these 

individuals, who we will establish 

in due course of time, whether 

or not, they have been trained 

or not, we can have them 

properly trained. 

"We are trying to put together 

our data. We are fashioning new 

programmes that will be more 

meaningful that will also result 

in gainful employment. So, we 

are talking to institutions that 

can absorb them." 

PDP, Lawan facilitate with 

Jonathan @ 65 

By Henry Umoru, 

John Alechenu 

The Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, and Senate 

President, Senator Ahmad 

Lawan, have facilitated with 

former President Goodluck 

Jonathan, who just turned 65. 

While the PDP described 

him as an honest, humane and 

forthright leader, who puts his 

love for country above self, 

Lawan said that a great part 

of the legacy of Jonathan was 

his pursuit of peace in 

political conduct and 

activities. 

PDP, in a statement by its 

National Publicity Secretary, 

Debo Ologunagba, in Abuja, 

yesterday, said: “The PDP and 

all patriotic Nigerians 

celebrate Dr. Jonathan as an 

honest, forthright, humane, 

caring leader and Icon of 

Peace, whose love for 

Nigerians and commitment 

to the unity, stability and 

A’Ibom 2023: Udofia heads 

to A’Court 

By Ezra Ukanwa 

G OVERNORSHIP 

candidate of the All 

Progressives Congress, APC, 

in Akwa Ibom State, Obong 

Akan Udofia, has headed to 

the Appeal Court, to challenge 

the judgment of a Federal 

High Court, sitting in Uyo, 

which nullified the primary 

election that produced him as 

the candidate of the party. 

It will be recalled that Justice 

A. Okeke had, on November 

14, 2022, nullified the Akwa 

Ibom APC primary election, 

noting that Udofia was not 

development of our nation, in 

line with the manifesto of our 

great Party remain indelible 

in our national annals. 

“Nigerians of diverse 

political persuasions extol 

President Jonathan’s 

peaceful personality, which 

has been acknowledged all 

over the world and with which 

he created the conducive 

atmosphere, national 

stability and cohesion for 

unprecedented economic 

growth during his tenure as 

President. 

“Also, in recognition of his 

peaceful persona, he 

continues to be saddled with 

numerous foreign 

engagements to superintend 

over peace negotiations 

across the globe. 

“The PDP is proud of 

President Jonathan for his 

achievements in key sectors, 

including unprecedented 

investments and 

transformation in education, 

healthcare, agriculture, real 

estate and more." 

qualified to contest the primary 

of the party because he 

was not a member of the 

APC. 

However, Director General 

of Akan Udofia Campaign 

Council, Mr. Don Etim, who 

addressed newsmen, 

weekend, in Abuja, said they 

had appealed the lower court 

decision, as he described the 

judgment as a gross violation 

and infringement of the 

constitutional right to 

Freedom of Association afforded 

Udofia under Section 40 of the 

1999 Constitution, by denying 

him the rights and privileges 

available to him as a member of 

APC.

C 

M 

Y 

K 




CONFERENCE—From Left: Bomoi Mohammed, General Secretary; Tina Essien, Deputy National President, 

presenting certificate to Benson Efetor, the newly elected chairman, National Civil Service Union, 

Delta State Council, during the 8th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the union, held in Asaba. 

One in every 10 children die 

in Nigeria before 5 years —UNICEF 

•Warns against educational, ethnic, other discriminations against children 

•Says discrimination deepens inter-generational deprivation, poverty 

By Peter Duru & 

Marie-Therese 

Nanlong 

AS THE world celebrates 

International Children's Day 

today, the United Nations 

Children's Fund, UNICEF, has 

expressed concern over the rate 

of child mortality in Nigeria, 

saying over 100 out 1,000 

children in the country die before 

their fifth birthday. 

The global organization which 

insists that the data is not a good 

signal for Nigeria, urged 

government at all levels to wake 

up to their responsibilities to 

reverse the trend. 

Speaking at a One-Day multizonal 

Media Dialogue with 

Journalists organised by the 

Broadcasting Corporation of Abia 

State, BCA, in collaboration with 

UNICEF on Dissemination of 

Multiple Indicator Cluster 

Survey, MICS, 2021, Health 

Specialist, UNICEF Field Office, 

Port Harcourt, Eghe Abe said all 

hands must be on deck to drive 

down the worrisome child 

mortality rate in the country. 

He identified some of the 

factors driving child mortality rate 

in the country to include undernutrition, 

poor breastfeeding 

practices, poor immunisation 

coverage which puts substantial 

number of children at the risk of 

vaccine preventable diseases, 

diarrhea, malaria, congenital 

anomalies, pneumonia among 

others. 

He said "what this means is 

simple, if you get out there in the 

streets out of the 10 children you 

meet one of them will die before 

the age of five. That should be 

enough reason for everyone to 

be worried. That is why the 

government cannot abandon its 

responsibilities to the children, 

all measures must be taken to 

have the child mortality rate 

brought down by tackling the 

factors responsible in order to 

save the lives of the children." 

He disclosed that the MICS is 

a household survey developed 

by UNICEF to assist countries 

in filling data gaps for monitoring 

human development indicators 

in general and the situation of 

children and women, in 

particular. 

According to him, "the National 

Bureau of Statistics, NBS, 

implemented MICS which 

provides data on child mortality, 

health, nutrition, education, 

child and social protection, 

women's health care and 

empowerment, water, sanitation 

and hygiene, while National 

Immunisation Coverage Survey, 

NICS, assesses vaccination 

coverage provided through the 

health systems." 

Warns against 

discrimination 

Meanwhile, UNICEF has 

warned against all forms of 

discrimination against children 

as such discriminations 

negatively affect their education, 

health and access to public 

especially government resources. 

UNICEF explains that 

discrimination against children 

on account of ethnicity, language, 

religion and other factors is 

rampant globally, lamenting that 

discrimination and exclusion 

deepen intergenerational 

deprivation and poverty and 

result in poorer health, nutrition, 

and learning outcomes for 

children. 

A statement Blessing Ejiofor 

on behalf of UNICEF Nigeria, 

said "Discrimination against 

children based on ethnicity, 

language, and religion is rife in 

countries worldwide, according to 

By Ibrahim Hassan- 

Wuyo 

THE AREWA Economic 

Advancement Promoters 

(Area - P), a Group of Strategic 

Communication specialists and 

academics involved in advocacy 

on economic empowerment 

policies and programmes in 

Northern Nigeria, has thrown its 

weight behind the policy for the 

redesign of the nation's currency 

by the Central Bank of Nigeria. 

Briefing yesterday in Kaduna, 

the group's Convener, Nasir 

Dambatta shared the CBN's 

concerns about the urgent need 

to take measures to deal with 

liquidity and the flow of crime 

proceeds in the nation and also 

felt duty bound to underscore 

the essence of the Naira redesign 

policy generally. 

a new UNICEF report published 

ahead of World Children's Day. 

The impact of discrimination on 

children shows the extent to 

which racism and discrimination 

impact children's education, 

health, access to a registered 

birth, and a fair and equal justice 

system, and highlights 

widespread disparities among 

minority and ethnic groups." 

She quoted UNICEF 

Executive Director Catherine 

Russell as saying, "Systemic 

racism and discrimination put 

children at risk of deprivation and 

exclusion that can last a lifetime. 

This hurts us all. Protecting the 

rights of every child - whoever 

they are, wherever they come 

from - is the surest way to build a 

more peaceful, prosperous, and 

just world for everyone. 

"Among the new findings, the 

report shows that children from 

marginalized ethnic, language 

and religious groups in an 

analysis of 22 countries lag far 

behind their peers in reading 

skills. On average, students aged 

7-14 from the most advantaged 

group are more than twice as 

likely to have foundational 

reading skills than those from the 

least advantaged group. 

18.3m out of school 

"Nigeria has 18.3 million 

children who are not in school, 

and a high number of children 

attending schools but not getting 

a solid education that can 

translate into good prospects for 

their future. While this crisis 

affects children across the 

country, girls, children with 

disabilities, children from the 

poorest households, street 

children, and children affected by 

displacement or emergencies are 

affected more. 

"Discrimination and exclusion 

deepen intergenerational 

deprivation and poverty and 

result in poorer health, nutrition, 

and learning outcomes for 

children, a higher likelihood of 

incarceration, higher rates of 

pregnancy among adolescent 

girls, and lower employment 

rates and earnings in 

adulthood... 

"On World Children's Day and 

every day, every child has the 

right to be included, to be 

protected, and to have an equal 

chance to reach their full 

potential. All of us have the 

power to fight discrimination 

against children - in our 

countries, our communities, our 

schools, our homes, and our 

hearts. We need to use that 

power." 

Arewa group backs Naira redesign, 

names Emefiele man of the year 

It noted as unacceptable for 

Nigeria to allow 80 percent of 

badly-needed cash outside 

commercial banks because of its 

damaging consequences on the 

national economy. 

The group said the CBN 

should be allowed to follow this 

process up to the point of 

regaining full control over money 

supply. 

"This is necessary, at least in 

view of our worrisome inflation, 

which reached 20.7 per cent in 

September 2022, according to 

media reports," Dambatta said. 

He noted that the CBN 

Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele 

admitted that as at September 

2022, Nigerian banking system 

had N3.23 trillion in circulation. 

Of this amount, N2.73 trillion is 

now outside commercial bank 

vaults or hidden by some citizens 

in crude forms. 

"Our independent 

investigation has confirmed that 

the CBN wants to first and 

foremost mop up that N3.32 

trillion back into the system, to 

enable the apex bank take 

control of money supply again, 

and begin to see how such a 

strategy will help rein in inflation. 

"We also wish to draw the 

attention of Nigerians to the fact 

that the CBN has acted within 

limits of its monetary policy 

powers, on this naira redesign 

policy. The management of the 

CBN relied of section 2(b), 

section 18(a), and section 

19(a)(b) of the CBN Act 2007; 

had duly sought and obtained 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari's approval to proceed with 

releasing and circulation of new 

series of N200, N500, and N1,000 

banknotes," he said. 

Matawalle lauds Buhari for 

improved security in Zamfara 

G USAU—GOVERNOR 

Bello Matawalle of 

Zamfara State, has lauded 


Buhari and Security forces 

for the return of law and 

order in the state. 

In a statement yesterday 

in Gusau, Commissioner 

for Information, Ibrahim 

Dosara, quoted 

Matawalle as saying the 

recent order by the 

President to security 

agencies to deal decisively 

with bandits in the Northwest 

states and central is 

yielded results. 

The governor said the 

synergy amongst security 

operatives deployed to the 

state greatly helped in 

reducing the scale of 

banditry in the state. 

According to him, "the 

government of Zamfara is 

happy to notify the general 

public that the security 

situation has significantly 

improved in the state. A 

survey conducted last week 

across the state shows that 

there have been little or no 

banditry activities in most 

of the local government 

areas of the state, except in 

some isolated cases in parts 

of Bukkuyum, Gummi, 

Anka, Maru, Talata Mafara, 

Gusau, and Maradun." 

SPECIAL ADVISER to 

Governor Abubakar Bello 

of Niger State on Political 

Affairs and Strategy, Mr 

Mohammed Kolo, has called 

on the people of the state to 

get their Permanent Voter 

Cards, PVCs, ahead of the 

2023 general elections. 

The Special Adviser who 

made the call in Minna, 

particularly challenged 

members of the All 


who had registered for their 

PVCs to go and collect them 

in order to vote. 

Among others, he said "The 

only way to showcase your 

love for candidates of our 

party is to have your PVC and 

vote massively for all in the 

2023 general elections. We 

have since embarked on 

aggressive sensitisation to 

canvass support for Tinubu/ 

Shettima and Bago/Yakubu 

support as well as ensure the 

success of other APC 

Nigeria Starup Act: Pantami 

assures of implementation, 

tasks stakeholders 

ABUJA—THE Minister of 

Communications and 

Digital Economy, Professor 

Isa Pantami, has said the 

implemention of the Nigeria 

Startup Act is a priority of the 

ministry, saying he is 

committed to the 

implemention of the Act. 


Buhari recently granted 

assent to legislation passed by 

the National Assembly. 

To ensure the law is fully 

implemented, Patami, at a 

meeting with stakeholders, 

said it is the responsibility of 

every relevant actor to ensure 

its success. 

H i s 

words:“Implementation of 

Matawalle commended 

the media for what he 

described 

as 

"overwhelming and 

welcomed development" in 

Zamfara. 

"The hitherto waves of 

attacks, killings, 

kidnappings, and raping of 

women have drastically 

reduced and people are 

now seen carrying out their 

legitimate businesses in 

most parts of the state. The 

government and good 

people of Zamfara are 

therefore, expressing their 

appreciation to the 

collaboration between the 

security agencies and 

government," he said. 

The governor lauded the 

Federal Government for 

the renewed determination 

to end banditry and other 

criminality in the Northwest 

region and the country. 

Matawalle, however, 

appealed to the federal 

security forces to continue 

to support his 

administration in its resolve 

to restore peace in all parts 

of the state. 

"I can confidently assure 

the public that, Zamfara is 

on the path of peace. It will 

insha'Allah be secured and 

peaceful," Matawalle said. 

Gov's aide tasks Niger residents 

on PVCs' collection 

candidates at all levels. 

"We will sustain our houseto-house 

campaigns in 

mobilising eligible voters to 

safeguard their PVCs for the 

overall success of our 

candidates in 2023. I am 

strongly calling on APC 

members and supporters to 

reciprocate the gesture by 

voting all the party candidates 

to ensure continuity." 

The governor's aide also 

urged Nigerians to intensify 

prayers for the peaceful 

conduct of the general 

elections and the 

development of the country, 

saying "We should all seek 

divine intervention to enjoy 

peaceful atmosphere for a 

smooth electoral process. It is 

only through peaceful 

elections that the desire of 

Nigerians to have credible 

leaders to manage its 

resources for optimal growth 

would be possible." 

the Act is now a priority, and 

the ministry must be prepared 

to give all it takes to see to its 

actualization. 

“Nigerian youths across the 

country have placed their faith 

in the possibilities of this act, 

and we must commit to its 

implementation so that we do 

not let them down. President 

Buhari has done his part, and 

even the national assembly 

has done theirs. It is now our 

responsibility to make what 

began as a grand vision a 

reality for young people across 

the country. 

“Although it is political 

season, I remain committed 

to the implementation and 

would not be distracted by 

politics.”

14 — Vanguard, MONDAY NOVEMBER 21, 2022 

By JideAjani, 

General Editor 

Consequent on 

developments in the 

political space and its 

potential for severe 

implications for the 2023 

general elections, the 

N a t i o n a l 

Chairman, Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, Professor 

Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed 

that there are 600 pre-election 

cases in the courts. But it 

would seem that Hon. Justice 

John Terhemba Tsoho, the 

Chief Judge of the Federal 

High Court, perhaps, imbued 

with the power of 

clairvoyance, had anticipated 

such and, therefore, 

promulgated a Practice 

Direction on Tuesday, 28th 

June, 2022, for preelection 

matters. 

However, some sections 

are being violated and 

hence the number of preelection 

cases. This 

report presents the full 

Practice Direction and 

how the courts and 

INEC can bring sanity to 

the 2023 electioneering 

process. 

It is clear from court 

documents from the 

Federal High Court, 

FHC, which have so far 

have shown that a 

number of pre-election 

suits filed and assigned 

by the Registry of FHC, 

(either by error of 

omission or commission 

or time differential 

between when the 

Practice Direction was 

issued and when cases 

were filed) completely 

undermined the FHC that 

should, in the first place, 

adhere to its own rules 

against multiplicity of suits. 

Rule 4 (2) states that “An 

originating summons shall 

be accompanied by: 

(d)” An affidavit of nonmultiplicity 

of action on the 

same matter”. 

As do other sections of the 

Practice Direction, the FHC 

can set the tone for sanity, 

but, first, details of the 

Practice Direction: 

FEDERAL REPUBLIC 

OF NIGERIA FEDERAL 

HIGH COURT OF 

NIGERIA 

(PRE- 

ELECTION) PRACTICE 

DIRECTIONS 2022 

THE CONSTITUTION 

OF THE FEDERAL 

REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, 

1999 (AS 

AMENDED)FEDERAL 

HIGH COURT (PRE- 

ELECTION) PRACTICE 

DIRECTIONS, 2022 

ARRANGEMENT 

OF RULES 

Rule: 

1. Objectives and Guiding 

Principles 

2. Applicability 

3. Parties 

4. Filing of Process 

5. Service of Process 

6. Hearing 

7. Interlocutory 

Applications 

How strict adherence 

to rule of law can 

salvage 2023 

elections 

• Full Federal High Court (Pre-election) 

Practice Direction 

•President Muhammadu Buhari, 

signed Electoral Act 2022 into law 

and has promised to deliver free, 

fair and credible elections next year 

8. Miscellaneous 

9. Interpretation 

10. Citation 

11 . Commencement 

THE CONSTITUTION OF 

THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC 

OF NIGERIA, 1999 (AS 

AMENDED)FEDERAL HIGH 

COURT (PRE-ELECTION) 

PRACTICE DIRECTIONS, 

2022 

In exercise of the powers 

conferred on me by virtue of 

Sections 254,285 (9), (10) 

and (14) of the Constitution 

of the Federal Republic of 

Nigeria 1999 (as amended), 

Sections 29(5) and 84(14) of 

the Electoral Act, 2022 (as 

amended) and all other 

powers enabling me in 

that behalf, I, JOHN 

TERHEMBA TSOHO, 

the Honourable, the Chief 

Judge, Federal High Court, 

issue the following Practice 

Directions to the Federal 

High Court: 

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. 

APPLICABILITY 

2. -(1) This Practice 

Directions . shall apply to 

•INEC CHAIRMAN, Professor 

Mahmood Yakubu 

every pre-election matter 

brought pursuant to the 

provisions of the Constitution 

of the Federal Republic of 

Nigeria 1999 (as amended) 

and the Electoral Act, 2022 

(as amended). 

(2) This Practice Directions 

shall apply notwithstanding 

the provisions of the 

Federal High Court 

(Civil Procedure) Rules, 

2019. 

(3) The Chief Judge of 

the Federal High Court may 

direct that matters be 

transferred to the 

appropriate Division or 

any other Division as may be 

reasonably practicable 

considering the given 

circumstances. 

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 

How come the pre-election rule of 

non multiplicity of the same matter was 

missed and this same matter already 

pending in court 6, was again reassigned 

to court 7 

winner of the said 

election or whose name 

was forwarded by his political 

party to the Independent 


Commission (INEC). 

FILING OF 

PROCESSES 

4. -(1 )Every preelection 

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: 

(a) an affidavit setting out 

the facts relied upon; 

(b) copies of exhibits to be 

relied upon; 

(c) a written address; 

(d) an affidavit of nonmultiplicity 

of action on 

the same subject matter. 

(3) A Respondent served 

with an Originating 

Summons shall within7 

(seven) days from the date 

of service of the Originating 

Summons on him, file the 

original and copy of a duly 

completed and signed 

Memorandum of 

Appearance as specified in 

Form11 Appendix 6 of 

the Federal High Court 

(Civil Procedure)Rules 

with 

such 

modifications or 

variations as the 

circumstances may require. 

(4) A Respondent served 

with an Originating 

Summons shall within 10 

(ten) days of such service, 

file in the Registry of this 

Court, a counter affidavit and 

a written address, which may 

include any Preliminary 

Objection raised to the 

action. 

(5) An Applicant on whom 

a Respondent serves a 

defence, if the need 

arises, shall serve a 

Reply on that Respondent 

within 3 (three) days of such 

service. 

(6) The Written Address 

shall be concise, typed in 

double spacing with font 

size of 12; numbered 

consecutively and shall 

not exceed 15 (fifteen) pages. 

(7) Any amendment to 

the Originating Summons 

may be made with the leave 

of Court within 7 (seven) days 

of service of the Respondent’s 

Reply. 

(8) (i) All suits 

wherein the cause of 

action arose in a Judicial 

Division and the relief seeks 

a declaration or to compel or 

restrain person(s), 

natural or legal 

within that Judicial 

Division, with no 

consequence outside it, shall 

be filed, received or heard 

only within that Judicial 

Division. 

PROVIDED THAT in 

other suits, in so far as the 

relief sought, or potential 

consequential order(s) or 

declaration(s) extend 

Continues on page 15

How strict adherence to rule of law can 

salvage 2023 elections 

Continues from page 15 

beyond the Judicial 

Division, shall be filed 

or received at Abuja and 

assigned by the Chief Judge. 

(ii) In all other matters, as 

may require the attention of 

the Chief Judge, he may in 

the appropriate circumstance 

assign same to an appropriate 

Judicial Division. 

SERVICE OF PROCESS 

5.-(1) A party shall not 

serve a notice of an 

application on another party 

on the date scheduled for 

hearing. 

(2) To ensure speedy 

dispensation of justice, 

electronic mail and other 

electronic means may be 

employed by the Court in 

order to inform counsel of 

urgent Court and case events. 

PROVIDED THAT 

such notification shall be 

given at least forty-eight 

hours before the scheduled 

Court date. 

(3) In line with the 

provisions of Rule 5(2) of this 

Rule, parties are expected to 

furnish the Court Registrar 

with functional telephone 

numbers and e-mail 

addresses of themselves and 

their counsel. 

(4) An application for 

substituted service shall be 

as provided for in the Rules 

of this Court. 

HEARING 

6.-(1) Upon the close 

of exchange of processes 

between the parties, the 

Court shall within 7 (seven) 

days, set down the matter for 

hearing. 

(2) The Court shall continue 

to accord priority to all preelection 

matters until 

judgment is delivered. 

(3) Where a matter 

comes up for hearing 

under 

this 

PracticeDirections and either 

of the parties is absent, the 

Court shall either suo motu or 

upon oral application by the 

Counsel for the party 

present, order that the 

address of the party absent be 

deemed adopted if it is 

satisfied that the parties had 

notice of proceedings. 

(4) The Court and the 

parties shall prevent 

unnecessary delays and 

accordingly, not more than 

two adjournments shall be 

granted to any party to an 

action covered by the 

provisions of this Practice 

Directions. 

PROVIDED THAT no 

application for adjournment 

shall be entertained on a day 

fixed for hearing. 

(5) Where a party 

seeks to change his 

Counsel during the 

lifespan of a case, not more 

than two adjournments shall 

be granted to him to so do. 

(6) Where it is expedient, 

and in furtherance of the 

objectives of this Practice 

Directions, the Court 

may schedule the time and 

date of hearing on such day 

• Chief Judge of the 

Federal High Court, 

Honourable Justice John 

Terhemba Tsoho 

and at such time as may be 

convenient for the parties. 

(7) Counsel shall ensure 

that they are present in Court 

and ready to proceed with 

their case at all times. 

(8) Where the provisions of 

Rule 6(7) of this Rule becomes 

impracticable by reason 

of ill-health or any 

other unavoidable 

incidence, such 

Counsel shall ensure that 

a Counsel of requisite 

knowledge of the issues 

before the Court is present 

in Court and ready to proceed 

with the case in his or her 

stead or apply that the case 

be heard virtually where 

practicable; with the consent 

of parties. 

INEC must 

enforce Section 

84(13) of the 

Electoral Act 

2022 which states 

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 

INTERLOCUTORY 

APPLICATIONS 

7.- (1) Every 

application for 

Interlocutory Orders shall 

be on Notice, stating the 

Rule under which it is 

brought, the grounds for the 

reliefs sought and shall be 

supported by an Affidavit 

and a Written Address. 

(2) The Respondent(s) 

upon being served with the 

processes, shall have 5 (five) 

days within which to file 

processes in response (if 

any) to the Motion 

on Notice and the 

Applicant shall have 3 

(three) days to file a Reply (if 

any)to the processes of the 

Respondent(s). 

(3) Pursuant to the 

provision of Section 

285(8) of the 

Constitution of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as 

amended), ruling on 

Preliminary Objections and 

other interlocutory issues 

touching on the 

jurisdiction of the Court 

shall be suspended and 

delivered at the stage of 

final judgment; 

P R O V I D E D 

THAT where the objection 

relates to service of 

originating processes, the 

Court shall satisfy itself that 

the parties have been properly 

served before proceeding to 

determine the substantive 

Suit. 

(4) Every application 

for extension of time 

shall be by a Motion on 

Notice and shall be 

supported by an Affidavit 

setting forth good, 

substantial, cogent and 

verifiable reasons for 

failure to file within the 

prescribed period before time 

can be extended. 

Vanguard, MONDAY NOVEMBER 21, 2022 — 15 

MISCELLANEOUS 

8. The Federal High Court 

(Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019 

shall apply to any 

issue not captured 

under this Practice 

Directions. 

INTERPRETATION 

9. Under this Practice 

Directions, pre-election 

matters are matters as 

defined by Section 285(14) 

of the Constitution of the 

Federal Republic of Nigeria 

1999 (as amended). 

CITATION 

10. This Practice 

Directions may be cited as 

the Federal High Court(Pre- 

Election) Practice Directions, 

2022. 

COMMENCEMENT 

11. This Practice Directions 

shall come into effect from 

Tuesday, the 28th day of June, 

2022. 

MADE at Abuja, this 28th 

day of June, 2022. 

HON. JUSTICE JOHN 

TERHEMBA TSOHO, THE 

HONOURABLE, THE 

CHIEF JUDGE FEDERAL 

HIGH 

COURT 

OF NIGERIA 

The Issues 

Whereas the pre-election 

Practice Direction came into 

effect on Tuesday, June 28, 

2022, according to the 

records of the courts 

investigated by Vanguard, 

there were already, preelection 

cases. 

Investigations have 

revealed the following facts: 

1. That DIG Ekpoudum vs 

Akpabio was first in time filed 

on Monday, 27th June, 2022 

with 

Suit No: FHC / Abj/ CS/ 

1000/2022 btw Udom 

Ekpoudom. V. APC & INEC. 

This case was filed a day 

Does this mean 

that there was 

no deposition to 

an affidavit of 

non multiplicity 

of the same 

matter as 

required by 

Rule 4(2)(d)? 

And in the 

affirmative, 

what are the 

implications 

before the Practice Direction 

came into effect. 

2. Senator Godswill 

Akpabio, a lawyer and a man 

who insists he is committed to 

the rule of law and believes 

in the sovereignty of the 

courts, happened to have 

been part of the suit filed on 

Monday, 27th June, 2022. 

Whether due to time 

differential or an oversight, 

another suit was again filed 

on the matter in another court, 

thereby, violating Rule 4 (2) 

which states that “An 

originating summons shall 

be accompanied by 4(2)(d)” 

An affidavit of nonmultiplicity 

of action on the 

same matter”. That is there 

is no room for multiple suits 

in the same matter. This 

second case in Suit No: FHC/ 

AbjCS /1011 /2022 btw APC & 

Akpabio .v. INEC filed on 

29/6/2022 (and INEC) as the 

only defendant 

Curiously, it was only INEC 

that was sued and DIG 

Ekpoudum, who happened to 

be at the centre of it all and 

whose name is in INEC 

senatorial primary report that 

INEC repeatedly, in its press 

releases, said it stood by, was 

not sued in the matter, thereby, 

violating Rule 3, (which talks 

about Parties To A Suit) was 

violated. 

PARTIES Rule 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 


Commission (INEC). 

3.Whereas INEC was 

served process on the DIG’s 

case, it refused or was unable 

to file any written response 

nor submitted the report 

submitted by its REC and was 

never represented by counsel 

throughout the suit despite 

being served with hearing 

notices. 

4.However, in the Akpabio’s 

suit with INEC alone as 

defendant, INEC filed 

processes and was 

represented by Counsel who 

was also present in court to 

get the judgment for 

compliance. 

The Questions 

*How come the pre-election 

rule of non multiplicity of the 

same matter was missed and 

this same matter already 

pending in court 6, was again 

re-assigned to court 7 with a 

new suit number, the only 

difference in particulars? 

*Why did INEC fail to inform 

the court that the same matter 

was already pending in an 

earlier suit that INEC was part 

of as a defendant? 

*Does this mean that there was 

no deposition to an affidavit of 

non multiplicity of the same 

matter as required by Rule 

4(2)(d)? And in the affirmative, 

what are the implications? 

*INEC must enforce the spirit 

and letters of Section 84(13) of 

the Electoral Act 2022, 

on nomination of candidates by 

parties. 

Section 84(13) provides the 

remedy, 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”.


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What politicians can teach 

labour leaders 

INTRIGUING. I mean the topic 

leaders of the Food, Beverage 

and Tobacco Senior Staff 

Association, FOBTOB asked me 

speak on. ‘Trade Union Leadership: 

Lessons to be learnt from or Taught 

to the Political Class.’ I know a lot of 

lessons politicians can teach labour 

leaders, but scratch my head what the 

latter can teach our tribe of political 

leaders. It is not really that they are 

two diametrically opposed societies. 

Parties and unions actually have 

similarities such as being mass-based 

organisations with members who are 

expected to pay dues. Also, both 

movements are expected to be 

democratic organisations whose 

existence are specifically guaranteed 

by Section 40 of the constitution. 

Trade unionism and partisan 

politics in the country belong to the 

same age grade. The first formal 

union, the Southern Nigeria Civil 

Service Union was registered on 

August 19, 1912, that is two years 

before Nigeria formally came into 

existence. The first labour centre, the 

Federated Trade Unions of Nigeria, 

FTUN, created on November 23, 

1942 came into existence two years 

before the first pan-Nigeria political 

party, the National Council of Nigeria 

and Cameroons, NCNC was born. 

Also, trade unions established their 

The fire this time 

BY NICK DAZANG 

THE Independent National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, is required by law 

to register eligible voters, register political 

parties, oversee political parties, conduct voter 

education, promote knowledge of sound 

democratic processes, and conduct elections. 

To effectively carry out these lofty but 

challenging activities, INEC requires offices 

in all 774 local government areas and 8,809 

registration area centres across the country, 

the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT, 

Zonal Stores, the Electoral Institute, and 

headquarters for its command, control, and 

coordination. These offices enable INEC to 

access its legion of stakeholders, train its 

personnel (both permanent and ad hoc), and 

monitor political parties. These offices also 

serve as logistics hubs and reservoirs of sensitive 

and non-sensitive materials, which are 

deployed to polling units on election day and 

are then retrieved in the aftermath of the 

election, or what is called in INEC speak or 

lingo as "reverse logistics." 

These offices give INEC a huge presence 

across the country. They also make the 

commission ubiquitous. Whereas INEC’s 

ubiquity helps it to carry out its duties, almost 

seamlessly, it also has its drawback: its presence 

makes its offices soft targets for criminals, 

aggrieved Nigerians, and non-state actors who 

have axes to grind with the state or system or 

who profess one cause or another. In the past 

four years alone, not less than forty state and 

local government area offices of INEC have 

been razed by criminals and non-state actors. 

In the lead up to the off season Anambra State 

governorship election of November 6, 2021, 

non-state actors went on a bombing binge of 

INEC’s offices in the South-South and South 

East. These bombings and other acts of 

mayhem resulted in loss of lives, loss of not less 

than eight Toyota Hilux vehicles, hundreds of 

own political parties to contest 

elections. These include the 1950 

Labour Party led by Michael 

Imoudu, and the Socialist Workers 

and Farmers Party of Nigeria, 

SWFPN, founded in 1964 by the 

Nigeria Trade Union Congress, 

NTUC and the Nigeria Youth 

Congress. 

Towards the Second Republic, 

Wahab Omorilewa Goodluck, the 

1975 President of the Nigeria Labour 

Congress, NLC, founded the 

Socialist Workers’ Peoples Party. 

With the return to civil rule, the NLC 

in 2002, founded the Party for Social 

Democracy, PSD, which was 

renamed the Labour Party. The trade 

union leaders do not consider 

partisan politics an alien territory 

which they had to avoid or procure a 

visa to enter. They were part and 

parcel of partisan politics. There 

were trade union leaders who 

contested and won parliamentary 

elections in the First Republic. These 

included Haroon Popoola Adebola 

the former President of the United 

Labour Congress, ULC, and Samuel 

Udoh Bassey, General Secretary of 

the Nigeria Trade Union Congress, 

NTUC. 

Nduka Eze, General Secretary of 

both the Mercantile Workers Union 

and the NLC, was elected into the 

generating sets, properties and sensitive and 

non-sensitive election materials. These 

bombings were only halted when the President, 

Muhammadu Buhari, ordered security 

agencies to respond to the perpetrators in "the 

language they would understand". 

Though INEC enjoyed a reprieve in the 

aftermath of the presidential directive, we are 

witnessing a resurgence of the willful burning 

of its offices. In the small hours of Thursday, 

November 10, 2022, INEC’s offices in 

Abeokuta South in Ògun State and Ede South 

in Osun State, were attacked by arsonists. While 

in the case of Abeokuta South the office was 

completely destroyed and nothing could be 

salvaged, the Ede South office was saved by 

the prompt and valiant intervention of the Fire 

Service. It is heartwarming that the INEC 

Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, 

quickly convened a meeting of the Interagency 

Consultative Committee on Election Security, 

ICCES, in the aftermath of these attacks. It is 

also apt that Professor Yakubu used the 

meeting, which was held the next, day, to 

demand that ICCES should "move swiftly to 

apprehend perpetrators, prosecute them as 

required by law, and reinforce security around 

election officials and electoral infrastructure 

around the country." If the unvarnished truth is 

to be told, the impunity with which these 

dastardly acts are being carried out has a nexus 

or correlation with the fact that since they 

began, no one has been apprehended, paraded 

in the glare of the media, prosecuted and 

punished to the full extent of the law. This 

explains why aggrieved persons take advantage 

of INEC’s vulnerability to vent their pent-up 

and misplaced anger and frustrations. Once 

an example is made of these perpetrators, it 

will serve as a deterrence and send a strong 

signal to other would-be perpetrators. 

For us to appreciate the import of these 

bombings, we need to look at what transpired 

at the Abeokuta South office. In that attack 

Lagos Municipal Council on the 

NCNC platform. In the Second 

Republic, he was Secretary General 

of the Great Nigeria Peoples Party, 

GNPP. Perhaps the most famous 

Nigerian trade unionist who went 

into partisan politics was Chief 

Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo, 

founder of the Nigeria Produce 

Traders Association and who was 

also Secretary of the Nigeria Motor 

Transport Union (precursor of the 

current National Union of Road 

Transport Workers, NURTW). 

Awolowo was also an Executive 

Member of the TUC and Editor of 

the TUC Workers journal. He was 

elected Premier of the Western 

Region in 1954, a position he held 

until 1959 when he went to the 

Federal level as leader of opposition. 

Another famous unionist was 

Trade union leaders 

have lessons to teach 

politicians, but how do 

you teach a class that 

does not want lessons 

from anybody least of all 

from trade union 

leaders? 

Malam Aminu Kano, a teacher and 

leader of the Northern Nigeria 

Teachers Association. He was a 

minister and founder of the Second 

Republic’s Peoples Redemption Party, 

PRP. In the Second Republic were 

Senators Joseph Ansa, Chairman of 

the Senate Labour Committee and 

Ayoola Adeleke, former scribe of the 

Nigeria Nurses Association, and 

Assistant Secretary-General of the 

NLC. One of his sons, Senator Isiaka 

Adeleke later became Governor of 

Osun State while a second son, 

Senator Ademola Adeleke is the 

Governor-Elect of the state. In the 

House was Hon Yunusa Kaltugo, 

former President of the ULC. 

In contemporary times, a number 

of trade union leaders also became 

political leaders in the country. 

Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu former 

Chairman of the Nigeria Union of 

Teachers, NUT in Niger State 

became a two-term governor. 

Ibrahim Shekarau, a leader of the 

NUT, who was also President of the 

All Nigeria Conference of Principals 

of Secondary Schools, ANCOPS was 

Kano State Governor and Education 

Minister. Adams Aliu Oshiomhole 

was President of the NLC for eight 

years, Governor of Edo State for 

eight years from 2008 and for two 

years, the National Chairman of the 

ruling All Peoples Congress, APC, 

until 2020. 

Despite this affinity, I think there 

are specific lessons politicians can 

teach trade union leaders including 

tenacity as symbolised by President 

Muhammadu Buhari. He was twice 

the presidential candidate of the All 

Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, then, 

that of the Congress for Progressive 

Change, CPC, and finally, that of the 

All Peoples Congress, APC, in 2015 

when he finally won, after a 12-year 

pursuit! Adaptability is another 

lesson. Alhaji Abubakar Atiku was 

in the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP 

before decamping to the Action 

Congress, AC, on whose platform he 

contested the 2007 elections. He 

returned to the PDP, then decamped 

to the APC before returning to the 

PDP for a third time and has been its 

presidential candidate for the 2019 

and 2023 elections. 

Also, politicians are incredibly 

optimistic. President Goodluck 

Jonathan was defeated by President 

Buhari in 2015. He was demonised 

by the APC as the epitome of 

corruption and cluelessness and the 

curse that allegedly brought the 

country to its knees. Seven years later, 

he aspired to be the presidential 

candidate, not of PDP, but APC! 

alone, the prototype office was completely 

destroyed. In addition, other sensitive and nonsensitive 

materials were destroyed. They 

include: 904 ballot boxes, 29 voting cubicles, 

eight electric power generators, 57 election 

bags, 30 megaphones, 65,699 uncollected 

Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, and other 

assorted items such as stamps and stamp pads, 

furniture etc. In this one attack, INEC can 

easily replace these materials without doing 

violence to its budget. In fact, it immediately 

relocated to its old office at Oke-Ilewo. But the 

issue is that even this old office cannot be as 

expansive as the prototype office that was 

razed. Given the building and the quantum of 

equipment destroyed, we must be talking 

about hundreds of millions of Naira lost in 

INEC must win the hearts 

and minds of Nigerians; it 

must urgently engage with its 

stakeholders, especially 

traditional rulers, leaders of 

faith-based organizations, 

youths, and women 

one fell swoop. Assuming such wanton 

bombings were to continue and to be extended 

to other offices, where will INEC get the money 

to promptly replace them at a time when 

revenue accruing to government is dwindling, 

and it is finding recourse in precious foreign 

reserves to shore up a tottering Naira? 

And since these offices serve as crucial hubs 

for logistics, training and stores for the conduct 

of elections, the implication is that if such 

attacks continue unabated, they will 

undermine the Commission’s capacity to 

conduct elections. The larger implication, 

arising from the aforementioned, therefore, is 

that these attacks are a threat to the conduct 

of the 2023 General Elections. And a threat to 

the elections must be construed as a threat to 

the democracy project itself. This position is 

reinforced by what happened during the 

conduct of the Anambra off cycle governorship 

Politicians also have clarity. They 

make all sorts of compromises but 

keep their eyes on the ball. They stick 

to their strategic objectives with eyes 

on outcomes. Unlike labour leaders, 

politicians deploy all available 

assets and resources to attain their 

objectives. Politicians also set goals 

including short, medium and long 

term. 

It is difficult to decipher the 

motives of politicians; their ultimate 

objective is to win or gain power 

while the trade union leader is 

contented with small, economistic 

gains like higher minimum wage. 

They tend to read situations and 

make tactical moves. This is how Mr. 

Peter Obi who was never in the 

Labour Movement, is today the 

presidential candidate of the Labour 

Party. He was not even a member of 

the party! Politicians are always 

building and rebuilding alliances. 

Trade unions can do likewise 

especially with groups outside the 

movement. 

They are always conscious of their 

class. They understand their interests, 

and, work with those with similar 

interests. Politicians are ever holding 

town hall meetings and rallies to 

hear from their members and 

supporters and mobilise them. 

Politicians build multiple streams of 

income while trade unions tend to 

rely primarily on check-off 

deductions. They in the main, 

assume they know it all. Many trade 

unions run education and 

enlightenment programmes for their 

members and leaders at various 

levels. In contrast, politicians are not 

comfortable with having an 

educated and enlightened 

followership.Trade union leaders 

have lessons to teach politicians, but 

how do you teach a class that does 

not want lessons from anybody least 

of all from trade union leaders? I 

rest my case. 

election. The incessant attacks by non-state 

actors, which preceded it, frightened many of 

the ad hoc staff from performing their electoral 

duties. Many abandoned their duties at the 

eleventh hour. This should not be allowed to 

repeat itself, given its adverse consequences of 

the process. 

One is relieved that ICCES, immediately 

after its meeting, deployed Joint Security and 

Safety Teams to all INEC offices across the 

country. It is also savoury and encouraging 

that the President, who is keen on leaving a 

legacy of credible elections, views these attacks 

in the light of the existential threat that they 

constitute. He is said to have given the security 

agencies a marching order to deal decisively 

with any individual or group that attempts to 

disrupt the peace and the success of the 2023 

General Elections. But beyond intensifying 

surveillance around INEC offices, the security 

agencies must immediately apprehend the 

perpetrators of these recent attacks and 

determine their motives and agendas. Is it a 

coincidence that these attacks took place on 

the same day? Is it a coincidence that they used 

the same modus operandi? Why did the 

assailants pick the South West? 

Additionally, INEC must win the hearts and 

minds of Nigerians. It must urgently engage 

with its stakeholders, especially traditional 

rulers, leaders of faith-based organizations, 

youths, and women. It should use these 

engagements, at the state and local 

government levels, to impress on Nigerians 

that these facilities, which criminals destroy 

with recklessness, belong to them since they 

are procured with their tax or resources. They 

should be persuaded to be obligated to take 

ownership and to protect them. And they should 

be encouraged to do so by reporting to the 

authorities criminals they suspect are a threat 

to these facilities. Thankfully, this task has been 

made less daunting for the Commission by 

virtue of the stellar and transparent elections 

it has conducted in recent times. 

*Dazang, a public affairs analyst, wrote via: 

nickdazang@gmail.com

Detribalised Nigerians do 

not exist; they never did 

IN 1989, academics, Bill 

Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and 

Helen Tiffin published to great 

acclaim their study of the evolution 

of the diverse dialects of the English 

language from different empires. 

Their title was The Empire Writes 

Back. The book shows how various 

outposts of the empire took 

ownership of the language and 

adapted its grammar and 

usage. Few outposts of the empire 

have been as prolific in this enterprise 

as Nigeria. Conceived as somewhat 

of an illegitimate offspring in the 

ménage à trois between Sir George 

Taubman Goldie; his mistress, Flora 

Shaw; and his successor in 

propinquity to her, Frederick 

Lugard, Nigeria became a colonial 

experiment in the Tower of Babel. 

A national anthem composed in 

1959, one year before Independence, 

which occurred in 1960, 

acknowledged this reality in the third 

line of its first stanza, reminding the 

world of the aspiration to create a 

country even "though tribe and 

tongue may differ." The anthem itself 

invited citizens to "hail" the country 

in the antiquarian, biblical third 

person, symbolizing a broken 

relationship with the country. Never 

mind that the hailing was to be done 

in the borrowed language of a 

foreign country. Without 

compulsory access to basic 

education, which could have created 

a shared vocabulary in the imported 

language, the Nigerian imagination 

invented its own grammar of mutual 

intelligibility. This language is called 

By NDUBUEZE OKOLI 

FOR the umpteenth time, I am constrained 

to respond to Odo Ijere’s theatrics solely 

because facts need to be stated and not tweaked. 

It is obvious, from his latest outburst, that, aside 

from the fact that Dr. Uche Ogah has long 

been their nightmare, he is playing the Devil’s 

advocate just to justify his pay from a paymaster, 

widely known for failed political endeavours. 

2003 to 2022 is a case in point. The lone issue 

that characterises his latest write-up is that, 

APC, as a political party, and not the court, 

should determine and resolve the Abia 

gubernatorial candidacy issue, an internal 

party affair. His diatribe wrongly descended 

on the judiciary, the same institution that his 

paymaster ran to, for a failed salvation of his 

candidacy that never existed in the first place. 

Notwithstanding that his piece was riddled 

with envy and disappointment because selfish 

political calculation has been nutted, credit 

must be given to Mr. Ijere for at least, 

acknowledging in his piece that Dr. Uche Ogah 

"triumphantly entered Abia State dancing with 

a motley crowd of supporters and talking of 

starting his campaigns." It was an accurate 

account of what occurred from the airport to 

the Umu-Ikah junction to Umuahia. The 

political atmosphere in Abia State has 

changed for the better. The legion of supporters 

and admirers are evident of Dr. Uche Ogah’s 

acceptance in Abia State. 

I submit that the very mischief that Section 

84(14) of the Electoral Act (2022) seeks to 

address is this type of vain and offensive 

argument where a political party would 

organise primaries, get aspirants to 

participate therein, and spend their resources, 

only to turn around and unilaterally decide to 

foist another person as the winner of the 

"pidgin English," which does not 

entirely do it justice. It is 

characterised by an open-ended 

grammar in which meaning is 

always available to reveal itself to 

anyone interested in exercising 

imagination. But this is not the only 

function of Nigerian English. The 

French colonial policy of 

assimilation offered their way of life 

as the height of civilisation, 

promising natives (as the colonists 

called Africans everywhere) the 

opportunity to "evolve" to the highest 

level of civilisation, which they 

claimed was French citizenship. 

No matter how civilised 

you think you are, as long 

as you are in the country, 

Nigeria will happen to 

you and remind you 

where you come from 

without necessarily telling 

you it is going anywhere 

Access to Nigerian English is our 

passport to civilisation for those of 

us from Nigeria. Over here, we 

describe those who have attained this 

level of civilisation as "detribalised." 

It is arguably the greatest 

compliment that one Nigerian can 

pay to another. By contrast, to the 

owners of the language, to 

detribalise someone is to render 

them rootless. When his former 

minister, Jubril Martins-Kuye, died 

last year, President Olusegun 

primaries in which they did not emerge as the 

winner. For purposes of clarity, Section 84 (14) 

of the Electoral Act is reproduced hereunder: 

"Notwithstanding the provisions of this Act or 

the rules of a political party, an aspirant who 

complains that any of the provisions of this 

Act or the guidelines of a political party have 

not been complied with in the selection or 

nomination of a candidate of a political party 

for election, may apply to the Federal High 

Court for redress." 

The preceding provision of the Electoral Act's 

operating phrase is "notwithstanding the 

provisions of... rules of a political party." It 

suggests that, in spite of the "internal affairs" 

rules of a political party, an aspirant can seek 

the intervention and protection of the court for 

their candidacy to be determined by the court. 

Where and how did Dr. Uche Ogah go wrong? 

Rather, Ikechi Emenike, substantially erred by 

disregarding clear provisions of the law and 

embarking on a wild goose chase where he is 

doomed for political retirement. First, he 

approached the State High Court 

(Umunneochi Division) in total disobedience 

to the clear provisions of the extant statute. 

Kindly do a re-read of Section 84 (14) and 

discover his folly. Secondly, he averred that his 

grouse (in order to deceive the court) was 

predicated on a non-pre-election matter. 

Thirdly, he trumpeted that he emerged as the 

winner of an indirect mode of primary election, 

whereas the APC communicated its directive 

for a direct mode of primary election in Abia, 

Benue, and Osun States, respectively. Fourthly, 

he lied on oath that his emergence was 

monitored by INEC. As a result, when his name 

was submitted to INEC on the basis of such an 

incorrectly obtained State High Court and 

Court of Appeal verdict, it was a no-brainer 

that there could not be a worse violation of 

Obasanjo described him as 

"detribalised." Sokoto State 

Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, says 

only a "detribalised" Nigerian is fit 

to rule the country. 

So, the supporters of the 

presidential candidate of the People's 

Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku 

Abubakar, are quick to claim the 

mantle, describing him as the only 

"detribalised" one in the race to 

succeed Muhammadu Buhari, who 

is mostly accused of being the 

opposite. The supporters of the 

candidate of the Labour Party, Peter 

Obi, retort that he is "detribalised" 

too. Not to be outdone, even 

tribesmen of the presidential 

candidate of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, in the Yoruba 

Council of Elders, YCE, claim he is 

detribalised, which begs the question 

of why they exist in the first place. 

To demonstrate how meaningless 

the expression has become, former 

chairman of Kano State Primary 

Education Board, SPEB, Malam 

Yakubu Adamu, even described the 

late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado 

Bayero, as detribalised. But if the 

Emir, by definition, is the 

embodiment of a tribe, how can he 

be described as "detribalised" at the 

same time? 

Tayo Oke, a columnist, complains 

that the term is "widely embraced as 

a mark of respect by the political 

elite... yet so devoid of substance," 

adding that "people should find it 

infuriating that someone is pointing 

them out as a "detribalised" 

Nigerian; it is an insult to the 

intelligence." Academically, Jideofor 

Adibe explains that "when we talk of 

being ‘detribalised’ in the Nigerian 

context, there is an assumption that 

there is a specific Nigerian culture 

to which those who have either 

voluntarily abandoned any form of 

relationship with the cultures and 

customs of their forefathers are 

socialised into." 

Under colonial occupation, the 

tribe was (as a matter of law) beneath 

civilisation. Those who were defined 

by it naturally wanted to be 

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022 —17 



unshackled from it. For the native, 

the tribe was simultaneously a 

sanctuary from the colonial 

predations and the prison from which 

he sought emancipation. So, it was 

the mission of colonialism, they 

claimed, to bring such people into 

civilization. “Built into this were 

mechanisms to ensure that the 

tribalization of the natives was 

resilient. The Judicial Committee 

of the Privy Council in London 

determined in 1918, as the First 

World War ended, that African tribes 

were "so low in the scale of social 

organization that their usages and 

conceptions of rights and duties are 

not to be reconciled with the 

institutions or the legal ideas of 

civilised society." 

Tribes people, they held, were 

incapable of legitimate leadership, 

property, or identity, and were 

beneath dignity. Tribalisation of the 

native was central to the methods of 

colonial administration. Ugandan 

academic, Mahmood Mamdani, 

described the tribe as "the unit of 

indirect rule administration." As a 

result, the colonists made it such that 

"each tribe must be considered a 

distinct unit…. Each tribe must be 

under a chief." “One year after the 

Privy Council’s decision, Frederick 

Lugard could assert in his 

Amalgamation Report delivered in 

1919, that the policy was that these 

chiefs should govern their people not 

as independent but as dependent 

rulers. 

First, the chiefs who were given 

powers of life and death in this way 

(like emirs) had every incentive to 

sustain them. Second, the tribe was 

the way by which colonists 

calibrated the benefits and burdens 

of government. It thus ensured 

competition among different 

populations and peoples for the 

attention and affections of political 

power. This meant, thirdly, that the 

tribe as an identity did not merely 

depend on the subjective views of 

those who identified with it; it also 

defined how those who do not belong 

to your tribe see you. It is, therefore, 

Naked market square dance: A response to Ijere's theatrics 

any known statute as regards the electoral 

process in Nigeria at the time. 

Ikechi Emenike has been making futile 

allusions that the Federal High Court cannot 

interfere in the internal affairs of the APC in 

the determination of who, between Dr. Uche 

Ogah and himself, is the bonafide 

gubernatorial candidate of the party for the 

2023 general election, whereas he approached 

the Abia State High Court for temporary 

protection. Is he allowed to reprobate and 

approbate too? Time will tell. And Ikechi 

Emenike has been boasting that, he already 

has a Court of Appeal judgement that affirmed 

his candidacy (an appeal in which Dr. Uche 

Ogah was never a party), and he is then 

INEC's affidavit of fact 

confirms that Abia APC held 

direct primary elections, with Dr. 

Uche Ogah emerging victorious 

challenged to not appeal against the judgement 

of the Federal High Court, which affirmed Dr. 

Uche Ogah as the valid candidate of the APC 

for gubernatorial election. Emenike’s political 

history is characterised by impunity, 

lawlessness, and a penchant for not playing by 

the rules. He has met more than a match in Dr. 

Uche Ogah. On this score, therefore, the 

poisoned chalice in the form of unsolicited 

"counsel that courts cannot resolve the APC 

problems and that political settlement should 

be pursued out of court" is tainted with evil 

and is characteristically undeserving of 

attention as well. May I refer them to the case 

of AGI v. PDP & ORS (2016) LPELR-42578 

(Supreme Court)? "The rules of the party must 

be obeyed by all members of the party, as the 

no accident that Nigeria’s elite who 

seek to rule the country would think 

that their highest form of evolution 

is to describe themselves as 

"detribalised". In reality, the 

expression "detribalized" is worse 

than a patronizing piece of colonial 

nonsense. It begins from a 

conceptual error that "tribal" identity 

is expendable like a piece of 

traditional accoutrement. It is not. 

When they use this expression, 

Nigeria’s elite create the impression 

that the tribe is like a pigment that 

you can cure with ejaculations from 

a tube of anthropological bleaching 

cream. Ayodele, Ekaette, Kyari, 

Nkeiruka, Owoicho, are all markers 

of both belonging and exclusion. No 

matter how evolved the bearer may 

wish to feel they are, these identities 

are reminders to others as to what 

boxes they must fit into. 

Nativisation in this way is the 

mechanism by which Nigerians 

prepare to take on one another in 

the existential warfare over 

tribalization. It is also the way in 

which we remind one another that 

‘detribalized" is a con-job by the elite 

on the peasantry. While they claim 

to be "detribalised," these elite also 

ensure that their followers are fully 

tribalized exponents of intertribal 

warfare. It is the only way in which 

they can preserve their turf in the 

battle to carve up the country. The 

implications are very far-reaching. 

In Nigeria, at least, it means that you 

can take the tribe out of the man, but 

it is impossible to take the man out 

of the tribe. It is no accident that the 

first question nearly every Nigerian 

asks the next is, "Where are you from?" 

So many decades after the 

colonists left, this situation has 

hardly changed. Put differently, no 

matter how civilised you think you 

are, as long as you are in the country, 

Nigeria will happen to you and 

remind you where you come from 

without necessarily telling you it is 

going anywhere. 

*A lawyer and a teacher, 

Odinkalu can be reached at 

chidi.odinkalu@tufts.edu 

party’s decision over its affairs is final." The court 

will only interfere where the party has violated its 

own rules. (underlining is for emphasis). 

Thus, contrary to Ijere's self-concocted theory 

that courts cannot resolve a political party's 

problems, only courts can resolve the logjam 

in this situation where a political party choses 

to go against its own rules. It, therefore, follows 

that, the reason why Emenike approached a 

state high court (a court without jurisdiction) 

appears to be the same reason why Dr. Uche 

Ogah approached a federal high court, properly 

clothed with jurisdiction in electoral matters 

in Nigeria. The current electoral regime makes 

it a safer route for judicial intervention in 

similar situations as those highlighted above. 

In the case of Dr. Uche Ogah, the APC chose 

the direct method of holding primaries and 

informed both INEC and the party's Abia State 

chapter on May 25, 2022. INEC received the 

letter and acted on it by monitoring the direct 

primaries held in Abia on May 26, 2022. It 

filed its report therefrom and certified the same. 

It went ahead to file an affidavit of fact in the 

Federal High Court, where it deposed that Dr. 

Uche Ogah emerged as the winner in the direct 

mode of primaries conducted by the APC in 

Abia State. I now challenge Mr. Odo Ijere, to 

produce any certified INEC report for the 

monitoring of his purported indirect primaries 

where Ikechi Emenike emerged. Of course, 

none exists, and so it shall be. Therefore, his 

self-contrived and puerile allusion that "INEC 

will shoot itself in the leg upholding such 

judicial rascality, knowing that upholding such 

a rogue pronouncement will contradict its well 

(sic) established earlier position at the Appeal 

Court as to who’s primary election was in its 

books" is a non-starter.“ 

Continues online:www.vanguardngr..com 

•Okoli, a lawyer and public affairs analyst, 

wrote from Umuahia, Abia State 

C 

M 

Y 

K


ON Wednesday last week, the 

Chairman of the Independent National 

Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. 

Mahmood Yakubu, once again 

reassured Nigerians that the 

technological template aimed at 

reducing human interference in our 

elections in February and March 2023, 

will be implemented as planned. interests are plotting to use the court 

In particular, he affirmed that the to jettison the technological 

Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, arrangement to enable them to steal the 

BVAS, the electronic transmission of elections as in the past. CUPP also 

results from the polling units, and the alleged plans to sack Prof. Yakubu and 

use of the INEC Result Viewing Portal some of his team members to clear the 

(IReV), will not be compromised. way for an INEC chairman of their 

Coming 100 days before the epic choice. 

presidential and National Assembly Pledging loyalty to Nigeria, Prof. 

elections of February 25, 2023, these Yakubu also underlined his 

reassurances are germane, given Commission’s intention to increase 

several reports and apprehensions that interactions with and briefings of 

some highly connected and unpatriotic critical stakeholders, such as the 

political interests are conspiring to political parties, civil society groups, the 

prevent the implementation of these media, and others, to keep them 

hard fought reforms. 

informed about arrangements for the 

According to the Coalition of United elections. 

Political Parties, CUPP, these dark We recognise the efforts the 

Beyond INEC Chairman’s reassurances 

Commission has led towards ensuring 

a free and fair election next year. The 

Commission and President 

Muhammadu Buhari appear to be on 

the same page in their serial pledges 

to ensure credible general elections in 

2023. Nigerians are waiting for them 

to walk their talk. 

Hopes have been raised that in next 

year’s elections, the people’s votes will 

count, if the series of off-cycle state 

elections are anything to go by. This is 

why the youth, who have traditionally 

been reluctant to act as agents of 

positive change, have come out in force 

this time. 

We, however, are worried about 

certain issues surrounding the INEC 

voter’s register. Number one is the 

unexplained high number of invalid 

voter registrations, which negatively 

affected the South, while the North 

recorded the lowest numbers in the 

just-concluded Continued Voter 

Registration, CVR, exercise. 

The INEC must explain why the more 

educated geopolitical zones of the 

South East and South-South recorded 

such a high number of invalid 

registrations, putting them at a 

significant disadvantage in comparison 

to other regions.This explanation is to 

prevent accusations against INEC of 

deliberately beating down the numbers 

in the political base of some 

presidential candidates, a kind of prerigging 

of the election. 

Secondly, Nigerians are shocked that 

even after INEC "cleaned" the voter 

register, there are still a large number 

of underage voters. It is INEC’s job, 

not that of the public, to remove those 

names immediately! 

OPINION 

Connecting the dots between consumption and production 

By DAVID ADONRI 

CONTRARY to the widely held 

impression, Nigeria is actually one of 

the least consuming countries in the world. 

The abysmal low per capita income of about 

USD 2,100, together with the over 100 million 

poor citizens living under USD 1 per day in 

Nigeria, attest to this fact. It is difficult to see 

any area of human activity where Nigeria 

meets the global benchmark for consumption. 

Consider a basic necessity like electricity. The 

global benchmark for consumption stipulates 

1,000 megawatts per day for every million 

people. Accordingly, Nigeria, with a 

population of about 210 million people, ought 

to consume about 210,000 megawatts of 

electricity per day, but what the country 

consumes per day is less than 10 megawatts 

from public and private generation. Many 

other examples abound to demonstrate that 

Nigeria is among the world's least consumer 

of goods and services. From the perspective of 

consumption levels, it is not difficult to see why 

the county is so poor and the majority of 

citizens in abject poverty. It is evident that 

Nigeria's economic woes cannot be ascribed 

to problems associated with excessive 

consumption. Under consumption is a 

phenomenon Nigerians should actually worry 

about. 

Every consumption is accompanied by a 

production. Goods and services that are 

consumed in an economy must be produced. 

Of the numerous goods and services consumed 

in Nigeria, very few are produced locally. In 

spite of the vast agricultural endowments that 

ought to make Nigeria an agrarian economy, 

very little output is generated from the country's 

34 million hectares of arable land. Rice and 

wheat, which are the most consumed staple 

foods, are largely imported. Agriculture in 

Nigeria is still subsistence-based, with 

primitive methods and crude implements. 

Practically all the goods used in the education 

sector other than a few wooden furniture are 

imported. All the machinery and equipment 

together with their spare parts used in various 

sectors of the Nigerian economy are imported. 

Every element used in the aviation industry is 

imported. 

All the armament and security gadgets used 

to provide security are imported. The list of 

imported consumer and capital goods is 

virtually endless. Coming to services, the 

situation is not better. The critical services that 

define the fourth industrial revolution, which 

drives the Nigerian economy, are outsourced 

or imported. Without the software and 

hardware backbones hosted abroad, Nigeria's 

ICT sector cannot function at all. Even the 

digital technology behind CBN's digital 

currency is hosted abroad. In spite of Nigeria's 

low level of consumption, even the little that is 

consumed does not materialise from domestic 

production. There is a yawning gap between 

what Nigeria consumes and what she produces 

locally. This is the bane of the economy. With a 

high level of import dependence and a weak 

foreign income base, Nigeria's economy will 

remain doomed if equilibrium is not 

established between consumption and 

domestic production. It is gratifying to note 

that Peter Obi has made production the 

centrepiece of his economic agenda if elected 

President of Nigeria. Any incoming 

administration that fails to pursue the task of 

building a production based economy with 

iron determination, will fail woefully, like 

previous administrations apart from that led 

by Dr. Yakubu Gowon. 

Building a production based economy is not 

a magical act. The productive economies of 

North America, Europe, and Asia were not 

built by spirits. “They were built by human 

beings like you and I" according to Tafa Zibiri, 

a senior Nigerian capital market operator. The 

pathways charted by advanced economies to 

become productive are not hidden but open 

for all to see and follow. They have 

demonstrated that modern production is not 

dependent on a large population to provide 

cheap labour. It is driven by technology. 

Technology makes nations rich. That is why 

small technologically developed countries 

with less than 10 million people like Singapore, 

Belgium, Switzerland and others in Europe 

give humanitarian aid to Nigeria, whose 

population is about 210 million, according to 

Rotimi Sankore, a development economist 

and erudite socioeconomic analyst. It is double 

jeopardy for a nation with a large population 

density like Nigeria to lack the technological 

wherewithal to manage its excessive 

With a high level of import 

dependence and a weak foreign 

income base, Nigeria's economy 

will remain doomed if 

equilibrium is not established 

between consumption and 

domestic production 

population burden. Technology and 

population control are the reasons why China, 

with over 1 billion people, enjoys peace and 

prosperity today. 

Surprisingly, no presidential candidate in 

the forthcoming election demonstrates even 

the minutest understanding of the fact that you 

cannot plan for development without 

population control. If Nigeria is really serious 

about production, first, the driving forces 

behind modern production must be 

understood to guide social and 

macroeconomic policy formulations. The first 

and primary driver is the availability of 



technically skilled manpower. This goal can be 

achieved by building new infrastructure and 

adequately equipping existing infrastructure 

for teaching science, technology, engineering, 

and mathematics across all tiers of education. 

Strategies must be devised to mobilize, 

motivate, and retain Nigeria's skilled 

manpower pool. Without technical manpower, 

the knowledge base required to domesticate 

technology will be lacking. The next driver is 

the development of the mining industry, not 

for export purposes but to provide basic ferrous 

and nonferrous metals for making machines 

in Nigeria. 

From my experience in manufacturing, I tell 

you that it is wishful thinking to believe that 

Nigeria will succeed in production by 

depending 100 percent on imported machines 

and spare parts. Next to mining, is the 

development of the metallurgical industry for 

supply of ferrous and nonferrous metals to the 

tool and machine making industry, which must 

be developed to produce 'Made in Nigeria' 

machines. Machinery and equipment are 

needed to build heavy and light industries, 

along with mechanising agriculture. Every step 

described above, from skilled technical 

manpower to machine-making capability, 

constitutes the engineering infrastructure, 

which is the backbone and foundational 

building block for the sustenance of the 

productive momentum of a virile, competitive, 

and domesticated economy in Nigeria. 

The availability of engineering 

infrastructure will enable Nigeria to build 

secondary infrastructure (roads, rail, ports, 

housing, and healthcare) from start to finish 

from internal resources without borrowing 

externally or importing inputs. It will also 

internally give rise to the sustainable 

development of the electric power, energy, and 

chemical industries from start to finish locally. 

Continues online:www.vanguardngr.com 

* Adonri is Vice Chairman, Highcap 

Securities Ltd., in Lagos

By Babajide Komolafe, 

Economy Editor 

The scarcity of funds in the 

interbank money market 

intensified last week 

prompting a 253 per cent 

spike in banks' borrowing 

from the Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN. 

Financial Vanguard analysis 

of data from the CBN showed 

that the volume of idle cash 

(liquidity) in the interbank 

money fell by 87 per cent, 

week-on-week, WoW, to 

N41.41 billion last week from 

N326.6 billion the previous 

week. This represents the 

second consecutive WoW 

decline in market liquidity, 

following a similar trend in 

the previous week when 

market liquidity fell by 31 per 

cent. 

The sharp decline in liquidity 

last week was occasioned by 

outflow of N269.16 billion 

through the FGN bond 

auction conducted by the 

Debt Management Office, 

DMO. 

In a bid to survive the scarcity 

of funds occasioned by the 

sharp drop in market 

liquidity, banks increased 

patronage of the Standing 

Lending Facility, SLF, of the 

CBN to meet short term 

liquidity needs. 

Consequently, banks' 

borrowing from the apex bank 

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022 —19 

Scarcity of funds triggers 253% rise in banks' borrowing from CBN 

via the SLF, rose sharply by 

253 per cent, WoW, to N632.83 

billion last week from 

N179.03 billion the previous 

week. 

On the flip side, banks' 

deposit of idle cash with the 

CBN via the Standing Deposit 

Facility, SDF, fell by 94 per 

cent, WoW, to N6.33 billion 

last week from N104.44 

billion the previous week. 

On the other hand, the cost 

of funds shot up sharply in 

the interbank money market, 

reflecting the intense scarcity 

of funds. Data from FMDQ 

showed that interest rate on 

Collateralised (Open Buy 

Back, OBB) lending rose by 

425 basis points,bps to 16.25 

per cent last week from 12 per 

cent the previous week. 

Similarly, interest rate on 

Overnight lending rose by 

367bps 16.50 per cent last 

week from 12.83 per cent the 

previous week. 

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022 

FG’s domestic borrowing crowds out 

private sector in 2022 

•As FG bonds' borrowing rise to N7.5trn in Q3 

•Corporates get only N189bn 

•Crowding out an invitation to high cost of capital - Analysts 

By Peter Egwuatu 

Indication has emerged that the 

Federal Government, FG, 

borrowings in the domestic 

market through bonds issuance 

skyrocketed in the third quarter 

of the year, Q3'22, while also 

squeezing the private sector 

borrowing in the same market. 

Bond market is one of the 

cheapest sources of borrowing for 

both governments and corporate 

organizations in Nigeria, but 

investment analysts are saying 

that the bullish position of the 

government has now altered the 

valuations with the bonds going 

up to as much as 16.2499%. 

Financial Vanguard findings 

show that the value of FG's new 

bond listing on the Nigerian 

Exchange Limited, NGX, 

recorded a sharp rise to N7.547 

trillion, representing a 94.7 

percent increase against the 

N3.877 trillion recorded in the 

corresponding period of 2021, 

Q3'21. 

This figure accounted for 96.2 

percent of the total N7.842 trillion 

worth of bonds raised in the 

market so far in 2022. 

At the level of the second tier of 

government, though only two 

States, Lagos and Kogi, accessed 

the market, borrowing a 

combined figure of N105 billion 

during the period, their stake in 

the market represents a 

remarkable development against 

a zero presence last year. 

However, the come-back 

amounted to just 1.36 percent of 

the total value of bonds issued so 

far this year. 

Out of the N105 billion state 

bonds in 2022, Lagos took the lion 

share of N100billion while Kogi 

took just N5.0billion. 

Consequently, the combined 

funding raised by the governments 

from bonds so far in 2022 rose 97.4 

percent to N7.652 trillion as 

against N3.877 trillion in 2021. 

However, though the private 

sector funding from the bond 

market rose significantly by 182.1 

percent to N189.6 billion so far in 

2022, against N67.2 billion in 

2021, its share of the total bond 

market funding is considered very 

negligible at 2.4 percent of the 

total N7.842 trillion pulled from 

the market so far this year. 

The companies that got the 

funding from the bond market so 

far include Dangote with a 

predominant amount of 

N112billion. It was followed by 

Presco Plc which raised 

N34.5billion, LFZC Funding SP 

raised N25billion, Ardova Plc 

raised N17.2billion, and ABC 

Transport Industries raised N900 

million. 

Those that got in 2021 are 

Dangote Cement N50billion, C &I 

Leasing N10billion and Value 

Alliance Asset Management 

N7.4billion. 

Adverse implications — 

Analysts 

Investment analysts have 

decried the high borrowing in the 

domestic market by the 

governments especially the FG. 

They believe it is crowding out 

the private sector that needed the 

funds to catalyze economic 

growth through investment and 

productivity. 

They opined that the situation, 

if not reversed, will continue to 

slowdown economic growth as 

access to cheaper funding of 

private sector operations will 

force companies and industries to 

cut costs by retrenching workers, 

increase prices of their goods 

which also push up inflation, or 

short down operations completely 

due to unsustainable higher 

funding costs. 

Reacting on the high borrowings 

by governments, investment 

analyst and CEO, Wyoming 

Capital and Partners, Tajudeen 

Olayinka, said: "In general, more 

listing could be evidence of more 

borrowing from the public, with 

the intent to fund rising cost of 

governance and increase supply 

of government securities in the 

fixed income market. 

"Crowding out private sector 

borrowers is an invitation to 

raising cost of capital in the 

economy. It could also be a 

deliberate effort on the part of 

government and CBN to force 

interest rate up, in a way to avert 

reversal of capital flow or stem 

capital flight." 

He projected: "Since 

government is unable to generate 

sufficient revenue to fund its 

budget, it might continue on the 

same path in the fourth quarter of 

this year." 

Commenting, Managing 

Director/CEO, APT Securities & 

Funds Limited, Mallam Garba 

Kurfi, said: "The increase in 

inflation forced the rise in FGN 

Bond, Sukuk and Savings Bonds 

rates in order to attract investors. 

With inflation over 20% 

governments have no choice than 

to raise the rates despite that it still 

brings negative returns. 

''The other factors causing high 

borrowing in the domestic 

market by the governments is the 

devaluation of naira which make 

foreign loan too expensive to 

borrow''. 

On the crowding out effect on 

the private sector, he said: "The 

federal government borrowing 

crowding private sector retards 

economic development. 

''Other effect of more borrowing 

by the government is the scarcity 

of funds to buy foreign exchange 

which is also scarce, forcing many 

companies to either close their 

factories or reduce production''. 

On his projection for the fourth 

quarter, Kurfi, said: "The fourth 

quarter may not be attractive for 

listing and raising of funds by 

private sector due to devaluation 

of naira and lack of foreign 

exchange among other factors." 

In his own reaction, analyst and 

Vice Executive Chairman, 

HighCap Securities Limited, 

David Adonri, said: " The quantum 

leap in issuance of public debt 

(FGN and States) is as a result of 

their huge budget deficit and 

dwindled fiscal revenue. 

''NNPC which is the major 

source of revenue to FGN has 

practically stopped remittances to 

FAAC and this has in turn 

diminished FAAC allocation to 

States. As a result, FGN and 

States, being in desperate need for 

funds to survive, have swarmed the 

debt market to raise money." 

Continuing, he said: "Whenever 

interest rate increases, as it is 

presently, the high cost of 

borrowing is a deterrence to 

businesses. This dampens 

corporate borrowing in order to 

preserve their profitability. 

''Secondly, the excessive demand 

for debt by government at any cost 

also drives up interest rate and 

diminishes the volume of money 

available to the productive sector. 

This situation has depressed the 

equities market as financial assets 

migrate to public debt. The 

current situation is already 

crowding out the private sector 

from access to investable funds. 

"FGN and States are in 

desperate situation financially. 

Their increasing appetite for 

domestic debt will continue with 

undiminished intensity and 

because of fear of sovereign 

default, capital inflow has 

dwindled. To enhance their 

political goodwill when 

approaching a general election, 

incumbents spend heavily on 

public works this eliciting 

Continues on page 20


FINANCIAL VANGUARD 

MAN hints of threat to survival of soft 

drinks sector over rising tax burden 

By Cynthia Alo 

There are indications that the 

carbonated soft drinks, CSD, 

sub-sector of the economy is 

under huge pressure following 

the cost escalation caused by 

existing and new tax burdens. 

Rising from a meeting last 

week in Lagos, the CSD sectoral 

group of the 

Manufacturers Association of 

Nigeria (MAN) said the Federal 

Government's proposed 20 per 

cent Ad-valorem Excise tax on 

non-alcoholic beverages will 

spell doom for the sector as the 

effect of the prevailing N10 per 

litre tax regime is already 

crippling the sector. 

The industry operators said 

already the impacts of the 

prevailing N10 per litre excise 

tax between June and August 

2022 shows a -8 percent revenue 

decline as a direct result of excise 

tax implementation. They 

project that the decline will hit - 

25 percent by end of the year if 

not reviewed. 

This, according to them, 

excludes the cost of write-offs of 

products produced, excised but 

not sold, adding that with the 

proposed 20% Ad-valorem tax 

introduction, the collapse of the 

soft drink market is imminent. 

The implication, according to 

industry observers, would be 

further job losses, erosion of the 

sub-sector contribution to Gross 

Domestic Product, GDP, and the 

ultimate aim of the government 

in collecting revenue will be 

completely defeated. 

The CSD subsector accounts 

for 33 per cent of the entire 

manufacturing sector in 

Nigeria. 

The manufacturing industry 

contributes 15 per cent to 

Nigeria's GDP while the food 

and beverage sector contributes 

5.0 per cent. 

Also the CDS subsector paid 

N202 billion to the government 

as Value Added Tax (VAT), and 

N207 billion in Company 

T 

Income Tax, last year, one of the 

highest sectoral contributions to 

government revenues. 

Speaking at the meeting with 

one voice, the sectoral heads 

decry the devastating effects of 

the N10 per litre tax, which has 

become burdensome with the 

high cost of operation in the 

country. 

Industry analysts say this is 

already having devastating 

effects on the end cost to 

consumers, considering their 

poor income, while an 

additional 20 per cent will most 

certainly kill the sector. 

They, therefore, called for the 

suspension of the excise tax being 

proposed by the government to 

forestall the collapse of the 

industry. 

Corroborating this position, 

Ekuma Eze, Corporate Affairs 

and Sustainability Director, 

Nigerian Bottling Company 

(NBC) pointed out that the N10 

per litre currently in practice has 

no bearing on profitability for 

any of the members of the 

sectoral group. 

He confirmed that since the 

introduction of the N10 per litre 

Excise Tax, businesses in the 

sector have been experiencing a 

worrisome decline. 

MPC meeting outcomes, Q3 GDP figures 

condition stock market sentiment 


ixed sentiments pervaded the 

MNigerian Exchange Limited, 

NGX as market dealers and 

investors await the outcome of the 

Monetary Policy Committee, MPC 

meeting, which is expected to begin 

today, as well as the 2022 third 

quarter, Q3'22, Gross Domestic 

Product, GDP, figures to make 

investment decisions for the last 

quarter as well as first quarter 2023. 

Consequently, the Exchange 

closed in the green territory despite 

pressure from profit-taking activities 

during the week. 

The All-Share Index ended the 

week 1.2% higher, settling at 

44,492.73 points. 

Bargain buying in Guaranty Trust 

Holding Company, Nigerian 

Breweries, Stanbic IBTC, Zenith 

Bank and MTN amid sell-offs in 

Guinness Nigeria, WAPCO and 

Dangote Sugar, drove trading 

behaviors during the week. 

The Month-to-Date, MtD, and 

Year-to-Date, YtD, returns increased 

to 1.5% and 4.2%, respectively. 

Commenting on the market 

performance, analysts at InvestData 

Consulting Limited said: "Investors 

are also reassessing the future of the 

Monetary Policy Rate, MPR hike by 

the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) 

ahead of Q3 GDP figure and impact 

of its currency redesign to control 

money in circulation, as all eyes are 

on the outcome of its last Monetary 

Policy Committee meeting for this 

year holding next week. That 

meeting is expected to shape market 

direction in the midst of the betterthan-expected 

corporate earnings 

and low prices of stocks that created 

real opportunities for fresh entrance 

ahead of year-end seasonality." 

On their projection for the week, 

the analysts added: "We expect 

mixed sentiments to continue on 

cautious trading as player's digest 

October Consumer Purchase Index, 

CPI, ahead of MPC meeting and 

portfolio repositioning. Amidst 

bargain hunting and election 

uncertainty, as investors is taking 

advantage of the low prices ahead 

of year end seasonality." 

Similarly, analysts at Cordros 

Research stated: "In the week 

ahead, we believe investors will focus 

on the outcome of the MPC meeting 

scheduled to hold next week to gain 

further clarity on the movement of 

yields in the FI market. As a result, 

we envisage a cautious trading 

theme, especially from domestic 

investors. Notwithstanding, we 

reiterate the need for positioning 

only fundamentally sound stocks as 

the weak macro environment 

remains a significant headwind for 

corporate earnings." 

Statistician General canvasses right agric statistics for food security 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

he Statistician General of the 

Federation/Chief Executive 

Officer, National Bureau of Statistics, 

NBS, Mr. Adeyemi Adeniran, has 

stressed the need for the right 

production and usage of agricultural 

statistics to improve food production 

and food security in the country and 

across Africa. 

Adeniran disclosed this at the 

weekend during the celebration of 

the African Statistics Day 2022, 

themed: "Strengthening data 

systems by modernizing the 

production and use of agricultural 

statistics: informing policies with a 

view to improving resilience in 

agriculture, nutrition and food 

security in Africa", in Abuja. 

He stated: "Over the past six 

months, the issue of food security 

and nutrition has been a topical issue 

in many countries across Africa, most 

Continues from page 19 

propensity for increased 

borrowing by government''. 

Also commenting, analyst and 

Head of Investment and Research 

at Fidelity Securities Limited, 

Victor Chiazor, said: "The rise in 

government borrowing is not 

surprising owing to the fact that 

as the country's budget continues 

to expand, the government will 

need to fund most of its deficit 

budget via borrowing. 

"Going by the 2023 budget as 

well, we expect government 

borrowing to continue to rise 

except government finds a way to 

especially since the start of the 

Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has 

had significant impact on food 

supply in the continent, with over 

40 percent of Ukraine's annual 

Wheat and Corn exports to Africa. 

"In Nigeria, which is also a major 

importer of grains from Ukraine, the 

situation is further exacerbated by 

the security challenges and floods 

that have affected farming activities 

across the country. 

"So producing and using the right 

agriculture statistics to inform 

policies and interventions, that help 

to boost output, improve nutrition 

and food security in Africa, is of high 

priority and a matter of urgent 

national importance." 

He explained that the Covid'19 

pandemic and Russian -Ukraine war 

showed the continent's 

overdependence on food imports. 

On the role of statistics in the 

development of the agric sector, 

Adeniran stated: "As coordinator of 

the system, NBS will continue to 

play its role in providing the 

necessary leadership and guidance 

for the system to continue along its 

development path." 

The President, Nigerian Statistical 

Association, Dr. Ebuh Godday, 

explained that the objectives of this 

year's celebration are among other 

things to raise awareness on the role 

of statistics in development, and in 

monitoring progress towards 

achievement of agenda 2030 on 

Sustainable Development Goals, 

SDGs, African Union, AU agenda 

2063 and other regional and national 

agendas. 

He said:"Fellow Celebrants, the 

specific objectives for this year's 

celebration include: To raise 

awareness on the role of statistics in 

development, and in monitoring 

progress towards achievement of 

agenda 2030 on SDGs, AU agenda 

2063 and other regional and national 

agendas''. 

NEWS 

Custodian Group GMD wins 

Almond award 

By Rosemary Iwunze 

The Group Managing Director 

(GMD) of Custodian 

Investment Plc, Wole Oshin, has 

won the 2022 Almond Insurance 

Industry Business Award for 

Excellence. 

The Award recognises 

individuals with a proven track 

record of professional brilliance, 

pioneering, innovation and 

integrity. 

Recipients of the award are 

individuals that have contributed 

to the insurance industry, the 

companies they work with as well 

as contributions/service to 

humanity beyond insurance. 

Speaking on the Award, the 

Managing Director/CEO of 

Almond Production Limited, Faith 

Ugwuode, said that the awardees 

for this category must have 

FG’s domestic borrowing crowds out private sector in 2022 

increase its revenue base, which 

has continued to struggle for 

some time now. 

''So long as government revenue 

remains weak and it continues to 

rely on borrowings to fund most 

part of its budget, this continuous 

rise in government borrowing will 

not stop. ''Also going by the CBN 

decision to raise monetary policy 

rates in a bid to fight inflation, we 

may not see increased activity in 

the debt capital market by the 

private sector as the interest rate 

will be toxic for most private 

businesses. The private sector will 

only become active again in the 

debt market when interest rates 

become low enough to support 

their income margins." 

FG debt sustainability 

At the backdrop of the FG 

heightened borrowing from the 

local bond market as well as the 

international markets the Debt 

Management Office, DMO, has 

expressed worry over its 

sustainability in the face of 

increasing revenue shortfalls. 

Last Thursday at a workshop for 

members of the Senate 

Committee on Local and Foreign 

Debts and House Committee on 

Aids, Loans and Debt 

Management in Abuja, the 

Director-General of the DMO, 

Zenith Bank heralds Yuletide 

season with Ajose Adeogun 

Christmas light-up 

It was a great spectacle to 

behold as the Christmas and 

Yuletide season came to life at the 

2022 Zenith Bank Christmas 

Light-up ceremony. 

The official lighting ceremony, 

which was held at the Ajose 

Adeogun Street Roundabout, 

Victoria Island, Lagos, on 

Saturday, November 19, 2022, 

was performed by the Group 

Managing Director/CEO of 

Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Ebenezer 

Onyeagwu. 

With the theme “Let There Be 

Light”, this year marked the 16th 

edition of the Light-up 

ceremony at the Ajose Adeogun 

Roundabout. The Light-Up 

event is an annual Corporate 

Social Responsibility (CSR) 

initiative by the bank to herald 

the yuletide season through the 

beautification of Ajose 

Adeogun Street – home to 

Zenith Bank’s Corporate 

Headquarters – which has 

come to be recognised as an 

iconic place, attracting people 

from all walks of life who visit 

with their families and friends 

to take pictures and make 

videos of the wonderful 

spectacle, especially at night 

and enjoy the ambience of the 

street and season. 

Speaking during the 

ceremony, Onyeagwu 

expressed his delight in 

heralding the yuletide season 

of 2022 through the iconic 

Ajose Adeogun Street lighting 

up. 

In his words, “today is a 

unique day. It is unique in the 

sense that we are going to turn 

on the Christmas light and 

activate the spirit of Christmas, 

Ms. Patience Oniha, gave this hint 

while also saying that interest rates 

had sharply increased at both 

domestic and international 

capital markets, thereby making 

loans more expensive and debt 

service more burdensome. 

She, therefore called for urgent 

actions to raise the nation's 

revenue base. 

Her words, "Debt has grown and 

we all know why. Revenue base is 

low and we often don't achieve 

annual revenue targets in the 

annual budgets. Even if we 

achieve the revenue targets 100 

percent, they are still too low for a 

country the size of Nigeria. 

which we usually have 

annually. It is also unique in the 

sense that we are honoured and 

delighted to have in our midst 

the wife of our Founder and 

Chairman, Mrs. Kay Ovia”. 

He praised Quantum 

Markets, the company 

responsible for the annual 

decorations, for the 

outstanding, very creative and 

extremely beautiful work that 

they have done. 

According to him, “when you 

look at the Christmas set-up we 

have every year, it looks 

completely different, and there 

is no repetition of themes. And 

when we think we have seen it 

all, by the time a new one 

comes, it is something 

completely different and 

massively so. The one for this 

year, as I entered here, I was 

wondering if this is a theme 

park”. 

Whilst urging everyone to 

imbibe the message and spirit 

of Christmas, which is about 

peace, love, forgiveness and 

above all, respect for humanity, 

Onyeagwu prayed for peace in 

every home, business and in the 

country and that this year’s 

celebration would be like no 

other that we have seen. 

Zenith Bank has clearly 

distinguished itself in the 

Nigerian financial services 

industry as an institution 

committed to building a more 

sustainable and inclusive 

economy and promoting 

responsible business practices 

in Nigeria through integrating 

sustainability principles in its 

business operations. 

contributed to the industry in 

various capacities for more than a 

decade. 

She stated that the choice of 

Oshin was easier as he has 

demonstrated enormous 

leadership qualities over the years. 

"This is apparent in the success 

story of Custodian Investment that 

rose from being an underdog in the 

insurance industry to successfully 

acquiring Crusader. Today 

Custodian ranks among the top 10 

brands in the financial services 

sector. 

"Wole Oshin has not only built a 

successful business, he has also 

initiated enduring innovations that 

have and are still impacting the 

insurance industry. He created the 

Energy and Allied Insurance Pool 

of Nigeria during his tenure as 

Chairman of the NIA''. 

"We have been dependent on 

borrowing as a country for a very 

long time. We have been 

borrowing because the revenue 

base is low. Because the revenue 

base is low, it is now threatening 

debt sustainability. 

"We need urgent actions to 

moderate the level of new 

borrowing because debt service to 

revenue ratio would have been low 

if the revenue base had been very 

strong. 

"There has been a lot of talk 

about raising revenue. We now 

need urgent actions. We need a 

stronger revenue base to ensure 

that our debt remains 

sustainable."


INFLATION: Wabi Nigeria woos 

retailers to boost market 

By Peter Egwuatu products across different 

Following the rising rate of categories from top Fastinflation 

and the attendant Moving Consumer Goods 

economic situation in the (FMCG) brands which offers the 

country, Wabi Nigeria, e- retailers including small shop 

commerce operator, has owners to boost their businesses. 

announced massive discounts The campaign, tagged, Boku 

for retailers in the maiden Festival, is in partnership with 

edition of its shopping festival top international and local 

campaign to mitigate hardship FMCG brands such as Cocaand 

grow their businesses Cola, Diageo, Flour Mills of 

(markets). 

Nigeria, Grand Oak,Olam 

The Company stated that 

amongst others. 

Speaking on the campaign, the 

retailers in Nigeria will get huge Country Manager, Wabi 

discounts on a wide range of Nigeria, Omolara Adagunodo, 

Insurance operators have 

opportunity to chart new 

course — Omosehin 

By Rosemary Iwunze 

Chairman of Nigerian Insurers 

Association, NIA, Mr. Segun 

Omosehin, has said that 

operators in the insurance 

industry now have an opportunity 

to re-appraise the state of the 

industry and chart a new course 

for it. 

While giving his inaugural 

speech at his investiture ceremony 

in Lagos last week, Omosehin said 

that insurers, together with their 

counterparts in other financial 

services sub-sectors, must be the 

catalysts that serve as the guardrails 

protecting and delivering the 

future fortune of Nigeria by 

supporting the innovative process 

to prosperity. 

He stated: "The change we seek 

must start with us as an industry. 

Resolving the current challenges 

will require thinking different and 

extraneous to what created these 

current challenges in the first 

place. 

''Our ability to self-regulate and 

be bold and courageous in 

enforcing our market conducts is 

vital if we must take our rightful 

place amongst the pillars of 

economic growth and 

development in Nigeria." 

Omosehin said that he has 

chosen the theme of his tenure as: 

'Expanding the frontiers of 

insurance through partnerships 

and stakeholders' engagement'. 

He stated: "We shall focus on the 

following four key strategic areas: 

Market Discipline, Market 

Development & Respect for 

Market Agreements; Insurance 

Awareness & Partnership with the 

Media; Human Capacity 

Building; as well as Leverage 

Technology, Digital & Innovation" 

disclosed that the current 

economic situation in the 

country is one of the motivations 

behind the campaign to support 

the Wabi2b retail partners. In her 

words, "we understand the 

current economic situation and 

as always, we are committed to 

help our retail partners stock up 

their stores at the best prices. 

Boku Festival is a way to show 

our retail partners and 

distributors all the opportunities 

and power that e-commerce 

brings. We have a responsibility 

to support retailers including 

small store owners with such 

great deals and discounts whilst 

their purchasing process is 

seamless so that they can 

increase their revenue and 

become competitive in a digital 

era." 


The Executives of Honeywell 

Group Limited (HGL), 

Obafemi Otudeko, Managing 

Director, Oluwayemisi Busari, 

Senior Adviser, Government 

Relations and Otu Hughes, Chief 

Investment Officer have 

canvassed for public-private 

sector collaboration, viable 

economic policies among others 

to move the economy forward. 

They spoke with newsmen on 

the sidelines of the just 

concluded 28th edition of the 

Nigerian Economic Summit. 

Meanwhile, Otudeko said "at 

Honeywell Group, we ensure 

Stanbic IBTC wins multiple 

awards from FMDQ 

Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, 

a member of the Standard 

Bank Group, has won four 

awards at the recently concluded 

5th Annual FMDQ Gold Awards 

ceremony held in Lagos. 

The company clinched the 'Best 

Overall Liquidity Provider 

(Secondary Market Champion)', 

the 'FMDQ Dealing Member of 

the Year', the 'Best Fixed Income 

Liquidity Provider', and the 

'Most Active Securities Sponsor 

on FMDQ'. 

At the ceremony, Stanbic IBTC 

Bank topped the secondary 

market category as the 'FMDQ 

Dealing Member of the Year', a 

prize it has won for the fifth year 

running. 

The FMDQ Gold Awards was 

established to transform the 

Nigerian financial markets 

ECONOMY: Honeywell excos canvass 

public-private sector collaboration 

that we work closely with the 

government to drive the 

economy. We believe in forming 

strong partnerships that will 

enable positive impact. This 

goes to the core of who we are as 

a business." 

Speaking on macroeconomic 

stability for Nigeria, Otu 

Hughes said, "Businesses are 

hard hit by foreign exchange 

volatility. The government needs 

to cushion this volatility through 

insightful policies. Foreign 

exchange stability will help 

businesses in planning and 

decision-making''. 

Busari, who spoke on the 

through the "GOLD" (Global 

Competitiveness, Operational 

Excellence; Liquidity and 

Diversity) Agenda. This year's 

edition was themed 

"Recognising Excellence in the 

Fixed Income, Currencies and 

Derivatives Markets." 

Stanbic IBTC Holdings Chief 

Executive, Dr Demola Sogunle, 

expressed his gratitude for the 

awards and said they reflected 

enormous hard work and 

sacrifices made over the years by 

the company's staff. 

In his words, "Our position as 

a major player in the financial 

market reflects our consistency 

and excellent standards of 

operations. We are committed to 

providing world-class financial 

services to our network of 

clients." 

impact of public-private 

collaboration, and the role of 

transformational leadership in 

economic development, in her 

view said: "The private and 

public sectors are like 

conjoined twins with a 

symbiotic relationship. 

Corporate organisations need 

the government as much as the 

government requires the 

support from the private sector. 

''We need to have more 

relevant policies for businesses, 

and corporate organisations 

need to invest in strengthening 

their relationships with the 

government by providing the 

right support''.


Adeleke tackles Nigeria’s 

electricity problem with art 

By Osa Mbonu-Amadi, 

Arts Editor 

The exhibition of works of 

painting titled “Light 

Resolutions” by Akeem 

Adeleke, which tackles the hydraheaded 

problem of electricity 

supply in Nigeria, could not have 

come timelier. The public opening 

which began November 20, 2022 

at Legacy Empire Gallery, LLC, 

runs till November 24, 2022. 

In presenting Light Resolutions, 

Curator Mathew Oyedele writes 

beautifully about the theme which 

hits at the very heart of Nigeria’s 

problem – darkness, the darkness 

which originated from people's 

minds and resulted physically in 

the failure of electricity supply. 

“Nigeria may be the giant of 

Africa,” Oyedele writes, “but one 

of its biggest problems is irregular 

power supply. This poor power 

situation has paralyzed economic 

activities and hindered economic 

development. Following 

the artist’s journey to investigate 

Nigeria’s electricity problem, 

Adeleke continues his exploration 

through painting on the theme of 

power outage.” 

In this body of work, he explores 

the themes of epileptic 

electricity, resolution, class struggle, 

and human relationships. 

The first section, which consists 

of two distinct parts, takes an indepth 

look at the history of Nigeria, 

with the artist metaphorically 

highlighting the failure of the 

electricity sector and its impact on 

the daily life of the average citizen 

through the confrontation of 

light and darkness. Each piece in 

this section illuminates how the 

struggle for electricity affects the 

masses and the economic development 

of the country as a whole. 

Adeleke is interested in how we 

can solve the problems as a nation 

and what can serve as a catalyst 

for the future of the energy 

sector. 

The second part of the exhibition 

deals with the relationships 

between people. It is about the 

human spirit and sharing our inner 

light and knowledge. How we 

unconsciously allow other people 

to radiate through our actions and 

interactions. 

In the third part, the artist explores 

horses as metaphors for 

strength, forward movement, 

progress and power. 

The audience is invited to enter 

the space and connect with shared 

stories about social issues, solutions, 

human relationships and 

psychology. 

Answering questions on his career 

as an artist, his theme and the 

things that inspire him, the exhibiting 

artist, Akeem Adeleke says, 

“I want people to see beyond the 

images I paint. I can’t see beyond 

any horizon. It is only the supreme 

God that can see beyond the horizon. 

“I trained both as apprentice in 

1992 and in school,” Adeleke says. 

He studied Fine Art, double major, 

at Federal College of Education, 

Abeokuta, Ogun State, 

graduating in 2004. 

Philosophizing on his career, 

Adeleke says, “Artists express 

themselves in many ways – talking, 

writing, poetry, singing, etc. 

I express myself through painting.” 

Akeem also says that he found 

out that artists choose themes as 

objects of their thought and work, 

themes like the oceans, animals, 

or aspects of life. “I chose to make 

the problems of Nigeria my country 

my own theme – the problem 

of electricity. Electricity problem 

in Nigeria, the artist says, “is a big 

problem I want to be a thing of 

the past. I am prophesying with 

my painting that the problem of 

darkness shall come to pass in 

Nigeria.” 

Akeem Adeleke, known for his 

meticulous depictions of Nigerian 

landscapes, is an artist whose 

vision and direction is futuristic. 

His luminous and detailed landscapes 

are an expression of his 

vision for his country, even as the 

Ake Festival 2022: Celebrating decade of vibrant Arts 

L-R: Head of Retail Marketing, Sterling Bank Plc, Abena Annan; Founder 

and Director, Ake Books and Arts Festival, Lola Shoneyin and Chief 

Executive Officer, Sterling One Foundation, Olapeju Ibekwe at a press 

conference on the 10th edition of Ake Arts and Books Festival in Lagos. 

By Prisca Sam-Duru 

With preparations made so far 

and, the lineup of guests for 

the 2022 edition of Ake Arts and 

Books Festival, it’s clear this year’s 

feast is coming out bigger with 

breathtaking packages. 

This edition celebrates a decade of 

massive promotions of Africa’s 

cultural heritage, finest authors and 

other creatives, with Sterling Bank 

Plc and the Book-Buzz Foundation, 

behind its success. 

Interestingly, Sterling Bank Plc 

and the Book-Buzz Foundation have 

jointly announced the continuation 

of their partnership for the 10th 

edition of the festival taking place 

in Lagos from 24-26 November 2022; 

meaning more robust outings in the 

future. 

This was disclosed in a joint 

statement issued by the Chief 

Marketing Officer of Sterling Bank, 

Ibidapo Martins, and awardwinning 

writer and poet, and the 

director of the Book Buzz Foundation 

Lola Shoneyin. 

The Ake Arts and Books Festival 

is an annual celebration of African 

Culture and literature, featuring 

book chats, panel discussions, 

readings, workshops, roundtable 

discussions, performances, stage 

plays, as well as art exhibitions from 

Nigerian and international artists. 

Themed, “Home Coming”, the 

2022 festival’s theme according to 

Shoneyin, is based on the 

recognition that, “Although our 

African roots influence our arts and 

creative expression as we migrate 

and settle across the globe, these 

bonds may weaken with time, 

making the ritual of homecoming 

even more significant”. She noted 

the importance of African creatives 

experiencing “the regenerative 

power of our ancestral roots”, adding 

that, Ake Festival is a safe space for 

black people of the world to hold 

open and frank discussions about 

what it means to be African, its 

creativity, and the place of its Art in 

the world. 

“We do not shy away from difficult 

conversations but actively confront 

taboo subjects. We are of the firm 

belief that understanding and 

tolerance are critical for collective 

growth. That’s why, after three days 

of cultural immersion, everyone 

goes home forever changed, 

motivated and inspired,” Shoneyin 

added. 

Commenting on why Sterling 

Bank has consistently sponsored the 

festival in recent times, Mr. Martins 

said, “Storytellers are the custodians 

of our collective truths and they must 

be protected and supported at all 

times. “Commending Shoneyin and 

the Festival team for a decade of 

running an exciting and vibrant 

cultural event described as “the 

biggest convergence of creative 

Africans in the world,” Martins 

added that, “Sterling Bank takes a 

broad view of the role of banking 

institutions in developing societies 

like ours. When we first partnered 

with the festival six years ago, we 

knew we were entering into a 

special relationship. We are proud 

that we maintained and deepened 

our friendship.” 

He said the bank is impressed 

with the festival’s impact on the 

country’s reading culture, adding 

that, “Storytellers and artists occupy 

a critical role in the shaping of the 

African continent and we owe it to 

ourselves, and future generations, to 

support them in our personal, 

professional and national 

capacities.” 

He observed that partnering with 

the Aké festival has not only helped 

the bank to walk the talk, but it has 

also enabled the management of the 

bank to feel the humanising and 

motivating effect of prioritising 

culture and creativity through 

music, art, theatre, film, and stories. 

Shoneyin who is also Director and 

Founder of the Ake Arts and Books 

Festival, disclosed during a press 

conference in Lagos that she 

founded the festival in 2013 in a bid 

to create more spaces where African 

writers and artists can converge, 

dialogue, and interact with those 

who consume their work.”I believed 

it was important to have a wellorganised 

literary event on Africa’s 

cultural calendar. With a marvellous 

team and dedicated volunteers, we 

have been able to pull off a worldclass 

festival in Nigeria for nine 

years. Even COVID-19 didn’t stop 

us; we swiftly adapted to the times 

and moved the festival online, 

creating the opportunity to have 

many more guest speakers”. 

•Light in the city. Acrylic on canvas. 2022. 

works stand in stark contrast to 

Nigerian reality. 

In his nearly two-decade career 

as an artist, Akeem Adeleke has 

exhibited and led workshops in 

Nigeria, France, and the United 

States of America. He lives in Lagos, 

Nigeria, and is a member of 

the Society of Nigerian Artists. 

His selected exhibitions include 

Spotlight, Nike Art Gallery, Lagos, 

Nigeria – 2022; Salon Show, 

Civic Center, Lagos, Nigeria – 

2022; October Rain, Mydrim Gallery, 

Lagos, Nigeria – 2021; Art 

Connect, Four Point by Sheraton, 

Lagos, Nigeria – 2019 and Insight, 

Xavier University of Louisiana, 

USA – 2019. 

Other exhibitions are October 

Rain, Nike Art Gallery, Lagos, 

Nigeria – 2016; Patches of Diplomatic 

Corridor, Abuja, Nigeria – 

2015 and Tales of Cities, Nigeria 

and South Africa, Lagos, Nigeria 

– 2012. 

The exhibition is sponsored by 

Legacy Empire Gallery, LLC. 

Musikilu Mojeed to release book on 

Obasanjo’s ‘secret’ letters 

The Editor-in-Chief of 

PREMIUM TIMES, Musikilu 

Mojeed, will on December 1, 2022, 

release his debut book to the Nigerian 

public. The book titled “The 

Letterman: Inside the ‘Secret’ Letters of 

former Nigerian President, Olusegun 

Obasanjo”, published by PREMIUM 

TIMES Books, will be unveiled at a 

ceremony in Abuja, after which it will 

be available in bookshops. 

The Letterman, a 25-chapter 

narrative non-fiction, curates some of 

the most significant and historical 

letters written and received by former 

President Obasanjo, which 

compellingly tell the story of his life, as 

defined by and is defining of the story 

of his country, Nigeria and the larger 

African continent. A number of these 

letters, written to dignitaries in Nigeria 

and around the world, have never been 

publicly seen. 

The 492-page (465+ 27 initial 

pages) book is a product of seven years 

of assiduous research, whose chronicle 

unfolds from the time of Obasanjo as 

General Officer Commanding the 

Third Marine Commando and his 

wartime efforts, through his tenure as 

military head of state between 1976 

and 1979, his continental liberation 

struggles and political activism from 

the 1970s to 1999, his civilian 

presidential term from 1999 to 2007, 

as well as his post-presidency era. 

“These letters essentially tell a story 

that is as deeply personal as it is 

painstakingly national, and global”, 

Ololade Bamidele, who coordinated 

the production of the book, said. “This 

tour de force of historical writing situates 

Musikilu Mojeed as a witness and 

skillful raconteur who deftly manages 

to braid far-flung pieces into a 

magisterial whole that unveils the 

attitudes, worldview, relationships, 

emotional complexity and stewardship 

of this enigmatic global statesman, 

through the correspondences he 

exchanged with others.” 

Emeka Anyaoku, a former 

Secretary-General of the 

Commonwealth of Nations, who wrote 

the Foreword, said, “I believe that the 

Olusegun Obasanjo letters will find a 

prominent place in the chapters of 

Nigeria’s contemporary history as 

informative insights into the national 

affairs of the country when they were 

written. I, therefore, recommend this 

book, The Letterman, by Musikilu 

Mojeed to the reading public.” 

“I am deeply pleased to release this 

book,” Mr Mojeed said. “It is my own 

modest contribution to knowledge and 

I pray it is well received. This effort is a 

product of a seven-year interesting 

voyage into the world of Obasanjo’s 

letters. I hope what I found and shared 

in this book provides additional 

understanding of the Obasanjo 

persona.” 

Musikilu Mojeed is the editor-inchief 

and chief operating officer of 

Nigeria’s PREMIUM TIMES 

newspaper, which he co- founded. He 

is a multiple award-winning journalist 

and a member of the International 

Consortium of Investigative 

Journalists (ICIJ). 

A 2012 Knight Journalism Fellow 

at Stanford University, and 2009 Ford 

Foundation International Fellow at 

The City University of New York, 

Mojeed was a judge of the UNESCO 

World Press Freedom Awards, 

completing his three-year tenure in 

2016.



Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022 —25








Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER, 21, 2022 — 33 



2023:Deltans DSP Omo-Agege not Pan Deltan, 

representing Orogun community interests 

—Oborevwori 

G CANDIDATE OVERNORSHIP 

of the All 


Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has 

been dressed down and taken to 

the cleaners by the Speaker of 

Delta State House of Assembly, 

Sheriff Oborevwori, for 

representing only the narrow 

interests of his Orogun 

community in Ughelli North 

Local Government Area in Delta 

Central Senatorial District. 

Oborevwori, who is also the 

governorship candidate of the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

in Delta State while berating 

Senator Agege, noted that the 

Deputy Senate President did not 

justify the 2019 majority of votes 

from eight local government areas 

of Delta Central, thereby 

representing Orogun people's 

interests as against the general 

interests of the good people of the 

Senatorial District at the Red 

Chambers of the National 

Assembly, within the past seven 

and half years and counting. 

It is worthy of note that Agege's 

poor scorecard triggered acute 

anger in the Ward-to-Ward 

campaign in Uvwie LGA by PDP 

governorship candidate, 

Oborevwori, as Uvwie people 

swore never to give their votes 

and political platforms to Agege, 

and assured PDP of their 5/5 bloc 

vote for Atiku-Okowa for 

President, Sheriff-Onyeme for 

Governor, Ighoyota Amori for 

Senate, Evelyn Oboro for House 

of Representatives and Solomon 

Ighrakpata for House of 

Assembly, respectfully in the 

forthcoming 2023 general 

elections. 

The incoming local content 

PDP governor of Delta State, 

disclosed that two major 

projects; the Federal 

Polytechnic and the Nigerian 

Law School, as well as other 

projects were deliberately 

smuggled to Orogun 

community by Senator Agege 

with nothing for other Ughelli 

North communities and seven 

local government areas that 

voted for him and his party in 

2019. 

"Senator Agege didn't do well at 

all. He does not see beyond his 

Orogun Community and therefore 

cannot govern a state like Delta 

with several ethnic nationalities, 

as can be seen from his acute 

display of nepotism, self 

centeredness and despotic 

tendencies. 

"I am a Pan Delta politician and 

also detribalise. but Agege is not a 

Pan Deltan, and it is only a Pan 

Deltan leader that can govern the 

state successfully like our amiable 

governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi 

Arthur Okowa." 

No rest until we receive our 

Floating Dockyard —Maritime varsity VC 

WChancellor ARRI—THE 

of Nigeria 

Vice 

Maritime University, NMU, 

Okerenkoko, Warri South-West 

Council area of Delta state, Prof. 

Emmanuel Adigio, has 

reaffirmed the institution’s 

commitment to take possession 

of its floating dockyard still being 

held at the Lagos port, insisting 

that it will go a long way in 

aiding the practical knowledge 

of its students. 

Speaking on importance of 

the floating dockyard to the 

learning environment of the 

institution during an 

interactive session with 

Journalists in Warri at the 

weekend, Prof. Adigio, noted 

that part of the original plan for 

the establishment of the school 

was to render excellent theory 

and practical knowledge in all 

the programs it offers, 

considering its specialized field 

in the maritime sector. 

According to him; “the dockyard 

was bought for NMU to assist our 

students with practicals but was 

never brought to the university. 

Reasons cited were insecurity, 

dredging of the water channel and 

non-viability among others.” 

“However, we are not relenting 

on our oars, we are still trying to 

see what we can do to ensure it 

was brought to our university so 

it can be installed for the purpose 

it was specifically designed in the 

training and re-training of our 

students, especially in the 

practical aspects”, he stated. 

Adigio, disclosed that the 

university had made remarkable 

improvement since it commences 

academic activities in 2018, adding 

that many courses had been 

accredited and a lot of 

infrastructural development had 

been initiated and completed 

within these period.



2023: I won’t step down for anybody, 

NNPP’s party to beat – Kwankwaso 

By Clifford Ndujihe, 

Politics Editor 

P Candidate RESIDENTIAL 

of the New 

Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, 

Senator Rabiu Musa 

Kwankwaso, yesterday, asked 

those expecting him to step 

down for another flag bearer 

to perish the thought because 

“for us in the NNPP and 

Kwankwansiya, our party is 

on the right track to clinch the 

leadership of the country.” 

Speaking at a forum with 

the Nigerian Guild of Editors, 

NGE, and senior journalists 

in Lagos, Kwankwaso, who 

disclosed why he left the 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, and the All Progressives 

Congress, APC; and why the 

alliance talks between the 

NNPP and Labour Party, LP, 

collapsed, gave two major 

reasons he won’t step down. 

The former two-time 

governor of Kano State also 

warned Nigerians to avert a 

repeat of the late President 

Umaru Musa Yar’Adua 

scenario in 2023 by 

scrutinising the candidates 

and ensuring that the best is 

elected. 

Claiming that he is the best 

man for the Aso Villa job, 

Kwankwaso, also outlined 

how he would fight insecurity, 

poverty, boost the economy, 

turn the fortunes of the 

education sector around, and 

how he would get the funds to 

do so. 

Asked if he would yield to 

pressure to step down for any 

of the other candidates, 

Kwankwaso said apart from 

the NNPP being the only 

party that is growing now, it is 

too late for alliances and 

mergers to be formed because 

the window for that has been 

closed by the Independent 


Commission, INEC. 

Kwankwaso said over the 

years he and his friends have 

done a lot and built goodwill 

across the country, which the 

NNPP is reaping now because 

within a few months of his 

joining the party millions of 

people have registered as 

members. Within a short time 

produced credible candidates 

across the country Apart from 

the APC and PDP, we have the 

largest number of candidates 

across the country. 

“NNPP is the only party 

growing now and the growth 

will continue as the 2023 polls 

approach. The other parties 

have nothing to say again. I 

was a founding member of the 

PDP, which was formed to kick 

the military out of power. 

There was no ideology behind 

the formation of PDP other 

than kicking the military out. 

“Like us, there are millions 

of Nigerians who are tired of 

the status quo. I mean APC 

and PDP, who through bad 

leadership are responsible for 

the insecurity, bad 

infrastructure, poor economy 

and other problems we have 

come to correct.” 

Why I won’t step down for 

any candidate 

Kwankwaso, who stressed 

that NNPP was poised to win 

the presidential poll, said any 

candidate thinking of 

stepping down now when the 

window for mergers and 

alliances had closed was not 

being fair to himself. 

“The reports of my stepping 

down are coming from 

detractors who go about 

concocting stories to suit their 

mind. Anybody who thinks of 

stepping down at this stage is 

not fair to himself because the 

time for merger, alliances, etc, 

has gone. NNPP is all out to 

win the 2023 elections. 

Averting Yar’Aua scenario 

“Now, people are not 

talking about parties. They 

are talking about candidates 

and individuals. The APC and 

PDP have failed Nigerians. 

That is why we are in this mess 

today. I am ready for debates. 

Let us put our cards on the 

table. Some of the candidates 

are running away from 

debates. Some of them should 

look at themselves in the 

mirror and tell themselves the 

truth. Some of them are our 

seniors. You cannot cheat 

nature. Anybody who says 

2023 is his turn is making a 

huge mistake. 

“In 2007, Yar’Adua was 

nominated as PDP candidate 

without consultation. There 

was no serious consultation. 

We knew things but there was 

no consultation and so we ran 

into trouble (with Yar’Adua’s 

ill health, attendant 

controversies, and using 

doctrine of necessity to swear 

in Dr Goodluck Jonathan as 

acting president, and his 

death). Today, that episode is 

recurring. Some people 

thought by becoming vice 

president they would soon be 

president.`` 

NNPP/LP alliance 

Kwankwaso, who regretted 

that the NNPP/LP alliance did 

not work out, said if it worked 

there would not have been 

Naira appreciates N445.75/$ 

in I&E window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

THE naira yesterday appreciated to N445.75 per 

dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) 

window. Data from FMDQ showed that the 

indicative exchange rate for the window fell to 

N445.75 per dollar from N446.67 per dollar on 

Wednesday, indicating 90 Kobo appreciation for the 

naira. However, the naira depreciated by N5 in the 

parallel market yesterday. 

Vanguard findings from black market traders 

showed that the indicative exchange rate for the 

market rose to N800 per dollar from N795 per dollar 

on Wednesday. 

How politicians still threaten credible polls 

Continues from Page 5 

starting from polling units, the 

window of validation by 

RATECHs may be used to 

compromise the outcome of 

original results from polling 

units. 

''This was the case in 

Anambra (Abatete) and 

several other wards by 

RATECHs who are our lCT 

staff. RATECHs validation 

should be stopped and all 

polling units' scanned Form 

EC8A result with total 

accredited voters and scanned 

ward level result form EC8B 

should be uploaded to the 

results view portal at the same 

time for Nigerians to view 

contemporaneously.” 

Another plot 

Vanguard gathered that 

when the BVAS captures and 

records, for instance, a total 

of 250 accredited voters, that 

figure is left undeleted 

because its operations are 

secure. 

It was learned, however, that 

politicians are already 

perfecting plans to 

compromise officials and that 

if that fails, they would use 

security agents to hijack 

materials 

after 

voting, destroy original 

ballot papers numbering 250 

as recorded by BVAS for 

example, and then thumb 

print a fresh set of the total 

250 ballot papers not 

From left: Wife of a former General Overseer, Four Square Gospel Church, Rev(Mrs) Nike 

Faronbi; her husband,, Rev Gabriel Olu Faronbi; Governor Dapo Abiodun; General Overseer 

of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Rev Sam Aboyeji and his wife; Rev(Mrs) Yemisi Aboyeji 

at the 67th Annual Convention of the Foursquare Gospel Church, with the theme," Encounter 

with the Supernatural" held at the convention ground of the church along the Lagos-Ibadan 

Expressway yesterday. 

exceeding what is on the BVAS 

as total accredited number of 

voters at the time of kidnap of 

the poll officials. 

It was gathered that they 

would then allocate votes for 

the political party of choice 

but strangely, the new thumb 

printed ballot serial numbers 

will not start from figure 1 to 

250, but from 251 as the serial 

number of the ballot papers 

that start from 1 to 250 would 

have all been destroyed. 

''Because there is no perfect 

crime, and except fake ballot 

papers are used, ballot papers 

numbering from 251 to 500 

to make-up for the exact 250 

accredited voters captured by 

BVAS, would be an automatic 

red flag. 

''This is the plot and may 

happen in between the 

intervening period when 

polling units results are 

uploaded to the INEC server 

and when the same polling 

units results would be 

uploaded on the IREV at the 

ward level,'' a source said. 

(Check images and 

recommendations to curb 

electoral fraud, below). 

Vanguard learned that 

something similar happened 

during the Anambra election 

but there was no community 

compromise because of some 

INEC staff who refused to play 

along. 

Community compromise is 

when there is a consensus 

among election officials at 

any or all levels of the process 

to engage a partisan mode, 

thereby favouring one party 

against others. 

Rigging 

prevention 

In the search to correct 

systemic electoral 

fraud (manipulation of 

polling UNITS 

results at WARD level - 

from where it would go live 

on INEC portal), 

Vanguard a rrived at 

recommendations that can 

help Nigerians checkmate 

rigging by navigating the 

sphere. 

The recommendations 

were reached, following a 

step-by-step registration 

process to access election 

results on https:// 

www.inecelectionresults.ng/ 

and a further analysis of 

common patterns of rigging 

that may arise, citing the 2021 

governorship election in 

Anambra State, a case study 

of Abetete ward, Idemili North 

Local Government Area. 

From the survey of the 

results, apart from being prewritten 

results, there were 

alterations on the result sheets 

- specifically on result 

outcomes, as well as clear 

discrepancies between 

the vote scores written 

in words and numbers. 

There is need to pay 

attention to words, if numbers 

Oando Clean Energy makes climate change commitment 

OANDO Clean Energy, 

OCEL, the renewable 

energy subsidiary of Oando 

Plc, has restated its 

commitment to match 

climate pledges with action. 

The company gave the 

commitment at the 27th 

United Nations Climate 

Change Conference of the 

current contemplation that 

there might be a run-off 

presidential poll in 2023 

because he and Obi would 

have won by a landslide. 

His words: “I thought the 

alliance would be good. If we 

had done that nobody will be 

talking about a second ballot 

in 2023. At our discussions the 

issue was who will be the 

presidential candidate and 

vice presidential candidate. 

Both parties raised 

negotiation committees. Our 

team was led by Buba 

Galadima. The committees 

looked at age, educational 

qualification, office held and 

experience. 

*Continue on https:// 

www.vanguardngr.com/ 

Parties (COP27) themed 

‘Delivering for the people and 

the planet.’ 

OCEL, along with the 

Nigerian delegation to 

COP27, hosted two side events 

at the Nigeria Pavilion. 

The first side-event, themed 

''Decarbonising an Oil-rich 

Region: A Case for the Niger 

Delta'', was held in partnership 

with the Ministry of Niger 

Delta Affairs, National 

Council on Climate Change, 

REAN, and Stratus Limited. 

The event had a diverse 

audience of financiers, 

partners, government 

officials and NGOs. 

Engineer John O. Agada, 

Director of Environmental 

Management, gave the 

welcome address on behalf of 

the Minister of State, Ministry 

of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief 

Sharon Ikeazor, whilst Mr. 

Ademola Ogunbanjo, 

Executive Vice President, 

OCEL, made a presentation 

on OCEL’s sustainable 

transport initiative 

specifically targeted at 

decarbonizing the Niger 

Delta, among other initiatives. 

Conversations on the role of 

PPPs, climate financing and 

an enabling business 

environment intensified at 

OCEL's second side event, 

themed ''Achieving Nigeria’s 

Net Zero Target: A Public- 

Private Partnership.'' 

The event, organized in 

partnership with the Federal 

Ministry of Environment, 

showcased the company's 

pipeline projects to support 

Nigeria to meet the 

commitment made by the 

President at COP26 to hit net 

zero by 2060. 

Speaking at the event, 

Ogunbajo explained how the 

company's strategic focus was 

aligned with the Nigeria 

Energy Transition Plan, NEPT. 

According to Ogunbajo, 

specifically, OCEL is 

supporting the gtovernment's 

roadmap for the 

implementation of EVs across 

Nigeria and its ambition to 

boost local capacity in the 

medium term through the 

construction of an EV 

assembly and manufacturing 

plant. 

“This is not the age of 

competition; it is the age of 

collaboration. We must 

collaborate, not only between 

the Government and the 

public sector but also, within 

the private sector, if we want 

to push forward the country’s 

net-zero agenda,'' he said. 

OCEL's President & CEO, 

Dr. Ainojie Irune, participated 

as a panelist alongside the 

Commissioner for 

Environment, Kogi State, Mr. 

Omofaiye Victor Adewale, 

and the Managing Director/ 

Chief Executive Officer of the 

Nigerian Bulk Electricity 

Trading, NBET, Dr. 

Nnaemeka Ewelukwa. 

On the panel, Irune spoke 

about how the company’s 

sustainable transport strategy 

was a launchpad that would 

create the impetus for private 

users to start to migrate to EVs 

and eventually lead to 

economies of scale across the 

nation. 

can be easily manipulated. 

Accessing The 

Portal: 

To reveal an example of the 

intended fraud, interested 

Nigerians can access the site 

by logging-in to https:// 

www.inecelectionresults.com 

O r h t t p s : / / 

www.inecelectionresults.com/ 

login 

*1. The link will take an 

applicant to a sign-up or signin 

page. 

*2. Thereafter an applicant 

is expected to “Click on 

“Create new Account?”, fill in 

his or her details in the form 

provided and click on “Sign 

in” 

*3. Such is also expected to 

provide a state of origin and 

click on “Continue”. 

*4. An account activation 

email is sent to the email 

address provided in the form. 

*5. An individual should 

copy the activation code which 

will be entered into the text box 

provided on the portal to 

activate the account. 

*6. This logs applicants into 

the portal and they can select 

the election whose polling 

unit (PU) results they are 

interested in viewing. 

*7. There are also filter 

buttons to make the search 

easier. 

*8. In the portal bearing 

“INEC-Result console”, there 

is a Disclaimer bearing “This 

platform provides 

information for research 

purposes. It is NOT for 

Election result collation. By 

continuing to the result section, 

you agree to the Terms of Use 

as defined by INEC. Please 

v i s i t h t t p s : / / 

www.inecnigeria.org”. 

*9. Applicants are also 

given the opportunity to select 

the election type to view results 

in either Presidential, 

Governorship, Senatorial, 

House of Representatives, 

House of Assembly, 

Chairmanship, and 

Councillor elections. (In this 

instance, 2021 Anambra 

State governorship election) 

*10. A click on this shows 

the recent results on ward 

basis and clicking on ‘view 

result’ will reveal the 

computed result sheet saved 

in PDF (Portable Document 

Format) as supposedly 

presented at the Polling Units 

but viewed afterwards when 

it had gotten to the Wards. 

That is why the alterations 

on the Forms EC8A were 

altered and would have been 

thus uploaded as original 

polling units results at the 

Abatete Ward collation level.


POWER 

OGBUEFI 

OKWUOHA 

My name was wrongly written I, FORMALLY KNOWN AND 

on my BVN as JERRY ADDRESSED AS MISS 

CHIGOZIE POWER. My 

OGBUEFI NGOZI ESTHER ANIEBONAM 

NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN 

correct name is JERRY AND ADDRESSED AS MRS 

CHIGOZIE IKEH. All former IKEWELUGO NGOZI ESTHER. 

documents remain valid. ALL FORMAL DOCUMENT 

General public, Access Bank STILL REMAINS VALID 

should take note. 

BANKS AND GENERAL 

PUBLIC TAKE NOTE. 

SALAWU OB 

UMUKORO OKORO 

I, formerly known and addressed 

as SALAWU MARIAM 

MOJIRAYO, now wish to be 

known and addressed as 

ADEBAYO MARIAM 

MOJIRAYO. All former 

documents remain valid. The 

general public should please take 

note. 

OLUOMACHI 

That Hillary Jennifer Oluomachi 

and Nwarihi Jennifer Oluchi refers 

to one and same person but now 

wish to be known and addressed 

as Nwarihi Jennifer Oluchi, all 

former documents still remain 

valid, banks and general public 

should please take note. 

IKECHUKWU 

EKAMRE 

OZEGHE 


as Miss UMUKORO DORIS 

ENAMEGUONO, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Mrs. 

DUKE OGODOR DORIS 

ENAMEGUONO. All former 

documents remain valid. General 

public please take note. 

AKPOWO 

I, Formerly Known And Addressed 

As AGBETOYINBO KEHINDE 

OPEYEMI, Now Wish To Be 

Known And Addressed As 

AKPOWO OPEYEMI 

KEHINDE. All Former Documents 

Remain Valid. General Public 

Please Take Note. 

I, formerly Miss Ooreoluwa 

Omotayo Adejumo now wish 

to be addressed as Mrs 

Ooreoluwa Omotayo 

Adedotun-Davis. All former 

documents remain valid, 

general public and MDCN take 

note. 

DADDY 

I Formerly known as 

OMOKARO LUCKY 

DADDY now wish to be know 

and addressed as OMOKARO 

LUCKY OSAYIMWEN .All 

former documents remain 

valid. Concerned authorities 

and the general public should 

please take note 

I FORMALLY KNOWN AND 

ADDRESSED AS MISS 

VERONICA 

ONYINYECHI NOW WISH TO BE 

KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS 

MRS OKWUOHA VERONICA 

ONYINYECHI. ALL FORMAL 

DOCUMENT STILL REMAINS 

VALID BANKS AND GENERAL 


I, Formerly known and addressed 

as OKORO SONIA 

AMARACHUKWU, NOW wish 

to be Known and addressed As 

AGUEZE CHIKE SONIA 

AMARACHUKWU. All 

documents bearing my former name 

still remain valid. General public 

please take note. 

OLOMINU 


as OLOMINU MODUPE 

AYOOLA, NOW wish to be 

Known and addressed As 

SHONOLA MODUPE 

AYOOLA. All documents bearing 

my former name still remain valid. 

General public please take note. 

BELLO ADEJUMO NORAH 


as MISS AKINYEMI 

DAMILOLA, now wish to be 

known and addressed as MRS 

BELLO DAMILOLA 

AKINYEMI. All former documents 

remain valid. The general public 

should please take note. 

This is to confirm that Aghahowa 

Precious and Aghahowa Precious 

Ikechukwu is one and the same 

person I now wish to be called and 

address as Aghahowa Precious, all 

former documents remain valid 

general public please take note. 


as MISS EKAMRE, OMESIRI 

VIOLET now wish to be known 

and addressed as MRS. AJAIFIA, 

OMESIRI VIOLET. All former 

documents remain valid. General 



as MISS CHIBUIKE 

AMARACHI NORAH, now 


as MRS AMARACHI UWODI 

NORAH CHIBUIKE. All former 

documents remain valid. The 

general public should please take 

note. 

ESEIGBE 

I FORMERLY KNOWN AND 

ADDRESSED AS MISS ESEIGBE 

JENNIFER IYENGUMENA NOW 

WISH TO BE KNOWN AS MRS. 

AKPOLO ERUNMWUNSE 

JENNIFER IYENGUMENA.ALL 

FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN 

VALID GENERAL PUBLIC AND 

AUTHORITY CONCERNED 

PLEASE TAKE NOTE. 

OLADELE 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as MISS OLADELE, 

FAVOUR BUKOLA now wish 

to be known and addressed as 

MRS. ATUNU, FAVOUR 

BUKOLA. All former 

documents remain valid. 

General public please take 

note. 

ADUGBO 

I formerly known as MISS 

ADUGBO CHRISTABEL 

OGHENERUKEVWE now wish 

to be known and addressed as MRS 

BERNARD CHRISTABEL 

OGHENERUKEVWE. All former 

documents remain valid any 

authority it may concern and 

general public to take note. 

CHINEDU OD 

I formerly known and addressed as 

MR. CHINEDU OGBU. Now 


as MR. CHINEDU JOSEPH 

OGBU. All former document 

remain Valid. General public please 

take note. 

OTOIDE OD 

I formerly known and 

addressed as, Kingsley 

Kingsley Ehiabhi, now wish 

to be known and addressed 

as, Otoide Kingsley, all 

former documents remains 

valid, general public take 

note. 

OKOJIE 

I formerly known and 

addressed as, Okojie Jovita 

Omon, now wish to be 

known and addressed as, 

Eigbe Jovita Omon, all 

former document remains 

valid, general public take 

note. 

OPIA NWOSU OGOFURE 

I Formerly known as Ada Tina I Formerly known and 

Nwosu , now wish to be know addressed as, Miss Ogofure 

and addressed as Ada Tina Priscilla, now wish to be known 

Onyenze. All former and addressed as, Mrs 

documents remain valid. Okechukwu Priscilla 

Concerned authorities and the Oghenemineh. All former 

general public should please documents remain valid 

take note 

general public please take note 

MAMAH 

LYNDA 

MADU 


as Opia Samson and Opia Samson 

Emmanuel Nwanchukwu, now 


as Peters Samson Nwanchukwu. 

All former documents remain 

valid. General public please take 

note. 

2023: Atiku- 

Okowa'll end 

APC poverty, 

reset Nigeria 

—Oborevwori 

OKORO 

I, formerly known and 

OVERTY and hunger, 

addressed as MISS OKORO, Pjoblessness and insecurity, 

ONOME SONIA, now wish as well as mismanagement of the 

to be known and addressed as nation's resources are among the 

MRS. EJAKPOVI, ONOME multifaceted problems currently 

SONIA. All former documents bedeviling Nigeria, and 

remain valid. General public remained prime focus in this 

electioneering campaign era, and 

please take note. 

in the ongoing Ward to Ward 

GERMAN NWOSU EG camapigns in Delta State. 

I formerly known as MISS In the present unfortunate 

OMONIGHO RUKEVWE circumstances of Nigeria's near 

GIFT now wish to be known and insolvency under President 

Mohmmadu Buhari, the 

addressed as MRS GERMAN 

governorship candidate of the 

RUKEVWE GIFT. All former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 

documents remain valid any Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, 

authority it may concern and has again stressed the need for 

general public to take note. all eligible voters in the State and 

ESISO 

by extension all Nigerians, to 

treat the ruling party at the 

I, formerly known and addressed federal level, the All Progressives 

as MISS ESISO EJAYETA Congress, APC, as their common 

LISA, now wish to be known 

enemy. 

He made the call on Thursday 

and addressed as MRS MOSES in Uvwie Local Government Area 

EJAYETA LISA. All former while addressing a crowd of party 

documents remain valid.General members and PDP supporters in 

Ward 8, 9, 6 and 5, in 

public take note. 

continuation of his Ward-to-Ward 

IGBON 

campaign in Delta Central 

Senatorial District. 

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS It is common knowledge that 

IGBON OKWUAGUON 

APC bad governance brought 

MAGDALENE NOW WISH TO 

about regular increase in pump 

BE KNOWN AS ERIMODAFE 

price of fuel now at N250 per litre 

MAGDALENE. ALL FORMER 

as against N85 in 2015, electricity 

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regarded as the food of the 

common man now cost as much 

TOPE 

as N1,5000 from N120 in 2015. 

That on my BVN my name was The Delta PDP Governorship 

wrongly captured as STEPHEN candidate and Speaker of the 

AHUBELEM TOPE instead of State House of Assembly, urged 

AHUBELEM STEPHEN all eligible voters in Uvwie LGA, 

NNABUGO, now wish to be across the state and all over the 

known and addressed as 

country, to do the needful by 

AHUBELEM STEPHEN 

NNABUGO. All former documents voting APC out of power in 2023, 

remain valid, general public take over what he described as gross 

note. 

incompetence, cluelessness and 

bad governance at the federal 

OMORDIA 

level since 2015 and counting. 

I Formerly known and "APC has ruined Nigeria and 

addressed as MISS. we cannot fold our hands and 

NKEMMAKULAM. KOKO. watch them. This is our country 

JOSIAH. Now wish to be 

known and addressed as. and we must do the needful to 

MRS. OMORDIA. rescue Nigeria from the bad 

NKEMMAKULAM. MIA. governance of the APC. We now 

All former documents remain have the opportunity to do so in 

valid general public please take the forthcoming 2023 general 

note 

elections. 

OBI 

"There is unprecedented 

hunger in the country, our people 

are frustrated because there is no 

hope for our youth, women and 

this cannot continue. APC 

poverty party must be voted out 

of power in 2023 to enable PDP 

reset Nigeria, and restore her 

pride of place in the world." 

I Formerly known and addressed I, formerly known and addressed I, formerly known and addressed I FORMERLY KNOWN AND I FORMERLY KNOWN AND 

as Miss Ozeghe Oghenenyerowo as MISS. NGOZI BLESSING as MISS. CHUKWUANABIRI ADDRESSED AS MISS ADDRESSED AS OBI 

MAMAH now wish to be known 

Now wish to be known and 

CHINEDU LYNDA now wish to CHOICE ONYINYECHI NOW STELLAMARIS OGECHI NOW 

and addressed as MRS. NGOZI 

WISH TO BE KNOWN AND 

be known and addressed as MRS. 

WISH TO BE KNOWN AND 

addressed as Mrs Elohor Favour 

ADDRESSED AS MRS ADDRESSED AS ONYEMA 

BLESSING OKEKE (NEE- NEBECHUKWU CHINEDU 

Ogheneyerovwo. All former 

MADU CHOICE ONYINYECHI STELLAMARIS OGECHI . ALL 

MAMAH). All former documents LYNDA. All former documents . ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN 

documents remain valid general remain valid. General public please remain valid. General public please REMAIN VALID GENERAL VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE 


take note. 

take note. 


NOTE. 

AGUMADU 

MOSES 

AYOZIEUWA 

FRIDAY 

EDE 

ADEGBOLA 

I FORMERLY KNOWN AND I FORMERLY KNOWN AND I FORMERLY KNOWN AND I, Formerly known and I, Formerly known and 

ADDRESSED AS MISS ADDRESSED AS MISS ADDRESSED 

AS 

AGUMADU CYNTHIA 

addressed as Miss addressed as Miss CYNTHIA 

MOSES ONYINYECHI AYOZIEUWA CONFIDENCE 

OGECHI NOW WISH TO BE NELLY NOW WISH TO BE CHINWE NOW WISH TO BE Akpomeyoma Oke now wish 

CHIKODILI EDE, now wish 

to be known and addressed as 

KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS to be known and addressed as 

NOME CHIKODILI 

MRS CHINEDU CYNTHIA MRS OBIOHA ONYINYECHI DURUIBE AYOZIE Mrs. Friday Oke. All former CYNTHIA. All former 

OGECHI. ALL FORMER NELLY. ALL FORMER CONFIDENCE CHINWE. ALL documents remain valid. 

DOCUMENTS REMAIN DOCUMENTS REMAIN FORMER DOCUMENTS 


VALID. GENERAL P.UBLIC VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC REMAIN VALID. GENERAL 

General public please take General public please take 

TAKE NOTE. 

TAKE NOTE. 


note. 

note. 

OKOJIE 

IDEMUDIA 

ODELOLA 

CHUKWUDI 

LUCKY 

EDAFE 

The names Okojie Lucky and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and addressed I, formerly known and addressed I, formerly known and 

Okojie Uzoya Lucky belong to one addressed as Isimamwen as ODELOLA SAMSON, now as MISS. CHUKWUDI VIVIAN, addressed as MATHINS 

and the same person. Henceforth, I Idemudia now wish to be 

wishes to be known and addressed now wishes to be known and SYLVIA, now wishes to be 

as BENJAMIN CLINTON addressed as MRS. BETHEL known and addressed as 

wish to be known and addressed known and addressed as 

SAMSON. Former documents VIVIAN. Former documents LUCKY SYLVIA. Former 

as Okojie Uzoya Lucky.All former Isimamwen Erhahon. All 

remain valid. The general public, remain valid. The general public, documents remain valid. The 

documents remain valid.General former documents remain to whom it may concern please to whom it may concern please general public, to whom it may 


note. 

take note. 

take note. 

concern please take note. 

MERCY NMOR OKOGWU 

JOHN 

ACHOJA 

EZEDOM UMOH 

My Name was wrongly captured as I, formerly known as Nmor Ben This is to confirm that Okogwu I, known and addressed as John 

EHIGIATOR OBEHI MERCY Chukwunalu on some documents Joseph and Okogwu Joseph 

I, formerly known as MISS 

Eluu which appears in all my 

during my Bank Account and BVN registration now changed Enugu are same and one person, 

Registration instead of EHIJATOR 

documents wish to add Ukie Akperegi Vera, now wish to 

to Amechi Ben Chukwunalu, I now but now wish to be known and 

OBEHI MERCY. now wish to be wish to be known as AMECHI BEN 

to my name. All documents be known as Mrs. Achoja 

Known, called and addressed as 

addressed henceforth as OKOGWU 

CHUKWUNALU. All former 

EHIJATOR OBEHI MERCY. All 

JOSEPH. All former documents 

bearing my former name Emuobonuvie Vera. All 

documents remain valid. Banks, All 

former documents remain valid. 

remain valid. Banks, All remain valid. Nigeria Police 

Constituted Authorities and the 


Authorities concerned. Banks and 

Constituted Authorities and the and general public should 

General Public to please take 

general public please take note. 

General Public to please take note. please note 

General public take note. 

note. 

I, Formerly known and 

addressed as ADEGBOLA 

AJOLAADE ABOSEDE, now 


as PRINCESS AJOLAADE 

ABOSEDE OGUNSANWO. 


valid. General public please 

take note. 


as MISS ARIMOKWU 

BLESSING now wish to be 

known, addressed and called MRS 

EDAFE BLESSING henceforth. 


valid. General public please take 

note. 

formerly known as Miss Okogwu 

Grace now wish to be known and 

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UMOH GRACE. All former 

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note.



7 Nigerian-born stars at 

the 2022 FIFA World Cup 

The Super Eagles will not be in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA 

Men’s World Cup that kicked off yesterday. But several 

players of Nigerian descent will be in attendance at the world’s 

biggest football festival, having been included in the squads of other 

countries. 

Jamal Musiala: 

Representing – 

Germany 

Age – 19 

Club – Bayern Munich 

Position – Midfielder, 

winger 

One of the most gifted 

young players in the world 

today, Jamal Musiala has 

already won 17 caps for 

Germany at just 19 after 

only making his 

international debut in 

2021. 

A Chelsea academy 

product, Musiala was 

eligible to play for Nigeria 

(through his father), 

England, and Germany. 

The wonderkid 

represented the youth 

teams of the two European 

countries at different 

times. But Musiala finally 

decided for the four-time 

world champions. 

The Bayern Munich star 

could be crucial to any 

height Germany attain in 

Qatar. 

Karim-David Adeyemi: 


Germany 

Age – 20 

Club – Borussia 

Dortmund 

Position – Forward 

Born to a Nigerian father 

and Romanian mother, 

Germany took advantage 

of the fact that Karim 

Adeyemi was born in 

Munich to integrate the 

youngster into their youth 

system. 

Regarded as a 

generational talent, 

Adeyemi won the 2019 

Fritz Walter award for the 

best youngster in Germany. 

Only last year, the former 

Salzburg forward led 

Germany to victory at the 

UEFA European Under-21 

Championship. 

And the Nationalelf will 

hope Adeyemi can help 

inspire another title 

triumph in Qatar. 

Noah Arinzechukwu 

Okafor: 


Switzerland 

Age – 24 

Club – Red Bull Salzburg 

Position – Winger, 

forward 

Noah Okafor was born 

in Binningen, Switzerland, 

to a Nigerian father and a 

Swiss mother. 

Okafor’s talent was 

spotted when he was with 

the Basel youth academy, 

and the forward had been 

a part of the Swiss youth 

system since the under- 

15s. 

The Salzburg winger 

made his debut for 

Switzerland in 2019. And 

his spot in Qatar was 

sealed last November 

when he scored a goal in 

the win over Bulgaria that 

secured automatic 

qualification for 

Switzerland to the 2022 

FIFA World Cup. 

Manuel 

Akanji: 

Obafemi 

QATAR WORLD CUP! 

•Samuel 


Switzerland 

Age – 27 

Club – Manchester City 

Position – Defender 

Also born to a Swiss 

mother and a Nigerian 

father, Manuel Akanji 

could have been playing 

for the Super Eagles. 

But the Neftenbach-born 

centre-back’s progression 

from the Swiss youth teams 

to the national side was 

completed in 2017. 

And after amassing 43 

international caps for the 

Red Crosses, Akanji is one 

of the most experienced 

heads in the Swiss camp in 

Qatar. 

And the Manchester City 

defender will target a 

repeat of the 2019 UEFA 

Nations League Finals, 

where his team finished 

fourth. 

Samuel Ayomide 

Adekugbe: 

Representing – Canada 

Age – 27 

Club – Hatayspor 

Position – Left-back 

Born in England to 

parents with Nigerian 

heritage and raised in 

Canada, Samuel 

Adekugbe could have 

played for any of the three 

countries. 

But Canada handed 

Adekugbe a chance at the 

youth level and included 

him in their squad for the 

2017 Concacaf Gold Cup. 

The 2022 FIFA World 

Cup will be Adekugbe’s 

first appearance at 

football’s biggest fiesta. 

Bukayo Ayoyinka Saka: 

Representing – England 

Age – 21 

Club – Arsenal 

Position – Winger, leftback, 

midfielder 

•Jamal 

•Saka 

Considered one of the 

best young football players 

in the world, Bukayo 

Saka’s aim in Qatar will 

include making amends 

for his penalty miss in the 

final of last year’s 

European Championship. 

Winner of Arsenal’s 

Player of the Season 

award over the last two 

seasons, Saka heads to his 

first World Cup with more 

experience than many 

within his age bracket. 

The 21-year-old winger 

could have been 

representing Nigeria, 

though, through his 

parents. 

Iké Dominique Ugbo: 

Representing – Canada 

Age – 24 

Club – Troyes 

Position – Forward 

Ike Ugbo was eligible to 

represent Nigeria 

(through his parents), 

•Noah 

•Ike 

•Adeyemi 

•Akanji 

England (through birth), 

and Canada (through 

youth residency). 

The Chelsea academy 

product helped England 

U20 win the 2017 Toulon 

Tournament. 

But in September 2021, 

Ugbo made public his 

decision to play 

international football for 

three-time African 

champions, Nigeria. 

A couple of months later, 

though, the 24-year-old 

forward made a u-turn and 

instead switched his 

international allegiance to 

Canada. 

And after only making 

eight appearances for the 

Reds without scoring a 

goal, Ugbo was included in 

Canada’s squad for Qatar 

2022. And the Troyes star 

will look to help the 

Canadians make it past the 

group stage for the first 

time in World Cup history. 

WALES VS USA 

WALES VS USA 

Wales return to World Cup action after 64 

years in key clash against USA 

WALES’ first appearance 

at a World Cup for 64 

years begins against an exciting 

USA team. 

The two sides lock horns today 

at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium 

in what could be a crucial game 

in Group B. 

With England favourites to 

progress as winners, these two 

sides could be left battling for 

second place in the group. 

But there’s little to split them 

in the world rankings. 

The Dragons are ranked 19th 

in the world, with USA slightly 

ahead in 16th. 

USA: Qualification for the 

tournament was narrowly 

secured ahead of Costa Rica, 

who had to go through a playoff 

against New Zealand. 

USA clinched the third and 

final automatic qualifying spot 

from the CONCACAF qualifying 

group on goal difference, behind 

Canada and Mexico. 

Wales: The Dragons did have 

to secure their spot in Qatar via 

a play-off, holding their nerve to 

beat Ukraine in an emotional 

game back in June. 

USA: Winless in their last 

three, USA were beaten 2-0 by 

Japan in September before 

drawing 0-0 with Saudi Arabia. 

England’s WAGs jet off to Qatar 

with mountains of luggage 

E NGLAND’S 

team of Wags 

are on their way to 

the World Cup in 

Qatar - with an 

extraordinary 

number of suitcases. 

The glamorous 

group arrived at 

Manchester Airport 

to catch a specially 

chartered British Airways 

flight. 

Megan Pickford was 

spotted carrying a doll with 

hubby Jordan’s face on it 

whilst Jack Grealish’s 

girlfriend Sasha Attwood 

wheeled in TWELVE 

suitcases. 

Harry Maguire’s wife, 

Fern, was also there along 

with Kyle Walker’s model 

missus, Annie. 

The group excitedly 

hugged one another as they 

checked-in ahead of the 

ENGLAND VS IRAN 

Lions roar 

against Iran 

ENGLAND’S quest for a 

first World Cup triumph 

since 1966 starts with a clash 

against Iran. 

Gareth Southgate’s side go 

into the tournament having 

reached the semi-finals in 

Russia four years ago. 

Meanwhile opponents Iran 

arrived in Qatar after leaving 

violent anti-government 

protests in their homeland. 

The Khalifa International 

Stadium in Doha is the venue 

for the first of the action in 

Group B. 

It’s No5 vs No20 in the world, 

in what could be a banana-skin 

opener for the Three Lions with 

Iran expected to be difficult to 

break down. 

England: The Three Lions 

eased to the top of their 

•Pulisic 

•Bale 

long flight to Doha for 

football’s biggest 

international tournament. 

They are due to touch 

down ahead of the Three 

Lions’ opening match 

against Iran today. 

The Wags will board the 

MSC World Europa, a 

£1billion luxury cruise 

liner, where they will stay 

during the tournament. 

And the glamorous set 

are so confident their men 

can go all the way they 

packed their cases to the 

brim. 

•Mehdi 

•Foden 

qualifying group without losing 

a game. 

Southgate’s side won eight 

and drew two out of 10 to 

qualify first ahead of Poland. 

Iran: Carlos Quieroz’s and Co 

were the first nation from Asia 

to qualify for the tournament, 

topping their group ahead of 

South Korea after losing just 

once in 10 games. 

England: The Three Lions 

head into the tournament on 

the back of a SIX game winless 

run. 

The Three Lions drew 3-3 

with Germany last time out, but 

have not tasted victory since a 

3-0 friendly win against Ivory 

Coast in March. 

On the other hand Iran go 

into the game unbeaten in their 

last three, including an 

impressive win over Uruguay 

in September. 

Southgate is leading 

England into a World Cup for a 

second time, but has admitted 

he faces the sack if the Three 

Lions flop in Qatar.

C 

M 

Y 

K 

Qatar World Cup opens with fanfare 

despite criticisms 

The World Cup 

kicked off in Qatar 

yesterday with a 

colourful opening 

ceremony, with the Muslim 

nation, which faced a 

barrage of criticism over its 

treatment of foreign 

workers, LGBT rights and 

social restrictions, staking 

its reputation on delivering 

a smooth tournament. 

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh 

Tamim bin Hamad al- 

Thani arrived at the 

stadium flanked by FIFA 

president Gianni 

Infantino, to a roaring 

crowd, and took their seats 

alongside other Arab 

Maddison, 

Walker out of 

England 

opener 

against Iran 

E 

n g l a n d 

manager, 

Gareth Southgate 

has confirmed that 

James Maddison 

and Kyle Walker 

will miss today’s 

World Cup 

opener against 

Iran through injury. 

Walker is working his 

way back to fitness after 

groin surgery, while 

Maddison has yet to train 

since arriving in Qatar 

after picking up a knee 

problem playing for 

Leicester last weekend. 

“Kyle Walker is a little bit 

short for this game but is 

progressing really well. We 

are ahead of where we 

thought he might be at this 

point,” Southgate told 

BBC Radio 5 Live. 

“James hasn’t been able 

to train since we arrived so 

he will not be able to make 

the game tomorrow.” 

•Benzema 

leaders ahead of the host 

nation facing Ecuador in 

Group A. 

Sheikh Tamim bin 

Hamad al-Thani, 

speaking at the opening 

ceremony, said the event 

gathered people of all 

nationalities and beliefs. 

“From Qatar, from the 

Arab world, I welcome 

everyone to the World Cup 

2022,” he said. “How 

lovely it is that people can 

put aside what divides 

them to celebrate their 

diversity and what brings 

them together all at once.” 

The opening ceremony 

featured three camels, 

•Maddison 

•Mbappe 

American actor Morgan 

Freeman and a performance 

of a new tournament song 

called Dreamers featuring 

singer Jungkook of K-pop 

boy band BTS, alongside 

Qatari singer Fahad Al- 

Kubaisi. Saudi Arabia’s 

Osimhen makes 100 best 

players in the world 2022 list 

British 

football 

m a g a z i n e 

FourFourTwo has ranked 

the best 100 players in 

the world for 2022 with 

only one Super Eagles 

player in the shape of 

Victor Osimhen featuring 

on the list. 

The Napoli striker 

ranked in 60th place but 

higher than several 

English Premier League 

stars. 

Osimhen mustered 18 

goals in twenty seven 

appearances in the 

Italian topflight in 2022, 

and on the international 

stage, he scored five 

goals in four outings for the 

Super Eagles. 

His form has seen him 

being linked with a number 

of top Premier League 

clubs, with Manchester 

United and Chelsea 

credited with an interest in 

recent weeks. 

On Osimhen, 

FourFourTwo wrote : 

“Napoli are flying this 

season and they largely 

have their Nigerian goalmachine 

to thank for that. 

Osimhen has been banging 

them in at a rate El Diego 

would have been proud of, 

with his pace and 

movement proving far too 

crown prince and the 

presidents of Egypt, Turkey 

and Algeria, as well as the 

United Nations Secretary- 

General, were among 

leaders at the in a tentshaped 

stadium ahead of 

the first match. 

Injury-depleted France gear 

up for World Cup defence 

against Australia 

An injury-hit France 

side begin the defence of 

their global title when they 

tackle Australia in 

tomorrow’s World Cup 2022 

Group D opener at the Al 

Janoub Stadium. 

Les Bleus went all the way 

in Russia four years ago, while 

the Socceroos are aiming to 

end a run of three successive 

group-stage exits. 

France and Australia are 

familiar foes at the World Cup 

having met in the group stage 

four years ago too, which 

France won 2-1 thanks to 

Antoine Griezmann’s penalty 

and an Aziz Behich own 

goal, and the Socceroos have 

only ever won one of their five 

meetings with Les Bleus, which 

came all the way back at the 

2001 Confederations Cup . 

Injury after injury after 

injury has been the theme for 

France even before the first 

ball has been kicked, with 

Saturday night’s headlines 

being made after Karim 

Benzema was made to 

withdraw after picking up a 

thigh issue, having just returned 

to full training alongside 

Raphael Varane. 

France are not the only ones 

to have been cursed on the injury 

front, as Hibernian striker 

Martin Boyle has been 

nursing a knee problem and 

has been unable to train with 

the Australia team in the leadup 

to Tuesday’s game. 

Boyle has not been ruled out 

of the tournament yet, but 

Marco Tilio is on standby as 

a possible replacement, and 

Arnold otherwise has all members 

of his squad fit and raring 

to go - Ajdin Hrustic has reportedly 

been working as normal 

recently. 

much for defenders to deal 

with. 

“The 23-year-old forward 

is heavily linked with a 

move to the Premier League 

next summer. “ 

Osimhen ranked higher 

than Christian Eriksen 

(Manchester United, 64th), 

Raheem Sterling (Chelsea, 

66th), Andrew Robertson 

(Liverpool, 67th), Martin 

Odegaard (Arsenal, 69th), 

Lisandro Martinez 

(Manchester United, 70th), 

Trent Alexander-Arnold 

(Liverpool, 72nd) and 

Mason Mount (Chelsea, 

75th). 

The other Premier 

Deschamps won’t call up replacement 

for injured Benzema 

France 

manager 

Didier Deschamps 

has said he would not call 

up any replacement for 

striker Karim Benzema, 

who has been ruled out of 

the Qatar World Cup, 

which kicked off 

yesterday. 

The Ballon d’Or winner, 

34, came into the 

tournament having suffered 

knee and hamstring injuries 

and had been training away 

from the French team. 

Benzema wrote on 

Instagram: “In my life I 

have never given up but 

tonight I have to think about 

the team, as I have always 

done, so reason tells me to 

leave my place to someone 

who can help our group 

make a good World Cup. 

Thank you for all your 

messages of support.” 

Asked by French 

newspaper TeleFoot 

whether he would replace 

Benzema in his squad, 

manager Didier 

Deschamps said “No” 

“This is a quality group,” 

he added. “In everything 

they do, both on and off the 

pitch, they are united. I 

have confidence in them.” 

It means Deschamps 

will have a 25-man squad 

for the World Cup. 


•Jong 

Senegal tackle 

Netherlands without Mane 

•Koulibaly 

Senegal will get their World Cup campaign 

up and running today when they confront 

Netherlands in Group A of the 2022 World Cup 

in Al Thumama. 

Senegal have suffered a major blow before 

the World Cup has even begun, with Bayern 

Munich forward Sadio Mane 

ruled out of the tournament due to a 

fibula injury, which he sustained 

against Werder Bremen in the 

Bundesliga earlier this 

month. 

Head coach Aliou Cisse 

had hoped that the issue would 

only prevent his star man from playing 

in the Lions of Teranga’s first 

match or two, but Cisse will now 

have to adjust his tactical blueprint 

to deal with the absence of 

the former Liverpool man. 

Netherlands, meanwhile, head 

into the World Cup in excellent form 

under Louis van Gaal’s management, having reached 

the UEFA Nations League finals for the second time in 

three campaigns. 

England stars to share 

£13M bonus if they win 

World Cup 2022 

ENGLAND stars will 

share a staggering 

£13million bonus if they bring 

home the World Cup. 

Huge increased incentives 

are on offer for the Three Lions 

if they were to stun the 

favourites and win football’s 

biggest trophy since 1966. 

The players even could 

even land huge individual 

pots with victory on Qatar. 

Along with their winners 

medals, England stars will bag 

individual pots of £500k each 

in win bonuses. 

This is a huge increase from 

the last World 

Cup in 2018, 

w h e n 

England got 

•Osimhen 

League players ranked 

below the Super Eagle 

include : Diogo Jota 

(Liverpool), Richarlison 

(Tottenham Hotspur), 

Aymeric Laporte (Man 

City), N’Golo Kante 

(Chelsea), Raphael 

Varane (Man Utd), 

Cristian Romero 

(Tottenham), Antony 

(Man Utd), Jack Grealish 

(Man City), Darwin Nunez 

(Liverpool), James 

Maddison (Leicester), 

Fabinho (Liverpool), Kai 

Havertz (Chelsea) and 

Granit Xhaka (Arsenal). 

According to the 

publication, Erling 

Haaland, Karim 

Benzema, Kevin De 

Bruyne, Kylian Mbappe 

and Lionel Messi are the 

top five players in the 

world in that order. 

Adams to captain USA 

against Wales today 

Tyler Adams has been 

named the United States’ 

captain for the World Cup ahead 

of their opener against Wales 

today.. 

Adams, who has captained the 

U.S. nine times in 32 career caps, 

wore the armband in seven of his 

12 appearances in World Cup 

qualifying. 

“It’s a huge honor for me, 

obviously, to be named captain of 

this team,” Adams said. “A very 

young team, but a lot of credit to 

to the semi-finals in Russia, 

and the players stood to earn 

£215,000. In total, incentives 

total as much as £13m after the 

FA more than doubled the size 

of the players’ bonus pot from 

the 2018 World Cup. 

The manager Gareth 

Southgate meanwhile will 

collect a £3m bonus if he 

followed in Alf Ramsey’s 

footsteps and made England 

World Champions. 

This would come on top of 

the ex-Middlesbrough boss’s 

£3m wages. 

•Kane 

•Adams 

my teammates because anyone 

throughout our leadership council 

can wear that arm band and 

represent us with pride and 

represent us in the right way.” 

Throughout coach Gregg 

Berhalter’s tenure, the 

responsibility has rotated between 

multiple players on the team’s 

leadership council, with Christian 

Pulisic, Walker Zimmerman 

and Weston McKennie all 

having held the role since World 

Cup qualifying began.

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 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 

1 Made to feel at home (8) 

6 Burnt remains (3) 

9 Mature (5) 

10 Heart of a nuclear power station (7) 

11 Open grassland (7) 

13 Crazy (5) 

14 High-kicking dance (6) 

15 Pronounce not guilty (6) 

19 Defile, sully (5) 

21 Italian rice dish (7) 

22 High level ground (7) 

23 Church instrument (5) 

24 Animal collection (3) 

25 Faithfulness (8) 

DOWN 

2 Make intelligible (7) 

3 Swindle (3) 

4 Wonder (6) 

5 Snags (9) 

6 Modify (5) 

7 Tough (5) 

8 Cancer or Capricorn (6) 

12 John Bull's food (5,4) 

16 Tense, repressed (7) 

17 Prickly plants (6) 

18 In the vicinity (6) 

19 Yellow precious stone (5) 

20 Insect in its adult form (5) 

23 Lubricant (3) 

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