PLATFORM NEWSWIRE

Mimiko’s Loyalists Protest Candidature of Ade Adeniyi

2014-11-24T21:01:00.000+01:00

By Akindele Adedeji

Loyalists of the Ondo state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko have protested over the imposition of Otunba Ade Adeniyi on them as the House of Assembly candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the forthcoming National elections in February, 2015.

Some of the aggrieved members of the Mimiko group, who craved anonimity for security reason told PLATFORM NEWSWIRE that they were totally disappointed by the choice of Otunba Ade Adeniyi as a candidate for the forthcoming election, accusing governor Mimiko of nepotism in view of the fact that Ade Adeniyi had enjoyed various appointments before his present adoption.

Otunba Ade Adeniyi

They claimed that Ade Adeniyi, being an in-law of the governor was made the caretaker chairman of Ondo West local government, after Mimiko assumed power in 2009, while he was also appointed as Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Youth matters, after leaving the position of council chairman.
They added that Adeniyi was also appointed as the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Commission, (SUBEC), after the second term victory of governor Mimiko.

They averred that they were surprised that the same Ade Adeniyi, who had been enjoying all the goodies from the governor since 2009 is now the person governor Mimiko deemed fit to pick as the candidate to replace Mr Afolabi Akinsiku in the Ondo state House of Assembly, at the detriment of other members of the Mimiko group who have been suffering without any appointment since 2009.

They then vowed to frustrate the election of Ade Adeniyi by working underground for the opposition in order to teach Mimiko a political lesson of his life.

Efforts to speak with Otunba Ade Adeniyi on the matter were unsuccessful as his mobile phones were switched off, but a source closed to him told our reporter that nobody in Nigeria can stop Ade Adeniyi from winning the House of Assembly election.

Ondo Lawmaker, Akinsiku (Send Me) Under Fire

2014-08-16T15:30:00.000+01:00

By Adebola Adeyileka

The member representing Ondo community at the Ondo state House of Assembly, Mr. Afolabi Akinsiku has ran into problems with the residents of the town for failing to make impact in their lives since he became a member of the House in 2007.

Cross-section of residents of the town that spoke with our reporters were full of anger for the arrogance of the lawmaker, popularly known as ‘Send Me,’ for his inability to influence developmental projects to Ondo town, in spite of the over N175 million he had collected as constituency allowance.

In the words of Chief Olu Adedayo, who expressed his opinion on the issue, in Losunla area of Ondo town, "Mr. Afolabi Akinsiku is a bad example of representative in view of his self-centeredness, greediness and nonchalant attitude to community development."

He described ‘Send Me’ as a "wicked" politician that the Ondo people must drag before anti graft agencies to explain how the money that was budgeted as constituency allowances for Ondo town since 2007, when he started his representation, was spent.

Mr. Afolabi Akinsiku

The people of Okedasa, Oke Agunla, Okelisa, Yaba, Lotogbe, Ademulegun Road, Oke Osun, Sokoti, Surulere, Akinjise and other streets also in the town have also threatened to drag Akinsiku before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), so as to explain how he has been spending the constituency allowances of Ondo town since he became a lawmaker.

It will be recalled that an Ondo local vernacular newspaper; KAKAKI ONDO exposed the lawmaker in its recent edition, when the Ondo people asked Akinsiku to come and point at any developmental projects he had influenced to Ondo kingdom since 2007, when he started representing them.

But, rather than explain how he had utilised the said constituency allowances, Akinsiku collaborated with his colleagues at the Ondo House of Assembly to invite the publisher/Editor of KAKAKI ONDO, (The Yoruba Version of ONDO TRUMPET Newspaper), Adebola Adeyileka, to come and meet its committee on information and shed more lights on the allegation levelled against the lawmaker by the residents of Ondo town.

But, the action of the House of Assembly was seen as that of being an accuser and at the same time, a judge in a particular case by the solicitor to the community newspaper, Barrister Akin Akinkuotu, who had since dispatched a letter to the speaker of the House of Assembly, to let the house know the stand of the law in regard to the matter.

The lawmaker could not be reached for his comments at the time of going to press, as he was said to have gone underground to avoid the wrath of the residents of Ondo town.

Ooni of Ife placates OAU students into releasing presidency vehicles, hostages

2014-05-22T21:45:00.003+01:00

After holding a convoy of presidency vehicles hostage for over two hours, students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, released them following the intervention of the Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuade.

The students held the 6-vehicle convoy and its occupants’ hostage after a police officer on the convoy shot at the protesting students.

The convoy led by a Toyota bullet proof SUV with ‘Presidency’ inscription and registration number, FG902-B02, tried to drive through the students who were protesting an increase in fees by the university management.

“The security details shot at us. We have held them hostage. We will not let him go.” one of the protesting students had told PREMIUM TIMES on phone during the protest.

The protesting students said they later identified the officer that fired the shots that injured three students.

“He had Ajifesin Idris on his uniform and the number on his uniform is 448318,” Israel, one of protest leaders, later told PREMIUM TIMES.

The shot students, who sustained only minor injuries, were promptly rushed to the university health centre. One of the shot students was identified as Ayo, a student of the Faculty of Law.

The protesting students had insisted that they would not let their hostages go and had damaged some of the vehicles.

“We made sure we destroyed the windscreen of the cars and we were not ready to release them, but we got a call from the Ooni of Ife asking to us to remain calm and asked us to release the cars.

“After much negotiation with him, we decided to leave the cars at the spot where they were hijacked,” Israel said.

The protesting students said the leader of the convoy only told them he was a human rights activist from the Niger Delta, but did not disclose his name.

After leaving the presidency convoy and its occupants, the hundreds of students marched to the palace of the Ooni.

They met another convoy on their way, that of Iyiola Omisore, a former senator and gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun.

The students formed a blockade around Mr. Omisore’s convoy and insisted they would not let him go.

The former senator, however, alighted and addressed the students, promising to intervene to ensure that the increased school fees was returned to statusquo.

“Omisore promised us that he would liaise with the vice chancellor and would ensure that within 24 hours the school fees is reversed,” one of the protesting students said.

The students then marched to the palace of the Ooni, who assured them that he had summoned the Vice Chancellor and would discuss with him on the school crisis.

The university management had increased the fees by about 500 per cent from about N17,000 for highest paying students to over N100,000 for highest paying students.

The students insist they want a return to stausquo.

The newly elected leaders of the OAU Students’ Union are expected to be sworn-in on Friday even as the students have vowed to continue their protest until the fees are reversed.

Culled from Premium Times

Direct your protest to Chibok girls abductors -Jonathan

2014-05-22T21:33:00.002+01:00

Nigerian government releases details of National Conference

2014-01-31T11:46:00.002+01:00

The Federal Government of Nigeria on Thursday unveiled the modalities of the National Confab, disclosing that a total of 492 delegates will partake in the dialogue which would be named National Conference.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, gave the modalities to journalists at a press conference in his office in Abuja.

Mr. Anyim said the National Conference will last for a total of three months and that nomination of delegates will commence on Thursday, January 30 and end onFebruary 20.

Giving a breakdown of the proposed composition of the National Conference, Mr. Ayim said government gave expeditious consideration to the report of the Advisory Committee and after long and mature deliberations on the report accepted the following recommendations for immediate implementation:

- The Official name of the conversation/conference shall be “The National Conference.”
- The National Conference shall hold in Abuja;
- The National Conference shall tentatively last for three months and shall discuss any subject matter, except the indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria as a nation, therefore the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable;
- A conference management secretariat shall be established to manage, administer and run the affairs of the conference;
- Decisions at the National Conference shall be by consensus; but where it is not achievable; it shall be by 75% majority;
- The National Conference shall advise the government on the legal framework, legal procedures and options for integrating the decisions and outcomes of the national conference into the Constitution and laws of the country; and
- The National Conference shall have a Chairperson and a Deputy Chairperson of unimpeachable integrity.

A breakdown of the modalities for the nomination of the delegates is as follows:

- Elder Statesmen: One per state and the FCT making a total of 37 will be nominated by the President;

- Retired Military and Security Personnel which include one delegate per geopolitical zone each from the Military, Police, State Security and National Intelligence Agency – making it a total of 18 delegates to be nominated by stakeholders;

- Traditional Rulers: two per zone and one from the FCT making a total of 13 delegates to be nominated by stakeholders;

- Retired Civil Servants: one per zone. A total of six to be nominated by stakeholders;

- Labour Representatives: the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, shall each nominate 12 delegates making it a total of 24 which would reflect Geo-political and gender balance;

- The Organised Private sector: NECA, MAN, NACCIMA, NESG shall each nominate two delegates;

- Nigeria Youth Organisations: National Youth Council of Nigeria and National Association of Nigerians Students, NANS, shall each nominate six delegates, one from each geo-political zone, while the Federal Government shall nominate six delegates, one from each geo-political zone for “other” (Outstanding Youths and Role Models) making it a total of 18 delegates;

- Women Groups: National Council Of Women Society, NCWS, shall nominate 12 delegates – two per geo- political zone, while Market Women Association shall nominate one per geo-political zone. International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA; Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ; and Women in Management and Business, WINBIZ, shall each nominate two Delegates;

- Political Parties: parties that have representation in the National Assembly, including the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, All Progressives Congress, APC, All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Accord Party, Labour Party, LP, shall each nominate two delegates making it 10 delegates;

- Christian and Muslim Leaders each shall nominate six delegates while Civil Society Organisations shall nominate 24 delegates across board;

- Nigerians in Diaspora ( Europe, America, Africa, Asia, and Middle East) shall nominate two delegates per location, making it eight delegates;

- People Living with Disabilities shall nominate six delegates, one per geo-political zone.

- Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, Nigeria Guild of Editors, Nigeria Union of Journalists and the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria shall nominate 2 delegates each;

- Socio – Political/ Cultural and Ethnic Nationality Groups shall nominate 15 delegates each, per geo-political zone to reflect religious and ethnic diversities;

- Professional Bodies including NBA, NSE, CIB, NMA, NIM, NIA, ICAN, ANAN, NIPR, AAPN, NIESV, Nigerian Environment Society and Nigeria Economic Society, shall each nominate one delegate, making it a total of 13 delegates.

- National Academies including the Academy of Science, Academy of Engineering, Academy of Education, Academy of Letters and the Academy of Social Sciences shall each nominate 1 delegate;

- The President shall nominate six persons not currently serving on the bench from the Judiciary;

- Former Political Office Holders including former governors, Senators Forum, House of Reps Forum and the Association of Former Speakers shall each nominate one delegate per geo-political zone making it a total of 24 delegates;

- The Federal Government of Nigeria shall nominate 20 delegates of which at least six will be women;

- The state governments shall each nominate 3 delegates while the FCT shall nominate 1 delegate based on Senatorial District at least one of whom shall be a woman. The nomination shall be done by the state governors and where the state fails to nominate, the President shall nominate the required number from the state;

- The ALGON shall nominate one Former Local Government Chairman each from the six geo- political zones;

- The President shall nominate the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Secretary, observing geo-political spread.

Fielding questions from journalists Mr. Anyim said that there was already a proposal for the funding of the Conference in the Budget. He added that the Conference will be concluded before the next election season.

Source: Premium Times

Jonathan denies accusing ex-Service Chiefs of ‘unhealthy competition’

2014-01-31T11:38:00.001+01:00

President Goodluck Jonathan has denied media reports that he fired former service chiefs because of “unhealthy competition”.

A statement signed by presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, said the report was mischievous and that the President did not at anytime during his remarks in Yola say that the former chiefs were guilty of undue rivalry.

Mr. Jonathan was quoted by Vanguard Newspapers as saying in Yola that “I urge you all to cooperate because in recent times some mutual cooperation among the service chiefs and personnel have been lacking. This time around, we will not tolerate any unnecessary competition that would be retrogressive to this country.

“We charge you to work together and I believe that we would no longer experience any unpleasant situation we had in the past because of some obvious lapses,”

Mr. Abati, however, claims the media was being sensational when it reported that Mr. Jonathan said he sacked the service chiefs because of unhealthy rivalry.

Read Mr. Abati’s statement below

“Reports in the media yesterday which claimed that President Jonathan said during his visit to Yola on Tuesday that he “fired” former service chiefs because of “unhealthy competition” amongst them are untrue and misleading.

“It appears that for reasons of mischief and reckless sensationalism, a section of the media deliberately chose to misrepresent the President’s innocuous and clear call for greater synergy and inter-service cooperation in the war against terrorism.

“President Jonathan did not at anytime during his remarks in Yola say that the former chiefs were guilty of undue rivalry, nor did he say, as claimed by some newspapers, that such unhealthy rivalry was responsible for recent security breaches in Adamawa and other parts of the country.

“As Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces and Chief Security Officer of the Federation, President Jonathan is fully aware of the importance and sensitivity of all defence and security-related matters. If he had any reprimand or admonition for the former service chiefs, which he does not, he would not have cavalierly given it at a public function as the media falsely reported.

“The President has nothing but praise for the manner in which the outgoing service chiefs did their job in very challenging circumstances and he did not in the course of his remarks in Yola suggest or imply that any wrongdoing, lack of cooperation or unhealthy competition was reason for the recent changes in the Military High Command.

“Members of the Armed Forces and all objective observers know that such changes are routine and in the interest of the growth and well-being of the Armed Services.

“President Jonathan has no need therefore to justify the recent changes to anyone and the recourse by the media to a totally off-the-mark interpretation of his remarks in Yola to explain the changes was most unnecessary and pointless”.

Source: Premium Times.

Nigeria: To break or not to break

2013-09-14T23:14:00.000+01:00

By Femi Fani-Kayode
Today a great protest is taking place in the Catallan region of Spain. According to the polls, 52 per cent of the people from that region wish to break off from Spain and to establish a new European sovereign state.
Later this year, the people of Scotland are having their own referendum to determine whether or not they will stay in the United Kingdom and, again, from the polls, it is very clear that the majority of Scots wish to have their own new sovereign state and that the Scottish Nationalist Party enjoys massive support. Nobody in either Spain or the United Kingdom has insulted those people or labelled them as ‘’ethnic jingoists’’ or ‘’primitive tribalists’’ for wanting to break off from the greater whole and establish their own country.

This is because everyone respects the right of the various ethnic groups and nationalities within their wider nation to exercise their right of self-determination which is an integral and fundamental aspect of international law. Exercising that right does not turn them into villains and does not make them any less patriotic than their compatriots who do not share their views. It just means that they have a different perspective and that they believe, as many believed before Malaysia and Singapore broke up, that the interests of their various peoples are better served when and if they go their separate ways.
They opted to be friendly neighbours rather than to be compelled to remain within the same territory against their collective will. As we in Nigeria approach the 100-year anniversary of our 1914 Lugardian amalglamation and, as the 2015 elections are fast approaching with both the northern region and the south-south zone desperate to take or to hold on to power at any cost respectively, we need to begin to ask ourselves some basic and fundamental questions about our future. For example, is our interest better served by remaining as one nation or is it time for those nationalities that wish to leave the federation in a peaceful and orderly way, as a result of a legitimate and honest referendum, be alllowed to go?
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
If the breaking up of larger countries into smaller and more viable ones is good enough for India (which broke into three), the Sudan (which broke into two), Czekhoslovakia (which broke into two), Yugoslavia (which broke into 5), the Soviet Union (which broke into 15) and numerous other countries over the years, why is it not good enough for us? Again, why should those that believe that Nigeria ought to break up be subjected to so much suspicion, ridicule, contempt and insults from those that do not share their views?
Some of the questions that need to be answered are as follows- firstly, is our union working? Secondly, is our marriage a good one and is it a happy one as well? Are we satisfied with what has essentially become a country that has been turned into nothing more than (with apologies to Chief Bode George) ‘’Turn by Turn Nigeria?’’ where each ethnic group simply looks forward to enjoying its time to control the federation and all the nation’s resources from an all powerful centre? Are we not meant to be far more than this? Is this what the founding fathers of our nation envisaged?
More than anything else the recent igbo/yoruba debate over the issue of the status of Lagos state and the deportation of a handful of igbo destitute back to the east has proved to me that we as a people are very different from one another and that our interests may be better served if we are no longer bound together as one. I dare to voice this opinion even though many Yoruba share it but will not say so publiclly.
Is it not time for us to begin to accept the bitter truth that our marriage is uncomfortable and unhappy and that it may not have been made in heaven or ordained by God? Is it not clear that each region or each nationality ought to be able to develop at its own pace? Is it not time for us to have a confederation of nationalities in Nigeria and to restructure the country drastically to give maximum autonomy to the various regions and nationalities or indeed is it not time to just break up and go our separate ways?
DIFFERENCES Many may disagree but one thing that I believe that we can at least agree on is that perhaps it is time for us to be courageous enough to begin to talk about these issues openly and debate them. We must not sweep our differences under the carpet and ignore them as if they do not exist but instead we must find the courage and muster the resolve to acknowledge them and understand them. As far as I am concerned, this is the challenge of our time and these are the questions that need to be answered.
Whatever happens in 2015 and whoever wins, whether it be a northerner or Goodluck Jonathan of the south-south, I see blood on the horizon and I see disaster approaching. Stark promises from notable players such as ‘’there will be bloodshed if Goodluck is not re-elected’’ do not help and are not encouraging. There are equally strident and bellicose murmurings from the other side as well and some have threatened that if there is a repeat performance of the massive rigging that the North witnessed in the presidential election of 2011 anywhere in the country in 2015, ’’Nigeria will burn’’ whilst another key player said that ‘’both the dog and the baboon shall be soaked in blood’’.
2015 AS KEG OF GUN POWDER
These words must be taken very seriously indeed and they reflect the thinking and mindset of millions of people from both sides of the political and regional divide. Worste still, whether we like to admit it or not, religion has now become a major factor in our politics with Christians being told in their churches that it is their solemn duty to support a Christian presidential candidate and Muslims being told in their mosques that it is theirs to support a Muslim. We are sitting on a keg of gunpowder and, in my view, 2015 really will be the year of make or break for Nigeria. Sadly, in my humble opinion, it is far closer to ‘’break’’ than it is to ’’make’’.
If we wish to avoid the road to Kigali, we must change our mindset and make the necessary concessions that we need to make. We must begin to think outside of the box and be far more innovative and adventurous. For example, why is it a must in the minds of some that the PDP must field a Christian as it’s presidential candidate and why are some in the APC of the view that the party must field a northern Muslim as its own?
These hard and fast fixed positions are most unhelpful and the right thing and proper thing to do is to completely discard them and attempt to find a presidential candidate that is a Nigerian before being a northerner, a southerner, a Christian or a Muslim. And thankfully there are quite a few of such people around in the new generation if only the system will be far-sighted and enlightened enough to allow them to emerge and run. Failing that we must open up the space now and consider the unpleasant assertion that the premium that a united Nigeria attracts may not be worth paying simply because we are getting nothing but failure after failure and sorrow after sorrow as our consistent return.
I do not have all the answers and neither do I claim that I do. Indeed I may well be wrong which is why I would be interested in hearing the views of others and particularly those from the younger generation who may see things very differently. Whichever way it goes and regardless of what we all think, let us not allow this debate to be driven by the uninformed or ignorance, pettiness, hate and acrimony. Let us not insult one another or act as if any tribe or nationality are a collection of angels whilst others are nothing but demons. Let us join issues and exchange ideas in a civil, restrained and decent manner without hurling insults at one another or allowing our emotions to becloud our thinking.
At the end of the day, we all want the same thing- namely, to put in place a system that is in the best interest of the Nigerian people and to empower a new leadership that will allow them to achieve their full potentials? That is the objective and that alone. Over to you.

*Fani Kayode was a Minister of Aviation

By Femi Fani-Kayode
Today a great protest is taking place in the Catallan region of Spain. According to the polls, 52 per cent of the people from that region wish to break off from Spain and to establish a new European sovereign state.
Later this year, the people of Scotland are having their own referendum to determine whether or not they will stay in the United Kingdom and, again, from the polls, it is very clear that the majority of Scots wish to have their own new sovereign state and that the Scottish Nationalist Party enjoys massive support. Nobody in either Spain or the United Kingdom has insulted those people or labelled them as ‘’ethnic jingoists’’ or ‘’primitive tribalists’’ for wanting to break off from the greater whole and establish their own country.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/nigeria-to-break-or-not-to-break/#sthash.GGRRRIS9.dpuf

My daddy was hypertensive — Feyi Agagu

2013-09-14T22:52:00.001+01:00

Mr Feyi Agagu, the first son of the late Dr Olusegun Agagu, a former governor of Ondo State, on Saturday said his father was hypertensive.
NAN reports that Agagu, who returned from United States on Thursday, reportedly slumped in Ikoyi, Lagos, where he was having a meeting with Ondo indigenes on Friday evening.

Late Agagu

“He just had a medical examination, which showed that he had a little cholesterol, and was hypertensive.
“There is diabetics in our family, but it’s nothing major; it was just something he had been dealing with for the past 10 to 15 years. So, there was no inkling that something was about to happen,” Agagu said.
According to him, his mum has lost her best friend and her husband. He confirmed that his father passed away in Lagos on his way to St Nicholas Hospital.He added that his father had the usual illness that comes with age, “so there was no stand out cause for his passing”.
“He lived a simple but a fulfilled and happy life. He left amazing memories and fantastic legacies behind.
“I will miss the friendship, I will miss the advice; he was pretty much anything any wife, son or daughter could ask for in a father.”He was a mentor to many, a brother, a benefactor; I’m sure a lot of people will miss him,” he said.
Agagu said the family had just returned for their annual two and a half weeks family vacation and during that time his father showed no sign of illness.
“I guess when it’s time to go, when your maker comes to get you, when he brought you, he did not ask anybody, so he can take you when he sees fit,” he said.
He said that arrangements for the burial were yet to be made. In his response to the development, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a former Governor of Osun State, said he was “grieved”.
“We met in politics and he remained a very nice senior colleague and when he came back two days ago, we talked about a meeting tonight,” Oyinlola said on Saturday.
He said that he would miss everything about his late colleague, who was the perfect gentleman, who always cared for the welfare of others.
“I asked him if he would be coming to Ibadan and he answered no, he then invited me to meet on Saturday in Lagos, unfortunately that was not to be,” he said.
Oba Rilwan Akiolu, the Oba of Lagos, described the late Agagu as an unassuming, brilliant and hardworking governor, who served the nation meritoriously. (NAN).

Jail those behind sealing of “new PDP” secretariat – APC

2013-09-08T21:01:00.000+01:00

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has called for stiff punishment for those behind the shutting down of the secretariat of the “new PDP” in Abuja. The party said those responsible must be immediately identified and jailed for “crass lawlessness and palpable impunity”.

“The festering crisis in the PDP is not our business, but when the crisis leads to repression, disregard for court orders and constitutional provisions, we cannot keep quiet because those issues have grave implications for our democracy,” the party said in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.

It described the sealing up of the new PDP secretariat as a throwback to the nation’s darkest era, saying it also confirmed fears expressed by the opposition that the Jonathan administration, will become increasingly intolerant and repressive as the nation approaches of the 2015 general elections.

”There is no doubt that the rump of the ruling PDP which has the ears of President Jonathan is behind the sealing up of the new PDP secretariat, in a dangerous defiance of a court order that the parties must maintain the status quo. The egregious nature of this action becomes even clearer when viewed against the lies being peddled by the old PDP, that the sealing of the secretariat, which it instigated, has the imprimatur of the courts, the party said.

“For a party that has just broken up due in part to lack of internal democracy, disregard for the rule of law and the elevation of impunity to an art, this is an indication that the leaders of the ruling party have not learnt their lessons, and that they will not hesitate to bring the house down on all of us just to hold on to power. This portends danger for our democracy,” APC said.

The ruling PDP has been hit by one of the party’s most severe turmoil after a new faction emerged a week ago with a strong support base from key members. The faction, led by Abubakar Baraje, secured a court order urging relevant parties to maintain the status quo.

The APC said it was troubling whether the “grown brats” at the helms of the old PDP know that freedom of association and dissent are part of democracy, just as intolerance, repression and impunity are the very anti-thesis of the best form of government known to man.

It said only God knows what those who orchestrated the sealing of the secretariat of the new PDP will do to stifle the opposition if they could go to this shameful length to get at their dissenting members, even as “peace” talks supposedly continue between them.

“The new turn of events is worrisome, coming after the mindless impunity in Rivers State. There is a worsening climate of intolerance all over the land, no thanks to the dysfunctional nature of the PDP. The security details of the President’s supposed enemies are being withdrawn, and the institutions of state are being unleashed once again on perceived enemies of the Administration.

“This is why those who are behind the secretariat sealing in Abuja must be punished without delay, to serve as a deterrent. After all, no one is above the law,” APC said.

Source: Premium Times.

Former Kwara state governor and one of the leaders of the breakaway “New PDP”,Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki representing Kwara central in current Senate chamber insisted Sunday that the group would not compromise on the principle of ‘fairness and equity’ in the affairs of the party in the bid to settle the ongoing logjam in the ruling party.
Saraki who made this position known while fielding questions from newsmen in Ilorin also expressed deep concern over withdrawal of his security aides by the Inspector General of Police saying that it would endanger his life and that Federal Government should be held responsible in the event that anything happened to him, even as he expressed his resolve to seek redress in the law court.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/new-pdp-will-not-compromise-on-principles-of-equity-fairnes-bukola/#sthash.oNH2emCw.dpuf

Northern elders defend Atiku, asks Niger Delta ex-militants to withdraw threat

2013-09-08T20:41:00.001+01:00

Northern Nigeria’s highest socio-political group, the Arewa Consultative Forum, on Sunday rose to the defence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, after some Niger Delta ex-militants declared Mr. Atiku unwanted in the region.
The ACF asked the former fighters to withdraw the declaration of Mr. Abubakar a “persona non grata”, over his role in the crisis currently rocking the Peoples Democratic Party. The group warned that the decision was “misguided” and “counterproductive”.
“Threats such as the one from the Niger Delta ex-militants are a negation of dialogue and the political process playing itself out on account of the breakup of the PDP into factions,” the forum said in statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani.
“…the ex-militants are by their misguided action crossing the fiducial mark that is alien to democratic tenets,” the statement by the northern body said Sunday.
The crisis rocking the ruling party in the past week assumed an ethnic and a regional tinge on Saturday after groups identified as former militants, who fought the government for years asking for greater share of the region’s oil wealth, declared Mr. Abubakar unwelcome in the region over his role in the PDP row.
The crisis began after Mr. Abubakar, supported by seven governors and other top members of the ruling party walked out of the party’s special convention on Saturday, August 31, and later announced a new leadership for the party, triggering a highly explosive, weeklong crisis.
Rising from a meeting in Yenogoa, Bayelsa state on Saturday, some leaders of former militant groups, under the aegis of the Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative, declared Mr. Abubakar unwanted in the Niger Delta, accusing him of using the region’s oil wealth to fight against its interest-which is President Goodluck Jonathan.
“It is unfortunate that Atiku who has benefitted so much from the Niger Delta oil is leading dissidents in a political coup against the first southerner to ever ascend the seat of president of Nigeria,” the group’s president, Reuben Wilson, said.
“We are aware of his vast business interest in the Niger Delta and we are warning him in his own interest to stay off the region. He cannot be enjoying our oil money and at the same time use the same money to fight the owners of the oil.
“What we thought we would be hearing from the north was how the federal government will implement the spirit and letters of the amnesty programme.”
Mr. Wilson said the former vice president’s decision to split the party demonstrated the north’s agenda of discrediting the president to reclaim power in 2015.

“We dare say that they have misfired. What we expect Atiku to do in the next seven days is for him to apologize to the president for the public embarrassment. He has misled so many people, including the Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who has abandoned governance in his state to follow the anti Jonathan apostles,” Mr. Wilson said on behalf of the group.

They also warned Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, to change his anti-Jonathan stance or face the wrath of the people.

A youth leader in the region, Timi Frank, on Sunday, dismissed the threat against Mr. Abubakar as “empty and falling flat of common sense.”

“It is on record that the Niger Delta region and it’s youths have benefited immensely from the vast business interests of the former Vice President even as till date it remains to be challenged that Atiku remains the single highest employer of labour in the Niger Delta region and has empowered both investors and politicians from the region like no other Nigerian has, making him the bridge builder between the North and the South South region,” Mr. Frank said.

The Arewa Consultative Forum urged the ex-militants to withdraw the threat in the interest of peace, national cohesion and stability of Nigeria.

“This is because democracy is not matter of threats and intimidation, but contest of ideas and reasons,” the group said.

Source: Premium Times.

“Tobacco smoking leads to low sperm count, weak erection”

2013-05-21T20:10:00.003+01:00

Dr Joseph Natsah of General Hospital Kachia in Kaduna State, has advised youths against tobacco smoking, saying it leads to impotence.Natsah said in an interview on Tuesday in Kaduna that tobacco smoking results in low sperm count, weak erection and impotence.He warned girls involved in smoking to desist from the habit as it would also prevent them from either conceiving or having still birth.Natsah said tobacco smoke generally has adverse effect on every organ of the body, including the immune system.The medical practitioner listed some of the conditions generated by smoking to include coronary and heart disease, as well as breathlessness and influenza,He also said that smoking causes cancer, such as leukaemia, cancer of the bladder, throat and stomach.Also, a laboratory technician, Miss Mercy Onu said smoking was contributing to higher percentage of deformed sperms and impotency.She also said it contributed to “painful ulcers along the digestive tract and build up fatty deposit on the artery walls”, thereby leading to low blood flow and heart attack.A police sergeant, Dalhatu Konkiyel, who said he was a “retired chronic smoker”, said that he experienced various health challenges while smoking.Some of the challenges, he said, were poor vision, high blood pressure, common cold , tooth decay, gum disease, sleeping and blood circulation problems.He advised the youths not to indulge in the habit, to avoid early death and psychological trauma.Konkiyel called on the Federal Government to ban the manufacture, distribution, sale and smoking of tobacco in the country. (NAN)

Gov Mimiko forged Ondo 2007 Guber Security Reports – SSS DG

2013-05-21T20:06:00.003+01:00

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ondo State has praised a police report alleging forgery of security reports on the 2007 gubernatorial election as the reason for the judicial defeat of its candidate and former governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu at the Court of Appeal.

The party, in a statement made available to Vanguard alongside a report of the Police on the election, lamented the continued sustenance of the Labour Party in government despite what it claimed were the security reports.

The police report allegedly fingered the erstwhile chairman of Labour Party, LP, Dr. Olaiya Oni, as the provider of the forged security reports to the LP legal team.

The report endorsed by the PDP Chairman, Ebenezer Alabi, and Secretary, Oyedele Ibine, follows contentions arising from a petition filed to the Inspector-General of Police by Dr. Agagu on the purported forgery of security report allegedly used in ousting him from power by the Court of Appeal in 2009.

The police report was endorsed by CP Ali Amodu.

PDP quotes police

PDP said: “A letter was written to the Director-General of the State Security Services, SSS, Abuja, to confirm if the SSS report in Ondo State during the 2007 gubernatorial elections were forged.

“The Director-General, in his reply, confirmed that the SSS reports tendered at the tribunal were forged and he clarified the differences between the agency’s authentic reports and the forged ones that were tendered.”

A letter was also written to the Registrar, Court of Appeal, Benin, where the case went on appeal, to furnish the records of proceedings of the case to enable the Police identify who tendered the documents.

“In vol. X of the records of proceeding obtained from Court of Appeal, Benin, it was observed that the nine forged security reports marked as exhibits 1100(1)-(9) were tendered across the bar.

“On the 11 March 2008, when Dr. Olaiya Oni, Chairman of the Labour Party, Ondo State chapter, gave his evidence in court, he identified the nine forged security reports as parts or the documents he received.

“Based on the findings from the records of proceedings that Dr. Oni identified and confirmed he was the person who received the forged SSS reports, he was invited and he volunteered cautionary statements to the Police.”

In the statement to the police, quoted by alleged report, Oni purportedly admitted that he received and passed on the alleged forged security report to the legal team.

Reports’ recommendation

In its conclusion and recommendation, the police report deposed: “From investigation conducted, it is clear that the security reports, which Oni admitted he received and gave to his lawyers to tender at the Gubernatorial Election Petition Tribunal, Akure, were forged.

“There is no doubt that Oni conspired with others he has refused to mention to forge the reports and handed them over to the legal team.

“It is, therefore, recommended that he be arraigned in court for forgery and uttering of forged documents.”

Ondo govt responds

The report and contention of PDP were, however, dismissed by the Ondo State Commissioner-nominnee for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, who said Oni should be prosecuted if he claimed to have compromised security reports.

He discredited Oni, who he said admitted leaving LP because he was not provided with patronage.

Akinmade said LP and the Ondo administration were looking beyond 2007 issues, saying that almost every human being that witnessed the election acknowledged Mimiko as the winner of that election, which forced the authorities to shift the declaration of the result to Abuja.

Source: Vanguard.

Merger process is unstoppable – Buhari

2013-05-12T18:50:00.002+01:00

The National Leader of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), rtd. Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, said on Thursday that the merger process by opposition parties was unstoppable.

Buhari said this during the CPC Board of Trustee (BOT) meeting in Abuja, adding that it had also caught the imagination and attention of the nation.

The leader said that the party had launched its project for repositioning and pursuing the issue of merger.

“I have requested for and you approved the formation of a CPC Merger Committee to negotiate all issues pertaining to the merger and the holding of congresses in states run by caretaker committees, ” he said.

Buhari said that the party had adopted “direct primaries in elections and bio metric data card registration for party members”.

Others, he added, were the establishment of a secretariat to direct the work of the party’s legislators and empanelling of a Convention Committee.

According to him, the party has also begun the revamping of CPC propaganda machine, setting up proper accounting and auditing units and budget committee, among others.

He said the momentum and tempo that the merger developed had overtaken the work of some other committees created during its meeting.

He urged the merger committee, which concluded its assignment recently, to study the provision of the new APC constitution and determine whether it had adequate checks and balances in place.

Buhari advised the committee to consider the contents of the political association’s manifesto, to know if they were written in a way to facilitate the realisation of the mission of CPC.

He said the contents should also lead to the attainment of the goals the party had pencilled down for the people.

Buhari urged the committee to carefully read the options proposed for the transition management structure of the proposed party and choose which option would best satisfy the teeming supporters of the party.

The leader said that the conclusion on the work of the merger and convention committees would decide whether to pass the motion for the dissolution of the party (CPC).

On the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) before the National Assembly, Buhari said it was up to state assemblies to decide whether to accept and pass it as required by the constitution.

“I am very pleased that a number of governors have taken interest and are making their inputs into the review of PIB.”

CPC National Chairman, Prince Tony Momoh, said the All Progressive Change had no problem with its acronym, APC. (NAN)

Nigerian Film Corporation plans to target investors ... at Cannes film festival

2013-05-12T07:31:00.002+01:00

The Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) said on Friday that the corporation would promote the Nigerian film industry at the 2013 Film Festival in Cannes, France.

The festival is the 66th edition of the fiesta which is scheduled to hold from May 15 to May 26.

The acting Managing Director of NFC, Tekena Benibo, said in in Abuja that NFC would dialogue with interested parties and offer incentives that would attract investors to Nigeria in order to enhance the quality of movies produced in the industry.

He said that attractive tax incentives, custom clearance facilities and funding schemes were crucial in supporting the development of the industry in Nigeria.

``Each time you go to film festivals and film markets like this, visitors will be coming to your stand or to your pavilion asking you questions about your industry, what do you have to offer?

``They will be coming with proposals like ‘can I get a Nigerian film production company to do co-production with us’. ‘Do you have incentives such as tax incentives, custom clearance facilities or procedures or processes’ they will ask you all of that.

``And they will also ask you ‘do you have funding that can support such productions if we come in’.

``Yes they will be coming in with their money, but they want to find out whether we have the capacity to support productions like that.’’

Benibo also said that the corporation would partner with the Nigerian Export Import (NEXIM) Bank, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and the Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to address some of the challenges that could slow down efforts at developing the movie industry.

According to him, Lagos State has expressed its interest to participate in the festival and sell Nigeria as an attractive destination for entrepreneurs seeking to invest in the nation’s film industry.

He said: ``Similarly, Kano State with its `Kannywood’ plans to promote its own genre of film production at the festival in Cannes.’’

Source-Daily Times.

NERDC to train 140 out of school youths in North Central

2013-05-12T07:28:00.000+01:00

The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has said it will train 140 out of school youths from the six North Central states and Abuja in entrepreneurship skills to enable them set up businesses on their own.

Prof Godswill Obioma, Executive Secretary of the council said this in Minna while flagging off the monitoring of the implementation and distribution of the new Senior Secondary School education curriculum and nine year basic education curriculum.

According to him "My council will in the next one month flag off training of 140 out of school youths in entrepreneurship skills to enable them gain functional knowledge of empowerment and also assist them set up small scale businesses’’.

He said that the MDGs provided funds for the training but did not disclose the amount involved, adding that the exercise scheduled for a date to be fixed in May 2013 in Minna would last for eight weeks.

The Executive Secretary said that during the training the council would pay the trainers, accommodate and feed the trainees and also provide them with facilities and equipment to commence business after training.

He said that the youths would be trained on GSM repairs, making of garment, hair dressing and making of paints.

Obioma said though the responsibility of the senior secondary school education rests with the state governments because of mass failure in WAEC and NECO the Federal Government directed NERDC to print the old and new edition of the curriculum and deliver them to all the state ministries of education for onward distribution to their schools.

"After this flag-off we hope that this curriculum will be passed on to your public schools to enable students prepare properly for WAEC and NECO examinations’’, he said.

Furthermore, he said that the flag-off which was going on simultaneously in the 36 states of the federation and Abuja would enable primary school pupils and secondary school students choose subjects that would bring about human capital development in the country.

The Executive Secretary added that the new senior secondary school curriculum which would commence in June 2013 would examine students in four compulsory subjects of English, mathematics, civic education and trade to enable them to be useful in their field of endeavour and be vast in other fields.

Also speaking, Alhaji Saidu N. Idris, Secretary to Niger Government said that the state government accorded its education sector priority because no meaningful development would take place without educating the people.

"We inherited a situation where we had average of 70, 000 pupils being enrolled in schools but with the coming of this administration we have enrolled over 1.3 million pupils’’, he noted.

He pledged to ensure that the council is reallocated with another office accommodation or land in Minna as the one first allocated to it has been affected by construction of road.

Source-Daily Times

Jonathan Appoints Emeka Mba As DG National Broadcasting Commission (Channels Television)

2013-05-12T06:46:00.003+01:00

President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the appointments of a number of chief executives for some federal government agencies amongst which is the appointment of Mr Emeka Mba as the new Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

Mr Emeka Mba

Mr Mba was formerly the Director General of National Film and Video Censor Board (NFVCB).

Other appointments approved by President Jonathan are Hajiya Inna Maryamm Ciroma, as the Managing Director, National Inland Waterways Authority.

Mrs. Sally Mbanefo, is appointed at Executive Director of the National Tourism Development Corporation.

Mr. Bature Masadi is to take over as the Director- General of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency, while Mrs. Dukpe C. Atoki, heads to the Consumer Protection Council as it’s Director–General.

Other appointees are; Engr. Danjuma Dabo as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Film Corporation and Prof. Eli Jidere, as the Director-General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria.

The statement by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Anyim Pius Anyim, announced that all the appointees are expected to resume duties immediately.

S/NO	NAME	DESIGNATION	PARASTATAL
1.	Hajiya Inna Maryamm Ciroma	Managing Director	National Inland Waterways Authority
2.	Mrs. Sally Mbanefo	Executive Director	National Tourism Development Corporation
3.	Mr. Bature Masadi	Director- General	Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency
4.	Mrs. Dukpe C. Atoki	Director –General	Consumer Protection Council
5.	Engr. Danjuma Dabo	Managing Director	Nigerian Film Corporation
6.	Mr. Emeka Nkem Mba	Director- General	Nigerian Broadcasting Commission
7.	Prof. Eli Jidere	Director-General	Energy Commission of Nigeria

Jonathan Signed Pact to Serve A Single Term – Gov Aliyu

2013-02-17T15:16:00.002+01:00

Contrary to the claim by the associates of President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State said, yesterday, that the president reached an agreement with leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and governors elected on the platform of the party in 2011 to serve only a single term.

Aliyu, who also leads the governors from the North where opposition to the president’s alleged bid for second term in 2015 has been loudest, said the purported bid by Jonathan for re-election should be seen as mere speculation.

The governor released his bombshell while featuring on a radio programme, Guest of the Week, aired on Liberty Radio 91.7, Abuja.

Earlier, yesterday, the Presidency restated its claim that nobody could stop Jonathan from seeking a second term as there was no constitutional provision barring him.

“I recall that at the time he was going to declare for the 2011 election, all the PDP governors were brought together to ensure that we were all in the same frame of mind,”Aliyu, the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, said.

*Gov Aliyu Babangida of Niger State

He went on: “And I recall that some of us said that, given the circumstances of the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua and given the PDP zoning arrangement, it was expected that the North was to produce the president for a given number of years.

“I recall that at that discussion, it was agreed that Jonathan would serve only one term of four years and we all signed the agreement. Even when Jonathan went to Kampala, in Uganda, he also said he was going to serve a single term

“For now, President Jonathan has not declared a second term ambition and we must not be speculating based on those who are benefiting from the campaign.

“I think we are all gentlemen enough; so when the time comes, we will all come together and see what is the right thing to do”.

Answering a question on the merger of four opposition parties on the platform of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC), the Niger governor stated that it will engender a situation where strong parties will challenge one another.

“I pray for the success of the merger because I want a situation where we will have parties that will challenge one another properly so that we don’t take it for granted that, because you have been winning elections, you can do as you wish,”he pointed out.

“There is a purpose for elections. There is a purpose for setting up government. You set up government for the competence and efficiency of running an administration.

“You don’t set up government so that a group of people can enjoy to the detriment of the majority of the people. So, to me, the success of the merger will look like what is happening in developed countries where one party does it for a period of time and another party does it for another period of time.

“We should encourage a situation where our party become rational and very organised and where our party has democracy within because that is the foundation of a democracy of a nation.

“A situation where a party is allowed to handpick candidates and put them up for elections should not be encouraged”.

He described the prediction that Nigeria will break up in 2015 as a result of normal intellectual research after looking at the variables and concluding that if our situation continues to degenerate, there is the likelihood of a breakup.

Aliyu, however, reminded proponents of disintegration that Nigeria did not fight a civil war to break up, adding that majority of Nigerians will fight to ensure that the country remain as one.

“Let us understand that a break up is not going to be as neat as some people think because I recall that when we had the civil war, there were some people who said if you allow that group to go, we will also go.

“Majority of Nigerians don’t want a break up. Only a few individuals are calling for a break up. And you don’t call for a break up simply because you have something today.

“We have gone to Mali to help them fight off what is becoming a civil war. So if it starts in Nigeria, I don’t think the world will stand by and watch. We will ensure that we stay as one nation to enjoy the benefits of what we have been fighting for”.

On his purported ambition to run for president in 2015, Aliyu said if it is the will of God for him to contest, God himself will create the proper avenue for him to do so.
“But I have not said to anybody that this or that is what I want to do in 2015. We will cross the bridge when we get to it”, he said.

‘Neither APC nor Panadol can stop Jonathan’
Meanwhile, the Presidency, yesterday, lashed out at those campaigning to stop Jonathan from contesting in 2015, saying that the campaigners were either ignorant of the law or were doing so out of selfish political interest to intimidate Mr. President out of the contest.

According to Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Jonathan would have done only five years if he decides not to run in 2015 and would have done only nine years even if he contests and wins the 2015 without violating any section of the Nigerian constitution because his first tenure actually started in May 2011 and not 2010 as often claimed by ignorant and mischievous politicians.

He told Sunday Vanguard exclusively in Abuja: “His (Jonathan) tenure would have been abridged if he does not contest in 2015. Yar’Adua was incapacitated and he was naturally allowed to act. The law recognises Jonathan’s first tenure with effect from May 2011 and nothing more.

“If anyone says Jonathan should not contest in 2015, he would have spent only five years. My position is that if Mr. President is not going to contest, let it be on his own volition but let nobody intimidate him out of office for their selfish political reasons.
“Secondly, it is Jonathan’s decision and that of Nigerians at the polls that will determine what happens in 2015. Tell those who are talking about Jonathan not being qualified to contest in 2015 to do a proper calculation from when he was sworn in as President in 2011 and see if their calculation is right.

“If the President decides not run in 2015, so be it, but let no individual or group attempt to deny him his constitutional entitlement. It is not going to happen. Neither APC nor Panadol can stop him”.

Gulak pointed out that Jonathan deserved the respect and support of Nigerians for being the best leader in Nigeria to tackle corruption and infrastructural decay in the land.

According to him, the federal administration has uncovered more corrupt cases and tackled them than any other regime in the history of Nigeria.

Culled from Vanguard.

Mimiko in the Last four years

2013-02-17T15:09:00.001+01:00

By John Ajayi

As the Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, clocks four years in office, his popularity has continued to soar even though he has himself not sought it.

The governor, in the last four years, has evolved a number of unparalleled strategies for combating underdevelopment and actualizing the social democratic mantra on a globally acknowledged scale. In the last four years, Mimiko has revolutionised the educational sector in Ondo State by building mega schools with no parallels in Africa, winning accolades from across the globe.

At a record 50 scattered across the three senatorial districts in the state, the mega schools (with free school buses, uniforms, sandals, bags and books, alluring architecture, electro-magnetic chalk boards, the computer laboratory with 50 internet-ready computers for Type 1 schools, an imposing Senate building, encapsulated in a self-regulating internal mechanism with each of the main organs in the school conceptualised to be self-sustaining) have been hailed as Black Africa’s greatest success story in educational revolution.

The only Quality Education Assurance Agency in the country, established by the state government, is involved in maintaining standards and setting parameters in all the agencies and departments of government in the state

In its bid to make Akure and other towns in the state functional, the state government evolved the mechanic village, where auto workers would operate in a state-of-the art environment.

There are 80 workshops/bush bars, each of which can attend to four vehicles at a time, aside cars at the car wash area, the spray rooms, spare parts stores and those on relaxation. The fee paid is only N40 per day. The government also built specially designated relaxation spots for the people.

Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko

The Caring Heart Neighbourhood Recreation Park, Ilula, Akure, is one such facility where, after a hard day’s work or even while on holiday, workers enjoy themselves, watching channels on DSTV, playing table tennis, volleyball, etc, and having a swell time with barbeque and any kind of drink.

In Akure, the government built a driver’s airport with an arrival/departure lounge, a green area, rest rooms with world standard facilities, paved and painted sidewalks, duty-free lock up shops selling provisions, tastefully furnished parking areas with news cars lined up in serene order, and many more.

The environment was conceptualised to redesign the mind so that the three geometries –the humans, the plants and the non-living environment—would form a balance. Again, on Monday, April 2, 2012, the governor commissioned Africa’s first court within a prison premises under the state’s Rapid Justice System programme, namely High Court Number 10, at Olokuta Prison, Akure, promising to provide the prison with a clinic that would offer basic drugs for free.

Mimiko noted that if violent criminals were kept intermittently under remand without the assurance of conclusion of their trials, it might jeopardise the safety of the society, stressing that efforts must be intensified to address the situation.

In tackling street trading through state of the art neighbourhood markets, the state government identified markets as a major avenue of social interaction and congregation, and even an organ of governance in any Yoruba setting, submitting that if the problems of market women were addressed, poverty in communities would be almost 25 per cent solved.

In November 2011, at a ceremony at the highbrow Holiday Inn, Kessignton, London, attended by over 40 foreign ambassadors and members of the British parliament, Mimiko won the Best Governor of the Year Award, courtesy of Ben TV, United Kingdom. Said the organisers: “This committee traversed the length and breadth of Nigeria for three months, conducting empirical research and on-the-spot assessment of the state incognito and it found that Dr Olusegun Mimko towers above the others.

We found out that no state governor in Nigeria has approached the implementation of his election promises with great fervour and passion like Dr Mimiko. In the education sector, no state governor in Nigeria has ever planted the kind of structure Dr Mimiko constructed for primary schools in Nigeria. You will be amazed that these beautiful, child-friendly and academics- inducing structures are not only for the public, the common people, but that they will pay no fees.”

The governor was decorated in the same month as a Honorary Fellow of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital; “Achiever of Our Time” by Radio Nigeria, Ibadan. He was named Governor of the Year 2011 by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in December 2011; given the AES Excellent Leadership Award by the Academy of Entrepreneurial Studies, at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Ikoyi, Lagos; named Governor of the Year 2012 by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and, again, Governor of the Year 2011 by the Nigerian Tribune, among others.

In the letter announcing Mimiko as the winner of the United Nations 2012 Habitat Scroll of Honour award, the United Nations through its Coordinator on UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour, Ana B Moreno, said the choice of the governor was the unanimous decision of an international jury.

The agency said: “Dr. Mimiko was selected among many nominees for the most coveted award in the human settlement sector.The UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour is the most prestigious human settlement award in the world which aims to acknowledge initiatives which have made outstanding contributions in various fields such as shelter provision, leadership in developing and improving the human settlements and general enhancement in overall quality of urban life.

The areas considered for the award according to the statement include, housing and slum upgrading, Urban planning and design, Urban economy, Infrastructure rehabilitation and risk reduction.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, United States, while inviting Dr Mimiko to deliver a lecture on the World Bank-endorsed Abiye model on January 16, noted that “the Abiye (Safe Motherhood) programme is winning praise as a promising model, creating incentives for expectant mothers to seek care and for health providers to deliver quality services.

Abiye model is a work in progress, and the initiative’s leadership is cognizant of the challenges associated with scale-up and sustainability over time. But the programme does provide a positive preliminary model of how data collection, technology and innovation, efficient use of resources and mechanisms of accountability – backed by sustained political will – can come together in a comprehensive strategy.”

As the October 20 governorship election approached, however, the opposition stepped up its subversive agenda, mounting campaigns of calumny against the Mimiko administration: “The encircled Iroko,” “Brother today, gone tomorrow,” “Can an Iroko make a forest?”, among many others.

Yet, in spite of the intense and unrelenting attacks, the governor refused to be drawn into the vulgarism which had characterised the attacks on him even by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governors, using the very idea of regional integration which he (Mimiko) himself muted as a blackmail tool.

“They boast in their godfathers but we trust in God the Father,” he declared.

On October 20, the Ondo people gave a clear mandate to the governor to pilot the affairs of the state until 2016, erupting into massive celebrations as soon as the election results were announced. However, the governor has promised to give the people of the state a double portion of the landmarks of the past four years, ruling with the fear of God. The success story has only just begun.

* John Ajayi is a Public Analyst

Our leaders are Looters – Gov Shettima

2013-02-17T15:06:00.003+01:00

Governor of Borno state, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, yesterday made a nostalgic reflection on the early days of Nigeria, which he said were much better, compared to the present that is characterised by “senseless theft and looting of public treasury.”
Shettima noted that shortly after independence, Nigeria’s founding fathers were known for their selfless service, honesty and integrity.
The governor stated this when he hosted the officials of the Sardauna Foundation, led by Justice Mamman Nasir, at the government house in Maiduguri, the state capital.
Nasir was minister of justice for the defunct Northern Region in the 1960s and was President of the Federal Court of Appeal in subsequent years.
Shettima said the initiative of the foundation to unite northern Nigeria by rekindling the late Sardauna of Sokoto and premier of the defunct Northern Region’s approach to leadership couldn’t have come at a better time.
Shettima said: “On the quality of governance, we owe it a duty to posterity to give the best to our people just like Sardauna and his eminent co-travellers did.
“That is why we have a lot to learn from this Justice Mamman Nasir-led delegation who, like Sardauna, served this country to the best of their abilities at a time when there was no special graft bodies like EFCC watching over you.
“You were leaders when there was no ICPC. You have had all the opportunities to steal, but chose the path of dignity.
“But what about now? Governance is all about stealing as much as you can, just to buy a house in Dubai, buy a house in UK and in America – houses you don’t even stay in for a week in one year! Because of sheer madness, you keep investing in others’ economy, to the detriment of ours. We have to do serious rethink as Nigerians, and northerners especially.”
Earlier, Nasir, who holds the traditional title of Galadiman Katsina, had informed the governor that their mission was to visit all the 19 states of the north, preaching peace and unity across the ethno-religious borders in order to rescue the region from implosion.
He noted that the Sardauna Foundation would be willing to support and assist government in the promotion of dialogue with aggrieved groups who are taking up arms against the nation.
Source: Blueprint

No ripples over APC merger – Sheriff

2013-02-17T14:53:00.000+01:00

Former governor of Borno state, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has said that there are no individual interests threatening the merger that led to the formation of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Sheriff, who is also the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) also said that there was no flexing of muscles amongst party leaders in the merger.

Sheriff, who led the ANPP to the negotiating table last week Wednesday, said members of the party are enthusiastic about the formation of the APC.

He said, “There is no truth in the report of emerging cracks in the ranks of key stakeholders and state governors. All interests have been adequately balanced in the marriage, and fears of perceived hidden individual agenda have been assuaged, without any particular group dominating the other.”

Sheriff, who was reacting to reports that he and some other stakeholders in the merger may have been compromised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the merger, stressed that there are no issues threatening the cohesion the merger seek to achieve.

He said, “I have been an apostle of the merger of opposition groups all along, and those who associate me with a purported deal against the merger are being mischievous, with the aim of causing divisions amongst members representing the parties.

“We always acted in the interest of our party, which we have been nurturing for the past 14 years. So, we cannot do anything inimical to its progress. The merger has been sealed.”

He further said that state governors have remained passionate about the merger, taking into account its prospects for their individual and collective political fortunes, and have been working closely with party leaders.

Sheriff also said that the meeting of the interim leadership, appointed to midwife the merger; made up of 21 wise men; made up of both serving and former governors, drawn from each of the merging political parties, except APGA, which leadership is in crisis, and its two governors divided on the issue, agreed that the proposed logo was also acceptable .

Source: Blueprint

In Abuja, advocates step up campaign for Community Radio

2013-01-28T12:18:00.002+01:00

ADVOCATES of the community broadcasting under the auspices of the Nigerian Community Radio Coalition (NCRC) are displeased with the federal government. And they appear to have strong reason for their displeasure.
Twenty-seven months (since October 19, 2010 precisely) after President Goodluck Jonathan declared that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) could consider and issue community radio licences, the order has not been heeded.
Worst still, the ‘stumbling blocks’ against the operationalisation of this directive are not explicitly communicated to the stakeholders, hence, operatives of rumour mill have since taken over the process.
Hear President Jonathan on the occasion of the 8th Biennial Conference of African Broadcasters (AFRICAST) in October 2010: “We are aware of the need to expand the broadcast space and give more voice to the people. Consequently, the Federal Executive Council has considered and approved the guidelines proposed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for the licensing of Community Radio in Nigeria. Further, we have devolved to the Commission, the power to consider and issue the licences without further recourse to the Presidency, provided such applicants have met all conditions stipulated by law.”
At the two-day Community Radio Briefing and Strategy Meeting held last week (January 21 and 22) in Abuja, attention was focused on how to unravel the mystery surrounding the realisation of this dream. Principally, the objective of the meeting was to develop strategies to achieve the speedy implementation of community radio licensing to promote media pluralism and democratization of citizen access to information.
The meeting was convened by the Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) II project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Nigeria Community Radio Coalition (NCRC). The DGD II project is joint donor-funded project managed by the UNDP in support of deepening democracy in Nigeria.
The project is funded with contributions from the European Commission (EC), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the UNDP. The NCRC was formed in 2005 to sensitize and mobilize stakeholders and heighten advocacy to fill the gaps in the Nigerian broadcasting landscape that undermine democratic participation and development efforts.
The meeting drew participation of community radio stakeholders from various parts of the country and representing different sectors; as well as government ministries, departments and agencies including community leaders; academic institutions; media professionals; campus radio managers and operators; non-governmental organizations (NGOs); community-based organizations (CBOs); advocates of community radio and development communication; gender advocates; international development agencies among others.
The opening ceremony on Monday paraded Prof. Ralph Akinfeleye of the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Lagos as chairman; the DGD Project Director, Dr. Moutarda Deme; Dr. (Mrs.) Hannatu Ibrahim, a member of the Steering Committee of the Nigeria Community Radio Coalition; Mr. Mike Omeri, Director-General of the National Orientation Agency; and Mr. Joe Obodoeze, a Director at the Federal Ministry of Information, representing the Honourable Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku.
The meeting also featured presentations by experts, community radio advocates and representatives of intending host communities for community radio stations, in plenary and break-out sessions.
In the course of the meeting, it was observed that new approaches to development emphasize people’s greater control over their own lives through their active participation in deciding, planning and executing initiatives aimed at improving their socio-political and economic development, a process which requires effective access to information and voice for all segments of the society.
Besides, participants acknowledged the global status of community radio as a grassroots medium of communication as it facilitates participatory and democratic development, in addition to providing a voice for local people, promoting media pluralism, improving access to information and knowledge, and enabling local decision-makers to be held accountable.
They itemized other benefits of community radio broadcasting to include democratizing citizens’ access to information; giving a voice to the voiceless such that through the content they provide and the perspectives they share, the development agenda is determined by citizens. In addition, community radio broadcasting restores citizens’ integrity; promotes transparency and accountability in governance; is cost effective; has immediacy of impact; and has the potential of creating thousands of job opportunities across the country.
If Nigeria is to make significant progress in its democratic development, participants argued, the country would need to harness the potential and capacity of community radio to foster community dialogue, build peace, strengthen the integrity of the electoral process, contribute to transparency and accountability of governance institutions at the grassroots and facilitate citizen’s participation in governance.
The failure of the Federal Government and NBC to give effect to the announcement by President Goodluck Jonathan on October 19, 2010 on the delegation of authority to the NBC to issue licenses for community radio broadcasting in Nigeria, participants insisted, would continue to undermine the credibility and integrity of the Federal Government, particularly the Office of the President.
They catalogued the results of the failure of the Federal Government and the NBC to issue community radio licences since then to include denying dozens of communities across the country effective access to the media, limiting their right to freedom of expression, and depriving them of development assistance and other benefits which would otherwise have accrued to them.
Resolutions reached at the end of the meeting are targeted at specific stakeholders such as government agencies, Nigeria Community Radio Coalition (NCRC), communities, as well as international development agencies and partners.
For government agencies, participants tasked the NBC specifically to work with other relevant agencies and authorities within the Federal Government to urgently give effect to the announcement by President Jonathan on October 19, 2010 that he had delegated authority to the NBC to issue licenses for community radio broadcasting in Nigeria.
The NBC, as the regulatory body for the broadcast sector, is also urged to play a leading and pivotal role in resolving all outstanding issues impeding the licensing of community radio broadcasting, including by convening a high-level meeting among critical stakeholders in government to provide a platform for an open and frank discussion of challenges and concerns as well as for their resolution.
Participants would also want the NBC to develop a regulatory framework for community radio broadcasting in Nigeria, which can form the basis for further debates and discussions. Such a regulatory framework, they submitted, should define community radio; contain clear requirements for the granting of licenses for community radio stations; information about the licensing process and a regime of license fees, among other issues.
With respect to the advocacy group, the Nigeria Community Radio Coalition (NCRC), participants canvassed forging of new alliances and building of strategic partnerships with government institutions, such as the National Orientation Agency (NOA), to push through a successful advocacy for community radio broadcasting in Nigeria.
The coalition is also charged to embark on a campaign of targeted advocacy aimed at relevant authorities within the Federal Government, particularly the Presidency, the Federal Ministry of Information, the Federal Ministry of Justice and the NBC to address any lingering concerns that they may have about community radio broadcasting in Nigeria and persuade them to give effect to President Jonathan’s pronouncement.
Also expressed is the need for NCRC to explore the possibility of facilitating a programme of experience sharing between senior Nigerian government officials and senior officials of other relevant governments in West Africa in order to ensure a better understanding among the Nigerian authorities about the potential of community radio broadcasting, including for peace building and conflict resolution purposes.
While NCRC continues to pursue a policy framework for the actualization of community radio broadcasting in Nigeria, participants would like the coalition to explore the options of pursuing a clear statutory provision and a strong constitutional backing for community radio broadcasting.
Even as they wait for broadcast licenses to be issued, communities proposing to establish community radio stations are tasked to take advantage of available and cheap new technologies to begin the process of content development, which can also be distributed online. This will prepare them to become operational as soon as they receive their licences while at the same time helping them to build their capacities.
The communities were also admonished to assess their capacity needs and develop concrete plans to address such needs, including by seeking support from development agencies and learning from the experiences of community radio stations in other countries in the West African region.
While acknowledging the roles international development agencies and partners have continued to play in the country’s democratisation process, participants asked them to lend their strong voices to the advocacy efforts by constantly raising the issue of licensing community radio stations whenever they engage the NBC or other relevant government agencies or authorities.
In addition, the meeting urged development agencies to continue to assist communities and aspiring community radio operators with capacity-building support in the areas of management, programme development, acquisition of equipment and appropriate technologies as well as other ways that may be possible within their respective mandates.
Culled from The Guardian.

Communiqué issued at the end of the Community Radio Briefing and Strategy Meeting

2013-01-28T10:17:00.001+01:00

COMMUNIQUE

Communiqué issued at the end of the Community Radio Briefing and Strategy Meeting held at the Rockview Hotel (Royale), Abuja

On Monday, January 21 and Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Preamble

A two-day Community Radio Briefing and Strategy Meeting was held in Abuja on Monday, January 21 and Tuesday, January 22, 2013. The objective of the meeting was to develop strategies to achieve the speedy implementation of community radio licensing to promote media pluralism and democratization of citizen access to information.

The meeting was convened by the Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) II project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Nigeria Community Radio Coalition (NCRC). The DGD II project is joint donor-funded project managed by the UNDP in support of deepening democracy in Nigeria. The project is funded with contributions from the European Commission (EC), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the UNDP. The NCRC was formed in 2005 to sensitize and mobilize stakeholders and heighten advocacy to fill the gaps in the Nigerian broadcasting landscape that undermine democratic participation and development efforts.

Participation

The meeting was attended by community radio stakeholders from variousparts of the country and representing different sectors. It was attended byparticipants drawn from Government ministries, departments and agencies;the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the National Orientation Agency (NOA), community leaders; academic institutions; media professionals; campus radio managers and operators; non-governmental organizations (NGOs); community-based organizations (CBOs); advocates of community radio and development communication; gender advocates; international development agencies; and other stakeholders

The meeting was addressed at the opening ceremony by the Chair of the occasion, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye, who is of the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Lagos; the DGD Project Director, Dr.Moutarda Deme; Dr. (Mrs.) Hannatu Ibrahim, a member of the Steering Committee of the Nigeria Community Radio Coalition;Mr. Mike Omeri, Director-General of the National Orientation Agency; and Mr.Joe Obodoeze, a Director at the Federal Ministry of Information, representing the Honourable Minister of Information, Mr.LabaranMaku.

The meeting also heard presentations from experts, community radio advocates and representatives of intending host communities for community radio stations, in plenary and break-out sessions.

At the end of the meeting, the participants agreed to adopt this Communiqué.

OBSERVATIONS

The participants observed as follows:

· New approaches to development emphasize people’s greater control over their own lives through their active participation in deciding, planning and executing initiatives aimed at improving their socio-political and economic development, a process which requires effective access to information and voice for all segments of the society.

· Community radio as a grassroots medium of communication is acknowledged worldwide to be a great facilitator of participatory and democratic development, providing a voice for local people, promoting media pluralism, improving access to information and knowledge, and enabling local decision-makers to be held accountable.

· Community radio broadcasting has many other benefits, including democratizing citizens’ access to information; giving a voice to the voiceless such that through the content they provide and the perspectives they share, the development agenda is determined by citizens. In addition, community radio broadcasting restores citizens’ integrity; promotes transparency and accountability in governance; is cost effective; has immediacy of impact; and has the potential of creating thousands of job opportunities across the country.

· If Nigeria is to make significant progress in its democratic development, it needs to harness the potential and capacity of community radio to foster community dialogue, build peace, strengthen the integrity of the electoral process, contribute to transparency and accountability of governance institutions at the grassroots and facilitate citizen’s participation in governance.

· The failure of the Federal Government and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to give effect to the announcement by President Goodluck Jonathan on October 19, 2010 on the delegation of authority to the NBC to issue licenses for community radio broadcasting in Nigeria continues to be a major source of concern to stakeholders as it undermines the credibility and authority of the Federal Government, particularly the Office of the President.

· The failure of the Federal Government and the NBC to issue community radio licences also continues to deny dozens of communities across the country effective access to the media, limit their right to freedom of expression, and deprive them of development assistance and other benefits which would otherwise have accrued to them.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The participants therefore recommended as follows:

Government Agencies

· The NBC should work with other relevant agencies and authorities within the Federal Government to urgently give effect to the announcement by President Jonathan on October 19, 2010 that he had delegated authority to the NBC to issue licenses for community radio broadcasting in Nigeria.

· The NBC, as the regulatory body for the broadcast sector, should play a leading and pivotal role in resolving all outstanding issues impeding the licensing of community radio broadcasting, including by convening a high-level meeting among critical stakeholders in government to provide a platform for an open and frank discussion of challenges and concerns as well as for their resolution.

· The NBC should develop a regulatory framework for community radio broadcasting in Nigeria, which can form the basis for further debates and discussions. Such a regulatory framework should define community radio; contain clear requirements for the granting of licenses for community radio stations; information about the licensing process and a regime of license fees, among other issues.

Nigeria Community Radio Coalition (NCRC)

The NCRC should forge new alliances and build strategic partnerships with Government institutions, such as the National Orientation Agency (NOA), to push through a successful advocacy for community radio broadcasting in Nigeria.
The NCRC should embark on a campaign of targeted advocacy aimed at relevant authorities within the Federal Government, particularly the Presidency, the Federal Ministry of Information, the Federal Ministry of Justice and the NBC to address any lingering concerns that they may have about community radio broadcasting in Nigeria and persuade them to give effect to President Jonathan’s pronouncement.
The NCRC should explore the possibility of facilitating a programme of experience sharing between senior Nigerian government officials and senior officials of other relevant governments in West Africa in order to ensure a better understanding among the Nigerian authorities about the potential of community radio broadcasting, including for peace building and conflict resolution purposes.
While it continues to pursue a policy framework for the actualization of community radio broadcasting in Nigeria, the NCRC should also explore the options of pursuing a clear statutory provision and a strong constitutional backing for community radio broadcasting.

Communities

· Even as they wait for broadcast licenses to be issued, communities proposing to establish community radio stations should take advantage of available and cheap new technologies to begin the process of content development, which can also be distributed online. This will prepare them to become operational as soon as they receive their licences while at the same them helping them to build their capacities.

· Communities intending to establish community radio stations should assess their capacity needs and develop concrete plans to address such needs, including by seeking support from development agencies and learning from the experiences of community radio stations in other countries in the West African region.

International Development Agencies and Partners

· Development agencies should lend their strong voices to the advocacy efforts by constantly raising the issue of licensing community radio stations whenever they engage the NBC or other relevant government agencies or authorities.

· Development agencies should assist communities and aspiring community radio operators with capacity-building support in the areas of management, programme development, acquisition of equipment and appropriate technologies as well as other ways that may be possible within their respective mandates.

Adopted in Abuja this 22nd day of January 2013.

Official: Kaduna governor, 5 others die in helicopter crash in Bayelsa, Nigeria’s oil-rich delta

2012-12-15T22:55:00.003+01:00

A navy helicopter crashed Saturday in the country’s oil-rich southern delta, killing Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna state and five other people, in the latest air disaster to hit Africa’s most populous nation, officials said.

Nigeria’s ruling party said in a statement that the governor of the central Nigerian state of Kaduna, Patrick Yakowa, died in the helicopter crash in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta. The People’s Democratic Party’s statement described Yakowa’s death as a “colossal loss.”

The statement said the former national security adviser, General Andrew Azazi, also died in the crash. Azazi was fired in June amid growing sectarian violence in Nigeria, but maintained close ties with the government.

Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency, said four other bodies had been found, but he could not immediately give their identities.

According to Associated Press, the crash occurred at about 3:30 p.m. after the navy helicopter took off from the village of Okoroba in Bayelsa state where officials had gathered to attend the burial of the father of a presidential aide, said Commodore Kabir Aliyu. He said that the helicopter was headed for Nigeria’s oil capital of Port Harcourt when it crashed in the Nembe area of Bayelsa state.

Aviation disasters remain common in Nigeria, despite efforts in recent years to improve air safety.

In October, a plane made a crash landing in central Nigeria. A state governor and five others sustained injuries but survived.

In June, a Dana Air MD-83 passenger plane crashed into a neighborhood in the commercial capital of Lagos, killing 153 people onboard and at least 10 people on the ground. It was Nigeria’s worst air crash in nearly two decades.

In March, a police helicopter carrying a high-ranking police official crashed in the central Nigerian city of Jos, killing four people.

Women Are My Major Problem –Fatai Rolling Dollar

2012-12-15T12:07:00.000+01:00

Fatai Olayiwola Olagunju, popularly known as Fatai Rolling Dollar, is an interesting personality. An octogenarian highlife music star, who returned to stardom at old age after many years of personal and professional setbacks, Rolling Dollar comes as an enigma. He exudes verve and agility as he does not look drawn by old age. According to him, he doesn’t drink, eat kola nuts or inhale snuff, habits which are common with old men. But he loves two things dearly: cigar and women. In this interview with ADAEZE AMOS, this husband of three wives professes his undying love for women. “Women are special creatures. If you want to do well in life, just love women,” he says. Excerpts:

How did you hit the limelight?

I started from my youth, when I was much younger than this. When I passed out of school in 1944, and I lost my dad during that year, the next thing for me to do was to get ready to make people happy. That was why I made it a point of duty to go into music because I know my future is tailored towards music. I went to learn music. I didn’t just rely on the fact that my mother used to sing in the church. That wasn’t enough for me. I went to acquire the skill. I was under someone who taught me music. It took me a lot of years to learn music. In fact, I spent five years trying to acquire that skill.

What is your impression about today’s youths who just start singing just because they have got the voice?

That is why their albums are not selling. In our time, you give them what is going to happen through songs. We had messages in our songs. But today’s musicians don’t have messages.

So, you prefer your early days’ type of music to what today’s musicians are churning out?

Yes, our own type of music is better. Ours was the time of highlife. And without highlife, there was no music. Reason being that highlife was the root of music in Nigeria. If you hoped to be a sound musician that would be recognised all over the world, then you must go and learn it.

For how long have you been in Lagos?

I was born and bred in Lagos. I was born on July 22, 1926.

Could you compare Lagos of those years with what it is today?

Lagos of yester-years was indeed nice, yes, very nice. Not minding the fact that it wasn’t as developed as it is now but it was better to me. Maybe because we had easy life then. There was no armed robbery, no police harassment; you walked freely from 9pm till dawn. And if per chance you were hungry, you would get something to eat from the roadsides. You could have Amala (cassava or yam flour meal) or Iyan (pounded yam) at any time. They start to sell food by nine in the night till the morning of the next day.

What was it about life then that you are missing dearly now?

Peace! The peace we had then in Lagos State, we don’t have it now. I’m missing the peace we used to have then. We don’t have steady light now. During the British colonial rule, even in the heavy rain, or thunder storms, light would still be on. In fact, it never blinked. Amazingly, we didn’t have much dam. We were using Ajele dam. That was the only dam controlling the whole Lagos then.

What was your childhood like?

I was very rascally. Oh yes, when I was growing up, I was an original rascal.

And women loved you then?

Yes, they loved me because of my job. You know women love musicians. Apart from that, I was very handsome when I was much younger. I was light-skinned.

Tell us about your love life?

I’m admired by lots of women because I’m strong.

Where is the source of your strength?

God almighty is the source of my strength. I don’t smoke weed, I don’t take medicine but I smoke cigarette (he says, puffing hard on his cigarette). My strength is from God and can you imagine that today, all over the world, I’m the oldest musician that is still playing on the stage?

Why are you this strong even in your old age?

You know, there is something somebody should not take when he becomes old. I don’t take meat, for instance. I’m off beer as well. But my major problem is women (he paused for a while, gazing up at the writer).

But you said you admire women a lot, how are they then your major problem?

I still say it that women are my major problem. I love them so much. You don’t blame me for that; after all, my mother is a woman and I loved her so much and she loved me. So, women are problems to me, especially when I see the beautiful ones. I admire them a lot and that admiration is from the bottom of my heart. Do you know I have a daughter of two years from my third wife? That goes to show how much I love women. Look at me, at my age, I’m stile agile and I’m still producing (giggles).

Are you romantic?

Yes I am, don’t I look it? At 86, I’m still very romantic. If I meet a woman who is not romantic, I would teach her to be romantic. I will teach the person the A, B, C of romance.

How many wives do you have?

I have two black women and one white woman. You know I travel a lot, so I met my white wife abroad and I married her.

Do you have a girlfriend now?

Yes, I have. I have up to 20.

Twenty? How are you able to be with all of them?

No, there is no sex in the relationship. We just stay together and I advise them. They bring goodies to me. You know women have power to bring good things. They have the power to open good doors of success. That is why we can’t do without them.

You know in Africa, women are looked down upon, what do you say about this?

People that do that are ignorant of the power of women. If a man wants to succeed in life, he should not frustrate women; he should be their friend. Let them like and admire you. Women can make you and they can mar you, if you take them for granted. This simply means that women can make something good and also have the power to make something terribly bad. That is the fact, whether you believe it or not. If you want to live long, don’t frustrate your woman, don’t maltreat her and don’t also underestimate her power. Believe me.

How about men who batter their wives at the slightest provocation?

I see them as weak boxers. I’m not a boxer; I’m a lover (giggles). I don’t beat women; I have never done that before in my life.

Most men, when they are old start having one ailment or the other. What ailment do you have?

None! No ailment at all. I’m not managing any sickness. God is managing me.

If given another chance, would you love to take another wife?

Yes, why not? But it would be only under one condition. The condition is that the lady would write it down that she would be responsible to raise any child or children that come from the marriage or relationship. You know that I’m old. I’m not ready to take care of any child now. If you love me, you take care of your child from me.

What is your advice for younger musicians?

Know what to sing. Be watchful over the wordings of your songs. Don’t just sing rubbish. In my own time, if you are singing and you mention the word ‘breast’, they would destroy your record, honestly. Don’t be vulgar in your songs.

Culled form National Mirror.

Corps member loses eye to police brutality in Ekiti

2012-12-15T11:47:00.000+01:00

Anthony Ebuka Onuagbara

A 26-year old corps member has lost his right eye following injury he sustained when he was allegedly beaten by some policemen in Ado Ekiti recently.

Anthony Ebuka Onuagbara, a native of Ezeama-Amichi, Nnewi South local government area of Anambra state, who is observing his compulsory one-year service at the bursar’s office in Ekiti State University, said some men of the Special Anti-robbery Squad stormed his house at Bode Ayeni area of Adebayo on August 12, 2012 and started unleashing beating on the occupants.

The beatings followed a complaint from a lady to the police that a corper in the house had harassed her sexually.

Presently, Anthony is fast losing his sight, having undergone eye surgery at the Ekiti State Teaching Hospital, the bill he personally sponsored without any help from the police authorities.

Recounting his ordeal to newsmen yesterday, Anthony, who cried profusely, said a fellow corper, Michael, picked the lady, who was an alleged sex worker, at about 6pm on August 12, 2012 at Fajuyi Area of Ado Ekiti to spend the night with him with the agreement to pay her N3,000.

Anthony disclosed that disagreement ensued immediately Michael took the woman home at about 8pm that day because Michael confessed that he only had N2,000 to offer her.

He said Michael’s action infuriated the woman and this forced her to call police SARS operatives and reported the case to them by lying that she was abused sexually, even when nothing took place between them.

Anthony explained that shortly after the lady left, some SARS operatives bombarded the premises at about 11pm and started breaking the doors and unleashed beatings on the occupants.

“As I was sleeping, I heard a bang on my door and suddenly I woke up. And immediately the policemen got into my apartment, one of them hit me in my right eye with the butt of his rifle and I started bleeding from the eye.”

The victim explained further that four corps members, including him, were arrested that night and clamped in detention.

They were later arraigned before a magistrate court in Ado Ekiti on a two-count charge of rape and felony.

He said he was detained for four days without access to medication even though his right eye had shrunk before they were bailed out by a lawyer he identified as Barrister Okeya, so that he could have access to medical help.

But they were discharged and acquitted on September 5, 2012, when the police withdrew their case against them on the ground that there was no evidence to try them for the alleged offences.

He said he had complained to the National Youth Service Corps Zonal Inspector in Ado Ekiti, but expressed regret that no effort had been made to bail him out of his predicament.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, Mr Victor Babayemi Olu, said the Corps member had written a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Mr Sotonye Wakama, and high-powered delegation has been set up to investigate the matter.

The PPRO said: “I can’t preempt the outcome, but I can assure you that if any official acted in such brutal manner, he will be made to face the music. We just need a little more time to complete the investigation and the truth shall be revealed.”

Source: Blueprint.