Gunmen massacre 78 students in Yobe

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 61981

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013**

Mr & Mrs

•33 persons feared dead as herdsmen,farmers clash in Benue

Gunmen massacre78 students in Yobe

Continues on page 7

53RD INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY — From left, PDP BOT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih; formerHead of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan; former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon; Senate President,David Mark; President Goodluck Jonathan; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha; Gov Jonah Jang ofPlateau State and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim at the 53rd Independence Anniver-sary Interdenominational Church Service in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

2015: I didn't sign one-termdeal with anybody — Jonathan

BY UDUMA KALU,JOHNBOSCO AGBAK-

WURU, JOSEPHERUNKE &BALA

AJIYA, WITH AGENCYREPORTS

LAGOS—GUNMENsuspected to be

Boko Haram sect mem-bers yesterday went onrampage in Gujba com-munity, Yobe state wherethey opened fire on thestudents

•P.8

Court asked tovoid PDP'sspecialconvention

•Inside tomorrow

•Speaks on ASUU strike, education, corruption•Insists Nigeria is not broke; explains sack of ministers

5

P.7

DELESOBOWALE

•P.47

•P.7

Presidencyplots crackdown on ourmembers— nPDP

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY,SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY,SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 — 3


POCKET CARTOON

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013—5

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

2015: I didn't sign one-termdeal with anybody — Jonathan

Say something kind and encouraging to every-one you meet, and people will always be happy tosee you coming. Weak people revenge. Strong peo-ple forgive. Intelligent people ignore!

DO what you love. Do what makes your heartsing. And don’t just do it for the money,

Go to work to spread joy — Marianne Williamson

Each of us is so different and unique, with giftsand talents. You have been created with certain giftsand purpose in life. Enjoy who you were created tobe, without trying to be someone you are not sup-posed to be. Accept the things that have happenedin your life, and allow them to make you better, andnot bitter.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Sometimes we get socaught up in the little things that really don’t mat-ter, that we can’t enjoy the moment. Sometimes theselittle things that we worry about rob us of the joy ofthe moment. Every day, if you can, try to write downthe things you are thankful for and how these thingsuplift you. Fill your heart with pure love just likethe rose gives out its fragrance simply because thereis nothing else it can be, whether there is someoneto enjoy the fragrance or not, a lamp shines with nothought of whether someone gets its luminescence,the light always shines, the tree does not withdrawits shade, because no one is there, and of coursethe bird in the forest sings beautifully not worryingwho hears or listens...so it is with Divine Love. Ifthere is a thing that cannot be taken away fromyou...it is Divine Love.

MEETING—From left: Governors Theodore Orji (Abia), EmmanuelUduaghan (Delta), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Martin Elechi (Ebonyi), PeterObi (Anambra), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibomstate and Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd)at the South East/S-South Governors meeting at Government House, Enugu,yesterday. See story on Page 14.

BY DAPO AKINRE-FON, GBENGA OKE &

LEVINUSNWABUGHIOGU

L A G O S — P R E S IDENT Goodluck

Jonathan yesterday vehe-mently denied signing aone-term agreement ei-ther officially or unoffi-cially with any indi-vidual or group in 2011as has been widelyspeculated.

Jonathan, who spokeduring his periodic me-dia chat with a team of

journalists, said: “I havenot signed agreementwith anybody. If I havesigned agreement, theywould have shown you.”

Similarly, the Presidentrefused to clear the airon his intention to re-contest, saying that it wasearly to comment on2015.

According to him, earlypoliticking was againstthe spirit and letters ofthe Electoral Act andcould also destabilizethe polity.

His words: “We havelaws in this country. Iquite appreciate thatElectoral Laws tend toregulate political activi-ties. If you do it earlier,you will destabilize thecountry. Don’t force aPresident to declare. It isagainst the ElectoralLaw. It has time.”

He, however said thatany Nigerian, who isseeking to contest theoffice of the President in2015 should not wait forhim to declare beforemaking his or her inten-tion known.

“Don’t wait for me todeclare before you de-clare your intention ifyou want to contest”, thePresident added. A lot ofpeople are misinformingNigerians. I was in Ad-dis-Ababa, that was thetime I advocated a singletenure. The way you lookat the politics of Nigerianow, the country is justdeveloping, in terms ofthe political evolution,this is about the firsttime; if you look at theway our polity is, I sug-gested that probably ifthe president has a sin-gle tenure of seven yearsrunning without interfer-ence, it will be produc-tive.”

Electoral laws

He said that politiciansdeclaring early for vari-ous respective positionsare bound to over-heatthe polity.

His words: “I know thatour electoral laws givepeople time to campaignbut if you start early, youwill create more prob-

lems for the system. Iknow what it takes tocampaign, for you to goround the country, youwill spend a lot of moneyin campaigning. Theelectoral law gives INECthe power to set timeframe for politicians whoare interested in elec-tions to begin to informNigerians. If you do itearlier, you willdestabilize the country.Any president, whetherit is Goodluck Jonathan,as long as you still havethe opportunity to con-test, if you declare itearly, you will createmore problems in the sys-tem than solving theproblems... So, don’teven force a president todeclare his interest. It iseven against the Elec-toral Act, even if it is nota sitting president. Theelectoral law has a timefor political parties to con-duct their primaries.Whatever you are doingis clandestine. You cantell your friends. A lot ofpeople have been hold-ing meetings silently,who has declared?"

On Apo killingsSpeaking on the recent

killings in Apo, PresidentJonathan said ‘thoughinnocent persons mayhave died, there wereconfessions from arrestedBoko Haram operativesthat there were arms inthat building. “Some ofthe people that were ar-rested confessed andthey were leading themto where they said armswere kept and there wasan exchange of gunfire.In the process some peo-ple were arrested somedied. I cannot say clearlythat all those who diedwere members of BokoHaram but definitelythere were Boko Haramelements there” he said.

FG is committedto education

On the continued face-off between ASUU andthe Federal Government,he said: “Some of the is-sues in the 2009 agree-ment with ASUU, maybethose who sat down to dothe negotiations werecivil servants, there werecertain things that someof them know and agreethat cannot be imple-mented. How can theysay that assets of govern-ment should be trans-ferred to universities?The Federal Governmenthas so many assets, gov-ernment cannot take careof universities alone. Soif we transfer all thelanded property of gov-ernment to the univer-sities, what about thearmed forces?

“We have been faithfulto the agreement be-cause after the 2009agreement there havebeen other strikes. Sothis strike is beyond the2009 agreement becauseit is apart from thoseones that talk abouttransferring assets ofgovernment to universi-ties. You cannot just dothat. Talking about infra-structure, the govern-ment was not forced intothat but we on our sidedecided to go and takeinventory of the infra-structure. So they shouldnot capitalize on it, youcannot change this over-night but we are lookingat this with serious com-mitment. We still haveour challenges but youhave seen the commit-ment of government.

On how the govern-ment plans to resolve theASUU logjam, he ap-pealed to ASUU to calloff the strike saying thatgovernment is committedto effecting the changes.

“Members of ASUU areour brothers and sisters,they should look at thecountry, they should lookat the young men andwomen and they shouldalso look at the commit-ment of government. Weare very sincere and mycommitment is total tomake changes but youcannot make this over-night. If you see the sin-cerity in government andgiven the extra thingsgovernment is doing, weare committed. Youshould not expect us toclose down other sectorsof government and bringall the money to solve theproblem over night.

We’re not bank-rupt

Clearing the air onwhether the country wasbankrupt or not, thepresident said, “Peopleplay politics because foranybody to say that Ni-geria is bankrupt, theremust be some indicators.You just don’t wake upfrom your sleep and sayNigeria is bankrupt. Ni-geria, as a nation, interms of foreign directinvestment, shows thatthe business environ-ment is viable. More

than 90 per cent of thosewho invest in our capitalmarket are non-Nigeri-ans. If Nigeria was bank-rupt, the investors willremove their moneyovernight. Anybody whotalks about Nigeria beingbankrupt is just playingpolitics. If Nigeria isbroke, there are param-eters you use.”

Corruption

Commenting on thehigh rate of corruption inthe country, he said:“When you talk of cor-ruption in Nigeria, it isall about perception andindex. Perception is likewhen you say somethingis wrong 100 times, it be-comes true. There was atime we assembled civilsociety people and askedthem to compare andcontrast what the majorproblem of Nigeria was,I think corruption camethird. I am not sayingcorruption does not existin this country, corrup-tion is existing and it isas old as the human race.What our administrationis doing is to ensure thatpublic funds are not ex-posed to people to steal."

Sacking ofministers

Explaining the ration-ale behind the sack ofnine ministers from theFederal Executive Coun-cil, the president said thesack had nothing to withthe G7 governors.

Said he: “It has noth-ing to do with the G7governors. I can tell youthat some ministersdropped from differentstates are ministersnominated by governorsvery close to me. Theminister dropped fromKaduna State where theVice President is fromdid not have issues withmy Vice President.Sometimes, you just wantto do something differ-ently and since as presi-dent, you have the powerto hire and fire, you justhave to do it to repositionyour government."

6—Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

JTF arrests29 oilthieves,destroys127 illegalrefineries

PLANTING: Farmers planting rice during the visit of a delegation from South-South Cooperation in Africa to KogiAccelerated Rice Project, Okumi, Lokoja, Kogi State, Saturday.

Kidnappers of Edo judge yet tomake contact

5 aliens nabbed for illegal bunkering

FIVE foreign nationals, who al-legedly specialised in convey-

ing petroleum products from pipe-line vandals to Benin Republic,have been arrested by the Nige-rian Navy Task Force in Badagryarea of Lagos State.

The suspects, comprising fourteenagers from Benin Republicand a 50-year-old Ghanaian, werereportedly arrested while convey-ing 113 50-litre jerrycans filledwith petroleum products.

Parading the suspects beforejournalists, weekend, Administra-tion Officer, NNS Beecroft,Apapa, Commander HyacynthNwaka, said operatives of the TaskForce at Atlas Cove, acting on atip-off, intercepted the suspects at3.30a.m. and brought them to the

BY EVELYN USMAN

THE Joint MilitaryTask Force, JTF, in the

Niger Delta has nabbed29 oil thieves and de-stroyed 127 illegal oil re-fineries in various loca-tions in the area.

Media Coordinator ofJTF, Lt.-Col. OnyemaNwachukwu, who madethe disclosure in a state-ment yesterday in Yena-goa, Bayelsa State, saidthat the anti-oil theft op-erations were carried outbetween September 16and 28.

He said: “Between Sep-tember 16 and 28, we car-ried out multiple anti-oil-theft operations in whicha total of 29 suspects werearrested for oil theft-re-lated offences.

“Anti-oil theft troops ofJTF, Operation PuloShield, also crushed 127illegal crude oil distilla-tion sites.”

He explained thattroops of the 19 and 3 Bat-talions of JTF, coveringEdo and Delta states, alsoscuttled 24 illegal oil dis-tillation camps and 73wooden boats.

“31 of the 73 boats wereintercepted at an illegalcrude oil loading pointclose to an abandoned oilwell-head in Okpo-gharein Warri North, DeltaState,” he added.

He said another 27boats were intercepted inEgara Creek in the WarriSouth Local GovernmentArea of Delta.

BENIN—KIDNAPPERS ofan Edo State High Court

Judge, Justice DanielOkungbowa, abducted on hisway to resume at the EkpomaDivision of the high court lastweek, are yet to make contactwith the family.

It was gathered that no ran-som demand had been made,nor communications estab-lished by the kidnappers.

Meanwhile, Judicial StaffUnion of Nigeria, JUSON, hasresolved to stage a protestmarch to Edo State Governor’soffice, Department of StateServices, DSS, and the Com-missioner of Police, today toregister their displeasure overthe kidnap of JusticeOkungbowa.

JUSON at its meeting, week-end in Benin, directed its mem-bers to stay at home for sevendays effective from Wednesday,if the judge was not released.

Edo State branch Treasurer ofJUSON, Alex Osigbemhe, toldVanguard that their decision toboycott all judicial activities inthe state pending the uncon-ditional release of JusticeOkungbowa was total, insist-ing that the kidnap of lawyersand judges in the state wasbecoming an embarrassment.

He said: “We will decide onthe next line of action to take ifat the end of the seven days,the judge was not released.”

Judges' resolutionMeanwhile, judges in the

state may have resolved toshun the courts in protest overthe abduction of Justice

Okungbowa.The action of the judges is

coming on the heels of theresolution by the Benin branchof Nigerian Bar Association,NBA, to boycott all courts in thestate until Justice Okungbowawas released unhurt and un-conditionally.

Vanguard learnt that amongthe courts allegedly shunnedby NBA last week were Courtof Appeal, Benin Division,Federal High Court, all statehigh court, magistrate courts,customary courts, and districtcustomary courts.

NBA reactsNBA, in a statement by its

chairman, Oriane Akere, calledon the state government andsecurity agencies to live up totheir responsibilities and takeproactive measures to stop the

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

Judicial workers threaten 7-day strike

base for further investigation.The suspects claimed they

were fishermen based in Seme

area of Lagos.One of them, Andre

Tougene, a secondary school

state from degenerating “intothe Hobbesian state of nature,where life was short, nasty andbrutish.”

It was learnt that security op-eratives of DSS and the Police inEdo and Delta states were work-ing together to ensure the saferelease of Justices Okungbowa.

student in Benin Republic, toldVanguard that they were in-structed by some persons toconvey the product to Seme,where it would be sold to buy-ers for onward transportationto Benin Republic.

He claimed to have beentempted by the N4,000 pay-ment he was to get.

The 50-year-old Ghanaian,Nabroda Ajete, said a friend ofhis told him to bring 30 emptyjerrycans to the shore. And thathe didn’t know they were go-ing to be used to siphon petro-leum products.

The suspects, according toCommander Nwaka, would behanded over to the police. Hesaid that the fate of the one thatclaimed to be 15 years wouldbe determined by the Police.

Firm's bossdocked overallegedN36m theft

BY IJEOMANATHANIEL

MANAGING Direc-tor of OSV Metro

Services Company, AbbasIbrahim, has been ar-raigned before an IkejaMagistrate’s Court overtheft of N36,000,000worth of property.

Docked before Magis-trate A. O. Akande,Ibrahim is facing a two-count charge of theft andconspiracy preferredagainst him by the police.

Police Prosecutor, In-spector ChinaluUwadione, told the courtthat the crime was com-mitted sometime in Mayat Eko Court Complex,Kofo Abayomi Street, Vic-toria Island, Lagos.

He said the defendantleased out a securityguard to Kuro Communi-cations (Nig) Ltd. and theguard conspired with oth-ers to steal 56 tones of tel-ecommunication equip-ment in a 40-foot containervalued N36 million.


FORUM: From left, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former chairman of First Bank of Nigeria,Vice-President Namadi Sambo, and Mallam Lamido Sanusi, Central Bank of NigeriaGovernor, at a forum on Financing the Power Sector Reforms for Economic Developmentin Abuja, last Friday.

Gunmen massacre 78 students in YobeContinues from Page 1

of the College of Agriculture,Gujba, at 3a.m. as they slept intheir hostels. They later movedto other houses, where theykilled residents at will.

They also blocked theDamaturu-Maiduguri road andkilled travellers.

At the end of the attack, 78 per-sons lay dead, while several oth-ers were still missing.

According to members of thecommunity, soldiers arrived thescene two hours after the gun-men had left.

The gunmen were said to bewearing military camouflagewith black bandanas round theirheads.

An official of Damaturu Spe-cialist Hospital, who requestedanonymity, said “immediatelyafter the attack, 40 bodies werebrought to the morgue and all are

believed to have been stu-dents of the College of Agri-culture in Gujba.”

The number, however, in-creased as more bodies wererecovered from the bush.

Military spokesman,Lazarus Eli told newsmenthat security forces were at thescene, but that details on thenumber of dead and injuredwere not yet available.

He added that the earlymorning assault was targetedat the College of Agriculturein Gujba, Yobe State.

“It was carried out by BokoHaram terrorists, who wentinto the school and openedfire on students while theywere sleeping,” he added.

A police source, who re-quested anonymity, said thatinitial reports indicated thedeath toll could be higher, buthe was not prepared to dis-

cuss figures.Provost of the College, Molima

Idi Mato, said: “They attackedour students while they weresleeping in their hostels. Theyopened fire at them.”

He said he could not give anexact death toll as security forceswere still recovering bodies of stu-dents mostly aged between 18and 22.

”The school’s surviving stu-dents have fled,” he added.

One of the surviving students,Idris, who would not give his firstname, said: “They started gath-ering students into groups out-side, then they opened fire andkilled one group and then movedonto the next group and killedthem.

“It was so terrible. They camewith guns around 1a.m. andwent directly to the male hosteland opened fire on them”

Ahmed Gujunba, a taxi driver

who lives by the college said: “Thecollege is in the bush, so the otherstudents were running around help-lessly as guns went off and some ofthem were shot down.”

Gujba is about 30 kilometres (18miles) from Damaturu, the statecapital.

Yobe has seen a series of brutalattacks targeting students in recentmonths, all blamed on Boko Haram.

By afternoon after the attack,scores of travellers were also killed,by suspected members of BokoHaram in Yobe State.

The militants were said to haveblocked Damaturu-MaiduguriRoad, shooting indiscriminately.

An eyewitness, who was on hisway to Maiduguri, told the mediathat at least 20 persons were killed.

The witness said: “The situationis terrible. They blocked our way,and were spraying people with bul-lets.

“Some of us managed to run intothe bush. At least, 20 persons wereshot dead in the three buses beforeus.”

NGF seeks end to attacks

Meanwhile, the Northern StatesGovernors’ Forum, yesterday, urgedsecurity agencies to “take urgentsteps to halt the senseless killing ofdefenceless citizens.”

Speaking through its chairman,Governor Babangida Aliyu of NigerState, the forum in a statement bythe governor’s Chief Press Secre-tary, Mr. Danladi Ndayebo, alsocalled for an end to “attacks onplaces of worship and educationalfacilities.”

It said: “The forum is particularlyalarmed that the shooting to deathof 38 students of the College of Ag-riculture, Gujba, Yobe State, fol-lowed the same pattern as the kill-ing of 22 students and a teacher atGovernment Secondary School,Mamudo, in the same state last

July.”It called on security agencies

to intensify efforts at protectingthe lives and property of citizens,and also ensure that those be-hind the violence in the region,were apprehended and broughtto justice.

Mark, Ndoma-Egbacondemn massacre

Senate President, David Markand Senate Leader, VictorNdoma-Egba, have describedthe massacre of scores of studentsat the college by gunmen as adastardly act and unfortunate asit has a negative impact on thefuture of Nigeria.

The Senate President and theSenate Leader in their separatecondolences commiserated withthe people and government ofYobe State over the massacre

Senator Mark said: “Violencehas never produced any positiveresult neither has it any solutionto problems or grievances.

“If you have any grievances,the only way out is through dia-logue. Resorting to killing oth-ers can only add to the problemand not solution.

“There are more than enoughchannels of communication andways of redressing misgivings.

“These killings, especially in-nocent citizens are not part of ourculture. They are truly alien tous. All right thinking membersof the society must rise up to endthis carnage raging our land.”

‘Presidency plots crack down on nPDP'

ABUJA—THE AbubakarBaraje-led Peoples Demo-

cratic Party, PDP, yesterday,raised alarm of alleged movesto crack down on its membersby the presidency, just as iturged all its leaders and mem-bers to, as a matter of urgency,write their wills.

The group, which boastedthat it was not afraid of arrestor death in the course of fight-ing against injustice in theparty, however, urged thepresidency to wait till Octo-ber 7, when a meeting wouldbe held with PresidentGoodluck Jonathan and usethe opportunity to pick, arrestand lock them up rather thanbeing in a hurry.

It said: “Though it is sadthat instead of employing di-plomacy to attend to the is-

sues that provoked this con-flict, the Presidency prefersto use force, we are not dis-turbed as we are ready forany of its tactics.

“In this regard, we wishto urge both the Presi-dency and those detailedto attack us not to wastefurther time or wait till Oc-tober 7 to start arresting usas there are thousands ofNigerians ready to step intoour shoes and fight thiscause to its conclusion.

The new PDP also de-scribed as ridiculous thereport associating formerPresident OlusegunObasanjo with the Baraje-led PDP, saying that theformer PDP BoT chairmanwas not a member and hasno proxy with regard to theexistence and operations ofthe group.

In a statement, yesterday,by the new PDP National Pub-licity Secretary,Chukwuemeka Eze, thegroup said: “Some days ago,we received intelligence re-ports that the Presidency wasputting finishing touches towhat it calls Operation TotalCrackdown on G7 and theirallies in the New PDP.

“When we got details of theplot to arrest and commit theleadership of New PDP toprison without charge, wethought it was a joke. The re-ality, however, dawned on usafter we read the interview ofour friend and brother, AlhajiMujahid Asari-Dokubo, con-firming that PresidentGoodluck Jonathan is underpressure to arrest formerPresident OlusegunObasanjo and former VicePresident Atiku Abubakar

without any further delay.“The sin of these two distin-

guished Nigerian statesmen,according to those plotting their‘demystification,’ is their allegedsupport for the New PDP, includ-ing the G7 Governors.

“That this evil plot is being con-ceived by the Presidency con-firms that the Abacha days aretruly here again with us.

“In view of the seriousness ofthis devilish plot to crack downon us in total disregard of theprovisions of the Nigerian Con-stitution, National Chairman ofthe new PDP, Alhaji AbubakarBaraje, summoned an emer-gency meeting of the NationalWorking Committee, NWC, ofthe party to brainstorm on howbest to respond to the situation.

“Our conclusion at the end ofthe meeting was that we wouldnot be intimidated for any rea-son.”

BY HENRY UMORU

M AKURDI—NOfewer than 33 per-

sons were feared dead in afresh outbreak of fightingbetween suspected Fulaniherdsmen and native farm-ers in Agatu Local Govern-ment Area of Benue State.

Vanguard gathered fromeyewitnesses that the cri-sis, which erupted Saturdayand lasted till yesterday,some of the victims burntbeyond recognition. It alsoled to the burning down ofover 30 houses and huts,including several farm-lands and fish pondsowned by the natives.

According to the source,“the Fulani herdsmen hadinvaded Ojantele,Okpagabi and Ibadan inAgatu council on Saturday,killing close to 10 people.

“From there, they am-bushed about three peoplefrom Agatu, who were go-ing to a neighbouring vil-lages in Apa Local Govern-ment Area of the state andslaughtered them in coldblood."

33 feareddead asherdsmen,farmers clashin Benue

BY PETER DURU


Court askedto voidPDP'sspecialcongress

PHCN workers protest as FG hands overshare certificates to new owners today

BY EMMA UJAH, ABUJABUREAU CHIEF, VICTOR

AHIUMA-YOUNG & KELECHIAZUBUIKE

A B U J A — P R E S I D E N TGoodluck Ebele Jonathan will

today, in Abuja, hand over sharecertificates and licenses to 15 newowners of PHCN successorcompanies who have made 100percent payment of the respectivebid amounts.

The presentation, scheduled totake place at the Banquet Hall ofthe Presidential Villa, according tothe Presidency, is part of build-upof activities to mark the 53rdindependence anniversary of thenation.

There are 11 distributioncompanies, six generationcompanies and one distributioncompany. Only the generation anddistribution companies are beingprivatized, while the NigerianDistribution Company is beinghandled by a managementcontractor, Manitoba.

Director-General of BPE, Mr.Benjamin Dikki noted that “thishandover is a culmination of 14years of painstaking effort by theNational Council on Privatization,NCP, Bureau of Public Enterprises,BPE and other key stakeholders toreform and liberalize Nigeria’selectricity industry”.

The administration of formerPresident Olusegun Obasanjo setup the Electric Power Sector ReformImplementation Committee, EPIC,in 2000 with the mandate tofashion out appropriate legal andregulatory framework for the sector.

BPE spokesman, Mr. ChigboAnichebe assured that labour issueshave been adequately provided forwith the setting aside of about N384billion by the Federal Governmentto settle labour liabilities.

Meanwhile, workers of the PowerHolding Company of Nigeria,PHCN, are today holding anationwide protest to alertNigerians of impending shutdownof the power sector on Wednesdayover unresolved labour issues asthe Federal Government plans tohandover PHCN assets to privateinvestors today.

The workers faulted claims byChairman of National Council onPrivatisation, NCP, and VicePresident, Namadi Sambo thatgovernment had settled all thelabour issues which hitherto hadimpeded the smooth take off of theprivatisation programme andtherefore ready to handover to theinvestors.

Vanguard gathered that theworkers who had earlier beendirected to down tools shouldgovernment handover to newinvestors today as announcedwithout full payment of workers’terminal benefits, were later askedto hold on till after the nation’s 53rdindependence anniversary

celebration.It was alleged government

was already using theindependence celebration toblackmail union leaders of

FIDAU PRAYER—From left: Vice Chairman of MTN, Col. Sani Bello (rtd); FormerPresident, Ibrahim Babangida and Governor Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, during three dayFidau prayer for Late Ambassador Yunusa Paiko at the deceased's residence in Minna.

Independence: Army, Police, DSS mountjoint patrols in Abuja

BY KINGSLEYOMONOBI

Air Force helicopters begin surveillance in FCT, Kogi, Nasarawa

ABUJA—FOLLOWINGintelligence reports that

the Boko Haram terrorist groupis intent on attacking theFederal Capital city during theindependence anniversarycelebrations, Vanguard hasgathered that a joint securityapparatus has been put in placeand tasked to ensure the attackdid not take place.

Vanguard was told that theNigerian Air Force, whosepatrol helicopters, startedflying across the FCT andneighbouring states ofNasarawa and Kogi states areto provide air surveillancewhile the Nigerian Army is totake care of all entry and exitpoints to the FCT.

The Nigerian Police, the SSS,Navy and para-militaryorganisations are to carry outinternal patrols within the cityand ensure that the security ofplaces of worship, places ofrelaxation, hotel and especiallyshopping malls andsupermarkets are notbreached.

In this regard, the ArmyHeadquarters Garrison Abuja,whose area of responsibilitycovers Kogi and Nasarawastates, as well as the Brigadeof Guards have deployedpersonnel and equipment,including armed patrol teamsto major routes of the FCT.

ABUJA—A FederalHigh Court sitting in

Abuja has been asked byBedding Holdings Limited,BHL, to nullify electionsconducted during the lastspecial convention of thePeople’s Democratic, PDP,on August 31, in Abuja.

Bedding is contesting insuit, the alleged unlawfuluse of its patented ballotboxes for the elections.

The plaintiff is arguingthat by virtue of orders 6and 7 contained in an earlierjudgment of the court,declaring it the solepatentee of transparent andcollapsible ballot boxes inthe country, the use of suchboxes without its consentrenders the purpose forwhich the boxes were useda nullity.

Justice Adamu Bello hadin his judgment of June 5,2012, in a suit between BHL,Registrar of Patents, FederalMinistry of Commerce andIndustry and six others,held “any action or actionswhatsoever and howsoevertaken or purported to havebeen taken by thedefendants relating to thesaid products without theprior and express licence,consent, authority and/orapproval of the plaintiff isunconstitutional, illegal,unlawful and is thereforenull and void.”

The court also restrainedthe Registrar of Patents andits agents from registeringor issuing the plaintiff ’svalid and subsisting patentover the ballot boxes to anyperson or organistion,except with the consent ofBHL.

The plaintiff furthercontended thatIndependent NationalElectoral Commission,INEC, was a party in thesuit in which judgment wasgiven, and that despitebeing aware of the court’sorders, deployed the sameballot boxes for use at thePDP convention without its(BHL’s) consent, thereby,disobeying the judgment.

BHL had raised twoquestions for the court’sdetermination and soughtthree reliefs in the suit, withrespondents as PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, VicePresident Namani Sambo,Senate President, DavidMark, House ofRepresentatives Speaker,Aminu Tambuwal andChairman, PDP Board ofTrustees, Anthony Anenih.

plotting to throw the nation intodarkness during theindependence anniversary.

To prove the governmentwrong and show they are not

anti-Nigerians, they decided tohold a nationwide protest today toamong others, alert Nigerians ofthe looming industrial unrest inthe sector.

The Police, Navy and para-military are to be deployed tothe nooks and crannies withmobile communicationequipment so that in the case ofeventualities, signals couldquickly be sent across for re-

enforcements.Police sniffing dogs, anti-terror

trained officers and bomb disposalexperts are also to be deployed tostrategic places, in a bid to ensuretight security in and around theFCT.

PIB: Senate to hold anotherpublic hearing

BY JOHNBOSCOAGBAKWURU & JOSEPH

ERUNKE

ABUJA—THE Senatedisclosed yesterday, that it

would conduct another publichearing on the PetroleumIndustry Bill, PIB, followingprotests by some stakeholdersin the oil and gas sector,especially the Nigeria BarAssociation, NBA, NigeriaLabour Congress, NLC, as wellas the Trade Union Congress,TUC, that they were deniedparticipation in the last exercise.

Members of Petroleum andNatural Gas Senior StaffAssociation of Nigeria,PENGASSAN, and NationalUnion of Petroleum and NaturalGas Workers, NUPENG, whoprotested their exclusion fromthe public hearing held last July,alleged that critical stakeholdersin the oil and gas industry weredenied opportunity of makingpresentations at the hearing.

They alleged that the action of theNational Assembly Joint Committeewas deliberate and not in theinterest of the nation. They said thecommittee ended the hearing,without allowing the invitedstakeholders to makepresentations.

But in a statement, ChairmanSenate Committee on Petroleum(Upstream), Emmanuel Paulker,PDP, Bayelsa Central, who is alsothe Chairman of the Senate JointCommittee on PIB, explained thatthe Senate’s action to hold anotherpublic hearing with all stakeholderswas because of its “desire that thenew oil law will be an aggregate ofopinions in oil and gas industry inthe country.”

He said: “The joint committeedecided to involve all stakeholdersin the oil sector before the report ispresented to the whole Senate forconsideration so that at the end ofthe day when the new law ispassed, nobody would complainthey were left out.”



APC alleges plot to rig 2015 general electionsBY OLASUNKANMI

AKONI

A L L PROGRESSIVESCongress, APC, weekend,raised fresh alarm over al-leged plot by the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, andthe Presidency to rig the2015 general elections, es-pecially the presidentialpoll.

The party called on Nige-rians to be vigilant in thedays, weeks and monthsahead as the PDP/Presi-dency would allegedly be-gin to roll out its plot.

APC Interim NationalPublicity Secretary, AlhajiLai Mohammed, in a state-ment, said the strategy thatwas being employed by theduo of the PDP and thePresidency, in their unbri-dled desperation to win the2015 elections at all cost,include suppression ofvotes in areas where thepresident’s chances wereslim, using the police andthe military.

APC also said it uncoveredplan of PDP to use what ittagged a "Third Force tobamboozle” Nigerians andproject the image of a per-forming presidency, evenwhen PDP admitted thatthe current public percep-

tion of government wasless than salutary becauseof its weakness and lack ofvision.

The Third Force, APCnoted, would engage inthe destabilisation of theparty using moles and fifthcolumnists; instigate chaosin the South-West usingwhat it called the ‘’oldAfenifere Guards’’ as wellas infiltrate and weakensocio-cultural and socio-po-litical organisations in ar-eas it deemed to be unfa-vourable to the President.

The party stated that,shockingly, PDP/Presiden-cy’s grand plot also did notexclude even the PDP it-self, as it was pursuing astrategy of decisively andruthlessly purging theranks of the party’s innerdecision-making caucus allrecalcitrant members, in-cluding governors andHouse of Representativesmembers.

‘’The dogged pursuit ofthis action of dealing withsupposed recalcitrant mem-bers has led to suspen-sions, expulsions andalienation of some PDPmembers, and it was theimmediate trigger of thecollapse of the party of tat-tered umbrella.

"After all, it is said that a

house divided against itselfcannot stand. The North-East and the North-Westhave been singled out as

NAFDAC seizesfake analgesic,Tramadol

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

NATIONAL AGENCYfor Food, Drug Administra-tion and Control,NAFDAC, weekend, inter-cepted 158 cartons of fakeTramadol capsules, a semi-synthetic opiod analgesicfor the management of pain.

Already the Agency haslaunched full investigationsto unveil importers behindthe importation of the fakedrugs.

Tramadol is currently un-der Narcotics Control fol-lowing high abuse and con-cerns by government andpublic health officials,meaning it cannot bebrought into the countrywithout permit.

At a media presentationof the intercepted truck loadof the counterfeit drugs inLagos, NAFDAC’s Director,Ports Inspection Directo-rate, Mrs. MoreenEbigbeyi said efforts wereto arrest importers.

ICT experts discusseconomic impact ofInternet

INFORMATION COMMUNICATIONSexperts will discuss the economic im-

pact of the internet in the Nigerian markettoday.

The event, sponsored by Google Nigeriaand supported by the Lagos State Innovat-ing Council, Mobile Monday Nigeria, hasthe Minister of Communications Technol-ogy, Mobolaji Johnson; Deepanker Rustagi,General Manager VConnec; SimdulShagaya, Founder and CEO, konga.com;Sina Badaru, Founder, Technology Times ;Jason Njoku, Co-Founder of Iroko TV andSpark.ng. Iroko TV; Femi Taiwo, Manager,Technology Services at INITS Limited;Olayinka David-West, Faculty Director at thePan Atlantic University/Lagos BusinessSchool; Olumide Balogun, Partner Man-ager, Developer Experience, Nokia West &Central Africa, among other industry ex-perts as speakers.

Chairman of Mobile Monday Nigeria, Mr.Tomi Davies in a statement said: “theInternet is a tremendous, undisputed forcefor economic growth and social change.

areas where votes mustbe suppressed in 2015, bycreating an enabling envi-ronment for the deploy-

ment of special forces in therun-up to the 2015 elections.They intend to launch po-lice/military actions in the

run-up to 2015, to ensuremost of the registered vot-ers in the zones are disen-franchised.

COCKTAIL: From left, Professor Rahamon Bello, Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos; ProfessorDuro Oni, Deputy Vice Chancellor, (Management Services), UNILAG; Mr. Mac Ovbiagele, Chairman,UNILAG Advancement Board, and Mr. John Momoh, Chairman, Publicity and Publications Commit-tee, during UNILAG's Advancement Board Alumni cocktail and dinner, at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, La-gos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez

Fashola unveils N30bn tallest hotel in West Africa

LAGOS — GOVER-NOR Babatunde

Fashola of Lagos State,yesterday, unveiled the

BY MONSURU OLOW-OOPEJO

tallest hotel in West Af-rica, the IntercontinentalLagos built at a cost ofN30 billion.

Fashola unveiled thehotel in a ceremony alsoattended by the Governorof Central Bank of Ni-geria, CBN, MallamSanusi Lamido Sanusi;Oba of Lagos, ObaRiliwan Akiolu 1; ex-gov-ernor of CBN, JosephSanusi, and other digni-taries.

The hotel situated onKofo Abayomi Street, Vic-toria Island, Lagos, is a23-storey building with358 rooms, 37 suites anda presidential suite.

The Intercontinental La-

gos, a subsidiary of the In-tercontinental Hotel Group,IHG, is owned by the Mi-lan Group.

Fashola said the new ho-tel showed that theeconomy of the country waswitnessing growth daily butwithout corresponding em-ployment.

According to him: “Thenew sector is the tourismsector. This is the only vir-gin sector in the country,and it will help address thechallenges of unemploy-ment in the country.”

The governor said thenew hotel had helped to cre-ate new 650 direct jobs inthe state.

He noted that with the

construction of more hotelsand hospitality outfits, moredirect jobs would be cre-ated as well as indirectjobs.

Chairman, Milan Group,Ramesh Valechha said thehotel would change thelandscape of Lagos andboost the hospitality indus-try in the state.

He noted that the Memo-randum of Understanding,MoU, for the project wassigned on March 31, 2004while it took two years tocomplete the design workbefore the conceptual-isation of the project began.

Vanguard MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013—11

Mimiko, Gbenga Daniel, other LP leaders move against AmosunBy DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA — GOVER-NOR Olusegun Mimiko

of Ondo State, former Gover-nor of Ogun State, OtunbaGbenga Daniel andother leaders of Labour Party,LP, have moved against Gov-ernor Ibikunle Amosun, sayinghe must go in 2015.

The party secretary in Ogun

State, Sunday Ogini who dis-closed this yesterday, at ameeting in Abeokuta, said theparty National Chairman, ChiefDan Nwanyanwu would leadmembers of his executive tosensitise the people of thestate to embrace the party.

Ogini said the planned megarally which would hold in a cou-ple of weeks in Abeokuta, wouldalso feature formal opening ofthe party’s new secretariat in

Abeokuta for the preparation of2015 general election.

According to Ogini: “Gover-nor Olusegun Mimiko, ourparty National Chairman,former governor of the state,Otunba Gbenga Daniel and ourgovernorship candidate inAnambra State, Dr. IfeanyiUba are coming to Ogun Statefor a mega rally and to openour party secretariat.

“It is to sensitise the peopleof the state on the need to em-brace Labour Party and rejectAmosun-led government inthe state.”

The party, however, noted ithad embarked on a spiritualexercise to ensure victory for itsgovernorship candidate inAnambra State, Dr. Ifeanyi Uba.

According to him: “If theparty wins

Anambra governorship elec-tion, it will ease the task in Ekitiand Osun states and then Ogunand other South Western states.”

SOCIAL MEDIA: Civil society ‘ll resist attacks againstfreedom of expression, says SERAPAS THE world marks

the InternationalRight to Know Day, Socio-Economic Rights and Ac-countability Project,SERAP, has urged the gov-

ernment of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan to dropthreat of attacks against so-cial media, as “any suchthreat can only continue tostrangle freedom of expres-

sion and limit the account-ability of government.”

In a statement, yesterday,by SERAP executive direc-tor Adetokunbo Mumuni,the organisation stated that,

“The 2011 Report of theUN Special Rapporteur onFreedom of Opinion andExpression has under-scored the importance offreedom of expression onthe Internet, and urgedgovernments not to arbi-trarily restrict this right.”

According to the organi-zation: “The call by gov-ernment officials for cen-sorship of social media isentirely unnecessary associal media has played animportant role in educat-ing the ordinary citizensabout the performance oftheir governments, and onissues of transparency andaccountability.

“Social media are im-

portant to the work of hu-man rights defenders eve-rywhere. Any attempt toundermine this work willbe resisted by civil soci-ety through national andinternational legal ac-tions.”

SERAP added: “Free-dom of expression on theInternet is a fundamen-tal freedom. It is abso-lutely crucial to citizens’rights to communicateand associate, and to theenjoyment of their otherhuman rights, includingthe right to know howtheir governments arerun, and to hold theirleaders accountable .”

No ban onpoliticalrallies, but...— Ekiti StatePolice

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

ADO EKITI — EKITIState Police Com-

mand, weekend, said ithad not banned politicalrallies by politicians, say-ing, however, it frownedat procession that contra-dicted provision of Elec-toral Act 2011, asamended which “stipu-lates 90 days to an elec-tion for holding of cam-paign rallies.”

Speaking in Ado Ekiti,the Command’s Public Re-lations Officer, Mr. VictorBabayemi, assured that thecommand would not asso-ciate with any politicalparty or give undue ad-vantage to any aspirantahead of 2014 governorshipelection in the state.

According to him: “Wehave not banned politicalrallies in Ekiti; what we aredefending is strict compli-ance with the provision ofSection 99 of the ElectoralAct.

EKITI STATE Governor Kayode

Fayemi and his OndoState counterpart,Olusegun Mimiko, willtoday, speak at a day oftributes for the lateformer Ondo State Gov-ernor Olusegun Agagu.

The ‘Tributes Day,’ ac-cording to Mr. YemiOlowolabi, the lateAgagu’s former ChiefPress Secretary, will

Fayemi, Ondo gov to speak at Agagu’s TributeDay

hold at the InternationalConference Centre, Uni-versity of Ibadan,Ibadan, the Oyo Statecapital.

The statement said theevent would start at11a.m.

The body of the latepolitician will leave La-gos on October 3 forAkure.

Lying-in-state will holdsame day at the Democ-racy Park, Akure.

There will be anotherlying-in-state and wake-keep at the Civic Centre,Iju-Odo, Okitipupa LocalGovernment.

A burial service will holdFriday, October 4, at St.Paul’s Anglican Church,Iju-Odo, also inOkitipupa Local Govern-ment by 11a.m.

His body will thereafterbe interred beside that ofhis father in Okitipupa.”

Lawmaker wantscapacity buildingfor youths

collective efforts to improvethe standard of educationand youth capacity build-ing initiatives in the coun-try.

Odubote, representingEpe Federal Constituency,made the remarks, week-end, while giving insightinto various activitiesscheduled for today’spresentation of educa-tional materials to benefit-ing schools and handing-over of youth skills acqui-sition centre to communityin Epe area of the state.

According to him: “Aspart of my intervention incapacity building for theyouths, in collaborationwith a communication out-fit, I will on Monday (to-day), be handing over 400school tables and chairs torepresentatives of AgbowaCommunity GrammarSchool, Epe,

A MEMBER of the Houseof Representatives, Mr.

Lanre Odubote, has called for

12 —VANGUARD, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013


FG sends 20 pilots to Lufthansa for training

BYKENNETHEHIGIATOR

Edo urges residents to quit flood-prone areasBY GABRIEL

ENOGHOLASE

BENIN—FOLLOWINGthe recent torrential rain,

which wreaked havoc in partsof Edo State, the state govern-ment has again advised resi-dents in the low lands, riverbanks and other flood-proneareas of the state to relocateto higher grounds as preven-tive measure to avoid a repeatof the flood disaster of lastyear.

In a statement, yesterday, byMr. Peter Okhiria, Chief PressSecretary to the Governor, thegovernment also advised res-idents to avoid indiscriminatewaste dumping habits thatblock the drains.

He said: “Nigerian Metro-logical Agency, NIMET, in itsseasonal rainfall prediction for2013, had predicted heavyrainfall this year and the like-lihood of flooding in manystates. Edo State has consist-ently recorded an increase inrainfall volume, frequency andintensity. We, as a people,must not underestimate thepower of the weather again.We must take every preven-tive measure to avert a repeatof the disaster of 2012.

“The good people of EdoState are, hereby, advised tocollectively take precautionsto forestall a recurrence of sim-ilar incident of flooding and

its consequences in the state.”The statement urged the peo-

ple to stop “indiscriminatewaste dumping habits thatend up blocking the drains,which can result in the breed-ing of mosquitoes, flies andother disease that may even-tually result in high preva-lence of malaria, yellow fever,lassa fever and cholera.

“Endeavour to de-silt the

drains in front of your hous-es and remove same. Peoplein low land, river banks andother flood-prone areas of thestate are advised to relocateto higher grounds. Becauseof the stormy nature of the ex-pected rainfall pattern of2013, residents are advised totake a second look at the bind-ing of their roofs to ensurethat they are firm.

THE Federal Govern-ment, yesterday, sent to

Lufthansa Pilot Training In-stitute, Germany, 20 commer-cial licensed pilots for jet/type-rating training.

The pilots, 19 men and awoman, had earlier beentrained for their Private PilotLicense, PPL, in South Afri-ca by the Office of SpecialAdviser to the President onNiger Delta Affairs.

...targets 200 aviation professionals

London trial: Delta didn’t fund Ibori’s alleged assets—Defence

THE British Metro-politan Police investiga-

tors into the case against formergovernor of Delta State, ChiefJames Ibori, weekend, agreedthat they never questioned anyDelta State official about miss-ing funds nor linked any prop-erty of Ibori as having beenbought with the state’s money.

Buffeted by a barrage of ques-tions from Ibori’s legal team, theman who led the investigationagainst Ibori, Police Detective,Mr. Peter Clark, said: “I agree.However, we were unable to askDelta State Government be-cause Delta State was uncoop-erative.”

The reply came after a seriesof questions were fired at Clark,a prime prosecution witness, inrelation to Ibori’s property hav-ing a link with Delta State fundsin any way and even in someof the charges Ibori had alreadypleaded guilty to.

Led by Mr. Ivan Krolic, QC,Ibori’s lead counsel in the as-set confiscation hearing he putit to the court that, “in confisca-tion cases, the issue for consid-eration before the court is notabout any asset acquired but thesources of funds for the pur-chase of the asset.”

….Agreed, but you were uncooperative — British Police

“Government, hereby, callson the Power Holding Com-pany of Nigeria, PHCN, toimmediately take another lookat all their distribution facili-ties within the state to ensurethat they are firm and strongenough to withstand the ex-pected stormy weather in 2013in order to avoid electrocu-tion-related but avoidabledeaths.”

The delegates are the firstbatch of pilots trained undera special scheme in SouthAfrica by the office of the Spe-cial Adviser to the Presidenton Niger Delta Affairs.This is exclusive of anotherbatch of 10 pilots that will besent to the CAE AviationAcademy at Oxford, UnitedKingdom.

Special Adviser to the Pres-ident on Niger Delta Affairs,Mr. Kingsley Kuku, whospoke at the pre-departureorientation ceremony for the

To make his point clearer,Clark stated: “When it comesto benefit in confiscation hear-ing, it is not about what the de-fendant buys but the source ofthe money used to buy whathas been bought.”

Thus, as the two weeks oldasset confiscation trial wasabout to enter its final week,and hearing is gradually draw-ing to a close, the main BritishPolice financial investigator inthe money laundering caseagainst Ibori may have admit-

ted that he had not been ableto directly link the source offunds for the purchase of thealleged Ibori assets to DeltaState accounts.

Uncomfortable with this, theCrown Prosecutor ’s SashaWass interjected: “Ibori haspleaded guilty to money laun-dering and defrauding DeltaState. The crown has concernsas to why QC Krolic is goingthrough these matters the wayhe is.”

Krolic obliged her and read-

ing a section of Police detectiveClark’s statement that dealswith the purchase of a May-bach vehicle, a car alleged tohave been bought by Ibori withfunds stolen from Delta State,said: “The position of the de-fendant, James Ibori, is that headmits purchasing the vehicleand that Stanhope is an accountwhich he is a beneficial owner.It is denied, however, that thefunds going into Stanhopewere funds that came directlyor indirectly from Delta State,but they came from very clearand genuine sources. There isno evidence showing any pay-ment from Delta State.”

pilots, said that over 200 pro-fessionals will be trained inthe aviation sector to meet theneeds of the critical sector.Kuku, who noted that his of-fice was already collaboratingwith relevant aviation agen-cies to also train air traffic con-trollers, aeronautical engi-neers and other professionalscritical in promoting air safe-ty, said: “The training in Ger-many will be for 14 months,as the pilots will be trained tofly the modern Boeing 737Next Generation aircraft usedby most countries in theworld.”

Deltademolishesillegalstructures inAgbor, Owa

BY FESTUS AHON

NDPCVLtasksJonathan onN-Delta devt

A S A B A — D E LTAState Govern-

ment, weekend, em-barked on the demolitionof illegal structures inAgbor metropolis, in IkaSouth and Ika North-East Local GovernmentAreas of the state.

In a chat with news-men, the state Commis-sioner for Environment,Chief Frank Omare,said: “The state govern-ment will not spare anyillegal structure in thestate. As government,we are determined toremove all illegal struc-tures in the state. Today,we are in Agbor and weare working on Secretar-iat Road and College ofEducation Road. Tomor-row, we will move to oth-er parts of the town.

“We had warned resi-dents of the area to re-move all illegal struc-tures but some of themfailed to comply, hencewe are here. The exer-cise is part of govern-ment’s effort to beautifythe state and clear allblocked water chan-nels.”

WARRI—NIGERDelta for Peace,

Credible and VisionaryLeadership, NDPCVL,has urged PresidentGoodluck Jonathan toput in place a presiden-tial monitoring team tosupervise and speed updevelopment in the Ni-ger Delta region.

NDPCVL, at its meet-ing in Warri, Delta State,said: “We are aware ofthe shortfalls in terms ofdevelopment in the re-gion, which is not Presi-dent Jonathan’s fault,but the appointees ingovernment.”

In a statement by theNational President,King-Jerry Prebor, thegroup, said: “Some gov-ernors, ministers andpolitical aides are nothelping matters. Theyare actually responsiblefor the backwardness ofthe region.”

INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY THANKSGIVING: Governor Adams Oshiomhole of EdoState (left); Deputy Governor, Pius Odubu (right) and Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, Secretary toState Government (behind), at a thanksgiving service held at St Paul's Catholic Church, Ben-in City, to mark Nigeria's 53rd Independence Anniversary, yesterday.

BY EMMA AMAIZE

CMYK


Nigerians ‘ll determine 2015 Presidency, sayS-East, S-South govs

Why we‘resupporting Jonathan—Gov Orji

U M U A H I A — G O VERNOR Theodore Orji of Abia State in

Umuahia, weekend, said the continued supportfor President Goodluck Jonathan by the people ofthe South East geo political zone was borne out oftheir belief in the indivisibility of Nigeria and thesurvival of democracy.

According to the governor, President Jonathan’semergence is a ground breaking turn-around inNigerian political landscape because it has becomethe bastion of hope for equity.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Pub-lic Communication, Mr. Ben Onyechere, thegovernor said: “The open door policy of Mr.President, in conjuction with his even distri-bution of resources and amenities, has openeda new vista in the operationalization of ourdemocratic culture which will stand the test oftime as it will also serve to promote unity.

“I am convined beyond reasonable doubt thatthe socio-economic trends in the polity o couldnot have been better due to his deliberatemethod of amenability and flexibility, not with-standing skirmishes and agitation of somemembers in the ruling party for more

BY TONY EDIKE

Ask ASUU to call off strike

ENUGU—GOVERNORS ofthe South East and South

South states, yesterday, inEnugu, declared that the de-termination of who will be thePresident of the country in2015 would be made by theNigerian electorate, in line withdemocratic tenets, warningthat the power of the peopleshould not be usurped by anygroup or individuals.

The governors, who met atthe Government House,Enugu, in a communique is-sued at the end of the meet-ing, also thanked Nigeriansfor their continued support ofPresident Jonathan’s adminis-tration and urged the Presi-dent to remain focussed ongovernance and not to allowhimself to be distracted.

Call for continueddialogue

They further called for con-tinued dialogue at resolvingnational issues and manage-ment of the security situationin the country to guarantee thecontinued corporate existenceof the nation.

AWKA—ANAMBRAState governor, Mr.

Peter Obi, has chargedNigerians to seek divineintervention to tacklethe various challengesconfronting the country. Speaking at an inter-denominational churchservice to mark the 53rdIndependence anniver-sary of the country atWomen DevelopmentCentre, Awka, GovernorObi regretted that Nige-rians had failed thecountry in the way theyattended to issues con-cerning their country. According to him, inspite of the huge re-sources that abound inthe country, majority ofNigerians are still livingin abject poverty, whilethe privileged few havebeen exploiting andamassing wealth. He also lamented thatsome of the people inpositions of authorityhad not shown commit-ment in seeking the faceof God because of theirunbridled and blindquest for money. The governor said theIndependence anniver-sary celebration was anopportunity for sober re-flection to identify theshort-comings and charta new course for abrighter future.

They also commended thesecurity agencies for their ef-forts in managing the chal-lenges, while lauding the fed-eral government for the mas-sive reduction in crude oiltheft.

On ASUU

The governors called on theleadership of ASUU and otherplayers to be sensitive to theplight of students and call offthe strike while resolving is-sues through dialogue.

The governors further re-solved to continue tostrengthen economic tiesamong their states and to con-tinue to pursue the develop-ment of the zones as well asprosecute the various infra-structure projects earlieridentified.

The communique read: “TheSouthSouth/South East Gover-nors met in Enugu on the 29thday of September to deliber-ate over issues affecting theZones and the nation in gen-eral.

“After extensive cordial de-liberations, the governors of

the South South/South Eastzones resolved to continue topursue the development of thezones as well as prosecute thevarious infrastructure projectsidentified.

“We thank Nigerians for theircontinued support for the ad-ministration of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan who theyelected overwhelmingly.

“We urge Mr. President toremain focused on govern-ance and not to allow himselfto be distracted.

2015

“We note that the determi-nation of who will be Presidentof this country in 2015 will bemade by the Nigerian elector-ate in line with democratic ten-ets and the power of the peo-ple should not be usurped byany group or individuals.

“We call for continued dia-logue at resolving national is-sues and the management ofthe security situation in thecountry to guarantee the con-tinued corporate existence ofour great nation.

“We commend the security

agencies for their efforts inmanaging these challengesand commend the federalgovernment for the massivereduction in crude oil theft.“We call on the leadership ofASUU and other players tobe sensitive to the plight ofour children and call off thestrike while resolving issuesthrough dialogue.

“Finally, as we celebrate our53rd Independence anniver-sary, we felicitate with Mr.President and all Nigeriansas we resolve to work for thepeace and continuous stabil-ity of our great nation.”

Attendance

Governors in attendance atthe meeting were SullivanChime (Enugu), Peter Obi(Anambra), Liyel Imoke(Cross River) Theodore Orji(Abia), Martin Elechi(Ebonyi) Dr. EmmanuelUduaghan (Delta), GodswillAkapbio (Akwa Ibom) andRear Admiral GboribioghaJohn Jonah (rtd), DeputyGovernor of Bayelsa State.

BY VINCENT UJU-MADU

Nigerianshave failedNigeria —Obi

Anambra SSGseeks reviewof revenueallocationformula

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

A W K A — S E C R ETARY to Anambra

State Government, SSG,Mr. Oseloka Obaze, hasadvocated a review of thecountry’s revenue alloca-tion formula to adequatelymeet the aspirations of thegenerality of Nigerians.

In a statement in Awka,weekend, Obaze arguedthat the review had be-come necessary so thatdevelopment could followa bottom up approach andnot the present top-to-bot-tom set up that wasskewed in favour of theFederal Government.

He said: “It may seempedestrian, but the fact isthat the Federal Govern-ment has responsibility forfar less population and ter-ritory, that being AbujaFederal Capital Territory.

regonition. It is onrecord that the styleof governace by MrPresident hasgained popularityinternally and in-ternationally be-cause of his appli-cation of intellec-tual sensibilitywere patience is al-lowed to thrive overtribulation.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 — 15

BY EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

Alleged looting of Federal coffers:Lawmakers differ on new probe

ABUJA—MEMBERS ofthe House of Representa-

tives, yesterday, differed onwhether the House should con-stitute an investigative enquiryinto allegations levelled againstthe Federal Government by theAlhaji Kawu Baraje-led PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, that dueto massive looting of the treasury,government was unable to allo-cate funds to states.

Some of the lawmakers whospoke to Vanguard had arguedthat it was appropriate to summonthe Minister of Finance, Dr. NgoziOkonjo-Iweala, to shed morelight on the allegations.

Others pointed accusing fingersat Baraje for being diversionaryas he had in the past held vari-ous positions in PDP and neverraised an eyebrow then, wonder-ing why now?

Chairman House Committee onFinance, Abdulmunin Jibrin, rep-resenting Kano PDP, told Van-guard: “We will formally inviteher to explain all she knows aboutthe weighty allegations. Our com-mittee would like to hear from herdirectly, then after that all othernecessary actions that require im-mediate legislative duties wouldfollow.“

Also, Chairman House Com-mittee on Corruption and Ethics,Abiodun Faleke, APC, represent-ing Ikeja Federal Constituency inLagos said: “I strongly believe theHouse should address and con-demn the way our economy hasbeen mismanaged.

” I think this is the first time wehear of inability to meet monthlyallocations not due to low crudeoil prices but due to massive steal-ing of oil and money and the lackof government’s ability to man-age theituation.“ Speaking also in the same vein,

Minority Whip of the House,Samson Osagie, APC represent-ing Orhionwhon/Ohuede Fed-eral Constituency in Edo State,said: “For us in the House of Rep-resentatives, this act of illegalitycan be a source for the impeach-ment of the President. “I am saying that it is only inthis administration that state gov-ernments are being owed up tothree months of their statutory al-locations, thereby leading to thecollapse of the economy of mostof these states. ” We consider this as an aber-ration by the Presidency in orderto make these governors ply totheir whims and caprices aheadof the 2015 elections and toweaken the states structures. “We in the National Assembly

would not accept that becauseother than that, there is no otherreason that can be adduced forthe non-release of funds becauserevenue targets have been metand overshot in both oil and non-oil generating sectors of oureconomy. ”The Minister of Finance hasalso assured recently that theeconomy is strong and buoyant.So one, therefore, wonders whystate governments should notget their allocations as at whendue. “As at July, about N1.05 trillionwas generated and we know thisas a fact from available field re-ports from our committees onoversight. So why should there be anyreason for states that are and le-

gally entitled to these moniesfrom the federation account notget their dues?

“For me, in the absence of anyother valid reason, that is a po-litical tool to weaken states gov-ernors to make them pliable forthe Presidency's ambition for2015.

When asked whether it madesense for President Jonathan towithhold monies due to states inthe South-East and South-Southgeo-political zones that are pre-disposed to supporting his re-election bid. Osagie said: “Well,I told you that this is a PDP gov-ernment and anything can hap-pen; it can choose to supportthose government through theback door and it is not beyondthem because they have beendoing it."

NCAA clarifies new aviation charges

LAGOS—THE NigeriaCivil Aviation Author-

ity, NCAA, said, week-end, that the recent$3,000 and $4,000 gen-eral charges introducedfor non-scheduled com-mercial operators take theplace of landing, parking,en route navigationalcharges and passengerservice charge, PSC.

Co-ordinating GeneralManager, Corporate Com-munications for AviationAgencies, Mr. Yakubu Dati,

BY KENNETH EHIGIATOR who gave the clarificationin Lagos, said the chargeswere not for scheduledoperators.

The NCAA had statedthat Nigerian registeredaircraft in this categorywould pay $3,000(N480,000), per flight,while aircraft with foreignregisteration would pay$4,000 (N640,000) perflight.

The regulatory agencylisted 26 airlines as thoseregistered with Nigeria’sAirline Operator Certifi-cate, AOC, and these in-

clude Aero ContractorsCompany Nigeria Limited,Allied Air Limited, Arik AirLimited, Associated AviationLimited and Atlantic Avia-tion Limited.

Others are Bristow Heli-copters Nigeria Limited,Caverton Helicopters,Chanchangi Airlines Lim-ited, Dana Airlines, DornierAviation Nigeria AIEP Lim-ited, First Nation Airways(SS) Limited and Hak AirLimited.

It also listed IRS AirlinesLimited, Jed Air, Kabo Air-lines Limited, King Airlinesand Travel Limited, Max AirLimited, Med View AirlinesNigeria Limited andOdengene Air Shuttle Serv-ices Limited, Overland Air-ways Limited, Pan AfricanAirlines Nigeria, SkybirdAir, Skyjet Aviation ServicesLimited, Skypower ExpressAirways Nigeria Limited,Topbrass Aviation Limitedand West Link Airways asairlines with Nigerian AOC.

JALINGO—FORMERSpeaker of Taraba State

House of Assembly, IsaAjiya, has described as falseand reprehensible allega-tions that the acting gover-nor of the state, bribed law-makers to get letter of re-sumption of his boss re-jected, threatening legalaction if the allegation wasnot withdrawn.

Reacting to a statementcredited to a media aide ofthe governor, Mr SylvesterGiwa in a chat with news-men in Abuja, Ajiya saidGiwa should produce evi-dence to support his alle-gations that the acting gov-ernor bribed the lawmakersor he and others would facecourt action.

He said: “The allegationis unfounded and we chal-lenge Giwa to provideproof. If not, we will exposéthem in a manner we havenever done before. We willreveal to the World why thiscabal was desperate to rule,even when it is clear Gov-ernor Suntai is médicallyunfit to rule the state."

Resumptionletter: FormerTaraba SpeakerfaultsSuntai'saide

BY LAWANI MIKAIRU &DANIEL ETEGHE

FG to repairrunwaysfacilities

LAGOS—FEDERALAirports Authority of

Nigeria, FAAN, has saidthe federal governmentwill repair runway facili-ties at all the remodeledairports to enable themhandle 24-hour opera-tions. FAAN’ spokesman Mr.Yakubu Dati said week-end in Adamawa Stateduring inspection of theremodeled terminal atYola International Air-port. He said FAAN wasaware of complaints thatthe airport should run a24-hour service butpointed out it would bedifficult to provide allthe facilities at the sametime. He said: “The aviationsector was comatose be-fore the coming on of thepresent administration.We are doing the inter-vention one after theother. We are doing ter-minal modernizationnow."

INSTALLATION: From left: Rotn Chuks Okonkwo, immediate past President, Rotn KunleOyatomi, new President, his wife, Mrs. Jumoke Oyatomi, and Rotn Segun Odubela, repre-sentative of Ogun State governor, during the intsallation of Rotn Kunle Oyatomi as the 11thPresident (2013-2014) Rotary Club of Egbeda, District 9110 Nigeria, at the Lagos CountryClub in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

CMYK

OPINION


Insurgency: Taming inter-agency rivalryBY OSAZE SUNNY

WHILE President Goodluck Jonathanwas calling for a stronger global con-

sensus and determination to end the scourgeof terrorism in faraway New York an un-fortunate event had just occurred in Apoarea of Abuja, over an alleged exchangeof gun shots between security officers andBoko Haram members.

In his meeting with President BarackObama of the United States of America,President Jonathan said Nigeria is doingits best to contain the insurgency andtherefore added that unless the interna-tional community unites and deploys itsenormous resources to eradicate terror-ism, it will continue to be embarrassed byterrorist outrages such as the heinous at-tack on defenceless shoppers in Nairobiwhich both leaders strongly condemned.

While Jonathan urges more supportsand encouragement from internationalcommunity over the fight against domes-tic terrorism, the home-front was in a stateof flux over the labelling of alleged mis-creants as Boko Haram suspects.

The Department of State Services, DSS,reported that it had arrested 12 membersof the Boko Haram, while various otherreports indicated that at least seven per-sons were also killed when security oper-atives stormed an uncompleted buildingnear Apo Legislative area in the earlyhours of the day.

Circumstances of the deaths remained

hazy. While security agencies allegedthose killed were Boko Haram members,survivors of the incident insist they werehomeless artisans squatting in the build-ing. Human rights activists and politiciansare demanding a thorough investigationinto the killing just as the National Hu-man Rights Commission, NHRC, hascommenced an investigation into the kill-ing of the squatters in the uncompletedbuilding.

Although the debate and argumentscontinue, what could be glimpsed fromthe controversy is the seeming lack of co-ordination and of collaboration of re-sponse agencies during that sensitive op-eration.

As the spokesperson of the Directorateof State Security insists the victims areBoko Haram suspects, other security agen-cies have distanced themselves from theincident. The Nigerian public too are be-coming suspicious of the whole situation.

Before this unfortunate development,there have been noticeable improvementin the war against insurgency in variousstates, Abuja inclusive, where there hadnot been any serious attacks from the ter-rorists since last year. Most of their at-tacks have been confined to very few statesin North Eastern Nigeria. The success ofsome of the operations even in Borno andYobe states are due to colloboration withcivilian populace through the establish-

ment of a volunteer group known as Ci-vilian JTF.

The obvious missing link in the Abujaoperation, which is causing unnecessesarypanics in the mind of the average Nigeri-an, is the fear that some of the securityagencies are not relating or cooperatingamong themselves.

It is therefore not surprising the recentobservation of top security officers at aninter-agency peace-building conferenceorganised by the Nigeria Security andCivil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Abujathat lack of collaboration amongst thecountry’s security agencies was one of thefactors responsible for the growth of BokoHaram.

The National Security Adviser, NSA, tothe President, Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd),who also addressed the session pointedout that unless security agencies cooper-ated and collaborated, they would notsucceed in fighting insecurity.

The NSA, who was represented byMajor General Sarki Y. Bello said:

“It is pertinent to note that this lack ofcollaboration among our security agen-cies was one of the factors that permittedthe growth and, until recently, the successof Boko Haram terrorist attacks.”

While declaring the programme open,the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba

Moro, commended the Nigerian Armyfor the successes recorded in battling ter-rorism so far, adding that it would be atotal turnaround if other security agen-cies could come together regardless oftheir uniforms as a team to combat thesecurity challenges facing the nation.

He said: “The achievements of Nige-ria military today are concomitant of theunity of training, orientation and accom-modation that exist in Nigerian militaryformation. In the same manner, we wantall agencies, in addition to securing theirmandate, work and relate well with oth-ers, bearing in mind the security of thecountry rather than shameless streetfights.”

The Commandant-General of theNSCDC, Dr. Ade Abolurin, described theprogramme as an “interactive one” basedon a field of experiences where they expectthe security officers to establish and sus-tain their mutual relationship. He deploredthe situation where security agencies en-gaged themselves in unnecessary quarrelsover superiority contention.

As an observer, the infighting and lack ofcollaboration among security agencies canonly create room for criminal activitiesand terrorism to foster. The life of an aver-age Nigerian as it is now, depends on theAlmighty God and on the security officers.

*Mr Sunny, a political analyst, wrote fromAbuja

THE easiest way to get away with anything is to claim you are acting

against a terrorist. Once the charge ispressed, with the attendant publicity, theonus is on the suspect to extricate himselffrom the allegation.

Suspects tagged terrorists are guilty untilthey prove their innocence. We haveentered a more dangerous loop in the waragainst terror. We hope the authoritiesrealise the new applications of officialviolence against suspects can cause furtherchallenges in the fight against terrorists.

Who were the occupants of theuncompleted building which securityagencies stormed in Apo, Abuja? Who madethe report that they were terrorists? Motorcycle riders are raising a strong voice thateight of those killed were their members?Again, that is not a proof that they were notterrorists!

Any proof that they were terrorists?“Considering the ammunition recovered,in addition to arms and weapons fromsuspects and from the fact that on approachto the area, the personnel were fired at,there is no doubt that those people were

EverEverEverEverEveryyyyyone’s a tone’s a tone’s a tone’s a tone’s a terrerrerrerrerrorisorisorisorisoristttttterrorists,” Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen.Azubuike Ihejirika told newsmen.

If armed robbers had arms, ammunition,weapons and fired at security agencies onapproach, would that make themterrorists?

Our concern is that the loss of lives, likeother incidents where security agenciesfelt they had nothing to explain to anyone,should worry anyone, who believes the lawstill has a place in guiding our society.What would replace the lost lives? Whattype of fire power should the securityagencies use when they come under attack?

As usual, government is moving on, usingthe incident as excuse to unleash its ownterror on people. The Federal CapitalTerritory Minister, Senator BalaMohammed said 100,000 illegal buildings

and 435 uncompleted houses had beenidentified for demolition. How didconstruction of such number of buildingbegin without FCT approval?

Mohammed told a House ofRepresentatives Committee of FCT’sdetermination to take down the buildings,possibly its contribution to taking outterrorists, who reside in those places. Heshould also consider how the uncompletedbuildings had been accommodation forhundreds of thousands, who Abuja treats asmere statistics — it never plans for them.

This incident, within firing shots ofresidences of most federal legislators, isgrabbing attention but it ranks low in thelong list of security operations thatquestion concerns for lives.

Our legislators place their comfort andsafety above others’. Assurances that theoperation in Apo was for their safety areenough for them to lose interest on howmany died and why they were killed.

An independent enquiry is needed on theApo killings; it could at least set standardsfor security operations.

CMYK


CMYK


CMYK


52 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013


54—VANGUARD, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

THE candidates of the variouspolitical parties for the

November 16 election have rolledout their campaign teams whichare now working hard to sell theirgovernorship hopefuls.

Shortly after the IndependentNational Electoral Commission(INEC) published the list ofcandidates and their deputies,the campaign teams began toemerge and from the teams sofar named, it is obvious that theparties have selected gurus inmarketing to put their candidatesin good shape before theelection.

Indeed, the feeling inAnbambra State is that some ofthe candidates may actuallythrow in the towel before the dateand ask their supporters to votefor their preferred candidates.Political analysts have narrowedthe contest to be among fiveparties namely, the AllProgressives Grand Alliance,APGA; All ProgressivesCongress, APC; PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP;Progressive Peoples Alliance,PPA and Labour Party, LP.

Pat Orjiakor leads PPA’sonslaught: PPA’s Mr. GodwinEzeemo has since named aformidable team with Chief PatOrjiakor, the former AnambraState chairman of the All NigeriaPeoples Party, ANPP, as hiscampaign manager.

Ojiakor, who was at one point,the interim chairman of APC inthe state, was also a formerdeputy chairman of Awka SouthLocal Council.Also in the campaign team is Dr.Nnamdi Godwin Nwakaozor, aformer chairman of Idemili NorthLocal Council, who is the directorof administration.

Individualtrack records

Chief Okey Nwoke, a formersecretary of the FCT chapter ofANPP is in charge of informationand publicity. Nwoke was also thedirector of youth affairs for AlhajiIbrahim Shekarau presidentialorganization in 2011. Others inthe Ezeemo campaign team areDr. Peter Ejikeme (director,planning and strategy), ComradeElochukwu Ofili (director,protocol and general duties) andMr. Bernard Okonkwo (directorof finance and supplies).

Ezeemo, while inauguratingthe committee in Awka, said theywere appointed based on theirindividual track records inmobilizing the people at thegrassroots and urged them toensure that every member of theparty was carried along during

Parties roll out campaign teamsSTORIES BY VINCENT

UJUMADU

•Nwoye •Ubah

•Obiano •Ngige

•Ezeemo

the campaign.Uzodike anchors the race for

Obiano: For the ruling APGA,Anambra State Commissioner forInformation, Chief Joe MartinsUzodike is the director generalfor the candidate, Chief WillyObiano. Both Uzodike andObiano have something incommon.

First, they both attended thefamous Christ the King College,CKC, Onitsha in the 1970s.Secondly, they won the thenpopular J.F.Kennedy EssayCompetition as students of CKCat different times.

Uzodike was a practicingadvertising practitioner before hewas appointed a commissionerin the state. The appointment hasbeen approved by Governor PeterObi, APGA National Chairman,Chief Victor Umeh and Obiano.

Muoghalu returns to thetrenches for Ngige: APC hasappointed Chief GeorgeMuoghalu, the former nationalsecretary of All Nigeria PeoplesParty, ANPP, and formergovernorship candidate of theparty in Anambra State asSenator Chris Ngige’s campaigncommittee’s chairman.

Muoghalu has a formidable

team that includes GovernorsRochas Okorocha, AdamsOshionmole and RaufAregbeshola, among others, aswell as the Asiwaju himself, BolaAhmed Tinubu.

Like Uzodike, Muoghalu is anadvertising practitioner of note.

Nwoye assembles a crack teamThe Tony Nwoye Campaign

Organization already has formersecretary to the Anambra StateGovernment, Prince Okey

Ezenwa as the director general,with a former deputy speaker ofthe Anambra State House ofAssembly, Chief KelueMolokwu; and a legalpractitioner, Mr. Clems Ezike,among others, as members of theteam.

Though the development thatsaw the INEC’s removal ofNwoye’s name from the list asthe PDP candidate jolted mostmembers of the party, Ezenwa isoptimistic that the issue would

soon be resolved. To him, it is atemporary set back that will soonbe resolved in Nwoye’s favour.

Ubah enlists ace columnist,Nkemjika: The LP candidate,Ifeanyi Ubah, has assembled apowerful team made up of mediapractitioners and marketers.

One of the men dictating thepace at the campaign directorateis Nkemjika, a well knowncolumnist who has since relocatedto Nnewi, Ubah’s hometownfrom where he is calling the shots.

THE Willie ObianoCampaign Forum has

dismissed Governor Okorocha’srelocation to Anambra State tocampaign for Ngige as anexercise in futility, assuring theImo State governor that Anambra,an APGA stronghold, would bea clean sweep for the APGA flagbearer.

The National Co-ordinator ofthe Campaign Forum, OwelleOnyeka Mbaso, who recentlystormed Awka, the AnambraState capital with a large crowdof party faithful, mobilized by the21 co-ordinators of the forumfrom all the local governmentareas of the state dismissedOkorocha as a politicallightweight whose threats do notamount to more than an emptyrhetoric.

He assured Ndi Anambra notto lose sleep over Okorocha’scomment because Anambra Stateis too enlightened to be led bythe nose by anybody includingOkorocha.

“Governor Rochas Okorocha is

MEANWHILE, the PPACandidate, Mr. Godwin

Ezemo, has accused GovernorOkorocha of masterminding themanipulation of the APC’sprimaries that saw SenatorNgige winning the ticket of theparty.

Addressing reporters in Awka,Ezeemo, who spoke through thedirector of media and publicityof his campaign organization,Chief Okey Nwoke, said that butfor the external influence, whichhe said came mainly from thosewho believe they own APC hewould have won the primariesconvincingly.

He said: “Initially, Ezemowanted to serve the people ofAnambra State on the platformof ACN which later became APC,

Okorocha engineered manipulationin APC primaries — Ezeemo

but unfortunately the primariesof the party was highlymanipulated because the peoplewere afraid of Ezemo who, it wasobvious, was going to win.

“It was unfortunate that peoplefrom outside the state came hereto dictate to our people who willgovern them. They stayed in ahotel and came up with mind-boggling figures and that waswhy Ezeemo decided to pursuehis governorship ambition in PPA.

“APC is substantially controlledby people from outside the statewithout recourse to the party’sconstitution. In PPA, the situationis different because nobody willshortchange us, in addition to thefact that the party has goodprogrammes for Nigerians.”

…Okorocha’s relocation'll not saveNgige — Obiano

well known for his unguardedstatements that almost gothimself into trouble when he onceaddressed former President,Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, asthough there were mates.Besides, we cannot support aparty that encourages thedeportation of Ndigbo fromLagos.

Also speaking at the well-attended event, the Chairman ofthe group, Engr. HenryOnyekumnaru, vowed that aftereight glorious years of GovernorPeter Obi’s transformationalleadership, Anambra State wouldnot be allowed to return topolitical undertakers again.

According to him, “Chief WillieObiano is the most qualifiedcandidate in the race. He has theprofessional competence to runAnambra.

He is educationally sound andhis years as an executive directorin the banking sector haveexposed him to the highest levels


OPINION

,,

CYBER crime does not respect geographical location;it knows no boundaries, religion or nationality. Cy-

ber criminals attack and spread across the whole world ina matter of minutes, sparing no one.

Against the backdrop of the widening and fast-growingcyber crime across the globe, a World Cyber Security Con-ference was held in Abuja on September 17, 2013, with thetheme, “Cyber Insecurity: A Latent Threat To National Se-curity and Economic Development.”

Africa, particularly Nigeria, is growing at a faster rate intechnology adoption and consumption than countries inEurope. Nigeria, is one of the top five countries on Face-book, and other social media. The flip side of this develop-ment is that this has also created room for widespread per-petuation of cyber crimes. Quite recently, for instance, Ni-geria was rated as number 59 on the list of cyber crimeslocations in the world by the Symantec Quarterly rating for2013. Needless to say, this is NOT good news for a countrythat daily struggles to reconfigure world perceptions abouther.

This alarming spate of cyber insecurity had prompted theDirector of the Telecommunication Development Bureauof the International Telecommunication Union, ITU, Bra-hima Sanou, during their meeting in Costa Rica, to discusscyber threats and cyber security in the African region. Theessence of these discussions was to address ways and meansof stemming this malaise. At this event also, the First Ladyof Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan was appointed, asITU’s Child Online Protection, COP, Champion.

On her return to Nigeria, the First Lady and her Office,instituted and facilitated the World Cyber Security Confer-

2013 world cyber-security conferenceence to further emphasise that global collaboration is im-perative in addressing the threatening effects on the moraland physical safety of our children as a result of onlinemisuse. She seized the opportunity of this event to appealpassionately to the National Assembly to enact a law thatwill carry a stiff punishment for all cyber criminals.

She noted that as many more people join the growing listof Internet users, the advantages and vast benefits that theInternet presents, becomes more apparent. Indeed, the In-ternet daily commands increased global audience, bring-ing the world closer and closer together than before. Shedescribed the Internet as one of the “greatest inventions ofmankind which has changed the way we communicate,conduct business and socialise.”

This campaign for cyber-security is timely, according tothe National Coordinator of the I-Nigerian Initiative, AdaStella Apiafi. The cyber world, and its application, shouldbe for education, entertainment, and commerce, to harnessthe great potential we have in Nigeria. Parents, she affirms,have a pivotal role to play in supervising how, and whatsites their children visit, bearing in mind that the averageNigerian child is quite intelligent, smart and eager to ex-plore new frontiers.

According to the former Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. EhudBarak who spoke at the conference, governments the worldover should join hands to fight this endemic. He said intimes past, ‘bows and arrows’ were used to fight wars, kill-ing just a target at a time, but today, technology has ad-vanced so much that just a timebomb could destroy thou-sands of people within a short time. The same thing couldbe said about cyber crimes - the menace spreads like wild

fire, with individuals, corporate bodies and even govern-ment mails being hacked practically every second. He con-cluded by saying that online crime has worse consequencesthan war crimes, because of the colossal damage it causes.

The Minister of Communications and Technology,Mobolaji Johnson, cited the case of a Nigerian youth, Ms.Cynthia Osokogu, who was lured and killed in Lagos,through cyber crime. She called on the National Assemblymembers to pass a law, as a matter of urgency, with punish-ment ranging from 50 years jail term to life in imprison-ment. Ordinarily it is expected that parents should teachtheir children the use of technology, especially telephoneusage, but most parents are not as versatile or dynamic inthe use of their phones as their children. Which begs thequestion: who supervises who?! For adults it is difficult tobalance what we do; with children it is even more difficult.This observation was made by Dr. Salma Abbasi, a mem-ber of the International Telecommunication Union’s, ITU,high level experts group for cyber crime. Dr. Tunde Lemo,Deputy Director in charge of Operations at the Central Bankof Nigeria, said cyber crime is also very strongly perpetuat-ed with banking, and electronic funds transfers. He urgedthe conveners of the forum to take steps and position them-selves such that the financial institutions will not be so ter-ribly hit by these unrepentant cyber criminals. He said hack-ers continue to attack accounts of customers. There is anominous possibility of huge losses if not stopped now, par-ticularly with the introduction of the cashless economywhich itself has its own pains and gains.

*Ms Amuwa, a commentator on national issues, wrotefrom Abuja

•Dr Junaidu Mohammed

DR Junaidu Mohammed is a MallamAminu Kano disciple gone bad. The

revered leader of the Northern Elements’Progressive Union, NEPU, and PeoplesRedemption Party, PRP, espoused nationalistideals in his lifetime. He shared the samevision of a united country with the doyen ofNigerian independence, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe,and frequently contested elections as an allyof Zik’s National Council of Nigerian Citizens,NCNC, sparing no contempt at the regionalfundamentalism of the leadership of theNorthern Peoples Congress, NPC, led bySardauna Ahmadu Bello.

Mohammed has always been an articulate,firebrand politician even way back in theSecond Republic when he and colleagues likeAlhaji Sule Lamido were the youngerelements that portrayed a bright future forthe legacies of the fighter for the interests ofthe downtrodden, the Talakawa. Military ruledid much to put Mohammed and most of theAminu Kano boys in the political doldrums.But in recent years, Mohammed has bouncedback to the public arena, not as a true productof his political progenitor, but as an arch-conservative regionalist with a lot of ill-concealed grudges against an intolerablepolitical dispensation that has kept thepresidency out of the North.

The medical doctor is one of those who wantto snatch power back from the South at allcosts in 2015 (or earlier if possible). As aregional bashibazouk, he is rapidly out-performing the older, now frustratedreactionaries such as Dr Umaru Dikko, AlhajiLawal Kaita and Professor Ango Abdullahiin his newly self-assigned role of defendingwhat he and his cohorts see as “Northern

Junaidu’s empty sound and fury

interests”. It is the reactionaries in the Norththat posit that Nigeria is the booty of Arewa;the North is born to rule Nigeria; the Northmust maintain all the undeserved advantagesheaped upon it by the British colonial mastersand fortified by the North-controlled militarypolitical class between 1960 and 1999. Anysection of the country that calls for a peacefulresolution of the crisis arising from theinequities in the system is threatened with war.

When Senate President, David Mark madea surprising call for “a conference of ethnicnationalities” at the opening of this year’slegislative year, and many commentators tookit as a sign that the ruling establishment mightbe softening its hard line stance on the needto restructure Nigeria, Junaidu burst out ofhis lair and started chanting war songs. Theway he went about it, Professor Jibril Aminu,the intellectual ideologue of the Northernpolitical establishment, could not have donebetter.

Junaidu teased those who are calling for asovereign national conference to come outwith their real intention, which he said, wasto disintegrate Nigeria. He boasted thatNigeria was indivisible and indissoluble, andthat the North would descend with war onanyone who tried to divide the country. Hebragged the North had proved its capacity toclobber secessionists by the way it handledthe Igbos when they plotted “their coup” andtried to secede over 40 years ago.

My reason for writing this piece is to point

out a few misconceptions which Dr JunaiduMohammed and his deluded cohorts whoobviously live 40 years behind the currentrealities of Nigeria need to take note of. Thefirst is the assumption of the continuedexistence of united Northern Nigeria. Thesecond is the presumption that the North isthe guardian and guarantor of Nigeria’sexistence as an indivisible entity.

Contrary to Junaidu’s assumptions, it is the

South, not the North, that is the guardian andguarantor of Nigeria’s continued existence.The moment the South finally decide they havehad enough of Nigeria, this country will ceaseto exist. It is because the South has neverachieved a consensus to break up that Nigeria

has remained a single entity.Since the British colonialists created

Nigeria in 1914, it is the wealth of the Souththat has sustained the country. The Southmade all the concessions that led to Nigeria’sindependence in 1960. If the leaders of theSouth had been as unbending in theirdemands as those of the North, the latterwould have gone it alone or delayindependence till heaven knows when.

Even when Biafra seceded, it was theinvolvement of foreign powers, the Minoritiesand the rest of the South against Biafra thatled to the victory by the federal side. Takenote: It was the federal side that won theNigerian civil war, not Arewa NorthernNigeria! In fact, it was the Minorities of Northand South and the Yoruba that did much ofthe fighting for the federals. Arewa merely

led the effort and grabbed the spoils of victory.It is also the people of the South as well and

the Minorities that have always made itpossible for Northerners to emerge aspresident of Nigeria, both under civilian andmilitary dispensations. Even in these days ofIslamic terrorism, it is the stoical and patrioticpatience of the Southern peoples that allowedNigeria to survive Boko Haram attacks acrossthe North before it became localised in theNorth East. If the Southern people hadresponded with reprisal to Sharia and BokoHaram attacks, no army could havecontrolled the anarchy that would follow it itswake. It is the wealth of the South and thepatriotism and avuncular fortitude of itspeoples that enabled Nigeria to survive themany crises that the North foisted on thenation in its failed quests to wrest power backby hook or crook.

Coming to the issue of the North as a unitedentity moving against any group calling forconference, it is just an empty boasting. Themost the North will do is to refuse to participatein a conference, or if they do participate, tovote against any attempt to change anythingthat is to its advantage. That is the weaponthey have always wielded, and that is why therehave been so many conferences andconstitutional tinkering that gave way to morecalls for genuine conferences.

The North is not what it used to be. It is themost internally divided of the three formerregions. From its earlier fractured history, theformer Eastern Region (which is now calledSouth East and South-South) has discovered anew partnership based on mutual respect andbinding common interests. The result showedin the 2011 presidential election.

The Igbos have settled with their Minorities.The North cannot boast of this. If anything, theregion is torn asunder along religious lines, andthe Christians/Minorities will no longer join theArewa group in any future military adventureoutside the region because their leading roles inBiafra is being rewarded with Janjaweed-likekillings on the Plateau and Boko Haram terrorin their villages and churches.

The North is also unhinged because the rulingclass has so alienated the downtrodden that thelatter has taken up arms and, supported byforeign allies (Al Qaeda), are seeking tooverthrow the ruling class rooted in the SokotoCaliphate.

Junaidu's sabre rattling and war drums ringhollow and sterile. There is no alternative tomutual respect if we must build a great, unitednation. The days when foreign powers built up aregional monster and armed it to terrorise therest of Nigeria for their (foreigners’) interestsare over, dead and buried.

BY STELLA AMUWA

Contrary to Junaidu’s assumptions, it is the South, notthe North, that is the guardian and guarantor of Nigeria’scontinued existence; the moment the South finally decidethey have had enough of Nigeria, this country will ceaseto exist

56—VANGUARD, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013


Why eastern portsare lying fallow (2)

What is their reason for retaining SGS?I don’t know but I see it as political

, ,

58—Vanguard,MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

HE finds it very convenientto clear the cargo in La-

gos and spends about N300,000or more to bring it to this part ofthe country and still makes prof-its. This is the question we keepasking everyday. The reasons arenot far-fetched. The first is the dif-ference in freight charges. Thegovernment should look into cre-ating a level playground that willencourage other ports.

We have Port Harcourt Port 1,we have Onne, we have Cala-bar and Warri. The only port thatis functional is Onne. The otherports have been lying fallow andyet some people will go to themedia and tell us that activitiesin the ports are causing conges-tion in Lagos. I see the wholething as political by those whodominate the maritime industry.

For instance, there are so manyships out there in Lagos waitingport call to berth. Most of thestakeholders in the maritime in-dustry use Lagos as a hub to per-petrate their political manipula-

By JUDE NJOKU, (whowas in Port Harcourt)

tion to favour the western ports.If the government is seriousabout creating a level playingground, they would have donesomething about the differencein freight charges.”

He alleged that the differencein freight charges between us-ing the eastern ports and theports in Lagos oscillates betweenUS$2,000 and US$3,000. “Theimporter gains about $2,000-$3,000. But if it is a uniformthing, you make a choice basedon nearness to your warehouseor your market

Because of this freight differ-ential, most importers find it veryconvenient and some of them areforced to market their goods inLagos because already, the in-centives are there because of gov-ernment’s policies.

Uniformfreight

"We have tried, we have maderepresentations to the govern-ment but they fell on deaf ears. Ithas created a lot of unemploy-

ment because if the ports arebusy, the youths in this area willbe busy. They are making us tobelieve that they are doingsomething, whereas they aredoing nothing. If the freight isuniform, it will go a long way toallow importers to decide whereto ship their goods to.”

Eluagu alleged that the dutyinspection agent in the easternport, Messrs SGS is only inter-ested in hiking the duty paid toenhance the value of its one per-cent commission. He notes, “An-other area we need to look at isthe scanning agents, that is SGS.SGS has contributed to capitalflight to Lagos. SGS is only in-terested in their one percent. Wehave Cotecna in Lagos, we haveGlobal Scan and SGS.

But I tell you, importer A andimporter B go to one manufac-turer. Let's assume that importerA is in Port Harcourt while im-porter B is in Lagos. They buyfrom one manufacturer at thesame exchange rate. Importer Bthat is in Lagos already has anunfair advantage because of thefreight difference.

an importer, what will you do?You would want to use where youcan make more profit. It has madea lot of Customs agents to losetheir customers. They would tellyou, look, I don’t know what youpeople are doing here in PortHarcourt. If SGS meant well, theywould have listened to us be-cause we have made represen-tations to them using both theprint and electronic media, yetthose who are behind SGS makesure that SGS is doing what theywant to do.

Because of these factors, wehave lost almost 60 percent of ourcustomers to Lagos ports. That isa major problem we are facinghere. The volume has dropped.Sometime ago, the Federal. Min-istry of Finance announced thatthey would swap the inspectionagents but SGS was retained.What is their reason for retain-ing SGS? I don’t know but I seeit as political."

Internet providers: The al-leged poor services provided bythe internet service providers wasalso highlighted by Mr. Eluaguas a major factor affecting theiractivities. He said, “When youlook at the internet service pro-vider called Web Fountain, it op-erates at its lowest ebb. Theirserver is always off.

"As I speak with you now, theirserver has been out of service forthe past four days. But we weremeant to understand that theirserver works 24 hours in Abuja.They don’t keep to the conces-sion agreement with the Feder-al Government and yet nobodycares. The ultimate loser is theimporter. So when you look at allthese issues, you will discoverthat the government is not help-ing us. There are a lot of issuesthat sometimes, I begin to ask

•Vessels discharging at Port Harcourt port

•Mrs. Lizzie Ovbude, MD, PTON Ltd

Continues on page 59

Importer A that is Port Harcourtis being affected because of thefreight difference, yet the dutyimporter B pays in Lagos is byfar lower than what importer Awill pay in Port Harcourt. Theydon’t have the synergy to try tobalance the duty.

"Cotecna might give you a dutyof $100,000 while SGS will giveyou a duty of $300,000. If you are

This is the concluding part of the special report on the abandonmentof the eastern ports. The first part was published Friday.

CMYK


myself whether we are inthe same country.

"Why is it that Lagos en-joys all these incentivesmore than any other port;why is everything in Lagoswhile other ports are lyingfallow? If you go to Cala-bar, it is lying fallow, go toWarri ports, it is lying fal-low, Area 1 here is lying fal-low. Who are those behindthis strangulation of theEastern ports? If you go toLagos now, there are manyships queuing to berth buthere is empty. Roro vesselscannot come to the easternports; they only came twicein the past 10 years. Arethey now saying that wecannot have Roro vesselshere? The same thing ap-plies to vehicles; prices ofvehicles here are higher be-cause of the freight differ-ence.”

Conspiracy to crippleterminal operator

Corroborating the viewscanvassed by the ANLCAimage maker, the SeniorSpecial Assistant to the Na-tional President of ANLCAon Customs affairs, ChiefObi Chima, told Vanguardthat the last time a contain-er vessel called at the PortHarcourt seaport was in2003. Chima who is the im-mediate past Chairman ofANLCA Port Harcourt Port1 alleged that there there isa conspiracy to cripple theindigenous terminal oper-ator.

He said, “Right now, theindigenous company, Portsand Terminal Operations(Nigeria) Limited is suffer-ing from the conspiracy ofthe multinationals in thesense that no container ves-sel comes to that terminaloperated by an indige-nous company. If you gothere, what you will see arefish vessels, cement, wheatand at times, you see oil ves-sels, whereas the full con-tainer vessels come toOnne.

"For Port Harcourt Port 1,since the take over byPTOL, every effort has beenmade to bring container-ized cargo there but the con-spiracy of the whites whoare involved, have not al-lowed that to be. Apart fromthat, the Federal govern-ment is not paying atten-tion to that side of the ports.Dredging of the channelsto the Port Harcourt harbourhas been a very big prob-lem because the port is notvery deep. The draught inthat port cannot take biggervessels like the one at Onnebecause of the dredging.The harbour itself is okay,the harbour there is about11.5 but the channels arevery shallow that big ves-

Why eastern portsare lying fallow (2)

sels cannot operate there.”We are not to blame—

CustomsReacting to the poor util-

isation of eastern ports,their image maker in Port-Harcourt Area 1, Mr. Har-ry Samuel, explained thatthe agency was working intandem with the mandategiven to them by theircomptroller-general. Ac-cording to him, the Com-mand does not place anextra burden on the im-porters or their clearingagents. He agreed that theports are not adequatelyutilized but was quick toexonerate the Customsfrom complicity in thewhole matter. “We workwith the tariff already giv-en and known to them,(importers)", he said.

NPA, INTELS keepmum: Efforts to speak toboth the Ports Managerand officials of INTELS atOnne, after a tortuous jour-ney to the port were re-buffed by staff of the two or-ganisations. At the NPAoffice located at the Feder-al Lighter Terminal, FLT,Vanguard was asked tobring a letter from the com-pany before any interviewcould be granted. An offic-er in the Public Affairs de-partment, Mrs E. Umeg-bolu explained that it wasa normal procedure andcannot be waived.

The ports

The Onne Port Complexis situated along BonnyEstuary on Ogu Creekwhich is about 25 kilome-tres south of Port Harcourt,Rivers State. The geo-graphical area of the portspans between NAFCON(now NOTORE) Jetty andBonny Island. It criss-cross-es three local governmentareas of Rivers State, name-ly: Eleme, Ogu-Bolo andBonny. The land area ofapproximately 2,500 hec-tres is situated on the soilof Eleme Local Govern-ment Area whilethe channel to the Portalong Bonny River andOgu Creek within Bonnyand Ogu-Bolo Local Gov-ernment Areas.

There are two major Ter-minal facilities at Onne PortComplex. These are theFederal Ocean Terminal,FOT and the FederalLighter Terminal, FLT.FOT has a total quaylength of 750 meters, thatis three berths out of theoriginal design of six berthswhile construction work isongoing on the remainingthree berths to bring the to-tal quay length to 1,500meter.

On the other hand, FLThas a total quay lengthquay length of 1,670meters.

Continues from page 58

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YOU CAN B O O K Y O U R A D V E RT S AT OU RL A G O S I S L A N D O F FI C E — VA N G U A R D

M E D I A L I M I T E D ( L A G O S O F F I C E ) K I O S K4 8 E A S T PAV I L I O N T B S , L A G O S .

VANGUARD'S LAGOS OFFICE



62 — Vanguard, MONDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

TablesEPL G W D L F A Pts1 Arsenal 6 5 0 1 13 7 152 Liverpool 6 4 1 1 8 4 133 Tottenham 6 4 1 1 6 2 134 Chelsea 6 3 2 1 7 3 115 Southampton 6 3 2 1 5 2 116 Man City 6 3 1 2 14 7 107 Hull 6 3 1 2 6 7 108 Everton 5 2 3 0 6 4 99 Aston Villa 6 3 0 3 9 8 910 West Brom 6 2 2 2 6 5 811 Cardiff 6 2 2 2 6 7 812 Man United 6 2 1 3 8 8 713 Swansea 6 2 1 3 8 9 714 Norwich 6 2 1 3 4 6 715 Stoke 6 2 1 3 4 6 716 Newcastle 5 2 1 2 5 8 717 West Ham 6 1 2 3 4 5 518 Fulham 6 1 1 4 4 9 419 Crystal Palace 6 1 0 5 4 10 320 Sunderland 6 0 1 5 4 14 1

LA LIGA

1 Barcelona 7 7 0 0 24 5 212 Atlético Madrid 7 7 0 0 19 5 213 Real Madrid 7 5 1 1 14 7 164 Villarreal 6 4 2 0 12 6 145 Athletic 6 4 0 2 12 10 126 Valencia 7 4 0 3 10 10 127 Espanyol 6 3 2 1 10 7 118 Levante 7 2 4 1 6 11 109 Málaga 7 2 3 2 11 6 910 Real Sociedad 7 1 4 2 6 8 711 Getafe 6 2 1 3 7 10 712 Elche 7 1 3 3 6 10 613 Valladolid 7 1 3 3 6 9 614 Sevilla 7 1 3 3 11 13 615 Celta Vigo 7 1 3 3 7 10 616 Real Betis 6 1 2 3 6 7 517 Granada 6 1 2 3 3 5 518 Almería 7 0 3 4 10 17 319 Osasuna 7 1 0 6 5 13 320 Rayo 7 1 0 6 5 21 3

BUNDESLIGA

1 Dortmund 7 6 1 0 21 5 192 Bayern Munich 7 6 1 0 14 2 193 Bayer 7 6 0 1 17 7 184 Hannover 7 4 0 3 10 10 125 Hertha 7 3 2 2 13 8 116 Mönchengladbach7 3 1 3 17 13 107 Werder 7 3 1 3 8 11 108 Augsburg 7 3 1 3 8 11 109 Hoffenheim 7 2 3 2 18 18 910 Wolfsburg 7 3 0 4 9 9 911 Mainz 7 3 0 4 10 15 912 Eintracht 7 2 2 3 10 12 813 Schalke 7 2 2 3 10 16 814 Stuttgart 6 2 1 3 11 9 715 Nürnberg 7 0 5 2 9 12 516 Hamburger 7 1 2 4 12 19 517 Freiburg 7 0 3 4 8 17 318 Braunschweig 6 0 1 5 3 14 1

SERIE A

1 Napoli 6 5 1 0 14 4 162 Juventus 6 5 1 0 11 4 163 Roma 5 5 0 0 12 1 154 Inter Milan 6 4 2 0 16 3 145 Fiorentina 5 3 1 1 11 6 106 Lazio 6 3 1 2 11 10 107 Verona 6 3 1 2 9 9 108 Livorno 6 2 2 2 8 6 89 Milan 6 2 2 2 11 10 810 Torino 6 2 2 2 8 8 811 Cagliari 6 1 4 1 8 9 712 Udinese 6 2 1 3 7 8 713 Atalanta 6 2 0 4 8 10 614 Parma 5 1 2 2 6 9 515 Genoa 6 1 1 4 5 10 416 Catania 6 1 1 4 4 10 417 Chievo 6 1 1 4 5 12 418 Bologna 5 0 3 2 7 11 319 Sampdoria 6 0 2 4 4 11 220 Sassuolo 6 0 2 4 4 18 2

ON Saturday, thehome crowd at the

Bernabéu vented theirfrustration by whistling atthe players throughoutthe match against Athlet-ico Madrid. The visitorswon 1-0. But the loudestblast came when manag-er Ancelotti decided tosubstitute midfielder Iscofor striker Morata in thesecond half.

The Madrid fans let ripat the coach for the poorplay and technical deci-sions. After a spendingspree of almost €175 mil-lion on signings, Ance-lotti’s project just isn’tpulling the punches forthe fans. It’s just over amonth and a half sincethe season started and thewhite congregation is al-

Ronaldo blames players for Madrid defeat

ZLATAN Ibrahimovichas launched anoth-

er stinging attack on PepGuardiola following thepair’s falling-out at Bar-celona: “He’s a fantasticcoach, but he’s a coward.He’s not a man”, theSwede told Germanweekly ‘Der Spiegel’.

“He sacrificed me forMessi and didn’t havethe guts to tell me”.

“When Guardiola spokethey would just sit there

ready voicing its doubts.Cristiano Ronaldo

faced the facts after thematch: “It wasn’t our day.We weren’t on. The man-ager has nothing to dowith it. He is doing agreat job. The fault is onthe players, we are theones that have to im-prove”.

“We have to keep ourheads up because theleague is complicated.The good thing is thatthis loss has come early.I have a lot of hope forwinning something im-portant this year. I playedpoorly and so did myteammates”, he said.

“Personally I am happywith Ancelotti, he is oneof the best coaches I haveever had”, he concluded. •Ronaldo

Ibrahimovic: Guardiola is a “coward”“willing to die” for Mou,praising the Portuguesetactician’s intelligenceand his motivational abil-ity, Ibrahimovic railsagainst Guardiola’s“philosophical mumbo-jumbo”. “Mourinho”, hecontinues, “can deal withdifferent types of person-alities and has always tak-en on tough challenges,like now at Chelsea,whereas Guardiolaavoids them”.

and nod. Like schoolboysin front of the teacher”.

The striker makes itclear he rates the Cata-lan below his other coach-es: “Mourinho doesn’tneed to act out a role. Notlike Guardiola, whowants to be perfect. TigerWoods wanted to be per-fect too, and look whathappened. The samegoes for Guardiola. Ev-eryone has a dark side”.While confessing he was

“Why did Guardiolachoose Bayern Munich?Because it’s a team thatworked perfectly wellwithout him. It was al-ready the complete pack-age. He’s brought innew players, but theyweren’t needed”. Final-ly, when asked whetherhe saw himself playingin the Bundesliga oneday, the Swedish goal-scorer admitted it wouldbe great to play for Bay-ern, “but when Guardio-la has left, obviously”.

Ethiopiaplay against Spain and

Argentina.“Nigeria are a good

side. We played them atthe Nations Cup inAfrica and they defeatedus. But we fought onthat day. We know themand are confident thatwe are going to defeatthem to qualify for ourfirst World Cup.

“We are counting onour fans to help usachieve this objective.In fact, we are already

Continues from BP seeing beyond Nigeria.It is the World Cup weare preparing for, wherewe hope to play againstSpain and Argentina onthe field. We believe thatour dream will berealised”, saidTeshome, who plays forDedebit, in theEthiopian league.

Ironically, Teshomewas the player caught inthe web of ineligibilityclause, which made FIFAto deduct three pointsfrom them during a

previous match againstBotswana.

But he returned to scorethe winner in their 2-1victory over the CentralAfrica Republic onSeptember 7 inBrazzaville. Even withthe points deduction,they still finished with 13points to finish top ofGroup A, comprisingfavourites South Africa,Botswana and CentralAfrica Republic.

They play Nigeria onOctober 13 in AddisAbaba.

KipsangContinues from BP

day.The 31-year-old Kip-

sang clocked a time of2hr 3min 22sec to betterthe previous mark set byhis compatriot PatrickMakau in the same racetwo years ago.

Makau’s time of 2hr3min 42sec had been inKipsang’s sights head-ing into the 40th stagingof the marathon aroundthe German capital andthe 31-year-old delivered

in style, coming homewell ahead of his fellowKenyans Eliud Kipchoge(2:04.05) and GeoffreyKipsang (2:06.26).

“I was feeling strong soI decided to push,” Wil-son Kipsang told Eu-rosport. “I’m very happythat I’ve won and atbreaking the worldrecord.”

Wilson Kipsang’sachievement was theninth time the Berlin racehas been the setting for

a new world record, andthe London 2012 bronzemedallist sees no reasonwhy he cannot set furtherrecords in the future.

“If I prepare very well,and with the same shape[I can go faster]. Todaythere was a lot of wind, Iwas really fighting,” hesaid.

The elite runners madethe most of dry and sun-ny conditions to set a fastpace from the outset, andfrom early on it becameapparent that Makau’srecord was under threat.

per arm before bouncingover the line.

Sunderland’s defend-ers did not appeal, how-ever, and eight minuteslater Sturridge’s teasinglow cross from the rightallowed Suarez to slidehome his first goal sincecompleting his suspen-sion. The Uruguayancelebrated by lifting hisjersey to reveal a T-shirtbearing a picture of hisfamily with his new-bornson Benjamin, who wasborn on Thursday.

The hosts were quick toreact though, and afterformer Sunderland goal-keeper Simon Mignolethad saved with his feetfrom Craig Gardner andAdam Johnson had shotnarrowly over, they drewlevel in the 52nd minute.

There were chances forboth teams, Mignolet de-nying Gardner again,while Westwood savedfrom Victor Moses andKolo Toure, before Suareztucked in his second goalfrom another Sturridgecross in the 89th minute.

SuarezContinues from BP

CMYK


CMYK

Today’s matches

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How to Play Sudoku

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

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

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

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

Sudoku

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

VANGUARD, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 , 2013

ACROSS1 Faith (6)5 Bet (6)8 Demote (8)9 Off (4)10 Consumed (3)12 Felony (5)15 Fixed (3)17 Every (3)18 Pinch (3)19 Stray (3)20 Choose (5)21 Sheep (3)22 Beverage (3)23 Manage (3)24 Tree (3)26 Pass on (5)29 Defective (3)33 Slight (4)34 Loneliness (8)35 Ebb (6)36 Meretricious (6)

DOWN2 Happening (5)3 Detail (4)4 Aptitude (5)5 Glimmer (5)6 Imply (4)7 Depart (5)10 Stadium (5)11 Ground (5)12 Transparent (5)13 Perfect (5)14 Access (5)15 Exhaust (5)16 Tendency (5)25 Scorch (5)27 Follow (5)28 Apportion (5)30 Beneath (5)31 Competent (4)32 Store (4)

ACROSS: 1, Find 4, Wit 6, Wail 8, Badger9, Astute 10, Dam 12, Medal 14, Proud 15,Defer 18, Delete 20, Opened 24, Deter 26,Spear 28, Tramp 30, Shy 32, Intent 33,Attack 34, Tend 35, Wan 36, Cowl.

DOWN: 2, Inane 3, Degrade 4, Word 5, Team6, Water 7, Intrude 11, Ape 12, Mad 13, Let16, Fed 17, Rot 19, Expense 21, Pet 22, Erratic23, Dip 25, Eel 27, Amend 29, Macaw 30,Stow 31, Yarn.

Ethiopia sees beyond Eagles

We ‘ll play Spain,Argentina in Brazil 2014

DESPITE beingpitted to play

African champions, theSuper Eagles in thefinal play-offs for theWorld Cup, Ethiopia areso sure of qualifying forthe Brazil showpiecethat they are alreadythinking of their would-be opponents in thetournament.

One of their starplayers, MenyahilTeshome, told AddisGuday, an Amharicmagazine, that Eaglescannot stand on theirway of playing for thefirst time at the WorldCup, where they hope to

BY JOHN EGBOKHAN

Continues on Page 62

Everton v Newcastle Utd 8:00pmSt Mirren v Aberdeen 7:45pmGranada v Athletic Bilbao 9:00pmFiorentina v Parma 9:00pm

MANCHESTERUnited boss

David Moyes has con-ceded that his team hasvery little chance of suc-cess in the UEFA Cham-pions League this sea-son.

The Red Devils haveendured a difficult startto life under the Scot,who replaced Sir AlexFerguson at the start ofthe season, and sufferedan embarrassing 2-1home defeat to WestBrom on Saturday.

And with a tough tripto Ukraine on Wednes-day to face Shakhtar

Moyes: We can’t winChampions League

Donetsk, Moyes admitsthey are way off thepace.

“To win the Champi-ons League you have tohave five or six world-class players,” he says.

“If you look at BayernMunich, they have fiveor six really world-classplayers and, to win it,you might have to havethat in your squad. Lookat Barcelona, who had itin the past, and RealMadrid have maybe gotit now.

“That’s the level youhave to get at to win it.We’ve not got that yet."

Suarez sends Liverpool second

LUIS Suarezcrowned his Eng-

lish Premier League re-turn with a brace as Liv-erpool won 3-1 at bottomclub Sunderland yester-day to climb to secondplace in the table.

A left-wing cornerfound Sturridge un-marked at the back postand although he shapedto head the ball, it ap-peared to strike his up

Continues on Page 62

Kipsang breaks marathonworld record

THE Kenyan longdistance runner

Wilson Kipsang claimed

the men’s marathonworld record by 15 sec-onds as he stormed tothe Berlin title on SunContinues on Page 62

GRITTY . . .Eagles attacker, Ikechukwu Uche (R ) overcomes Ethiopia’sAlula Girma tackle during their Africa Cup of Nations match at the RoyalBafokeng stadium in Rustenburg. Photo: AP

TWO WEEKS TO LIVE

Documents

Gunmen massacre 78 students in Yobe