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•Edet Okon 

Evicted twice, 

abandoned by wife, 

homeless for 32yrs 

...Ex-Warrant Officer narrates 

ordeal in service 

15 

No rift between 

Obi and me 

—SOLUDO 

11 

2023: 

Match your words 

with action, CAN 

tasks presidential 

candidates 

9 

Nigeria Air: Court extends status quo order 

Nigeria’s growth momentum slows to 2.25% in Q3’22 

9 

19 

VOL. 39: NO. 9,931 

2023: APC makes 

U-turn, declares 

support for BVAS, 

8 

IReV 

DSS withdraws suit 

against ex-terrorists’ 

8 

negotiator, Tukur Mamu 

NDDC:PANDEF, 

Itsekiri leaders, 

Ohanaeze divided 

over Onochie 12 

Why Niger Republic 

named road after 

Buhari —PRESIDENCY 

21 

BRAIN DRAIN: 

GLO FESTIVAL OF JOY LANDLORD... 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2022 

2nd Vanguard Mental Health Summit in Lagos... 

From left: Professor Taiwo Sheikh, immediate past President, Association of Psychiatrists of Nigeria and Co-ordinator, Vanguard Mental 

Health Chatroom; Dr. Monica Eimunjeze, Ag. DG, NAFDAC; Dr. Segun Oke, Zonal Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, 

NDLEA, representing Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa, Chairman/CEO, NDLEA; Dr. Osahon Enabulele, President, World Medical Association and 

Chairman of the occasion; Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, GM/Editor in Chief, Vanguard Media Limited, and Ms Chineze Amanfo, PR Lead, 

9mobile, at the 2nd Vanguard Mental Health Summit in Lagos yesterday. Photo Lamidi Bamidele 

We now have one doctor to 6,400 

patients —Medical experts 

5 

•Say Nigeria in emergency situation•38.7% of Nigerians suffer healthcare depreciation – NBS report•As 

NMA asks FG to act fast 

Vanguard Mental Health Summit: 

L-R: Winner of a 

House in 

Glo Festival of 

Joy Promo, Mr. Ola 

Owonifari 

Joseph; Speaker, 

Rivers State House 

of Assembly, Ikuinyi 

Ubani; Chief Whip, 

Rivers House of 

Assembly, Evans 

Bipi; and Globacom’s 

Regional Manager, 

Port Harcourt, Mr. 

Augustine Mamuro, 

at a prize 

presentation event 

held by the company 

in Port Harcourt, 

yesterday. 

COLUMNISTS DONU 16 A ZU 26 OWEI 17 ADEKOYA 18 20 

Nigeria ranks 1st among 

world’s Cannabis-use 

countries —BUBA MARWA 

Mr & Mrs 

20

C 

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2 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2022

C 

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Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2022 — 3

C 

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BRAIN DRAIN: We now have one 

doctor to 6,400 patients — Medical 

experts 

By Dayo Johnson & 

Joseph Erunke 

MEDICAL experts 

have raised the alarm 

that the ratio of doctors 

available in the country 

was now one to 6,400 

patients as a result of 

brain-drain. 

The experts, including 

the Chief Medical 

Director, University of 

Medical Sciences 

Teaching Hospital, Ondo 

State, Dr. Oluwole Ige, 

and an Associate 

Professor of Orthopaedic 

Rehabilitation, Obafemi 

Awolowo University, Ilelfe, 

Osun state, Dr. 

Teslim Onigbinde, spoke 

in Ondo at the 2nd 

induction 

of 

physiotherapists, who 

recently graduated from 

the University of 

Medical Sciences, 

UNIMED, Ondo. 

The figure is 5,900 

patients higher than the 

United Nations 

recommended ratio of 

one doctor to 500 

patients. 

It is also 1,400 patients 

higher than one doctor 

to 5,000 patients, the 

Nigerian Medical 

Association, NMA, 

declared, late last 

month, at its Anambra 

Chapter’s Physicians’ 

Week and Scientific 

Conference in Nnewi. 

38.7% of 

Nigerians suffer 

healthcare 

depreciation 

Apart from poor access 

to doctors, access to 

health facilities is also a 

challenge, as the 

recently released multidimensional 

poverty by 

the National Bureau of 

Statistics survey showed 

• Say Nigeria in emergency situation• 38.7% of 

Nigerians suffer healthcare depreciation – NBS 

report•As NMA asks FG to act fast 

that more than one out of 

every three Nigerian 

suffers deprivation in 

terms of time to 

healthcare. 

According to the report, 

titled: “The 2022 

Multidimensional 

Poverty Index,” a 

household is deprived if 

it takes them 30 minutes 

or more to reach the 

nearest functional health 

facility or primary 

healthcare centre on 

foot. 

The survey revealed 

that 38.7 per cent of 

Nigerians spend more 

than 30 minutes to reach 

the nearest functional 

health facility. 

NMA Secretary 

General, Dr. Jide 

Onyekwelu, who spoke 

at the Nnewi event, had 

said the rate at which 

doctors were migrating 

for greener pastures 

posed serious manpower 

crisis in the health sector, 

noting that while the UN 

standard recommended 

an average of one doctor 

to 500 patients, the ratio 

had dropped to about 

1:5000 in Nigeria due to 

the declining number of 

doctors in the country. 

Current statistics, 

according to the medical 

experts at the induction 

ceremony in Ondo, the 

number has dropped 

further to 6,400 patients 

to one doctor. 

Dr. lge expressed 

worries over the rate at 

which medical 

professionals were 

leaving Nigeria in 

search of better 

opportunities abroad. 

He called for urgent 

measure to salvage the 

trend, saying: "the 

country is in dire 

emergency situation 

within the medical 

sector.” 

Ige, who spoke 

through, the Chairman, 

Medical Advisory 

Committee, CMAC, Dr. 

Michael Gbala, 

expressed mixed 

feelings that half of the 

34 inductees were 

already nursing the 

ambition to board the 

next flight to developed 

countries and appealed 

to medical personnel in 

Nigeria to always give a 

second thought before 

leaving the country. 

His words: "You 

(inductees) are coming 

at a time there is mass 

exodus of medical 

personnel. The 

university has taken 

about five years to train 

you, so Nigerians will 

be happy to have you 

around. 

"If your lecturers had 

left, they will not be 

around to train you. We 

are in a very serious 

situation. Except 

something is done, we 

might be heading 

From left: President Muhammadu Buhari with the President of Niger Republic, 

Mohammed Bazoum; President of Guinea Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo and 

President of the Chadian Transition Government and Head of State, General 

Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno in Niamey, Niger Republic yesterday. 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2022 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

towards major crisis. I 

salute those who are still 

around, despite the 

challenging situation. 

"Wherever you may be, 

ensure you continue to 

retrain yourselves and 

be good ambassadors of 

the institution." 

On his part, Dr. 

Onigbinde described the 

ratio of doctors available 

to patients in the country 

as worrisome and 

stressed the urgent need 

to halt the brain drain in 

the health sector. 

‘Work in 

Nigeria first’ 

The Vice Chancellor of 

the institution, Prof. 

Olusegun Fatusi, who 

was represented by the 

Deputy Vice Chancellor, 

Administration and 

Clinicals, Prof. Adolphus 

Loto, said the inductees 

could seek employment 

in any country they 

desire, but advised that 

they must ensure they 

worked in Nigeria first 

before travelling out of 

the country. 

"It is your right to seek 

employment anywhere 

in the world because it is 

part of the international 

labour mobility. But my 

advice is that before you 

leave, you must get a job 

here. 

"Many people cannot 

come back because there 

By Matthew Johnson & 

Prudence George 

On 133m Nigerians living in poverty and way forward 

is nothing to fall back on. 

You have two goals in 

your career; to solve 

societal problems and to 

solve personal problems. 

"We are proud of you 

and your achievement so 

far. The induction 

programme, as you have 

been well-tutored, is not 

a mere ceremony. It is a 

critical rite of passage 

into a new life – the life 

of professional health 

workers, and specifically 

your entry into the 

distinguished and 

rewarding profession of 

physiotherapy." 

Also, the Dean, Faculty 

of 

Medical 

Rehabilitation, Prof. 

Matthew Olaogun, 

advised the inductees to 

remain focused on their 

chosen career, and 

pursue what they had 

learned in the university 

with the spirit of 

godliness and 

excellence. 

He also expressed 

concern over the rate 

doctors were relocating 

abroad, leaving the 

health sector in dire 

straits. 

The Registrar, Medical 

Rehabilitation Body of 

Nigeria, Olufunke 

Akanni, represented by 

the Deputy Registrar, Mr 

Akinyele Adeniran, 

admonished them to be 

watchful of hospitals 

Continues on Page 35 

THE rates at which 

company and other investors 

are running away from 

Nigeria is contributing to rate 

of poverty. As a nation, we depend 

mostly on imported item 

and our exportation of goods 

to other country is very low. In 

order to drag the statistics down 

we need to be a productive 

country. 

—Oyindamola Owolabi, 

Brand Ambassador 

THE NBS statistic is 

a clarion call that 

something should be done 

urgently to prevent Nigeria 

from descending into 

anarchy. 133 million people 

are a threat to the peace 

of any nation. The federal 

government should act fast 

to bring down the numbers. 

—Ado Fatima, 

Student 

WHEN a country’s 

investment policies 

are not favorable for local 

and foreign investors, that 

is what you get; a mob of 

hungry people. If nothing 

is done urgently, the numbers 

will continue to rise 

and only God knows what 

will become of the rich people. 

—Yamano Isaac, 

Student 

ITS true that inflation 

rate is over 20% which 

is directly proportional to 

an increase in the cost of 

living while earning capacity 

remain the same, thus 

shoving people below the 

poverty index. Something 

needs to be done very fast 

to remedy the situation. 

—Daniel Ololo, 

Pharmacologist 

IT all boils down to 

the economy and cost 

of living which is relatively 

very high. Unfortunately 

we no longer have middle 

class citizens in Nigeria. 

You are either poor or 

rich. When the number of 

poor people is more that 

rich people in any nation, 

there is serious danger. 

— Lori Anthony, 

Industrialist 

THE NBS figures are 

scary should be taken 

seriously by the federal 

government. The solution 

is to intensify the fight 

against corruption with a 

more robust anti-corruption 

policy. We also need a 

strong fiscal policy to drive 

the economy. 

—Nwankwo Chibuzor, 

Businessman

6 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2022 

Flood victims 

protest in Delta, 

accuse govt 

officials of sharp 

practices 

•Your complaints'll 

be addressed —Govt 

By Festus Ahon 

ASABA—AGGRIEVED flood 

victims from Isoko, Delta State, 

yesterday, stormed Asaba, the state 

capital, vowing to hold 'mother of all 

protests’, if they are not compensated 

within 14 days. 

The aggrieved victims, numbering 

over 100, who besieged the gate of the 

State Government House, alleged that 

there were corrupt practices in the 

manner they were demobilised from 

their respective Internally Displaced 

Persons, IDP camps. 

They alleged that several millions of 

naira meant for flood victims have found 

their way into private pockets. 

Carrying placards with different 

inscriptions, one of the protesters, who 

simply gave his name as Ewoma, decried 

the alleged fraudulent and corrupt way 

some government officials in charge of 

the compensation carried out the 

exercise. 

Ewoma said: "Even the St. Michaels 

College IDPs camp, Oleh, was full of 

discrimination and was used as a conduit 

to loot government treasury. 

"An aide (names withheld) of a top 

Government official (names withheld) 

from the area, was larger than life at the 

camp, ejecting, rejecting and treating 

victims with disdain while accepting 

only victims from his area, Igbide 

community and Uzere community 

where his godfather hails from. 

“We were not taken good care of, and 

when government officials came to Oleh 

to pay victims compensation of N50,000 

and N100,000 each as the case may be, 

to our surprise, people that were being 

paid were strangers with strange faces, 

their family members, girlfriends who 

were never seen any day at the ICS camp. 

“For every 20 names that they called, 

only two or three will come out among 

the real flood victims while those paid 

were never known to us or even seen in 

the camp. The payment the government 

officials came for was just a mere 

jamboree to amass illicit wealth to our 

detriment. 

"The fraud and corruption that took 

place at the ICS IDP camp were 

enormous. Those government officials 

only came to pay themselves, not flood 

victims with what happened last week 

at the ICS IDP camp, Oleh." 

Chief Economic Adviser to the state 

governor, Mr. Kingsley Emu, who 

addressed the protesters, told them to 

remain calm and promised to take their 

complaints to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa 

for appropriate and immediate action. 

:Vanguard 

News 

•The protesting flood victims. 

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

Suspected ritualist murders 

7-year-old girl in Ogun 

By James Ogunnaike, 

ABEOKUTA—A seven-year-old 

girl was, yesterday, murdered by 

a suspected ritualist in Ota, Ado-Odo/ 

Ota Local Government Area of Ogun 

State. 

Vanguard reliably gathered that the 

incident happened around 7am at Kilani 

Street, Iyana Iyesi area of Ota. 

It was gathered that the victim was 

sent on an errand by her mother's 

neighbour, to get her something from 

the house, when she was killed. 

It was gathered that when the girl 

entered the house, the suspected ritualist, 

who had hidden somewhere in the 

Joint Task Force 

nabs 2 suspected 

kidnappers, 

rescues 3 victims 

Couple, one other in Police net for killing hotelier 

By James Ogunnaike 

A 

couple, Larry Adebayo Adewumi 

and Okereke Olufunmilayo, has 

been arrested by operatives of Ogun 

State Police Command, alongside one 

Adebowale Sanni, over the abduction 

and killing of the Director of Rolak 

Hotel, Ijebu Ode, Abayomi Smith, after 

collecting N15 million ransom. 

The State Police Command Public 

Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, 

disclosed that Smith was kidnapped on 

September 28, 2020, at about 7.30am, 

at Anifowose Estate, Igbeba, Ijebu Ode, 

by some gunmen. 

Oyeyemi said: "On receiving the 

information about the kidnap, men of 

the anti-kidnapping unit were mobilized 

to commence an investigation, but all 

efforts to get the victim out of captivity 

proved abortive, even though the victim's 

family paid a ransom of N15 million to 

the abductors. 

building, attacked her and smashed her 

head with a pestle. 

The girl's cry for help attracted the 

neighbour’s attention, but she was dead 

before anybody could arrive at the scene. 

A resident of the area, who simply 

identified herself as Abefe, told our 

correspondent that neighbours searched 

for the suspect, but he was nowhere to be 

found. 

The source added that police had 

visited the area to assess the scene of the 

incident. 

The police have taken away the body 

of the little. I know the girl very well, we 

used to call her 'Mama'. The suspect 

killed her in cold blood. At first, we 

"Since then, police operatives have 

not relented in their efforts to fish 

out those behind the devilish act. 

"The efforts of the SP Taiwo 

Opadiran-led team yielded positive 

results in September this year when 

they got wind of the plan by the 

hoodlums to strike again, this time, 

the wife and son of Otunba Ajayi 

Smith were their target. 

"The team, having got the 

intelligence report, embarked on 

technical surveillance for the 

suspects, consequence upon which 

one of them was traced to Ikeji 

Arakeji in Osun State, where the 55 

years old Adebowale Sanni was 

apprehended. 

"On interrogation, he confessed to 

having been on the trail of Yeye 

Olusola Roseline Ajayi, the wife of 

their earlier victim, Otunba Ajayi 

Smith to kidnap her, on the order of 

Larry Adebayo Adewumi, the ring 

Gunmen kill 4 policemen, kidnap target in Port 

Harcourt 

By Davies Iheamnachor 

PORT 

HARCOURT— 

GUNMEN, yesterday, attacked a 

convoy in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, 

killing four policemen, kidnapped a 

man and carted away an undisclosed 

amount of money. 

The criminals reportedly struck 

around 3pm, on top of the recently 

constructed Rumuokoro Flyover, in 

Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of 

the state, shooting sporadically at 

moving cars. 

It was learned that the criminals had 

arrived at the scene earlier and hanged 

LASTMA recovers pump-action rifle 

inside impounded vehicle 

A 

pump-action rifle was discovered 

inside an unregistered Honda car 

impounded by personnel of Lagos State 

Traffic Management Authority, 

LASTMA, for driving against traffic, 

yesterday. 

The General Manager of LASTMA, 

Mr. Bolaji Oreagba, said, in a statement 

by the Director, Public Affairs 

Department, Mr. Taofiq Adebayo, that 

the black Honda car was apprehended 

by the patrol team of the agency, while 

driving against traffic around Sango- 

Tedo, Abijo GRA, on Lagos-Epe 

expressway. 

According to him, when the driver of 

the unregistered vehicle noticed that the 

gun had been sighted inside his car, he 

took to his heels. 

The general manager said that both 

the car and the recovered gun had been 

handed over to the Divisional Police 

Officer at Ilasan for further investigation. 

Oreagba appealed to members of the 

public to be security conscious and 

report any suspicious movement within 

their environment to security agencies. 

on for their victims and that the bandits 

operated successfully without 

interference from any counterforce. 

An eyewitness said the development 

caused panic, adding that the criminals 

whisked away the yet-to-be-known 

personality whom the policemen were 

providing security for after killing four 

policemen in the convoy. 

He said: "This afternoon, around 3 

pm we heard gunshots on top of the 

flyover. We earlier thought it was security 

men that were shooting because they 

were in military uniform. 

"The shooting continued while cars 

that were at the foot of the flyover have to 

stop. The boys killed four policemen that 

were escorting a big man. 

"They carried money from that convoy 

and kidnapped the big man. After that, 

they entered their car and drove off. 

“The State Police Public Relations 

Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, who 

confirmed the attack, said three 

policemen were involved, adding that 

there were not many details on what 

transpired. 

thought it was a thief, but further findings 

revealed that the guy is a ritualist,” she 

said 

Our correspondent further gathered 

that the unknown ritualist had been 

hibernating in an empty building in the 

area. 

“When we searched further, we 

discovered that the man had charms and 

a goat hidden in an empty building close 

to his victim's house. When we got there, 

we saw the charm and a goat. The goat 

attacked one of us, but it was later killed. 

This is a sad occurrence,” another source 

stated. 

The Ogun State Police Public Relations 

Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, expressed 

shock when he was informed of the 

incident. 

He, however, said he would get details 

from the concerned police division and 

revert. 

leader, whose wife Olufunmilayo 

happened to be an employee of 

Otunba Ajayi Smith. 

"He confessed further that it was 

Larry who described the location of 

the victim's hotel and his other 

business outfits to him with 

instruction that if they succeeded in 

kidnapping the woman and her son, 

the two of them must be killed after 

collecting ransom in order not to leave 

any trait, just as they did to her 

husband two years ago. 

"His confession led to the arrest of 

Larry's wife, Olufunmilayo, who was 

a manager at the victim's building 

materials shops. 

"Larry himself was arrested three 

days after, he initially denied having 

anything to do with the kidnap of 

Otunba Abayomi Ajayi Smith, but 

when he came face-to-face with 

Adebowale Sanni, his accomplice, 

he knew that the game was up. 

"Preliminary investigation 

revealed that Larry, who is an indigene 

•Suspected killers of the hotelier. 

By Rotimi Ojomoyela 

ADO-EKITI—THE Joint Task 

Force, JTF, comprising 

combined forces of the Military, Police, 

Amotekun Corps and local hunters, 

said it arrested two suspected 

kidnappers, during a joint operation 

at Irele-Kogi border area of Ekiti 

State. 

The combined forces, under 

operation 'Eradicate Bandit at the 

Borders of Rural Ajoni Communities', 

EBBORAC, added that it recovered part 

of the N3 million collected from the 

victims. 

Addressing newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, 

yesterday, the Chairman of Ajoni LCDA, 

Michael Ogungbemi, disclosed that 

the suspects were nabbed during a joint 

operation inside the sprawling forest 

at Irele-Kogi border area. 

Ogungbemi said the operation 

became so terrific that the kidnappers 

hurriedly freed three victims from 

captivity, which provided a lead for the 

JTF to proceed with the combing 

operation of all forests in the axis. 

He said: "When they knew that the 

operation was closing in on them, three 

victims in their possession were 

suddenly released this afternoon. This 

further provided a lead for the 

operation. 

"Part of the ransom collected from 

the victims was recovered and the 

released victims are now in the hospital 

receiving medical treatments." 

The JTF also succeeded in 

apprehending two suspects, who are 

now undergoing interrogation and 

investigation by the police. 

of Ilesha Osun State, used to be a 

fraudster before he graduated into 

full-time kidnapping business. 

"His modus operandi was to scout 

for a rich victim, after which he will 

mobilise the gang working for him 

to go after such person. 

"He got full information about 

Otunba Ajayi Smith through his 

wife, Olufunmilayo, who was an 

employee of the man. 

"Further investigation revealed 

that Larry has two bank accounts 

where he used to keep money 

realized from his criminal 

activities." 

In one of the accounts, with 

number 0010913206, domicile in 

JAIZ Bank, the sum of N34,953, 

455 was discovered there in, while 

he has the sum of N4, 576, 846, in 

another account with Access Bank. 

A 2014 model Toyota 

Highlander was also recovered 

from him.


:Vanguard 

News 

:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 

Social Media Conversation 

•Bandits terrorising the Nigerians unabated. 

Panic in Zamfara as bandits demand 

N60m as peace deal levy 

A 

'compensation levy' of 

varying amounts has 

reportedly been imposed on 

some communities in Zurmi 

LGA of Zamfara State. 

A resident of Moriki, in one of 

the communities in the local 

council, Aliyu Buhari, said the 

bandits had, through released 

captives, demanded that they be 

paid the levy before residents will 

be allowed access to their 

farmlands. 

Buhari said some 

communities have paid and 

agreed on a reconciliation deal 

with the bandits, adding that 

residents of Moriki are currently 

working on raising the levy. 

"People living in Moriki ward 

were asked to pay the sum of N20 

million to be able to enjoy some 

level of peace,” he said. 

Recently, two people were 

kidnapped from Dauran 

community in the council and 

a ransom was paid for their 

release, while in Kanwa, over 40 

people, who are mostly women, 

were abducted during a houseto-house 

search by the terrorists. 

The bandits are yet to demand 

any ransom for the release of the 

abducted persons. 

The bandits had earlier 

imposed a compensation levy of 

N20 million on Kanwa 

community. The levy is to serve 

as a peace deal between the 

terrorists and the community. 

Despite paying the levy, the 

residents are currently living in 

tension, as they believe that the 

recent mass abduction may lead 

to another levy. 

Each household to 

contribute N6,500 

"Currently, people of Moriki 

community are processing how 

to contribute the compensation 

fee. The fee is to enable them to 

access their farmlands and live 

peacefully without any fear of 

attack,” Buhari continued. 

Many communities have 

already paid the compensation 

fee. Most of them yielded during 

the rainy season, when farmers 

needed to work on their 

farmlands. 

“In Moriki, during the 

rainy season, people were 

allowed to farm, but they 

started to threaten our peace 

when it was time to harvest 

our farm produce. 

"Each household in Moriki 

has been asked to contribute 

N6,500 to make up the N20 

million levy. 

“I understand that the 

deadline for the payment was 

last week Saturday, but the 

community is still working 

towards sourcing the money. 

“Some communities that 

have been asked to pay 

compensation levy include 

Gidan Shaho, Kadamutsa, 

and Dada.” 

About 10 

communities 

levied 

Suleiman Mahmud, a 

resident of Zurmi, who also 

spoke on the development, 

said about 10 communities 

were asked to pay levies of 

different amounts. 

He added that some have 

paid, while others are yet to 

raise the money. 

"In Moriki community, 

they were asked to pay N20 

million. The residents have 

resolved to pay, but I am not 

sure if it has been delivered to 

the terrorists. 

“They usually inform 

people of any community 

they attack about their 

demands. They either inform 

a freed captive or deliver the 

message whenever they 

attack communities. 

“Ever since they agreed on 

paying a reconciliation levy 

in July, they have not attacked 

the people of Moriki and the 

people have been going 

about their affairs." 

Last week, two residents 

were kidnapped from their 

farmlands, while one person 

was killed around Dauran 

area. 

Some of the communities that 

have agreed on a peace deal and 

have paid the compensation levy 

include Kwagwami, Boko, Jaya, 

Dunfawa, and Gidan Goga. 

The communities are about 10 

in Zurmi LGA. Like Kanwa, they 

imposed N20 million; Jaya, N17 

million; Moriki, N20 million, 

while Kwagwami, N6.5 million. 

Mahmud also said some 

residents of Kwagwami were 

kidnapped recently, adding that 

the abductees are still in captivity, 

except the district head who has 

been freed. 

Another man's meat...! 

Just bury the ‘dirt' in colour bo! 

...And when hunger births anger? 

Remember your children too ooo!


:Vanguard News 


AWARD—From 

left: Mrs. Dupe 

Olusola, MD/ 

CEO, Transcorp 

Hotels Plc., 

and Islam el- 

Maddah, hotel 

Manager, 

Transcorp Hilton 

Abuja, with the 

hotel's World 

Travel Awards. 

Transcorp Hilton 

won five awards, 

including Africa's 

Leading Business 

Hotel, at the 

awards 

ceremony, in 

Nairobi. 

2023: APC makes U-turn, expresses 

full support for BVAS, IReV 

•We can't jettison our own initiative, it says 

•There’s no going back on BVAS —INEC 

•Says reports that we won’t use BVAS, fake news 

•Notes poll will be watershed in Nigeria’s history 

By Henry Umoru & 

Omeiza Ajayi 

NATIONAL CHAIRMAN of 

the ruling All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Senator 

Abdullahi Adamu, has disclaimed 

reports that he was opposed to 

the deployment of the Bimodal 

Voter Accreditation System, 

BVAS, and the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, 

INEC, Results Viewing Portal, 

IReV, for next year's general 

elections. 

At a news conference in 

Abuja,yesterday, Adamu said he 

was only expressing reservations 

about the challenges of electricity 

supply and irregular 

telecommunication signals in 

outlining voting districts of the 

country. 

At a meeting with the preelection 

delegation of the 

Commonwealth Election 

Observation Mission on 

Wednesday in Abuja, Senator 

Adamu had said: "First, I was 

privileged to serve as a Senator. 

Our concern is how ready are we 

to deploy some of these 

technologies as regards 

transmission because we are 

taking a major step in transmitting 

election results in real time. 

"To transmit results, every part 

of the nation Nigeria, I am not 

sure that the network covers it. I 

know that even in parts of Abuja, 

there is no network and we have 

from now till February when in 

substantial parts of the country 

there is no electricity? 

"INEC must assure us 100 

percent that as and when due in 

transmitting results, they are 

ready because they spoke about 

recharging batteries but we had 

in previous elections when it said 

it could not recharge." 

At the same meeting, National 

Organizing Secretary of the party, 

Ambassador Suleiman Argungu 

had also said the new technology 

may not work in his home state, 

Kebbi. 

I didn't oppose 

BVAS, IreV; I only 

expressed concern 

over INEC 

readiness to deploy 

However, Adamu, yesterday, 

said he was grossly misquoted. 

Represented by the National 

Publicity Secretary, Mr Felix 

Morka, he said: "You would recall 

that on Wednesday, the National 

Chairman of our party and some 

members of the National Working 

Committee, NWC, hosted a 

delegation from the 

Commonwealth pre-election 

mission to discuss with the party 

regarding preparations that the 

country is making for next year's 

general election. 

"In the course of that meeting, 

the national chairman responded 

to a couple of questions asked by 

the delegation and one of them 

had to do with the state of 

preparedness of the country, the 

party and INEC to conduct next 

year's election. 

"In his response to one of those 

questions especially on the one 

regarding the preparedness for 

the election, the national 

chairman noted with respect to 

the deployment of new 

technologies that while INEC has 

taken these bold steps to put in 

place these technologies, he 

simply tasked INEC to ensure 

that they are able to bridge all of 

the gaps that may be created by 

both electricity and 

telecommunication challenges 

especially in outlying voting 

districts of the country. I was in 

the meeting and I heard the 

context in which he was speaking 

but unfortunately, this morning 

we read reports that the national 

chairman was averse to 

deployment of BVAS and IReV. 

That was a gross misstatement of 

what the national chairman said." 

In a follow up statement to back 

the position of the party, Morka 

said "media reports that Chairman 

Adamu kicked against INEC’s 

decision to deploy BVAS and 

electronic transmission of results 

is patently false, and constitutes 

an unfair misrepresentation of the 

National Chairman’s comments. 

"To be clear, Chairman Adamu 

did not kick against the 

deployment of BVAS or electronic 

transmission of results as 

erroneously reported by sections 

of the media. 

"The APC administration of 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

midwived the successful reform of 

the Electoral Act, the 

introduction of BVAS among 

other technological innovations, 

and has superintended the 

conduct of credible, free, fair and 

transparent elections in Edo, 

Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states. 

"Our party and government 

remain committed to the highest 

levels of electoral transparency 

and democratic consolidation in 

our country." 

We're not afraid 

Also, the APC Presidential 

Campaign Council, PCC, 

expressed its readiness for the 

election, saying it is not afraid of 

the deployment of BVAS or any 

new technology.“Director APC 

PCC National Youth 

Mobilization, North Central, 

Hon. Mike Msuaan said APC 

has done a lot of mobilization to 

the effect that if elections were 

conducted today, it would deliver 

70 percent of the total votes cast 

to its presidential candidate, 

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. 

On the issue of electronic 

transmission of election results 

and whether the APC was afraid 

of new technologies, he said: 

"Why should the APC be afraid of 

BVAS and electronic transfer of 

results when the youths are 

strongly behind us? Why should 

we be afraid? I told you that if 

election is conducted tomorrow we 

are going to win. They are the 

ones running after us. We have 

already given them more than 30 

percent gap ahead and by 

tomorrow if elections are 

conducted we would give them 

more than 50 percent. 

"We are very comfortable with 

the arrangements made by INEC. 

We are going to win with that 

because that has taken care of 

the manipulation of those who 

want to do yahoo yahoo on 

Election Day.” 

No going back on 

BVAS —INEC 

Meanwhile, INEC has said any 

news that it planned to stop the 

deployment of the BVAS and IReV 

should be considered by 

Nigerians as fake news, insisting 

there is no going back on their 

usage. 

In his goodwill message, 

yesterday, in Abuja at the start of 

a 2-Day capacity building for 

journalists and CSOs on conflictsensitive 

reporting during the 

2023 general election and 

countering fake news for the 

North Central zone, the Director 

of Voters Education and Publicity 

of Independent National 

Electoral Commission, INEC, Mr 

Victor Aluko, said news that 

INEC would not use BVAS is 

fake news, adding that the 

commission is guided by the 

principles of one man, one vote. 

According to him, any news 

about threat to remove the INEC 

Chairman, Professor Mahmood 

Yakubu and that there will be no 

electronic transmission of results 

should all be considered as fake 

news. 

He said the commission was 

preparing for no less than 70 per 

cent turnout, just like Ghana did, 

stressing that the 2023 elections 

was going to be the mother of all 

elections. 

Aluko, who also noted that 2023 

elections would be a watershed 

in the history of Nigeria, said: "Let 

me assure you that news that 

INEC will not use Bimodal Voters 

Accreditation System is fake news 

and that the commission is 

guided by the principles of one 

man one vote. 

''Any news about threats to 

remove the INEC Chairman is 

fake news; 2023 elections will be 

a watershed in the history of 

Nigeria." 

The Capacity building 

programme was organised by the 

Centre for Democracy and 

Development, CDD, and the 

INEC in conjunction with the 

Nigeria Union of Journalists, 

NUJ. 

Earlier in his keynote 

presentation on the Role of Media 

in the Conduct of Peaceful 

Elections, the National 

President of NUJ, Chris Isiguzo, 

said that the inability of other 

stakeholders in the media 

industry to agree with the NUJ 

on some aspects to be inserted in 

the Code of Ethics for Journalism 

practice in the country had led to 

the delay in the release of the 

document. 

Isiguzo, who assured journalists 

that the revised version of the 

document would give them some 

measure of protection, expressed 

confidence that before long, the 

NUJ and stakeholders would tie 

all loose ends and the document 

would be finally released. 

He said: "The NUJ, the Guild 

of Editors, Newspapers 

Proprietors of Nigeria, NPAN, and 

Guild of Corporate Online 

Publishers of Nigeria, GOCOP, 

and Broadcasting Organisation of 

Nigeria, BON, among others, all 

gathered and said there was need 

to design a framework for media 

practice in the country. 

"Last week, we adopted a 

substantial part of this document; 

one, talks about having an 

ombudsman that will be able to 

moderate media activities in the 

country and of course a revised 

Code of Ethics for media practice 

for journalists in the country.'' 

Muslim/Muslim ticket: Northern 

APC members to declare position 

soon ----Dogara group 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu & 

Olayinka Ajayi 

ABUJA—SOME aggrieved 

Northern Christian Leaders in 

the All Progressives Congress, APC, 

yesterday, said they were yet to 

endorse a presidential candidate in 

2023. 

The development came on the 

heels of a media report that the 

chairman of the group and former 

Secretary to the Government of the 

Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal 

has pitched his tent with the 

presidential candidate of the Labour 

Party, LP, Peter Obi. 

In a statement, the group, led by 

the former Speaker of the House of 

Representatives, Yakubu Dogara 

said they would make their support 

public soon. 

The statement titled 'RE: Dogara, 

Babachir Lawal-led Northern APC 

Members Dump Tinubu, Declare 

Support For Peter Obi', however, 

said that Lawal was entitled to his 

opinion to declare his support for 

anyone. 

The statement, signed by Mr 

Yakubu Dogara, Simon Achuba, 

Albert Atiwurcha, Prof Doknan 

Sheni, Mela A. Nunge, SAN, Gen 

Ishaya Bauka (retd), Prof Ibrahim 

Haruna and Mrs Leah Olusiyi, 

reads: "We want to draw the 

attention of the general public to 

the recent position canvassed by 

our Chairman, Engr Babachir 

Lawal as the position of our Group. 

We wish to state that necessary 

consultations have been 

concluded, and based on manifestly 

unassailable empirical data, the 

group is poised to adopt a position 

which will be made known to the 

public at an interfaith event to be 

held very soon. 

"Suffice it to say that no one in 

the group including the Chairman 

has been mandated to speak to the 

public about our position at this 

material time. Based on our modus 

operandi, our position was meant 

to be presented to the general public 

at the event above referred to. That 

has not changed. 

"Consequently, the decision to 

endorse a particular candidate and 

the statement credited to the 

chairman are solely the decision 

and views of the Chairman which 

he is entitled to but not that of the 

DSS withdraws suit against 

ex-terrorists’ negotiator, 

Tukur Mamu 

ABUJA—THE Department of 

State Services, DSS, yesterday 

withdrew a suit filed at a Federal 

High Court, Abuja to detain the 

former terrorists’ negotiator, Tukur 

Mamu, for 60 more days after his 

arrest. 

DSS’ counsel, A.M. Danlami, 

told Justice Nkeonye Maha after 

the matter was called for hearing. 

The suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/ 

1619/2022 between SSS and Tukur 

Mamu, was listed for further 

proceedings on the day’s cause list. 

Upon resumed hearing, Danlami, 

who sought to withdraw the case, 

said that the matter has been 

overtaken by event. 

“My lord, this matter is slated for 

hearing today. However, the matter 

has been overtaken by event. We 

wish to withdraw the suit,” he said. 

Following the application, Justice 

Maha struck out the suit. 

“Application of the learned 

counsel succeeds. The application 

is hereby struck out having been 

withdrawn,” she ruled. 

The security agency, through its 

lawyer, Ahmed Magaji, had, on 

September 13, moved a motion exparte, 

which sought an order of the 

court to detain Mamu for 60 more 

group. 

"We hope this statement clears 

all the queries most of us have been 

inundated with on this allimportant 

subject matter." 

Why I dumped Atiku, 

endorsed Obi —Ex-SGF 

Earlier, the former SGF, Mr Lawal, 

yesterday, explained why he 

endorsed Mr Peter Obi and dumped 

the Presidential candidate of the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. 

Lawal, in a statement, 

recommended LP candidates to 

Nigerians, saying they would 

ensure justice, equity, fairness and 

unity in the country. 

The statement reads: "As one of 

the foremost critics of APC's singlefaith 

presidential ticket and also in 

difference to those who have 

patiently waited for our guidance 

as to where to pitch our tent, after a 

painstaking review and analysis of 

the alternative presidential tickets, 

we now wish to recommend the 

Obi/Datti presidential ticket. 

"We wish to briefly narrate a few 

reasons among many, why we have 

endorsed this ticket and recommend 

it to all Nigerians of good conscience 

who desire justice, equity and a 

harmonious co-existence of all 

Nigerians across tribes, religions 

and geopolitical regions. 

"It is an indisputable fact that the 

whole of Northern Nigeria is 

currently mired in several 

intractable socio-economic 

problems, due to the activities of 

several nebulous criminal groups. 

"In our quest for justice and 

equity in the socio-political and 

religious space of the country, it is 

obvious that only the Obi/Datti 

ticket has the potential to deliver." 

2023 polls 'll be a runoff 

Earlier speaking on a Channels 

Television programme tagged 

Politics Today, the former SGF said 

he warned the Presidential 

Candidate of the APC, Asiwaju 

Bola Tinubu over the dangers of 

same faith ticket. 

Predicting the outcome of the 

2023 presidential election, he said: 

"This election will go to a run-off as 

the chances of ending on the first 

ballot are slim. APC is not on this 

ballot. 

days in the first instance, pending 

the conclusion of its investigation. 

The motion, marked: FHC/ABJ/ 

CS/1617/2022, was dated and filed 

on September 12. 

It urged the court to grant its reliefs 

to enable it conclude its 

investigation on Mamu, who had 

been leading the negotiation with 

the terrorists for the release of the 

Abuja-Kaduna train passengers 

kidnapped in March. 

Almost six months after the 

Abuja-Kaduna train passengers 

were kidnapped by Boko Haram 

terrorists, the remaining 23 

kidnapped victims finally regained 

their freedom on Oct. 5 following 

the Federal Government‘s 

intervention. 

Mamu was, on September 6, 

arrested in Cairo, capital of Egypt, 

with his family members by foreign 

security agents. 

Mamu, who was on his way to 

Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj, was 

detained at Cairo International 

Airport before being repatriated back 

to Nigeria. 

Meanwhile, the DSS, in the 

affidavit in support of the ex-parte 

motion, alleged that its preliminary 

investigation established the 

offences of logistic supplier, aiding 

and abetting acts of terrorism against 

Mamu.




PRESENTATION—DMD, Zenith Bank, Adaora Umeoji; Founder/CEO, Foris Lab, Onuigbo 

Chukwubuikem; Founder/CEO, Ecotutu, Babajide Oluwase; Founder/CEO, Finva, 

Oluwatomisin Kolawole, and GMD/CEO, Zenith Bank Plc., Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, during 

the presentation of cash prizes to winners of the Hackathon, at the Zenith Tech Fair 2.0, 

held at Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. 

Nigeria Air: Court extends status quo 

order 

By Innocent Anaba 

A 

FEDERAL High Court 

sitting in Lagos, yesterday, 

renewed its order directing the 

Federal Government and 

domestic airlines to maintain 

status quo in their suit 

concerning the establishment of 

a proposed national carrier, 

Nigeria Air. 

Trial judge, Justice Ambrose 

Lewis-Allagoa, made the order 

pending the determination of the 

suit by the Registered Trustees 

of the Airline Operators of 

Nigeria, Azman Air Services 

Limited, Air Peace Limited, Max 

Air Limited, United Nigeria 

Airlines Company Limited and 

Topbrass Aviation Limited. 

Defendants in the suit are 

Nigeria Air Limited, Ethiopian 

Airlines, Sen. Hadi Sirika 

(Minister of Aviation, Federal 

Ministry of Aviation) and the 

Attorney-General of the 

Federation. 

Meanwhile, two "intervenors/ 

applicants" Capt. Edward Boyo 

and Capt. Nogie Meggison, 

brought an application praying 

the court to strike out the name 

of The Registered Trustees of 

Airline Operators of Nigeria as a 

party in a suit, arguing that its 

inclusion in the suit "is invalid." 

The court had on November 

15, restrained the Federal 

Government and Ethiopian 

Airlines from proceeding with the 

establishment of Nigeria Air 

Limited. 

The judge also ordered parties 

to maintain the status quo, 

following the plaintiffs' motion 

ex-parte in suit FHC/L/CS/2159/ 

2022. 

At the resumed hearing on the 

matter, yesterday, Mr. Nureni 

Jimoh, SAN, counsel to airline 

operators, tried to move his 

motion on notice for an 

injunction against the 

Girls school enrollment in 6 northern states 

increases by 1.5m in 10 years —Report 

By Joseph Erunke 

ABUJA—THE attendance 

rate of girls in primary schools 

in the six states of northern 

Nigeria has improved from 43 per 

cent to 70 per cent, while gender 

parity improved from 0.73 to 0.97, 

following the collaborative 

interventions by Nigeria, the 

Commonwealth and 

Development Office, FCDO, of 

the UK, and the United Nations 

Children's Fund, UNICEF girls’ 

education programme. 

A report of the programme 

released at the national closing 

ceremony of GEP3 held in Abuja 

yesterday, revealed that the Girls 

Education Programme, GEP, 

Phase 3, otherwise known as 

GEE3, also saw additional 1.5 

million girls enrolled in schools 

defendants but it was opposed 

by Mr. Seun Oriowo for Nigeria 

Air and Minister of Aviation, Mr. 

Raji Rasaki, for the AGF and Mr. 

Ajibola Salisu for the intervening 

applicants. 

The judge turned down Raji's 

argument for an adjournment for 

lawyers from the AGF's Abuja 

office to take over the defence, 

rather than those from its Lagos 

office. 

Mr. Bassey Attol for Ethiopian 

Airlines, informed the court that 

he had filed a response to Jimoh's 

in six states of the north between 

2012 and 2022. 

The intervention was in 

response to the low level of 

participation of girls in schooling 

in the six Nigerian states of 

Katsina, Kano, Niger, Sokoto, 

Zamfara and Bauchi. 

The Federal Ministry of 

Education, the Foreign, 

Commonwealth and 

Development Office, FCDO, UK, 

and UNICEF implemented the 

programme between 2012 and 

2022. 

At the event, the partners 

reported that the programme’s 

investment of $109 million 

yielded positive results in 

enrolling an additional 1.5 

million girls into school, far 

exceeding the project’s target. 

GEP3 worked to improve the 

2023: Match your words with action, CAN tasks 

presidential candidates 

By Luminous 

Jannamike 

ABUJA—THE 

Christian 

Association of Nigeria, CAN, 

has called on all the candidates 

running for the highest office in 

the land in next year's general 

elections to match words with 

action and fulfil their 

commitments to the suggestions 

put forward as solutions to the 

crisis of development and 

governance facing the nation. 

Recall that the apex Christian 

body had consulted with 

Nigerians of diverse religious, 

ethnic and social class on the 

problems of the country as well 

as possible solutions to them, and 

articulated these ideas in a 

document it christened, 'The 

Charter for a New Nigeria'. 

The position of CAN on certain 

national issues based on this 

document, was presented to the 

presidential candidates at the 

just-concluded interactive 

session with them in Abuja. 

However, in a statement 

yesterday, the CAN President, 

His Eminence Archbishop 

Daniel Okoh, urged the 

presidential candidates who 

have made up their minds to 

execute the suggested solutions 

to the country's challenges as 

spelt out in the charter to walk 

the talk, if elected in 2023. 

He said: "On behalf of the 

national leadership of the 

Christian Association of Nigeria, 

CAN, I sincerely commend the 

presidential candidates that 

honoured our invitation to the 

just-concluded interactive 

session, with a view to discussing 

issues that will promote the 

common good of every citizen of 

Nigeria. 

"Their decision to meet and 

dialogue with CAN officials and 

other Christian leaders, ahead 

of the 2023 general elections, is 

remarkable not only because the 

Church is a critical stakeholder 

in the Nigerian project, it also 

provided us a platform to 

collectively review our 

understanding of the crisis of 

development and governance 

facing our nation and find a 

lasting solution to them 

"CAN salutes the candour of 

all the presidential candidates 

who participated in the 

interactive session and charge 

those among them who have 

made up their minds to execute 

the suggested solutions to our 

national crisis as spelt out in the 

charter to walk that talk seriously, 

if elected in 2023. 

"However, there is a need for 

proper understanding of the 

issues on ground and thorough 

planning to ensure that 

pronouncements do not end up 

as mere rhetoric while an 

impatient public counts the days 

– for implementation. 

application, while Salisu's prayer 

for an adjournment was opposed 

by Jimoh, on the ground that 

"the intervening applicant is not 

a party to this suit. He is an 

interloper here to disrupt 

proceedings." 

In his ruling, Justice Lewis- 

Allagoa held: "I've viewed all the 

applications before me. In the 

circumstances, the proper thing 

to do is for parties to maintain 

the status quo pending the 

determination of this suit." 

quality of education for all children 

and helped girls gain better 

access to education and economic 

opportunities, breaking 

the cycle of poverty and disadvantage. 

Speaking at the event, the 

Minister of Education, Mallam 

Adamu Adamu, said: “In our 

commitment to drastically reduce 

the number of out-of-school 

children, Nigeria appreciates the 

scaling of evidence-based 

solution in tackling this menace 

as provided through the GEP3. 

As we continue on this path, 

we would leverage on the success 

of GEP3 to plan better, budget 

better, and make better decisions 

in putting more girl-child in 

school. 

“GEP3 has not only been 

successful in getting more girls 

into formal and non-formal 

schools, but it has also improved 

learning outcomes. 

'GEP3 has raised the profile of 

educated girls, created new 

positive social norms in many 

communities and enabled a 

transformational shift in 

mindsets about the importance 

of girls' education.'' 

In his remarks, UNICEF 

Representative in Nigeria, 

Cristian Munduate, said: ''It is 

critical that we advocate scaling 

of the approach in all states. 

“I express the deep 

appreciation of UNICEF to the 

UK government for this longterm 

commitment and funding 

for girls’ access to primary school 

in northern Nigeria. Together, 

there remains much work to be 

done to ensure that girls 

transition to, and complete 

secondary education. 

''This is important not only for 

the economic prosperity and 

wellbeing of the girl and her 

family, but also to stem the high 

population growth expected in 

Nigeria. 

Money laundering: A-Court affirms 

conviction of Maina’s son 

•Reduces jail term to 7 years 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

ABUJA—THE 

Abuja 

Division of the Court of 

Appeal yesterday upheld the 

conviction of Faisal, son of the 

jailed former Chairman of the 

defunct Pension Reform 

Taskforce Team, PRTT, 

Abdulrasheed Maina. 

Faisal, who is 22 years old, 

was on October 7, 2021, 

convicted and sentenced to 14 

years in prison by the Federal 

High Court in Abuja. 

The court, in the judgement 

that was delivered by trial 

Justice Okon Abang, found 

Faisal guilty on all threecount 

money laundering 

charge the Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, 

preferred against him. 

The defendant, who jumped 

bail on June 24, 2020, and 

failed to appear in court for 

his trial, was convicted in 

absentia. 

EFCC told the court that it 

got an intelligence that he 

escaped to the United States 

of America, USA. 

Consequently, the trial court 

ordered that he should be 

arrested whenever he is found 

in the country and remanded 

in any prison to serve his jail 

term. 

It held that the Federal 

Government should upon 

confirming that he ran outside 

the country, "legally or 

lawfully commence 

extradition process to bring 

him into the country to serve 

the jail term". 

However, dissatisfied with 

the judgement, lawyers to 

the defendant went to the 

appellate court to set it 

aside. 

They argued that the 

appellant was denied fair 

hearing by the trial court. 

Delivering judgement in the 

matter on Thursday, a threemember 

panel of the appellate 

court, while upholding Faisal's 

conviction, however described 

the 14 years jail term that was 

handed to him by the trial court 

as "excessive". 

It noted that the appellant, 

being a first time offender, should 

not have been slammed with the 

maximum punishment 

prescribed by the law. 

Consequently, the appellate 

court, in its lead judgement that 

was delivered by Justice 

Ugochukwu Ogakwu, reduced 

Faisal's term of imprisonment to 

seven years. 

The trial court had in its 

verdict, held that the EFCC, 

successfully established that 

Faisal operated a fictitious bank 

account with the United Bank 

for Africa, UBA, through which 

his father, Maina, laundered the 

sum of N58.11million. 

The court noted that the said 

fund which was deposited into 

the account that was operated 

in the name of Alhaji Faisal Farm 

2, was sequentially withdrawn 

by the Defendant and his father, 

between October 2013 and June 

2019. 

Justice Abang said he was 

satisfied that the EFCC proved 

all the essential ingredients of 

the charge, stressing that the 

Defendant reasonably ought to 

have known that inflows into the 

bank account formed proceeds 

of an unlawful act of corruption 

by his father. 

While the court sentenced the 

Defendant to 5 years in count 1 

and 3 of the charge, he was 

sentenced to 14 years on count 

2 of the charge. 

The court held that the 

sentence would run 

concurrently, starting from the 

judgement day. 

Besides, the court ordered 

that the company, through 

which the fund was laundered, 

Alhaji Faisal Farm 2, be wound 

up, with all the funds in it, 

forfeited to the government. 

The trial court had also 

sentenced Faisal's father, 

Maina, to eight years in prison 

over his involvement in money 

laundering to the tune of about 

N2billion. 

Maina had also jumped bail 

and was subsequently 

arrested in Niger Republic by 

the Interpol and returned back 

to the country for the 

conclusion of his trial. 

Child Rights Act now domesticated 

in 34 states —FG 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA—THE Federal 

Government said 

yesterday that 34 of the 36 

states of the federation have 

domesticated the Child 

Rights Act dealing with 

issues of child abuse, child 

labour, and forced 

marriage, among others, in 

Nigeria. 

The proposed law, named 

"Violence Against Persons 

Prohibition Act (2015)," had 

been domesticated by just 13 

states as at 2019, raising 

concerns in government and 

child rights circles. 

Appearing on the 59th 

edition of the Ministerial 

Media Briefing organized 

by the Presidential 

Communications Team at 

the Presidential Villa Abuja, 

the Minister of Women 

Affairs, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, 

who gave the update, said 

she had been actively 

involved in the advocacy to 

ensure all states keyed into 

the initiative. 

The minister said she had 

•Says only Kano, 

Zamfara yet to 

domesticate it 

personally met with key 

stakeholders and speakers 

of state Houses of Assembly 

to stress the need for them to 

pass the bill into law for their 

governors to assent. 

She expressed confidence 

that the two remaining 

states, which she did no 

name, would soon pass the 

bill to domesticate the Act. 

Although the minister 

declined to mention the two 

states yet to domesticate the 

Act, sources within the 

ministry said Kano and 

Zamfara are the two states 

yet to domisticate the Act. 

"We go to the traditional 

rulers, we go to community 

leaders, we go to religious 

leaders, we go to the state 

assemblies,'' Tallen said. 

She also noted that the 

efforts of President 

Muhammadu Buhari to 

have all states domesticate 

the Act, was complemented 

by the First Lady, Aisha 

Buhari, and the Forum of 

First Ladies.



Alleged defamation: Owoeye 

petitions Ogun gov, CP, DSS, 

demands probe 

By Innocent Anaba 

LAGOS—A renowned 

estate agent, Alhaji 

Mutairu Owoeye, yesterday, 

urged Governor Dapo 

Abiodun of Ogun State, the 

Commissioner of Police and 

Director-General, 

Department of State Services, 

DSS, to investigate an alleged 

defamatory publication made 

against him by President, 

Centre for Democracy and 

Socio-Economic Rights, 

CEDESER. 

The group had on an online 

platform, on November 22, 

2022, described Owoeye as a 

notorious land grabber that 

has controlled a criminal 

gang that has been disturbing 

the peace of the state. 

Housing: Partnership with govt 

yielding positive results 

—BSTAN Homes boss 

By Adeola Badru 

IBADAN—BSTAN Homes 

and Properties Limited, 

yesterday, announced that the 

7th edition of the National 

House Fair and Lagos first 

edition will hold on December 

1st, 2022 at the Oriental 

Hotel, Victoria Island in 

Lagos. 

Speaking at a press 

conference to herald the 

forthcoming event tagged: 

'Property in a sachet', the 

Coordinator of the Lagos 

National House Fair, Mr Tolu 

Oluwo, said: "The objective of 

the event is to bring 

affordable, accessible and 

functional housing to lowincome 

earners without 

stress." 

Also speaking, the Group 

But, Owoeye, in a petition 

by his lawyer, Ogabi 

Babatunde, said the 

publication was a deliberate 

effort to damage his 

reputation and credibility in 

the society. 

He said publication has 

"lowered his image in the eyes 

of the numerous readers of the 

unfortunate story both on the 

online platform and other 

platforms where the story was 

forwarded to within Nigeria 

and overseas." 

Similar petitions were 

written to the Attorney- 

General and Commissioner 

for Justice, Ministry of Justice, 

and Speaker, Ogun State 

House of Assembly, 

respectively. 

Managing Director, BSTAN 

Homes and Properties, Dr 

Becky Olubukola, said: "We 

have come to organize the 

Lagos edition of National 

House Fair to produce basic 

shelter for people at 

affordable rates. 

"The government cannot do 

it alone, private-public 

participation and workable 

policies that will support 

people are some of the things 

that we need. 

"We started this project six 

years ago and we have 

recorded remarkable success 

in the real estate business. 

"We have since built about 

28,000 units of houses and we 

plan to reach 5,000 housing 

units as well as expand to 

other African nations that 

have been inviting us." 

We've registered 3700 waste 

pickers in Lagos —ASWOL 

LAGOS—THE Association 

of Scrap and waste Pickers 

of Lagos, ASWOL, yesterday, 

said it has started the 

uploading of the profile of 

3700 registered waste pickers 

on its newly launched website. 

Speaking during the 

Nigerian Artisans Technicians 

Conference held in Lagos, the 

association's President,Mr 

Friday Oku, who stated that 

the essence of putting the 

registered members' profiles 

on the website, said: "The 

website will make you know 

the real waster picker that is 

on the street, all the cart 

pushers we want to have all of 

them on the website in which 

they will have a number and 

you can click on the website 

and you know that this person 

is from Ikorodu, Ikeja and you 

know even the unit where the 

person is coming from. 

"For now those on the 

website are not up to 1000 but 

for those who filled their hard 

copies, we have 3700. Before 

we put anyone on the website, 

we must investigate your 

source and whether you have 

National Identity Number, so 

that you can click and know the 

state that the person is from." 

Also speaking, a consultant of 

the association, Rethinking 

Cities, Mr Deji Akinpelu said: 

"The website will serve as a 

resource centre for any 

information relating to waste 

and scrap dealers in the state 

thereby strengthening the waste 

and scrap dealers' networks at 

the international, regional, 

national and local levels. 

"This is why we, at 

Rethinking Cities and 

Heinrich Böll Stiftung, see 

this step as a laudable 

initiative in our efforts to end 

discrimination against 

informal waste pickers." 

Methodist Church to set up 

radio, TV stations 

By Dickson 

Omobola 

LAGOS—THE New Prelate of 

Methodist Church Nigeria, 

Dr Oliver Aba, has disclosed that 

the Church plans to establish a 

radio and television station that 

would be used to spread the 

gospel. 

Aba, who spoke at his 

investiture as prelate, said the 

church needed a constant use of 

the media to broadcast its 

activities to the Christian body. 

On his part, the outgoing 

prelate, Dr Samuel Kalu, advised 

Aba to inculcate a bold attitude, 

adding that he must always 

speak out in the face of coercion 

or oppression. 

He also urged the new prelate 

to defend his flock, saying that 

the "inability of Christian leaders 

to defend their people is one of 

the reasons for the attack on the 

Christian body." 


ANNIVERSARY—From left: Chairman, The Address Homes, and former GMD, First Bank of 

Nigeria Ltd., FBN, Mr. Bisi Onasanya; former First Bank chairman, Umaru Mutallab, a 

British MP; Chairman, First Bank Holdings Plc., Ahmad Abdullahi; Chairman, First Bank 

Nigeria, Tunde Odukale, and Non-Executive Director, FBN, Julius Omodayo-Owotuga, 

during the FBN UK 40th anniversary, themed: 'Partnership Beyond Borders', held in London. 

Assembly crisis: Aribisogan, others 

threatening us, Ekiti lawmakers tell Police 

•Aribisogan's impeachment breach of law —Afe Babalola 

By Rotimi 

Ojomoyela 

ADO-EKITI—THE crisis 

rocking the Ekiti State 

House of Assembly deepened as 

the lawmakers, yesterday, called 

on the security agencies to invite 

the embattled former Speaker, 

Gboyega Aribisogan over an 

alleged threat to their lives. 

In a five-point resolution 

passed at plenary, the lawmakers 

urged the security agencies to 

invite and investigate the 

impeached and suspended 

Speaker, Mr Aribisogan and 

other suspended lawmakers. 

The lawmakers hinged their 

call on the need to ensure that 

the lives and properties of 

members and staff are protected 

due to the recent calls received 

by members from the impeached 

Speaker and his cronies. 

The motion, moved by the 

lawmaker representing Ekiti 

East II, Mr Lateef Akanle, was 

seconded by Mr Abiodun 

Fawekun, Ido/Oso 1. 

Other parts of the motion were 

to make the suspended Speaker 

sign an undertaking that nothing 

untoward will happen to 

members and that the 

Resolution is transmitted to 

Governor Biodun Oyebanji for 

necessary action. 

2023 polls: Why Nigerians must eschew religious intolerance, 

violence —Patriots Roundtable 

By Dapo Akinrefon 

LAGOS—A pressure group, 

the Patriots Roundtable, 

yesterday, urged Nigerians and 

supporters of political parties 

to ensure they imbibe religious 

tolerance as the 2023 general 

elections draw near. 

In a statement by its Director- 

General, Uthman Shodipe- 

Dosunmu, the forum urged 

Nigerians not to be divided by 

religion adding that religion 

has no place in politics. 

The statement reads: "When 

Asiwaju Tinubu told the 

leadership of the Christian 

Association of Nigeria that his 

wife and Children are all 

Christians while he is a 

Muslim, he appropriately 

defined the very exemplar and 

In their various submissions, 

at the plenary presided by Mrs 

Olubunmi Adelugba, the 

lawmakers supported the 

motion. 

The lawmaker urged the 

relevant security agencies to 

address the allegation before it 

gets out of hand. 

Earlier, the Speaker, Mrs 

Adelugba read the composition 

of the new Standing Committee 

of the House to members, stating 

that it takes immediate effect. 

Aribisogan's 

the unique accommodating 

essence that is the normative 

particularity of Lagos state and 

the South-West in general. 

"The Yoruba people are 

undoubtedly the most liberal 

in this nation when it comes to 

matters of faith. Here they lack 

the prejudicial recourse of the 

extremist who would 

discriminate and vilify others 

over religious differences. 

"Not in Yorubaland. Not in 

Lagos state. If there is a place 

where the two religions 

intermingled without malice, 

distortions or any violent 

upheaval, we urge everyone to 

come to Lagos. 

"It is common typicality in 

Lagos that a family will have a 

Christian father and Muslim 

Mother or vice-versa. It is a 

impeachment 

breach of law 

—Afe Babalola 

Meanwhile, the Chancellor 

and Founder of Afe Babalola 

University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, 

Afe Babalola, yesterday, 

described the impeachment of 

Aribisogan as a breach of a 

fundamental law of fair hearing. 

Babalola, who stated this, 

yesterday, at the 3rd Aare Afe 

Babalola Distinguished 

Personality Lecture Series, 

DPLS, noted that Aribisogan's 

long-held customary practice 

where all religions both Islam 

and Christianity, including the 

traditional worshipers, cohabit 

under one roof without 

rancour. 

"They all celebrate 

Christmas, Eid Kabir, or even 

the Egungun season with 

genuine friendship, with the 

sincere clarity and bond of 

cultural brotherhood without 

any intimation of differences or 

hostile intentions. 

"This accommodating amity 

should be a guide, a bellwether 

to the unifying core of the 

Nigerian nation. 

"Religion should not divide 

us. Religion has no place in 

politics. We at the Patriots 

Roundtable are convinced that 

the sincerity of character, the 

genuineness of the core of the 

impeachment might not install 

peace in Ekiti, noting that the 

Lawmakers took the law into 

their hands and didn't consider 

the fact that he was conditionally 

elected. 

His words: "My learning 

teaches me that there must be 

fair hearing, there must be full 

compliance with rule of law. You 

cannot impeach somebody 

unless he has committed an 

offence. 

"It's a clear case of breach of 

fundamental law and fair 

hearing. So, I cannot but believe 

this was a case of total neglect of 

the law as people took the law 

into their hands." 

2023: Majority of Yoruba 'll vote 

for Tinubu, says YCE 


IBADAN—THE 

Yoruba 

Council of Elders, YCE, 

yesterday, expressed optimism 

that the majority of Yoruba people 

will vote for the Presidential 

candidate of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola 

Tinubu in the 2023 election. 

Speaking with journalists in 

Ibadan after his inauguration, 

the new President-General of 

YCE, Ajibade Oyekan, stressed 

that the body language of the 

majority of members of the group 

has shown that they will vote for 

Tinubu in the election. 

He said: "I have said, we are a 

non-partisan organisation; we 

don't talk about politics here and 

that has held us together, bound 

us together for all these years. 

"We didn't discuss who to vote 

for, but the body language of the 

entire members tells me that we 

should look inwards since we 

have a Yoruba man there. 

"I can see that people will vote 

for their kinsman. So, the 

majority of our members, without 

discussing, without agreeing on 

any particular candidate will vote 

for Tinubu. The majority of our 

members are for him. 

"Please get me right, we are 

not, as a group, endorsing a 

particular individual, because 

once you do that, you are just 

mocking yourself, because 

members are going to the polling 

booth to vote individually with 

their conscience. 

"Our body language just tells 

us that majority of our people are 

going to vote for Tinubu." 

human soul, the competence 

of leadership, and the devotion 

to the supremacy of the unity 

of our nation should supersede 

any narrow divisive recourse 

to sectarian values." 

"Faiths and individual beliefs 

should not be a gauge of 

leadership. What ought to 

concern us all in the renewal 

of the national ideals should 

be the content of character, the 

indices of leadership such as 

intellect, vision, competitive 

bearing, merit, reflective grasp 

of power and the progressive 

ability to project far ahead of 

the throng, selfless in service 

and devotion to the general 

welfare. That is the leadership 

we should encourage. That is 

the leadership effulgence in 

the Tinubu-Shettima ticket," 

he added.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2022 — 11 

FACES AT VANGUARD 2ND MENTAL HEALTH SUMMIT IN LAGOS, YESTERDAY 

Vanguard 2nd Mental Health Summit, themed: 'Mental Health in a Distressed Economy', held at 

Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, yesterday. Photos: Lamidi Bamidele & Kehinde Gbadamosi. 

•From left: Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, GM/Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard 

Newspapers; Mrs. Chioma Obinna, Assistant Health Editor; Mrs. 

Edosa Ogbeide, Director, Narcotic and Controlled Substance 

Directorate, NAFDAC; Dr. Oluwayemi Ogun, immediate past medical 

director, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, and Dr. 

Osahon Enabulele, President, World Medical Association and 

Chairman of the occasion. 

•From left: Mr. Eze Anaba, Editor, Vanguard Newspapers, welcoming 

Dr. Monica Eimunjeze, Ag. DG, NAFDAC, to the event. 

•From left: Dr. Babatunde Fadipe, Consultant Psychiatrist, Lagos 

University Teaching Hospital; Prof. Olatunji Aina, Keynote Speaker, 

and Prof. Taiwo Sheikh, immediate past president, Association of 

Psychiatrists of Nigeria and Coordinator, Vanguard Mental Health 

Chart Room. 

•From left: Prof. Aina; Dr. Olufunmilayo Akinola, Chief Consultant 

Psychiatrist, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Annex, Oshodi, 

Lagos, and Dr. Oluwayemi Ogun, immediate past medical director, 

Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos. 

•From left: Dr. Tolu Ajomale, Head, Mental Health Desk, Ministry 

of Health, Lagos State, representing Prof. Akin Abayomi, 

Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, and Ms Funke Shonubi, 

Programme Coordinator, Mental Health Desk, Ministry of Health, 

Lagos State. 

•From left: Dr. Segun Oke, Zonal Commander, National Drug Law 

Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Lagos, representing Brig.-Gen. Buba 

Marwa, Chairman/CEO, NDLEA; Adetoun Odusanya, Asst. 

Superintendent of Narcotics, and Alabi Zacheous, Chief Narcotics 

Agent, NDLEA. 

•From left: Mrs. Ijeoma Nwankwo, Director, 

Drug Evaluation and Research Directorate; 

Dr. Monica Eimunjeze, Ag. DG, and Mrs. 

Edosa Ogbeide, all of National Agency for 

Food, Drug Administration and Control, 

NAFDAC. 

•From left: Ms Chineze Amanfo, PR Lead, 

9mobile; Mrs. Tola Ajayi, Clinic Manager, 

Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, and John 

Ogunmayi, Business Development Manager, 

Nordica Fertility, Lagos. 

•From left: Mr. Dipo Adeshida, Master of 

Ceremony, with Mr. Sola Ogundipe, Health 

Editor, Vanguard Newspapers.


:Vanguard 

News 

Again, court disqualifies Rivers APC gov 

candidate 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT HARCOURT— 

A Federal High Court, 

sitting in Port Harcourt, 

Rivers State, has disqualified 

the governorship candidate 

of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, in the state, 

Tonye Cole. 

The court disqualified Cole 

from contesting the 

governorship seat over dual 

Diri cautions oil firms against politics 

By Samuel 

Oyadongha 

Y GOVERNOR ENAGOA— 

Douye 

Diri of Bayelsa State, has 

urged oil firms operating in 

the state to steer clear of 

politics, saying it breeds 

conflicts. 

Diri, who stated this, 

yesterday, when he received 

representatives of AITEO 

Eastern Oil Exploration and 


THANKSGIVING—Prof. Charles Soludo, Anambra State Governor (left), with Peter Obi, former 

governor of Anambra State and Labour Party presidential candidate, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, 

Awka, during the thanksgiving mass of Bishop Ezeokafor's 70th birthday. 

NDDC: PANDEF, Itsekiri leaders, Ohanaeze 

divided over Onochie's appointment 

•Bayelsans hail Buhari over Ogbuku nomination as MD 

•Group alleges moves to scuttle her emergence 

By Dapo Akinrefon, 

Jimitota Onoyume, 

Chioma Onuegbu, 

Emem Idio, Gabriel 

Ewepu 

PAN Niger Delta Forum, 

PANDEF, Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo and Itsekiri leaders 

are divided over President 

Muhammadu Buhari's 

nomination of Mrs. Lauretta 

Onochie as the substantive 

Chairman and other board 

members of Niger Delta 

Development Commission, 

NDDC, on Wednesday. 

While PANDEF said the 

appointments were coming 

belatedly, Itsekiri Leaders of 

Thought, ILoT, rejected the 

appointment of Onochie as 

Chairman of NDDC. 

However, Ohanaeze hailed 

the appointment of Onochie 

as the Chairman of NDDC. 

This came as indigenes of 

Bayelsa State commended 

Buhari for nominating an 

indigene of the state, Samuel 

Ogbuku as the Managing 

Director of the board of the 

commission. 

PANDEF in a statement by 

its National Publicity 

Secretary, Mr. Ken Robinson, 

regreted that over the years, 

people appointed into 

interventionist agencies in the 

region like the NDDC were 

appointed basically because 

of their loyalty to those in the 

corridors of power. 

He said: "The position of 

PANDEF on the NDDC board 

nomination is that it is coming 

quite belatedly, less than 100 

days before the general 

elections, given that for over 

citizenship and non 

compliance with the electoral 

guidelines of his party. 

The People's Democratic 

Party, PDP, in Rivers State, 

which was the plaintiff, had 

prayed the court to direct the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, not to recognise Cole 

as the governorship candidate 

of APC over alleged dual 

citizenship. 

PDP in the suit had also 

claimed that the delegates 

election that brought him did 

not follow due process. 

two years, the people of the 

Niger Delta region have been 

clamouring and asking for the 

constitution of a substantive 

board and management of 

the NDDC. 

"Again, the persons so 

nominated are known 

political loyalists to some of 

the political stakeholders in 

the Niger Delta, including the 

presidency. That is our worry. 

"You find them more 

interested in satisfying the 

whims and caprices of those 

who appointed them. And 

they see their appointment as 

political patronage. That is 

also a concern." 

Onochie not from 

oil bearing 

community 

—Itsekiri Leaders 

....As AITEO donates N50m to flood victims 

Exploitation Limited, frowned 

at the level of involvement of 

some oil firms in the last 

governorship election in the 

state, which he said affected 

their relationship with his 

administration. 

Diri, in a statement by his 

Chief Press Secretary, Mr. 

Daniel Alabrah, expressed 

dismay that almost three years 

after his administration was 

However, Justice 

Emmanuel Obile, in his 

judgment agreed with the PDP 

that Cole, who has dual 

citizenship is not eligible to 

contest governorship position. 

The court held that the APC 

primary that brought in Cole 

was not monitored by INEC. 

It will be recalled that the 

court on preliminary 

objection in a suit by APC 

against PDP and its 

governorship candidate, 

Siminialaye Fubara, had 

held that no court has right to 

interfere in another party's 

inaugurated, AITEO was just 

visiting his office for the first 

time. 

He stressed the need for a 

harmonious relationship 

between the state government 

and oil firms, saying "it will 

benefit both parties." 

Diri noted that because his 

administration is anchored on 

love, it has to overlook some 

of the issues about the firm’s 

On its part, Itsekiri Leaders 

of Thought, ILoT, in a chat 

with the Chairman, Edward 

Ekpoko in Warri, Delta State, 

said: “She (Onochie) is not 

qualified. That position has 

always been occupied by an 

indigene of an oil producing 

area by the NDDC Act. This is 

because, it is the indigenes that 

feel the impact of the oil 

exploration and exploitation 

in their land. 

“Again, Delta State has no 

representatives on the board. 

By the law, all member states 

must have one representative 

each on the board, the 

Chairman is a separate office. 

The chairman represents the 

entire commission." 

Onochie's 

appointment 

internal affairs. 

But, yesterday, Justice Obile 

in the judgment, held that the 

court has jurisdiction to hear 

the matter and hence directed 

the INEC to delist the name 

of Cole from the electoral list 

for 2023 general elections. 

Meantime, one of the 

counsels to APC, Collins Dike 

expressed displeasure that the 

same court which agreed with 

APC that no court has right to 

interfere in another party 

affairs on a section of 

constitution has turned 

around to say something else. 

involvement in the 2019 

governorship election, as 

well as the company’s 

handling of last year’s 

Santa Barbara River oil 

spill in Nembe LGA of the 

state. 

He llauded the company 

for the courage to identify 

with the state government 

in the aftermath of the 

flood, despite the seeming 

cracks in the relationship 

between parties. 

2023: You couldn't bear hunger, 

Amaechi chides Rivers 

defectors 

By Egufe Yafugborhi 

PORT HARCOURT— 

IMMEDIATE past 

Transport minister, Mr. 

Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday, 

slammed his former loyalists, 

who recently defected from 

Rivers All Progressives 

Congress, APC, in droves, 

noting that they all left for not 

being able to stand hunger and 

lack character. 

Amaechi, Rivers APC leader, 

addressing APC faithful at 

Rumuigbo, in continuation of 

the party's wards assessment, 

ahead of the 2023 elections, 

also expressed shame on 

behalf of the people of Obio/ 

Akpor LGA of the state for 

perceived disrespect 

Governor Nyesom Wike, son 

of the soil, exhibits towards 

traditional authorities in 

Rivers. 

Amaechi said: "Those who 

left could not stand hunger and 

they lack character. When we 

gladdens us 

—Ohanaeze 

But Ohanaeze, in a 

statement by its Director 

General, Strategic Planning 

and Implementation, 

Ambassador Chiemelu 

Obizoba, said: "As a bonafide 

daughter of the oil-rich region, 

she knows where the shoe 

pinches the people and, as 

digital and social media aide 

of Buhari for over seven years 

now, she is groomed enough 

to know the mindset of the 

President and his vision and 

mission for the good of the 

Niger Delta people. 

"It is our hope and belief that 

the Senate President, Dr. 

Ahmed Lawan, and other 

members of the Red Chamber 

of the National Assembly will 

consider and confirm 

President's choice of Lauretta 

Onochie as substantial 

Chairman of the NDDC 

Board without delay." 

Bayelsans hail 

Buhari over 

Ogbuku 

nomination as 

MD 

National Secretary, 

Movement for the Survival of 

Izon Ethnic Nationalities, 

MOSIEND, Ambassador 

Winston Amai, who spoke on 

the nomination of Samuel 

Ugbuku as MD of the 

commission, said: “This 

appointment is round-peg-ina 

round hole, and we are of 

the view that he is going to 

carry every body along in the 

scheme of things. Dr. Ugbuku 

is a grassroots politician, 

social activist who knows 

what is on ground. He will 

surely excel in this new 

assignment.” 

Group alleges 

moves to scuttle 

Onochie's 

emergence 

FAFIC in a statement by its 

President/National 

Coordinator, Dr. Uche Diala, 

said: “We are aware of some 

clandestine and desperate 

moves by certain individuals 

and vested interests to 

undermine the President’s 

nominations as the Senate 

confirmation hearings loom." 

win in 2023, we will not give 

contract to anyone to 

represent you, we will come 

to you directly. We shall give 

contracts ward by ward. We 

will never rely on people who 

can never be satisfied. 

"I cannot betray the man 

who assisted me. That is why 

I cannot insult Dr. Peter Odili, 

no matter what ever he does, 

because he is still my Oga and 

Rufus Ada George. I warned 

my wife never to insult Dr. 

Peter Odili. 

“Chieftaincy institution is 

for respect. In Ikwerre 

culture, we don't insult elders. 

We are ashamed on behalf of 

Obio/Akpor people. A mad 

man does not know shame 

but the shame goes to his 

family." 

Media Week: 

Governorship 

candidates 

interface with 

NUJ in C'River 

By Ike Uchechukwu 

C 

A L A B A R — 

GOVERNORSHIP 

candidates in Cross River 

State have interfaced with 

members of the Nigeria 

Union of Journalists, NUJ, as 

part of activities to mark this 

year's Media Week, which 

started on Monday. 

The media interface is tagged: 

'Governance Under Your Watch'. 

Four political parties participated 

in the parley. 

The participants include Prof. 

Sandy Onor of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, Patriarch 

Ogar Osim of the Labour Party, 

LP, Peter Odey (Deputy 

Governorship candidate) of the 

ruling All Progressives Congress, 

APC, and the Peoples 

Redemption Party's, PRP, Usani 

Uguru Usani. 

On his agenda for Cross River, 

Prof. Onor said: “Our state is in a 

place we cannot say we are proud 

of, enough of the murmuring 

from behind and then pretending 

that all is well." 

Obaseki, 

Agba, condole 

Edo NUJ chair 

over mom's 

death 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

BENIN 

CITY— 

GOVERNOR Godwin 

Obaseki of Edo State, and the 

Minister of State, Budget and 

National Planning, Clem 

Agba, have condoled with the 

Chairman, Edo State 

Council of the Nigeria Union 

of Journalists, NUJ, Festus 

Alenkhe, over the death of his 

mother, Madam Rose 

Alenkhe. 

A statement by Obaseki 

described the late matriarch 

as a kind, meek, 

compassionate and loving 

woman, noting that she 

would be remembered as a 

peaceful mother, who loved 

her family and community. 

He said: “Madam Alenkhe 

was a kind, meek, 

compassionate and loving 

woman who lived an 

exemplary life. She espoused 

strong family values and 

impacted positively on 

everyone who came in contact 

with her."


Soludo, Peter Obi meet after gov's 

controversial article 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

AWKA—FOR the first time 

since his controversial article 

which dwelt on the presidential 

aspiration of the Labour Party, LP, 

candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, 

Governor Chukwuma Soludo and 

former Governor Peter Obi met at 

St. Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, 

Awka, yesterday. 

The occasion was the 

thanksgiving Mass for the Catholic 

Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev. 

Paulinus Ezeokafor, who 

celebrated his 70th birthday. 

Before the commencement of 

the church service, Governor 

Soludo stepped out from the pew 

where he was sitting and walked 

up to where the LP presidential 

candidate was seated to greet him. 

Both hugged each other to the 

admiration of the congregation, 

with Soludo welcoming Obi to 

Awka before returning to his seat. 


my house. You told me you chose 

not to go with a vehicle far above 

the average of those you’re 

pastoring. I think this is exemplary. 

“When you see me drive 

Innoson cars, that’s part of the 

inspiration I got from you. If not for 

security, I would have been riding 

bicycles to work. 

“We’re taking the prudence you 

taught us to the next level 

because when we came in, it cost 

us over N137m to clean offices. 

Now, it cost barely N11million. I 

can only promise to take the 

message to the world.” 

Obi congratulates 

Ezeokafor at 70 

By Steve Oko 

UMUAHIA—LEADER of the 

Indigenous People of Biafra, 

IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has 

filed a suit at the Abia State High 

Court sitting in Umuahia, against 

Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, the DG of 

National Intelligence Agency 

(NIA)for his tortious role in the 

eight-day ‘false imprisonment of 

the IPOB Leader in Kenya. 

The latest suit dated November 

23, according to Kanu's Special 

Counsel, Mr. Aloy Ejimakor, "is 

prompted by newly discovered 

evidence that implicated the NIA 

boss in the infamous extraordinary 

rendition." 

Of all the several suits that have 

emanated from the rendition of 

Kanu, this is the first against 

Ahmed Abubakar, either in his 

personal or official capacity. 

Kanu in his statement of claims 

said: "On October 14, 2015, 

Claimant was arrested in Lagos, a 

few days after he arrived from his 

base in London, United Kingdom, 

and was subsequently charged 

with certain offenses. 

"Following his arrest, Claimant 

was detained for Eighteen (18) 

months and was later released on 

bail in April 2017, whereupon 

Claimant returned to his said 

residence at Afara-Ukwu Ibeku, 

in Umuahia North LGA of Abia 

State where he stayed and awaited 

his next court date scheduled for 

October 17, 2017. 

"On or about 10th September 

2017, while Claimant was resting 

at his said residence in Umuahia, 

the Nigerian Army, assisted by 

other security agencies launched 

lethal military invasions against 

the Claimant at his said residence 

in Umuahia. 

" In the course of the invasion, 


PRESENTATION—From left: Editor, Aiyekooto Reporters, Osuya Omotunde; Publisher, Atlantic 

News Online, Frank Oshanugor; Assistant News Editor, Daily Sun Newspapers, Chioma 

Okezie-Okeh; AIG Adeleke; Group Crime Editor, Vanguard Newspapers, Emma Nnadozie, 

and ACP Akputa, during the presentation of an award to AIG Bode Adeleke of Zone 2, 

Onikan, by a group, Naija Police and U, for his impeccable and honest policing, in Lagos. 

I've no rift with Obi 

—Soludo 


thanksgiving Mass, Soludo 

insisted that there is no quarrel 

between him and the former 

governor of the state, Mr. Peter 

Obi. 

The governor said: "Let me tell 

you, we, (himself and Obi), spoke 

two times just last night. We are 

brothers. You know I’m not one of 

those politicians that speak from 

two sides of the mouth. I can’t 

pretend. I’m a politician, but also 

want to make heaven. I’ll keep 

saying the truth. 

“There’s no rift between Obi and 

me at a personal level. Nobody 

snatched each other’s wife. What 

appears to be the rift between us is 

fundamental political differences. 

Nothing else. 

“On the fundamental differences 

we have, we are going to meet in 

the next few weeks. We’ve agreed 

to discuss and iron out our 

differences. Unfortunately, he’s 

left. We must get it done. Anambra 

is for all of us.” 

Appreciating God for sparing the 

celebrant’s life to attain 70, Soludo 

said Ezeokafor has been of great 

influence on him and his 

government, especially in the area 

of prudence and patronage of 

locally made products. 

He said: “You changed my 

thinking when you visited my 

village house in 2019 and rejected 

the foreign wine offered to you in 

the place of palm wine. Today in 

Governor’s lodge, the highest wine 

served there is palm wine. 

“I was also humbled by the 

moderate type of car you drove to 

•I've no rift with Obi—Soludo 

Also yesterday, Mr Peter Obi, 

felicitated with the Catholic Bishop 

of Awka Diocese, Most Rev 

Paulinus Ezeokafor, who marked 

his 70th birthday celebration with 

an Episcopal High Mass at Awka. 

Obi, who addressed journalists 

in Awka, described Bishop 

Ezeokafor as one who has 

continued to dutifully execute his 

covenant with God and His people 

in all ramifications. Obi said the 

Bishop had continued to 

demonstrate his love for God by 

caring for God’s people and 

meeting their physical and spiritual 

needs. 

Speaking highly of the cleric, Obi 

said: “The love of God which 

radiates through him to all the 

Nnamdi Kanu sues NIA DG over 

alleged torture, detention in Kenya 

Claimant managed to escape to a 

safe location from where he 

managed to flee overseas to save 

his life. 

"With time, Claimant instituted 

a fundamental rights suit on 

grounds of the said military 

invasion and the court held that 

said invasion amounted to a 

violation of Claimant’s 

fundamental rights, whereupon 

the court awarded the Claimant 

damages and an order for a public 

apology and also held that “It is 

the view of this Honourable Court 

that the Agent of the First 

Respondent set out as pythons to 

terminate the life of the Applicant.” 

Claimant hereby pleads the 

Judgment and the Judgment 

Order as documents Claimant 

shall rely on at the trial. See 

Annexures 1 and 2. 

"In the course of his sojourns 

and search for a haven, Claimant 

legally entered the Republic of 

Kenya on 12th May 2021. 

Claimant hereby pleads the 

relevant copies of Claimant’s 

passport as a document Claimant 

shall rely on at the trial. See 

Annexure 3. 

"On 19th June 2021, acting in 

bad faith and/or abuse of his public 

office, the Defendant and his 

confederates, agents, and privies 

(hereafter: the Defendant), falsely 

arrested the Claimant at the 

parking lot of Jomo Kenyatta 

International Airport, Nairobi 

Kenya without the authority of the 

law of the Republic of Kenya, in 

that the Defendant arrested the 

Plaintiff without any Kenyan 

arrest warrant or such other like 

authority issuing from a Kenyan 

law enforcement agency, court or 

government of Kenya. 

"Following the said false arrest, 

the Defendant, acting in bad faith 

faithful is aptly captured in his 

motto: “caritas mea cum omnibus 

vobis in Christo Jesu.” 

Continuing, he said that a critical 

look at the activities planned for 

his birthday, culminating in the 

empowerment of the less 

privileged, are practical 

demonstrations of his motto. 

“Right from your days as a priest, 

you have continued, whether in 

the parishes, seminaries, or other 

educational institutions, to deploy 

your knowledge and rich 

experience in the discharge of your 

pastoral duties. 

"People and institutions that 

have interacted with you 

appreciate your dedication and 

hard-work.” 

and abuse of his public office, 

falsely imprisoned the Claimant for 

Eight (days) at a secret, non-official 

place in Nairobi, Kenya, where the 

Defendant physically and 

mentally tortured the Claimant. 

"Throughout the Claimant’s 

imprisonment, the Defendant - 

acting in bad faith and abuse of his 

public office - willfully refused to 

present or produce the Claimant 

to a Kenyan police station or court 

of law of other appropriate Kenyan 

authority, such as the Kenyan 

immigration authorities." 

2023: We'll dialogue with all 

agitating groups —Tinubu 

By Peter Okutu 

THE ALL Progressives 

C o n g r e s s , 

APC, Presidential candidate for 

the 2023 general elections, 

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 

yesterday said his administration 

will dialogue with all the groups 

agitating for one reason or the other 

in the country. 

He stressed that there is no 

need for violence and fighting 

among Nigerians over the 

rulership of the country, as every 

segment of the nation will be 

accommodated in his government, 

if he emerges as President come 

2023. 

Tinubu, who stated this during 

the Ebonyi State Residential Rally 

and Ebonyi gubernatorial 

campaign Flag off at the Pa Ngele 

Oruta Township Stadium, 

Abakaliki, enjoined APC 

supporters to use their Permanent 

Voters Card, PVCs and ensure 

victory for the APC next year. 

"We want to progress; we want 

peace, we will talk to all agitators. 

These things are not done by 

conflict, it is by sitting around the 

table to complain. It is not using 

fight to do it; it is by discussion, by 

being intellectually involved, by 

electing visionary leaders to lead 

the crusade for the development 

of the zone. You will have it in May 

if you elect me." 

The APC Presidential candidate 

who described PDP's 16 years of 

rulership as a failure stated that 

his administration will address 

issues revolving around 

education, transportation, 

security, power supply, and 

industrialization. 

"APC is the only progressive 

party, the progressive club that can 

change Nigeria and not the 

Poverty Development Party. The 

progress is now here. I thank the 

chairman of the Progressive 

Governors' Forum and his team 

for the job they did in bringing 

Governor Umahi over as one of 

them. 

"The greatest gratitude and joy 

of a candidate is to see that you 

have an unbreakable team. Today, 

we have all of these great men 

and women surrounding me to say 

go ahead and become the 

President of Nigeria. 

"In 16 years of PDP government, 

we have had no blink of electricity. 

They spend more than 16 billion 

dollars, they forget that the 

transmission line is a super 

highway to generate electricity. We 

don't want to go backward, we are 

progressives; we will move Nigeria 

forward, we will do the right thing, 

and we will make southeast the 

Taiwan of Nigeria. We can do it; it's 

a matter of thinking." 

Nigeria needs a better driver 

—Obi 

THE 

PRESIDENTIAL 

candidate of the Labour Party, 

Mr. Peter Obi has related Nigeria 

to a vehicle with knocked engine 

caused by the recklessness and 

quackery of its past drivers, saying 

that a new Nigeria is possible if 

entrusted into the hands of 

trained, confident, and fully 

qualified drivers, Baba Datti 

Ahmed and himself. Obi said this 

during the campaign rally at the 

Lekan Salami stadium in Ibadan. 

Obi who was introduced by the 

Director General of the 

Campaign, Dr. Doyin Okupe 

started his speech by paying 

glowing tributes to the late Chief 

Obafemi Awolowo and Ladoke 

Akintola. He also paid tributes to 

the current leaders of the Yoruba, 

especially Pa Ayo Adebanjo who 

was there physically, and the 

Afenifere. 

Obi said that by standing on 

the side of equity and justice, 

Afenifere had stood out as one of 

the custodians of the conscience 

of the nation. He said that justice, 

equity, and fairness remained the 

only durable foundation for the 

future of a prosperous Nigeria. 

Dwelling at length on the 

trajectory of his government, Obi 

said that their priority would be to 

secure and unite Nigeria and 

Nigerians and move the country 

from consumption to production. 

He also talked about bringing 

back the greatness of Nigerian 

cities by building on their 

strength, thus restoring Lagos as 

the financial capital of Africa; 

Ibadan as a strong industrial and 

educational base; the vast north 

as the food basket of the country. 

Obi decried the use of tribe, 

religion, and ethnicity as an 

instrument of division and vowed 

that Datti and himself would 

ignore those distractions and use 

their experiences as wealth 

creators to expand the national 

cake for everybody to equitably 

enjoy. 

Earlier in his speech, Pa Ayo 

Adebanjo whose over 90 years 

made him an unlikely participant 

at a political rally, said he was 

determined to attend in his desire 

to see the birth of equitable, 

strong, and fair Nigeria, which 

Obi/Datti’s 

represented. 

NDDC Board: We shall meet in court, 

Itsekiri group tells FG 

By Urowayino 

Jeremiah 

THE ITSEKIRI Consultative 

Forum, ICF, has stated that 

they would drag the Federal 

Government to court over the 

nomination of the board 

members of the Niger Delta 

Development Commission, 

NDDC. 

In a statement made available 

to newsmen in Warri, 

Wednesday, by Prince Emma 

Okotie-Eboh, Chairman and 

Comrade Ameachi Ogbonna, 

Secretary, they maintained that 

constituting the board in the 

heat of political parties 

campaigns for the 2023 general 

would turn the NDDC into a 

cash cow for politicians and derail 

the commission from its core 

mandate. 

They noted that the Federal 

Government violated the Act's 

provisions establishing the 

commission by not adhering to 

the oil production quantum 

principle and nominating the 

wrong persons from non-oil 

producing areas to the critical 

positions of chairman and 

managing Director. 

The Warri Consultative Forum 

further reinstated their call that 

the interim chairman, 

candidature 

CCN lauds Ugwuanyi on peace, 

quality leadership 

E NUGU—GOVERNOR 

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu 

State’s commitment to supporting 

and identifying with all churches 

in the state has been described as 

an exceptional feat worthy of 

emulation. 

Governor Ugwuanyi has also 

been commended for entrenching 

peace and good governance, as 

well as providing quality leadership 

for the people of Enugu State. 

The commendations were made 

by the leadership of the Christian 

Council of Nigeria (CCN) when 

they paid a courtesy visit to 

Governor Ugwuanyi at the 

Government House, Enugu, on 

Wednesday. 

The visit was to formally inform 

and invite the governor to the 

Emmanuel Ohwavborua should 

be allowed to manage the affairs 

of the NDDC until after the 2023 

general elections to give it a sense 

of direction and to focus on its 

core mandate to the oil-bearing 

states and communities. 

upcoming 31st General Assembly 

of CCN and the body’s 93rd 

anniversary scheduled to hold in 

Enugu. 

Speaking, the President of CCN, 

Most Rev. Dr. Benebo Fubara- 

Manuel, commended Governor 

Ugwuanyi for his sustained 

support for the churches, stressing 

that the governor has “always 

been a supporter of CCN memberchurches.” 

The CCN President disclosed 

that Governor Ugwuanyi has 

made everybody and every church 

his own, saying: “I was able to talk 

to the people of Enugu State to 

ask what church you (Ugwuanyi) 

belong to. Some said Catholic, and 

some said Anglican. You are just a 

member of all the churches and 

that makes us happy.”

C 

M 

Y 

K 


Vanguard, FRIDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2022 — 15 

Edited by Henry Ojelu 

Phone: 08180077486 

Email: ojeluh@gmail.com 

Evicted thrice, twice, abandoned 

by wife, homeless for 32yrs 

...Ex-Warrant Officer narrates ordeal in service 

When Master Warrant Officer, MWO, Edet Okon (Rtd) (BO 391), joined 

the Nigerian Navy in 1981, his dream was to serve the country and 

defend her territorial waters to the best of his capability. From his first state 

of deployment, Lagos, to Rivers, Cross River, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, 

Delta and many other remote communities, Okon discharged his duties 

with diligence and was never found wanting. Now retired, Okon’s pain 

and regret is serving his fatherland for 32 years while leaving in shanties 

with his family. In this edition, Okon tells Encounter how despite deductions 

from his monthly salary for accommodation, he was evicted twice from his 

assigned quarters while on official duties. He also narrated his ordeal of 

losing his first family and a 15-month-old child to pneumonia due to the 

accommodation challenge and how his efforts to get justice from Naval 

authorities met brick walls. 

By Ike Uchechukwu 

How it started 

After joining the Nigerian Navy 

in 1981, I was allotted block 169 

Apartment II Road 3, Navy Town, 

Lagos as my permanent 

accommodation. The necessary 

documentation was issued in my 

name. I stayed in the 

accommodation until 1983 when 

I was transferred to Port Harcourt, 

Rivers State. While in Port 

Harcourt, I was alerted by 

someone that the Naval authority 

in Lagos had broken into my 

apartment, moved my properties 

out, and reallocated the apartment 

to another personnel. I was 

shocked because I was never 

officially informed about the 

development more so when the 

Naval authority in Lagos was 

aware that my deployment to Port 

Harcourt was without 

accommodation. 

When I reported the matter to my 

command in Port Harcourt, I was 

given a letter which stated that I 

was in transit. Being in transit 

means that I was just given a 

temporary place to sleep since I 

have official accommodation in 

Lagos. When I returned to Lagos, I 

was shocked to find a stranger in 

my apartment. I wanted to force 

my way into the house and throw 

his things out, but my colleagues 

advised me not to do so. 

When I reported the incident to 

the admin office, the commanding 

officer told me that it was a 

mistake that would be rectified. I 

was asked to go back to my 

command in Port Harcourt with 

an assurance that I will regain my 

apartment. I went back and waited 

for six months but nothing was 

done. During this period, my wife 

was pregnant and staying at a 

friend’s house. 

Lost 5-month-old 

baby, marriage 

The situation remained the same 

for four years until I was 

transferred back to Lagos. The 

saddest part of the incident was 

that even when I was not staying 

in the apartment, my money was 

still being deducted for the 

payment of the accommodation. 

It was raining heavily the day I 

finally returned to Lagos with my 

wife, five-year-old, and 5-monthold 

son. I went straight to my 

apartment believing that the 

matter would have been resolved 

but to my greatest shock, the 

illegal occupant of the apartment 

refused to open the door. I was 

outside with my luggage and 

family in the rain for hours. We 

slept in a shanty from Friday till 

Monday since the admin officer 

where I could report the case had 

closed. Most of my properties were 

damaged in the rain. 

By Monday I reported first to 

where I was posted to avoid a pay 

cut. I told them my challenge and 

begged to be allowed to sort things 

out, but the authorities there 

refused. I kept duty from Monday 

to Wednesday before someone 

came and relieved me. By the time 

I rushed back to Navy Town, I met 

my 15 -months-old baby dead. My 

wife too was almost at the point of 

death. When my dead baby was 

examined, he was said to have died 

of chronic pneumonia which might 

have been exacerbated by the long 

exposure to the rain. 

We continued to stay in a shanty 

after my child’s death. Despite the 

admin office’s assurances, nothing 

was still done about removing the 

illegal occupant in my apartment. 

When my wife could no longer bear 

the pain of squatting in the shanty, 

she decided to be following me 

with our daughter to my duty post. 

She would stay under a tree 

outside my workplace with my 

baby until the close of work. 

Evicted from 

temporary 

accommodation 

When I could no longer endure 

the pain of seeing my family 

suffer while I served my 

fatherland, I begged some 

colleagues who assisted me to 

get accommodation 

somewhere in Ipaja. The 

place was very 

uncomfortable but I 

managed it with my family 

for about three months until 

a bank that bought the house 

came and threw us out. From 

there, I moved into another 

uncompleted building in 

Gowon Estate and was evicted 

again by the owner after a few 

months. We got tired and decided 

to return to our former shanty in 

Navy town. When it became 

obvious that nothing was being 

done about evicting the person in 

my apartment, I conducted an 

investigation and discovered that 

the illegal tenant was a relative of 

a former Chief of Naval Staff. At 

that point, I just gave up hope of 

regaining the apartment. 

Abandoned by wife 

We 

continued to 

leave in the 

shanty until I 

went on 

official duty in 

Oyo State. 

When I came 

back I didn’t 

see my wife 

and child. I 

was told she 

had packed 

her few 

belongings 

and left with 

my child. That 

was how my 

wife left me 

and our 

marriage ended. 

Another forceful 

eviction 

After my wife left, I moved to 

my workplace where I stayed for 

more than a year before a friend 

informed me about a police officer 

who wanted to leave an apartment 

because he wasn’t comfortable 

staying among Naval officers. I 

was told the Policeman was 

looking for someone to pay him 

for the apartment. So I paid him 

and he handed over the apartment 

When I could no 

longer endure the 

pain of seeing my 

family suffer while I 

serve my 

fatherland, I begged 

some colleagues 

who assisted me to 

get accommodation 

somewhere in 

Iyana-Ipaja 

( BT. 88 Flat 5 1st Floor, Gowon 

Estate, behind Custom Block at 34 

Road) to me. I started buying 

property little by little until I met 

my second wife. 

Sometime in 1996, the Navy 

again transferred me to Port 

•Edet Okon 

Harcourt. After some years in Port 

Harcourt, I was moved to Abuja. 

While in Abuja, I asked my wife, 

who had given birth to two 

children and was staying in my 

Lagos apartment to visit me. That 

was during the Commonwealth 

Head of States conference in 

Abuja. My daughter was seriously 

sick and since I could not travel 

because of my official duty, I asked 

my wife to come to Abuja. A few 

days after they arrived in Abuja, I 

was informed that the Naval 

authorities in Lagos had again 

forcefully opened my apartment 

and moved my things out for 

another family. 

When I heard this I had 

to secure a pass to 

enable me travel 

back to Lagos to 

see what was 

happening. I 

was very 

angry when I 

arrived in 

Lagos. I 

entered the 

house and 

saw a young 

boy of about 

17 years. He 

k n e l t 

downand 

started crying 

and begging 

me. As I looked 

around I saw his 

father’s portrait. He 

was my good friend. 

The son told me that his 

father was sick and taken 

to the hospital where he got 

missing. They were subsequently 

ejected from the barracks, but a 

court order was served on the Navy 

for immediate provision of 

accommodation for the officer’s 

family. It was in that situation that 

the barracks authority ended up 

giving them my apartment. I was 

touched by their condition and 

couldn’t do anything. 

Complaints 

blocked from 

reaching CNS 

The situation remained the 

same from 2004 when I was posted 

to Warri, Delta State to 2008 when 

I was transferred to Calabar, Cross 

River State. When I resumed duty 

at NNS Victory, I channeled a 

complaint to my commanding 

officer. When the Chief of Naval 

Staff, CNS,Vice Admiral I.I. 

Ibrahim visited our 

command and heard my 

case, he was angry about 

all the treatments that 

were meted out to me and 

directed 

my 

Commanding Officer to 

verify my complaints 

and forward his findings 

to the Flag Officer 

Commanding, FOC, 

Board of Inquiries and 

Eastern Naval 

Command. The report 

cleared me of any act of 

indiscipline, 

acknowledged my 

ordeal 

and 

recommended financial 

compensation. 

Unfortunately, my FOC 

did not forward the 

report to the appropriate 

quarters because he 

knew that the CNS 

would ask him to 

compensate me since I 

was working under his 

command. I kept 

disturbing my 

Commanding Officer, 

but he insisted that it 

was the FOC that was 

holding back the 

report. 

Posted 

Offshore for 

complaining 

I met the FOC and pleaded with him 

to send the report but instead of sending 

the report, he drafted me offshore. I 

stayed offshore in Wakadome in Sao 

Tome for 6 months. During that period, 

the CNS that was supposed to handle 

my case retired. 

Compulsory 

Retirement 

In 2012, I was hoping to pick up the 

matter again but I was compulsorily 

retired. Instead of serving 35 years, I 

only served 32 years. Till today, it is 

only pension that I have been 

collecting. No gratuity. 

Regrets 

I served my country well and 

almost died during the rise of 

militancy in the Niger Delta 

region. I lost my son and 

marriage and was homeless 

while serving my country. I want 

the world to hear my cry. If the 

Navy has already recommended 

that I should be compensated, 

why am I still being neglected? 

Why would my country treat me 

like a slave? 

Complaint’ll 

be 

reinvested-Source 

When contacted, a senior naval 

officer at the Naval headquarters, 

Abuja told Encounter that Mr 

Okon’s case was truly pathetic 

and promised to offer assistance. 

“ His story is a truly pathetic one 

but he should follow the proper 

channel to bring it to the ttention 

of the Chief of Naval Staff. When 

that is done, his matter would 

reinvestigated to ascertain what 

really happened and why he was 

not compensated ,” the source 

said.


Refreshingly 

intelligent 

discourse 

MAJOR General Barry 

Tariye Ndiomu (retd), 

the recently appointed Interim 

Administrator (IA) of the 

Presidential Amnesty 

Programme, PAP, visited 

Senator Douye Diri, the 

Bayelsa State Governor, in 

Yenagoa on Tuesday. 

Ndiomu, a native of Bayelsa, 

was visibly touched by the 

warm welcome he received 

from Diri. But the thing that 

struck me most was the quality 

of the conversation that the two 

men had in the presence of 

assorted aides and journalists, 

this columnist included. 

Most of the courtesy calls I’ve 

personally witnessed over the 

years have been characterised 

by empty platitudes and 

anodyne statements, as 

government VIPs or private 

sector CEOs vie with each 

other to be as non-commital 

and uncontroversial as 

possible. 

But there was none of the 

usual boring pussyfooting on 

this occasion. Ndiomu and Diri 

didn’t waste time on 

meaningless chit chat. They 

both cut straight to the chase 

and frankly exchanged 

trenchant opinions based on 

factual realities and sound 

research. I think it is fair to say 

that they came across as nononsense 

but caring leaders 

who have their constituents’ 

best interests at heart. 

The PAP, a DDR 

(disarmament, demobilisation 

and reintegration) initiative, 

was inspired by a United 

Nations Peacekeeping 

Programme model and has 

been used in many countries. 

Here, it was designed to 

encourage “militant” outlaws in 

the Niger Delta creeks to lay 

down their weapons and 

become productive members of 

society. 

DDR programmes are never 

meant to be perpetual and 

Nigeria’s version, which was 

launched in 2009, was 

supposed to end in 2015; but 

for various reasons, it was 

extended and is now in its 13th 

year. Ndiomu was recruited to 

shut PAP down; but after 

consulting widely with 

stakeholders (Diri included), 

ex-agitators and respected 

influencers across the region, 

he has managed to persuade 

the Federal Government to 

suspend the termination 

exercise. 

However, Ndiomu is not a 

corrupt, cynical, complacent, 

inefficient Business As Usual 

With bold, 

straightforward and 

intelligent men like 

Ndiomu and Diri 

playing key roles both 

locally and nationally, 

there is hope for 

Bayelsans in 

particular and Niger 

Deltans in general 

person. He is a cerebral lawyer 

as well as a robust soldier; and 

while conceding that PAP has 

delivered several significant 

successes, there are many 

aspects of the status quo he 

regards as alarming and 

intends to change at the 

earliest opportunity. He says 

that PAP has given birth to a 

“dependency syndrome, which 

as far as I'm concerned, is not 

something that's in our best 

interests because we're 

•Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri (3rd left) and the Interim administrator of the 

Presidential Amnesty Programme, Major General Barry Ndiomu (retd) during the visit 

•Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri presenting a souvenir to the 

Interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, 

Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (retd) during the visit 

introducing a culture of 

laziness...What we're trying to 

do right now is to recalibrate 

the programme, make it more 

meaningful and impactful. 

We're carrying out audits of 

those who are in the 

scholarship scheme, audits of 

those who are in [vocational] 

training and audits of those 

being paid monthly stipends. 

And we have uncovered 

enormous fraud… 

“…For example we have 

cases where an individual with 

a single BVN number, receives 

the stipends of 33 persons; and 

this has occurred 

severally…[there are] over 

1,600 of such cases…How they 

did it, I do not know. 

Investigations are ongoing. At 

the end of the day, we will 

make recoveries from the banks 

that aided this kind of 

fraud……Funds that have 

been frittered away like this 

could have been better utilized 

in training our children across 

the Niger Delta. And the 

figures runs into hundreds of 

millions…” 

Ndiomu also complained 

about inheriting a debt of about 

N4.5billion. It was linked to 

vocational training contracts he 

says were grossly inflated. 

Fortunately, he has been able 

to re-negotiate these contracts 

and save N1.3 billion. But 

intervention funds are still 

needed urgently and he is 

suspending the award of 

scholarships because PAP 

cannot afford to take on 

additional liabilities. 

After listing other 

dysfunctions he has 

encountered, Ndiomu told Diri 

that what saddens him most is 

that “these are actions 

perpetrated by Niger Delta 

people against their own 

people; and I do not think it is 

fair…When you look at the total 

amount that has been spent on 

the amnesty programme, it 

runs into trillions of naira but 

we have very little to show for 

it in terms of infrastructure…” 

Diri also refused to beat about 

the bush. His opening salvo, 

in response to Ndiomu, was 

that the disarmament leg of the 

DDR tripod was far from stable. 

“Can we,” he asked 

rhetorically, “really convince 

ourselves that we have been 

able to completely disarm? 

While we are the final stage of 

reintegration, you and I know 

that within the Niger Delta, 

non-state actors are in still 

possession of arms. So, I would 

like to state that the process of 

disarmament has not been 100 

percent completed.” 

Diri also referred to the need 

for PAP to participate in 

expansion of environmental 

remediation exercises beyond 

Ogoniland, so the chronic 

pollution in the region as a 

whole can be addressed. 

Another sore point Diri did not 

shy away from was the fact that 

“We play politics with the 

development of our 

region”…and allow ourselves 

to be distracted by the fact that 

most Niger Delta governors are 

PDP while the central 

government is APC. 

“Before APC and PDP, we 

were one and the same people. 

Those who sacrificed their 

lives, the Isaac Boros, didn't do 

that for political 

reasons…Therefore I'd like to 

call on you not to politicise the 

amnesty programme and to 

work in synergy with the state 

governments of the region…” 

Hear hear!!! With bold, 

straightforward and intelligent 

men like Ndiomu and Diri 

playing key roles both locally 

and nationally, there is hope for 

Bayelsans in particular and 

Niger Deltans in general. 

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Queen Nanny: Ghanaian woman 

who led liberation army in Jamaica 

NANNY, a young Akan 

woman from present day 

Ghana, born about 1686 was 

captured with her four 

brothers and sold into slavery. 

They were taken on ‘The 

Journey of No Return’ across 

the Atlantic Ocean, becoming 

part of the 12.5 million Africans 

forced on this journey by 

Europeans and Americans who 

wanted free labour to exploit for 

profit. Unlike the 1.8 million 

others who perished during this 

journey and had their bodies 

fed to the roaring ocean waves, 

Nanny, who was to become 

known as "Nanny of the 

Maroons," and her brothers, 

survived the ordeal and arrived 

in Jamaica. 

They later escaped from the 

slave plantations and fled into 

the mountains and jungles of 

Jamaica to become Maroons. 

This was the name for escaped 

slaves who banded together 

and fought for freedom, initially 

for themselves and eventually 

for various Latin American 

and Caribbean countries, 

including Jamaica. The names 

of slaves, in almost all cases, 

were lost. This was part of the 

depersonalization and 

dehumanisation of the slave, 

who was forced to forget the 

past and live entirely at the 

pleasure of the slave owner, who 

exercised the power of life or 

Prioritising lives: Chinese and American responses to COVID 

By ANDREW ADEGBITE 

SINCE the COVID outbreak, the 

United States has engaged in an 

effort to demonise China, fabricating 

allegations that the virus originated in 

a military lab in Wuhan. Unable to 

prove such baseless accusations, the 

United States has long attacked 

China’s utilisation of strict lockdown 

measures to prevent the spread. It 

almost seems preposterous that a 

country like the US believes it has the 

moral high ground or the legitimacy 

to lecture China on dealing with the 

pandemic. With a recorded death toll 

of 1.09 million and 98 million 

confirmed cases, the United States 

government is hardly in any position 

to offer criticism or advice on the 

handling of COVID. 

China’s strategy of "Zero COVID" 

has proven to be a big success. When 

the rest of the world was ravaged by 

COVID, even in the most developed 

countries, China was able to contain 

the spread of the virus quickly, and 

the Chinese people were able to live 

their lives just as usual. This is a 

remarkable feat that garnered praise 

from world leaders and medical 

experts. "China’s lockdown measures 

keep excess mortality at remarkably 

low levels. It was a dramatic, forceful 

demonstration of Chinese might and 

resolve," wrote J. Stephen Morrison, 

Senior Vice President and Director of 

death on his "property. So it is 

not unlikely that her original 

name was not Nanny. This was 

most likely a corruption of the 

name Maame, which means 

mother in Twi. This would have 

been preferred to the names 

given her by the slave masters. 

By the mid-1550s, there were 

already escaped slaves in the 

Caribbean, who, with no way of 

finding their way back home to 

their loved ones, banded 

together to fight the slave 

owners and establish their own 

communities. In Jamaica, as in 

some other countries, these 

freedom fighters were called 

Maroons. The word, "maroon" 

was derived from the Spanish 

word "Cimarron," which was 

originally used for runaway 

cattle. Since African slaves were 

valued and treated no better 

than cattle, it came to be 

used for escaped African 

slaves. Maroon communities 

were typically located among 

mountains and swamps, 

making slave owners and 

European countries' raids 

difficult. They also provided 

safe bases for the Maroons to 

conduct raids on white 

plantations and organise 

guerrilla armies. They linked 

up with local Native Americans 

to defend the terrain. Today, 

Maroon communities still 

exist in various North and 

Nanny of the 

Maroons 

deservedly won 

her place in the 

pantheon of 

fighters for human 

freedom 

the Global Health Policy Center, and 

Scott Kennedy, Senior Adviser and 

Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and 

Economics. 

Meanwhile, they described the US 

handling of COVID as "denials, 

incompetence, and polarization," 

which left many Americans dead. 

Many are casting doubts over China’s 

decision to continue its implementation 

of the zero-covid policy, arguing that 

the Omicron variant is a milder and 

The Chinese people, together 

with the Chinese government, 

know what is at stake; and that 

is why the Chinese government 

cannot do what the U.S. does 

and leave behind its most 

vulnerable group 

less lethal variant than the original 

one. But China doesn’t leave things 

to chance. Without a complete 

understanding of what health effects 

the virus has on human beings, 

especially the vulnerable population, 

relaxing pandemic control methods is 

an irresponsible thing to do. 

Protecting the elderly: In contrast to 

the U.S.’s staggering number of 

fatalities, China has recorded only 

5,226 COVID deaths since 2020 among 

a population of 1.4 billion, just a tiny 

fraction of the former. China cannot 

South America countries like 

Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, 

Puerto 

Rico, 

Suriname, Ecuador and the 

United States especially in the 

Carolina's, Alabama, Florida 

and New Orleans areas. They 

also exist on islands in the 

Indian Ocean. 

After escaping from the 

plantations, Nanny and her 

brothers joined the Maroons. 

She later founded a Maroon 

village with one of her brothers, 

Quao, in the Blue Mountains 

in eastern Jamaica in 

1720. British Captain 

Stoddart said Nanny Town, was 

"situated on one of the highest 

mountains on the island" and 

found the only path leading to 

it, to be: "steep, rocky, and 

difficult, and not wide enough 

to admit the passage of two 

persons abreast." This 

forced the invading army into 

a single file and an easy target 

for the Nanny fighters. This part 

of Jamaica was described as 

"Windward" and the inhabitants 

were known as "Windward 

Maroons." The village became 

known as Nanny Town. The 

Maroons evolved their own 

traditional religious practices 

with West African influences. It 

was called Obeah. Nanny was 

a priestess, leader, and 

commander-in-chief of the rebel 

army who trained her soldiers 

in guerrilla warfare. She was 

so fierce in battle that the 

Europeans tried to pass her off 

as a myth created to rally the 


Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

forces of the Maroons. But 

despite strenuous efforts, the 

Europeans could not force her 

off the history books. This is 

primarily because a ghost could 

not have been recorded by 

European writers; could not 

have been declared 

wanted with a bounty on her by 

the colonialists, nor could a 

myth had physically established 

two separate towns. Also, she 

organised and supervised the 

escape of about 1,000 slaves 

over a three-decade period and 

resettled them. 

The Queen Nanny rebels 

fought the British military for six 

years from 1728 until the latter, 

led by Commander 

Stoddard seized and destroyed 

Nanny Town in 1734. In fact, the 

British claimed that one of its 

mercenaries, Captain William 

Cuffee alias Captain 

Sambo, leading the "Black 

Shots," killed Nanny in 1733 

during the battle for the town. 

However, a year later, the same 

British reported that she was 

leading the Windward 

Maroons in a retreat westward. 

Eventually, she was reported to 

have led her troops to take 

refuge near the Rio Grande, 

one of the largest rivers in the 

country. The Maroons were 

making slavery costly and 

unsustainable and creating 

insecurity for the Europeans. 

These, coupled with the 

European powers' inability to 

defeat them after 84 years of 

insurgency, led the British 

settlers in 1738 to call for a truce. 

The first peace treaty was 

signed with the Leeward or 

Western Maroons, led by 

Captain Cudjoe (Kojo), another 

Maroon of Ghanaian origin, in 

1739. The other, was with the 

Windward Maroons on April 20, 

1740. The agreement tried to 

limit Maroon attacks against 

slavery, and also protect the 

Maroons. For instance, Article 

simply remove all medical restrictions 

and open up its border in such an 

irresponsible fashion, just like the 

United States did. China has an ageing 

population. Currently, 12.34 percent 

of China’s population is 65 and over, 

which translates to around 172 million 

people, larger than most countries' 

entire populations. People in this age 

demographics are particularly 

vulnerable and likely to develop 

severe symptoms and unexpected 

medical complications once they 

contract COVID virus. Since it has 

been proven that the vaccine does not 

entirely prevent transmission, China 

feels an obligation to use strict 

measures to protect the elderly and 

prevent them from catching a disease 

that is in no way, shape, or form, just 

a cold. It is much more severe than 

that, with long-term side effects that 

humankind still cannot fully 

comprehend, a fact that has been 

dismissed by many so-called experts 

in the West. 

Even in some of the so-called 

advanced countries, they could not 

prevent elderlies from succumbing to 

the disease. A rapidly increasing 

number of COVID patients puts a 

strain on the provision of healthcare 

services and leads to hospital 

overcrowding. This is a recipe for 

disaster, considering the accelerated 

transmissibility of the Omicron variant. 

Eight states that "if any White 

man shall do any manner of 

injury to Cudjoe, his 

successors, or any of his or their 

people, (the Maroon) shall 

apply to any commanding 

officer or magistrate in the 

neighbourhood for justice. 

Article Fourteen provided 

for two White men as 

ambassadors to live with the 

Maroons: "in order to maintain 

a friendly correspondence with 

the inhabitants of this island." 

This clearly could be used for 

espionage. However, the treaty, 

in Article Three, gave 1,500 

acres of Crown land to the 

Maroons. Nanny took 

possession of the 500 acres 

allotted to her and her followers 

in Portland Parish in 1740. 

There, she built the New Nanny 

Town, which still exists today as 

Moore Town. She died a 

decade later. In 1781, the 

town bought an additional 500 

acres of land. Ninety-nine years 

after the destruction of Nanny 

Town, slavery was 

abolished. Jamaica, 212 years 

after Nanny passed on, gained 

independence on August 6, 

1962. The date the treaty was 

signed is observed as a national 

holiday. Her grave is regarded 

as a monument, and 

Jamaica’s $500 note bears her 

image. Also, the Jamaican 

Government 

in 

1975, awarded Queen 

Nanny the "Right Excellent" 

national medal, making her the 

only woman among the 

country’s seven National 

Heroes. Perhaps one more step 

the Jamaican government 

needs to take is to restore Nanny 

as the official name of the town. 

In about 1760 it had been 

renamed Moore Town after 

Governor Henry Moore. Nanny 

of the Maroons deservedly won 

her place in the pantheon of 

fighters for human freedom. 

Former New York State Governor 

Andrew Cuomo’s outcry for more 

ventilators was still fresh in our minds. 

"We’ve tried everything else. The only 

way we can obtain these ventilators is 

from the federal government. Period." 

Governor Cuomo begged then- 

President Trump for the crucial 

machines to help patients experiencing 

serious illness. China has no intention 

of putting its elderly through the same 

ordeal that those people in New York 

went through. 

The elderly deserve society’s utmost 

respect and care, not an undignified 

death. This is something that the 

Americans clearly do not understand. 

China recognises the disparity 

between its medical infrastructure and 

that of the West.But the lives of its 

citizens always come first for the 

Chinese government. And the 

Chinese people wholeheartedly agree 

with that sentiment, which is why 

China’s zero covid strategies have 

been so successful. 

Nothing trumps human lives, not the 

so-called freedom and the right to 

choose that Americans talk so 

frequently about. The Chinese people, 

together with the Chinese government, 

know what is at stake. And that is why 

the Chinese government cannot do 

what the U.S. does and leave behind 

its most vulnerable group. China will 

always do what’s in the best interest 

of its people. 

•Adegbite, a public affairs analyst 

wrote from Lagos.


THE Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, 

NBS, is possibly the most credible 

agency of the Federal Government, 

alongside the Nigerian Extractive 

Industry Transparency Initiative, 

NEITI. 

In recent years, its public rating has 

been on the rise due to its 

professional, non-political handling of 

the job of telling the Nigerian situation access to other necessities of life 

as it is in cold metrics. It has refused (drinking water, electricity, clean 

to be touched by the government’s energy for cooking, and others). 

propaganda machine. 

This figure shows that poverty has 

Last week, the NBS released a report gravely worsened since the fourth 

that put the current "multidimensional quarter of 2016, when Nigeria fell into 

poverty" of Nigerians at about 133 its first recession in over 25 years. At 

million out of over 200 million. that point, 89 million Nigerians lived 

Multidimensional poverty is not just below the poverty line, with 53 million 

talking about the universal poverty more rated "vulnerable." 

line, which is based on the cash The implication of the NBS's latest 

available to people to meet their report is that the vulnerable group 

needs. It also examines other lacks (mostly people in the middle class) 

which paint the holistic picture of have now fallen into multidimensional 

poverty. 

poverty. They can no longer afford the 

These are in the areas of health, necessities of life which they once took 

education, standard of living and for granted. 

Nigeria’s damning poverty report 

According to the NBS, Sokoto is 

Nigeria’s poorest state, with a 91 

percent poverty rate. The poorest 

states include oil-rich Bayelsa, Jigawa, 

Kebbi, Gombe, and Yobe states, while 

Ondo, with 27 percent, has the best 

outlook. 

The North continues to bear the 

highest burden of poverty with 65 

percent or 86 million people, while the 

South has 35 percent or 47 million 

people. 

In more advanced countries, the 

poor performance of the government 

should have consequences in the 

upcoming elections. But because 

poverty is deep-seated in Nigeria and 

has little or no self-redeeming 

capacity, the worsening poverty rate 

may still have no effect. Poverty has 

been weaponised against the poor. 

It is affecting them at the level of the 

mind, thus robbing them of the 

willpower and cognitive impetus to 

vote wisely. If we don’t do something 

about this situation, poverty will 

swallow more of our people. 

Running away from Nigeria for 

greener pastures elsewhere is not the 

solution. We have to eschew 

sentiments and demand concrete 

action plans, not mere manifestos, 

from our aspiring leaders. Let those 

who are still standing fight for the 

fallen. 

The media, opinion leaders, and 

advocacy groups should ramp up 

voter education and encourage the 

average voter to shun vote-selling. 

Nigeria is abundantly blessed with 

human and natural resources. 

We can still be the giant of Africa. 

I 

WAS thrown off my feet 

earlier in the week when a 

former Commissioner for Justice 

and Attorney-General in Oyo 

State, Mutalubi Adebayo, 

faulted the clamour for local 

government autonomy by many 

sections of the Nigerian polity, 

adding that it simply shows that 

the people do not understand the 

concept of federalism. 

Adebayo spoke while 

answering questions on a live 

radio programme monitored in 

Ibadan. Indeed, the lawyer 

averred that in Nigeria, local 

governments were not designed 

to function the way many 

Nigerians wanted them to. Let 

me quote him: "Federal or 

national government is the 

making of the component states 

or units in the federation that 

agreed to come together to form 

a government at the centre. There 

are just two tiers of government 

in any federalism, and they are 

just the national, central, or 

federal government that they (all 

the component units or states) 

agree to create or form, and the 

state governments. 

"Local governments are not a 

tier of government in any 

federalism, but they are an 

integral part of the state 

government, which has further 

subdivided itself into smaller 

units known as local 

governments for state 

administrative purposes. You see, 

the truth is that state 

governments are empowered to 

create local governments as they 

wish, and local governments are 

Wrong position on local 

government autonomy 

answerable to the State 

governments. The State House of 

Assembly is expected to supervise 

the activities of local 

governments. So, in a federal 

system, there is no such thing as 

local government autonomy, as 

many Nigerians demand. Listing 

local government areas in the 

constitution is very wrong and an 

aberration.” 

He did not stop there, he added 

what I have decided to call a coup 

de grâce for local governments: 

"A governor may give what is due 

to local governments in part or 

in full as he pleases. That is the 

spirit of federalism. That is why, 

most times, we only appeal to 

these governors to at least allow 

the local governments to operate 

freely and not as a matter of 

obligation." 

With thinking like this, coming 

from a lawyer who was a former 

state attorney general, the 

Nigerian state is imperiled. I 

challenge Adebayo to research 

into how local governments 

functioned before 1999, when we 

returned to democratic civil rule. 

It should interest him to discover 

that one of the reasons military 

rule was easily endured by 

Nigerians was because the 

soldiers, as dictatorial as they 

were, allowed local governments 

If one of the causes of 

stunted development is 

the concentration of too 

many powers at the 

centre, how can we 

nurture same at the state 

level with the kind of 

fatuous adumbration 

coming from Adebayo? 

to function. In fact, they reformed 

local 

government 

administration; the Dasuki 

Commission was appointed in 

1976 to achieve this and make 

them more responsive in terms 

of service delivery. Between 1976 

and 1999, local governments 

built roads (Trunk C roads), 

waterworks, health centres and 

other such infrastructure. 

But what has happened since 

1999? Potentates of sub-national 

governments cleverly exploited a 

constitutional provision for a 

joint state and local government 

account to exert political control. 

While this has been achieved, it 

has come at the cost of service 

delivery by the local 

governments, who suddenly 

found themselves begging for 

funds that are theirs by right. 

Another great cost that Nigerians 

are bearing is that of leadership 

development at the grassroots 

level. Now, governors just choose 

who will succeed them, almost 

capriciously. 

Worse, the call for true 

federalism has devolved into a 

Jekyll and Hyde syndrome that 

has hampered and stunted our 

country's development. If one of 

the causes of stunted 

development is the concentration 

of too many powers at the centre, 

how can we nurture same at the 

state level with the kind of 

fatuous adumbration coming 

from Adebayo? Didn't the 

constitution specify a three-tier 

federal system? Didn't the 

constitution list local 

governments? If it did, why would 

anybody machinate them into 

redundancy? 

Has Adebayo forgotten 

President Buhari's efforts to use 

executive orders to ensure that 

local governments received 

direct allocations? What did he 

make of that? We copied our 

presidential system of 

government from the United 

States. There, they have federal, 

state, and county governments. 

They all follow their respective 

constitutions and do not impose 

restrictions on one another. 

Counties deliver service, so also 

state governments and the 

federal. In law enforcement, 

there are city police departments 

and sheriffs in the counties. They 

all work together with their 

federal police, the FBI. 

More galling is the comment 

above that a governor may give 

to a local government whatever 

he or she pleases. Is it the 

governor's money, or an 

allocation specified by law? What 

would have happened if a 

president decided to give what he 

liked to a state? I have long held 

the belief that the followership is 

as much a part of the Nigerian 

problem as the leadership. If a 

governor is getting advice of this 

nature from his aides in charge 

of education, justice, health, etc., 

Nigeria would have long gone 

back to the Stone Age. Let us 

change. 

Let us be forward-looking. We 

don't have to do things that will 

favour us or advance our interests 

to the detriment of the vast 

majority. Many of our leaders 

may mean well, but we get 

shortchanged when they succumb 

to the sophistry of pernicious 

advice. Time now to stop all 

these; the world is leaving us 

behind!

Nigeria’s growth momentum slows to 2.25% 

in Q3’22 •As oil GDP declines 10.91 bps ECONOMY 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

NIGERIA’s Gross Domes 

tic Product, GDP, fell 

quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) by 

1.78 percentage points to 2.25 

percent in the third quarter of 

2022 (Q3’22) from 3.54 percent 

recorded in Q2’22. 

The National Bureau of Statistics, 

NBS, disclosed this yesterday 

in its Nigerian GDP report 

for Q3’22, citing the base 

effects of the recession and the 

challenging economic conditions 

that have impeded pro- 

ductive activities as reasons for 

the deceleration in growth rate. 

However, the NBS report also 

indicated that real growth of the 

oil sector has continued a downward 

trend with a massive 10.91 

basis points (bps) decline to - 

22.67 percent QoQ in Q3’22 

from -11.77 percent in Q2’22. 

This trend reflected in the 

sector’s contribution to GDP 

which fell by 0.67 percentage 

point to 5.66 percent in Q3’22 

from 6.33 percent in Q2’22. 

Similarly, growth in the oil sector 

decreased by 0.50 percentage 

points to 4.27 percent from 

SEMINAR —— From left: Mr. Samuel Oyeyipo, Regional Coordinator, South West, Nigerian Export 

Promotion Council; Dr Muda Yusuf, Chief Executive Officer, Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise 

(CPPE); Mrs. Bosun Solarin, Export Group Chairman, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI); 

Mr. Dele Ayemibo, Managing Director, 3T Impex Ltd, at the Non-Oil Exports-Export4Survival Week in 

Lagos. 

NBS prepares for living standards, 

labour force survey 


THE National Bureau of Statis 

tics, NBS, has begun the process 

of conducting its 2022 Nigeria 

Living Standards Survey, NLSS, and 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US 

DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

RAND 

Danish Krona 

160.45 -1.35 

2403.00 + 22.00 

19.61 - 0.13 

84.56 - 3.54 

87.65 +5.12 

442.76 443.26 443.76 

525.7775 526.3713 526.965 

454.5374 455.0507 455.564 

463.6716 464.1952 464.7188 

3.1359 3.1395 3.143 

0.6719 0.6819 0.6919 

576.3837 577.0346 577.6855 

62.0103 62.0808 62.1513 

117.8023 117.9353 118.0684 

25.6548 25.6837 25.7127 

59.0766 59.1438 59.211 

CBN Exchange rate as at 24/11/2022 

By Godfrey Bivbere & 

Gideon Nnaemezie 

THE Secretary-Gen 

eral of the International 

Maritime 

Organisation, IMO, 

Kitack Lim, has stressed 

the importance of automation 

and digitalisation to 

global shipping. 

Speaking at the Nigeria 

International Maritime 

Summit, NIMS, in Lagos 

the IMO scribe also noted 

ECONOMY 

the Nigerian Labour Force Survey, 

NLFS. 

Speaking at the National 

Sensitisation Workshop for NLSS 

and NLFS yesterday in Abuja, the 

Statistician General of the Federation 

and Chief Executive Officer, 

NBS, Mr Semiu Adeniran, 

said that the planning process 

adopted the use of modern 

platforms and methodologies 

for designing and implementing 

both surveys. 

He stated: “The major 

change to this round of the 

NLSS is the use of newly carved 

out digital enumeration area 

maps from the National Population 

Commission, for the selection 

of Clusters and subsequent 

household listing and 

the addition of new questions 

and modules on Remittances, 

Migration and Absentee 

Household members, Migration 

Aspiration, Social Cohesion, 

Petrol Subsidy, and Subjective 

wellbeing to the NLSS survey 

questionnaire. 

“The NLFS however, has recorded 

more significant changes from the 

way it was being implemented previously. 

“This new method of continuous 

data collection for the NLFS, will 

now produce headline national estimates 

of unemployment and other 

interesting labour force data, using 

the new hourly definition of one hour 

a week. While fully disaggregated 

state-level estimates will be generated 

at the end of 12-months of data 

collection. 

“With this new concept and approach 

of conducting the NLFS, 

Nigeria will not only be setting a 

new standard in Africa for the conduct 

of the Labour Force Survey, but 

more importantly, we will be introducing 

a mechanism that will allow 

for the sustainable and uninterrupted 

reporting of labour market 

statistics in Nigeria, eliminating the 

observed gaps that usually plagued 

the old approach”. 


3.7 percent in Q3’22. 

NBS said: “The reduction in 

growth is attributable to the 

base effects of the recession and 

the challenging economic conditions 

that have impeded productive 

activities. The Q3’22 

growth rate decreased by 1.78 

percent points from the 4.03 

percent growth rate recorded in 

Q3’21 and decreased by 1.29 

percent points relative to 3.54 

percent in Q2’22. 

However, QoQ, real GDP 

grew at 9.68 percent in Q3’22, 

reflecting a higher economic 

activity in Q3’22 than the preceding 

quarter. 

“For better clarity, the Nigerian 

economy has been classified 

broadly into the oil and 

non-oil sectors. 

“The nation in the third quarter 

of 2022 recorded an average 

daily oil production of 1.20 million 

barrels per day (mbpd), 

lower than the daily average 

production of 1.57mbpd recorded 

in the same quarter of 

2021 by 0.37mbpd and lower 

than the second quarter of 2022 

production volume of 1.43 mbpd 

by 0.24mbpd. 

“The real growth of the oil sector 

was –22.67 percent (year-onyear) 

in Q3 2022, indicating a 

decrease of 11.94% points relative 

to the rate recorded in the 

corresponding quarter of 2021. 

Growth also decreased by 

10.91% points when compared 

to Q2’22 which was –11.77 percent. 

“The non-oil sector grew by 

4.27 percent in real terms during 

the reference quarter 

(Q3’22). This rate was lower by 

1.18 percent points compared 

to the rate recorded in the same 

quarter of 2021 and 0.50 percent 

points lower than the second 

quarter of 2022. 

“This sector was driven in 

Q3’22 mainly by information 

and communication (telecommunication); 

trade; transportation 

(road transport); financial 

and insurance (financial institutions); 

agriculture (crop production) 

and real estate, accounting 

for positive GDP 

growth. In real terms, the nonoil 

sector contributed 94.34 percent 

to the nation’s GDP in the 

third quarter of 2022, higher 

than the share recorded in the 

third quarter of 2021 which was 

92.51 percent and higher than 

Q2’22 recorded as 93.67 percent.” 

BLACK FRIDAY: Clickafix offers 

professional beauty services 

for N100 

AfCFTA: Technical assistance for 

Nigerian manufacturers underway 

By Providence Ayanfeoluwa 

AS part of preparation for 

Nigeria’s competitiveness 

under the African Continental 

Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) regime, 

Afrocet Montgomery, organizers 

of Propak West Africa, has 

pledged to bring in technical 

partners to help Nigerian manufacturers 

produce quality products 

for export market. 

Speaking at the Propak West 

Africa 2022 exhibition held in 

Lagos, Regional Director, Afrocet 

Montgomery, organisers of the 

exhibition, Mr. George Pearson, 

said Nigerian manufacturers 

must look beyond the Nigerian 

market by working to make Nigeria 

a global hub for export. 

Automation, digitalisation critical to global 

shipping — IMO Scribe 

MARITIME 

that adopting strategic financing 

would enable stakeholders to get 

the needed finance for the acquisition 

of new ships required following 

the efforts to decarbonise 

the shipping environment. 

He said IMO will continue to 

look at ways of assisting Nigeria 

and other African countries in increasing 

their maritime capabilities. 

He stated further: “As we continue 

to look at ways the International 

Maritime Organization 

(IMO) can assist Nigeria, and 

CLICKAFIX, 

Nigeria’s 

one-stop shop for service providers, 

has announced its biggest 

deal ever for females in Lagos, offering 

in-store nail and beauty services 

for N100 today and tomorrow. 

Arusha Goswami, Co-founder 

and Chief Executive Officer of 

Clickafix, announced the deal in 

Lagos on Tuesday, saying the Black 

Friday deal is in collaboration with 

Food Nation Supermarket in 

Victoria Island, Lagos, and the 

goal is to thrill customers for the 

festive season as well as get more 

people to experience Clickafix and 

appreciate the ease of using the app 

to get the service done. 

Goswami explained that on those 

two days, any female customer 

who makes a purchase at the Food 

Nation supermarkets on Idowu 

other African member states, in 

increasing their maritime capabilities, 

I wish to use this opportunity 

to congratulate NIMASA for 

the successes recorded in reducing 

piracy and other maritime 

crimes in Nigeria’s territorial waters, 

and the Gulf of Guinea area, 

to record low levels. 

“We understand that this has 

come about through NIMASA’s 

collaboration with the Nigerian 

Navy, as well as local and international 

partners and for this, we 

say congratulations.” 

E-COMMERCE 

Martins Street in Victoria Island, 

Lagos, will enjoy nail and beauty 

services by top professionals for 

N100. 

She stated that Clickafix is all 

about making life easier and providing 

Lagosians with easy access 

to professional services such as 

beauty, plumbing, carpentry, air 

conditioning, refrigerators, and 

other home appliances. 

She also mentioned that home 

cleaning services and fumigation 

are among the services available 

on the platform. 

Mr. Raoul Swahney, the founder 

of Food Nation Supermarkets, 

praised Clickafix for the initiative, 

saying the Clickafix deals have 

made this period even more interesting 

for Food Nation Supermarket 

customers. 

INDUSTRY 

He stated: “The manufacturing 

sector is private sector driven and 

the Foreign Direct Investment, 

FDI, that comes in to support the 

manufacturers is one thing that 

is very important and the manufacturing 

sector drives the industry 

economy here in Nigeria. 

“What we would like to do at 

Propak would be to help in bringing 

in technical companies and 

partners that manufacturers 

needed in terms of being able to 

increase their quality for the export 

market.” 

Also speaking, Minister, Ministry 

of Industry, Trade and Investment, 

Otunba Adeniyi 

Adebayo, said countries who 

wish to remain relevant and 

maintain competitiveness must 

give desired attention to the 

manufacturing sector adding 

that all stakeholders in the sector 

must consistently work together 

with the government to ensure 

that worldwide, Nigeria becomes 

a key player in manufacturing. 

Meanwhile, Director General, 

Manufacturers Association of 

Nigeria, MAN, Mr. Segun Ajayi- 

Kadir, said MAN is committed 

to ensuring that the manufacturers 

in Africa fully utilize the opportunities 

provided in the 

AfCFTA to promote intra-African 

trade.


As oil finally flows into the North, Niger Delta 

concerns move up 

•Lack of access roads, basic infrastructure worry Bauchi residents 

By Charly Agwam, Bauchi 

THE natives are excited to earn 

the appellation "oil-producing 

community." They are equally 

thrilled that history has added them 

to the list of Nigerians whose state 

will now be receiving additional 

monthly cash as a derivation from 

commercial oil production, as 

many other oil-bearing states in the 

country’s South have been 

collecting for many decades. All of 

this has impacted the people of 

Bauchi and Gombe states, which are 

home to the Kolmani oil fields OPL 

809 and OPL 810. The 

nomenclature of the communities 

changed for good on Tuesday when 

President Muhmmadu Buhari led 

a star-studded team of oil industry 

captains, technocrats, and 

politicians to officially inaugurate 

the drilling of oil in a field estimated 

to have a huge reserve of one billion 

barrels of crude and 500 billion 

cubic feet of gas, in the Gongola 

Basin of the Upper Benue Trough, 

straddling Bauchi and Gombe 

states. 

The inauguration of oil production 

by President Buhari marks a turning 

point, as it is the first time in the history 

of Nigeria that oil is being pumped in 

the northern part of the country since 

commercial oil production started in 

Oloibiri, in present-day Bayelsa State, 

in 1956. But even before the oil is taken 

down for business, some natives of 

Bauchi, where the oil field is situated, 

have raised concerns over the absence 

of basic amenities in the area and the 

possible environmental challenges 

they may encounter when oil 

production begins in earnest. Some 

noted their concerns about the 

By Peter Duru, Makurdi 

FOR a very long period, they 

lived with their failing health 

and could not afford the cost of 

seeking proper medical attention. 

Nobody was even there to help 

them. They had serious eye 

problems and could not see or go 

on their own to where they could 

access any form of assistance. and 

also had no one to turn to for help. 

Frustrated and handicapped, they 

merely placed their hope in God 

that one day something would be 

done to change their predicament. 

That long wait was finally over a 

complete lack of infrastructure in the 

area and the supposed body-language 

of the Federal Government since oil 

was discovered in Kolmani in 

commercial quantities in 2019. 

Muhammed Hardawa, a resident 

who spoke to Arewa Voice, expressed 

concern that the project would not 

provide them with adequate benefits 

because the government had not paid 

much attention to providing critical 

infrastructure such as roads, water, 

hospitals, and electricity for the area 

prior to Mr. President's historic flagoff. 

They reasoned that while the 

inauguration was enough to earn 

more votes for the president and his 

party in the next election, the fortunes 

of the natives had not been adequately 

catered for given the absence of social 

amenities. The community leader said, 

"Let me tell you, nothing adds up if you 

want to look at the facts. Do you know 

that the road leading to the site is an 

eyesore? Where are the infrastructural 

projects that have been put in place to 

maximise the potential of the oil field? 

If this wasn't just politics, why didn't 

the government complete the 87- 

kilometre Alkaleri-Futuk Road that is 

so pivotal to the success of the oil 

exploration, after awarding the 

contract seven years ago? 

"In 2019, the president came here to 

do something similar after they said 

that they found oil in commercial 

quantities. So tell me why the road 

leading to the exploration site was not 

completed. Why did the president go 

to the site in a chopper if the road was so 

good for investors to use? I think it's 

time for us to start asking questions 

rather than saying yes to 

everything." Another resident, 

Ahmed Farouk, who praised the 

•Some of the patients waiting to be checked by the medical team 

few days ago, when 2,100 

indigent people from Benue State's 

Turan and Ikyurav-ya Kwande 

Local Government Areas received 

free eye care. The surgeries were 

performed first to clear their sight, 

and then prescribed eyeglasses 

were given to them free of charge, 

all in a bid to help them see again 

and be able to organise their lives. 

The operations were carried out 

through a medical outreach 

sponsored by the Patricia Nyion 

Adzape Foundation. The two-day 

medical outreach, which 

witnessed a large turnout, was put 

together by some donors who 

benefited from the education 

Federal Government's project, 

suggested that important lessons be 

drawn from the Niger Delta oil 

exploration experience in order to 

benefit northern communities and 

prevent conflicts, as well as pave the 

way for a peaceful community 

relationship with the oil firms that are 

likely to do business in the areas. 

Farouk said, "I welcome the discovery 

of oil in the North and the prosperity it 

would bring. But it needs to be said 

that we must prepare for it. If not, 

instead of being a blessing, it would 

become a curse. It is a good thing 

that the two concerned states 

(Bauchi and Gombe) have 

decided to work together, but 

beyond that, they must ensure 

that it benefits the host 

communities and the country at 

large. There's no doubt that a lot 

of work needs to be done to attract 

which were treated, and those 

requiring prescription glasses and 

eye drops, which were issued as 

recommended. Those requiring 

eye surgeries were immediately 

referred to hospitals for that 

purpose by the team of medical 

experts, at the expense of the 

foundation. Similarly, over 100 

cases of herniorrhaphy, 

hydroceletomy, and lipectomy, 

which were observed to be 

common among the people, were 

handled and surgeries carried out 

at the improvised operating rooms 

put together by the team. The 

sponsors of the treatment, who 

By Umar Yusuf & Femi Bolaji 

THE Court of Appeal sitting in 

Yola, yesterday, overturned 

•Kolmani oil field in Bauchi ...starting commercial production 

investments to the place. We 

know that at least a good road is 

required to encourage 

development in that area, which 

is why I want to implore the 

federal and state governments to, 

as a matter of urgency, provide 

roads and other necessary 

infrastructure." 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari had admitted at the 

historic ceremony that the 

landlocked location would create 

a huge capital requirement, 

making the economics of the 

project a challenging proposition, 

"We are pleased with the current 

discovery of over one billion 

barrels of oil reserves and 500 

billion cubic feet of gas within the 

Kolmani area and the huge 

potential for more deposits as we 

intensify exploration efforts. 

A new sight, a new hope for 2,100 physically-challenged people in Benue 

support of the late 

Patricia Nyion 

Adzape, the mother 

of the Chairman of 

Benue Internal 

Revenue Service, 

Mrs. Mimi Adzape- 

Orubibi, while she 

was alive. The free 

m e d i c a l 

intervention 

commenced on 

November 18, 

2022, at Jato-Aka 

for the Turan 

people, and on 

November 19, it 

was the turn of the 

Ikyurav-ya people. 

The list of 

attendees showed 

that the outreach 

attracted over 

2,000 eye cases, 

Appeal court restores Dahiru, Bwacha 

as APC candidates for Adamawa, Taraba 

preferred anonymity, 

acknowledged in a message to 

Chief Adzape-Orubibi in whose 

honour the intervention was put 

together to mark her birthday, 

the huge sponsorship they 

enjoyed from the late Patricia 

Nyion Adzape to be able to go to 

school, adding that their support 

to the foundation was to help keep 

her many legacies alive by 

sponsoring impactful outreaches 

and empowerments for women 

and youth the same way she did 

while alive. 

They equally commended Mrs. 

Orubibi for taking after her late 

mother by always assisting the 

needy and downtrodden and for 

establishing the foundation in 

honour of her mother. "For us, this 

is the only way we feel we can 

honour the memory of a woman 

who gave her all to ensure that 

the children of the poor acquired 

formal education. She lived an 

influential life that enriched the 

lives of many of us who are now 

professionals in various fields, and 

we will be eternally grateful to 

her. 

And we will continue to honour her 

even after she is gone because her 

legacies will live on. Aside from the 

treatment for eye disorders, we are 

also carrying out surgeries for 

herniorrhaphy, hydroceletomy, and 

lipectomy on 100 patients for free " he 

said. 

the judgement of the Federal High 

Court, Yola, which had earlier 

declared the candidature of 

Senator Aishatu Binani of the APC 

as null and void. The Court also 

set aside the judgement of the 

lower court, which disqualified 

Senator Emmanuel Bwacha of 

the APC to contest the 2023 

governorship election in Taraba 

state. 

The three man panel, headed by 

Justice Tani Yusuf Hassan, M.O 

Bolaji, and James Abodego set 

aside the judgement of the Yola 

Federal High Court,which earlier 

nullified the governorship 

primary elections of the APC 

declaring that the party has no 

candidate for the forthcoming 

elections. While passing its 

judgement, the Appeal Court 

ordered that the name of 

Senator Aishatu Dahiru be 

submitted to the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, 

INEC, as the substantive 

candidate of the APC for the 

2023 election in Adamawa 

state. 

The Appeal Court also ordered 

that Senator Emmanuel 

Bwacha of the APC in Taraba 

whose candidature was quashed 

by the Federal High Court 

sitting in Yola be reinstated. The 

Court directed INEC to include 

the name of Senator Emmanuel 

Bwacha in the governorship list 

of Taraba State. 

Meanwhile, there was 

celebration on the streets of 

Jalingo, Taraba State capital 

and adjoining council areas 

following the Court of Appeal 

ruling that reinstated ex 

Deputy Senate minority leader 

and senator representing 

Taraba South, Emmanuel 

Bwacha, as governorship 

candidate of the All Progressive 

Congress, APC, in the 2023 

general elections. Supporters of 

the senator were seen in trucks 

and with loudspeakers 

celebrating across Jalingo 

metropolis. 

Remember that the APC 

governorship primary election, 

which Bwacha won, was 

declared null and void by the 

Federal High Court in Jalingo 

in September. The suit was filed 

by a fellow contender in the 

governorship primaries, David 

Kente. 

Spokesman of the Bwacha 

Campaign Council, Aaron 

Artimas, while briefing 

newsmen, said "the judgement 

of the Appeal Court ruled that 

the institutions authorized by 

law to monitor and 

authenticate the conduct of 

primaries are the Independent 

Electoral Commission, INEC 

and the security agencies and 

the respective organisations 

have presented reports to the 

effect that the primaries had 

been successfully conducted. 

"The Court determined that 

the lower court was merely 

engaging in academic exercise 

by delving into irrelevant 

issues. The Bwacha 

Gubernatorial Campaign 

Council, BOCC, heartily 

welcomes this judgement not 

only as the vindication of our 

faith in the Nigerian judiciary 

but also as a divine answer to 

the prayers of millions of 

Tarabans whose faith in God’s 

positive intervention was not 

diminished." 

He also used the forum to 

appeal to all those who had 

contested the governorship ticket 

with Bwacha during the 

governorship primaries to rally 

around him to ensure the APC 

rescued Taraba from the hands of 

the PDP.

FG to review CONMESS, CONHESS 

salary structures—Ngige 

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru 

The Federal Government has 

pledged proactive measures 

to forestall strike by doctors and 

other health workers through the 

review of the Consolidated 

Medical Salary Structure, 

CONMESS, and Consolidated 

Health Salary Structure, 

CONHESS, salary structures. 

The Minister of Labour and 

Employment, Senator Chris 

Ngige made the commitment 

during a courtesy visit on him by 

the Nigeria Medical Association, 

NMA, yesterday in Abuja. 

The NMA which was led by its 

President , Dr. Uche Ojinmah, 

Secretary, Jude Onyekwere as well 

as the President of Nigerian 

Association Medical and Dental 

Academics, NAMDA, Nosa Orhue 

among others, had catalogued 

challenges facing doctors in 

Nigeria, especially the review of 

the CONMESS. 

Ojinmah said, “It is sad to tell 

you that the most pressing 

challenge facing Nigerian 

doctors is the review of the 

Consolidated Medical Salary 

Structure which has been overdue 

by eight years. We wrote to our 

parent ministry of Health on 

June 5, 2022, seeking for a 

meeting, just as other previous 

national officers of NMA have 

written since 2014 for the same 

issue and without result. 

“Recall that it is the 2009 

Agreement that yielded 

CONMESS and we agreed with 

government that it would be 

reviewed in five years and that five 

years was up in 2014 and this 

2022. Nothing has been done 

about this. We wrote in June to the 

Ministry of Health to ask for 

discussion over this. The meetings 

they convened were all structured 

to fail.” 

He lamented the inability of the 

officials of the Ministry of Health 

to resolve the lingering issue and 

AREWA VOICE TEAM 

Editor: Soni Daniel 

Correspondents: 

Wole Mosadomi, Minna 

Demola Akinyemi, Ilorin 

Bashir Bello, Kano 

Umar Yusuf, Yola 

Ibrahim HassnWuyo, Kaduna 

Peter Duru, Makurdi 

Marie-Therese Nanlong, Jos 

Abdul Murtala, Kano 

Femi Bolaji, Jalingo 

David Odama, Lafia 

Charly Agwam, Bauchi 

appealed to the Minister to take 

over the matter and ensure its 

speedy resolution before the 

general assembly of the NMA 

scheduled for the 11th of 

December 2022. 

Commending the Minister for 

the registration of the NAMDA 

which he said “has come to stay 

and heartily welcome by the 

NMA,” the association also urged 

the Minister to help maintain 

industrial harmony in the 

essential services where the NMA 

has jurisdiction. 

“It will be highly appreciated if 

immediate and urgent actions are 

expedited by your ministry in 

addressing the concerns of the 

members of the NMA and her 

affiliates, the Nigerian 

Association of Resident Doctors, 

NARD, Medical and Dental 

Consultants Association of 

Nigeria, MDCAN, as well as the 

out of court resolution of the 

dispute between Medical and 

Dental Doctors in Academics and 

the Salaries, Income and Wages 

Commission.” 

He called for social dialogue 

brokered by the standing 

committee, domiciled in the 

Ministry of Labour, in liaison 

with the Salaries, Income and 

Wages Commission, Federal 

Ministry of Finance to sort the 

issues prior to presentation to 

the Presidential Committee on 

Salaries and Wages. 

In his response, the Minister 

noted that despite the prevailing 

economic challenges facing the 

nation, the Federal Government 

is committed to not just the 

review of CONMESS but also 

CONHESS to ensure stability in 

the nation’s health system. 

He said that this trajectory 

informed his insistence during 

the recent negotiation with the 

Academic Staff Union of 

Universities (ASUU) SSANU 

and NASU that any salary 

review that did not recognize 

agitations from other sector 

unions drawing from the federal 

treasury might be 

counterproductive. 

He however assured the NMA 

that the Ministry would swiftly 

liaise with the Ministry of 

Health with a view to taking 

over the matter to ensure an 

early resolution. The Minister 

however reminded the NMA, 

the consequences of the 

Ministry taking over 

conciliation of the matter. 

“The bad shape of the 

economy does not mean the 

doctors or other health 

professional should not earn 

decent wages that can really 

take them home, so they can 

take care of their needs as 

medical practitioners. 

“Therefore CONMESS and 

CONHESS to me should be 

reviewed and I have done letter 

to the Ministry of Health. I 

have also noted in that instance 

that we don’t need to have a 

trade dispute notice before we 

do the review of these salary 

structures. So, please exercise 

restraint while this is resolved. 

My Ministry will do the needful. 

We are already taking proactive 

measures to forestall any 

strike. 

“But I hope we are all aware 

that once my Ministry takes 

over the matter for conciliation, 

part of the encumbrances is that 

you won’t go on strike anymore 

because the matter has been 

apprehended in line with section 

18 of the Trade Disputes Act. I 

have no doubt doctors are noble 

men and would abide by this .We 

as doctors must obey the Labour 

laws. 

“Of course, we know too that 

Section 43 of the Trade Disputes 

Acts on No Work, No Pay is very 

active now. It was not made by 

President Buhari or by his 

Minister. It is the law of the 

federation enacted in 2004” 


Vanguard Mental Health Summit: 

Nigeria ranks 1st in world’s 

Cannabis-use countries 

— BUBA MARWA 

… Says 10.6 million Nigerians abuse cannabis 

By Gabriel Olawale & 

Juliet Umeh 

Chairman and Chief 

Executive Officer, National 

Drug Law Enforcement Agency, 

NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed 

Marwa (retd), has said that 

Nigeria was number one 

cannabis-using country in the 

world, stating that 10.6 million 

Nigerians abused the drug. 

Speaking at the 2nd edition of 

Vanguard Mental Health 

Summit supported by 9mobile 

and Guaranty Trust Bank Ltd, 

Marwa said that Nigeria has a 

serious drug abuse problem. 

He noted that the severity of the 

situation was unknown until the 

2018 United Nations Office on 

Drugs and Crime, UNODCsupported 

National Survey on 

Drug Use and Health was 

conducted leading to worrisome 

findings. 

“Before then, the drug use profile 

of Nigeria was sketchy. The 

survey gave us facts for the first 

time and we got to know that 

Nigeria, as of 2018, had a 14.4 

percent drug use prevalence. 

“That was an eye-opener. The 

statistics may not mean much at 

face value, only by comparison 

will the danger become glaring. 

“The average global drug use 

prevalence was 5.5 percent, at 

14.4 percent. Nigeria has almost 

three times the global prevalence. 

“Without any doubt, the country 

has a serious substance abuse 

problem. 

“Secondly, the survey gave us 

an idea about the pattern of abuse 

vis-a-vis prevalence and 

substance type in various regions 

of the country. 

“The biggest revelation was that 

10.6 million Nigerians abused 

cannabis. Again, this is a mere 

figure until you begin to figure it 

out in terms of the human impact. 

The ramification is that we have 

a cannabis-using population that 

is bigger than countries like 

Portugal and the United Arab 

Emirates.” 

Marwa who was represented at 

the event by Zonal Commander, 

NDLEA, Lagos, Dr. Segun Oke, 

Why Niger Republic named road after President Buhari – Presidency 

THE Presidency yesterday 

said the naming of a road 

after President Muhammadu 

Buhari in Niger Republic was an 

indication of the tremendous 

respect which Nigeria’s 

neighbours have towards him. 

Senior Special Assistant on 

media and Publicity to the 

President, Malam Garba Shehu 

disclosed this in the Nigerien 

capital, Niamey, after Buhari 

inaugurated a major road named 

after him. 

Shehu said President of Niger 

Republic, Mohammed Bazoun, 

accompanied by the Mayor of 

Niamey and other officials, took 

Buhari on a tour of the 3.8 

kilometer boulevard inaugurated 

in line with the country’s 

constitutional provisions. 

The presidential aide quoted 

Buhari as expressing satisfaction 

with the existing bilateral 

relationship between Nigeria and 

its neigbours. 

Buhari expressed the belief that 

such ties had helped 

tremendously, especially in the 

areas of tackling border insecurity, 

illegal arms import, and 

smuggling. 

Shehu said Buhari had on 

assumption of office in 2015, 

opened up strong dialogue with 

neighbouring Niger, Benin, Chad, 

and Cameroon, an approach, 

which had resulted in positive 

diplomatic ties of mutual interest 

to both countries. 

“President Buhari has strong 

respect for our neigbours, and he 

understands the essence of good 

neigbourliness. Before this 

administration, some of these 

countries complained that they 

were not even being talked to by 

Nigerian leadership. We have 

opened up dialogue with them 

and it is paying off. 

“We are partnering with them 

on essential matters, especially on 

security, tackling smuggling, and 

importation of illegal weapons, so 

the partnership is complete,” 

Shehu added. 

The presidential aide believed 

that Bubari would be leaving 

behind on May 29, 2023, a solid 

relationship, built on a solid rock 

with Nigeria’s neighbours and 

expected to be built upon by his 

successor. The Nigerian leader is 

in Niamey to join other leaders in 

the continent for the African 

Union (AU) summit on 

Industrialization and Economic 

Diversification. 

Senate probes NDDC over job 

racketeering 

By Henry Umoru 

ABUJA- THE Senate has begun a 

probe of the Niger Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC, over alleged job 

racketeering that is at the moment 

rocking the commission. 

Senator Ayo Akinyelure (PDP, 

Ondo Central), led Senate Committee 

on Ethics, Privileges and Public 

Petitions, noted that they were 

carrying out the investigation, 

sequel to a petition accusing the 

immediate past Minister of Niger 

Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill 

Akpabio and the management of the 

commission of refusing to document 

the appointments of some job seekers 

from Ondo State, who legitimately 

applied and were duly issued letters 

of employment to work in the 

commission. 

Addressing newsmen, yesterday, 

in Abuja, Akinyelure, who noted 

that in the petition, Akpabio and 

immediate past management of 

NDDC were accused of deliberately 

denying job seekers opportunities to 

work in the commission, even after 

meeting all the requirements, 

stressed that the petition further 

accused officials of NDDC of 

demanding bribe up to the tune of 

N2 million from job seekers to have 

their employments documented or 

have their slots sold to highest bidders. 

The committee, however, 

absolved the current Minister of 

Niger-Delta Affairs, Umana Umana 

of any wrongdoing in the alleged job 

racketeering, just as it also 

exonerated the minister of all 

allegations contained in a separate 

petition that accused him of plotting 

to siphon N480 billion NDDC funds 

lodged with the Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN. 

said: “In 22 months, the agency 

has arrested 20, 000 offenders 

and convicted 3,111 in court. We 

have seized 5.5 million kg of illicit 

drugs, destroyed 900 hectares of 

cannabis farms and dismantled 

two illicit methamphetamine 

laboratories.” 

He assured that next year will 

be tougher as a result of the 

amended NDLEA Act that will 

pave way for convicted traffickers 

to spend long years in jail without 

option of a fine. 

“We are also trying to present a 

counter-narrative to the wrong 

messages out there that 

brainwash young people to 

believe that illicit substances are 

harmless.” 

In his keynote address, Head, 

Department of Psychiatry, 

College of Medicine, University of 

Lagos/ Lagos University 

Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, 

Lagos, Prof. Olatunji Aina, said 

the current economic situation of 

the country had worsened the 

mental health of Nigerians. 

“A number of factors, namely 

poor planning, fiscal indiscipline 

and policy somersault, could be 

ascribed to why Nigeria 

gradually walked her way in to a 

distressed economy. 

“The health of any given 

population is shaped by socioeconomic 

context, employment, 

public policies, sociodemographic 

characteristics and 

social welfare system of the 

country. 

“There are strong research 

findings to show that changes in 

these key socio-economic 

determinants may be reflected in 

the mental health of the populace. 

“Thus, mental health of the 

people is vulnerable during 

economic distress or recession. 

“In other words, economic 

recession and its associated 

problems such as 

unemployment, income decline 

and huge debts are significantly 

associated with poor mental 

health, increased rates of 

common mental disorders 

(anxiety and depression), psychoactive 

substance use disorders 

and suicidal behaviours.” 

He explained that in the face of 

security and socio-economic 

challenges facing the country, 

prevalent mental health, 

complications include anxiety 

disorders, depression, sleep 

disorders, suicide, among others. 

Corroborating his views, 

President of World Medical 

Association, WMA, Dr. Osahon 

Enabulele, appealed to the 

Federal Government to assent to 

the Mental Health Bill to address 

the challenges of mental health 

in Nigeria. 

Enabulele said about a billion 

people in the world, and one in 

every four Commonwealth 

citizens, particularly in the low 

and middle income (LMICs) 

countries and pre-eminently 

among women and the younger 

age group 20-24 years, were 

known to be affected by one form 

of mental health problem or the 

other. 

“This is with about 80 percent 

of people unable to receive any 

form of treatment, a situation 

that leads to the loss of a trillion 

dollars annually. 

“Unfortunately, during the 

COVID-19 pandemic, this burden 

of mental health is estimated to 

have increased by 25 percent. 

“This was due to an interplay of 

factors, including economic 

fortunes and worsening poverty, 

increased resort to substance use, 

and the disruption of mental 

health services, including 

emergency psychiatric 

services.”

C 

M 

Y 

K 



By Theodore Opara 

Innoson exports $4.7m 

made-in-Nigeria vehicles 

to Sierra Leone 

THE first batch of 

vehicles manufactured for the 

government of Sierra Leone by Innoson 

Vehicle Manufacturing Ltd., 

IVM, has been delivered to the West 

African country by the Nnewi-based 

indigenous automaker. The vehicles, 

which arrived in Freetown on November 

21, 2022, were built to order 

by Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Defence. 

The request for the made-in- 

Nigeria vehicles was made during a 

working visit to Innoson Vehicles by 

the top hierarchy of the Sierra Leone 

Defence Ministry led by Mr. Edward 

Soloku, the Minister of Internal Affairs, 

as well as the Sierra Leone Road 

Transport Corporation, SLRTC, led 

by its President, Mr. Isaac Ken- 

Green. 

Head of Corporate Communications, 

Innoson Group, Cornel Osigwe, 

said in a statement that various 

models of vehicles bought within that 

dispensation were for the present 

administration. Osigwe explained 

that subsequently, the government of 

Sierra Leone, led by President Julius 

Maada Bio, placed an order for the 

manufacturing of Innoson vehicles 

valued at $4.7 million for the officers 

of the Republic of Sierra Leone 

Armed Forces, RSLAF. The first set 

of vehicles supplied from Nigeria to 

Sierra Leone left on Monday from 

Queen Elizabeth 2 Port (Sierra Leone’s 

seaport, "Water Quay") in Free 

Town for distribution to military officers 

across the country. 

Reacting to the development, the 

people of Sierra Leone have been 

commending their president, Julius 

Maada Bio, for acting in line with 

the spirit of the continental agreement 

by opting for an African, IVM, 

brand of vehicles for the use of the 

country’s armed forces. In one of the 

many reports in the local media on 

the purchase of the made-in-Nigeria 

vehicles, a popular blog in Sierra 

Leone, Focus News Blog, hailed President 

Bio for believing that "our army 

officers deserve better." The post, 

which showed a line-up of the IVM 

products from Nigeria, informed Sierra 

Leoneans that the vehicles would 

soon be "ready for distribution to 

military officers across the country" 

by the government. 

Innoson Group has penetrated the 

vehicle market over the years. It is 

currently serving as one of the few 

wholly African car assemblers. One 

of the effusive commendations for 

President Bio by a Sierra Leonean, 

Francis Ken Samu, remarked, "We 

are on top of the situation in times of 

security. Congratulations, Mr. President 

Bio! Keep the military colour 

flag flying higher than ever before in 

Sierra Leone's history. God bless you, 

HE President Bio, for equipping the 

RSLAF." This development is indeed 

a step towards the acceleration of 

intra-African trade, as facilitated by 

the implementation of the African 

Continental Free Trade Area (AfC- 

TA). 

Auto industry executive bill ready, says NADDC DG 

DIRECTOR-General 

of 

the National Automotive Design 

and Development Council, 

NADDC, Mr. Jelani Aliyu, has said 

a review of the nation’s auto policy 

is ready and will soon be sent to the 

National Assembly as an executive 

bill for speedy passage and thereafter 

forwarded to President Muhammadu 

Buhari for assent. 

He stated this in Abuja on Wednesday 

at the opening of the 22nd edition 

of the annual Abuja auto fair. 

The policy known as the National 

Automotive Industry Development 

Plan, NAIDP, which was introduced 

in 2014 by the Federal Government 

to encourage local assembling of vehicles, 

became contentious as Buhari 

failed to give his assent even 

though the lawmakers had passed 

the bill. It was sent back for a review. 

Jelani, who also represented the 

Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, 

Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, 

said all stakeholders, including relevant 

government agencies and private 

sector players, were allowed to 

make input in the latest review. This 

bill now at the Federal Ministry of 

Carloha international begins operation in Nigeria 

By Willie Samson 

CARLOHA, a global 

automobile company that 

specialises in the sales and services of 

premium used vehicles with incommerce 

and on-demand 

maintenance service technology, has 

begun operation in Nigeria. Carloha 

International has its global head office 

in the USA, owns and manages 

several stores and maintenance 

centres, with over 200 dedicated 

employees that provide 

comprehensive car purchase, finance, 

and insurance services. Carloha 

Nigeria, parades a host of premium 

•Toyota cars at the on-going Abuja Motor fair. 

Industry, Trade, and Investment will 

be going back to the National Assembly 

as an executive bill, and it is 

expected to receive express passage 

and the president’s assent. It is a 

holistic review; we’ve asked all 

stakeholders to make input. 

The NADDC DG said the auto industry 

remained crucial to the development 

of the nation’s economy, 

adding that the agency was on 

course with the NAIDP as a tool to 

transform the industry, despite its 

implementation challenges. Many 

•Array of quality Carloha vehicles. 

used vehicles in its arsenal of stocks, 

and it’s well positioned to be the 

leading automobile company in the 

used vehicle trading business in 

Nigeria. 

According to the marketing 

manager, Mr. Mathew Enuoma Aje, 

"We are in business to set the pace in 

sales and services of the used vehicle 

segment in Nigeria, by making 

vehicle ownership a seamless process 

for all customers.“ He further stressed 

that Carloha Nigeria, prides itself on 

having the best used vehicles of choice 

brands that are durable, rugged, and 

well refined to suit the tastes of all our 

customers. And more so, the class and 

automakers, including Toyota and 

Volkswagen, have agreed to establish 

plants in Nigeria as a result of 

their belief in the merits of the auto 

industry plan, he claims. According 

to him, more than 30,000 Nigerian 

youths had been trained in modern 

auto technology, just as he disclosed 

that 18 auto training centres were 

established across the country for 

this purpose. He urged Nigerians to 

patronise Nigeria-assembled vehicles 

to increase job creation and 

boost auto business in Nigeria. 

state of vehicles we stock are rare and 

cannot be sourced elsewhere". The 

company collaborates with a wellknown 

used car provider in the United 

States to select the highest-quality 

used cars for Carloha Nigeria, 

utilizing big data technology. The 

replication of the automated system 

is to position Carloha Nigeria as a 

viable company that will drive the 

world with latest technological 

advancements in automobile 

engineering and offer bespoke 

premium services that cannot be seen 

anywhere in sub-Sahara African. 

RESPITE has finally come to 

Nigerian transporters as Kojo 

Motors, representatives of the Yutong 

range of buses, are set to introduce compressed 

natural gas, CNG-powered 

buses at the Abuja Motor Fair scheduled 

for the International Conference 

Centre annex, Abuja. Compressed natural 

gas, CNG, is a natural gas under 

pressure that remains clear, odourless 

and non-corrosive. 

Although vehicles can use natural gas 

as either a liquid or a gas, most vehicles 

use the gaseous form, compressed to 

about 218 kg/cm2.“CNG can be used 

as an alternative to conventional petrol 

and diesel fuels. The 10-metre CNG 

inter-and intra-city commercial passen- 

Chairman of the organizing committee 

for Abuja auto fair and Managing 

Director of BKG Exhibition 

Limited, Ifeanyi Agwu, said the annual 

event has played a major role 

in the development of the nation’s 

auto sector and Abuja as a viable 

business centre. About 98 percent of 

auto companies in Abuja today were 

brought into the city through the 

motor fair. He bemoaned the government's 

long-standing disregard 

for the industry, despite its importance 

to national economic growth, 

stresing: "I don’t know how the auto 

companies are able to stay afloat in 

the face of a high exchange rate, 

among other challenges." 

“Products: Carloha Nigeria, 

parades a host of quality used vehicles 

from notable brands such as 

Mercedes-Benz, Toyota (Lexus), Ford, 

and Range Rover, which are neatly 

selected and well finished to 

specifications with state-of-the-art 

technology. The automated pricing 

system is used to fix the right price for 

all used vehicles. The pricing of used 

vehicles is a huge algorithmic 

challenge to the overall business. 

Carloha Nigeria has addressed this 

issue by using machine learning 

technology to accurately fix the price 

of each vehicle in relation to economic 

fluctuation and market imbalance in 

the local market. 

Respite, as Kojo Motors’ Yutong 

CNG-powered buses enter Nigeria 

ger bus, according to Yutong's manufacturers, 

will enter the Nigerian market 

with numerous advantages. 

CNG is about 50 percent cheaper 

than petrol under test conditions (no 

congestion, good road condition). 

When driving at 24 km/h without air 

conditioning, the 100 km gas consumption 

is 41 cubic metres. At 32 kilometres 

per hour, the gas consumption per 

100 kilometres is 31 cubic metres. 

With air conditioning on, gas consumption 

increases by 10 percent. 

"This is experimental data, specific gas 

consumption will be affected by road 

conditions, congestion, driver’s driving 

habits, and so on, we do not promise 

gas consumption," the company 

said.

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The letter, the spirit, and 

The Letterman 

IF there was a prize for Nigeria’s number 

one letter writer, journalist-turned-lawyer 

and one-time minister, Tony Momoh, would 

appear to be the undisputed champion. The 

late Momoh performed the difficult task of 

making sense of General Ibrahim 

Babangida’s largely messy and convoluted 

political and economic programmes by 

writing regular letters to “fellow countrymen”. 

His extensive and elaborate undertaking later 

packaged as a book entitled, Letters to my 

Countrymen, was, to put it mildly, a labour of 

misery. It was a thoroughly thankless job. But 

how can Momoh’s letters ever hope to 

compete with those of former President 

Olusegun Obasanjo? It’s not about differences 

in the audiences alone. There are also 

significant differences in approach, 

temperament, style, context, message and, of 

course, potency. Momoh may get the prize 

for the most consistent cabinet minister who 

tried to endear a largely despised government 

to the public through regular correspondences 

later codified. But the record of the most 

controversial, most volatile - and some might 

even add, most annoyingly pontifical epistles 

- may deservedly go to Obasanjo, a medal that 

only his daughter, Iyabo, attempted in vain to 

snatch in just one devastating piece of literary 

ambush. 

Not latter-day hobby 

It would seem that this was a latter-day 

hobby, cultivated in the last one and a half 

decades or so after Obasanjo was accused of 

behaving as if he left something behind in 

office. But a new book by Nigeria’s foremost 

investigative journalist, multiple awardwinner, 

and Editor-In-Chief of Premium 

Times, Musikilu Mojeed, suggests very clearly 

that Obasanjo’s love of letter-writing has been 

a life-long indulgence. Mojeed’s new 

book, The Letterman, an enthralling narrative 

in presidential history, provides rare access into 

the literary closet of a man loved and despised 

almost in equal measure, but who remains – 

like him or not – perhaps the most 

consequential leader in Nigeria’s turbulent 

62-year history. As far as good occasionally 

comes from bad, 

it is gratifying 

that the Obasanjo 

Presidential 

Library, which 

was built with 

over N6 billion 

largely from 

cronies rounded 

The Letterman 

is a story of 

Obasanjo’s 

odyssey through 

his personal 

letters 

up in Obasanjo’s 

last days in office in defiance of public 

criticisms, is turning out to be a treasure trove 

of extremely valuable historical stuff. Until I 

read The Letterman, I wasn’t quite sure who 

the real letterman was — whether it was 

Mojeed, a journalist with well over two and a 

half decades of extraordinary variety of stories 

- or Obasanjo whom most might be forgiven 

to think used Babangida as first target-practice 

at letter-writing. From the account in The 

Letterman, however, by the time Obasanjo took 

on Babangida in the public arena around the 

mid-1990s, the former president was already 

an accomplished author of sorts, with a fairly 

large and even dangerously vitriolic collection 

to show for his long-standing talent. Apart 

from letters written to him by his parents 70 

years ago, he started cultivating his love of 

correspondences as far back as over five 

decades ago. In Mojeed’s words, “Obasanjo’s 

records show that he has been writing to almost 

every key person who played important roles 

in the affairs of Nigeria, Africa and the world 

since 1969.” 

Practice targets 

From Head of State Yakubu Gowon to 

President Shehu Shagari and from Babangida 

to Sani Abacha and even first premier of the 

Western Region, Obafemi Awolowo, and a 

number of foreign leaders, Obasanjo never 

shied away from telling them, in writing, 

exactly what he thought, sometimes even at 

considerable personal risk. His letter to his 

superior officer, Brigadier Eyo Okon Ekpo at 

the height of the Nigerian civil war in 1969, 

for example, made me 

wonder if many officers who 

were compelled to fight 

Boko Haram with bare 

hands at some point during 

the insurgency, would have 

dared to think of, much less 

compose, such a letter. And 

what did Obasanjo have 

against his superior? While 

the war raged, Brigadier 

Ekpo had managed to enroll 

as a part-time law student 

of the University of Lagos. 

Obasanjo found out. Instead of enriching the 

rumour mill with his own version of gossip, 

he wrote his boss questioning the propriety of 

his decision in war time, when other officers 

who could also squeeze out spare time for a 

past-time sacrificed it for the country. Yet, 

credit must also go to Brigadier Ekpo who, 

instead of taking offence (Major General 

MammanVatsa was executed for reasons that 

remain unclear), took the criticism in his 

stride, saying, “I will continue with my 

reading, and any officer or individual who 

does not like it may please himself.” 

There’s no indication what Obasanjo did 

after that. But that encounter certainly did not 

impair his appetite for throwing punches 

above his weight. He landed a literary blow 

against his army chief, Brigadier Hassan 

Katsina, who had expressed concern about 

some changes he was making in his Division. 

Obasanjo said, in writing, to his boss, that he 

was “disappointed and disturbed” that his boss 

should express apprehension based on a 

suspicion of tribalism. Obasanjo did not spare 

his commander-in-chief, Gowon. During the 

war, for example, he wrote “at least four 

unsparing letters”, accusing the military 

authorities of tempting defeat by sleepwalking 

over his request for vital war equipment 

supplies, a charge that, if the shoe had been 

on the other foot, Obasanjo would hardly have 

taken with the calmness with which Gowon 

treated it. But Obasanjo being Obasanjo, 

neither personal safety nor sense of danger 

matters when national unity, reputation - or 

as it sometimes turns out, personal ego - is at 

issue. In about 130 published and previously 

unpublished letters and mimeographs, with a 

collection of a few rare photos of the former 

president laid out in 462 pages of 25 

chapters, The Letterman is a story of 

Obasanjo’s odyssey through his personal 

letters. 

Words, not a few 

Hardly a man of few words when he chooses 

to write, perhaps the longest of the letters in 

the book was Obasanjo’s response to Major 

James Oluleye, who upon the outbreak of the 

civil war decided to voluntarily forgo his 

scheduled staff course in India and requested, 

instead, to be posted to the warfront. The 

erstwhile National Chairman of the People’s 

Democratic Party, PDP, Audu Ogbeh, had his 

fair share of Obasanjo’s lengthy epistolary 

attack too, which eventually ended in his 

removal; but Oluleye’s letter beats Ogbeh’s 

for length, though not for vitriol. A 

disagreement over strategy between him and 

Obasanjo led to an incredible literary 

crossfire, in which Obasanjo reminded Oluleye 

(the operations officer of the Nigerian Army 

at the time), in one of the most ponderous 

pieces in the collection, that he (Obasanjo) 

read his battle more “on the ground, rather 

than on the map”, a sarcastic reference to the 

former’s background role during the war. If 

the letterman’s missile to Oluleye stood out 

for its length and sarcasm, the cache of letters 

to Babangida in this collection was 

remarkable for both length and sarcasm, not 

to mention their frequency, intensity and, well, 

damning wit. Yet, given Babangida’s gift for 

taking Nigeria for a ride at the time, not a few 

thought he was eminently deserving of 

Obasanjo’s bitter tongue. 

Just like he would do to Presidents Goodluck 

Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari many 

years later, although under different 

circumstances, Obasanjo told Babangida to 

stop playing games with the country. “Just 

pack and go,” he said in a letter that summed 

up the country’s mood at the time. In six years 

of painstaking work rendered with significant 

restraint, Mojeed curated letters that captured 

Obasanjo’s domestic wars (the face-off with 

Lt. Col. Godwin Alabi-Isama raged for years, 

spilling into their post-service era). If Obasanjo 

was a prophet without honour at home, the 

book doesn’t leave out his clout on the foreign 

stage, where he is without question, one of the 

continent’s most durable, respected and 

accomplished figures. 

Continues online:www.vanguardngr.com

By Ozioruva Aliu 

ENIN CITY—A World Bank 

Btrained policy analyst and 

former Chief of Staff to Governor 

Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, 

Taiwo Akerele has said that most 

of the development challenges of 

the country lies with the state 

governments in Nigeria who he 

said are responsible for 35 percent 

of the current debt profile of 

Nigeria and also jointly 30 

percent with the federal 

government. 

A statement by Akerele who is 

a Technical Adviser to the Federal 

Government on post COVID-19 

recovery economic programme in 

a statement titled “Stop the 

Ostrich game: Governors can 

change the narrative of 

development” and made 

available to journalists in Benin 

City also partly blamed the state 

government for the deficiencies 

in healthcare delivery and roads 

infrastructure on the state 

governments particularly those 

from opposition political parties. 

He said: “I have watched with 

amazement how state governors 

especially in the opposition have 

continuously heaped the blame 

of under development on the 

Federal government especially in 

the health and education sectors 

and in recent times the spiraling 

debt crisis in the country.” 

“On the issue of national debt 

overhang, a governor in one of 

the south south states was 

recently quoted to have said that 

Nigeria’s debt is inching close to 

60 Trillion Naira (about $134bn), 

and concluded that Nigeria has 

failed already. It is not my 

responsibility as a policy analyst 

to confirm or contradict the 

governors’ claims as the debt 

management office and the CBN 

have such responsibility vested 

in them, however, I had thought 

that the same governor will go 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER, 25, 2022 — 27 

:Vanguard :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 

Obaseki's ex-CoS blames states for Nigeria's 

rising debts 

ahead to state in equivocal 

terms his own state share of the 

debt overhang and what it has 

achieved with it for the purpose 

they were approved for, this was 

not to be as he again played 

the ostrich. 

“The statistics from debt 

management office, DMO, 

shows very clearly that only 35 

per cent of the total federation 

debts belongs to the federal 

government, about 35 per cent 

PDP inaugurates campaign 

c'ttee in Ughelli North II 

By Ochuko Akuopha 

UDemocratic GHELLI—PEOPLES 

Party, PDP, in 

Ughelli North Constituency II 

has inaugurated its Campaign 

Management Committee for 

the 2023 general elections with 

a resolve to deliver all 

candidates of the party at the 

polls. 

Members of the committee 

include Jaro Egbo as Chairman; 

Francis Onobruchere, 

Director General; Dr Isaac 

Akpoveta, Director Finance; 

Mr. Clement Osieta, Director 

Youth Mobilization; Mrs 

Gladys Agba, Director Women 

Mobilization, George Ushere, 

Director of Publicity and Uteme 

Bateren, Director of Security. 

Others include Anthony 

Ikomoni, Director of Voluntary/ 

Support Groups; Ochuko 

Sakpaide, Director Religious 

Group Engagement; Harrison 

Abuge, Director Traditional/ 

Cultural Groups Engagement 

and Oke Umurhohwo, Director 

New Media. 


inauguration ceremony, 

Ughelli North Local 

Government Campaign 

Coordinator of the party, Mr. 

Samuel Marierie noted that 

owned by the 36 states while the 

outstanding debt of 30 per cent 

jointly owned especially loans that 

have to do with immunization and 

COVID-19 recovery and budget 

support instruments. If this is the 

case, on what grounds should a 

state governor (an opposition at 

that) squarely place the debt crisis 

on the foot of the federal 

government for growing the 

Nigerian population?” 

with two separate commitees ( in 

Constituencies I and II) it would 

be easier for them to campaign 

effectively to the electorates to 

vote for the party's candidates 

across board. 

He explained that having a 

single campaign committee would 

make it difficult for the party to 

properly campaign for it's House 

of Assembly candidates in both 

constituencies as they will have 

different movement schedules. 

Also speaking, Chairman of the 

committee, Jaro Egbo expressed 

optimism that the PDP would win 

all elective offices in the 

constituency. 

He said, "Our Governor, 

Senator Ifeanyi Okowa is going 

to run with Atiku and we are going 

to produce the Vice President from 

Delta State. Not only that, we are 

going to have a home grown 

governor, with full local content. 

A governor that is complete 

Urhobo, the mother is Urhobo, 

the father is Urhobo, the wife is 

also Urhobo, he is Rt Hon. Sheriff 

Oborevwori." 

Inaugurating the committee, 

Chairman of PDP, Ughelli North, 

Mr. Kesiena Nomuoja urged them 

to work tirelessly for the victory of 

all the party's candidates at the 

polls.

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30 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, , 2022 

THE Chairman, CEO, 

National Hajj Commission 

of Nigeria, NAHCON, Alhaji 

Zhikrullah Hassan has said that 

the commission will maintain the 

status quo on the Hajj Saving 

Scheme, adding that the scheme 

will run concurrently with the 

conventional pay-as-you-go, as it 

was for this year’s Hajj. 

Alhaji Hassan stated this while 

delivering a keynote address at 

the stakeholders 4-day meeting 

held at the Hajj House, Abuja. 

The event climaxed with 

presentation of Awards to state 

Pilgrims boards that performed 

creditably well during the last 

hajj exercise both onshore and 

offshore. Yobe State clinched the 

first position with 117 points while 

Kaduna State emerged second 

position with 115 points while 

Lagos got 114 points to win the 

third position. 

The NAHCON boss also 

disclosed that the Ministry of Hajj 

and Umrah has intimated the 

commission that arrangement for 

Hajj 2023 will begin with a 

conference via video 

communication scheduled for 

21st December, 2022 between the 

National Hajj Commission of 

Nigeria and the Ministry. 

“It is with great pleasure that I 

welcome you all to this important 

meeting of Hajj stakeholders. 

This occasion is designed to bring 

together the crème de la crème 

of the Hajj industry in Nigeria to 

brainstorm and collectively 

review last Hajj and then proffer 

solutions for improvement. In this 

event today, some States which 

performed exceptionally well in 

the Hajj 2022 will be honoured. 

“True, no organization can 

succeed without constant 

networking with its sister 

agencies and other patrons 

whose support are indispensable 

in accomplishing superior 

results. As such, the Commission 

considers every party here 

present essential to its success. 

“As we are all aware, the 


Nigeria (NAHCON) was 

established by the Act of National 

Assembly in September, 2006 and 

became fully functional as a 

Commission in 2007. It is this 

constitutional backing that puts 

the Commission in a position to 

license, regulate supervise and 

perform oversight functions over 

organizations, associations or any 

similar bodies engaged in 

organizing and coordinating the 

movement of persons from 

Nigeria to Saudi Arabia to 

Rabiul Thaani 23, 1444A.H. 

2023 Hajj arrangements to begin Dec 21 

with Saudi Arabia —NAHCON chair 

•Commends States Pilgrims Boards in execution of HSS 

•As Yobe, Kaduna Lagos bag 2022 Hajj awards 

perform Hajj or Umrah. 

“Therefore, the Commission 

carries the burden of ensuring 

that Nigerian pilgrims receive 

the best services home and away. 

This duty is indeed intricate 

because it is a task that forces 

the Commission to be reliant, like 

a machine wheel that needs all 

its cogs to fit in order to spin 

unhindered. 

“NAHCON is blessed with 

several stakeholders with whom 

Our hope is to 

bring stability to 

the Hajj industry 

and to the cost of 

its performance 

from Nigeria, 

our prayer is 

that the 

response we 

hope to receive 

matches our zeal 

to succeed 

it shares symbiotic relationships 

to function. If each of us play our 

individual role dedicatedly and 

sincerely before the Almighty, we 

will always return here to 

celebrate our successes. In this 

regard I wish to salute the 

support of all Stakeholders in the 

successful execution of Hajj 2022 

operations despite the 

challenges. We remain 

committed in serving our 

pilgrims well and with your 

support, we are confident that 

this is achievable. 

Niger Pilgrims Board receives 

Award of Excellence, targets 5000 

pilgrims in 2023 Hajj 

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me 

remind you that the conjectural 

nature of Hajj fare in Nigeria is 

the major factor that forced 

NAHCON to start the 

implementation of the Hajj 

Savings Scheme without delay. 

The scheme is an arrangement 

that offers an intending pilgrim 

a long-term contributory platform 

to pay for Hajj gradually within 

a desired period. This 

arrangement has the potential of 

boosting early Hajj preparation 

with the prospect of enabling 

Hajj subsidy in future. I must 

commend the leadership of the 

Pilgrims Boards in all States for 

their contribution and patriotism 

in the execution of Hajj Savings 

Scheme (HSS), and by extension 

all other Stakeholders. Our Policy 

for Hajj 2023 is to maintain the 

status quo; that is to run the HSS 

concurrently with the 

Conventional pay-as-you-go, as 

it was for this year’s Hajj. 

“Our hope is to bring stability 

to the Hajj industry and to the 

cost of its performance from 

Nigeria. Our prayer is that the 

response we hope to receive 

matches our zeal to succeed. 

“Talking of services rendered 

to pilgrims, Executive 

Commissioners of NAHCON will 

provide details of the Hajj 2022 

and other related matters to this 

gathering. 

“My distinguished brothers 

and sisters, Hajj 2023 is around 

the corner, it behoves on us all to 

focus on proper planning and 

prudence bearing in mind that 

our goal is to please Allah 

through our intending pilgrims 

who invested so much with the 

sole aim of serving their Lord. 

In addition, I am happy to inform 

you all that unlike last Hajj when 

the preparation started late due 

to absence of information, the 

Ministry of Hajj and Umra has 

intimated us that arrangement 

for Hajj 2023 will begin with a 

conference via video 

communication scheduled for 

21st December, 2022 between the 


Nigeria and the Ministry. 

“Once again, I welcome you all 

to this great event, and to 

reassure you that our doors are 

open for communication. I wish 

us all happy deliberations and 

safe trip back to our various 

destinations at the end of the 

program. 

Islamic scholar moves for inclusion 

of western educ into Arabic schools’ 

curriculum 


A 

RENOWNED Islamic 

scholar, Dr. Daud Amoo- 

Alaga, has called for 

incorporation of western 

education and vocational skills 

into the curriculum of Arabic 

schools. 

He made the call Tuesday in 

Ibadan at the formal opening 

ceremony of a month educational 

workshop organised by 

Association of Arabic and Islamic 

Schools in Oyo State. 

Dr Amoo-Alaga, said there was 

the need for constant review of 

curriculum of Arabic schools to 

meet the current realities, 

stressing that if western 

education and vocational skills 

are added, it would enhance 

more participation. 

Dr Amoo-Alaga who is also the 

Chief Missioner, Oyo State 

Muslim Community, 

underscored the importance of 

unity of purpose among 

Muslims, noting that if that is 

achieved, the faithful would be 

more respected and get better 

value in the society. 

The Executive Chairman, 

Association of Arabic and Islamic 

Schools in Oyo State, Sheikh 

Nasirudeen Kharashi-Arikeusola 

said, the one-month educational 

workshop with the theme “Islam 

is Against Terrorism and Crimes” 

was part of of the Association’s 

contributions to national 

development and societal 

reformation. 

Sheikh Arikeusola explained 

that the seminar would also 

redirect students’ psychology 

against cybercrime, ritual killing 

and other prevalent criminal 

activities in line with Quranic 

injunctions. 

According to Sheikh 

Arikeusola who is also the 

proprietor of Islamic and Arabic 

Educational Institute, Eleyele, 

Ibadan, the association with over 

2,000 membership has carefully 

chosen two facilitators from each 

of the 33 local government areas 

in the state who will adopt 

Qur’an and prophetic tradition 

for the workshop. 

Giving additional information 

about the programme, the 

Secretary of the association and 

the proprietor of Ar-ridoh 

International Islamic Institute, 

Alarere, Ibadan, Ustadh 

Muhammad-Jamiu Abdulgafar 

called on the facilitators to follow 

the well researched syllabus on 

topical issues and always give 

progress report in order to 

evaluate the seminar for 

improvement on subsequent 

programmes. 

Ustadh Abdulgafar, while 

tracing the history of terrorism 

incursion into Nigeria, affirmed 

that Islam is antithetical to 

extremism and criminal acts. 

The association secretary 

called on government at all 

levels and well meaning 

Nigerians to support Islamic 

propagation and other religious 

activities for societal spiritual 

renewal. 

He noted that the seminar for 

Islamic teachers will be held in 

four zones comprising Ibadan, 

Oke-Ogun, Oyo-Ogbomoso 

and Ibarapa, while school 

proprietors will have an 

enlarged meeting at the House 

of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan. 

Ustadh Abdulgafar added that 

the Annual General Meeting 

will be held at the Conference 

Centre, University of Ibadan on 

Sunday 18th December, 2022. 

NAHCON Chairman/CEO, Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle 

Hassan accompanied by Commissioner of PRSILS 

Sheikh Sulaiman Momoh and other members of the 

delegation during a tour of the NAHCON-ICRC’s PPP 

facility recently. 

The Chairman, CEO, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Alhaji 

Zhikrullah Hassan, (5th left) with other stakeholders during a 4-day 2022 post- 

Hajj meeting held in Abuja, recently.

Rabiul Thaani 23, 1444A.H. 

2023: Don’t make empty promises, 

Prof Musa tells Presidential candidates 

AS campaign for public offices 

hots up, Professor of Islamic 

Studies, University of Lagos, 

Ismail Musa has urged candidates 

contesting to lead the people at 

all levels to speak the truth to 

Nigerians instead of making 

empty promises. 

Professor Musa charged 

politicians to follow up their 

campaign promises with sincerity 

of purpose, and ready to lift the 

people out of the current state of 

despair to optimism and better 

their lots, noting that Nigerians 

need to supplicate deeply on this 

instead of engaging in 

permutations. 

The Chief Imam of the Ivory 

Tower in a chat with Facing Kaaba 

on the jostle for the Presidency 

and other public offices, he said 

Allah will choose the best 

candidate whose tenure will 

ursher in an era of peace, progress 

and goodness of life for all 

Nigerians. 

“Allah created human beings in 

a way that we love and enjoy 

peace, progress and goodness of 

life. On the contrary, human 

beings detest peacelessness, 

failure and suffering. I expect that 

the best candidate will win in a 

free and fair election. The best is 

he or she whose tenure will usher 

in an era of peace, progress and 

goodness of life for all and sundry. 

On their various campaign 

promises, he said; “I am yet to 

study their manifesto. However, 

this is the time politicians make 

both realistic and outrageous 

promises. I urge them to speak 

truth to Nigerians and follow it up 

with sincerity of purpose, a passion 

to lift people out of despair and a 

commitment to selfless service. 

This is the first step towards getting 

things right. It is heinous in the 

sight of Allah to make empty 

promises with the intent to 

deceive. 

“There are three frontliners with 

visible strengths and weaknesses. 

One candidate is battling with 

intra-party crises that we don’t 

know how long it would last. 

Another is fighting obscurity 

among the teeming rural 

populace. The third needs to 

convince the voting public that 

he is capable of overcoming daring 

challenges the current 

government is trying to grapple 

with. May Allah decide the best 

course for us. He is the owner of 

power who grants power to 

whosoever He wishes. 

All the candidates should strive 

to build and rebuild the nation 

whilst putting Allah first. Success 

lies with Allah. He will not 

disappoint those who put their 

trust in Him. 

He advised Nigerians to be 

prayerful and to be hopeful for a 

By Bashir Bello 

THE spiritual leader of 

Qadiriyya order in Nigeria 

and West Africa, Sheikh Dr. 

Qaribullah Nasiru Kabara, has 

called on electorate to shun 

money politics and any form of 

worldly things that can influence 

them into selling their votes as 

the 2023 general election 

approaches. 

This was as he said they should 

vote for only credible candidates 

who will deliver on the dividends 

of democracy and salvage the 

situation of the country. 

•Prof Ismail Musa, 

Imam, UNILAG 

better deal, adding that it is better 

to supplicate deeply on this 

instead of engaging in 

permutations. 

“Nigerians should rally round 

the best team with the best 

possible government. The 

presidency is about Nigeria and 

all it’s constituent units. May 

Allah appoint for us leaders who 

will be God-conscious and who 

will be focused on the Day of 

Accountability,” he noted. 

2023: Shun money politics, others, Islamic 

cleric tells electorate 

The revered leader made the 

call while speaking with newsmen 

at his Quadirriya residence on the 

successful hosting of the 72nd 

Maukibi celebration, an annual 

celebration in honour of Qadiriyya 

founding father Sheikh 

Abdulkadir Jelani. 

Sheikh Kabara said the Islamic 

clerics have a great role to play in 

sensitizing the electorates on the 

need to vote credible candidates 

in order to set the nation on the 

path of growth and development. 

According to him, “The religious 

leaders have a great role to play 

by sensitizing the electorates. 

EDUCATION is an 

indispensable key that 

unlocks the floodgate of economic 

success and societal respect. The 

legal education is a notch higher 

as lawyers are revered for their 

cerebral nature. This is the 

province of education where 

Omamuzo Erebe is in his 

element. According to him, the 

way lawyers are respected in the 

society attracted him to the legal 

profession as a lad. 

His views: “The esteem with 

which lawyers are regarded by the 

society was something I admired. 

If a lawyer works into a gathering, 

people sit up and take notice. 

Lawyers are well spoken and 

always neatly attired. I wanted to 

be one of them. So my love for 

lawyers, their unique dressing, 

their diction and their carriage 

generally was something I 

wanted to be part of.” 

Today, that young man who was 

attracted by the eloquence and 

dress code of lawyers is the Delta 

State Permanent Secretary and 

Solicitor General in the Ministry 

of Justice. Against the backdrop 

of disdain in some quarters 

harboured for government 

lawyers, Erebe was quick to 

answer that there was no empirical 

event to back that notion, adding 

that there are lazy lawyers both 

in public and private practice. 

He opines that: “Unsuccessful 

lawyers prefer to work in 

government offices, this again, a 

huge misconception. People 

What I meant by this, is for them 

to sensitize the electorates on the 

need to vote credible candidates 

to salvage the situation. We should 

keep aside personal interest, 

wordly things. We should consider 

credibility of candidates who will 

deliver. 

“You must think deeply, 

thoroughly and vote one who is 

credible for leadership positions to 

salvage the situation of the 

country,” Sheikh Kabara said. 

The revered leader also 

cautioned the Federal 

Government against removal of 

the Arabic inscription on the 

nigerian currency as it embark on 

the redesigning of the naira notes. 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, , 2021 — 31 

Erebe: An erudite lawyer, accomplished 

administrator 

believe certain experiences from 

their personal encounters with 

some government lawyers and 

then proceed to generalize. An 

incompetent lawyer can be found 

in both private and public practice. 

It does not mean all lawyers are 

incompetent. When I started work 

as a state counsel, some of my 

colleagues in the private bar had 

the same mindset that we were 

pushovers. All it took to change 

that perception was to handle your 

cases properly. That view quickly 

changed. Over the years we have 

had successful lawyers in 

Government and Corporate 

practice who have risen to the 

pinnacle of the legal profession as 

senior advocates.” 

On the multitude of lawyers in 

politics, he argued that it is not 

due to joblessness and that 

lawyers by their training and 

orientation are eminently 

qualified to participate in politics. 

Hear his sentiments: “Lawyers by 

their training can function in 

several fields. A lawyer in politics 

is in a terrain natural to him. One 

of the reasons the law profession 

is attractive is that a lawyer cannot 

be unemployed. You may not like 

the salary you earn from practice, 

but unemployment is not 

possible. I am not a politician but 

I can hazard a guess that lawyers 

are assets in the political terrain.” 

He therefore counseled young 

lawyers to develop passion for the 

job. He goes philosophical : “In 

one word, diligence. It will set you 

apart from your peers. Hard work 

never kills, it only makes you 

stronger.” 

The young Erebe grew up in 

Benin City, Edo State and was 

fascinated with the legal 

television drama of ‘the Assizes‘. 

That mass media role of 

education had a great impact on 

Erebe and that explains his 

journey into the legal profession 

and has no regret for taking that 

decision. In a situation where 

most lawyers are becoming jack 

of all trades in the legal terrain, 

Erebe is a strong advocate for 

lawyers to specialize. He puts it 

this way :‘I subscribe to 

specialization. In the increasingly 

competitive terrain that the law 

practice has become, 

specialization is key. If I was 

advising a new wig, I would say 

pick an area of law that is rarely 

practiced and grow into it. If I were 

starting today, I would specialize 

in sports law. I enjoy playing and 

watching football and I know that 

would have been my area of 

practice. 

However, Erebe started as a 

state counsel after graduating 

from the University of Benin. He 

was called to the bar in December, 

1990. He has been practicing law 

for the past 32 years, 29 of which 

has been with the Ministry of 

Justice since July, 1993. His 

dedication and unequalled 

passion for hard work made him 

rise rapidly through the ranks in 

various departments prosecuting 

criminal and civil cases in courts. 

In 2005, Erebe was appointed the 

Director of Public Prosecution and 

served there till 2008 with many 

landmark achievements. The 

legal gods smiled on him in2008 

as he was posted to the 

department of Peoples Rights 

whose major objective is to foster 

good relationship between host 

communities and companies 

operating in their domains. It 

would take several volumes to 

document the journey of Erebe 

in the Ministry of Justice for the 

past 29 years, the salient point 

here is that he has paid his dues 

and that explains his position as 

he sits atop the Ministry of Justice 

directing affairs, mentoring young 

lawyers, the administrative head 

and an indispensable support to 

the Commissioner of Justice and 

Attorney General of the State.


ORO 

ILUOBE 

MUTAIRU 

My name was wrongly I, formerly known and addressed 

captured and arranged as as MUTAIRU OMOWUNMI 

ILUOBE OMOAREBUN, HAMIDAT, now wish to be 

instead of my correct name as known and addressed as 

OMOAREBUN ILUOBE ADEBOWALE OMOWUNMI 

ABDULLAHI. All former ARIKE. All former documents 

documents remain valid. remain valid. The general public 

General public take note. should please take note. 

NICHOLAS OB 

IDIODI NWOKOLO 

l, formerly known and I, Formerly Known And 

addressed as Idiodi Bukunola 

Addressed As Nwokolo 

Chizoba Maryann, now Wish 

Taire, now wish to be known To Be Known And Addressed 

and addressed as Oluwabukola As Mrs Chidiabah Nwokolo 

Taire Idiodi. The general public Chizoba Maryann. All Former 

Documents Remain Valid. 

and to whom it may concern 

General Public Please Take 

should please take note. Note. 

OWOBU 

MINNA 

AMROMANOR 

I Formerly known and I Formerly known and 

addressed as MINNA addressed as AMROMANOR 

DIVINE now wish to be NATASHA now wish to be 

known and addressed as known and addressed as 

MINNA 

DIVINE 

ORITSEGBOWUMI 

ABUSOMWAN NATASHA 

Henceforth 

all Henceforth all former 

formerdocuments remain documents remain valid 

valid General public take note General public take note 

IKE IBEH NAKARHIRE 

I formerly known and addressed as 

EBOMWONYI ORO or 

ARUMALA ORO now wish to 

be known and addressed as 

ARUMALA-EBOMWONYI 

ORO. All former documents remain 

valid. The general public, banks 

and concerned authorities should 

take note. 

I, Formerly known and addressed 

as MISS. CHINEMEREM 

HOPE NICHOLAS; Now wish 

to be known as MRS. 

CHINEMEREM HOPE 

CHIDIEBERE. All Former 

documents remain valid.Conerned 

Authorities and General Public 

take note. 

I, FORMERLY KNOWN, CALLED 

AND ADDRESSED AS MISS 

AGBONMAYO MERCY EHI, 

NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN, 

CALLED AND ADDRESSED AS 

MRS OWOBU MERCY EHI. All 

Former documents remain 

valid.Conerned Authorities and 

General Public take note. 

I Formerly known and 

addressed as Miss Nwachukwu 

Appolonia Chika now wish to 

be known and addressed as Mrs 

Ike Appolonia Chika. 

Henceforth all former 

documents remain valid 

General public take note. 

IGUNMA 

I FORMERLY KNOWN CALLED 

AND ADDRESSED AS MISS 

IGUNMA EKI ROSELINE NOW 

WISH TO BE KNOWN CALLED 

AND ADDRESSED AS MRS 

EDOSUYI EKI ROSELINE. ALL 

FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN 

VALID GENERAL PUBLIC AND 

AUTHORITY CONCERNED 

PLEASE TAKE NOTE. 

UMEH 

I formerly known and 

addressed as CHIAMAKA 

UMEH, now wish to be known 

and addressed as 

ONWUMELU CHIAMAKA 

LUCIA. All former documents 

remain valid general public 

please take note. 

OMOVAVBERHE 

I, Formerly known and 

addressed as Omovavberhe 

Oghenetejiri now wish to be 

known and addressed as 

Omovavberhe Oghenetejiri 

Rachel. All former documents 

remain valid. General public 

take note. 

EYEFIA 

I Formerly known and addressed 

as Miss. EYEFIA STELLA 

OBORAGWARE. Now wish to be 

known and addressed as MRS. 

AKPOYOVWARE STELLA 

OBORAGWARE. All former 

documents remain valid. General 

public please take note. 

TOPE 

My name was wrongly imputed 

on my voter’s card as 

FAGBEMI AYODELE 

TOPE, instead of my correct 

name as FAGBEMI 

AYOMIDE TEMITOPE. All 

documents remain valid. 


ABUDU 


addressed as RASHIDI 

DODODAWA Now wish to be 


ABUDU RASHIDI 

DODODAWA. All former 


general public please take note 

I formerly known as IBEH 

NKIRU ANGELA now wish to 


NWAFOR NKIRU ANGELA 

all former documents remain 

valid banks and general public 

take note 

ODIGIE 


addressed as, Odigie Faith 

Ebanehita, now wish to be 

known and addressed as, 

Akhimien Faith Ebanehita, 

all former documents 

remains valid, general public 

take note. 

UDECHUKWU 

I formerly known as 

UDECHUKWU FAVOUR 

CHIDIEBUBE wish to be 

known as Mrs JOACHIM 

FAVOUR CHIDINMA. All 

former documents remain 

valid. General public take 

notice. 

OKONKWO OD 

I, formerly known as MISS 

NKECHINYERE BLESSING 

OKONKWO, now wish to be 

known as MRS 

NKECHINYERE BLESSING 

OKONGWU. All former 


General public take notice. 

AJUGWO IZUOGU AYOMOR 

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

addressed as AJUGWO addressed as IZUOGU addressed as Kate Adaku 

CHISOMAGA PETROLINA, FAUSTINA NNENNA,, now Ayomor, now wish to be 

now wish to be known and wish to be known and addressed 

known and addressed as Kate 

addressed as AJUGWO as UBOCHI FAUSTINA 

CHISOM PETROLINA . All NNENNA . All former Adaku Johnson. All former 

former documents remain documents remain valid documents remain valid 

valid general public please take general public please take general public please take 

note. 

note. 

note. 

OTAH 

OKE 

OGHENEOVO 

I, Formerly known and I, Formerly known and I, Formerly known and 

addressed as Otah Faith 

addressed as Oke Endurance addressed as Ogheneovo 

Ekayoma now wish to be 

Hycienth Daniel now wish to 

now wish to be known and 



addressed as Ediri Endurance. 

Ekayoma Faith Nyore. All 

Ogheneovo Hycienth Otega. 

former documents remain All former documents remain All former documents remain 

valid. General public take note. valid. General public take note. valid. General public take note. 

ESOSUAKPOR 

I, formerly known and addressed 

as MISS ESOSUAKPOR, 

SHULAMMITE ESE now wish 

to be known and addressed as 

MRS. 

PANAMA, 

SHULAMMITE ESE. All former 



GWEDE 

I, formerly known as GWEDE 

BLESSING UFUOMA VEFE, 

now wish to be known as 

AYOOLA BLESSING 

UFUOMA VEFE. All former 



FUTUGHE 


addressed as REV ISRAEL 

ORITSEWEYINMI Now wish 


REV ISRAEL FUTUGHE. All 


valid general public please take 

note 

This is to confirm that my name was 

wrongly captured as NAKARHIRE 

DICKSON OBEWHE in my BVN 

details instead of ENAKARHIRE 

DICKSON OBEWHE. My correct 

name is ENAKARHIRE DICKSON 

OBEWHE. All documents remain 

valid.General public please take 

note. 

NWABUEZE 


addressed as, FAVOUR 

ITOHAN ENEHIKHARE , 


addressed as, FAVOUR 

ITOHAN NWABUEZE, all 

former documents remains 

valid, general public take 

note. 

OKON 


as MISS EKPEYONG ESTHER 

OKON, now wish to be known 

and addressed as MRS. ESTHER 

SUNDAY ETIM. All former 

documents remain valid. The 

general public should please take 

note. 

AKWEJE 

This is to notify that in my bvn 

details my name was wrongly 

arranged as JANE OKOH 

AKWEJE, instead of OKOH JANE 

AKWEJE, and in my NIN my middle 

name was wrongly spelt as 

AKATAKUFIA instead of 

AKWEJE. All former documents 

remain valid general public, bank 

and all authorities concerned 

should take note. 

EMEJE 


addressed as EMEJE EJIRO 

VERA now wish to be known 

and addressed as NDUKA 

EJIRO VERA. All former 


general public please take 

note 

OWOYEMI 

I, formerly knownV as OWOYEMI 

KHALEED ADEKUNLE. That I 


ADEYEMI ADEKUNLE 

IRETIOLUWA also in every other 

documentation and identification. 

That all documents relating to my 

former names remain valid, and for the 

general public to take note. 

SAGAY OD 


as MISS AMONES 

LAURETTA OMAWUMI now 

wish to be known and addressed 

as MRS SAGAY LAURETTA 

OMAWUMI Henceforth all former 

documents remain valid General 

public take note 

ESE 


addressed as, IFOGBE 

ESEOGHENE EDWIN, now 

wish to be known and 

addressed as, IFOGBE 

EDWIN ESE, all former 

documents remains valid, 

general public take note. 

OGHOGHO 

I, formerly known as 

UDINYIWE HAPPY 

OSARENKHOE, now wish to 

be known as UDINYIWE 

HAPPY OGHOGHO. All 



notice. 

ODOH 


as MISS ODOH CHINYERE 

MARYROSE now wish to be 

known and addressed as MRS 

UGWUOKE CHINYERE 

MARYROSE. All former 



NNAJI 

I formerly known, called and 

addressed as MISS NNAJI 

MERCY ONYINYECHI now 

wish to be known call and address 

as MRS OKWUONE MERCY 

ONYINYECHI. All former 

documents remain valid.General 

public and to whom it may 

concern, please take note. 

EBOH 

OSAHENI 

I, formerly known as Miss 

Osaheni Faith Aibangbee 

now wish to be known as Mrs 

Osaheni Faith Ohwonigho. 

All former documents remain 

valid. General Phublic and 

Authorities concerned, please 

take note. 

EBOH 


addressed as JULIET EBOH 


addressed as MRS JULIET 

EHIZOGIE OGHOMWEN. 



note 

SALIHU NWOSU EG 

This is to confirm that the name 

SALIHU AKILU and AKILU 

SALIHU belong to one and the 

same person. In my Account 

opening my name was written as 

SALIHU AKILU instead of 

AKILU SALIHU. All former 

documents remain valid general 

public please take note 

OPEYEMI 

I FORMALLY KNOWN AND 

ADDRESSED AS OPEYEMI 

DAMILARE IFEOLUWA, 

NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN 

AND ADDRESSED AS 

OPAYEMI DAMILARE 

IFEOLUWA. THE GENERAL 

PUBLIC AND AUTHORITY 

CONCERN SHOULD PLEASE 

TAKE NOTE. 

EJEH 


CHINWOKE VIRGINIA 

EJEH, now wish to be known 

as MRS CHINWOKE 

VIRGINIA IKECHUKWU 

OKONGWU. All former 



ROMANCE 


addressed as, OMAGBEMI 

OLUWADAISI, now wish to 

be known and addressed as, 

OMAGBEMI OLUWADAISI 

ROMANCE, all former 



UGBOMOR 


EGWAILE PHOEBE 

NNEKA, now wish to be 


UGBOMOR PHOEBE 

NNEKA. All former 

documents remain valid. The 

general public please take 

note. 

BERNARD 

MY NAME WAS WRONGLY 

WRITTEN AS BERNARD 

MAYERGHWEDE OMOSHOLA 

INSTEAD OF OMOSHOLA 

MAYERGHWEDE BERNARD. 

NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS 

OMOSHOLA MAYERGHWEDE 

BERNARD. All former documents 

remain valid. General public take 

note. 

OKORONKWO 


addressed as Miss. Okoronkwo 

Esther Ngozi. now wish to be 

known and addressed as Mrs. 

Ogbonna Esther Ngozi. All 


valid. General public take note. 

EKE 


as: Chinyere Christabel Asierika- 

Eke Now wish to be known and 

addressed as: Chinyere Christabel 

Eke. All former documents remain 


note 

OZOKO 

That KULETAR TOBOLAYEFA 

VALENTINA & OZOKO 

TOBOLAYEFA VALENTINA are 

same and one person but now wish 

to be addressed as MRS. 

OKEDUKOR TOBOLAYEFA 

VALENTINA all formal documents 

remains valid general public whom 

it may concern take note 

OLALEYE 

I formerly known and addressed 

as OLALEYE GBEMISOLA 

RAFIAT but now wish to be 


AROYEWUN GBEMISOLA 

RAFIAT, All former documents 

remain valid, general public take 

note. 

ADEWOLE 


ADEWOLE RUKAYAT 

ABISOLA now wish to be known 

and addressed as TAIWO 

RUKAYAT ABDULLAHI. All 

former documents remains valid. 

General public and concerned 

authorities please take note. 

NWANKWO 


MRS. NWANKWO EVELYN 

ONAH, now wish to be known 

and addressed as MRS. 

ONOCHIE EVELYN ONAH. All 

former documents remains valid. 

General public and concerned 

authorities please take note. 

OBODOELUEM 


Miss Obodoeluem Nwaka 

Fortune, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. Ogboi 

Nwaka Fortune . All former 

documents remains valid. General 

public and concerned authorities 


AYODELE 

My name was wrongly 

imputed on my voter’s card as 

FAGBEMI AYODELE TOPE, 

instead of my correct name as 

FAGBEMI AYOMIDE 

TEMITOPE. All documents 

remain valid. General public 

take note. 

OGHENE 


addressed as, Miss Ubiomo 

Ajiri , now wish to be known 

and addressed as, Mrs 

Oghene Ajiri, all former 



ASHIEN 


as ONYINYE MARTHA 

ASHIEN, now wishes to beknown 


EHIGIATOR GIFT MARTHA. 

Former documentsremain valid. 

General public, to whom it may 

concern please take note. 

ESEAWHOTU 


addressed as MISS. 

ESEAWHOTU ESE, now 


as MRS ARUOTURE ESE. All 


valid. General public take note. 

EDACHE 


addressed as Miss. Edache 

Alice. now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. Amos- 

Ahmadu Alice. All former 



ONORIODE 

That my name was Wrongly entered 

in my BVN as JOEL 

TAMARADEYENFA ONORIODE 

instead of JOEL 

TAMARADEYENFA 

GODBLESS, my correct name is 

JOEL TAMARADEYENFA 

GODBLESS. All former documents 

remain valid general public please 

take note. 

EZEDOM HAPPY 

I formerly known as HAPPY 

BEAUTY MOSES now wish to 

be known and addressed as OGBE 

HAPPINESS BEAUTY. All 

former documents remain valid 

any authority it may concern and 

general public to take note.


OGBEIFUN 

I, formerly known, call and 

addressed as. OGBEIFUN 

ITOHAN JENNIFER but,now 

wish to be known,call and address 

as.OKORAWHE ITOHAN 

JENNIFER. All documents 

bearing former names remain valid. 

General public, please take note. 

DAVID 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Miss David 

Mellisa Orerimena, now wish 


Mrs. Raji Mellisa Orerimena. 


valid. General public please 

take note. 

AWOSIGHO 


as Miss Awosigho Onome 

Precious, now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. Iyamabhor 

Onome Precious. All former 



OKUOMOSE 


as Miss Okuomose Evelyn, now 


as Mrs. Igbinosa-Edosa Evelyn. 


valid. General public please take 

note. 

AMADI 

My correct name is AmadiAdaeze 

Juliet, but my name was wrongly 

captured in my BVN as 

AmadiEzinne Juliet instead of 

AmadiAdaeze Juliet. All former 



SUNSHINE 

My full name is 

N W A B U N W A N N E 

CHINENYE SUNSHINE as it is 

in my NIN. My name appear in 

my BVN as NWABUNWANNE 

CHINENYE. I now wish to add 

SUNSHINE to my BVN details. 

All documents bearing any of the 

names remain valid. General 

public take note. 

OMORAGBON 


OMORAGBON OSAMEDE 

LESLEY, now wish to be 

known as OKUNGBOWA 

OSAMEDE LESLEY. All 



notice. 

IDOGHO 

I, formerly known as Idogho, 

Emmanuel Ogheneyerowvo, 


IDOGHO, EMMANUEL 

NERO. All former documents 

remain valid. General public, 

please, note. 

TUGBA 


MARIA ADJAYEN, now 

wish to be known as MRS 

MARIA TUGBA. All 


valid. General public, please, 

note. 

OBASEKI 

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS. 

UWUBANMWEN EMWANTA 

ABIGAIL NOW WISH TO BE 

ADDRESS AS MRS. OBASEKI 

EMWANTA ABIGAIL. ALL 

FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN 

VALID. 

CONCERN 

AUTHORITIES AND GENERAL 

PUBLIC TAKE NOTE. 

OKIKA 

My Name was wrongly captured and 

arranged as CHARLES 

KOSICHUKWU OKIKA in my 

BVN instead of OKIKA KOSISO 

CHARLES. now wish to be Known, 

as OKIKA KOSISO CHARLES. 

All former documents remain valid. 

Authorities concerned. Banks and 

general public please take note. 

PRAISE 

I, formerly known,call and 

addressed as.OKORAWHE 

ENDURANCE JATOR..but,now 

wish to be known,call and address 

as.OKORAWHE PRAISE 

JATOR. .All documents bearing 

former names remain valid. 

General public, please take note. 

IYADI 


as Miss Iyadi Chika Beauty, 


addressed as Mrs. Obi-Iyadi 

Chika Beauty. All former 



EDAH 


as Miss Edah Claudia Edidjana, 


addressed as Mrs. Otuata Claudia 

Edidjana. All former documents 

remain valid. General public please 

take note. 

OGBONNA 


as Ogbonna Justice Victor, now 


as Ogbonna Justice Chidubem. All 

former documents remain valid. 

General public please take note. 

IGWE 

I, formerly known as IGWE 

ISHIOMA JUDITH. Now wish 


MRS. OKOLOGO ISHIOMA 

JUDITH. All documents bearing 

my former name remain valid. 


ADEDEJI 

I, formerly known as MAKAYLA 

OLUWANIFEMI COKER. Now 

wish to be Known, called and 

addressed as MAKAYLA 

OLUWANIFEMI COKER- 

ADEDEJI. All former documents 

remain valid. Concerned 

Authorities, Banks, NIN and 

General public should please take 

note 

OKEH 

I , Formerly known, addressed and 

called as MISS OKEH 

E R H O V W O S E R E 

CATHERINE, now wish to be 

known, addressed and called as 

MRS ORHENOMARE 

E R H O V W O S E R E 

CATHERINE. All former 


public, please, note. 

IDEHEN 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Idehen Osayamen 

Precious, Now wish to be 


Precious Osayamen Ekhator. 


valid. General public, please, 

note. 

OBASI OT 

I, formerly known as Obasi 

Juliet Chioma, now wish to 

be known as Happy Juliet 

Chioma. All former 


General public, please, note. 

OTUWE 

I, formerly known as MISS. 

OTUWE PATIENCE INIKPI. 

Now wish to be Known, called 


AGHAULOR PATIENCE INIKPI. 


valid. Concerned Authorities, 

Banks, NIN and General public 

should please take note. 

OBODOECHINA 

I, formerly known as JENNIFER 

CHIOMA OBODOECHINA. 

Now wish to be Known, called 

and addressed as JENNIFER 

CHIOMA PAUL. All former 


Concerned Authorities, Banks, 

NIN and General public should 


2023: A referendum on 

continuity of Nigeria as 

a nation —Adoji 

•It’s time for senators to stop functioning as LGA chairmen 

•Why I am running for Kogi East senate seat 

By Clifford Ndujihe 

Dr Victor Alewo Adoji, 51, ran 

for the Kogi East Senatorial seat 

on the platform of the African 

Democratic Congress, ADC, in 

2019 and came third. 

Educated in Nigeria and 

abroad on various fields, the 

former banker, who left the 

Zenith Bank as head of 

corporate communication 

after two decades in the sector, 

in this interview, spoke on the 

state of the nation, the politics 

of Kogi, and why he is running 

for Kogi East senatorial seat on 

the platform of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, among 

others. 

On why he did not 

win in 2019 

IN 2019, I didn't get the 

ticket on the platform of 

the PDP, which is actually my 

preferred party. I had to go to 

another party, the ADC. It was 

a very successful outing but the 

typical Nigerian politics 

happened to me. I know that 

if I ran on the platform of the 

PDP at that time, it would have 

been a landslide victory 

because the PDP is a very 

entrenched party in Kogi East. 

It is actually a traditional 

party in Kogi East. I was not 

lucky to get the PDP ticket at 

that time but this time, I am 

running on the platform of the 

PDP, we are very hopeful of a 

successful outing. 

In 2019, the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, came first, 

PDP came second, and I came 

third, within three months of 

bringing a new party to the 

platform. 

If elected, what difference 

will you make? 

What I will do differently is to 

ensure Kogi East produce a 

senator for the first time 

because all you have there are 

actually not senators. You have 

a senator, whose achievement 

is classrooms, renovating 

culverts, trying to seemingly 

to revive moribund industries 

and all sorts. Those are 

typically the duties of local 

government chairman. You 

have senators, especially from 

my own side of the world, who 

function more in terms of 

constituency projects. The 

work of a Senator is to propose 

bills and make laws, move 

motions and then oversight and 

override the government and its 

agencies. For the first time in a 

very long time, I will be a senator, 

not a local government 

chairman under the garb of a 

senator. 

Constituency projects form 

part of dividends of 

democracy… 

I have not said that I will not 

give cognizance to constituency 

projects, all I said is I will not 

upend the basic fundamental 

work of a senator for the work of 

a local government chairman. 

Come to think of it, the only 

reason there is so much focus on 

constituency project is because 

either by omission or 

•Adoji 

commission, people have 

usurped the work of the local 

government chairman. So, if we 

give genuine autonomy to the 

local governments, senators will 

focus on their primary 

responsibility. The work of a 

chairman is not the work of a 

senator and we must have a clear 

delineation between these two. 

Why he is going to the Senate 

When you elect 

someone into a 

particular office 

there are 

expectations from 

that office. What is 

happening to the 

state of deficit in 

my state: housing 

deficit, number of 

out-of-school 

children? 

So, my going to the Senate is 

because I have a good 

understanding of the workings 

of government and the 

knowledge that would fix our 

policies, our laws, and our 

systems. The parliament has an 

oversight, and override function 

over the executive so our 

burgeoning loans today people 

will leave the blame with the 

Buhari administration what 

about those who approved it? 

If elected don’t you think being 

a fresh senator will affect your 

impact because of senior and 

ranking senators? 

When we talk about ranking, we 

actually talk about personalities 

and the number of times you 

have been in the National 

Assembly. We should talk about 

ranking in terms of ideas. So, I 

will rank anybody higher than 

me whose ideas are superior to 

mine. The work of the Senate is 

to bring ideas that will basically 

move the country forward. If 

your idea is better than mine, then 

you have a better ranking not 

because you've been there for 

four, five, six, seven years. 

Secondly, I am more than 

confident that my party, PDP, will 

be at the centre in 2023 because 

on a scale of 1-10, the APC has 

performed below 3, Nigerians 

are tired, Nigerians are sick, 

Nigerians are weary. To a large 

extent when they hear the name 

APC it gives them goose pimples 

and fever. 

His advice to INEC, security 

agencies on 2023 polls 

The 2023 elections stand on 

three legs. One it is a referendum 

on whether we need to continue 

as a country. Second, it is a 

referendum on whether 

Nigerians can be independent 

in terms of the agencies – the 

INEC, the security and others. 

Third, we must take a decision 

that we must make progress. 

INEC has no choice but to do 

the right thing. For the first time 

they should know that Nigerians 

own them. Professor Mahmood 

Yakubu has said his 

responsibility is to Nigeria and 

to Nigerians. I hope he means it. 

Just like he is watching the 

process, Nigerians are watching 

him. To the security agencies, 

their allegiance, like they say 

most times is to the commanderin-chief 

so if they ask you to go 

and do something wrong, you 

will go ahead and do something 

wrong, but they should know that 

even the commander-in-chief, 

was actually put in place by 

some people. After all Buhari has 

said go out there and vote the 

party you want and any person 

you want that he wants to stand 

as neutral. I hope he stands true 

to it. 

On his assessment of 

governance in Nigeria and in 

Kogi State 

The best way to assess 

governance, particularly in my 

state, is to move from outcome 

to ownership. When you elect 

someone into a particular office 

there are expectations from that 

office. Are my people better 

today? Have they been better in 

both relative and absolute terms? 

What is happening to the state 

of infrastructure? What is 

happening to the state of deficit 

in my state: housing deficit, 

number of out-of-school 

children? All these have move 

southwards in Kogi State. So, I 

can say verifiably that 

governance has been below suboptimal 

in Kogi State. 

I read a report in Vanguard that 

we have about 133 million 

people living below the poverty 

line today in Nigeria. Now, 

when you look at the 

burgeoning debt, rate of 

inflation, rate of foreign 

currency exchange, what 

further assessment do you 

need? Forget about those highsounding 

GDP figures, it is 

about how it directly impacts 

the common man, and if you 

look at that, this government 

has performed abysmally. 

It is actually for them to 

understand the challenges in 

the first place. This is a 

government that seems to think 

our problems are revenue 

problems. Nigeria’s problem 

isn't a revenue problem. $700 

million dollars was returned 

from Abacha loot, what they 

said to us is that they have 

applied this money to those 

who are poor on the lower rung 

of the ladder, yet you have more 

people in poverty. It means that 

our problem isn't a revenue 

problem. 

Ours is an enterprise or 

innovation problem. 

Encourage people to be 

industrious, so that it is their 

industry that will now involve 

the capital that will possibly 

impact the economy. 

It is about wrong interpretation 

of the nuances in the economy. 

So they need to understand 

what the problems are. 

Two, it should not matter 

whether you are Igbo, Igala, 

Hausa, Idoma or Yoruba, it 

should be more about your 

competence, I have never seen 

such level of nepotism in the 

history of this country. It is not 

about who your brother or 

sister is. It is about can this 

person truly do the job? 

So long as we continue to 

encourage foreign goods and 

services, money will never be 

retained here in the country. So 

when people talk about foreign 

direct investors coming to help 

us in the country, I will just give 

you a statistics that it is all 

bunkers. Of the 70 trillion 

dollars in management 

globally, only about 2 trillion 

dollar is involved in foreign 

direct investment, so most 

capital stays back home. Of the 

two trillion dollars we are 

talking about, out of the 196+ 

countries that we have, only 36 

countries account for at least 

73% of investment and most 

of them are OECD countries. 

So, Africa particularly is not 

even considered when it comes 

to some of these investments. 

So, we need to revive our local 

economy, we need to look at 

our and our BoT, balance of 

payment, BoP and balance of 

trade, oT. What are you 

exporting? What are you giving 

to the country? We need to 

come back and think inwards. 

We must, first and foremost, 

change our psychological, 

mental and sociological 

attitude because most of our 

economic problems are 

actually sociological and 

psychological problems. 

Through the instrumentality of 

the Ministry of Orientation, it's 

time to let Nigerians know 

what the situation is; change in 

attitude will more than give us a 

necessary impact.

C 

M 

Y 

K 


Y 

K 


BRAIN DRAIN: We now have 

one doctor to 6,400 patients 

Continues from Page 5 

they will undergo their 

mandatory 12 months 

internship. 

Govt must act 

fast to stop 

brain drain - 

NMA 

Reacing to the 

development yesterday, 

the Njigerian Medical 

Association, NMA, 

urged government to act 

fast to stop its members 

from migrating abroad. 

Making the call, the 

FCT chapter of NMA, 

said that it was in talk 

with members to 

consider service to their 

fatherland in the face of 

government nonchalant 

attitude to their plights. 

The Public Relations 

Officer of the chapter, Dr. 

Muyiwa Komolafe, told 

Vanguard: "Brain drain 

is not going to end 

anytime soon because 

apparently as it is, there 

is really no incentive to 

make people stay here 

and serve in their 

country. 

"However, we are 

trying to talk to one 

another to soft-pedal, 

that there are economic 

realities because you can 

imagine somebody 

earning in Pounds and 

Dollars, with the 

declining rate of the 

Naira. That is another 

factor driving people to 

leave the country. 

"Some other things 

which people are 

supposed to look at are 

the possibility that if you 

are at home, you are in 

your own country and 

you can walk around 

without fear of being 

castigated, harassed and 

called all manner of 

names and all of that. It's 

not as if those people are 

actually friendly to us. 

"Insecurity is one of the 

reasons people are 

leaving. Many of our 

colleagues have become 

victims of the bad 

security situation in the 

country and this is 

contributing to the 

migration of our people 

outside the shores of this 

country, thus causing the 

brain drain. 

"You cannot be 

kidnapped overseas. The 

police will be at the 

forefront of the matter, 

unlike here that even the 

police are not free from 

kidnap. 

"Family pressure is also 

contributing to the 

migration of our members 

abroad. Every family 

wants its own person to 

travel abroad. When you 

see your colleagues that 

just moved abroad buying 

new cars even for their 

fathers and doing other 

things and you can't even 

give N30,000 to your 

father, why would you not 

want to go abroad?” 

Naira appreciates to N445/$ in 

I&E window 


The naira yesterday appreciated to N445 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 per dollar 

from N446 per dollar on Wednesday, indicating N1 

appreciation for the naira. 

Similarly, the naira appreciated by N5 in the 

parallel market yesterday.“ 

Vanguard findings from black market traders 

showed that the exchange rate for the market fell to 

N780 per dollar from N785 on Wednesday. 

From left: Olowu of Owu, Oba Saka Matemilola; Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun 

Gbadebo; Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun; Osile of Oke-Ona, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso and Agura of 

Gbagura, Oba Sabru Bakre during the endorsement of the governor for a second term in office by the Egba 

Traditional Council at Ake Palace, Abeokuta yesterday. 

Nigeria needs political will, public to tackle energy needs, says 

IAEA 

By Prince Osuagwu, 

Hi-Tech Editor, 

Sochi, Russia 

THE International 

Atomic Energy 

Agency, IAEA, has advised 

Nigeria and other African 

countries planning to add 

nuclear into their energy 

mix to garner enough 

political will and public 

support to hit their desired 

targets. 

IAEA Deputy Director 

and Head of the 

Department of Nuclear 

Energy, Mikhail 

Chudakov, gave the advice 

at the ongoing 2022 Atom 

Expo in Sochi, Russia. 

At the opening ceremony 

of the Expo, with theme, 

''Nuclear Spring'', 

Chudakov called for more 

investment in nuclear 

energy to achieve the zero 

emission target by 2050. 

Speaking to African 

journalist on the chances of 

Africa to achieve sufficient 

nuclear energy to help 

solve energy problems, 

Chudakov said: "Oh why 

not? Most of the African 

countries, like Nigeria and 

the rest that have shown 

interest in nuclear energy, 

only need to garner 

enough political will and 

public support. 

''They need to create 

enough awareness to the 

benefits of clean energy 

and how it can help their 

situations. Russia did that 

and today, the results are 

clear." 

He made case for 

countries across the world 

to make additional 

investments in nuclear 

energy to help achieve zero 

emission by 2050. 

About 196 parties agreed 

to an international treaty on 

climate change in 2015 at 

COP 21 in Paris, to join 

forces to achieve zero 

emission by 2050. 

The 2015 agreement came 

into force on November 4, 

2016. 

Currently, the Earth is 

already about 1.1C warmer 

than it was in the late 1800s 

and emissions continue to 

rise and to reduce global 

warming to 1.5C, 

emissions need to be 

reduced by 45 percent by 

2030 and reach net zero by 

2050. 

Chudakov felt that to 

achieve the target, there 

must be concerted efforts to 

establish nuclear energy 

units globally. 

He said: "Now, an 

unprecedented number of 

about 70 countries have 

expressed interest in 

pursuing nuclear power 

development as part of 

their energy mix. This 

signal there could be a 

significant jump in nuclear 

power installed capacity by 

2050, and this trend will 

require the construction of 

twenty nuclear plant units 

every year. 

''In 2017, Nigeria and 

Russia signed agreements 

on construction and 

operation of a nuclear 

power plant and a nuclear 

research centre, including 

a multi-purpose research 

reactor in the country. 

''By October 2021, the 

Vice-President of JSC 

RUSATOM, the Russian 

Federation, Mr. Anton 

Moskvin, and his team met 

the Federal Government 

officials in Abuja in 

connection with a mutual 

framework for partnership 

on the development of 

nuclear energy for peaceful 

purposes.'' 

A T O M E X P O 

International Forum is the 

main event of the global 

nuclear industry. It is the 

largest exhibition and 

business platform to discuss 

the current state of the 

nuclear industry and 

setting future trends. It has 

been held annually since 

2009. 

13 years after, FG reintroduces History in basic 

education curriculum •Trains 3,700 teachers 

By Joseph Erunke 

ABUJA-After 13 years 

of abolishing History, 

the Federal Government 

yesterday formally 

announced its 

reintroduction as a standalone 

subject in basic 

education curriculum in 

Nigeria. 

The development came as 

government shortlisted a 

total of 3,700 history 

teachers for the first round 

of training for enhanced 

teaching of the subject. 

The Minister of 

Education, Malam Adamu 

Adamu, who disclosed this 

at the flag-off ceremony of 

the reintroduction of 

teaching of History and 

training of History teachers 

at basic education level, 

lamented that national 

cohesion was being 

threatened, with the 

country retreating into 

primodal sentiments 

because of lack of 

knowledge of the evolution 

of Nigeria, following the 

removal of History from 

basic education curriculum. 

Adamu was represented 

by the Minister of State for 

Education, Goodluck 

Nanah Opiah at the event 

attended by the Sultan of 

Sokoto, His Eminence, 

Muhammadu Sa'ad 

Abubakar, and other key 

stakeholders in the 

education sector. 

History was removed 

from primary and 

secondary education 

curriculums during the 

2009/2010 academic 

session. 

But following general 

reactions then that for a 

country that a country still 

evolving and grappling 

with issues of social 

cohesion, political stability 

and economic 

development, it could not 

afford to forget its past, the 

current Minister of 

Education ordered the 

reintroduction of the subject 

in 2019. 

Speaking at the flag-off, 

Adamu said: "History used 

to be one of the 

foundational subjects 

taught in our classroom but 

for some inexplicable 

reasons, the steam of 

teaching and learning was 

abolished. 

"As a result, History was 

subsequently expunged 

from the list of subject 

combination our students 

could offer in both external 

and internal examinations 

compared to the subjects 

that were made compulsory 

at basic and secondary 

levels in Nigeria. 

"This single act no doubt 

relegated and eroded the 

knowledge and information 

that learners could 

otherwise have been 

exposed to. It was a 

monumental mistake and 

have already started seeing 

its negative consequences. 

"The loss created by the 

absence of this subject has 

led to a fall in moral values, 

erosion of cvic values, and 

disconnect from the past. 

More worrisome was the 

neglect of the teaching of 

this subject at basic and 

post basic levels of 

education which invariably 

eroded the knowledge of 

the evolution of Nigeria as 

a country. 

"The immediate 

implication of this was that 

we lost ideas even of our 

recent past, and we 

scarcely saw ourselves as 

one nation and gradually 

began retreated into our 

primordial sentiments.' 

The minister added that 

the training and retraining 

of teachers in order to 

enhance their capacity 

development that would 

lead to the mastery of the 

subject, would be a focus 

of this re-introduction. 

He said teachers would 

be provided with the 

requisite skills needed to 

teach the subject, the 

technique, methodology 

which would eventually 

give the subject a didactic 

outlook that would arouse 

the interest of children to 

listen with rapt attention 

and remove the initial 

barriers that might have 

inhibited learning. 

On capacity building for 

teachers, having been 

disconnected from History 

teaching for several years, 

the Executive Secretary of 

Universal Basic Education 

Commission, UBEC, Dr. 

Hamid Bobboyi, said a total 

of 3,700 history teachers 

had been selected from the 

36 states of the federation 

and Federal Capital 

Territory, FCT, for training. 

He said the selection was 

done on pro rata basis, with 

100 teachers from each 

state and FCT, stressing 

that this would equip them 

with the necessary skills to 

teach the subject, especially 

with the modification of the 

subject content. 

Bobboyi said following 

the directive by the Minister 

of Education for History to 

be restored as a subject in 

schools, the Commission 

and Nigerian Educational 

Research and 

Development Council, 

NERDC, went to work, 

saying he was glad that the 

task had been 

accomplished with the 

eventual flag-off of the 

teaching of History in 

schools yesterday. 

The Sultan of Sokoto, His 

Eminence, Muhammadu 

Sa'ad Abubakar, in his 

goodwill message, said 

Nigeria was still evolving 

and striving to achieve 

nationhood, adding that the 

rich history of the country's 

diverse constituents could 

be explored and exploited 

to serve as an effective tool 

for nation building. 

He appealed to 

traditional rulers as 

custodians of the nation's 

rich culture, traditions and 

values, and indeed, all 

Nigerians to support the 

bold step taken by the 

government and given 

effect by the Universal Basic 

Education Commission, 

UBEC, to return the 

teaching of history as a 

subject at basic education 

level. 

"We owe it a duty to 

encourage research for the 

documentation of the 

History of our people and 

should be forthcoming in 

granting access to historical 

records in our custody," he 

said. 

C

36 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER, 25, 2022 

:Vanguard :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 

Why we're sustaining unslaught against 

terrorists —COAS 

By Emmanuel 

Elebeke 

BUJA—THE Chief of Army 

AStaff, COAS, Lt.-Gen. Faruk 

Yahaya, had vowed to crush Boko 

Haram bandits and other nonstate 

actors making peace 

impossible in the country. 

He said the Nigerian Military 

intends to sustain its onslaught 

against the criminal elements 

until peace is restored in the 

country. 

The COAS made the pledge at 

the graduation lecture of Course 

6/2022 of the Army War College 

of Nigeria, held in Abuja. 

He noted that the relative calm 

and peace the country is 

Atlantic Ocean may wash away Lekki-Epe area 

by 2024, NFC raises alarm 

By Gabriel Olawale 

L AGOS—THE 

Conservation Foundation, 

Nigerian 

NCF, has raised alarm over the 

likely washing away of Lekki-Epe 

corridor, including the Lekki 

Conservation Centre and estates 

surrounding it, by 2024, if nothing 

is done to check ocean 

encroachment. 

Speaking during the 40th 

anniversary of the foundation 

and award night, in Lagos, 

This's a miracle, exclaims second house winner 

in Glo ‘Festival of Joy' promo 

ORT HARCOURT—IT was 

Pcelebration time, yesterday, in 

Port Harcourt, as a Mechanical 

Engineer, Ola Joseph, emerged 

the latest house winner in the 

on-going Glo 'Festival of Joy' 

promo. 

The key to a 3-bedroom 

apartment was presented to 49- 

year-old Joseph, by the Speaker 

of Rivers State House of 

Assembly, Ikuinyi Ibani, and 

Globacom officials. 

Recounting his journey to 

winning a house, Joseph, an 

indigene of Ekiti State, said: “It’s 

a miracle, I still can’t believe it. 

Glo is our family network; we 

communicate all the time and 

even with our family friends on 

Glo lines. I remember loading 

credit and data, recently, when 

the last subscription expired and, 

after that, I joined the promo. I 

was not expecting anything soon 

but, yesterday morning, I got a 

call from a Glo officer, who, after 

series of questions, told me that I 

won a house. I was too shocked.” 

He explained further: “I was 

just planning on how to develop 

my land gradually and lo and 

behold, Glo showed up and made 

me a house owner. This prize is 

for me and my family and we are 

moving in immediately. God bless 

the owner, the management and 

staff of Globacom. They will 

continue to grow from strength 

to strength,, I am overwhelmed 

with joy.” 

Speaking at the event, Ikuinyi 

BRODA boss installed Odufade of Okpe Kingdom 

OKPE—THE 

ancient 

kingdom of Okpe, in Akoko 

Edo Local Government Area of 

Edo State was, recently, agog as 

it played host to the crowd of 

guests, visitors, and well wishes 

who thronged the palace of the 

Olokpe of Okpe, HRH Oba 

Eshimokhai Idogun III, to witness 

the traditional conferment of 

Saliu Ahmed as the Odufade of 

Okpe kingdom. 

The grand occasion also 

served as the 35th-anniversary 

celebration of the ascension of 

Oba Eshimokhai to the throne. 

The traditional title of Odufade 

of Okpe kingdom is usually 

reserved for those who have 

touched lives in the most 

significant manner and the 

recipient, Saliu Ahmed, 

Managing Director of the Benin- 

Owena River Basin Development 

Authority, BORDA, happens to 

be one. 

Translated, the title in the Okpe 

local parlance means "the one 

who brings joy to the multitude". 

The title was bestowed on 

presently enjoying was the 

result of the action by the 

Military and other security 

agencies. 

Gen. Yahaya also said the 

Military is achieving immensely 

and are encouraged by the 

support they get from Mr 

President and other 

stakeholders. 

"A lot has been achieved and 

is manifested in the relative 

calm and peace that is 

beginning to come and improve. 

We are not relenting in our 

onslaught against terrorist in 

the Northeast and other 

criminals bandits, kidnappers 

and other criminals across the 

nation. 

Director General of NCF, Dr. 

Joseph Onoja, said that about 

128 meters of the land had been 

lost to the ocean between 2018 

and 2022. 

He disclosed that ocean 

encroachment if left unchecked, 

is an existential threat to the 

collective existence of the 

Lekki-Epe corridor, “We started 

taking active drone images in 

2018, especially the Lafiaji 

axis,” adding that a redline 

(marked position) as at August 

O. Ibani said Globacom has 

brought joy and happiness to 

Nigerians through the Festival 

of Joy promo. He said, " 

Globacom is giving home to 

4,500 visitors for Beauty West 

trade event 

LAGOS—RECORD visitor 

numbers to Beauty West 

Africa are expected when the 

event opens on Tuesday, for 

three days. 

The Africa’s largest 

international beauty, hair and 

cosmetics trade event 

anticipates that more than 

4,500 attendees will meet more 

than 220 exhibitors from around 

the world. Visitors will also be 

able to participate in seminars 

and product demonstrations as 

well as attend a beauty 

conference and meet with 

celebrities and influencers from 

the beauty world. 

The event takes place at the 

Landmark Centre on Victoria 

Island, Lagos, and due to the 

demand from exhibitors will now 

be held across three exhibition 

halls, covering 4,200 sqm. 

Exhibitors are drawn from 

Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle 

East and North America, with 

five countries hosting pavilions 

Ahmed, in recognition of the 

role the BORDA, the 

interventionist agency he 

superintendent, played in the 

establishment of the first-of-itskind 

integrated farms in Okpe. 

The farms currently employs a 

a large number of the indigenes. 

The who-is-who in Edo 

North were not left out of the 

congregation of the esteemed 

and distinguished guests who 

were at hand to witness the 

epoch-making event. 

Top Edo State APC stalwarts, 

including the State Secretary 

of the party, Mr. Lawrence 

Okha; the former Etsako West 

and Central council chairmen, 

Hon Yakubu Musa and 

Emmanuel Momoh, we were 

among the dignitaries who 

graced the event. 

Also, the royalty was well 

represented by the Daudu of 

the Auchi kingdom who ably 

stood in for the Otaru of Auchi, 

HRH H. A. Momoh, Ikelebe 

III 

Ȯthers were the monarch of 

"Be it in the North-east, Northwest 

and North-central and all 

across, in all these we are doing 

immensely with other services, 

talking about Nigerian Navy, 

Airforce and other security agents 

and stakeholders. We are not 

relenting but encouraged by the 

support we get and 

encouragement from all these we 

have mentioned. 

"The Army has a department of 

transformation and innovation 

which anchors our research and 

development while liasing with 

other Ministries and agencies. We 

would continue to collaborate with 

the Ministry of Science, 

Technology and Innovation 

especially in terms of research and 

training. 

25, 2022, is gradually becoming 

part of the ocean. 

He further said, “We continued 

to track the movement between 

2020 and 2021. By July, 2021, our 

reference house had gotten close 

to the ocean. By August 25, 2022, 

the ocean could just be seen 

beside the house. 

“Now, from our projection and 

from what is happening, if 

everything remains constant, our 

referenced redline will remain just 

by the ocean in 2026. However, 

things are not equal. We have 

already been beaten by the 

beachhead. 

the homeless and this is one of 

the best things you can do to help 

anyone in life", adding that, 

"what Globacom has done today 

deserves commendation and it is 

worthy of emulation, especially 

by other telecom companies in 

Nigeria". 

for exhibitors from Indonesia, 

South Africa, Senegal, Pakistan, 

and Egypt. 

Now in its fourth edition, Beauty 

West Africa is being organised by 

BtoB Events. Managing Director 

Jamie Hill comments: “Excitingly, 

many new Nigerian companies are 

looking to expand their post 

pandemic business.” 

Cadbury unveils 

participants of 

yearly Tech Boot 

Camp 

LAGOS—CADBURY Nigeria 

Plc., a subsidiary of Mondelez 

International, recently unveiled 

outstanding participants of the 

yearly Tech Boot Camp, since 

inception at a media parley held 

at the company’s head office in 

Lagos. 

Bournvita, however, has trained 

over 1,200 children since inception 

of the boot camp in 2019. 

South Ibie kingdom, Oba kelvin 

Danesi, and other surrounding 

communities as well as the friends, 

BORDA staff members, close 

relatives, old schoolmates, and 

well-wishers 

Clem Agba, the minister of state 

of finance, budget, and national 

planning, represented by one of 

the top officials in the ministry, led 

the powerful Abuja entourage 

that stormed the venue of the 

conferment to lend support and 

spice up the event. 

•Saliu 

Ahmed

C 

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Y 

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C 

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Embolo: 

It’s special 

playing against 

Cameroon 

Refuses to celebrate goal against 

country-of-birth Cameroon 

BREEL EMBOLO 

refused to 

celebrate after 

scoring for Switzerland 

against the country of his 

birth Cameroon.The 

forward, 25, was born in 

Yaounde, capital of 

Cameroon before moving 

to Switzerland as a child. 

After opening the scoring 

in the 48th minute of this 

World Cup Group G 

encounter, Embolo looked 

visibly moved as he raised 

his arms, refusing to 

celebrate. 

Ahead of the match, the 

Monaco star admitted 

that it would be an 

occasion like no other. 

He said: “It’s very 

special. 

“It’s my hometown and 

my mum and my dad come 

from there, my family, 

most of them come from 

there, so it’s a special 

game for me and my 

family. 

“But most importantly 

it’s a World Cup game… 

“I’m proud and happy to 

be here and hopefully I 

will play against them 

(Cameroon) but most 

Apple eye £5.8B Man 

Utd deal 

US tech giant Apple 

has joined the race 

to buy Manchester United. 

United confirmed the 

sensational news that the 

world’s biggest football 

club is effectively for sale 

in a statement issued 

earlier this week. 

With United now 

available, the world’s 

largest tech company may 

be interested in acquiring 

the club for £5.8billion. 

The California-based 

tech firm has never 

previously owned a major 

sports team, but the 

commercial opportunities 

provided by United are 

said to be a primary factor 

in their interest. 

Any potential deal 

would almost certainly 

become the most costly 

acquisition of a football 

club in history, surpassing 

the £4.25billion fee a 

consortium led by 

Todd Boehly paid for 

Chelsea earlier this 

year. 

Belgium pay tribute 

to Courtois 

Belgium have paid 

tribute to their 

goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois after 

their win against Canada. 

Courtois’s save on a 10th-minute penalty 

taken by Canada’s Alphonso Davies proved 

decisive, as the Belgians held on to a 1-0 lead 

after Michy Batshuayi scored shortly before 

half-time. 

“Thibaut saves the day,” Belgium said through their 

Twitter account. 

importantly is playing in 

a World Cup. It’s always 

special.” 

Asked if he’d be 

supporting Cameroon 

during the tournament, he 

added: “Yes of course - but 

after Switzerland, and 

after this game.” 

After being born 

in Yaounde, 

E m b o l o 

moved to 

France with 

his mother 

aged five. 

Alves: 

Messi and 

Neymar are 

bigger stars 

than 

Mbappe 

Dani Alves has given 

an interview to La 

Gazzetta dello Sport, in 

which he talked about 

Kylian Mbappe, Lionel 

Messi and Neymar. 

Alves has a great 

relationship with Messi 

and Neymar and it shows 

in the interview, because 

he had some words about 

Mbappe that won’t sit well 

with the Frenchman. 

“Mbappe is a 

phenomenon who has not 

yet understood that those 

who play with him in 

attack are bigger 

phenomenons than him.” 

The Brazilian full-back 

does not doubt Mbappe’s 

quality, but stresses that 

the Argentine and the 

Brazilian are above him. 

“Neymar and Messi 

are unique,” Alves said 

“They see and do things 

that no one else sees or can 

do. A great player must 

always know and 

understand who he 

Mikel Obi: I’m not a 

fan of Ronaldo 

Former Super Eagles 

captain John Mikel 

Obi admits that Cristiano 

Ronaldo is one of 

football’s greatest-ever 

players, but the ex- 

Gavi’s number 9 jersey raises questions 

Spain’s Gavi made history in the 

game against Costa Rica, 

becoming the youngest World Cup goal 

scorer since Brazilian legend Pele. 

While many celebrated the 18-yearold’s 

achievement, others questioned 

why Gavi – a central midfielder – has a 

“9” on the back of his shirt, a number 

traditionally associated with centre 

forwards. 

Some speculated that it’s an upside-down 

six, the number of legendary Spain 

midfielder and Gavi’s current Barcelona 

coach, Xavi. 

plays with, 

y o u r 

teammates 

enrich your 

qualities.” 

Chelsea midfielder insists 

he is no fan of the 

Portuguese superstar 

Ronaldo has been in a 

fierce head-to-head 

match-up, over the past 15 

years, with Paris Saint- 

Germain’s Lionel Messi 

on who is the best player 

of this generation. 

But Mikel Obi 

maintains that Ronaldo’s 

over-bloated ego places 

him on a lower pedestal 

than the Argentine wizard. 

“I’ve never been a 

Ronaldo fan really,” Mikel 

Obi said in an interview 

with Dubai Eye. 

Gavi on goal: ‘It’s an 

honour’ 

S 

p a i n ’ s 

midfielder 

Gavi expressed joy at 

becoming the 

youngest World Cup 

goal-scorer since 

Pele during his team’s 

7-0 victory against 

Costa Rica. 

But he added that 

winning the game 

matters most. 

“I’m happy for the 

accomplishments, but 

what I really care 

[about] is that we won 

and played a great 

game, let’s move 

forward,” Gavi told a 

news conference. 

“Of course, it’s an 

honour… It’s something 

that makes me really 

happy.” 

Delta 2022 National 

Sports festival not 

postponed, says LOC 

New tartan track, indoor 

halls ready 

The Local Organising Committee (LOC) for Delta 

2022 National Sports Festival has said that the 

Games will hold as scheduled. 

The LOC statement came yesterday amid 

insinuations about a possible shift in date for the 21st 

NSF, insisting the November 28 - December 10 date 

remains sacrosanct. 

“The festival will hold as planned,” Co-chairman 

of the LOC, Chief Tonobok Okowa, assured. 

Okowa, who is the Chairman Delta Sports 

Commission and President Athletics Federation of 

Nigeria (AFN) said that preparations for the Games, 

which is Nigeria’s version of the Olympic Games are 

on course with contractors handling the various 

projects working round the clock to put finishing 

touches to the state of the art facilities. 

“The swimming pool is ready, and the purpose 

indoor sports hall will be handed over to us on 

Saturday. The tartan track, which is the first of it’s 

kind in sub Saharan Africa will equally be handed 

over to us on Saturday. 

Japan wins on and off the 

field at the World Cup 

Fans clean up trash in stadiums 

The postcards of the 

Qatar 2022 World 

Cup have left impressive 

images in terms of soccer, 

but not only that, and is 

that Japanese fans, true 

to their custom, can not 

stand that the stadiums 

are dirty, and are 

dedicated to picking up 

trash at the end of the 

matches they attend. 

The Khalifa 

International Stadium, 

venue of the match 

between Japan and 

Germany, witnessed a 

truly unexpected victory 

of the Easterners over the 

Enrique praises 

‘exceptional’ 

Spain 

Europeans, and when the 

match was over, the fans 

who traveled from Japan 

to Qatar, dedicated 

themselves to leave the 

stadium as clean as 

possible, and social 

networks applauded the 

attitude of the Japanese 

fans. 

With blue garbage bags, 

the fans left the 

celebrations behind and 

instead tidied up the areas 

around their seats. In one 

video, fans in the highest 

rows were seen passing 

trash to others holding 

trash bags underneath. 

Spain coach Luis Enrique 

has heaped praise on his 

players after their 7-0 victory 

against Costa Rica. 

“When things go like this, 

football becomes a wonderful 

sport,” Luis Enrique told a news 

conference. 

“We were exceptional in our ball-handling and 

finishing, with the same philosophy that the national 

team has had for years. We were exceptional in 

pressing, and the 17 players who took part were very 

good.” 

‘We were bad’, says Costa 

Rica coach 

Costa Rica coach, 

Luis Fernando 

Suárez said he would try 

to rally his shattered team 

after their 7-0 thrashing 

by Spain. 

“We couldn’t get the 

ball and there was 

nothing in attack from 

us,” Luis Fernando 

Suarez told reporters. “I 

have to admit that we 

were bad and we all have 

to take account of what 

happened.” 

Costa Rica, who 

reached the World Cup 

quarter-finals in 2014, 

failed to record a single 

shot on goal against 

Spain and now face 

Japan and Germany in 

their remaining Group E 

games.


Cisse insists Mendy is 

still No 1 goalkeeper 

– despite his error against 

Holland 

Edouard Mendy carries the ‘blind faith’ of his 

Senegal boss Aliou Cisse and his teammates 

as the African champions attempt to pile more 

misery on hosts Qatar. 

Chelsea goalkeeper Mendy was at fault for the 

first goal as his team lost 2-0 to Holland on Monday. 

Now they go head to head with the home nation 

and Asian champions in Doha’s Al Thumama 

Stadium today, with the losers painfully aware they 

are unlikely to progress from Group A. 

‘Edouard doing very well, he has a steel resolve,’ 

said Cisse. ‘We chatted about the game. Edouard’s 

qualities speak for himself. He has had highs and 

lows but he has my blind trust. He will be on the 

pitch.’ 

Mendy’s Chelsea teammate Kalidou Koulibaly 

also backed his friend, who 

was the penalty shootout 

hero of Senegal’s African 

Cup of Nations triumph in 

February. 

‘We play at the same club, 

we are brothers in arms for 

Senegal and we speak a lot 

together,’ said Koulibaly. 

‘He’s a very important 

player for us and it’s totally 

normal to go through 

difficult phases. 

Holland vs Ecuador: 

Oranje, La Tri 

look to build on 

opening wins 

The Netherlands and 

Ecuador will both be 

bidding to continue their fine 

starts to the World Cup 

perfectly after opening round 

wins. 

La Tri were too powerful for 

hosts Qatar and recovered 

after seeing an early goal ruled 

out to secure a 2-0 victory. 

Meanwhile, the Dutch were 

laboured against Senegal and 

had Edouard Mendy to thank 

for their win after two errors 

from the Chelsea goalkeeper 

allowed Cody Gakpo and 

Davy Klaassen to score in 

another 2-0 triumph. 

But Louis van Gaal’s men 

will seek to turn in a much 

more complete performance 

when these two meet . A win 

for ether side would guarantee 

their place in the next round 

of the World Cup, so this 

should be a fascinating affair. 

•Valencia 

•Depay 

Switzerland 1 – 0 Cameroon 

Cameroonian Embolo 

hurts Indomitable Lions 

•Switzerland’s Breel Embolo scores the only goal against 

Cameroon - the country of his birth, but refuses to celebrate 

Embolo refused to 

celebrate when he 

finished off a slick 

Swiss attack shortly after 

half-time. 

The Indomitable Lions 

were unfortunate to lose 

after an enterprising 

display at the Al Janoub 

Stadium in Qatar. 

Victory was vital for 

Switzerland, as both sides 

still have to face Brazil in 

the group. 

Embolo moved to 

Switzerland from 

Cameroon with his family as 

a six-year-old and pledged 

his allegiance to the 

European nation after 

COMING TO AMERICA 

Kane to start for 

England in World Cup 

clash with USA 

•Kane 

GARETH SOUTHGATE insists Harry Kane 

IS FIT to face USA tonight - and the star could 

not stop smiling. The England captain appeared to 

suffer a knock to his right ankle during the 6-2 victory 

over Iran in their World Cup opener. 

He did play on for 25 minutes before he was 

eventually replaced on 76 minutes and was spotted 

with strapping on lower leg afterwards, sparking 

major fears from supporters. 

The Tottenham striker has since undergone a scan 

to determine the severity of the injury, but now boss 

Southgate has provided some good news for the worried 

nation. Ahead of the second Group B game with USA, he 

told ITV: “He’s good. 

“He’s worked a little bit more individually today, but 

he’ll be back in with the team tomorrow(today) and all 

good for the game. 

Qatar vs Senegal: 

Lions of Teranga to 

bounce back after 

opening day setback 

Qatar vs Senegal is a 

must-win game for both 

teams. Each was beaten in 

their respective opening 

game, with Qatar outplayed 

by a vibrant Ecuador in the 

tournament’s curtain raiser on 

Sunday. Senegal, meanwhile, 

lost against Netherlands the 

next day. 

The World Cup is not yet 

over for either of these teams. 

But victory here, in what each 

will now likely see as their 

most favourable fixture, is 

being granted citizenship in 

2014. At the age of just 18, 

he set up the Embolo 

Foundation to support 

refugee children in 

Switzerland and 

disadvantaged children in 

the country of his birth. 

He said before the game it 

would be “a very special” 

occasion to play against 

Cameroon and when he 

scored, he respectfully raised 

his arms and closed his eyes. 

“I told him, ‘Breel, 

friendship until the start, 

then they are your 

opponents,’” said 

Switzerland coach Murat 

Yakin. “Football writes such 

Uruguay 0 – 0 S. Korea: 

stories but he completed his 

mission. 

“I am very happy with his 

performance.” 

Embolo’s strike ensured 

victory for a side with high 

expectations - Yakin has 

declared his squad “the 

best Switzerland side ever” 

and said he expects them 

to achieve their best return 

at a World Cup. 

Yet they struggled in the 

first half in the face of a 

vibrant Cameroon start and 

ought to have gone behind, 

with Eric Choupo-Moting, 

Bryan Mbeumo and 

Martin Hongla all missing 

presentable opportunities. 

Uruguay, South Korea play 

out goalless draw 

Uruguay and South 

Korea have begun their 

respective 2022 World Cup 

campaigns with a goalless 

draw in Group H. 

Diego Alonso’s team twice 

hit the woodwork through 

Diego Godin and Federico 

Valverde, but the South 

American nation could not find 

a winner, with the points being 

shared in Al Rayyan. 

South Korea were the team 

on the front foot in the early 

exchanges, with the 

movement of their forward 

players causing problems for for 

the Uruguayan defence, which 

once again included Jose 

Gimenez and Godin. 

The first real chance of the 

match came in the 19th minute 

when Gimenez picked out 

Valverde with a sensational 

•Mendy 

crucial going into the final 

round of group games. 

This is the first time Qatar 

and Senegal have ever faced 

each other. 

Cheikhou Kouyate and 

Abdou Diallo both had to go 

off injured in Senegal’s 

opener and could be doubts for 

this one. The obvious absence 

of Sadio Mane, who withdrew 

from the squad four days 

before the Netherlands game, 

is still a bitter blow. 

long pass, but the midfielder’s 

effort was deflected just wide 

of the post. 

Gimenez then picked out 

Facundo Pellistri with a 

excellent pass; the Manchester 

United attacker delivered 

towards Darwin Nunez, but 

the forward 

could not 

make contact 

on the ball 

u n d e r 

pressure. 

Valverde 

rattled the 

woodwork for 

Uruguay in 

the 89th 

minute, with 

the Real 

M a d r i d 

midfielder’s 

stunning effort 

England vs USA: 

Three Lions take on 

Americans in crucial 

Group B clash 

In-form England will 

take on USA in their 

second group game of the 

2022 World Cup tonight. 

Gareth Southgate’s 

Three Lions got off to a 

winning in Group B in 

Qatar, seeing off Iran in 

style with a superb 6-2 

victory. 

England ran riot against 

the helpless Iranians as 

Bukayo Saka scored twice 

and Jack Grealish, Marcus 

Rashford, Raheem 

Sterling and Jude 

Bellingham also found the 

net. 

Now, things will get 

tougher for Southgate and 

from distance clipping the 

outside of the post. 

Son then struck wide of the 

target moments later, with a 

poor kick from Sergio Rochet 

handing South Korea the 

chance to secure all three 

points late on. 

•Weah 

co as they face an 

American side with plenty 

of quality. 

England infamously 

drew with USA in their 

opening game of the 2010 

World Cup in South Africa. 

Liverpool legend Steven 

Gerrard gave the Three 

Lions an early lead but a 

howler from Rob Green 

gifted Clint Dempsey an 

equaliser. 

Now, Southgate will be 

eager to show lessons have 

been learned and his side 

will not be 

underestimating their foes 

from across the pond. 

Mexican fans caught trying 

to smuggle beer into Qatar 

World Cup stadium 

Mexican fans tried to 

sneak booze into 

the Qatar World Cup 

stadium in a flask 

disguised as binocularsbut 

the hapless supporters 

were caught and it was 

confiscated. 

Footage shows a fan 

dressed in a green football 

shirt standing next to three 

officials. 

The supporter is at the 

security scanners which 

they have to go through to 

be let into the stadium. 

One of the officials 

appears to tell the other 

that there is something 

suspicious about the 

‘binoculars’. 

The other official holds 

them up to look through 

them- their intended use. 

But he then looks more 

closely. 

Qatar issues 

apology to 

World Cup 

fans, offers 

full refunds 

Qatari officials have 

offered refunds and 

free accommodation to fans 

who were disappointed by 

overpriced and inadequate 

accommodation. Hastily 

constructed ‘fan villages’ at 

the Qatar World Cup have 

been blasted by fans who say 

that soaring temperatures 

inside their rooms are 

unacceptable. Fans also 

complained that some of the 

rooms were unfinished and 

in a state of disrepair when 

they arrived. 

After spending £200 per 

night fans complained that 

the accommodation — inside 

brightly painted shipping 

containers — does not meet 

expectations. 

C 

M 

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Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2022 

Sudoku 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

YESTERDAY’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 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION 

ACROSS 

1 Crush flat (6) 

4 Prose compositions (6) 

8 Subsequently (5) 

9 Offspring (7) 

10 Not easily disturbed or angered (7) 

11 Conductor's stick (5) 

12 Six (4,5) 

17 Additional (5) 

19 Eminent (7) 

21 Sports arena (7) 

22 Item of cutlery (5) 

23 Vast desert of North Africa (6) 

24 Team game (6) 

DOWN 

1 Weighing machine (6) 

2 Falsehood (7) 

3 Bush (5) 

5 The entertainment business (7) 

6 Representative (5) 

7 Espionage (6) 

9 Assumed name (9) 

13 Having more foliage (7) 

14 Nine iron, in golf (7) 

15 Sumptuous meals (6) 

16 Crunchy salad vegetable (6) 

18 Garbage (5) 

20 Capital of Japan (5) 

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